Unreal DirectX and Direct3D Downloads

Last Updated: 11/06/00

DirectX 7.0 Drivers

For best results with Unreal, make sure you've installed Microsoft DirectX 7. If you already own Unreal or Unreal Tournament, you don't need this--it's already on your game CD.

Direct3D Drivers

To use Unreal's Direct3D support, you must have the latest Direct3D driver from your 3D hardware maker. Because Unreal uses many new Direct3D features, many hardware makers had to update their drivers for Unreal to work. Therefore, some of the drivers distributed with DirectX 6.0 have problems with Unreal (crashes or visual anomalies). Here are driver download sites for various brands:

NVidia Riva TNT, TNT2, GeForce.
ATI Rage 128.
Matrox G200, G400.
S3 Savage 3D, Savage 2000
3Dfx Voodoo, Voodoo Rush, Voodoo2, Voodoo Banshee.

If your 3D card isn't listed above, then it has not been successfully tested with Unreal. Many older video cards don't have the horsepower to support Unreal using Direct3D.

If your card isn't supported, just run the "Unreal Safe Mode" link in Windows' "Start / Programs" menu and change your video driver to "Software Rendering". Unreal's "Software Rendering" is compatible with all video cards from all manufacturers.

Direct3D Troubleshooting

All 3D Cards

Make sure you have the latest drivers, direct from your manufacturer's web page (above).
Unreal Tournament's latest D3D code is included with UT patch 425. If you still experience slow performance with 425, check out this alternative revision 1.8b D3D DLL, to replace the d3ddrv.dll that is in your UT system folder.
If you still have compatibility or performance problems, please send us your feedback. Fallback to AGP memory textures for cards that need to should be completely automatic, but you can force non-local AGP texture memory usage by setting UseAGPTextures to true in the advanced D3D options ( type 'preferences' at any UT console prompt, go to Rendering -> Direct3D support ).
The 'Use32BitZBuffer' switch in the advanced options, which is disabled by default, will force the use of a 32-bit Z buffer even in 16-bit color display modes. This can be used to fix flickering world surfaces and similar visual corruption when running in 16-bit mode on several cards, like the Matrox G400.

People using pre-413 versions of UT may still want to experiment with replacing Unreal Tournament's D3D rendering DLL:
Backup the d3ddrv.dll that's in your UT system folder and replace it with any of the following:
- This file is the DLL that came with UT patch 413. It fixes the 'DD_OK' startup crash for several Intel and ATI cards that rely on AGP texturing.
- Some users have reported they get optimal results with the previous revision 0.6 D3D DLL - specifically recommended for GeForces, TNTs and G400s.
- The revision 0.8 beta D3D interface DLL.
This includes an 0.8 specific 'UseLocalTextures' switch in the advanced options to force textures to be uploaded into local video memory only. The switch is 'False' by default to enable UT to run on specific AGP cards that lack local texture memory. Setting it to 'True' may benefit performance and/or graphics quality on other hardware.
- Still others insist on using the D3D DLL from UT patch 405b.

nVidia Riva TNT/TNT2/GeForce

Some users with GeForce 2 cards have reported initialization problems with the latest patch 432. Replacing your D3ddrv.dll with this revision 1.9c of the D3D DLL may fix these problems.
You'll need the latest drivers from the NVidia web site above.
Some users are experiencing "mouse lag" with the TNT/TNT2 drivers, where there is a 1-2 second delay between moving your mouse and seeing the game respond. We are waiting for NVidia to address this issue and release an updated driver.
Some GeForce users may benefit from experimenting with the 'UseVideoMemoryVB' option in the advanced D3D options available since UT patch 413 - see the latest patch release notes.

3dfx (All models)

Use the "3dfx Glide" driver with Unreal. Do not choose Direct3D if you have a 3dfx card. 3dfx's Glide drivers perform far better and produce much better image quality.

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