Turbine Games Q&A/Graphics/Q-44

Original Link (now dead) - http://www.turbinegames.com/qa/view_questions.html?id=1617

Software Rendering vs 3dfx

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Asked:	2000.11.07
Name:	Psygnal
Question Title:	Software Rendering vs 3dfx
Category:	Graphics
Question:	A couple of points... 1. When I play AC using my Voodoo 1 (Old, but it usually does the job) 3dfx card, night-time is completely pitch black. I can't see any ground detail, and only some sky detail. This is with the brightness cranked right up. The game looks so good in 3dfx mode when there's enough light to see, that it is awful to have to play in Software mode. Will it ever be possible to increase the brightness even further in the game? Any chance of a 'gamma' option, or the ability to change from 3dfx to software rendering without completely exiting the game? (For example, by just logging the character?) 2. With Voodoo on, town loading can take 20 seconds or more. In DarkTide, this is often extremely dangerous. With Software rendering on, the town loads in about 2 seconds. Any clues as to what I can do to fix this? Psygnal

Answered:	2000.11.07
Name:	Sean
Answer:	1. I once had a monitor that was so dark I could not play at night. It was the monitor's fault. Its max brightness was almost as dark as most monitors' low-brightness setting. I got a new monitor and have not had a problem since. Gamma correcting will likely never be a feature within AC itself. I recommend finding a gamma correction program elsewhere that will control the card. 2. In software, an image needs to load once, and we use palette tricks to make every one a different color. In hardware, a unique copy of that texture has to be loaded, so if 50 people are wearing the same armor software can load it once, while hardware has to load it 50 times, basically. That's an oversimplification, but basically accurate. Sean.