DX9 support with Modern NFS4 Patch

[FranknFurter]

... forgot that .. sry

This is quite easy: Make a new folder in the NFS\drivers directory from Veg: 'DX9'
extract 'DX9b.dll' from SP or EP patch ('D3DA.rar' from the 3DSetup folder which is installed by the patch) to the new folder, copy 'thrash.ini' from DX7 folder to the new DX9 folder ('fogsupport '1' ..important!)

Edit NFS4.ini 'thrashdriver = DX9'
Start NFS4.exe in Direct3D mode, now you have DX9 support with fog and so on ..

Greetings
Frank

[dandresden]

What a nice info for DX9 user (like me)
Thanks for info !

[Stifen_DY]

Thanks for the useful info,FranknFurter!
NFSHS never looked this awesome in DX9 renderer!

[FranknFurter]

... no problem!
found out by chance, simply trying things out like most do.

Running NFS' gameplay itself with DirectX surely looks a bit nicer, but I like the way cars are being presented in the car menu shown with Glide since I'm a car tinkler like Nils is, so I like cars to be shown more accurate in menu

Wasn't that nice poll, too, 'How are you running NFS on your machine?': DirectX, Software or Glide, which resolution, and a possibility to post a screeny with e.g. the same Starting situation so anyone can compare with his results and what it looks like on other's machines. Maybe a good way to improve one's one NFS environment.

I think modern graphic cards are comparable and concerning performance most exceed power by far for this old game, so more important is the game's environmetal situation and the renderer (respectively its specific settings one has chosen) it is running on.

Greetings
Frank

[dandresden]

Yeah....for me, Glide option that make me lagged when im race with 4500-6000 poly cars....but stock (1k poly it's okay)...... That's why i choose Direct3D

[FranknFurter]

Dan, have you tried the (smaller) Glide3x.dll from Zeckensack's Glide Wrapper? Was the same to me when running the large NGLide Glide3x.dll when I installed it for the first time.
I had tried out many Glide Wrappers like also DGVoodoo but that's for example a bit .. complex

Read my earlier thread, this explains how it's done.

On my (very old..) machine Glide runs smooth as peaches ..

Frank

[dandresden]

Dan, have you tried the (smaller) Glide3x.dll from Zeckensack's Glide Wrapper?

From that, i doubt to do that....ahh, i remember Glide2x change named to be Glide3x ?
Hmmmm...sometime i'll do it...Thanks for that info, Frank 😃

[FranknFurter]

nooooo...!! Don't do that! I just said I had let the Glide2x.dll from NGlide in my Windows\system32 directory for another game ... sry that this was mistakable.

... just rename the Glide3x.dll delivered by Veg (NGLide driver) to another name and use Zeckensack's Glide3x.dll instead, runs smoother because of less CPU usage.

Important thing is, Zeckensack's Glide3x.dll HAS to be in the \Windows directory, otherwise his Glide Configurator won't take effect on any changes you do like 'Try High Resolution' -> which means: double the resolution as 'default' (if anyone has read Zeckensack's *.html readme ), 640x480 = 1280x960 .. more than most Direct3D drivers might be able to deliver in case of, do they?

Don't worry about the Glide3x.dll found in another than the NFS\drivers directory, the game will look up then in the Windows\ and Windows\system32 directory for drivers, believe it, it WORKS!

With those options ('Vert. sync -> always off') in Glide configurator set I promise you will have never seen starting a race from menu like ever before ... within a second, really! Cannot really explain that, but I guess if vert sync is set 'off' the game doesn't try to synchronize to monitor settings and starts gameplay immediately, btw I haven't found any disadvantages with 'vert sync -> always off' set in Glide Configurator compared to 'on' or 'depending on' ...

Uhmm .. what do I need to make Video proof of what I'm talking about? Any progs which record monitor activity? I would then post that somewhere ...

Greetings
Frank

[VEG]

It seens that you're talking about this renderer:

Unfortunately, it's a fake. This renderer doesn't use D3D9 at all. As I can see from the code, it uses D3D7, so it is a DX7 renderer. Original build date of this file is 25 Sep 2001 (every exe and dll has timestamp in the headers). Also you can find this string in the file: "Mike Ockenden, Tuesday 11:41AM Sep 25, 2001". It seems that it was just taken from some game and version information was changed in some resource editor.

I've found original version of this file. It is the dx7z.dll from the "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea Japan". It hasn't any code changes. Only version information was changed. It seems that it is some kind of joke.

As for using other glide wrappers. You can set ThrashDriver=Glide3x, and it will use your system glide3x.dll. It's not needed to remove glide3x.dll from the nglide directory.

[VEG]

Actually, you can find two versions of this fake:

Code Select Expand

FILEVERSION 2003,9,4,103
PRODUCTVERSION 0,0,0,0
FILEOS 0x4
FILETYPE 0x2
{
BLOCK "StringFileInfo"
{
BLOCK "040904B0"
{
VALUE "CompanyName", "GALAHs Australia"
VALUE "FileDescription", "DX9 3rash Module"
VALUE "FileVersion", "2003.09.04.0103"
VALUE "InternalName", "DirectX 9.0b"
VALUE "LegalCopyright", "Copyright (C) 2003"
VALUE "OriginalFilename", "dxa.dll"
VALUE "ProductName", "GALAHs Fifa99 3D Patch"
VALUE "ProductVersion", "1.03"
}
}

Code Select Expand

FILEVERSION 2003,8,20,3020
PRODUCTVERSION 0,0,0,0
FILEOS 0x4
FILETYPE 0x2
{
BLOCK "StringFileInfo"
{
BLOCK "040904B0"
{
VALUE "CompanyName", "GALAHs Australia"
VALUE "FileDescription", "DX9 3rash Module"
VALUE "FileVersion", "2003.08.20.3020"
VALUE "InternalName", "DirectX 9.0a"
VALUE "LegalCopyright", "Copyright (C) 2003"
VALUE "OriginalFilename", "dx6z.dll"
VALUE "ProductName", "GALAHs Fifa2000 3D Patch"
VALUE "ProductVersion", "3.20"
}
}

Version information in the resources is the only difference between them. I don't know why the author had written "DirectX 9.0a" and "DirectX 9.0b" in these files, but it is definitely a lie.