Loading screens & Special Features (Solution)

[ATombRaiderFan]

Hey everyone!

Issues like screen flickering when loading levels, and Special Features being unusable, is caused by selecting 32 bit colour depth in output resolution. If output resolution is set to 16 bit then the startup tradesmark screen and loading screens will work. See images 1-3.

The inventory and pause screens also use the loading screen images for background instead of a in-game screenshot. This is a bit of a trade-off I know. See images 4-5.

I've tested Special Features too and it works.

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1) Make sure Output Resolution is set to 16 bit.
2) Putting Texture Bit Depth on 32 bit won't hinder the loading screens or special features. Thought I should mention this to avoid confusion between the two settings.

See image 6.

[LateRaider]

thanks for the note! using dgvoodoo also helps, but this doesn't require external solutions which is great

[ATombRaiderFan]

Originally Posted by LateRaider

thanks for the note! using dgvoodoo also helps, but this doesn't require external solutions which is great

No problem, and I'm also pleased that there is a internal solution.

[xtimz]

Originally Posted by LateRaider

thanks for the note! using dgvoodoo also helps, but this doesn't require external solutions which is great

This is really great. I checked it, dgvoodoo indeed works. Before, I always used the internal solutions as in the first post. There are 2 internal solutions:
(1) Use 16-Bit resolution.
(2) Use 640x480 32-Bit resolution.

With dgvoodoo, besides using 32-Bit resolutions, I also know some theoretical things. Previously, I always thought it's a game bug for not showing the loading screen when using 32-Bit resolutions. But if dgvoodoo works, it's probably not a game bug, but an issue of the graphics card and the graphics driver.

[ATombRaiderFan]

For me, dgvoodoo is inherently unstable to use for TR3-5, it works okay with TR2/GM and some other games on my system.

the tomb5 project is a better solution, it fixes transparency when the inventory is open instead of using a loading screen as a background. Also there's an additional 4 images in special features to be unlocked when using the patch.

3.2.0 (Feb. 4 2023)

• Restore missing pictures from the Next Generation Concept Art special features menu.

[TombHackR]

Originally Posted by xtimz

Before, I always used the internal solutions as in the first post. There are 2 internal solutions:
(1) Use 16-Bit resolution.
(2) Use 640x480 32-Bit resolution.

I believe you can use other 32 bit resolutions like 1280x720 and 1920x1080. As long as it's a multiple of 320x240 (for example 1366x768 wouldn't work) then it should work, but I could be wrong. That might only apply to fixing the inventory backgrounds.

[xtimz]

^ Hi, thanks both for the reply. I thought about it. It seems the behavior of the loading screen in TR5 is highly dependent on the graphics card. I've seen the following different behaviors from different persons.
(1) Everything is normal in all 32-bit resolutions.
(2) The loading screen is black (except for the loading bar of course).
(3) From xtimz: The loading screen shows the skybox of the level in all 32-bit resolutions except 640x480 32-bit.
(4) From TombHackR: It's possible that the loading screen is also normal in 1280x720 and 1920x1080 32-bit.
(5) From ATombRaiderFan: The inventory screen shows the loading screen instead of the in-game screen.

So I think that's really different from person to person, so dgvoodoo must be very suitable because it's a layer of the graphics card.