ZDoom on 486s

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leileilol
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ZDoom on 486s

Post by leileilol »

It works (25fps-ish at 320x200, on a AM5x86 133), but some quirks:
- Low detail (vertically, horizontally or both) doesn't really speed up a thing
- 11025hz is favored (this really speeds up the engine)
- If the only synth in your computer is the Microsoft Synthesizer it's HIGHLY ADVISED to not use midi at all !!

Any other speed up tips?
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Kinsie »

Interesting! I'm actually surprised it can run on such a system. What OS?
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Slasher
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Slasher »

Other than for the curiousity of seeing if ZDoom can run on an old system like that, why would you want to?
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Project Shadowcat »

She has several older PCs. Let's remember, this is a very old game that ZDoom is based off of; I think that only minor slow-down compared to Vanilla is probably the most optimal.
For nostalgia's sake I wish I still had a 486 or Pentium 1.

Of course when you said:
Low detail (vertically, horizontally or both) doesn't really speed up a thing
You might want to tell the devs.
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Graf Zahl »

I'm not really surprised that the detail modes have no effect. First, ZDoom uses completely different rendering code and second, the largest chunk of time is used to copy the screen from an offscreen buffer to the video RAM - and regardless of pixel doubling or whatever, this will remain the same amount of data as long as the screen resolution doesn't change.
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by randi »

In that case, I might as well just get rid of the pixel doubling.

I'm curious to know how it would run on a 60 MHz Pentium, since that was the system I first tried the Doom shareware on.
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Xaser »

Hmm, I wonder if my dad still has an ancient system like this stashed away? He's got everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to computers, and that's only because they don't make kitchen sinks for computers. If they did, he'd have one of those too.

I do know someone who still has an ancient Packard Bell with who-knows-what in it. Maybe that's worth a try... if I can fit the game on a few floppies somehow. ;P
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Slasher »

What's with all the fascination with playing ZDoom on a really old computer? I don't get it... :?
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Project Shadowcat »

There's just something about booting up the old 486 that makes you remember good times and good games is all. :D
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Unknown_Assassin »

Slasher wrote:What's with all the fascination with playing ZDoom on a really old computer? I don't get it... :?
ZDoom is an advanced port.
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by Slasher »

Project Dark Fox wrote:...remember good times and good games is all. :D
That's what DosBox is for.
Unknown_Assassin wrote:
Slasher wrote:What's with all the fascination with playing ZDoom on a really old computer? I don't get it... :?
ZDoom is an advanced port.
And your point is? So what if an advanced port happens to also run on really old machines?



Never mind, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and they can choose to run it on whatever system they want to try it with, so I'll stop trolling this thread now.
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by MasterOFDeath »

Heh, I remember running ZDoom on a 100mhz Pentium I still have. Some other tips I can think of:

-Disable decals (cl_maxdecals 0)
-Disable translucency (r_drawtrans 0)
-Disable rocket trails, blood particles, etc.
-Or disable particles entirely (r_particles 0)
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by jallamann »

GZDoom 1.1.4 software renderer 320x240
Image <-- Normal
Image <-- Double horizontal/vertical
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leileilol
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by leileilol »

I think the slowdown might come from a screen drawing call rather than just pixel output. Low detail really speeds up the already-fast vanilla doom (though I had to set a jumper to 3x to see a difference there). Chocolate doom runs 3fps at 320x200 (SDL doesn't like 486s much, I know Zdoom doesn't use it at all but Chocolate Doom runs playably on a Pentium/MMX 150MHz)

On a barely related note, Duke Nukem 3D (Build engine)'s low detail mode is completely useless though :P, it was even remarked by Ken as being a waste of time to implement

Video card is a STB POWERGRAPH S3 Trio64v+ 2mb FYI. This computer is really my old 1994-1997 486 in a new case (old case was rusted) and it was built by me (no OEM) so this isn't no "randomly scavenged from someone's closet" computer. It's the fastest 486 I can possibly build, it can even play MP3s/SPCs/FLACs while browsing the internet! It can even run Windows 2000! Hell it even has a VOODOO2!!!!!! VOODOO2 OMG
Project Dark Fox wrote:There's just something about booting up the old 486 that makes you remember good times and good games is all. :D
Nothing beats the 10/10/1994 AMIBIOS bootup and setup screen. I wish a BIOS emulator existed, even if it's only to simulate bootup.

fyi zdoom runs VERY SMOOTH on a Pentium 100MHz, beyond 35fps easily, it also runs great on a Cyrix6x86MX-200, clocked at 80mhz even it's still smooth (80mhz benchmarks in WinTune95 put it way below par of the 486's speed even)
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Re: ZDoom on 486s

Post by PlayerLin »

leileilol wrote: On a barely related note, Duke Nukem 3D (Build engine)'s low detail mode is completely useless though :P, it was even remarked by Ken as being a waste of time to implement
DN3D doesn't like 486s... I got a low-fps (about <5~10fps) in 320x200 on my first AMD 80486DX2-66 with 8MB RAM, Tseng Labs ET4000 display card with 2MB display RAM, I know it not so fast. (But , it so damn expensive in 1994/1995 when my father bought it...and yes, it was OEM computer.)

But I was still play whole DN3D levels with that system at all until the mother board dead... :(
Ah... off topic...
leileilol wrote: Video card is a STB POWERGRAPH S3 Trio64v+ 2mb FYI. This computer is really my old 1994-1997 486 in a new case (old case was rusted) and it was built by me (no OEM) so this isn't no "randomly scavenged from someone's closet" computer. It's the fastest 486 I can possibly build, it can even play MP3s/SPCs/FLACs while browsing the internet! It can even run Windows 2000! Hell it even has a VOODOO2!!!!!! VOODOO2 OMG
Just be curious, should it spend many money when you built it?
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