To take full advantage of the special characteristics and 3D functions of miroCRYSTAL VRX, the motherboard must support the PCI-2.1 specifications including DMA-busmastering. It is recommended to use a motherboard with Intel HX chipset or higher because some FX chipsets may cause problems with DMA-busmastering. Some motherboards with VIA or SIS chipset do not comply with PCI-2.1 specifications.

With some motherboards DMA-busmastering will only be available after starting Windows 95. In these systems there will be no access to this feature when booting the system in DOS mode via F8 button or boot menu.

Some older BIOS versions do not match with the PCI-2.1 specifications, particularly the following: Phoenix 4.03 and Award 4.50.

We strongly recommend to use the most up to date BIOS version for your motherboard. You will find the latest BIOS versions for most motherboards at the following webpage: http://www.ping.be/bios/

The miroCRYSTAL VRX card should be installed in PCI slot 1 of your motherboard as it has the highest priority and in some motherboards DMA-busmastering is not supported in every PCI slot.

To check the DMA-busmastering support of your specific motherboard we provide a DMA test program. You will find it on the miroCRYSTAL VRX CD-ROM in \DISKSETS\UTILS\DMATEST.

Another tool (PCIVIEW. EXE) that will show you the PCI-2.1 compatibility of your system can be found on the internet: ftp://ftp.canopuscorp.com/pub/utilities/pciview.exe

Some motherboards support system speeds higher than 60/66 MHz. If there are display mismatch problems or general problems in system functionality we recommend to reset the system speed to 60/66 MHz.

The miroCRYSTAL VRX is a plug & play device. To avoid resource conflicts with non plug & play components, all resources (IRQs etc.) of these components should be reserved in the BIOS setup. Especially additional I/O cards or older Ethernet ISA cards may cause such conflicts. In this case please refer to the manuals of your motherboard and add-on devices.

The option "PCI VGA PALETTE SNOOP" must be disabled in the BIOS setup. To optimize system performance, we recommend to enable the options "PEER CONCURRENCY" and "PCI STREAMING".

To optimize performance in DOS mode, the option "VIDEO BIOS SHADOW" should be enabled. If there are display problems in Windows 95 (ghosted screen etc.) please disable this option.

We urgently recommend to consult the miro manual for advice on installing the driver software. Also please do note the readme.txt file of the actual miro driver software.

Before starting the installation of the miro driver please close every application including background programs like virus scanners.

In case of getting a blank screen after driver installation, a REM has to be inserted in AUTOEXEC.BAT in front of the "mode con codepage" lines (if exist). This effect occurs occasionally with e.g. some ASUS motherboards.

Another possible occurence on some Triton motherboards is a crash during boot up or the fact that no other resolution than 640x480 and 16 colours is available. In this case please start the system in DOS Mode and copy the VGA driver (VGA.DRV) from the \TOOLS directory of your miroCRYSTAL VRX CD-ROM into the \windows\system directory and by this overwrite the existing file.

On some systems installation problems occurred when a Soundblaster 16 driver was installed. If so, please remove the sound driver before installing the miroCRYSTAL VRX driver and reinstall it afterwards.

Please note that miroCRYSTAL VRX requires a free IRQ. The IRQ in use can be identified with the device manager. If there is no IRQ listed for the miroCRYSTAL VRX, please check the IRQ assignment in BIOS setup. We do not recommend IRQ sharing, meaning the concurrent use of an IRQ with two components.

You will also find useful hints on installation trouble-shooting in your miro manual.

In order to use all functions of the miroCRYSTAL VRX, it is necessary to install the actual miro Windows 95 driver software and the current DirectX version. If you use an older version than Windows 95 OSR2, we recommend to install Service pack 1 from Microsoft for correct working of Direct X.

If DirectX does not recognize the already installed miro driver, please do not let DirectX override the miro driver. Although the miro driver is not certified by Microsoft it is fully compatible with DirectX.

For monitor installation under Windows 95 we recommend to choose a miro monitor resp. a multifrequency monitor via the MIRODISP.INF and MIROMON.INF file of the miro driver software (as described in the miroCRYSTAL VRX user’s guide). Otherwise some resolutions may not be accessible or the refresh rate may be very low. Please make sure that the horizontal frequency (kHz) of the selected monitor does not exceed the maximum horizontal refresh rate of the monitor connected to the system. Do not activate the option "plug & play monitor autodetection" and do not select a "plug & play monitor" cause some DirectX applications do not run with this configuration.

Use of the memory manager QEMM ( Quarterdeck) is not recommended, especially the stealth mode. Furthermore, all obsolete DOS drivers in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT should be removed, particulary emm386.exe.

In case of discolorations or distortions when changing to MS-DOS mode, please enter the command "MODE CO 80". This command can be added in the file DOSSTAR.BAT in your Windows directory and will be executed automatically when entering MS-DOS mode.

miroCRYSTAL VRX supports the following 3D interfaces:

Direct 3D and RRedline (Windows 95), Speedy 3D (DOS).

