MK Trilogy For PC UNIVBE Workaround FAQ Version 2.0 FINAL (July 2, 2001) -------------------------------- FAQ by "PsychoSy" & Rob Muller psychosy@hotmail.com -------------------------------- History -------------------------------- Ver. 2.0 FINAL (July 02, 2001) Gave Rob Muller credit for writing this FAQ, even though he never typed a word of it. *heh* His modified driver helped immensely and it would be a shame not to credit him as an author of this FAQ. This FAQ is as much his work as it is mine, maybe moreso his for his modified driver was the breakthru we all needed! Removed my section on the workaround since it only confuses people futher and it's no longer necessary. Tested Rob Muller's Modified Driver on myriads of cards ranging from Nvidia GeForce2 series, ATI Radeon, Kyro II, S3, Matrox, and even some somewhat vintage cards like the Riva TNT, Savage4, and Rendition. All pass flying colors on machines running Win9x and variants (Win95, 98, Me). I don't have Win2000/XP, therefore to the best of my knowledge, no fix exists for Win2K/XP. Most likely because Win2000 "emulates" a DOS environment and real DOS mode has been removed from the kernel (just my guess - I could be talking out my rectum here *heh*). Regardless, the above tests conclude that Rob's driver is the better alternative and should work with any video card where VESA 2.0 or higher was implemented by the manufacturer of the said card, which basically boils down to just about EVERY CARD MADE SINCE 1997. Thusly, this FAQ is getting this long-deserved, and final update. Not getting snippy, folks! Just that my time has been very limited in the past year due to fatherhood and work. (pLeAsE, gOd...JuSt oNe GaMe oF CoUnTeR-sTrIkE... ;)) Ver. 1.5 (September 30th, 2000) Added Confirmation of AGP 3DFX Cards. Working on getting info for ATI Cards. Steamlined the FAQ by removing some text. Added link to Rob Muller's UniRefresh Utility and help pages. Ver. 1.0 (July 25th, 2000) My first FAQ!! At this time, I've only have information on the 3DFX Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo3 PCI cards. With future contributions from you, more cards will be added to this FAQ. Let me know if this works for you and list your video card so future revision can be added and/or consolidated into this FAQ. -------------------------------- About This FAQ -------------------------------- This is for people having great trouble trying to play older DOS/Win9x games on their PC due to some games being "hard-coded" with old and outdated (by today's standards) versions of a VESA Video Graphics application called "UniVBE" (now called "Scitech's Display Doctor"), which will autodetect your video card's manufacturer, available video RAM, resolution quotas, as well as add VESA 2.0 support to your video card if it needs it (or even implementing better VESA 2.0 support if the maker of your video card has buggy VESA support out of the box). Since video cards have come a long way over the past 5 years, "UniVBE" often times does not detect them correctly or even not at all! The major reason why UniVbe does not detect the card is because Scitech's SDD/UniVBE uses non-standard detection routines in it's implementation of detecting graphics cards. SDD/UniVBE does not resort to just calling the BIOS of the video card, and that's the major problem since damn near all video cards made today have built-in VESA 3.0 support inbedded in the Video Card's firmware! The result is that you will not be able to go down memory lane since most programs that use "UniVBE" won't let you play if it doesn't detect your video card properly. The only way around this is to try the "Manual Overrides" section of UniVBE and use trial and error settings that might work or by seeing if there might be a modified driver that'll just call the BIOS of the card for VESA modes. Since Mortal Kombat Trilogy PC is still a fairly popular game, this FAQ at this time only covers this. Of course, with your contributions, perhaps this FAQ can evolve into a "UniVBE Workaround FAQ" with lists of cards and other games that use UniVBE. Until then, this FAQ is best suited to be filed under "Mortal Kombat Trilogy for PC" because that's all I have at this time to go on. -------------------------- What Does This FAQ Do? -------------------------- This FAQ is for people who need help in working around the "UniVBE" detection errors they may be getting from "UniVBE", which some old games use, like MK Trilogy for PC. Recently, while perusing the message boards at "TRMK" (The Realm Of Mortal Kombat"), I found a slew of angry MK fans wanting to play MKT on their PC but UniVBE was giving them a load of crap about it since their video cards were very recent compared to those that were on the market when MKT was released. With trial and error, I kept trying different settings in the "Manual Overrides" section of UniVBE in order to come up with a workaround for my 3DFX Banshee and Voodoo 3, compiled them into this very text file and posted it on the 3DFX Message boards as well as at the boards at TRMK (which gained a long-overdue sigh of "Finally!" from Greesman!) And now, you're at GameFAQS.com or at a authorized mirror site for this FAQ. Here's your MKT for PC fix! It's been long overdue!! ;) -------------------------------- What Do I Need To Do? -------------------------------- Rob Muller, the man responsible for the utility "UniRefresh", took the time to provide a modified UniVBE driver file that calls upon the BIOS of the video card and it may just work wonders for you and your particular hardware! Click the link below for Modified Driver Information http://unirefresh.demonews.com/videoproblems Click here to snag the awesome UniRefresh Utility! http://unirefresh.demonews.com/ After grabbing Rob's modified driver, extract the UNIVBE.DRV file from the archive into your MK Trilogy directory. Let Rob's modified driver overwrite any previous entries. From there, NEVER run UVCONFIG again. It'll just overwrite Rob's modified driver. You don't want that! So, after you extract Rob's modified driver, the only thing left to do is simply RUN MK Trilogy and enjoy! Rob's modified driver grabs the needed VESA information from your Video BIOS, NOT from Scitech's antiquated application, therefore, there's no longer a need to tinker with Scitech's mess! --------------------------------- DISCLAIMER --------------------------------- **NOTE** This is not a guaranteed workaround and may or may not work with your particular monitor or system. Try this at your own risk!! I will not be responsible. --------------------------------- Future Plans --------------------------------- This FAQ final. The mission is complete! The latest versions of this FAQ can be found at GameFAQS.com http://www.gamefaqs.com/ --------------------------------- Dedications & Kudos! --------------------------------- IGN Networks - For their massively informative websites and affiliates. TRMK - Keep The Kombat Alive, Folks! 3DFX - Slow on driver releases, but the online community on their message boards are fast for helping folks out. Rob Muller - For the information, the modified drivers, and UniRefresh! Your help is well appreciated =) Emulators - For keeping history alive! Folks like YOU! - Thanks for the submissions and comments. Although, Win2000 is still an issue last I checked, it's my time to bow out and let someone else with more knowledge and experiance with Win2000 take over from here. ------------------------------------ I don't care how this FAQ is distributed as long as I'm credited as the author. Now, go make a few senators angry!! -------------------------------------------- Copyright 2000, Jason "PsychoSy" Sizemore --------------------------------------------