newbie help - SM3.0 on Geforce 6 series

[dreadz]

i am writing a GPU particle system for a uni project. i want to use vertex texture fetch for the rendering and MRT in the pixel shader calculations.

i have a GeForce 6600 which according to NVidia, fully supports shader model 3.

i thought shader model 3 was basically FP40 profile in Cg? but when i try to compile using FP40 i get a profile not supported error.

i queried the card for shader model 3 using glutExtensionSupported("NV_vertex_program3") and it says its not supported.

any ideas whats going on? i really need these features or i cant do the project. i am a newbie so possible i'm doing something stupid! do you have to enable these features somehow? i thought it should just work straight off. i am using Cg, openGL and C++. any help or pointers to good tutorials that would help me get this working would be very much appreciated.

i've tried updating my drivers but it didnt make a difference.

PS - i was googling to try and find how to fix this, i found this thread:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=49867
it doesnt do anything when i run it, i can see the pool but theres no movement in the water. i pressume this could be part of the same problem?

[dreadz]

ok, sorry i have found something wrong.

i should have queried for GL_NV_vertex_program3, not NV_vertex_program3.

i am still a bit confused about the profiles though. i thought i needed NV40 profiles to open up this functionality? if i have a shader model 3 card shouldnt it be ok using FP40? i'm pretty sure you cant do MRT with FP30, but MRT is supported in shader model 3. i still get a profile error if i try and compile with FP40.