[English] README.TXT MATROX GRAPHICS INC. 2000.02.04 Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0 Rev. 4.43.033 Contents ======== - Release description - Installation - Using Matrox PowerDesk - Hardware-accelerated 3D - Notes, problems and limitations - Matrox TV output - DualHead notes Release description =================== This is the Matrox Windows NT Display Driver. It supports Microsoft Windows NT for x86 CPU's, version 4.0 (Build 1381 -- or later). This product includes: - Display Driver - Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0 The display driver supports up to 16 graphics chips at a time. If one of those chips has DualHead support, the display driver supports up to 17 displays at a time. (Note: A graphics card may have more than one graphics chip. Also, the display driver must support each model of graphics card installed in your computer.) Installation ============ To install Matrox PowerDesk, start the "setup" program included with it, then follow the on-screen instructions. The setup program will only install software if a Matrox graphics card model supported by the setup program is installed in your computer. If you're installing this software on many systems, there are setup options to partially automate the procedure. For more information, see the "setup_un.doc" file included with this software. Using Matrox PowerDesk ====================== Changing resolution, selecting a monitor, and using the Matrox PowerDesk is covered in the "online.doc" file. You can view this file with WordPad. Hardware-accelerated 3D ======================= For 3D hardware acceleration, the Matrox Windows NT 4.0 display driver supports the OpenGL interface with 2 driver types -- MCD (Mini Client Driver) and ICD (Installable Client Driver). The Matrox Millennium, Millennium II, Mystique, Mystique 220, and G100-based graphics cards have MCD support. The Matrox G200-based, G400-based and later graphics cards have ICD support. (An ICD has more potential for optimization than an MCD.) 3D hardware acceleration has the following restrictions: - Currently no acceleration is available when multiple cards are in use. - The MCD/ICD does not support 8bpp (256 colors) and 24bpp (16777216 colors) modes. 16bpp (64K colors) and 32bpp (True Color) modes are the ones that can be hardware-accelerated. - Limitations to the available resolutions are to be expected. All 3D modes require extra memory to handle double buffering and/or Z-buffering, and this memory is no longer available for display. Notes, problems and limitations =============================== - Computers with more than one PCI bus It is possible that a switch to a full-screen Command Prompt, or any change of mode, will result in a blue-screen crash if a card is installed on a PCI bus other than bus 0. The problem is under investigation. Moving the card to a different PCI slot is a possible workaround. There are systems where Windows NT reports conflicts between adapters installed beyond the PCI bridge. In this case, the Matrox miniport driver cannot access its own card. If your system appears unable to find the card, try moving it to a different PCI slot. Installing Microsoft Service Pack 3 (or later) for Windows NT 4.0 should fix many of these problems. - DirectDraw with virtual desktops Some DirectDraw programs don't work properly with virtual desktops. We recommend you run DirectDraw programs with a normal desktop. - 3D-Maze screen saver Display problems may appear while using the "3D-Maze" screen saver. These may happen after Microsoft Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 4.0 is installed. These display problems are apparently fixed by Service Pack 3 (or later). - Running Winstone 97 The CenterPOPUP feature should be disabled (which is the default setting) when running the Winstone 97 benchmark. Some tests may report a time-out error if CenterPOPUP is used. - Limitation with multiple graphics cards Windows NT 4.0 supports a maximum of about 280 different display modes (combinations of resolution, color palette and refresh rate settings). You may encounter this limit if you have more than one Matrox graphics card installed in your computer. If the Matrox "VESA settings" option button is selected when there are multiple Matrox cards in your computer, you're even more likely to encounter the Windows NT 4.0 limit in the number of display modes. This is because the "VESA settings" option supports several different refresh rates for each display resolution and color palette setting. If you have more than one Matrox graphics card in your computer, we recommend you not use the "VESA settings" option. Note that changing your refresh rate through the Microsoft "Display Properties" dialog box activates the "VESA settings" option. - 3D Studio MAX 1.2 If you have problems running 3D Studio Max 1.2 using the Matrox HEIDI driver, try disabling the "Use bus mastering" check box under "General settings". To access this check box, click "Start" -> "Programs"-> "Matrox PowerDesk" -> "Matrox Display Properties" -> "Performance". - 3D Studio MAX 2.0 Switching between HEIDI software emulation and OpenGL acceleration while 3D Studio Max 2.0 is running, may cause the viewports to flicker while playing animations. This problem may also happen if display settings (resolution or color palette) are changed while 3D Studio Max is running. If you experience these problems, try closing 3D Studio Max, changing your display settings (resolution or color palette), and then restarting 3D Studio MAX. - 15-bit color palette support A 15-bit color palette is no longer supported. - Multi-display desktop support With a multi-display desktop, all displays use the same color palette and display resolution. The maximum display resolution you can select is determined by the display with the highest maximum display resolution. If a display in your multi-display desktop doesn't support a selected display resolution, that display will automatically use a virtual display. With a "virtual display", parts of your "display area" are off-screen. You can move your mouse pointer to the edge of the screen to move the visible part of your virtual display. This virtual display feature is similar to using the Matrox zoom (PixelTOUCH) feature. Note: The "virtual display" feature isn't available with the secondary display of a DualHead-supporting graphics card. If a secondary display is part of your multi-display desktop, the maximum display resolution you can select is limited by the maximum display resolution of your secondary display. For more information on DualHead, see "DualHead notes". Software monitor settings help determine the maximum display resolution for each display. If software monitor settings aren't properly selected for all displays, one or more displays may become garbled or unusable if an unsupported display resolution is selected. For more information on selecting software monitor settings, see the online PowerDesk guide (online.doc). - OpenGL support Note the