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This FAQ is modelled on the Linux HOWTO documents for consistency and ease of navigation.

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We are in the process of adding documentation for all supported chipsets. There is forthcoming documentation for XFree86 4.0.x.

There are some troubleshooting tips to be added.

The necessary drivers for XFree86 3.3.6 are located at http://linux.3dfx.com/. There are instructions at that site for the configuration of the drivers.

We also provide a step-by-step guide, which is located at http://www.lokigames.com/support/gldrivers/howto-3d-3dfx.html.

The general outline is to:

1. Download the drivers (http://linux.3dfx.com/)
2. Install the Device3Dfx and Glide packages (and Glide_SDK if you are going to compile Mesa yourself)
3. Test the installation with /usr/local/glide/bin/test3Dfx

Note that test3Dfx requires that your X server has the 640x480 mode as a valid resolution. Please refer to your distribution's documentation (or perhaps the Linux Documentation Project (http://www.linuxdoc.org/)) for information on configuring the correct timings for your monitor.

Note: With the recent purchase of 3Dfx by nVidia, this may no longer be completely accurate. You can visit http://www.linuxvoodoo.com/ for a mirror of the drivers once hosted at http://linux.3dfx.com

Please follow the instructions in the previous question to make certain that the underlying Glide drivers are configured correctly. Make certain that the user (or users) who will be running the game can successfully run /usr/local/glide/bin/test3Dfx. If this program does not run, it is unlikely that any game will be able to take advantage of 3D acceleration.

Once Glide is configured correctly, if the problem persists, make certain that there are no rogue Mesa libraries. If there is another libGL.so.* on your system, and it doesn't have glide support, it might be loaded first by accident. This will cause the 3D portions to render using software mode only, which will typically result in 1 to 5 seconds per frame.

If the problem continues, please try specifying a known 3D-accelerated libGL.so. Our earlier games (Heretic 2, Quake 3, Heavy Gear 2) include versions which are known to work with those games. The library is usually called something like libMesaVoodooGL.so.3.2. You can force the game to load a specific GL library. Please see the FAQ for the game for instructions.

If the problem occurs with a newer version of Mesa (3.2 or later), you may need to export some variables first:

    export MESA_FX_INFO=1
    export MESA_GLX_FX=f

This should cause the game to go fullscreen, with hardware acceleration. Note that our games typically export MESA_GLX_FX=f by default, but the MESA_FX_INFO variable was added (or supported) post-release.

This may be a DGA mouse issue. Some specific binaries of the XFree86 3.3.x servers for the Voodoo have issues when DGA is attempted, so you may need to disable it with the following export prior to running the game:

    export SDL_VIDEO_X11_DGAMOUSE=0

Note that for Quake 3, you need to add '+set in_dgamouse 0' to the command line, or add 'seta in_dgamouse 0' to your ~/.q3a/baseq3/q3config.cfg file.

The 3.3.5 X server available at the 3Dfx site (http://linux.3dfx.com/) has worked for many users with DGA mouse enabled.

This may be a DGA mouse issue. Some specific binaries of the XFree86 3.3.x servers for the Voodoo have issues when DGA is attempted, so you may need to disable it with the following export prior to running the game:

    export SDL_VIDEO_X11_DGAMOUSE=0

Note that for Quake 3, you need to add '+set in_dgamouse 0' to the command line, or add 'seta in_dgamouse 0' to your ~/.q3a/baseq3/q3config.cfg file.

The 3.3.5 X server available at the 3Dfx site (http://linux.3dfx.com/) has worked for many users with DGA mouse enabled.

Your best bet is to visit 3Dfx's newsgroup: news://news.3dfx.com/3dfx.glide.linux and read the postings there. If that does not answer your question, the newsgroup provides the best avenue for assistance.

Note: With the recent purchase of 3Dfx by nVidia, this may no longer be true. You can visit http://www.linuxvoodoo.com/ for user forums.

The necessary drivers for XFree86 3.3.6 are located at http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/. There are instructions at that site for the configuration of the drivers.

The general outline is to:

1. Download the drivers from CVS (http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/)
2. Download Mesa (preferably 3.2.1) from http://mesa3d.sourceforge.net/
3. Compile Utah-GLX against the Mesa source, and install
4. Edit your XF86Config to include the new section:

       Section "Module"
          Load "glx.so"
       EndSection
   

5. Enable hw_boxes in /etc/X11/glx.conf by setting the value to 1
6. Restart the X server
7. Check to make sure GLX is listed as an extension with xdpyinfo
8. Run a 3D application, to see if the colored boxes appear in the upper left corner

Most of our games require that your X server has the 640x480 mode as a valid resolution (and defining 800x600 and 1024x768 if you haven't already is probably a good idea). Please refer to your distribution's documentation (or perhaps the Linux Documentation Project (http://www.linuxdoc.org/)) for information on configuring the correct timings for your monitor.

