General Troubleshooting
Most video compatibility problems can be resolved by hitting the
TROUBLESHOOT button in the video options screen. We recommend using the
TROUBLESHOOT button in D3D or software video modes, as task switching in
OpenGL mode has been known to cause problems on some systems.
General Driver Issues
To obtain the latest drivers for your hardware, download the drivers from your card manufacturer's web site. See below for links to the driver sections of various hardware vendors' webpages.
Additionally, you may want to install and run a third-party driver installation program such as GLSetup (www.glsetup.com) which contains many OpenGL drivers for a variety of video cards. GLSetup version 1.6 is provided for your convenience on the Homeworld: Cataclysm CD to save you download time should your current OpenGL drivers not work with Homeworld: Cataclysm. Recognize that GLSetup is not supported by Sierra's technical support, however.
Hardware Renderers
All compatibility comments below assume that you are trying to run Homeworld: Cataclysm with the Default OpenGL renderer as a first attempt. Depending on your chipset, however, it may be necessary to run using 3dfx OpenGL, Direct3D, or software. Homeworld: Cataclysm places labels beside available renderers in the Video Options screen that indicate the graphics API a particular driver uses: GL for OpenGL, D3D for Direct3D and SW for software.
If your chipset is not listed in Card/Chipset-Specific Issues below, you should consult the documentation that came with your hardware to determine how to get updated drivers.
Some 3D hardware does not provide an OpenGL implementation and running Homeworld: Cataclysm with Default OpenGL selected as your renderer will then not be accelerated by your hardware at all. If Homeworld: Cataclysm pops up a dialog box informing you that the selected renderer is unaccelerated, try Direct3D next, then software if all else fails (the Homeworld: Cataclysm software renderer is considerably faster than OpenGL without hardware support). If you must use the software renderer, try running Homeworld: Cataclysm with the /rasterSkip commandline switch for a moderate speed increase; some people find this too visually distracting, so try for yourself and see.
Homeworld: Cataclysm also supports the /safeGL commandline option. You should run with this if any of the following problems occur when using OpenGL as your renderer: oddly colored backgrounds, no stars in the backgrounds, no background bitmap in the loading screens, or ship meshes that are missing polygons or are oddly colored.
Recent versions of Windows 98 provide drivers for certain 3D chipsets, but they generally do not contain an OpenGL ICD. GLSetup drivers or drivers from your vendor's website are preferred.
Running in OpenGL, when moving the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen, you may notice the rest of the image having a white border.
Display Mode Resolution
If you experience problems when testing a new display mode (new resolution or bitdepth), be sure to see if Homeworld: Cataclysm will run at 640x480 16 bit. Some cards incorrectly report resolutions they cannot properly support, and Homeworld: Cataclysm may fail to recognize the problem. If you select a new display mode and Homeworld: Cataclysm appears unresponsive (for example, black screen or garbled text) either wait a few seconds or hit the SPACEBAR to have Homeworld: Cataclysm restore the previous mode. If all else fails, try pressing CTRL-SHIFT-F12 to re-enable the default renderer (software, 640x480 16bit).
Note also that not all 3D hardware supports the same set of features as another, and some scenes and effects will appear differently on different system configurations. This is to be expected.
Motherboards and Chipset Issues
Users with an AMD K6 or greater processor with 3DNow! instructions or an Intel LX chipset on their motherboard may experience crashes or system lockups when using OpenGL with NVidia Riva TNT2, 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee or Voodoo 3, and S3 Savage3D boards. AMD users are encouraged to use Direct3D for hardware acceleration if this problem occurs.
Users with an AMD Athlon may also experiences crashes or system lockups using OpenGL or D3D with the GeForce video card. AMD is aware of a problem with compatibility between the GeForce video card and the AMD Athlon motherboard. There is an AGP Miniport Driver patch for the motherboard that should solve this problem. The AGP Miniport Driver can be found at http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/bin/.
Users running Windows 2000 on an AMD Athlon with a Voodoo3 video card may experience random system lockups using a Vortex sound card (support.aureal.com). The Vortex sound card appears to be the problem and recent drivers may provide support.
