FalconFly Current News 2004

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After thorough consideration, I've decided to take the 3dfx Archive offline on 01/07/2017

Having supported 3dfx for so many years, it's simply time to move on.
Alot of time & money has been invested into making the 3dfx Archive into what it eventually became and it has served its purpose extremely well.

Thus, after approx. 16 years this time has come.
With the shutdown deadline still reasonably far in the future, this should allow ample time for anyone needing to prepare for that.

Mirrors and a read-only copy of the Forum have already been put into action by other 3dfx Supporters, hence no content will be lost.

It's been a LONG time, quite naturally - as the 3dfx Archive was basically planned to "chug along" without any more updates.

However, as it turns out, some Files in the Archive - for reasons unknown - went corrupt over time on the main server.
Upon performing a complete scan, it turns out a number of Files are affected.

Since all of the Files exiting in the Archive were re-downloaded into my local running Backup (due to a HDD change), assuming they'd be intact, caused me to actually Backup corrupt Files,
it turns out this will be a somewhat longer task to restore them to their original, functional Status :P

I'll have to root through some >very< old external Backups or re-download them from various locations on the Internet.
I'm quite confident, though, that I'll be able to restore most - if not all - of the affected Files.

Quite unexpected - but I simply have work to do.
And once I'm at it - I'll likely update the Drivers to the latest state, once I'm at it. Can't harm ;)

Anyway, thanks to 3dfx Archive visitors to point the issues out to me via Mail.
(apologies for not being the fastest to fix them)

Well darn it!
Upon checking Backups as old as nearly 8 years (took a while to find these in the 1st place), it turns out - those Files are broken as well (??!)

To say the least - that was unexpected, seeing even so extremely old Backups show the same issues already.

After scanning the entire File Archive on the Server, a total of 8 corrupt Files have been identified.
With the exception of one, all should be (hopefully) easy to restore.

*uhm* it's been a VERY long time (apparently) since I wrote some news on this site.

But probably, that was rather quite honest, as nothing much has changed. What has changed, however, is the amount of available time
and effort that went into maintaining this Site.
Visibly, I have resorted to keeping the Site up&running, having become an old archive keeper and maintaining that Status Quo is
probably not the worst thing around.

Still, it's clear that there are others, more active 3dfx Sites, but it has never been the goal of the 3dfx Archive to become some sort of
visitor magnet or central 3dfx institution. Everything is provided "as is" with a certain claim of completeness, although that's
likely not valid when it comes to the latest 3rd party Drivers.
As development has concentrated (AFAIK) mostly to 3dfxzone.it and a few other individuals, these shouldn't be too difficult to find.

After some busy private changes I could extend, revamp and improve the Site easily, but I won't promise anything.
As most with knowledge of this site already know, my priorities have gadually shifted away from this Site,
I guess that's life. After all, we all get older and when the time comes, other issues require (or downright get) more time allocated.

In the old days, many sites kicked into life & action after 3dfx' demise - gone but never forgotten.
And just as so many of these great Websites closed down and simply vanished, ONE promise I can still - and happily - will yield :

The 3dfx Archive will be online for as long as people care about that old, groundbreaking technology,
that was MUCH more than just an assembly of silicon tech onto PCBs.

For as long as I live, those days I will remember as the days of the most enjoyable Gaming I ever witnessed.
I will keep these times in memory as the best Gaming times ever.
No shiny new tech or amount of shaders/GFlops or DirectX 11+ hardware is going to bring these times back,
that's why gaming original brilliant Games on original 3dfx hardware will always be something unique and special.
And that's what this site was always about.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Factually, there really was nothing groundbreaking to report lately.
We near the end of 2005 and even the latest 3dfx Boards have reached 4+ years of age.
The 5th anniversary of the Final closure Statement of 3dfx - dated 15 Dec 2000 - is nearing as well.

On the Driver front, it appears the established Driver creators to have paused or halted development.
(but arguably having reached an exceptional Level of Quality with AmigaMerlin 3.0 R11 and SFFT Alpha 32 Drivers, for example)

For the 3dfx Archive, all that won't change alot however.
As far as time permits, it will still get the occasional update and mainly serve its duty as what it was planned for :
24/7 available Download Archive holding (almost) everything 3dfx

And regardless of how old the Hardware may be, there are still countless numbers of some of the best Games ever created
working just perfect (or even exclusively) on 3dfx Hardware

Add an alive & well Forum to that, the 3dfx Archive is still far from silence...
Forum Members together hold what is likely the largest amount of 3dfx Hardware worldwide.
For as long as there are still 3dfx Users around, the Archive will be there.

(and if you have any doubts, there's still the offer of the entire 3dfx Archive on DVD or CD's - shipping worldwide - still for zero charge)

Looking back, it has never been the most pretty Website or the most fancy design,
but possibly one of the longest lasting and reliable 3dfx Sites.

Now that's actually a tad difficult to answer. Except for the fact that it will stay for as long as people need it,
forming an exact future outlook for a 3dfx Archive (besides its 'status quo') seems impossible as of now.
Maybe I'll get other (classic) 3D Hardware into the Boat, maybe broaden it to include also Tools/Drivers for modern/common Hardware...

Can you believe it, a news update...
It's been a very long time since... [snip] Oh wait, we've *ugh* sort of had that before

Well, not much changed around here; everything has just gotten bigger, as this Archive is growing at a steady rate.

