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Never played Thief, but I logged a lot of hours in Unreal, 1998. I was (and still am) amazed at how full-featured the software renderer was. I always wished I c

Never played Thief, but I logged a lot of hours in Unreal, 1998. I was (and still am) amazed at how full-featured the software renderer was. I always wished I could peek at the code behind it. If memory serves, the only thing my 3dfx Voodoo3 could do that software-only mode could not was surface reflections. Maybe something with colored lighting too, it's been a long time. Point is, it was a decent enough substitute for dedicated graphics hardware.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
qsera 8mo ago
But I remember Unreal being unreachable for me at that time because I couldn't even dream of getting a graphics accelerator and it won't even start with out a one, or was it the sound card requirement that was the blocker?
- MisterTea 8mo ago
  Original Unreal had soft rendering just like Quake 1/2 and so on. Though at that point my brother and I had saved up enough beans to buy a Voodoo2.
- wincy 8mo ago
  I think it was the graphics card. I remember getting a paper route and waking up at 5am every morning to save up the money for my Voodoo card. Was absolutely mind blowing as a 13 year old.
- misnome 8mo ago
  Everything up to (and including) Unreal Tournament had software rendering. It was one of the selling points when its competitor (Quake 3) was Hardware-accelerated-only.
  - anthk 8mo ago
    Deus Ex too.
markus_zhang 8mo ago
The guys in OldUnreal have access to the source code AFAIRemember. Epic gave them the source code so they can produce those patches. They also improved the UT99 engine I think.
- ronjouch 8mo ago
  Link: https://github.com/OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches https://github.com/OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches
Aurornis 8mo ago
I was too young to understand but I distinctly remember the 3Dfx version looking vastly better everywhere to my eyes. Reflections were amazing though. Could have been the higher resolution, or could have been the fact that I was playing on an older CPU at home at the time. I was jealous of the people with hardware acceleration.
- mfro 8mo ago
  The software renderer did display many effects and even textures different. This video does a great breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npMujOQsjGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npMujOQsjGQ
deltoidmaximus 8mo ago
Did unreal have 16-bit color software rendering? Most software renderers back then that I recall only did 8-bit color and ran choppier than the 3D accelerated renderers on the hardware at the time. This made a pretty big difference especially with lighting in my experience.
Match451 8mo ago
The (incomplete) Thief2 and System Shock2 source code was leaked years ago from a Dreamcast development kit. I imagine a Google search would find you a download. I think I saved a copy too, someplace.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

qsera 8mo ago

But I remember Unreal being unreachable for me at that time because I couldn't even dream of getting a graphics accelerator and it won't even start with out a one, or was it the sound card requirement that was the blocker?

MisterTea 8mo ago
Original Unreal had soft rendering just like Quake 1/2 and so on. Though at that point my brother and I had saved up enough beans to buy a Voodoo2.
wincy 8mo ago
I think it was the graphics card. I remember getting a paper route and waking up at 5am every morning to save up the money for my Voodoo card. Was absolutely mind blowing as a 13 year old.
misnome 8mo ago
Everything up to (and including) Unreal Tournament had software rendering. It was one of the selling points when its competitor (Quake 3) was Hardware-accelerated-only.
- anthk 8mo ago
  Deus Ex too.

markus_zhang 8mo ago

The guys in OldUnreal have access to the source code AFAIRemember. Epic gave them the source code so they can produce those patches. They also improved the UT99 engine I think.

ronjouch 8mo ago
Link: https://github.com/OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches https://github.com/OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches

Aurornis 8mo ago

I was too young to understand but I distinctly remember the 3Dfx version looking vastly better everywhere to my eyes. Reflections were amazing though. Could have been the higher resolution, or could have been the fact that I was playing on an older CPU at home at the time. I was jealous of the people with hardware acceleration.

mfro 8mo ago
The software renderer did display many effects and even textures different. This video does a great breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npMujOQsjGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npMujOQsjGQ

deltoidmaximus 8mo ago

Did unreal have 16-bit color software rendering? Most software renderers back then that I recall only did 8-bit color and ran choppier than the 3D accelerated renderers on the hardware at the time. This made a pretty big difference especially with lighting in my experience.

Match451 8mo ago

The (incomplete) Thief2 and System Shock2 source code was leaked years ago from a Dreamcast development kit. I imagine a Google search would find you a download. I think I saved a copy too, someplace.