First available: Early January 1997 (According to a PowerVR press release. Dec. 1996 in the UK?) Format: Win95 PC Minimum System Requirements: Pentium 133MHz Processor, 24mb RAM, 256 color SVGA, PCI video, 58mb of uncompessed hard disk drive space, 2x CD-ROM, mouse, Win95, & a PowerVR 3D graphics accelerator. 3D API: PowerSGL (PowerVR's native API) http://www.pvrdev.com/NDA.htm Video cards the PowerVR edition was bundled with: (All cards listed below were made by Videologic: http://www.videologic.com) 1) VideoLogic
Apocalypse 3D 2) VideoLogic
Apocalypse 3Dx 3) VideoLogic
Apocalypse 5D 4) VideoLogic
Apocalypse 5D Sonic Desktop systems the PowerVR edition was bundled with: 1) Compaq
Presario 7000 & 8000 series (all w/
4mb Compaq PCX1/PCX2 cards) Labeled as: "Enhanced for PowerVR" & the Compaq's add "Offered Only with Compaq Presario PC's" Full Installation Size: 151 mb Resolutions: 640x480 only. The PowerVR has the resolution listed on the Combat Variables screen like the S3 version, but does not allow any changes. In-Game Graphics Options: 1. Fog: Turns on/off the fog effects 2. Smooth Shading: Turns on/off the gouraud shading effects. Performance/Appearance: The earlier PCX1-based Apocalypse 3D lacks bilinear filtering, much like the Matrox Mystique, but my screenshots are from the later PCX2 and they rival the 3Dfx version in some ways. (The PCX2 is ~50% faster than the PCX1, plus it has more 3D features.) The fog effects in the game are quite nice for the time. The frame rate for the PCX2 appears to be slightly slower than the Voodoo, but they are still pretty high. The PCX1 would have been way slower, especially on the CPU's available back in 1996-97, as it was more CPU dependent than the Voodoo. Overall, I would rate the PowerVR version on the PCX2 just right behind the 3Dfx version and highly recommend it. The same game on a PCX1 without bilinear filtering would leave it looking somewhat like the Mystique version and is not worth it with PCX2 based cards being so cheap. PowerVR Netmech would have been quite usable for league play as long as you had at least a P166. You might get away with less, but it could bog down at times and cause you to be at a disadvantage now and then, which could mean death unless you are really good. A P200 + the PCX2 is a nice combo, though it still falls short of the Voodoo. Videocard Compatibility: The Power VR version should be compatible with any PowerVR Series 1 based cards (the PCX1/PCX2 chipsets), which basically includes the cards listed above, plus the the Matrox M3D , and a couple others made by NEC, Jaton, Trident, IOData, & Melco that were available primarily in Asia. The PowerVR Series 2 (Neon 250/Dreamcast thingy) is not compatible according to Videologic: "These games are not supported by Neon 250, as they were specifically designed to run on a PowerVR Series1-based card. Attempts to run them give an error message "The SGL.DLL file cannot start..." If not sure if this is one of those absolutely- no-way-to-fix-it type problems or if some creative indivual could figure out a way around it. The PowerVR Series 3 (Kyro I and Kyro II) have dropped support for the PowerSGL API all together, so they are not usable either. OS Compatibility: All the MW2 Win95 based versions only seem to install and run correctly (or run period) on Win9x based systems. Additionally, PCX 1 & 2 PowerVR cards are only supported in Win9x. I haven't seen any hacked drivers for NT/2K/XP, nor do I ever expect to. Basically, you're going to need a Win9x partition for OS and driver compatibility for the 3D Enahnced versions of MW2. Tweaking: Videologic's drivers are superior to Matrox's in that they allow a great deal of variable tweaking via the PowerVR applet in Win9x display properties. unlike those from Matrox. The profile area of the PowerVR applet allows you to adjust varaibles much like the SST variables for 3Dfx, but with a user friendly GUI. There is a stock profile for MechWarrior 2 that seems to work fine as is and any mods I've tried to the settings seem to either make little/no difference or screw up image quality all together. There are also generic PCX2 reference drivers available, but I've never had a chance to try them yet. Koolsmoky has a webpage over at Voodooextreme that has both driver tweaks and reference drivers available for download. PowerVR support sites: PowerVR Revolution & ParaKnowYa NetMech: I noticed that the Graus ice cavern does not really have good shadowing and leaves you at a disadvantage because the terrain features (especially the ice spikes on the floor) tend to blend into the background, making them hard to see and use for attack and defense strategies. (Ex.1 , Ex.2) I did notice one major advantage over the 3Dfx version. When taking screenshots of