The Joy of Retro Computing: Exploring Windows 3.1 and VESA Capable Cards

Windows 3.1, released in 1992, was a significant milestone in the development of operating systems for personal computers. The user-friendly interface, improved graphics capabilities, and integration with various hardware components made it an attractive option for gamers and users alike. One aspect that often gets overlooked is the importance of resolution scaling and color depth. In this article, we'll delve into the world of Windows 3.1, explore some notable games from the era, and examine the performance of VESA capable cards like the Diamond Viper VLB.

Resolution Scaling: A Bitter Sweet Truth

Resolution scaling can be a frustrating aspect of using older systems. Games and programs often have to compromise on graphics quality or performance when running at higher resolutions, such as 800x600 or above. This is because many games were designed with lower resolutions in mind, and the extra processing power required to render graphics at higher resolutions was simply not available. Take Lode Runner The Legend Returns, for example, which has a window encased in boring patterns when played beyond 640x480. On the other hand, SimCity Classic from 1993 maximizes to reveal a massive, glorious gameplay area filled with pleasing pixel art population. This is because the game was designed to take advantage of higher resolutions, and the developers chose not to scale up the art assets.

The Importance of Art Assets

In games like SimCity Classic, the art assets are an integral part of the overall experience. The decision not to scale up the art assets at higher resolutions creates a unique visual style that is pleasing to the eye. This approach also allows for a bird's eye view of the gameplay area, rather than hovering directly over a handful of city blocks like in lower resolution games. Unfortunately, this approach can lead to problems with certain animations and visuals when playing with high color depths.

Benchmarking VESA Capable Cards

To compare the performance of different cards, we need to look at benchmark results from reputable sources. One such source is PC Magazine, which published a chart comparing most VESA Local Bus cards available in 1993. The Diamond Viper VLB stood out as one of the best cards of its time, with a score of 15 million pixels per second using WinBench 4. This was an impressive feat for a card released in 1992.

Running Benchmark Tests

To get a better understanding of how these cards performed, we ran some benchmark tests using PC Bench's MS-DOS video test. The SpeedStar Pro VLB card, which had a one-megabyte memory capacity, was put to the test against the Diamond Viper VLB. The results were astonishing – the Viper VLB scored 4059.52 overall, while the SpeedStar Pro VLB scored 1275.91.

The SpeedStar Pro VLB's performance was impressive, but not quite as expected. We ran the test multiple times to confirm the results and reinstalled the drivers to ensure accuracy. The disparity in scores is striking, with the SpeedStar Pro VLB outperforming the Diamond Viper VLB in non-VESA mode DOS tests.

Conclusion

The Diamond Viper VLB was an excellent card for Windows 3.1 users, providing smooth performance and impressive graphics capabilities. However, it seems that its strengths lay more in accelerating Windows 3.1 applications rather than playing games in DOS mode. If you're looking to build or upgrade an early 90s DOS gaming rig, there are far better VESA-capable cards available that might be a better fit for your needs.

