Creative labs card and Icar2...any good?

Anyone running icar2 with the creative labs rendition card? I wonder if it compares to the screamin 3d. Does the Icar2 sold in stores support the rendition cards, cause it doesnt say on the box. stev -- If replying by mail, remove the asterisk* from my email address.

says... Forget the above post. I looked around enough to know that I dont want the creative labs card. It appears to be bottom line of the rendition cards. In fact, this whole thing with 3d and different chipsets etc and considering whats out there now...sheeeeeeit. Im waiting for awhile before I buy anything. If sierra ever ports N2 to 3dfx, then Im buying. Its too early to see what cards will get the most support. From everything Ive read so far, the 3dfx blows the rendition, its just too bad that Icar and nascar arent ported for it. Yet. I just wish it would all get standardized and that way us gamers wont drop cash on short lived hardware. stev If replying by mail, remove the asterisk* from my email address.

If Indycar2 graphix are what you're looking for then pick up a Intergraph Reactor. Simply amazing for that game, I have a p166 24 ram and with the reactor and AltT (no frame Rate Limit) I can hit over 50 fps with ALL the textures turned on in SVGA mode. This is doubling the real speed so if youre going 200 it will seem like 400 so it's best to keep the AltT in check, it keeps it at 30 fps. It's not just the speed, the graphix are redone and look a LOT better, even better than GP2.

The Sierra, Intergraph and SoundBlaster 3D cards are all the same. ---Wayne

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> The Sierra, Intergraph and SoundBlaster 3D cards are all > the same. > ---Wayne > > Anyone running icar2 with the creative labs rendition card? > > I wonder if it compares to the screamin 3d. Does the Icar2 > > sold in stores support the rendition cards, cause it doesnt > > say on the box. > > stev > > -- > > If replying by mail, remove the asterisk* from my email > > address.

The ICR2 version sold in stores is different than the rendition optimized version you get from Sierra or Intergraph when you buy a rendition card. I bought Icr2 in a store in september, and the got a reactor with a rendition ready version. The graphics were totally different. I had to return the reactor abooout a month ago because a bios flash killed the board. I didn't ask for a replacement because intergraph Canada wouldn't offer the special price US customers had. I just ordered and installed a 3D blaster fron CL. It works fine compared to the problems I had with the reactor. I kept the rendition ready ICR2 on my hard disk, and tried it with the 3D Blaster. It works, but I get 2 error messages, 1- can't write driver's info when changing my driver's name 2- can't create settings file after exiting a track after a race. This means that all the games setups, like opposition strenght, number of cars drawn, etc., reset ot default values every time I exit the game or even a track. It did the same thing with the reactor card installed. I am waiting for a rendition ready version available in stores so I can get it with a manual and everything. I hope this is fixed. Anybody else with these problems ? Also in GP2, the video speed in log.txt is down to 24, compared to 520 with my Dynamite 128. Estimated fr. went from 22.5 to 12.5 with same details. I haven't tried it enough yet in GP2 to see how bad things really are, buy it does not look promising. I actually ran it with an external video to tv scan converter, so I knew the graphics wouldn't be as crip, but this doesn't change the estimated frame rate. Anybody out there has these figures ? Mnay thanks. Guy Brosseau

GP2 incorrectly uses the Rendition card's slow VGA core to estimate framerates. It's SVGA speeds should be very similar to your 128. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

Well, you shouldn't have kept ICR2-3D since you returned the hardware, but since you've already got it... 1. Sounds like you need to set the file attributes on the car set to read/write instead of read-only. This is a known bug of some of the ICR installation programs. CD-ROM files are always read-only and the install program overlooked resetting these files. In Win95, click on the file in question, hit Alt-Enter, uncheck the Read-only box, and hit OK. 2. Saving a "settings file", as in car setup? If you are attempting to save it, this would have to be done at a particular track, before exitting. Perhaps the game is trying to save the DEFAULT.ST1 file for that track (so you'll have the same setup next time you race there) and the same file attribute bug as above is causing the problem. If you mean a "standings file", as in race results, I don't know why that wouldn't work. Pick one or more: Model Rockets (competition-NERCB) / PCs (even Atari!) / Papyrus ICR-ICR2-NCR / Who needs a life when you have multiple non-lives?

Intergraph Canada has the Reactor for $215+gst till Dec. 31.