nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu (Nathaniel Beck) (05/28/91)
Have just gotten a Diamond Speedstar/Sony HG1304 combination I am looking for applications that show off the capabilities of this combination. I am not looking for serious applications such as autocad but fun applications (is this just an excuse to buy a game). What great graphics programs (games?) do people like. I already have After Dark. Will take things that run or do not run under Windows. Thanks in advance Neal -- Neal Beck Dept of Politcal Science, UCSD beck@ucsd.edu Dislaimer: The Regents pay me (a bit!) to distribute my opinions.
gordon@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (John Gordon) (05/28/91)
nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu (Nathaniel Beck) writes: >Have just gotten a Diamond Speedstar/Sony HG1304 combination I am >looking for applications that show off the capabilities of this >combination. I am not looking for serious applications such as >autocad but fun applications (is this just an excuse to buy a game). >What great graphics programs (games?) do people like. I already have >After Dark. Will take things that run or do not run under Windows. Games: King's Quest V Wing Commander Other stuff: .GIF pictures. Many FTP sites have them.
antonyc@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Antony Chan) (05/28/91)
gordon@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (John Gordon) writes: >nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu (Nathaniel Beck) writes: >>Have just gotten a Diamond Speedstar/Sony HG1304 combination I am >>looking for applications that show off the capabilities of this >>combination. I am not looking for serious applications such as >>autocad but fun applications (is this just an excuse to buy a game). >>What great graphics programs (games?) do people like. I already have >>After Dark. Will take things that run or do not run under Windows. > Games: King's Quest V > Wing Commander > Other stuff: .GIF pictures. Many FTP sites have them. well, if you want to show off SVGA, then a game is not the right way to go. most games use MCGA or something of that resolution, because svga doesnt (to my knowledge) support page switching, so animation doesnt work too smoothly. for example, wing commander definately DOES NOT USE SVGA. i'm not even sure it can use plain old vga. what it definately does use is mcga and ega. king's quest might use svga, if, as i recall, it is not animation intensive, but it is also fairly unlikely that it does due to the fact that not everybody has svga. image files (like .GIF (tm)) do use really awesome graphics modes, given the right viewer. i would recommend vpic (a fairly recent version is 3.4) for non-windows, and wingif for windows. fractint also works very well with svga, although the increased resolution translates into increased calculation time.
smsmith@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M Smith) (05/28/91)
(Even though I trim that stupid header down to 3 lines it always adds a bunch of junk that no one ever reads anyway...) antonyc@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Antony Chan) writes: > >well, if you want to show off SVGA, then a game is not the right way >to go. most games use MCGA or something of that resolution, because >svga doesnt (to my knowledge) support page switching, so animation >doesnt work too smoothly. for example, wing commander definately >DOES NOT USE SVGA... Yes. I'm pretty sure it only uses 320x200x256. And during the flight sequence it only animates about 25% of the screen--the rest is made up of cockpit instruments. I suppose there are people out there who would like action games in 1024x768x256. Well, given that I have an Orchid Pro II and a Sony 1304HG and that it takes 10 seconds for a single 1024x768x256 picture to load, that's going to be pretty hard to do on today's hardware! A coprocessor wouldn't even help...you would need a much faster graphics card and a bus speed of much higher than 8 MHz. >king's quest might use svga, >if, as i recall, it is not animation intensive, but it is also fairly >unlikely that it does due to the fact that not everybody has svga. Someone in rec.games.misc said that Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland) uses SVGA. I'm planning on getting that game because of that feature, so if I'm misinformed somebody let me know. >image files (like .GIF (tm)) do use really awesome graphics modes, >given the right viewer. i would recommend vpic (a fairly recent >version is 3.4) for non-windows, and wingif for windows. >fractint also works very well with svga, although the increased >resolution translates into increased calculation time. What about Cshow? It does card-specific stuff from 640x400 (and lower) to 1280x1024. It allows you to pick the resolution you want. Plus it's only $25 (shareware...a VERY good investment IMHO). Stephen M. Smith \ + / <smsmith@magnus. \+++++/ " #*&<-[89s]*(k#$@-_=//a2$]'+=.(2_&*%>,,@ acs.ohio-state. \ + / {7%*@,..":27g)-=,#*:.#,/6&1*.4-,l@#9:-) " edu> \ + / BTW, WYSInaWYG \ + / --witty.saying.ARC
