Do you have a 3DFX video or passthrough card? Chances are actually pretty good you do. And why not? The Voodoo 3/4/5 video devices are still some of the best in existance as a development platform, and a great price alternative to the pricey GeForce line.
Lately, however, the Voodoo users have had a lot of problems. It looks as though our "money well spent" is proving a bad investment over the nVidea cards. Jedi Knight 2 is among several popular new titles to lack official support for 3DFX cards, and is thereby hampered with several issues which never would have gotten out of the shop, had they occured on an nVidea.
Because of this, we are forced to find alternatives. So we look for some kind of third-party solution to the 3DFX Problem, or we simply don't bother. Why buy their games if we can't play them? There will be others. Of course we could lean into the corporate knife and buy an nVidea card (If we have the money), but why throw out our perfectly good video cards? The reason why Voodoo cards have problems lately is the fault of game developers, not the hardware.
Jedi Knight 2 is based on a game engine developed by ID Software for use in a game called Quake 3. This engine has full 3DFX support from the ground up. In other words, Jedi Knight 2 is a modified version of the Quake 3 engine, which fully supports 3DFX. Why not take the small step to support 3DFX cards in Jedi Knight 2?
The answer is the same to why companies make games at all... to make money. The GeForce line is supported because it is an industry standard... lots of people use it. If a new 3D game didn't support it, the developers would lose a lot of money. What developers don't seem to understand is how many people still use Voodoo cards. If they knew, our Voodoo cards would be supported by a lot more new game titles.
If this concerns you, let game developers know! If you have a game such as Jedi Knight 2 which is plagued by problems from lack of Voodoo card testing, call them, email them, get your voice heard. The entire problem is that they are not aware enough of us exist, otherwise they would gladly support a card used by 10-20% of their target consumers. (Small percentage, but a large amount of money.)
Don't let your money go to waste - support the Voodoo card.
These guys are supposedly working on the first real 3DFX driver update since 3DFX went out of buisness. They claim to have 95% or so of 3DFX's driver source code. I recently bought a Geforce replacing my V5. Have not regretted it at all but all the same hopefully these drivers will extend the live of the voodoo line.
http://nat.mine.nu:81/3dfx/)
Development costs money. (big period)
Truthfully its not actually worth supporting a video card who's company has gone out of business. There are no official 3DFX driver updates to handle new ways of programming code, new features in games, etc.
Most games in the last year and half have not officially supported the 3DFX Voodoo cards, although i know a few people who haven't had much problem getting the games to work (especially with a V4-V5)
Don't get me wrong I loved the Voodoo cards when they were new and supported, but eventually I made the switch to a Geforce256 32MB DDR when the V3 got old and I wanted something that was actually supported, by many diifferent companies (drivers as well as games). Right now I am running a Kyro2 (lets give the little guys who are still in the game a chance ;) ).
If you can get a Voodoo card to work with the game, power to you. But don't complain when it doesn't work, because right on the side of the box there is a list of supported chipsets and 3DFX ain't on it.