TnL not detected on your display adapter

[johnson636]

Hello everyone. After a successful install of Star Wars Battlefront, I'm unable to start the game; I get this error, "No TnL detected on your display adapter." What does this mean and how do I solve this problem. Does this have anything to do with a 3D feature?

 

[banzibaby]

Hi

TnL means Transform & Lighting, all geforce cards have a TnL GPU on them (Graphics Processing Unit) & most ATI cards as well, it's a way for the GPU to handle all the gruntwork in in 3d games by takin the strain of the main CPU

We need more details like Ur system spec, CPU, ram, Mobo, graphics card, etc, but it sounds like Ur current card doesnt have one or support it & a game like the one U mention needs it to be present

Best way to fix it is to buy a newer graphics card or maybe try runnin the game in software mode (will be much slower & not look as good)

Post back with Ur PC spec

BaNzI

 

[johnson636]

I found out that my video card is quite outdated. I have a DELL E771a on ATI Technoligies Inc. RAGE 128 PRO II ULTRA GL AGP my chip type: Rage 128 Pro II, (AGP 4X/PCI)
DAC Type: Internal DAC (350mghz) Is this not good?

What video card do you recommend and are they difficult to install?

DELL Deminsion 4400 XP Home, 1.7GHZ, 256MB RAM. I'm also thinking of purchasing another computer; One with more power, any suggestions. Which would be cheaper new computer or adding components to the pc that I currently own.

 

[LTR12101B]

Caution, some Dells don't even HAVE an AGP graphics slot!

The Rage 128 Pro is definitely devoid of hardware TnL - it's a card of the DirectX 6 generation.
DirectX 7 hardware has TnL support - this includes ALL the Nvidia Geforce range, and most of the ATI Radeons - from the 7500 upwards.
DirectX 8 hardware introduced "Pixel shaders" - this covers Geforce cards from the Geforce 3, 4 Ti range (but not 4 MX range), Geforce FX and 6000 series, ATI Radeons from 8500 upwards.

DirectX 9 hardware introduced pixel shader 2.0 - this covers Geforce FX and 6000 series, and ATI Radeon 9500 and above.


Not very difficult to install - best advice is to change the driver to standard VGA beore changing cards, though Windows usually sorts it out if you wing it - you do need to be aware of basic static and safety precautions.

The power should be disconnected, as an ATX PSU still leaves the startup power feed active, and this may damage cards if you install them while this is live.

 

[banzibaby]

I depends on how much U want to spend on the card, the latest Uber cards from both Nvidia & ATI can cost up £300 - £400 (maybe cheaper online) Nivida's top cards are the 6800 series & ATI are the X800

U can still pick up a ATI 9600 pro AGP with 256mb of ram which has TnL & other features for maybe £100 or less (generally the price drops on the slightly older cards as newer ones come out)

AGP is being supercedded by PCI express based cards, but only newer motherboards have the correct slot.

Fitting the card is very simple, just uninstall the current drivers & then shut down the pc, take the side panel off, then locate the card (if AGP then it usually the uppermost card) remove the old card, then carefully insert the new card, close the case & then reboot, windows will ask for drivers, so make sure U download the latest drivers for it so U can install them as drivers on the cd can be out of date older versions.

Ur pc spec sounds ok to me (it faster than mine lol) could do with more ram tho, 512 is recommended for XP.

As U have a Dell & they often use custom parts, if U cant get replacements then it might be an idea to get a new system that U can upgrade Urself.

Wait for more replies tho before u buy

BaNzI

 

[VIPER_1069]

I would say most graphics cards that have been bought within the last year will have T n L support

 

[LTR12101B]

Is it the Dimension 4400 you currently have, or that you are looking at?

All the 4400 reviews I've seen show it as having a Geforce 2 MX card, not anything as outdated as a Rage128 - unless it's a very early model, or the card has been changed.

However, it does look hopeful that it has a card in an AGP slot (is the monitor connector on a SLOT, and not on the motherboard backplate with the keyboard and mouse etc.).

The Rage 128 PRO is the first of ATI's 1.5/3.3v capable cards, so with luck, it will be a 1.5v slot that will not limit you (if it also supports AGP 4x mode, then it's 1.5v) - older motherboards with a 3.3v only slot (AGP 1x/2x mode only / AGP 1.0 specification) may not be able to install current cards (no 3.3v support - AGP 3.0 - 4x and 8x ONLY), or may have other problems.


AGP compatibility:
Motherboards:
1. AGP 1.0, 3.3v only, 1x and 2x speed - face growing limitations in supported cards - will run only 3.3v capable cards, and not all of them!
2. AGP 2.0, 1.5v and 3.3v, 1x/2x/4x - will run older AGP 1.0 cards, AGP 2.0 cards, and AGP 3.0 cards in 4x mode
3. AGP 2.0, 1.5v only - Cannot install older 3.3v AGP 1.0 cards - the keyway should block insertion
4. AGP 3.0, 8x - the majority of AGP 8x motherboard do not support 3.3v, only the 1.5v of 4x cards, and the 1.5v with 0.8v signalling of 8x mode


Cards:
1. AGP 1.0, 3.3v - a really old generation, typically DirectX 6 level hardware, no TnL support, cannot fit to modern motherboards
2. AGP 2.0, 4x and 1.5v - most are backward compatible with 3.3v, but not all will actually work in an AGP 1.0 system
3. AGP 3.0 universal - have both 1.5 and 3.3v keyways, and should work in older systems, TRUE for a Geforce 440 MX - 8x, and common on older 8x cards or 8x capability added to low-midrange 4x cards.
4. AGP 3.0 - only capable of 8x and 4x fallback mode, will not fit 3.3v slot.

http://www.ati.com/support/faq/agpchart.html#Figure2
Even if you don't have an ATI card, this illustrates all the possible supported/unsupported configurations, other than those that fit but don't work, but that's a chipset issue, rather than a slot compatibility issue.