-=- Upcoming AmigaMerlin Drivers -=-
Based on the ongoing development of the SFFT Alpha Core,
the AmigaMerlin Driver series has reached V3.0 R6 beta (based on SFFT Alpha 23).
While not out of Alpha stage yet, the SFFT Alpha DirectX Core is already the most advanced DirectX Core available for 3dfx Cards,
ideally suited to targed latest DirectX Games that otherwise will not work with the available Release Drivers.
...and AmigaMerlin V3.0 R10 is just around the corner...

Writing the year 2005 and still 3dfx Users being able to run alot of modern Games is close to a miracle, but moreso
it is thanks to the combined effort of all who contributed their time and know-how that it is possible.
With that community effort ongoing, there actually seems nothing in sight that could stop 3dfx Hardware to continue to do in the forseeable future

-=- Commodore AMIGA scene alive & well -=-
...and using 3dfx Hardware for 3D acceleration!

Yes, serious Gaming existed before the PC... Long before the PC actually.
(If you've never seen a Hand on your Screen holding a blue 3.5" Disk after power-on, you may skip this one; that was before your time

)

Just when you thought you've seen all places where a 3dfx Voodoo card could possibly work,
another Community already managed to get them working for their Systems as well.
With PCI-Busboards like Mediator, GRex, Prometheus for classic AMIGA's or
its successors Pegasos I / II , AmigaOne and µAmigaOne, the venerable AmigaOS is ready for Voodoo.
(expect respective Driver additions to the Archive soon)

Still, they're in need for 3dfx-experienced Coders to Port and bugfix remaining Driver issues,
so if you can give them a hand or just like to visit, head over to :
http://www.amiga-news.de (German)
http://www.aminet.net/news.php (int.)

-=- 3dfx Collectors roundup -=-
Quite alot of partly never-before seen pieces of 3dfx equipment have recently surfaced,
all showcased and described among the total of an insane 1320 3dfx Items, as usual found here ...
The Idea of an all-inclusive 3dfx Collector's Meeting is already born, but actually realizing it one day would be the difficult part.

It's been a very long time since I wrote some news...
Work has kept (and still keeps) me extremely busy, upto a point where I frequently don't have time to update anything.
(and one can imagine, when there is a short break once a while, other relaxing things are offering themself as well

)

Anyway, here's a brief summary of what happened in the 3dfx scene within the last months :

-=- Doom3 running on Voodoo2 ! -=-
In Oct 2004, a Forum Poster at 3dfxzone.it made his name "Doom" all honour and managed to surprise the entire 3dfx Community with a Doom3 Patch,
and even caused News Postings at every major Hardware or GFX Tech related Site.

While not quite as shiny as with modern Video Hardware, the Voodoo2 made the stand which truly noone ever deemed possible.
(a Voodoo3 is of course also capable to run Doom3 with it)
As I always say, nothing beats success :

-=- HalfLife2 running on Voodoo5 ! -=-
In Nov 2004, the next surprise was unveilled once again over at the 3dfxzone.it Forums.
This time, AmigaMerlin himself showcased that even the latest 3D Shooter HL2 still runs very nice on the 3dfx Voodoo5 (AmigaMerlin V3.1-R1 Driver) :

-=- Software Pixel Shader - development progressing -=-
A Project some stumbled upon a longer time ago, but in the past only of limited practical use.

But very recently, alot of Progress was apparently made, allowing non Pixel-Shader equipped Cards like 3dfx to use it as a Software Fallback.
One should keep an eye on this Project, looks very promising :
http://sw-shader.sourceforge.net/main.html

-=- 3dfx Collectors roundup -=-
Frequent Forum users have likely already seen it, but as of now, the 3dfx Archive's Forum is happy to contain Collectors
who by today have amassed no less than 920 3dfx Items, some of which are extremely rare and unique 3dfx Technology Gems.
The ever-growing List is showcased here ...

-=- The 3dfx Archive expands once again -=-
...and this time with a big step forward...

In the past, the 3dfx Archive has always quickly reached and exceeded all limits I had in mind for it.
Be it exploding Visitor numbers, a never-ending supply of new (old) Files, or simply Files that were too large to fit into one place.

With the latest expansion, here's how it looks like :
Storage capacity : 9000 MB (+400%)
Bandwidth capacity : 1.5 TB (+488%)

I've become careful with making statements like "...that should suffice till the end of days", but it sure looks good now

-=- A look back -=-
Long forgotten seem the old and early days of the 3dfx Archive,
when I started to collect and offer a few of the most widespread 3dfx Drivers for Download.

That was sometime around Jul 2001, meaning the 3dfx Archive is 3½ years old, and this is where it is right now :

703 Files available for download, 2256MB in total
1220GB served within the last 12 month, to 652000 Visitors

At this time, I think it is in order to thank all the people of the 3dfx community that either directly or indirectly supported this endeavour
or simply did their part to keep the 3dfx community alive and well.
A Special thanks must go to all those that allowed the venerable 3dfx Hardware to boldly go where it is able to be today.
...far far further than everyone would have ever thought possible.

An old saying around the community continues to hold true :
3dfx - Gone but never forgotten !

-=- The Future -=-
As promised, the 3dfx Archive will stay, for as long as it is needed and useful.

The Archive on DVD (or CD if desired) is an offer that is maintained into the future as well.
If you would like to receive a full Backup of the entire Archive, it ships worldwide and free of any cost.
(Note : due to work taking its toll, delays in shipping each (manually hand-prepared) media occured in the past and will persist until Mar 2005)

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