OpenGL miniGL support in Windows 95 can be accomplished by using the actual miroCRYSTAL VRX Reference driver V. 2.1. This supports games like GL Quake or GL Hexen 2. You can download the driver from: ftp://ftp.miro.de/pub/driver/graphic/95vrx21.exe

Assuming above recommendations were followed and all technical requirements are met, but there are still problems with colours, pixels or crashes: please install the actual miroCRYSTAL VRX Reference driver V. 2.1. This driver contains not the complete miroTools. If you want to use still driver version 1.0 or 2.0 we recommend to use a driver patch: vrxupdt.exe

In systems with CYRIX CPUs for some games it may be necessary to run a CYRIX patch for the game (if available). as there are some problems known with certain 3D games and these CPUs. Please contact the game manufacturer for information.

The miroCRYSTAL VRX was tested successfully with Windows 98 and miro driver-version 2.0 and 2.1.

On some systems the following effect could be determined with driver version 2.1:

When finishing a DOS-box, the Windows desktop is built up not correctly. In this case, we recommend to select a corresponding monitor from the miro monitor-list (see chap. 2.2).

In case of no success we recommend the use of the driver-version 2.0, with which this effect doesn't appear. It is available on our FTP-Server:

ftp://ftp.miro.de/Pub/driver/graphic/800731.exe

On the miroSupport CD-ROM, it is in the driver directory with file-name: 800731.exe.

The actual NT 4.0 driver for miroCRYSTAL VRX is version 1.1. It is available on our online services. In order to install the driver you will need to be fully authorized as system administrator in Windows NT, otherwise the installation can not be completed successfully.

The hardware accelerated OpenGL miniGL support of the driver can only be accomplished by installing Service pack 3 for Windows NT 4.0. This can be obtained directly from Microsoft.

The tool m3dutil.exe enables you to configure the refreshrate in DOS. Please refer to the appropriate readme.txt. Parameter /? gives you additional information regarding correct adjustments of your monitor. You will find this tool on our FTP-Server: m3dutil.zip

Despite problems with DMA–Busmastering in your system, special Rendition Ready DOS games can still be used. For that, a reduction of Speedy 3D support is necessary (SpeedyNODMA from Intel Pentium 100), which on the other hand might lead to a loss in performance. Please refer to the game manual and help files.

In systems in which DMA-busmastering can only be accessed after launching Windows 95 (see 1.1) TOMB RAIDER can only be run from Windows 95 or after restarting the system in MS-DOS Mode from Windows 95 START button.

Please note: uncontrolled movements of LARA CROFT or restrictions in the use of the keyboard controls in TOMB RAIDER may be caused by a joystick connected to the system. Please remove the joystick.

It is not recommended to load a VESA 2.0 driver (e.g. UniVBE) before starting a game. miroCrystal VRX is compatible with VESA 2.0. If problems occur with VESA 2.0 games , please run the tool VESAPMI.COM from the miro CD-ROM (DISKSETS/UTILS/VESAFIX).

In systems with CYRIX CPUs for some games it may be necessary to run a CYRIX patch as there are some problems known with certain 3D games and these CPUs. Please contact the game manufacturer for information.

Should there still be problems such as discoloration, pixelation or crashes of Rendition Ready DOS games although all recommendations given above were accepted and the system meets the technical requirements (see Chp. 1), please add VROM.COM of the actual miroCRYSTAL VRX Reference driver V. 2.1 to the AUTOEXEC.BAT

If the performance of older games in 320x200x8 bit (Mode 13) is insufficient with miroCRYSTAL VRX, an acceleration can be utilized by using the tool m3dutil.exe with parameter /m3.

It is not possible to accelerate the performance in standard VGA mode. On the other hand miroCRYSTAL VRX offers outstanding performance for VESA 2.0 modes, which is required by almost all current DOS games.

For DOS games we generally recommend to enable the option "VIDEO BIOS SHADOW" in the BIOS setup.

Rendition has released sample source code and the necessary chipset documentation to several development teams within the Linux community. They include:

XFree 86 : http://www.xfree86.org/

MetroLink: http://www.metrolink.com/

Xi Graphics : http://www.xig.com/

Precision Insight : http://www.precisioninsight.com/

Please check with these groups to find out the latest information about driver availability and capability.

If solutions given above don’t help solving your problem we need more detailed information about your hard- and software configuration to analyse your problem. These are:

- full name of your miro product

- driver version or miro CD-ROM version

- system description of CPU type, motherboard, other components etc.

- printout of the device manager under Windows 95

- CONFIG.SYS

- AUTOEXEC.BAT

- SYSTEM.INI

- detailed error description

miro support:

Phone ++49 (0) 1805 225450 (mo. - fr. 8.00 a.m. – 8.00 p.m.)

Telefax ++49 (0) 531 2113-110

World Wide Web http://www.miro.de

The miro Mailbox is available 24h:

++49 (0) 531 / 2113-112

++49 (0) 531 / 2113-1155 (ISDN, X.75 Fossil)

World Wide Web: http://www.miro.de

Original miro driver disks and CD-ROMs can be ordered at:

DOMINO Software Fachhandel GmbH

Hofmannstraße 7

81379 München

Germany

Tel. ++49 (0) 89 / 7485070

Fax ++49 (0) 89 / 783161

Actual game patches, reference drivers, informations and news for the Rendition V-1000 chip of miroCRYSTAL VRX are available at e.g. the following web sites:

http://www.rendition.com/

http://rendition.dimension3d.com/home.html