following limitations related to the OpenGL driver included with Matrox PowerDesk: - OpenGL support may not be included in some versions of Matrox PowerDesk. For a version of Matrox PowerDesk with OpenGL support enabled, see the Matrox Web site (www.matrox.com/mga). - Under Windows NT 4.0, OpenGL acceleration isn't supported with Matrox MMS (Multi-Monitor Series) graphics cards or if you have more than one Matrox graphics card installed in your computer. - With DualHead-supporting graphics cards, OpenGL acceleration is available while using "DualHead Multi-Display" mode under Windows NT 4.0, (as long as there isn't another graphics card installed in your computer). - With the "Tribes" game, you may notice some minor display artifacts and the opening video introduction may not display properly. - Using 3D Studio Max 2.0, you may experience problems with the viewports being improperly redrawn. If this happens, simply click in a viewport to properly update their display. (This problem isn't present with version 2.5 or 3.0 of 3D Studio Max.) - To prevent display problems under Windows NT 4.0, the display driver may disable 3D screen savers while certain programs are running. - System memory requirements Because of a limitation in Windows NT 4.0, you may experience problems if your computer doesn't have more system memory than the total amount of graphics memory used in your computer. To determine the amount of graphics memory used in your computer, add the total amount of graphics memory on each installed Matrox graphics card. Depending on your total amount of graphics memory, here are some recommended amounts of system memory for Windows NT 4.0: Graphics memory | System memory (total) | (recommended) -------------------+------------------ 32 MB | 64 MB or more 64 MB | 128 MB or more 128 MB | 192 MB or more 160 MB | 256 MB or more - Full-screen DOS support with multiple graphics chip If you have more than 10 graphics chips in your system (for example, 3 Matrox MMS-Quad cards), your system may stop responding when running a DOS program in full-screen mode. If your DOS program supports it, run it in a DOS window. Matrox TV output ================ Certain models of Matrox graphics cards support TV output. With TV output support, you can view or record your computer display with a TV or video recorder connected to your graphics card. Recommendation -------------- - While playing games using TV output, we recommend you use a 640 x 480 display resolution. This is because the resolution capabilities of TVs are lower than most computer monitors. If you use a higher display resolution (800 x 600 or 1024 x 768), the display on your TV may not look as sharp as the display of your computer monitor -- that is, some of the extra detail may be harder to see on your TV. - For Matrox G100/G200 graphics cards with TV ouput support: Matrox default advanced TV output settings are good for viewing most computer graphics (for example, computer games or your Windows desktop) on most TVs. Based on broadcast standards, there are advanced TV output settings that are better suited for viewing full-screen video (for example, from a video file). These settings are: NTSC Brightness : 180 Contrast : 234 Saturation : 137 Hue : 0 PAL Brightness : 167 Contrast : 255 Saturation : 138 Hue : 0 Note: For ideal settings, you may also need to adjust the settings on your TV. The default brightness, contrast, saturation and hue settings on most consumer video devices are higher than broadcast standards. These settings are usually OK for viewing video but may not look OK with computer graphics. (This is why Matrox default TV output settings are lower than what's ideal for video.) For more information on how to adjust settings on your TV, see your TV manual. More information ---------------- For more information on display settings, see your Matrox manual and online documentation. For information on how to change the display resolution of a game you're using, see its documentation. Note: The Matrox zoom and virtual desktop features aren't supported in TV output mode. Also, TV output mode isn't supported if you have more than one Matrox graphics card in your computer. Note: For TV output with full-screen DOS display modes under Windows NT 4.0, only text display modes (02h, 03h) are supported. DualHead notes ============== Certain Matrox graphics cards can use one graphics chip to control two separate displays -- this is the Matrox "DualHead" feature. If you have a DualHead-supporting graphics card, note the following under Windows NT 4.0: - DualHead software controls (on the Matrox PowerDesk "DualHead" property sheet) are only available if, when Windows NT 4.0 restarts, a secondary display is connected to your DualHead-supporting graphics card. For more information on DualHead software controls, see context-sensitive help. - The "VESA settings" option isn't available when you're using a TV as your secondary display. - With the "DualHead Multi-Display" feature, DirectDraw and OpenGL acceleration is available for the main and secondary displays of your DualHead-supporting graphics card. - With the "DualHead Multi-Display" feature, all displays in your system may be limited by the display capabilities of the secondary display of your DualHead-supporting graphics card. Specifically: - Only a 16- or 32-bit color palette is available. - The Matrox zoom feature (PixelTOUTCH) is unavailable. - The mouse pointer is drawn entirely by the software. As a result, the mouse pointer may flicker or disappear while it's in an area of the display that's being redrawn quickly (for example, a video window). - Because the secondary display doesn't support the "virtual display" feature, the maximum display resolution of a multi-display desktop is limited by the maximum display resolution of the secondary display. - The "DualHead Clone" feature is unavailable if your DualHead-supporting graphics card isn't controlling the primary display of your computer. The "primary display" of your computer is the one that first displays information when your computer restarts. For information on how to change which graphics card controls your primary display, see your system manual. - With the "DualHead Clone" feature, both the main and secondary display of your DualHead-supporting graphics card use the same monitor settings (specifically, the same vertical refresh rate). If your secondary display is a TV, the vertical refresh rate is determined by the TV standard selected on the Matrox PowerDesk "Monitor" property sheet (60 Hz for NTSC, 50 Hz for PAL). If your secondary display is a computer monitor, the "Monitor" property sheet isn't available. In this case, use the "Refresh Frequency" control on the "Settings" property sheet to change your vertical refresh rate. If you select a refresh rate or display resolution that isn't supported by either display, one or both displays may become garbled or unusable. - With the "DualHead Clone" feature, the virtual desktop feature is unavailable.