# Windows 3.1 Video Issues



## The DOS Machine (Jul 15, 2000)

My computer has two separate primary partitions on its hard drive. The first contains a pure DOS/Win 3.1 setup. The second contains Windows 98 SE. Although it was difficult, I have managed to get all of my DOS games working along with everything on the Win98 side.

Unfortunately, Windows 3.1 has been left out. Even though I installed it, I was never able to get to work properly with my video cards. I have had renewed interest in this problem since I want to play Civilization II on my DOS partition.

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The problem is that Windows 3.1 cannot reach more than 16 colors. This doesn't work to well with any game or movie I play in the operating environment. I have tried--every--display setting through "Window's Setup" and through the "setup.exe" program in the "Windows" directory. Some of them work, while others don't at all. All of them don't allow me to use 256 or higher colors.

The "Super VGA" setting says that its driver is not compatible with my video card when I attempt to start windows, the "XGA" settings don't allow me to boot into windows, and the "Video 7" settings produce a corrupted screen. The setting that works the best is "VGA" or "VGA (Revision 3)" option using the "vga.drv" driver.

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I just downloaded newer generic SVGA and XGA drivers, but I haven't tried them yet.

I previously had an ATI Rage Fury MAXX (Rage 128) video card where Windows 3.1 had the exact same problem as it does today with my Joytech Apollo Kyro II (Kyro II) video card; nothing has changed.

Any suggestions?

*-DOSMAN*


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

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Hiya DOSMAN, 

If the Windows 3x SVGA driver isn't compatible
with your card, you're probably at the end of the
trail (apparently the VGA driver is just barely
working, or you'd get more than 16 colors).

Hopefully the newer generic drivers will work, but
video cards have just advanced so far past 16-bit
Windows...

Have ya tried the game in Windows 98?

Cheers, Mac


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## The DOS Machine (Jul 15, 2000)

^Hey *Mac*!

Yeah, I was afraid that it might never work. Is there any method that will change the color depth for Windows 3 without affecting video drivers, or is that the only way?

I would have bought and played Civilization III, but my ten-year old monitor doesn't support the XGA or higher resolution necessary for it to even work! I didn't want to buy a new monitor just for that game, so I thought I would play Civ II.

Of course, I could probably play it on my Windows 98 installation, but the entire reason I created the DOS partition was to run DOS games in their native environment. Some programs I have even require it.

Just wanted to see if I could fix Windows 3.1; I have other Win 3 programs that I would like to run as well.

*-DOSMAN*


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

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Well, I use several 16-bit programs left over
from Windows 3x on Windows 95 (Amipro,
Lotus, Photofinish...). About the only thing
I've noticed unusual, is they use DOS short
filenames in an Open/Save window.

Most of my games from that era were DOS
though (Win3x was just too much overhead),
and I can either run them in a DOS box, or
boot straight to DOS from my multi-config.
Some *still* require a DOS VESA driver to be
loaded first (gotta love them batch files...  ).

I also kept FAT16 (lol, drives C thru M for smaller
cluster size), which may account for success with
some older programs/utilities.

BTW, if Win3x can't handle your video drivers, I
don't think there's any options left. 

Cheers, Mac


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## The DOS Machine (Jul 15, 2000)

Yeah, the SVGA drivers didn't work either. They were "unable to initialize" my video card. How hard is it for GPU makers today to include a little BIOS code that would work with Windows 3.1? 

Oh well, I still have my pure DOS i486 laptop to run it on!

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C: through M:!!! Wow *Mac*, isn't that a bit overboard? 

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Finally, I have a favor to ask of you *Mac*. Since you are quite good with batch files, I was wondering if you could make me one.

What I need is a menu in a separate batch file that I will run at startup (through the autoexec.bat file). What I am thinking about is similar to the Windows boot-disk that lets the user select CD-ROM drive support.

If you want to do this, then the minimum menu I need is one that allows the user to select between several options listed on screen (that I will provide you with) by pushing the corresponding number (1,2,3,4,ect). When an option is selected, the batch file will then run the appropriate program (game) on the hard drive.

The complexity is entirely up to you, meaning that you can do anything from a simple text list to an ASCII "graphics" border with a blue background or other embellishments.

The prompt can automatically launch the program when a number is pressed or show the selected option awaiting confirmation.

If you agree to do this, I will post the options and the program paths. So let me know! 

*-DOSMAN*


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

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Hey DOSMAN, 

I'll give it a shot, check your private messages. 

Cheers, Mac


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