Quadro4 and DGA Xmame.x11

09-26-02, 06:09 PM

Hi,

I recently swapped out my GeForce2 GTS for a shiny new Quadro4 900 XGL. I didn't change any software settings, and everything worked as before, Q3A, RTCW, UT2003 demo, etc. except much quicker!

Everything except Xmame.x11 using DGA it would seem. If I try Xmame, then after the screen has switched, I end up with a screen full of random pixels, and I have to reach for the Magic SysRq key to bring the system back to usable. Xmame does work without DGA, but it's not as good.

I was running 2960 drivers, but I've just upgraded to 3123 and the problem still persists, and everything else is still working fine.

I repeat, everything worked as-is using a GeForce2 GTS. No software has been reconfigured.

How am I going to get my fix of Tempest now?

Matt

churritz · 06-21-03, 06:35 PM

this is a pretty old reply but i've ALWYAS had the same problem with xmame and dga mode with my geforce 3 ti200 and any nvidia driver/kernel combo. Wish there was a fix to this. You can get your fix by just not running xmame with the -x11 1 parameter but it's in a window so it's not as fast as full screen, you can use the -fullscreen option too but that is just simulating big pixels in a highres mode (still slow.)

churritz · 06-21-03, 11:15 PM

just to mention that if anyone knows of this problem or has experienced it or has an idea why a program (xmame -x11 1) that uses NVIDIAs drivers can crash XFfree leaving the computer that it crashed on inoperable unless someone can network login and kill X, please respond .

06-22-03, 04:41 AM

There is another workaround I've tried whilst discussing this problem with the Xmame developers, and that is to hardcode the driver to use DGA1 instead of DGA2 which it will try by default.

In .../src/unix/video-drivers/xf86_dga.c, find the line in xf86_dga_init() that looks like this:

else if (i >= 2)

and change the 2 to something bigger, such as 20. This will effectively stop DGA2 from being tried and the code falls through to the original DGA1 code below it.

So far I've not had any problems with this, but I've only tried a few games.

I've also raised this issue with NVidia directly through their support e-mail and they've now confirmed they're aware of it. I didn't realise that the problem also exists with hardware such as GeForce3's...

churritz · 06-22-03, 11:53 AM

sweeet!!! thanks i've been waiting more than a year to get that to work. I was able to play mspacman no problem, but other games just leave the screen blank, i can hear sound and insert credits but no video, but heck at least i can press esc and it goes back to X with out crashing, thanks a bunch.

wonder if nvidia gets DGA2 to work in the driver if the other games will work too.

09-26-02, 06:09 PM	#1
MattD Guest Posts: n/a	Quadro4 and DGA Xmame.x11 Hi, I recently swapped out my GeForce2 GTS for a shiny new Quadro4 900 XGL. I didn't change any software settings, and everything worked as before, Q3A, RTCW, UT2003 demo, etc. except much quicker! Everything except Xmame.x11 using DGA it would seem. If I try Xmame, then after the screen has switched, I end up with a screen full of random pixels, and I have to reach for the Magic SysRq key to bring the system back to usable. Xmame does work without DGA, but it's not as good. I was running 2960 drivers, but I've just upgraded to 3123 and the problem still persists, and everything else is still working fine. I repeat, everything worked as-is using a GeForce2 GTS. No software has been reconfigured. How am I going to get my fix of Tempest now? Matt

06-21-03, 06:35 PM	#2
churritz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 11	this is a pretty old reply but i've ALWYAS had the same problem with xmame and dga mode with my geforce 3 ti200 and any nvidia driver/kernel combo. Wish there was a fix to this. You can get your fix by just not running xmame with the -x11 1 parameter but it's in a window so it's not as fast as full screen, you can use the -fullscreen option too but that is just simulating big pixels in a highres mode (still slow.)

06-21-03, 11:15 PM	#3
churritz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 11	just to mention that if anyone knows of this problem or has experienced it or has an idea why a program (xmame -x11 1) that uses NVIDIAs drivers can crash XFfree leaving the computer that it crashed on inoperable unless someone can network login and kill X, please respond .

06-22-03, 04:41 AM	#4
MattD Guest Posts: n/a	There is another workaround I've tried whilst discussing this problem with the Xmame developers, and that is to hardcode the driver to use DGA1 instead of DGA2 which it will try by default. In .../src/unix/video-drivers/xf86_dga.c, find the line in xf86_dga_init() that looks like this: else if (i >= 2) and change the 2 to something bigger, such as 20. This will effectively stop DGA2 from being tried and the code falls through to the original DGA1 code below it. So far I've not had any problems with this, but I've only tried a few games. I've also raised this issue with NVidia directly through their support e-mail and they've now confirmed they're aware of it. I didn't realise that the problem also exists with hardware such as GeForce3's...

06-22-03, 11:53 AM	#5
churritz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 11	sweeet!!! thanks i've been waiting more than a year to get that to work. I was able to play mspacman no problem, but other games just leave the screen blank, i can hear sound and insert credits but no video, but heck at least i can press esc and it goes back to X with out crashing, thanks a bunch. wonder if nvidia gets DGA2 to work in the driver if the other games will work too.