Speaking of games (tweaking X...)

[Janicki at ia-inc.com (Chris Janicki)]

I'm sure someone else can offer more technical advice, but since it's 
late, maybe I can give you some hints...

The "refresh rate" is how many times (per second) the screen is 
refreshed, usually something in the range of 50-90Hz.  For reasons 
unknown to me, there are many different combinations of sizes (e.g. 
800x600) and refresh rates supported by different monitors.  Each monitor 
has its own unique collection.  In general its hard to draw a big screen 
size *and* support a fast refresh rate.  So the higher the monitor 
quality, the higher the refresh rate capabilities at large sizes.  

Your goal is usually to find the largest size and highest refresh rate 
supported by both your video card and monitor.  Sometimes it can be 
difficult to find that match amongst many choices.

The horizontal garbage is *definitely* an indicator of a refresh rate not 
supported by your monitor.  Try adjusting your VooDoo card to slow down 
the rate.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

On 4/13/01, 10:23:11 PM, Duane Morin <dmorin at morinfamily.com> wrote 
regarding Speaking of games (tweaking X...):


> Ok, I just got Soldier of Fortune up and running on my VoodooIII card 
with
> XFree86 3.something (whatever comes with RH6.2).  Here's what I get:

> If I try to run in 640x480 mode, I get a zillion horizontal garbage lines 
on
> the screen.  Loki suggests that it might be a refresh problem, and that I
> should "tweak my modelines".

> 800x600 mode - screen  is much better, but still slightly garbled, such 
as
> seeing some of the text characters not appear properly.

> 1024x768 - game plays properly, with no garbage.  However, when I try to 
exit
> the screen I get a couple of big blue and white diagonal stripes across 
my
> screen, as if it failed to refresh itself back into my normal X operating
> mode.  I still have control, and can execute programs like test3dfx 
(which
> does it's thing, but brings me back to the stripey screen).  I have to
> ctrl-alt-backspace to reset X and get a login prompt again.

> I normally run X in 1024x768 mode.  The 3 modes described are in my 
XF86Config
> file, and I can get at them all by ctrl-alt- +/- through them during 
normal X
> operation. Anybody got any help for me?  I'm willing to try "tweaking my
> modelines" if I knew what that meant!  I don't want to blow anything up.  
Or
> if there's something I have to do to get 1024x768 mode to exit properly.

> I should mention that this is a really old monitor, relatively speaking 
--
> call it 5 years.

> Thanks!

> Duane




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