VP Video Card

[Itchigo]

I'm finally tired of errors on Vp9 so I'm going to update my video card. I don't know much in this area. This is what I have: IBM I Intellistation Mpro 6218, P4, HT, 3.6, 2G of ram DDR2, memory speed 533 mhz, goes up to 8G , if I need to go more please tell me but I doubt it. Nvidia Quadro FX 1400 128mb, (came with the machine) running XP Home. A 400w power supply is the spec. for the machine. My budget is about $50 (Wal-Mart gift cert.) I don't know much about the cards except the memory numbers, but I know that's not all there is to it. It has a pci slot (PCI expressx16) but I don't know what it looks like or what/where it is. I want to do all things VP, but even though this is a mame cabinet (Kenwood Pinball) it is still used as a computer as well. Hope I didn't leave anything important out. Any ideas?? Thanks in advance.

 

[sleepy]

I'm an ATI user so I'm not up on NVIDIA, but have you tried updating the video drivers?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_20010601_3255.html

 

[StevOz]

I think you'll need to spend slightly more then $50. This card at $64.82 is the minimum I would recommend.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/EVGA-GeForce-9400-GT-1GB-PCI-E-128bit-DDR2/11084718

Also the 182.50 driver is the driver of choice for VP9 usage.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_182.50_whql.html




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[Itchigo]

If I have to go over a little it's ok, just nothing drastic. I have tried to update the driver, but it says it can't find a better match than what I have. I'm not married to Nvidia, if ATI works better, or something else it's ok too. From what I have read by Googling this card it's better suited for 3-d work than gaming which is dissapointing because I bought this machine because of it's specs but I didn't know that this was the standard card for the machine. The ad said that this was an updated card, oh well I still got a good deal for 177.50 on E-bay. Thanks.

 

[sleepy]

No, that "better match" stuff...don't listen to Windows.
Just try the driver update without Windows intervention.
As long as the driver update is "Windows Certified" you should have no trouble, and sometimes it's better to use the driver update even when the drivers have not been certified as the certification process costs MONEY and the update is for a legacy product. In this case the drivers should be safe when from a trusted company, though there have been blunders in the past. It still happens, so maybe Google for "driver update problems" by product name first and research the matter before trying uncertified updates. See what others are saying.
Use the NVIDIA installer (the download) directly.
Then if it fails to work, just roll back the drivers.

You can also create a "Save Point" by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. When prompted, give this Save Point a name you will remember. After the Save Point is created, then try installing the driver download.

And then, if the new drivers do not work, you can either roll back the drivers under Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager button > Display Adapters > (something like) NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 > Properties > Drivers tab > Roll Back Drivers button

~or~

Simply open System Restore and choose to reset the computer to an earlier time, and choose the Save Point that you saved before installing the drivers to restore the system.
This will take a few moments, but when the computer reboots, the new drivers will be gone and the old drivers that were installed before you tried the driver update will be restored. If you do this, make sure to not wait to install the drivers or to restore the system as any changes to the computer which occur after the Save Point is made will be lost.

 

[faralos]

exactly what kind of errors are you getting? when playing in VP always make sure that the HD render box is UNchecked before hitting play so as not to get errors about; 'not enough memory to create off-screen z-surface' or plunger disappearing issues and other weird things. check the other post about this problem that I just posted a solution for...

 

[StevOz]

Thing is without the HD box checked the table rendering is vastly inferior and with a capable graphics card, it is most advantageous to have it checked. No weirdness here with it checked...

 

[Itchigo]

It turns out that hd was checked. I didn't know that it could do that on it's own occasionaly. I also didn't know what it does. If I never got them to work- that would be one thing, but going through the plunger issues getting it to start every time , and then not at all is what made me say. I'm still planning to upgrade the card, but now it's not as critical, I can limp by for a little while. All the games with the plunger issues I redownloaded (3rd or 4th times the charm) are now working except tom, and dracula (rom issue, I'll work on that later). I'm working on a table layout "Rue Goldberg Pinball", when I'm finished with it I'll upload it and let the experts give it some paint and code, since I don't know either. It may take a bit because I'm trying to learn to curve ramps and such. Thanks for all the help, what a great place this is! TGIF it's Millertime!

 

[sleepy]

Try putting a check in the HD Render box and then Save the table.
Close and reopen Visual Pinball and then try the saved table.

Try this with the plunger-problem tables and let us know if it worked.

 

[sleepy]

What the HD Render box does is to enable Video card hardware rendering.
Unchecked, the CPU does the rendering.

 

[faralos]

ah ramps are ez once you figure out how to add points. just right click on a ramp to add a point then you can make the curve at that point. At times you may see 'jaggies' on a wire ramp that usually means that the curve points are too close to each other. I LOVE ramps and most of my originals have 'em. check out my Zen table at vpforums.org for curved ramps! in VP9 you can also make them see-thru too using a bitmap file called 'translucent grey' for my originals go to vpforums.org find any post by me, go under my avatar's pic, to that 'upload list' box. click on that andyou will see alist of my originals, most of them use ramps...I say 'vpf' 'cause not all of my originals are up here yet...no disrespect to this site as this one also is a great site

also later today I will be uploading two more bitmap files called translucent red and tran...blue for see-thru ramps made in those two colors also...I don't think anyone else has those two yet, my zizzle table (marvel) will also be uploaded there with the blue see-thru ramps in it later tonite (it's saturday morning right now, so by 11pm I will have those bitmaps uploaded at vpforums.org...)
atm I am at a local library (don't have internet at the place where I am currently staying) and can't upload now...

 

[Itchigo]

I did try hd then save on tom, no luck. The games won't start with hd checked. I'm going to try redownloading again. It's the only plunger issue game left. I redownloaded the roms for dracula, now it can find them, but there's no sound, only the sound of the solenoids but no game sounds. I have a few Vp8 games that do that as well (Nugent,Stars). I tried JP's tip of end, 8 or 9 to raise the volume, but it only works on certain games (not the problem ones, also it raises the overall volume making the solenoids even louder). I'll try redoing the roms.