smsmith@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M Smith) (05/28/91)
>What about Cshow? It does card-specific stuff from 640x400 (and >lower) to 1280x1024. It allows you to pick the resolution you want. >Plus it's only $25 (shareware...a VERY good investment IMHO). Oops. I meant from 320x40x256(and lower) to 1024x768. I don't know if it allows other cards to go higher or not. Fractint allows you to go up to 2048x2048 (with output to disk). SS
pburke@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Peter Burke, MIC, 263-7744) (05/29/91)
In article <nbeck.675370253@weber>, nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu (Nathaniel Beck) writes... >Have just gotten a Diamond Speedstar/Sony HG1304 combination I am >looking for applications that show off the capabilities of this >combination. I am not looking for serious applications such as >autocad but fun applications (is this just an excuse to buy a game). >What great graphics programs (games?) do people like. I already have >After Dark. Will take things that run or do not run under Windows. > For the best graphics a 1024x768x256 card can display, I recommend Fractint for Windows (a shareware/free ? product). There is also a non-windows version, which I don't know. In terms of great looking games there isn't really anything that goes into SVGA. To me the best looking games (especially on fast CPU's) are some of the latest flight simulators, although they only run in 320x200x256. Red Baron is probably the best one in terms of utilizing color palette changes. Wing Commander is simply THE best in animated graphics, although it can easily become too fast on machines above a 33Mhz 386.
LAAAA43@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be (Peter Arien) (05/29/91)
In article <1991May28.155346.15867@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, smsmith@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M Smith) says: > >I suppose there are people out there who would like action games >in 1024x768x256. Well, given that I have an Orchid Pro II and a >Sony 1304HG and that it takes 10 seconds for a single 1024x768x256 >picture to load, that's going to be pretty hard to do on today's >hardware! A coprocessor wouldn't even help...you would need a >much faster graphics card and a bus speed of much higher than 8 MHz. > Wouldn't XGA do the job ? The PC-lab here at our university demonstrated one of these goodies and the speed and resolution of the animations was stunning. Peter. ==================================== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ==== Peter Arien = LAAAA43@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be = Academic Computing Center = LAAAA43@blekul11.bitnet = K.U.Leuven - Belgium = 'It was clear as mud ...' = ==================================== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ====
cb@tamarack12.timbuk (Chris Brewster) (05/30/91)
In article <nbeck.675370253@weber>, nbeck@weber.ucsd.edu Nathaniel Beck writes... >Have just gotten a Diamond Speedstar/Sony HG1304 combination I am >looking for applications that show off the capabilities of this >combination. I am not looking for serious applications such as >autocad but fun applications (is this just an excuse to buy a game). >What great graphics programs (games?) do people like. I already have >After Dark. Will take things that run or do not run under Windows. Fractools is absolutely eye-popping and not expensive (~$40). It makes wonderful use of the full palette. It comes with several "slide shows", and you can alter palettes etc. You can use it to generate new fractal images, but it takes a long time (they recommend a math coprocessor). PC Paintbrush is good for playing with color graphics directly and also is totally flexible with palettes. If you (like me) are not using MS Windows, there may be an issue about the color driver, which you may want to check in advance. These two programs do by far the most with color of any that I have used. Chris Brewster
edwong@bucsf.bu.edu (Edward Wong) (05/30/91)
If you want to show off your "Super" VGA, there aren't many games that supports up to 1024x768. I think there is one though, it's called the "Moonbase" I guess. -- 8) _ _ | user's name: Edward Wong |_ |\ \ / /\ |_) |\ | ARPA: edwong@bucsf.bu.edu |_ |/ \^/ /==\ | \ |/ | UUCP: bucsf.bu.edu!edwong