Staying Current with LGR

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enGreetings and welcome to an LGR Thing!And today I felt like playing around withsome early 90s graphics cards,with this Diamond Viper VLB being my primary inspiration for doing so.Lately I’ve been benchmarking the LGR Woodgrain 486 PC,which really just means screwing around with random parts and playing Duke Nukem 3D.Most recently, I spent some time upgradingthe 66 megahertz 486 CPU with an 83 megahertzPentium Overdrive, the results of which canbe seen in a previous LGR episode.But I’ve also been meaning try some differentVESA Local Bus video adapters, something besidesthe 1 megabyte Diamond SpeedStar Pro VLB Ihave in there right now.So while I was sorting through some randomparts the other week, I scrounged up a DiamondViper VLB revision E3 I’d never used beforeand didn’t know anything about.Turns out this two megabyte card cost a whopping$549/$985 when it hit store shelves in 1993,nearly a thousand bucks adjusted for inflationdecades later.With the main selling point being that ituses a Weitek Power 9000.Or maybe it’s why-tech?Either way-tech, the Power 9000 was a beastlygraphics chip back then, hailed as the world’sfastest user interface controller when itreleased in the latter half of 1992.Sounds amazing, right?And I mean, depending on your needs, it was!Two whole megabytes of VRAM, a 32-bit 33 megahertzcore,and 24-bit true color graphics in Windows 3.1?Not to mention resolutions up to 1280x1024 at a 74 hertz vertical refresh ratetruly bonkers stuff for 1993.But wait, what’s this other chip?An Oak Technology OTI087X.Oh.Well then, ah.Here’s the thing about these “graphics accelerators” from the early 90s:exactly what they’re designed to accelerate varies wildly from card to card.And in the case of the Viper VLB, the Power9000 chip is designed to accelerate 2D graphicaluser interfaces, specifically Windows 3.1.If you want smoother DOS games, the on-boardVGA chip matters a whole lot more.And the Oak Technology 087X sucks when it comes to SVGA performance in DOS games,running only an 8-bit data path and using its own separate memory.Taking a look at the box for the card confirmsthis, with all the marketing centered aroundWindows 3.1 and programs like AutoCAD.While it does have drivers and BIOS extensionsfor Super VGA in DOS, the main focus was allabout providing a workstation-like experienceon a Windows PC.And I mean hey, not what I expected but that’s still pretty awesome,so I’m curious enough to give it a shot.Even though I don’t think we’ll be seeingmuch improvement in DOS compared to my SpeedStarPro card with its Cirrus Logic GD5428 chipset.Gotta know for sure though, so let’s getthe software and drivers installedand see what we can do with the Diamond Viper VLB!I’ve gone ahead and taken care of the driver installation,and at this point nothing looks any different.However, typing in VPRMODE will bring up the Viper VLB setup program,letting you change around all sorts of nifty things.For starters, you can increase the defaultDOS text mode from the typical 80 columnson up to 132.Something I’ve seen supported on programslike WordPerfect before, but guess I neverreally thought to see if this was possibleon DOS 6.22 before, but I’ve always likedthe look of 132 column terminals in UNIX-basedoperating systems, so this is pretty awesome.VPRMODE also comes with monitor refresh rateoptions, providing presets for higher-resdisplays of the time and the ability to customizeas needed.You also get a set of monochrome and colorgraphics tests, handy for seeing what thecard can do and adjusting your monitor’sdisplay settings for each mode.The VPRMODE program is also used to enablethe Diamond Viper’s BIOS extensions, otherwiseVESA-compatible programs won’t know howto address it.If you’ve ever seen or used the UniVBE programin certain DOS games, yeah.That’s a universal driver that works withall sorts of VESA cards, but the Viper VLBhas its own extensions accomplishing the same thing.Which means we can jump into some benchmarksand games!And we’re gonna start with one of the former,the Superscape VGA Benchmark.We ran this before when I upgraded this machinefrom a 486 to a Pentium Overdrive, and theresult was 55.7 with the SpeedStar Pro VLBcard I had in here before.And whadduya know, the Viper VLB is worse here, coming in at only 32.5.Ahh, yeah.That Oak VGA chip though,what’re ya gonna do.Let’s try something running in VESA modethough: Duke 3D, running at 640x480 resolution.This doesn’t have a benchmarking mode unfortunately,but we can run the two side by side at least.The tiny number at the top left of each captureis the current framerate and well, there’snot a big difference whatsoever.Both of the cards perform pretty badly!It seems that the Viper draws a frame or twomore at any given time than the SpeedStarPro, but it’s still a negligible differenceand