3D Blaster Banshee Readme
===========================

This readme file contains the following sections:

  A.   For Windows 95/98 users
  B.   GlideSwitcher Utility
  C.   BIOS Upgrade

____________________________________________________________

A. For Windows 95/98 users
===========================

Please read through all the sections before you proceed with
the installation.

  1. Installation
  2. Release Notes
  3. Games Compatibility Issue
  4. Known Problems
  5. General Notes


1. Installation

   After running the self-extracting file, run the 
   setup.exe program.  This will install the Windows 95/98 
   display driver, BlasterControl and the GlideSwitcher utility.

   If you do not use the setup.exe from the self-extracting file,
   you can use the 3dbb9x.inf file to install the Windows display 
   driver and BlasterControl manually.

   If you experience problems caused by system incompatibility,
   follow the instructions in the section, "BIOS Upgrade" in this 
   readme file to install the BIOS.


2. Release Notes

   a)   DirectX6 support

   This release supports hardware acceleration to the following 
   DX6 Direct3D new features:
   
   i.   W-buffering.
   ii.  Multi-texturing.
   iii. Flexible Vertex Formats.

   Due to the above, the BlasterControl 'Advanced Properties' 
   added 2 new controls.  One is to disable DX6 hardware 
   acceleration for games with problem.  The other is to 
   specify the texture stage number for multi-texturing.

3. GAMES COMPATIBILITY ISSUE

   a)   Quake, Quake 2 and Hexen 2

   Currently,  the OGL driver is for full screen only.
   Invoking the OGL games in non-full screen may cause
   unexpected results.

   Refer to the readme file in the Banshee Installation CD's 
   OpenGL directory for important information.

   b)   Need for Speed III

   If you could not run the game, please download the latest 
   patch from the game developer's Web site.


4. KNOWN PROBLEMS

   a)   Mouse pointer trails do not work

   The Pointer Trails option in the Mouse Properties dialog 
   box does not work with the current driver.  Currently,  
   there is no workaround solution except to disable this 
   option.

   b)   Windows 98 Multi-monitor mode with multiple Banshee 
        boards

   When you have more than one Banshee board installed in
   your system, only the primary board will be enabled.
   This problem will be solved in future driver releases.

   c)   Unable to load display driver

   A  machine with the retail version of Windows 95 
   displays the error message, "Unable to Load Display
   Driver."

   Windows 95 attaches a generic PCI VGA display adapter
   driver to any card it does not immediately recognize.
   When the Banshee driver is loaded into the system, 
   Windows 95 fails to detach the generic driver.

   This problem is fixed with the OSR2 release of Windows 95.

   To fix this problem in the retail version of Windows 95:

    i.   Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel.
    ii.  In  the  Control  Panel window, double-click  the
         System icon.
    iii. In  the  System Properties dialog box, click  the
         Device Manager tab.
    iv.  Double-click the Other Devices entry.
    v.   Select  the  device,  PCI VGA-Compatible  Display
         Adapter, and then click the Remove button.
    vi.  Click the OK button and restart the system.
         After the system has restarted, it will prompt you 
         to install the Banshee driver.
    vii. Install the Banshee driver.
    viii.Restart the system.
         After the system has restarted, it will recognize 
	 the Banshee card.

    d)  Only 'Advanced Properties' Tab appears

    Windows 95 (retail version) users may see only the 
    'Advanced Properties' of BlasterControl after first 
    installation.  If this happen, reinstall the display
    driver to get the full BlasterControl control applet.



5. GENERAL NOTES:

   a)   Direct3D in 16-bit color only

   Hardware acceleration for Direct3D is only available in
   16-bit color mode.

   b)   Virtual desktop and hardware overlay

   When  Banshee is in Virtual Desktop mode, the  hardware
   overlay  will  be  disabled  for  video  playback,  and
   software  overlay  will be used.  If video  is  already
   playing  back in hardware overlay, the system will  not
   allow you to switch from normal desktop mode to virtual
   desktop mode.

   c)   OGL driver

   Currently,  the  OGL driver is for  full  screen  only.
   Invoking  the  OGL games in non-full screen  may  cause
   unexpected results.

   Refer to the readme file in the Banshee installation CD's 
   OGL directory for information.


____________________________________________________________

B. GlideSwitcher Utility

GlideSwitcher is a utility that allows you to support  Glide 
applications  on different  products that use 3Dfx chipsets 
(Glide devices).

In  normal situations, Glide applications reference a driver
called  either  GLIDE2X.DLL or GLIDE3X.DLL.   Incidentally,
both the 3Dfx Voodoo2 chipset (used in Creative's 3D Blaster
Voodoo2)  and  the  3Dfx  Voodoo Banshee  chipset  (used  in
Creative's 3D  Blaster  Banshee) use drivers  with the  same
file names.  So, if a user configures a system that contains
both  cards, only one card will be capable of running  Glide
applications.

