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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraWhy the "no3d" parameter?(6 posts)solved(6 posts)solved
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Posted July 17, 2010
Er, what exactly does the "-no3d" parameter disable to allow the game to run on modern systems? And why "doublebuffer"? What are the default settings and why are they incompatible with Windows 7 and multicore cpus or whatever?
This question / problem has been solved by Ralackkimage
Posted July 17, 2010
The -no3d setting runs the game in software rendering mode. Which can help make it compatibile with modern graphics cards.

I believe double buffering loads the images from the game into memory first and then updates them all in one go rather then try to draw them as bit by bit as you move about. It should be limited to updating the image with each vertical refresh of the monitor.
Post edited April 05, 2011 by Ethaar
Posted July 21, 2010
it doesn't make it compatible with modern cards, it just makes it not use the card at all... it uses the CPU to render a crappier looking version of the graphics.
Posted July 21, 2010
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taltamir: it doesn't make it compatible with modern cards, it just makes it not use the card at all... it uses the CPU to render a crappier looking version of the graphics.

Actually there is no noticable difference in graphics as game is 2D, not 3D. Most likely the 3D acceleration is used only on spell effects and special effects like in baldurs gate does. Reason why using it causes problems is that modern graphic cards and drivers no longer support pre DirectX9c functions properly. Some of the problems may also be due to bad programming and due to use of hacks/workaround and quirks on hardware and directX of that time.
Posted July 21, 2010
you are right... typically in games the no3d option is quite a downgrade, but I just tested it with and without and I see no difference between them. Except that the no3d version don't have graphical glitches
Post edited July 21, 2010 by taltamir
Posted July 21, 2010
When I first played the GOG version of Arcanum I was still using the Nvidia driver v182.50 with my 8800GT. I couldn't understand why everybody was recommending using the no3d parameter. I didn't use it and I forced 8x AA and it made a huge difference. I did have to use -doublebuffer to eliminate some graphic problems though.
Since then I upgraded to v197.45 and it appears to disable 3d rendering all by itself. No difference between -no3d and withou it. And it's obviously software rendering and of course forcing AA doesn't work. Also, this new driver won't allow me to force AA in Soldiers - Heroes of WW2 which I could under v182.50. One more thing, it appears that OpenGL games (old or young) don't look as good with v197.45.
I happen to be playing a current game at the moment but as soon as I'm done I'll be reverting back to v182.50 because my GOG colllection is a lot more important to me then these damn console ports they're releasing now. And when I replay Arcanum I'll be enjoying AA.
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraWhy the "no3d" parameter?(6 posts)solved(6 posts)solved
(6 posts)solved