le717 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 If you look at the EXE parameters for LR1, there is a parameter called "-select3d", which lets you choose which 3D setting you want to use. Well, I have been trying for a while to get this to work, but I cannot. Here is a picture of the options. I cannot, whatsoever, select the second option. I have tried running the game in many compatibility modes, to no avail. Of course DirectX6.1 will not install (wouldn't want it to either) because old versions can't replace new versions. But is there some dll in DX6.1 that makes this work, and was removed later on (kinda like the d3drm.dll)? If so, what dll do I need and where do I put it? I've only tried doing this on Win7, so I'm not sure if XP would fix this. (I have a XP VM, but I would have to go boot it up, and I have to get off soon, so I can't tonight. Plus, I don't want to boot up the VM every time I want to play. And the performance hit...) What can I do to activate the Direct3D Hardware Acceleration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJobless Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I dunno how you'd get D3D working, but if you want to get those DirectX 6 DLLs, get the installer and use that extractor program Cyrem recommends for when you can't install a program. It'll rip out all the DLLs like a boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrem Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Why do you need to run it in that mode? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJobless Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Why do you need to run it in that mode? I think it's more about seeing what that mode does...who knows, it might improve the graphics slightly (or make everything lag more)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karsten Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 RGB Software means that i uses the Game Engine to calculate everything. Hardware mode uses the power of your graphics card to calculate everything. (Graphical) Maybe you can't choose between versions but i think it auto pics the Hardware mode otherwise allot of users should have be getting lagg with the high poly models cuzz software mode cant handle it. I hope this gives you some more info about the modes and btw i dont think you get better graphics with the other mode cuzz it just pics the way of rendering and using direct x 6. And in 1999 not all pcs had a fency graphics card for peeps that did not had that u had software rendering Unreal from 1998 had the same thing it was verry commen in 1998 till 2001. Now it always is hardware rendering cuzz every pc has his own graphics card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
le717 Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 I dunno how you'd get D3D working, but if you want to get those DirectX 6 DLLs, get the installer and use that extractor program Cyrem recommends for when you can't install a program. It'll rip out all the DLLs like a boss. Actually, I don't need that. The DX6 dlls are sitting uncompressed on the disc. Why do you need to run it in that mode? Quote from Readme.txt from LR1 Disc (Location: setupdir\0009) Blocky Graphics - some cards may not be recognised by LEGO Racers and the game may attempt to emulate the accelerated version. To force the game to recognise your video card, an extra command can be added which will call up a video card selection menu. Create a shortcut from the LEGO Racers.exe file and add the command -select3d to the end. To create a shortcut, right click on the LEGO Racers.exe file and select Create Shortcut. Right click on the Shortcut you have just created and select Properties. In the text box titled Target add the -select3d command as shown in the following example. "C:\Program Files\LEGO Media\Games\LEGO Racers\LEGORacers.exe" -select3d Click on Apply and then exit the Properties window. Double Click on the LEGO Racers shortcut and after the videos have been displayed, the video card selection menu will appear. Select the card you wish to use and set it to run in Microsoft D3D Hardware acceleration. This game was made in 1999, and I'm sure that the game is not recognizing my discrete graphics card fully. So, it is using the RGB software mode to run. I want the game to use the hardware acceleration 1), so I can have better graphics in-game and 2), it may help with video recording. (I have to use CamStudio for recording, and MSVideo1 isn't the best codec, even when I'm not cropping the video. But it is the only codec that works for me. Unless I find another codec that works, I'm stuck with MSVideo1.) But I cannot even select the hardware acceleration option. Every time I click it, it jumps back to RGB software mode. RGB Software means that i uses the Game Engine to calculate everything. Hardware mode uses the power of your graphics card to calculate everything. (Graphical) Maybe you can't choose between versions but i think it auto pics the Hardware mode otherwise allot of users should have be getting lagg with the high poly models cuzz software mode cant handle it. I hope this gives you some more info about the modes and btw i dont think you get better graphics with the other mode cuzz it just pics the way of rendering and using direct x 6. And in 1999 not all pcs had a fency graphics card for peeps that did not had that u had software rendering Unreal from 1998 had the same thing it was verry commen in 1998 till 2001. Now it always is hardware rendering cuzz every pc has his own graphics card. I'm lost from reading that. Still, see above reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenyx Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Back when I first got LR1, I was playing it on a Gateway 2000 with a retrofitted Voodoo 2 Banshee graphics card with built in 3D acceleration chip. I couldn't run the game in software mode since the processor that old system had (a Pentium 2) wasn't up to handling 3D rendering via the game engine, so I had to use hardware acceleration. Since then it has been a tradition for me to run games in hardware mode even if software mode is recommended by the programmers (like with M.U.G.E.N. version 1.0 RC2). It's usually not easy to tell unless you're playing high-end games, but there is always at least a slight graphics quality difference with Hardware. These days, unless you're trying to run a game on a sub-standard machine, there's no benefit to software rendering. As for DirectX 6.1 being required for Hardware rendering, DirectX is a graphics library so you will definitely need whatever DLLs are missing. I would recommend adding all the old DLLs that have since been removed without replacing the current ones with their older counterparts. I have no clue why Microsoft doesn't continue to include legacy DLLs unless they're actually trying to stamp out compatibility with older programs (a likely case since Windows 7 Enterprise or lower only has Windows Vista as a compatibility mode ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JrMasterModelBuilder Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I've just tried it on both my Win7 and XP machines, and I'm an incapable of selecting the second option in the dropdown. It appears to be impossible to not select software rendering. I doubt it has anything to do with DirectX DLL's, but becuase of a mistake with the dialogue. I can only get software rendering this way. Hardware seems to be the default for me. Interestingly, while software rendering looks absolutely horrible: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/JrMasterModelBuilder/Screenshots/LEGORacers/software_render.bmp I think the colors may be true colors (versus the slightly distorted colors that DirectX produces). If this is the case, maybe I will try to reverse engineer the BMP compression method which would be much easier if I can get true color screenshots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karsten Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 @JrMasterModelBuilder Software rendering looks bad cuzz it uses the software to render the game and software rendering cant handle much that's why it switches to lower quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cirevam Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 In one game I have, Urban Assault, software rendering makes the game look better because hardware rendering doesn't make all of the cool "screen goes blue when you blow up an alien close to you" effects and some other things. Hardware rendering allows higher resolutions but that's it. Edit: This post was moved because I posted it in the wrong topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
le717 Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 I've just tried it on both my Win7 and XP machines, and I'm an incapable of selecting the second option in the dropdown. It appears to be impossible to not select software rendering. I doubt it has anything to do with DirectX DLL's, but becuase of a mistake with the dialogue. I can only get software rendering this way. Hardware seems to be the default for me. Interestingly, while software rendering looks absolutely horrible: http://www.brickshel...ware_render.bmp I think the colors may be true colors (versus the slightly distorted colors that DirectX produces). If this is the case, maybe I will try to reverse engineer the BMP compression method which would be much easier if I can get true color screenshots. Could you explain that a little clearer please? I'm confused. Does the game run in hardware mode already, and the dialog selections are switched around? If so, then how did you get it to run in software mode? 8S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JrMasterModelBuilder Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I've just tried it on both my Win7 and XP machines, and I'm an incapable of selecting the second option in the dropdown. It appears to be impossible to not select software rendering. I doubt it has anything to do with DirectX DLL's, but becuase of a mistake with the dialogue. I can only get software rendering this way. Hardware seems to be the default for me. Interestingly, while software rendering looks absolutely horrible: http://www.brickshel...ware_render.bmp I think the colors may be true colors (versus the slightly distorted colors that DirectX produces). If this is the case, maybe I will try to reverse engineer the BMP compression method which would be much easier if I can get true color screenshots. Could you explain that a little clearer please? I'm confused. Does the game run in hardware mode already, and the dialog selections are switched around? If so, then how did you get it to run in software mode? Sure! By default, I get hardware rendering. If I use the -direct3d parameter, I can only select the software option (this is because, I believe, the dialogue is broken, preventing me from selecting the hardware option). Effectively, with the -direct3d, I get software rendering, without, I get hardware. The options aren't switched around, hardware just can't be selected. On a side thought, maybe the dialogue would work in 16-bit screen color mode, but I doubt it. @JrMasterModelBuilder Software rendering looks bad cuzz it uses the software to render the game and software rendering cant handle much that's why it switches to lower quality. I know that. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcanecasster Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I wouldnt be able to tell you why, but i run LegoRR in that mode all the time, its the other one that doesnt work for me I have Vista 32bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJobless Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I wouldnt be able to tell you why, but i run LegoRR in that mode all the time, its the other one that doesnt work for me I have Vista 32bit These guys are discussing LEGO Racers 1. From as I can see, both modes work in LegoRR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
