Microsoft KB Archive/163042

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

NeTpower SOFTIMAGE 3D Tuning Tips
Last reviewed: February 3, 1997

Article ID: Q163042

The information in this article applies to:


 * Softimage 3D for Windows NT, version 3.01

SUMMARY
SOFTIMAGE 3D requires 64Mb of memory, but 128Mb is preferred.

SOFTIMAGE 3D requires at least Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 3.51. Service Pack 2 often installs the MP kernel instead of the UP kernel onto UP systems.

To check that the correct kernel is installed after loading a service pack:

During the boot process, take note of the last NeTpower boot screen before the Windows NT logo appears (the fourth screen) look at the bottom line being displayed (there are only three lines of text on the  screen). The bottom line of text is enclosed in square brackets [ ] and may or may not have text after it. If there is text, it will say "Multiprocessor Kernel." If you are on a UP system and see this text, then the wrong kernel is installed. To fix this:

- Insert the service pack CD back into the CDROM drive. - Open the File Manager and go to the d:\winnt35\system32 directory (or    d:\winnt351\system32 if that is the %systemroot% directory.   - From the File Manager, choose File>Move to move the file ntoskrnl.exe     to ntoskrnl.exe.orig   - From the File Manager, choose File>Copy to copy the MIPS\NTOSKRNL.EXE     file from the CDROM. Put the file into the directory where you found     ntoskrnl.exe.   - Next choose File>Rename to change the case of the file NTOSKRNL.EXE to     ntoskrnl.exe (lower case). It is necessary to reboot your machine for the new kernel to take effect.

Set Pagefile size to 200Mb (safest size) with a maximum size of 250-300Mb.

To set:

- From the Program Manager, select Main>Control Panel>System - In the System Control panel, select Virtual Memory. - Select the D: drive in the drive window. - Change the Initial Size (MB) to 200. - Change the Maximum Size (MB) to 250 or 300. - Click Set, then click Ok. It is necessary to reboot your machine for the new setting to take effect.

If you have an Accel graphics AG500 board, verify that Display (Main>Control Panel>Display>Color Palette) is set to 65536 colors.

If the Color Palette is set to 65536, then hardware acceleration is on. If the color Palette is set to True Color, all hardware acceleration is turned off as the AG500 uses its memory for color memory.

The data cache (Dcache) should be set to 32 byte lines instead of 16 byte lines.

To verify:

The Dcache size appears near the top of the initial screen during the initial system power-up/reset. You will see Dcache:, a number and then a  number in parenthesis. The number is either 16 bytes or 32 bytes.

If the initial screen flashes by too quickly, you can see it again by  halting the boot process. As the system powers up, select the Run Setup menu option. Next select Initialize System and then Display System Settings. Again, look for the Dcache parameter and the number in  parenthesis. The number you want is in the second set of parenthesis on  the line of text, after Dcache: not in the line after Icache. To set:

- Stop the boot process as the system is initializing by choosing the Run Setup option (as above in step b). - Choose the Initialize System from the next menu. - Choose Set cache parameters and click Yes. - Choose 32 bytes. The system then resets and the change takes effect.