ATI Radeon Tricks
From Pigasoftware
This article has nothing to do with Piga Software itself, but was created to help Linux Users by Hamish Wilson
Contents |
Introduction
I usually get all my hardware from TigerDirect.ca, a great source for hardware an computer parts. When it comes to video cards, ATI cards are usually seem to be cheaper than their NVIDIA counterparts. Because of this, my network mostly consists of ATI Radeon video cards. This works for most of my GNU/Linux needs out of the box, with great Free Software drivers (ATI and Radeon) available in the Fedora Repository. Problem is, some tasks like graphically impressive computer games and desktop effects can require something more than what is available in the Fedora Repository. To answer these problems, ATI created its proprietary FGLRX driver. It is available in the Livna (RPM Fusion) repository if you are interested. These drivers are propriety (non-free), and do not have support for older video cards (officially Radeon 9500 and above). Only one person on my network, Graham, has a 9500 card, with the majority of the network using older cards. Not to worry, I am experimenting with ways to get the most out of your legacy ATI cards. Here is what I have discovered so far...
Running Doom 3
Released in 2004 by the legendary id Software, Doom 3 is still one of the most graphically impressive games commercially available for Linux. Doom 3 unfortunately requires, you guessed it, the FGLRX drivers from ATI. Ever since I started using Linux full time in 2007, I have wanted to run Doom 3 on Linux. This determination and quite a bit of experimenting led me to a solution for those of you using legacy cards. It is actually simpler than you might think:
Instructions
- Install Doom 3 with the demo/retail installer: http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/doom/
- Download the following tarball: doom3-legacy-files.tar.gz
- Extract doom3-legacy-files.tar.gz to your Doom 3 directory (Look in /usr/local/games)
- Load up a terminal, cd to your Doom 3 directory, and type: doom.x86
- Doom 3 should run, if not search the internet or post in the Talk Page.
Video Cards
Doom 3 has been run successfully with these cards:
- Radeon 9200
- Radeon 9000
- Radeon 7500
Other Hacks
Because in the end you want to do more than just run the game, here are a few hacks I would recommend to improve game speed. I have tested all these performance enchantments with my ATI legacy card and they work quite will, and allow older cards to preform better than they theoretically should. Always a good thing.
DoomConfig.cfg
Here are some changes to the DoomConfig.cfg file that some people report to being helpful in performance, but strangely enough not always in FPS rates.
- seta image_useCache "1" - originally - 0
- seta image_cacheMegs "256" - Originally 20 (set this to half your total system ram)
- seta image_cacheMinK "20480" - originally 200 (change or it will crash when you set usecache to 1)
- seta com_showFPS "1" - originally 0, use to show your FPS for testing purposes.
- seta com_videoram "128" - Added this value. Memory on video card, default is 64 so this should help
Speed up Doom 3 40%
A useful guide that allows for a very noticeable increase in performance. Although the guide is Windows based and suggests using WinRar for editing Pak files, you can use File Roller on Linux and it should do the job just fine.
Television Out with Legacy Cards
Here Piga Software and this article become one. I have wrote a utility called PigaVision to make one simple interface for television out. Because it use the XRandR and Xvattr applications, it should work perfectly with your Legacy ATI Radeon Cards. All you need is a copy of PigaVision and the free software ATI drivers and you are ready to play around with your television.
Video Cards
PigaVision has been tested with these Video Cards:
- Radeon 9200
- Radeon 9000
- Radeon 7500