le717 Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Sure! By default, I get hardware rendering. If I use the -direct3d parameter, I can only select the software option (this is because, I believe, the dialogue is broken, preventing me from selecting the hardware option). Effectively, with the -direct3d, I get software rendering, without, I get hardware. The options aren't switched around, hardware just can't be selected. On a side thought, maybe the dialogue would work in 16-bit screen color mode, but I doubt it. That's much clearer. Thanks! That make's sense. To prove it, I will be comparing it to the quote from the Readme (re-quoting it for easier reading): Blocky Graphics - some cards may not be recognised by LEGO Racers and the game may attempt to emulate the accelerated version. To force the game to recognise your video card, an extra command can be added which will call up a video card selection menu. Create a shortcut from the LEGO Racers.exe file and add the command -select3d to the end. To create a shortcut, right click on the LEGO Racers.exe file and select Create Shortcut. Right click on the Shortcut you have just created and select Properties. In the text box titled Target add the -select3d command as shown in the following example. "C:Program FilesLEGO MediaGamesLEGO RacersLEGORacers.exe" -select3d Click on Apply and then exit the Properties window. Double Click on the LEGO Racers shortcut and after the videos have been displayed, the video card selection menu will appear. Select the card you wish to use and set it to run in Microsoft D3D Hardware acceleration. It make sense that we cannot select hardware mode because we are already using hardware mode. The readme says to select hardware mode via the -select3d switch if the game doesn't recognize our cards fully to force it to use hardware mode. But we cannot select the hardware option. That means that LR1 has fully recognized our graphics cards, so by it's nature, when it does that it will use hardware mode all the time. Because of this, the -select3d switch is now used to force software mode on the game, which is the opposite intention of the dialog box. Does everyone get that? As for the colors being different in hardware vs software, I don't see much difference. The only thing that software mode does for me is make the graphics have more edges. It doesn't do what your picture showed. But if you think they are different, then by all means start working on the BMP compression with the software mode! And if anyone wants to know the difference of hardware vs software for the Win7 computer in our house, here are some picture I just uploaded: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=493699 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Skeltal Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) If you look at the EXE parameters for LR1, there is a parameter called "-select3d", which lets you choose which 3D setting you want to use. Well, I have been trying for a while to get this to work, but I cannot. Here is a picture of the options. I cannot, whatsoever, select the second option. I have tried running the game in many compatibility modes, to no avail. Of course DirectX6.1 will not install (wouldn't want it to either) because old versions can't replace new versions. But is there some dll in DX6.1 that makes this work, and was removed later on (kinda like the d3drm.dll)? If so, what dll do I need and where do I put it? I've only tried doing this on Win7, so I'm not sure if XP would fix this. (I have a XP VM, but I would have to go boot it up, and I have to get off soon, so I can't tonight. Plus, I don't want to boot up the VM every time I want to play. And the performance hit...) What can I do to activate the Direct3D Hardware Acceleration? works for me.Specs Intel Dual cpu E2180 2.00GHZ 2 gb of memory Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 360 gb of hard drive memory I did not do anything special to the EXE.Ok guys I thought I was able to select,but I was wrong sory,must have been reading wrong. Edited November 2, 2013 by jamesster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antillies Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 works for me. Dellr, we realize you're new but posts as limited in scope as the one above are simply not appreciated and will be counted as spam. In the context of this thread, if it does indeed work for you, perhaps provide a breakdown of what you did to make it work. If you didn't do anything special, you can provide your computer specs to perhaps provide others with a comparison and thereby potentially help them discover a solution. If you can't do either, then it's probably not best to post. Food for thought. lol username 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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