Unable to start 2.1.1 under Win XP with Voodoo 5 5500

[Zardoz]

I'm unable to start UFO:AI on my system:
Windows XPSP2
PIII 850MHz
576MB RAM
64MB Voodoo 5 5500 PCI

I installed UFO:AI v.2.1.1, hotfix2 using the NullSoft win32 installer.  I've tried starting it using the Safe Mode shortcut and also using the command line start up.  In all cases, the same problem occurs: No window even gets created, there is CPU/drive activity, and then I get a generic Microsoft error saying that there was an "Application Fault" in ufo.exe.

One possibility is a problem with OpenGL.  I've tried two different Voodoo drivers, one with (old) OpenGL support, and the other with (old) "MesaFx" support, an OpenGL emulator.  but as you can imagine, it is hard to find Voodoo drivers with up-to-date support for anything.  I noticed one post in the Forum's where someone solved a problem under XP by using updated OpenGL drivers: UFOAI-2.1 on Windows XP.  Does anyone know if UFO:AI requires a certain version of OpenGL support?

I also tried to run it under Windows 98SE with a different set of drivers, and under Win98 a game window would open up, but then I would get the same error as these other Win98 folks: v2.1 does not start on Win98.

Lastly, has anyone actually succeeded in running UFO:AI on a video card of this generation? (i.e. circa 1998-99?)

Thanks,

Zardoz.

[Mattn]

you should have some log files in your c:\documents and settings\<user>\application data\ufoai dir - ufoconsole.log and glerror.log - please publish both on pastebin

[Zardoz]

you should have some log files[...]

Thanks for pointing me to the logfile location.  Only the ufoconsole.log file gets produced.  Here it is:
http://pastebin.ca/482491

Looks like the problem is:
ref_gl::R_Init() - could not load "opengl32"

I assume that's a problem with my openGL version.  I can try fiddling with a couple other OpenGL versions, if you think it at all possible that might help, but none of them will be very recent.

Driver and OpenGL Versions:
Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 drivers for Voodoo 5 5500
opengl32.dll version 6.1.0.8 from MesaFX package for Voodoo cards

[Zardoz]

Here is another log file using a different set of drivers.  This one gets further along during the start-up sequence.  Now, I get a screen resolution change followed by a grey screen, then I get dumped back to the desktop.  Once again, only the ufoconsole.log gets created.  Here it is:
http://pastebin.ca/482516

I can see the problem now seems to be:
GLimp_Init() - no hardware acceleration detected

Drivers and OpenGL Versions:
Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 drvier for Voodoo 5 5500
opengl32.dll v.5.1.2600.2180 that ships with XPSP2

[Zardoz]

More info: When I run SafeMode, I get further along again.  This time, I get the screen resolution change, the grey screen and then I get dumped back to my desktop, but there are two UFO:AI processes still running, and one blank window showing.  So I can actually see the UFO:AI on my taskbar.  Then, after another 10-20 seconds, I get a Microsoft error report generated about UFO.exe, which is then ended.

No ufoconsole.log seems to be created in this case (?).

[Mattn]

Invalid access to memory location.

that's interesting, too

you can also try to set the gl_driver cvar to another dll if you need to - or copy your opengl dll into the ufo directory

[Zardoz]

Thanks Mattn.  

I've found a driver set that gets me a bit further still.  This time, there is more info in the error log about my GL problems:
http://pastebin.ca/482617

The console makes it appear like the game was initialized, at least partly, but I don't get to see an opening screen or anything.

According to some info I found, the MesaFX OpenGL implementation I was using before is supposed to be compliant with OpenGL 1.3.  The opengl32.dll library I'm using in this latest test was written by the same guy (Daniel Borca), and was done a bit later, but never fully completed or tested.

Drivers and Open GL Versions:
Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 driver for Voodoo 5 5500
opengl32.dll v.0.9.2 from the SAGE project by Daniel Borca

[Zardoz]

OK, I gave it one last shot but still no success.  This time I tried using the latest Alpha driver from the SSFT Voodoo driver project.  The Amigamerlin driver is based on an earlier version of this driver, so I thought it possible that the latest version might fix some issues.  With the new SSFT Alpha 46 driver, I then tried using the various opengl32.dll files I'd tried previously with the Amigamerlin driver, but the results appear to be the same as before.  The furthest I get in the startup process definitely occurs when using the SAGE Project OpenGL emulators, however, I don't always get a ufoconsole.log  created when using the SAGE opengl32.dll -- sometimes I just get a Microsoft Application error and nothing gets written to the error console.

Here is a sample of the ufoconsole.log file from the attempt using the opengl32.dll that shipped with XPSP2:
http://pastebin.ca/485185

Drivers and Open GL Versions:
SFFT Alpha 46 driver for Voodoo Series (unified architecture)
opengl32.dll v.5.1.2600.2180 that ships with XPSP2

Based on these attempts, I am pretty sure that the problem must be related to problems with the Voodoo's OpenGL driver implementation.  I don't entirely understand these things, but I have the vague impression that the Voodoo series doesn't actually implement OpenGL in a standard way: rather, it implements OpenGL by putting a wrapper around its proprietary Glide technology drivers and then interpreting OpenGL commands by translating them into Glide commands....or something like that.

If a new version of UFO:AI is released that is compatible with Win98SE, then I'll try again under that OS, since there is a tiny possibility that the Win98SE drivers for the Voodoo series might produce different results.  I may also try a couple of other tricks related to OpenGL stuff, but I doubt I'll have any success there -- especially since I don't really know what I'm doing.

Also, if I ever get around to installing Linux on this machine and manage to get the Voodoo card running properly under it, then I suppose there'll be a chance of it running that way, but that may be over a year from now...or never.

If anyone has additional ideas or experience using the Voodoo cards, please let me know.

Zardoz.