If you are getting artifacts or visual distortion then perhaps a couple screenshots or pics could help.
Also it would help if you gave us what exact hardware you are using (which model motherboard, AGP or PCI 3dfx card etc).

I'm not too familiar with which directX to use, but personally I wouldn't use directX 9c and 8.1 seems too recent as well.
I'm thinking more directX 7 or so? But perhaps someone with more knowledge about the subject could chip in?

I used DirectX 9c with 1.07.00-WHQL drivers for a Voodoo3 2000 PCI card under W98SE and it was fine.

A lot of those hacked up new drivers are designed to get newer games (which require later DirectX) to (barely) run, like UT2004...

I use a Asus CUV4-X as motherboard.

these are screenshots of Screamer Rally. (the game without patch 3dfx work perfectly)
I remind you that I am using 3dfx card voodoo3 3000 (AGP) drivers 10-700 and directx 6.1. i have try also amigamerling 2.9 with directx 9.1 and the error is same..these drivers and dx9.1 have never created any conflict with all the games I've tried so far (included some game work fine with 3dfx patch)

the black screen is a error from descent2 (dos version but work fine in 98se) patched 1.2 with voodoo patch. also here (the game without 3dfx patch work perfectly)

I think two things:

1:my pc configuration, processor, ram and video are too modern for this games and work bad..
2:maybe i have try wrong 3dfx patch for my voodoo, maybe exist a patch only for voodoo3 for this games?

I am sure that directx and amigamerlin are not a problem in this case and that do not create any conflict

any help?

I'd say this is mainly an incompatibility of the Voodoo3 with the older Glide games, seeing as all of the newer titles you listed work fine. For example, I could never get the NFS II SE demo to work on 3dfx cards newer than Voodoo2. If a game comes with own Glide2x/3x.dll files sometimes it might help replacing them with the ones from the Windows/System directory.

For Descent 2, what 3dfx patch are you using? The official D2VOODOO won't work at all with newer cards than Voodoo2, and for the unofficial D2_3DFX lots of incompatibiity reports with newer cards were listed for it by its creators.

Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix
It looks like not all versions of the Voodoo3 glide2x.ovl are compatible with this game...

Make sure you check the thermals on your Voodoo3 after a while, careful but maybe finger touching the heatsink, it might burn you though. I had a problem with my voodoo3 3000 AGP Card getting so hot it would artifact in games and cause distortion and crashes. I solved it by jury rigging a 60mm fan on to the heatsink and now it runs smooth, maybe this would help you too.

kithylin wrote:

Make sure you check the thermals on your Voodoo3 after a while, careful but maybe finger touching the heatsink, it might burn you though. I had a problem with my voodoo3 3000 AGP Card getting so hot it would artifact in games and cause distortion and crashes. I solved it by jury rigging a 60mm fan on to the heatsink and now it runs smooth, maybe this would help you too.

I do not remember to have the holes for the screws on the heatsink but i will try to check the temperature..

For Descent 2, what 3dfx patch are you using? The official D2VOODOO won't work at all with newer cards than Voodoo2, and for the unofficial D2_3DFX lots of incompatibiity reports with newer cards were listed for it by its creators.[/quote]

yes, i use the official patch. where i can find the unofficial? do you have a link?

http://www.dfiles.de/download/d2/patches/d2_3dfx106b.exe

d1stortion wrote:

http://www.dfiles.de/download/d2/patches/d2_3dfx106b.exe

thank you! now d2 work fine..

for screamer2, i not understand how to install the older glide2x.ovl because i use driver V1.07.00 on my voodoo3 and maybe the glide3 not work on this game, right? i must install old glide version? which version?

Just extract old glide2x.ovl in the game directory. IIRC a DOS glide game searches glide2x.ovl in the starting directory then in %path%. So - you don't need to install the old driver version.
Which version to use? Dunno, don't have a Voodoo3, can't tell.

i have try to copy in s2 directory the glide2x.ovl from windows system but the game won't start, maybe i have not the older version glide file. can you add me here your glide2x.ovl that work with screamer2?

this is a content of driver for voodoo3 V1.07.00 (last version)

if i not use glide2x.ovl in s2 directory the game start but i have these bugs (this is screamer rally but in s2 is same..)

help me please! can run this game on my voodoo3?

download the oldest driver http://www.falconfly.de/downloads/voodoo3-10000.zip and unzip it. Copy glide2x.ovl (178131 bytes) to S2 directory. The main problem with Voodoo3/4/5 is unchangeable gamma in dos glide games (which use glide2x.ovl). So Tomb Raider and Redguard are too dark. Screamer Rally and Dreams to Reality are OK. For DtR you can use http://www.oldskool.org/pc/throttle to prevent dialogs text blinking. Darkness of TR1 can be solved by using Glidos (I tested old v.1.35) with its glide2x.dll replaced by one from your Win/System directory. As an extra you'll get high resolutions and Lara shadow fix. The solution can be considered as 'real hardware gaming' because Glidos will redirect calls glide2x.ovl -> Voodoo3 glide2x.dll, not to OpenGl or D3D.