Welcome to the PowerVR PCX-2 fan page!!



What's the PCX-2?

    The (Now Imagination Technologies) PowerVR PCX-2 is a budget-minded power efficient video chipset designed for basic accelleration and rendering. It has driver support for Direct3D in Windows, as well as its own direct API called "SGL". It also supports DOS (special SGL games only). It is not OpenGL compliant, it has no support for it out-of-the-box, and it only works by the use of a "MiniGL" wrapper that translates a limited subset of GL function calls to SGL (which, despite the similar name, has no relation to the OpenGL API).

    The best known card using this chipset is the Matrox M3D, released in June 1997 by Matrox. It retailed for a very affordable $99, which at the time, was a solid deal if you wanted to play any 3D game in 1997, and couldn't afford the $200+ 3dfx Voodoo cards.  The problem though, is just that - it's only made for 1997. Many 3D games had to compensate for supporting this card as it was in the market, since it can only handle alpha blending - and nothing else.

    The latest driver is from March 1998, and has been since 'obsolete'.  However, some newer games do have a chance of running on the PCX-2.

    The successor to the PCX-2 is the Neon 250, released in December 1999 but was announced in January 1998. Production of it was focused for the SEGA Dreamcast home consoles and NAOMI arcade systems, which is why it was late for production in the consumer video card market. In the wake of the Geforce256's  introduction, it was a gigantic flop.

    The PCX-2 is capable of:
    The PCX-2 is NOT capable of:


PowerVR PCX-2 Compatibility List

        Now! The part you've been waiting for! All games tested under Windows 98 Second Edition.

Game Name
API
Year
Status
Notes
Screenshots
#





a





Alien vs. Predator
(Rebellion, FPS)
Direct3D (DX6)
1999
Crap
Stuff doesn't blend.
Vision modes rely on additive blend
so it makes the game unplayable

Alien vs. Predator 2
(Monolith, FPS)
Direct3D (DX7)
2001
Crap
Stuff doesn't blend.
It's also slow and there is no lighting

b





Blood 2Direct3D (DX6)1998OkayFreezes when mouse is fired, but otherwise, it looks as it should except for some colorful funkage in the lighting. (!!!?)
Break NeckDirect3D1999FailDoes not start.
c





d





Descent 3Direct3D, OpenGL1998CrapOpenGL black screens using any PowerVR MiniGL. Direct3D bombs to desktop. It detects and recognizes the card though, and sets for medium detail (!?!)
Doom (Doomsday)
(id software, FPS)
OpenGL
Direct3D (DX7)
2009
Untested
Expecting to see black flares and lights...

Doom (GZDoom)
(id software, FPS)
OpenGL
2009
Untested
Works on KYRO II, at least.

Doom (Vavoom)
OpenGL
Direct3D
2009
Untested
Vavoom is a port that uses Quake's renderer, so here's hoping for compatibility!

e





f





g





Grand Theft Auto 2
(DMA Design, Action)
Direct3D (DX6)
1999
Okay
Sluggish near buildings.
Explosion effects don't blend.
Vertex lighting is visibly choppy in Dusk.

h





Half-Life
(Valve Software, FPS)
OpenGL
1998
Good
Everything looks like it "should", sans the proper blending.
Lighting is a bit blocky, but that's expected.
Using pvr_half.zip's MiniGL driver. Can go 1024.

Direct3D mode in the game does not work, by the way.

Half-Life 2
Direct3D (DX7, 8, 9)
2004
untested
I have to find some third party non-steam version if I want to play this in Win9X. I own the game, it's just that Steam retired its Win9X support.

Hexen II
(Raven Software, FPS)
OpenGL
1997
Good
Sluggish, but that's Hexen II for you.
Using official MiniGL wrapper.

i





j





k





l





Laser ArenaOpenGL2000OkayLightmap can't blend properly, leading to super bright level.  Quake-based, modified (illegally, the gpl code was never shared and no credits of code authors were even honored)
m





Metal FatigueSGL2000GoodEverything blends properly and looks as it should! FPS is stable at 640x480, gets a bit choppy at 1024x768 though.
n





Nerf Arena BlastSGL, OpenGL, Direct3D1999FailAlthough the game ships with an SGL driver, it does not detect the PCX-2 (According to its logs). Direct3D and OpenGL also don't work at all with it, falling back to software no matter how hard you try. UnrealEngine 1.5.
Nightmare CreaturesSGL1997GoodNatively supported, fast at 1024x768 (shocker!)
o





OpenArena
OpenGL
2008
Crap
The characters 'explode'. Map polygons are warped.
Using pvr_half MiniGL

p





q





Quake (GLQuake v0.98)
(id software, FPS)
OpenGL
1997
Good
Used official MiniGL driver

Quake II
(id software, FPS)
OpenGL
1997
Good
Colored lighting looks better when it's alpha blended, IMO
Beautiful, no bad color drenching! Can go 1024x768.
Using the "PowerVR OpenGL" driver that is supplied by the game.

Quake III Arena
(id software, FPS)
OpenGL
1999
unknown
Had this 'going' with the MiniGL wrapper with a r_primitives 4 setting, but had bad results.

r





RevoltDirect3D1999CrapNo textures except for a horribly resampled loading screen. Everything is rendered goraud shaded, and ONLY that. Effects aren't blended.
s





Sonic R
(Travellers' Tales, Racing)
Direct3D (DX5)
1998
Crash


t





Thief: The Dark ProjectDirect3D1998CrapWhite lightmaps can not blend, so the world is covered in white completely destroying the atmosphere (and making the game a ton easier too). Particle effects blend properly. 1024x768 crashes.
Turok 2: Seeds of EvilDirect3D (DX6)1999OkayLuckily being a N64 port, most things in the game are already appropriately blended for the card. Menu text gets eaten by its own shadow (sorting issue), so it is hard to read. Can go 1024, but is slow! 32-bit no problem. Iguana logo has white sky (the horror!)
u





Urban MercenaryOpenGL2001CrapAlthough GLQuake based in its engine, the mouse cursor is invisible, does not appear to have a clickable UI and all textures are resampled to 256x256.
v





Viper RacingDirect3D1998CrashLog says it can't find a transparency image format supported by card, so just gives up completely.
w





x





y





z





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