3D Blaster Savage 4 Product Guide
Product Guide 3D Blaster™ Savage 4 Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Creative Technology Ltd. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the written permission of Creative Technology Ltd.
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Contents Contents.................................................................................. vii Introduction............................................................................... 1 Serial and Model Numbers...........................................................................................2 Before You Begin......................................................................................................................2 Minimum System Requirements .................................
Getting More Information......................................................................................................15 For 3D Blaster Savage4 .............................................................................................15 For Creative BlasterControl.......................................................................................15 For Creative SoftMPEG.............................................................................................15 Technical Specifications ....
Introduction Thank you for purchasing Creative’s 3D Blaster™ Savage4™! 3D Blaster Savage4 is an integrated 2D/3D/video accelerator card suitable for general-purpose graphics applications, including word processing, Web navigation, digital imaging, and games. 3D Blaster Savage4 uses S3’s Savage4 128-bit graphics controller. The Savage4 is a dual pipeline engine capable of processing and combining two textures simultaneously.
Serial and Model Numbers Your card’s serial and model numbers can be found at the back of the card. We recommend that you record the serial and model number below. Table 1: Serial numbers and model numbers. Hardware 3D Blaster Savage4 Product Codes Numbers Serial Number Model Number Before You Begin The README file on the CD-ROM contains information not available at the time of printing. Read the file before you continue.
Preliminary step for Windows 95 users Check the appropriate box so that you can refer to the Windows’ version number quickly during the software installation process. Since Windows automatically detects new hardware and starts the software installation procedure upon startup, you should verify your Windows version number before installing the graphics card. To verify your Windows 95 version number 1. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. 2. In the Control Panel window, double-click the System icon.
Knowing and Installing Graphics Card This section shows you the connectors on the 3D Blaster Savage4 card. It also shows you how to install the card. Monitor Output connector Connects to your monitor via a monitor cable. AGP gold-striped bus connector Figure 1: The 3D Blaster Savage4 card.
To install the graphics card If you are replacing an existing VGA card with 3D Blaster Savage4, please remember to remove the existing VGA card. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Switch off your computer and all peripheral devices. Disconnect the power cord from the wall outlet. Touch any metallic surface on your computer to discharge any static electricity. Remove the computer cover. Locate a free AGP expansion slot. Figure 2 shows the various types of expansion slots. An AGP slot 6.
10. Connect the monitor cable to the VGA Out connector of 3D Blaster Savage4, as shown below. VGA monitor If you are using a multifrequency monitor, you may need a special 15-pin PS/2-compatible adapter cable. If your multifrequency monitor allows you to switch between ‘TTL’ and ‘analog’ operation modes, set the switch to ‘analog’. For details, refer to your monitor’s manual.
To install in Windows 95 (Retail version) 1. Switch on your system. Windows 95 automatically detects the graphics card. A New Hardware Found message box appears, informing you that a display adapter has been detected. 2. When a dialog box similar to Figure 5 appears, ensure that the Driver from disk provided by hardware manufacturer option is selected. 3. Click the OK button. Figure 5: Selecting the Driver from disk provided by hardware manufacturer option. 4.
2. When a dialog box similar to Figure 6 appears, click the Next button. 3. Click the Other Locations button when it appears in the Update Device Driver Wizard dialog box. 4. Insert the 3D Blaster Savage4 CD into your CD-ROM drive. 5. In the Select Other Location dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS (where D: represents your CD-ROM drive) and click the OK button. Figure 6: The Update Device Driver Wizard 6. In the Update Device Driver Wizard dialog dialog box. box, click the Finish button. 7.
2. When a dialog box similar to Figure 7 appears, ensure that the Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select the driver you want option is selected. 3. Click the Next button. 4. Insert the 3D Blaster Savage4 CD into your CD-ROM drive. Figure 7: Selecting the Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select the driver you want option. 5. When a dialog box similar to Figure 8 appears, click the Have Disk button. 6.
If you are installing two or more Savage4 cards, verify that each Savage4 card is working properly with its corresponding monitor after completing the hardware and driver installation. Repeat this procedure for each subsequent card. To install in Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 3) 7. In the Select Device dialog box, make sure the 3D Blaster Savage4 entry in the Models list is selected and click the OK button. 8. Click the Next button. 9. Click the Finish button. The drivers are copied to your system. 10.
4. In the Color Palette group box, select the desired color. Certain colors may not be available for some display resolutions. 5. In the Refresh Frequency group box, select the desired refresh rate. 6. To test the settings, click the Test button, and then click the OK button. When the Testing Mode dialog box re-appears: • If the test bitmap is properly displayed, click the Yes button. • If not, click the No button. A warning message will be displayed.
To change the performance settings in Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0 To do so in Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 1. Right-click your desktop, and then click Properties on the menu that appears. 2. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the BlasterControl tab. 3. On the BlasterControl tabbed page, click the Advanced icon. 4. Select the desired settings and click the OK button.
About Sonnetech Colorific®/ 3Deep Colorific Colorific color management software is the industry-standard process for monitor-to-monitor and monitor-to-printer color management. It gives you accurate, predictable color-matching between your screen and printer or over the Internet by calibrating the colors on your monitor. The software leads you through a series of simple choices about what you see on your screen.