this version and panning around with the external camera, I noticed that it does not suffer as badly as the 3Dfx edition from disappearing mountains and other poly structures (at least on my PIII-500). This provides recon and self awareness advantages. Since the PowerVR card is supposedly scalable to some extent, it may now be able to take advantage of the modern faster CPU's better (the same CPU dependency that made it slower years ago, when it was first released.) For all those old school wireframe users out there, the "W" key does not work for the PowerVR edition. I don't know if this is just a mapping issue and if it can be remedied by text file editing, like with the Titanium edition. When I get a chance, I'll try it out. Cheats: The Cheat codes are the same as the regular Win95/Pentium version, though I don't believe the "bounding spheres" works on these versions. Bugs: The music track resets when you go into the Game Options menu and then reenter into the SIM. Apparently the torso twist is not a full 180 degrees. I haven't been able test the armor bug on this one. The PowerVR version also suffers from a visual glitch that can usually been seen on the left arm of the Timberwolf and a few others. The halves of the skin on the mesh don't line up and if you look at the weapon's barrel you'll see what I mean. Maybe I'll get a screenshot of this in the future. Misc Notes: The Matrox M3D and the Apocalypse 3Dx are basically the same hardware (memory/core clocks and build quality). The M3D was cheaper, but it came with a weaker game bundle and Matrox just tweaked their drivers so that the M3D would not have any compatibility problems with their 2D and 2D/3D boards like the Millennium I/II and Mystique. PowerVR Background: Those who are new(er) to the video chip technology scene may be unfamiliar with PowerVR aside from maybe hearing about the very disappointing (and very late) Neon 250 in 1999, but once PowerVR (along with Rendition) was one of 3Dfx's primary rivals in the early 3d accelerator wars, especially from 1997 into early 1998 (but pre V2), as the new PowerVR PCX2 chipset was released, while the Rendition threat was weakened by in-between product cycle delays. A joint venture of NEC and Videologic, it was offered as a PCI add-on card like the original Voodoo Graphics, but communicated through the PCI bus, thus it did not require an external pass through cable. PowerVR used an innovative tile rendering technology that only renders objects directly in view, as opposed to traditional polygon rendering which renders hidden objects as well. The PowerVR card also used all of its 4mb of memory for texture memory, allowing for resolutions up to 1024x768. Games ported specifically to the PowerVR's unique PowerSGL API, were very impressive, with Ultim@te Race being a prime example of what the technology could do. In addition, the PowerVR card was much more affordable than the Voodoo card, but the performance was not as good, because the PowerVR was much more dependent on processor speed. (Apparently the PII 266-300MHz region is about where it pulled even with the Voodoo). The D3D did improve somewhat over time with driver releases, but it still was weak. There was also a lack of titles ported for PowerVR despite NEC/Videologic spending 25 million starting in 1997 toward getting game makers to port for their technology. Still, IMO opinion it was a pretty good deal for the price and did have some nice titles with one of the nicest versions of MW2 and the nicest port of the original Tomb Raider, among others. New PowerVR technology was absent from the PC world for a while, because NEC/VL was working with Sega on providing chips for the Sega Dreamcast. The new PowerVR Kyro card was out in the fall of 2000 and was a vast improvement over the Neon 250, if still not a great card. The new Kyro II was available in ~Spring 2001 and it has *very* impressive performance for the price. Like with earlier PowerVR cards, it does seem to suffer more from some visual glitches in games than many other cards (aside from ATI and their ever crappy drivers), but Win98 and WinMe seems to have been straightened out as of the Fall of 2001. XP has many problems, but hopefully that will get straighten out quickly as well. I think the Hercules Prophet 4500 or 4500TV are very good deals for the price and you'll get much higher quality 2D than most of the Nvidia boards. The major issue with the Kyro II cards will be whether or not the old PowerVR D3D/OGL compatibilty problems will once again appear and hurt the chipset's viability as a effective option for gamers. PowerVR
Screenshot Gallery :
(Running a Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx/PowerVR PCX2 4mb PCI card) ** More PowerVR screens in the Netmech section ** |
