#3DSR3 OS/2 multitask
5 messages in this thread
I'm having trouble getting R3 to multitask under OS/2 2.1.
I am using the IBM S3 drivers (1024x768x256) for OS/2 and the builtin
vibrant drivers for 3DS (NDI Warp10 S3 in same resolution).
3DS runs fine (I have DMPMI, int during I/O, background executtion,
enabled etc.), and I even have it rendering to the Targa+ ok.
But, when I switch back to the OS/2 desktop while it is rendering,
the rendering stops. I can then switch back to 3DS and it resumes.
I found that if I turn on VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION in the dos
settings, then 3DS will continue to render when I switch away from
it, but when I switch back, the screen is black. Also, if I have it
render only one frame, even when that frame is done, the OS/2 system
activity monitor (Pulse) shows that CPU utilization is still about
100%. Also, if I have it render several frames, it will render only
the first one. It won't save any files either.
To reiterate, everything works fine as long as I don't try to render
in the background.
Is anybody getting 3DS to render properly in the background under
OS/2?
I know that Graeme Devine at Trilobyte has been able to do this.
He's frequently lurking around in the forum. If you need to, I can
dig up his Compuserve ID for you.
Thanks. I'll scope him out in the user dir.
BTW, I have a tip for other OS/2 users who may be out there. If you
turn off the setting that looks something like
"VIDEO_8514_XGA_IO_TRAP" then the vibrant drivers (at least for the
S3 boards) will run alot faster under OS/2. Otherwise, I think, it
will generate a trap to the OS every time the vibrant driver peeks or
pokes a register on the graphics board.
Bailey, if you turn the "VIDEO_8514_XGA_IO_TRAP" to off it does speed
things up but it will cause the white screen problem you described
after switching to the WorkPlace Shell then back to 3DSv3. For
background rendering try a seperate DOS MVDM and run a command line
3DS render. I think some of the render stopping is due to the screen
buffer while a command line render does not need to use any video
memory. I have not tried this yet, but I did find what caused the
white screen problem. I hope this helps. – DV
Dough,
I have not seen the white screen problem, so I will leave the traps off for
now.
I used command line rendering some in R2 and it displayed the "fuel guage" in
graphics mode. Is this different in R3. I guess it will be easy to find out.
Thanks.
Bailey