Most of the newer video cards have adequate support for Windows 2000. If you have any problems with your video card under Windows 2000 make sure to check with the card manufacturer to see if there is an updated driver.
Card/Chipset-Specific Issues, by Manufacturer
Below are a list of known issues and driver recommendations that have been tested successfully with Homeworld: Cataclysm.
3dfx
Voodoo Rush this chipset is not currently supported for hardware acceleration mode, but recent 3dfx driver releases may provide support
Voodoo Graphics no known problems with 3dfx drivers. Drivers from Diamond Multimedia for the Diamond Monster card have caused some problems with Homeworld: Cataclysm. Using reference drivers from 3dfx has been seen to resolve these issues.
Voodoo 2 no known problems (recommend driver: 3dfx reference driver 3.03.00, 6-24-99)
Banshee no known problems
Voodoo 3 Using the latest drivers, under Windows NT v4.0 with service pack 5 and Windows 2000, menus may be corrupted using 3DfxGL at a resolution of 1024x768 or greater. no other known problems with 3dfx driver 1.0, April '99. A rainbow effect on the background is encountered with driver 1.02.11 7-22-99, we recommend using driver 1.0.
Note: 3dfx fullscreen-only devices (Voodoo Graphics, Voodoo 2) must use the 3dfx OpenGL renderer for hardware acceleration due to a limitation in Microsoft's OpenGL hardware support mechanism that doesn't allow for fullscreen-only devices to be supported via Default OpenGL. Other 3dfx chipsets (Banshee, Voodoo 3) can use Default OpenGL, or Direct3D if problems occur with GL. The 3dfx OpenGL renderer will only be available if you have a fullscreen-only Voodoo card in your system. If you have a Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo 2 card, it is highly recommended that you run GLSetup for driver setup; there are known problems with Diamond's Monster II drivers that GLSetup corrects.
Intel
i740 some users may experience missing textures on ships. Get the latest drivers from Intel's website to resolve this problem or try GLSetup.
nVidia
Riva 128, 128ZX text may appear blocky or blurry, but gameplay is unaffected, no other known problems, recommended driver v 3.37.
Riva TNT, TNT2 no known D3D problems. OpenGL not available in Win98/Win95. Recommended driver Detonator ver 2.08 nVidia reference driver or for Creative Labs boards Creative Labs driver ver 1.09, 3-24-99.
3DLabs
Permedia 2 does not support OpenGL. Users should run with Direct3D.
Permedia 3 texturing is not currently supported by drivers in Windows 95
ATI
3D Rage 2 OpenGL is unaccelerated. Direct3D has limited display mode support, but no known problems
Rage Pro no known problems. Select Direct3D for hardware acceleration, driver version 4.11.2560, 5-28-99, is recommended.
Rage 128 no known problems, recommend D3D mode or for OpenGL use driver included in GLSetup 1.6.
Rage Turbo Explosions and other translucent effects may have black trim. Gameplay is unaffected with no other known problems.
Matrox
M3D (PowerVR PCX2) this chipset is not supported
G200 Text in build manager may appear blocky for short intervals. No other known problems, recommend D3D use. We do not recommend using GLSetup with this card.
G400 no known D3D problems. Recommend driver 4.11.01.2110, from 8-31-99. OpenGL choice is available, but we do not recommend using GLSetup with this card.
Rendition
Verite 1000 no known problems
Verite 2100 select Direct3D for hardware acceleration. Some driver versions may occasionally display backgrounds without smoothing, leading to a very polygonal look. Effect is intermittent, and gameplay is unaffected
Verite 2200 no known problems
S3
Virge OpenGL is unaccelerated. Direct3D has limited display mode support, but no known problems
Savage 3 Software support only.
Savage 4 no known problems, recommend Diamond driver 2.04, 6-1,99 for Diamond cards or S3 reference driver 8.02.11, 5-18-99.
Diamond
Fire GL 1000 Text and textures may appear blocky. Explosions and other translucent effects may have black trim. Sensors spheres may look jagged when blob alpha is enabled. Disable blob alpha in video effects options. Gameplay is unaffected with no other known problems.