without a proper benchmark I can’t declareprecisely anything precise with precision.I’d run the Quake timedemo but for somereason, the newer versions of the game allcrash on this system, and older versions that do rundon’t show the resulting benchmark stats.Oh well, at least SimCity 2000 Special Edition works fantastically!And I mean, it did already with the othercard so that’s not saying much, but still.It’s at least not any worse and works withouta hitch using the card’s own BIOS extensions,something I haven’t always had success with using other VLB video adapters.And hey, look!The monster’s dropping down wind power plantsinstead of tossing out trees or just zapping the ground.Ya don’t see that every day.But yeah, as anticipated, when it comes toDOS gamingeverything running in VESA mode runs about the same or slightly better.And just about everything else that runs using regular old VGA performs notably worse,again due to that Oak VGA chipset being used with only 256K of video RAM.So let’s put that P9000 to use instead andget this going with Windows 3.1 as nature intended.Or at least as Diamond intended.It supports anything from 640x480 with 24-bitcolor on up to 1280x1024 with 256 colors.And man, seeing 3.1 at resolutions usuallyreserved for workstations of the time intriguesthe crap outta me, so let’s begin with that!Well that’s amazing, and everything’s tiny!Compare that to how it looked maxed out on the SpeedStar Pro card before this, and yeahthat’s a pretty massive leap in terms ofusable window space and interface shrinkage.I mean, yeah I selected small fonts mode,but icons, scrollbars, menus,it’s all itty bitty now, especially on this 17” monitor.1280x1024 was really ideal on larger formatdisplays, in my experience 21 inches minimum.I unfortunately don’t have any computermonitors that big, at least none that arestill working, so this’ll do for now justto see what it’s like.And no surprise, what it’s like is awesome,with the ability to tile at least four ofthe classic Chess bitmap wallpapers and over 16 of the excellent Party bitmap.*Clearly* worth 550 bucks in 1993...But yeah, all the typical Windows stuff isprovided more room for activities, like browsingfull directory structures in the File Managerwith hundreds of files being displayed on-screeneliminating the need for scrolling.There’s all kinds of wide open space tomultitask applications, regardless of whetheror not it makes practical sense.Doesn’t matter, this would’ve just beennuts to see on Windows 3.1 back in the day,and it’s still pretty surreal right now.Even using Paintbrush is a treat using theViper VLB.Arguably it’s a treat regardless, but hereyou’ve got so many more pixels to push around,and I’m happy to see that the toolbars andcolor swatches all scale nicely to the larger resolution.Now, keep in mind we’re stuck with 256 colorshere, so opening a 24-bit image in somethinglike Photoshop 3.0 isn’t as impressive asit could be in terms of color reproduction.But still, this lets you manipulate largerresolution images with less of a need to scrollaround, much easier than you could at 800x600,for example.Actually yeah, let’s switch over real quickto see how that looks.This is the same card running the same software,just at SVGA resolution and 16.7 million colors,also known as 24-bit True Color.You’ve got a smaller workspace, but theupside is that you have just millions morecolors to work with as well thanks to thetwo megs of on-board VRAM.Here’s a direct comparison between the twomodes just to make it more clear, and yeah,the trade-offs are apparent.Fewer colors allows for far greater resolutionand detail, and true color means a lot lowerresolution but tons of vibrancy in any media taking advantage of it.Again, downright impressive for a PC in 1993.And also something that absolutely doesn’tmake a difference if your software and graphicsassets don’t support it, like designinga sign in Print Shop Deluxe here.Sure, having 24-bit color is impressive, butthe standard Print Shop images are all savedin a 256 color file format so all those millionsof colors go completely unused.And running at 1280x1024 is nice and all,but here all it does is make those clipartimages look a tad sharper on-screen, withthe actual work area remaining unaffected.Mm, doesn’t make Hi-Res Cool Crab look any less cool though.Another thing that isn’t ideal in this modeare, well,all the other things that weren’t designed for it.Microsoft Solitaire, for instance, spreadseverything out all over the place when maximized.The deck never changes size no matter whatresolution Windows is set to, with each cardpracticing a form of klondike social distancing.Same kinda thing in SkiFree, where the assets stay exactly the same sizebut the density is all outta wack.So there are roughly the same number of trees, rocks, signposts, and urinating canines,just spread out across the play area.Kinda loosens up