============= Release Notes ============= Quantum3D Obsidian(R)2 Multi-subchannel Series Release 5.5M for Windows NT 4.0 Built 07-Aug-2000 Copyright 1998-1999 Quantum3D, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ===================================================================== Quantum3D, Inc. 6810 Santa Teresa Blvd San Jose, California, 95119-1205 Voice: +1 (408) 361-9998 Fax: +1 (408) 361-9980 Web Site: http://www.quantum3d.com Technical Support: support@quantum3d.com ===================================================================== The Quantum3D Obsidian(R)2 drivers included with this release are based on 3dfx Interactive Glide 2.53 and Glide 3.01 RC1 drivers. This release also includes SimGL(tm) 4.3. Information on SimGL can be found in C:\Program Files\Q3D\Obsidian.2P\WinNT\Q3dSimGL.txt . --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a description of the changes/modifications/fixes made from Release 5.1M to Release 5.5M for Windows NT 4. GENERAL ======= - Added support to identify Obsidian2 HgM-96 correctly. These adapters have support for maximum SwapLock(tm) capability. - Updated the implementation of the Quantum3D Driver Extensions to SDK Release 1 Beta 1. - Modified device mapping scheme to support systems with multiple PCI buses and different bus topologies. - In order to keep it as "lean" as possible, SimGL has been removed from the "lean" update. - This release now supports both multi-subchannel models: the Obsidian2 90D and the Obsidian2 Hg. This means that SSTV2_SUBCHANNEL_CONFIG_Q3D is no longer added to the environment during installation. GLIDE ===== - When Glide needs to display an error message box, it now assumes that VGA passthru is being used on channel 0 and therefore it must enable it in order for the message box to visible. - Inverted SwapLock(tm) ring signal indicating master present. - Fixed a problem in Glide2 and Glide3 with mip-mapped edge anti-aliasing where the wrong LOD was being used when rendering the edges. - Multiple calls to grSstWinOpen no longer fail when made without matching calls to grGlideShutdown. OTHER ===== - Q3dInfUt.exe is now installed in C:\Program Files\Q3D\Obsidian.2P\WinNT instead of in the Windows system directory. - Added a multi-channel test utility (Q3dTst02.exe) to the release. It is installed in C:\Program Files\Q3D\Obsidian.2P\WinNT It is not truly needed, as this driver release only supports one channel of Obsidian2 Hg or Obsidian2 90D, and has been included solely be to consistent with the release for the other Obsidian2 models. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a description of the changes/modifications/fixes GENERAL ======= - Fixed hang due to instability when SSTV2_MDETECT was not defined in the environment space. - SSTV2_MDETECT is no longer added to the environment during installation. - Further improved reliability by not using write combining for linear frame buffer access. - Release contains the final SimGL 4.3 drivers (build 161). GLIDE ===== - Writing to the linear frame buffer using the pointer returned by grLfbLock() is now significantly slower, as it is no longer set up to be a write combining memory region. Use grLfbWriteRegion() instead. - Fixed a memory corruption problem in grAADrawLine(). OTHER ===== - Fixed GMojo detection of Obsidian2 Consumer Series adapters. - Fixed bug where property sheet would crash if "Adapter Info" was clicked twice. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a description of the changes/modifications/fixes made from earlier builds to Release 5M Build 260 for Windows NT 4. GENERAL ======= - This file (RelNotes.txt) now contains these release notes. The previous contents are now in ReadMe.txt . - The name of the environment variable that controls the aggregation of subchannels into a single channel was changed to SSTV2_SUBCHANNEL_CONFIG_Q3D. - Some early Obsidian2 200SBi-s are incorrectly detected as 200SB-s. If they have been used in your Hg-96, they must be reworked to use this release. - Modified the frame-buffer memory allocation scheme to improve reliability. The old frame-buffer memory allocation scheme can be reinstated by setting the environment variable SSTV2_USE_OLD_MEMOFFSET_Q3D=1. - Fixed intermittent Genport I/O Initialization failure. - Fixed video timing errors which caused visual artifacts on Hg-96's operating as SwapLock(tm) slaves. - Further improved reliability by the correcting the algorithm used by the drivers for automatic selection of a set of critical timing parameters. - Changed the spelling of "Obsidian2" to "Obsidian(R)2" now that it is a registered trademark. - Added pre-release SimGL 4.3 (build 153) drivers to the release. GLIDE ===== - The Glide edge anti-aliasing functions (grAA*) now work correctly when the auxiliary buffer is configured as an alpha buffer. - Updated the implementation of the Quantum3D Glide Extensions to SDK Release 1 Alpha 7, including grSstAlternateVideoTimingsQ3D(). - Updated the implementation of Glide3's grGet() and grGetString() to that of 3dfx 3.01; in particular, this means that grGet(GR_NUM_BOARDS,...) returns the number of channels instead of the number of FBI chips. OTHER ===== - The resolution and refresh listboxes on the property sheet now have new titles that make it clear what is being set: the refresh rate to use when an application chooses to run at a given resolution.