3Deep 3Deep is an exciting new tool (supporting Windows 95 and Windows 98) that allows gamers to experience 3D games as the game developers intended. Only 3Deep can provide accurate 3D lighting and shading for 3D games because it adjusts the user’s monitor. 3Deep uses Colorific’s technology (the industry standard for monitor calibration) to measure the unique characteristics of each gamer’s display. No more dark games, and no more washed out games when you increase the contrast of your monitor.
Getting More Information For 3D Blaster Savage4 The Help file for 3D Blaster Savage4 gives a brief introduction to the features supported by your graphics card. To open the Help file BCSAV4.HLP Click Start -> Programs -> Creative -> 3D Blaster Savage4 -> 3D Blaster Savage4 Help. For Creative BlasterControl The Help file for Creative BlasterControl shows you how to use the BlasterControl utility to customize your screen resolution, color depth, and refresh rate in Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.
For Colorific and 3Deep The Help file for Colorific contains the User’s Manual. To open the Help file for Colorific You can also print a copy of the User’s Manual, MANUAL.RTF, found in the Documents folder on the installation disk. Technical Support 16 3D Blaster™ Savage 4 1. Click Start -> Programs -> Colorific. The Colorific calibration utility is opened. 2. On the right-hand corner of the menu bar, click Help. 3. On the Help menu, click Help Contents. To open the Help file for 3Deep 1.
Technical Specifications Architecture Highlights 3D Features T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T 128-bit S3 Savage4 PRO graphics accelerator AGP 2X with sideband addressing support 32 MB 300 MHz RAMDAC S3 texture compression (S3TC) Hardware triangle setup engine Dual texture pipelines capable of processing two textures onto one pixel per clock Single-pass multiple textures enable spectacular visual effects such as bump maps, environmental maps, light maps, and reflection maps 125 million pixels/second sustai
2D Features Video Features Card Specifications AGP 1.0 Compliant Addressing and Interrupts Software Utilities 18 3D Blaster™ Savage 4 T T T T 100% compatible VGA core VBE 2.
T T Resolutions and Refresh Rates Supported Creative SoftMPEG Sonnetech Colorific/3Deep Table 2: 2D and 3D resolutions and refresh rates supported. Refresh Rates (Hz) Resolution 640x480 • The refresh rates shown in the table are the highest obtainable and are monitordependent. Resolutions, pixel depths, and refresh rates are also dependent on the driver and the amount of memory available on your Savage4 board. Therefore, some of them may not be available for certain applications or operating systems.
Troubleshooting System Hangs, Blank Screen or Corrupted Display 20 3D Blaster™ Savage 4 After installing 3D Blaster Savage4 and starting your system, the monitor displays a blank screen. Solutions Try the following: T Switch off your system and wait a while before switching it on again. T Verify that any built-in VGA on your motherboard is disabled and that you have removed any other video display card from your system.
Windows 98 Multi-Monitor Display Problems The monitor connected to the second or successive Savage4 card remains blank even though the card and its drivers have been installed. Cause If Savage4’s drivers are not specified during the software installation (see “To install in Windows 98” on page 8), the system installs the second or successive Savage4 card as a VGA card which does not support Windows 98’s multi-monitor feature. Solution Update the device drivers to Savage4’s drivers: 1.
Other Display Problems For the resolutions supported by your monitor, refer to its manual. Monitor display flickers after Windows 95 or Windows 98 starts. Cause Your monitor may not support the resolution or refresh rate that you have set. Solution Use display settings supported by the monitor. To change the display settings: 1. Restart your system in Windows 95/ Windows 98 Safe mode. To do so: a. Restart your system and when the message “Starting Windows 95...” or “Starting Windows 98...
Monitor display exhibits pixel drop (that is, pixels, usually white in color, appear on the screen) or other abnormal behavior. Cause The settings that you have selected for your graphics card may be incompatible with one or more games or applications that you are running. Solution Use the factory default settings: 1. Right-click your desktop, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. 2. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the BlasterControl tab. 3.
Problem with PCI Bridge (in Windows 95) 24 3D Blaster™ Savage 4 After installing Savage4 (AGP) onto a Pentium II LX system or any other AGP system, the Resources tabbed page of the Savage4 Properties dialog box in Windows 95 shows resource conflicts similar to the following: Memory Range used FEDC0000 - FEDDFFFF used by PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge. Memory Range used FD800000 - FDFFFFFF used by PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge. Memory Range used FE000000 - FE7FFFFF used by PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge.
Problems Using Software When you restart Windows, one of the following error messages appears: T “BlasterControl will only work on Creative graphics product drivers. Do you want BlasterControl to be loaded the next time you start Windows?” T “BlasterControl will only work on Creative graphics product drivers.” Cause 3D Blaster Savage4 drivers, required by BlasterControl, may have been replaced by other drivers when you installed DirectX applications.
Problem with AGP Aperture Size Changing settings in CMOS incorrectly can cause the system to stop functioning. DirectDraw/Direct3D fails to use hardware acceleration (HAL). Cause The CMOS setting for the AGP Aperture size is less than 8 MB. Solution Set the AGP Aperture size to 8 MB or more. Do the following in CMOS: 1. Restart your system. 2. During the memory check, press . The CMOS setup menu appears. 3. Select Chipset Features Setup and press . 4.