the difficulty level as aresult,although yeti death remains inevitable, so all is well.Another set of games that suffers is MicrosoftArcade, a collection of five classic Atariarcade titles from 1993, the same year theDiamond Viper VLB came out.And yeah, you can either play it in a window, or play it full-screenwith a window in the middle at the same size.No scaling whatsoever.On the flip side, a game like Hyperoid scalesperfectly fine.Ironically so, being that it was a freely-distributedshareware version of Atari’s Asteroids.And I gotta say, I love the way line art lookswhen properly scaled at this resolution.Like the classic Mystify screensaver for instance,check out those crispy shapes floating aroundlooking sharp enough to slice your eyeballsopen just by lookin’ at ‘em.Anyway yeah, resolution scaling, you neverreally know what game or program is gonnaplay ball and what’s gonna get sidelinedwhen running Windows 3.1 like this.Lode Runner The Legend Returns from 1994 isanother example of things going most unfortunatelywrong, with a window encased in boring patternsanytime you play beyond 640X480.But then you’ve got games like SimCity Classicfrom 1993, which maximizes to reveal a massive,glorious gameplay area filled with a pleasingpixel art population.I kinda like that the art assets don’t scaleup in this case, because you’re left withmore of a bird’s eye view of your metropolis,instead of hovering directly over a handfulof city blocks like you do at lower resolutions.Unfortunately, this is also one of those gamesthat has problems at anything beyond 256 colors,so certain animations don’t play correctlyor they have this weird red boundary box around them.Like the ships, jetliners, and monsters, noneof them look quite right in True Color mode.Going back to 800x600 with 256 colors though,and everything is just fine.So yeah, this is just one of the many gamesfrom back then that have no problem with ridiculousresolutions, but simply don’t appreciatetoo many colors on-screen at once.Finally, the last thing I wanna try are acouple of benchmarksused by PC Magazine back in the day.That being WinBench version four and PC Bench version eight.We’ll do WinBench first since I’ve gotthis chart of results from back in 1993, comparingmost of the VESA Local Bus cards availableat the time.And as you can see, the Diamond Viper VLBwas one of the best of the bunch, at 15 millionpixels per second using WinBench 4.So let’s try it out ourselves here and seeif it’s similar, something I was curiousabout since I’m currently using a PentiumOverdrive CPU that wasn’t available back then.This runs the card through all sorts of graphicalstress tests that I am absolutely unqualifiedto explain, but suffice it to say you’llbe seeing a whole raft of visual gobbledygook,including city limits signs from Raleigh,North Carolina for some reason.How odd.Anyway, after a good ten minutes of franticgraphical weirdness, the results are in!And we’ve got a combined graphical scoreof 21.2 million pixels per second.A pretty solid increase over what the magazinegot back then.I’d compare it to the SpeedStar butit is unfortunately incapable of running this same benchmark at all.So let’s try PC Bench’s MS-DOS video test,and compare the Viper’s Oak VGA capabilitiesto that of the one megabyte SpeedStar ProVLB card I replaced.These tests are similarly chaotic and potentiallyeven more seizure-inducing so I’ll spareyou the demonstration and get straight tothe numbers.Our Viper VLB ended upwith a score of 1275.91 overall.And the SpeedStar Pro VLB? That got a score of...4059.52.Uh, ha!Yeah.I ran this a few times to be sure,reinstalled the drivers too, and the results were the same.This SpeedStar is multiple times faster whenit comes to non-VESA mode DOS stuff.I expected it to be quicker, but not THATmuch quicker!Here’s a closer look at the numbers detailingthe individual screen write mode test resultsand I mean, yeah, that pretty much cementsthe fact that the Viper VLB really was designedfor Windows 3.1 acceleration and DOS mode stuff was not on its radar whatsoever.And that’s the Diamond Viper VLB!An expensive two megabyte card back in theday, and one that was mighty impressive underWindows 3.1, but absolutely would not have been the ideal choicefor DOS folks looking to up their game.Makes total sense, yet still worth knowingif you’re looking to say, build or upgradean early 90s DOS gaming rig and are lookingfor an awesome two megabyte VLB video card.And if that's you, this is not your card!When it comes to VESA-capable cards thereare far better options from back then, someof which I’m sure will appear on LGR inthe future,so stay tuned for that if you’re so inclined.Otherwise, perhaps check out some of my othervideos already posted featuring this PC, orstick around for new videos each week right here on LGR.As always, thank you very much for watching, and stay safe out there!\n"