To  overcome this limitation, Creative Labs has developed the
GlideSwitcher  utility.  This utility consists of:

(a) an Archive module, which checks your system for changes 
    in 3Dfx driver installations and maintains the Glide 
    drivers for both cards, and 

(b) a Control Panel, which allows you to select the card that
    your Glide Application will run on.

If you are removing one of the cards that has a 3Dfx chipset 
from the system, it is essential to select the correct Glide
driver first.  Use GlideSwitcher to switch to the Glide driver 
for the other card before you remove the unwanted card.  
Otherwise, you will not be able to switch to the correct Glide 
driver after you remove the unwanted card.  This is because the 
GlideSwitcher can only be run when there is more than one 
physical Glide device detected.


____________________________________________________________

C. BIOS Upgrade

   Please ignore this section if the BIOS in your card has a
   newer version number.

        BIOS version : 1.01.2

   The 3D Blaster Banshee BIOS Upgrade utility consists of
   the following file:

        * BNF1012C.EXE  - BIOS upgrade program

   Note: You only need to flash this BIOS if your card has
         system incompatibility issues.

   BNF1012C.EXE can be run from the MS-DOS prompt using the 
   following syntax:

        usage: BNF1012C.EXE

============
PROCEDURE
============

  1.  Determine if your video BIOS has the latest update by 
      looking at the version number displayed during system 
      bootup.
      If your version is newer, you do not need to upgrade 
      your BIOS.  Otherwise, proceed with the following steps.

  2.  Boot to native DOS, and run the BIOS upgrade program 
      BNF1012C.EXE.
     
      Notes: 
      . Due to the nature of Windows environment, this program 
        has to be run in native DOS mode.  If you do not know 
        how to boot up your system in native DOS mode, refer to 
        the section below on "BOOT TO NATIVE DOS MODE".

      . The programming process takes about 10 seconds 
        (including verification time) to complete.

      WARNING: 
      Do NOT interrupt this process.  Interrupting this process 
      may result in unexpected (and undesirable) consequences.

      When the VGA BIOS on your 3D Blaster Banshee is upgraded,
      the program displays a message to inform you that the BIOS 
      is successfully flashed.

  3.  After the new BIOS is successfully flashed, reboot your 
      system.
      The system should now boot up with the updated 3D Blaster 
      Banshee BIOS  (verified by the new version number displayed
      during bootup).


=================
TROUBLESHOOTING
=================

  Symptom A:

     BIOS upgrade program displays error message:

     "This program cannot be executed in Windows-DOS box"

  Solution:

     You need to boot up to native DOS mode before running the 
     program.  If you do not know how to boot up your system 
     in native DOS mode, refer to the section below on "BOOT TO 
     NATIVE DOS MODE".


  Symptom B:

     BIOS upgrade program displays error message:

     "3D Blaster Banshee card not present"

  Solution:

     You are trying to use this program on a video card that 
     is not Creative 3D Blaster Banshee.  If you are certain 
     that you have a Banshee card, your BIOS is probably 
     being flashed with a non-Creative Banshee image. 
     Contact Creative technical support for further assistance.

  Symptom C:

     If you do not see any display upon rebooting.

  Solution:

	You can try to re-program the BIOS with the use of 
        another PCI VGA card:

        1) Bootup with non-Creative Banshee VGA as primary 
	   display card.

           Insert a second (not Banshee) PCI VGA card into 
	   the 1st PCI slot and the 3D Blaster Banshee into 
	   the 2nd PCI slot. Connect the non-Creative Banshee
	   VGA card output to a monitor, boot up and check
           if the monitor displays anything.  If it doesn't, 
	   swap the slot positions of the VGA card and 3D
	   Blaster Banshee until you can bootup with the 
	   non-Creative Banshee VGA as primary display card.

        2) Re-program Banshee.

           When the system boots up successfully with the 
	   VGA card, you can then program the 3D Blaster 
	   Banshee BIOS as described above, beginning from 
	   Procedure (C).  After the program is executed, 
	   you can remove the non-Creative Banshee card and 
	   bootup with your 3D Blaster Banshee card.  If you 
	   still do not see any display, contact Creative 
	   technical support for further assistance.

=========================
BOOT TO NATIVE DOS MODE
=========================

The following are two methods of booting to the native DOS mode.

     Method 1 - Boot diskette
     
     i.    Insert an unused floppy diskette into your disk 
           drive A.
     ii.   Type "format  a: /s" at the DOS prompt to create 
           a bootable diskette.
     iii.  Leave the diskette in the drive and reboot your 
           system. Your system will boot to the native DOS mode.

     Method 2 - The <F8> key

     i.    Reboot  your  system, paying attention to the 
           onscreen initializing messages.
     ii.   When you see the text  "Starting Windows 95..."
           or "Starting Windows 98...", press <F8> within 5
           seconds to display a menu.
     iii.  From the menu, select option 6 (Command prompt only)
           to boot the system to native DOS mode.
     

                 ====End of Readme File====