The Utah-GLX drivers only support the Rage Pro family of cards. You will need to use DRI (http://dri.sourceforge.net/) instead, which also requires XFree86 4.0.x.

Yes. You can make the ATI hardware perform a startup drawing test by enabling mach64_drawtest in your glx.conf. The section should then look something like:

mach64_drawtest = 1
#
# If set the driver will do some initial rendering tests upon startup.
# Useful to see if the driver is being loaded correctly.

You will need to re-start your X server for the change to take effect.

On an ATI Rage Pro, you also need to make sure your XF86Config file "Device" section includes these lines:

        Option          "no_font_cache"
        Option          "no_pixmap_cache"

so the full one would look something like:

  Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI|3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X"
        [ other options ]
        Option          "no_font_cache"
        Option          "no_pixmap_cache"
  EndSection

You will not be able to get the hardware acceleration features working without those lines.

Yes, periodic snapshots are made available at http://209.53.22.1/glx/src/. Neither we nor the host of the archive offer support for these snapshots.

Similarly, Slackware packages are available at http://utah-glx.on.openave.net/. Again, neither we nor the host of the archive offer support for these snapshots.

If you do not want to or can not compile Mesa and Utah-GLX, we have provided an unsupported glx.so and libGL.so for download. You can find the files at http://www.lokigames.com/~heimdall/glx/. These files are provided "as is" and are not supported in any way.

The Utah-GLX folks have a mailing list (linked from their home page at http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/) for Utah-GLX users. Archives are available for searching as well.

The necessary drivers for XFree86 3.3.6 are located at http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/. There are instructions at that site for the configuration of the drivers.

The general outline is to:

1. Download the drivers from CVS (http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/)
2. Download Mesa (preferably 3.2.1) from http://mesa3d.sourceforge.net/
3. Compile Utah-GLX against the Mesa source, and install
4. Edit your XF86Config to include the new section:

       Section "Module"
          Load "glx.so"
       EndSection
   

5. Enable hw_boxes in /etc/X11/glx.conf by setting the value to 1
6. Restart the X server
7. Check to make sure GLX is listed as an extension with xdpyinfo
8. Run a 3D application, to see if the colored boxes appear in the upper left corner

Most of our games require that your X server has the 640x480 mode as a valid resolution (and defining 800x600 and 1024x768 if you haven't already is probably a good idea). Please refer to your distribution's documentation (or perhaps the Linux Documentation Project (http://www.linuxdoc.org/)) for information on configuring the correct timings for your monitor.

The most useful and general method of speeding the game up involves configuring agpgart, and altering your glx.conf file to take advantage of the new configuration.

Full instructions are available from the Utah-GLX (http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/) home page.

Yes, periodic snapshots are made available at http://209.53.22.1/glx/src/. Neither we nor the host of the archive offer support for these snapshots.

Similarly, Slackware packages are available at http://utah-glx.on.openave.net/. Again, neither we nor the host of the archive offer support for these snapshots.

If you do not want to or can not compile Mesa and Utah-GLX, we have provided an unsupported glx.so and libGL.so for download. You can find the files at http://www.lokigames.com/~heimdall/glx/. These files are provided "as is" and are not supported in any way.

The Utah-GLX folks have a mailing list (linked from their home page at http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/) for Utah-GLX users. Archives are available for searching as well.

If your card is not listed here as one of the supported chipsets, we are unable to provide any level of support for your configuration. However, there are beta-level drivers in the Utah-GLX drivers (http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/) for some additional chipsets, such as the S3 Savage and i810 chipsets. We do not test on these drivers.

You may also want to investigate the 3D accelerated X server offered by Xi Graphics (http://www.xig.com/). They offer a demo, and support for a number of 3D cards that are not handled by any of the free drivers.

There are also some additional drivers in the DRI development effort (such as the Voodoo 4, Voodoo 5, and ATI Rage 128 family), which can be found at http://dri.sourceforge.net/.

Finally, if you are using an nVidia card (TNT, TNT2, TNT Ultra, GeForce, GeForce 2, GeForce MX), you should investigate the binary drivers that work in conjunction with XFree86 4.0.x. We have a guide to installation in our XFree86 4.0.x and OpenGL FAQ.

This varies by driver group. The general answer would be to visit the specific site and follow the links for the bug report avenues.

For 3Dfx, see http://linux.3dfx.com/.

For the Utah-GLX cards (Matrox, ATI, S3, TNT, i810), see http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net.

If there is an error in the FAQList, or you feel that there is additional information which could help the FAQ, you may email faqs@lokigames.com.

Technical support for 3D drivers is not available from that e-mail address.

Please refer to the technical support listed under your video card type. Loki Software does not offer general support for the 3D drivers.

If you are using a commercial X server, you will need to contact the company that is developing your X server.