Greetings and welcome to LGR Oddware,
where we're taking a look at hardware and software
that is odd, forgotten, and obsolete.
And today, I would like to talk about the SEGA Saturn.
Hah! Got ya fooled for a second there, didn't I?
Probably not, actually, if you know anything about this, but uhh...
Yeah, we're talking about the SEGA Saturn, sort of. Not really.
We're actually mostly talking about this: the Diamond Multimedia Edge 3D,
specifically the 3240XL model, if you care.
And this is not only the first 3D accelerator containing an NVIDIA chip,
but it is also an amalgamation of hardware goodies for Windows 95 PCs
that allowed you to play conversions of SEGA Saturn games on your PC,
in the same way the SEGA Saturn games let you play them.
So, not only with these controllers, which are actual SEGA Saturn controllers
that you can plug into your PC through actual SEGA Saturn ports,
but it also let's you play the games rendered in the same way as a Saturn:
through quads instead of traditional triangles.
So, let's take a look at this thing!
So the first card in this series of cards was released in 1995 —
November 1995, for $249 for the 1 MB base model.
This is a 2 MB version, and there were expansions available to make it 4 MB
and some other things like that so it got pretty expensive, pretty quickly,
and it was actually about twice the price of a lot of other competing 3D cards.
Compared to things like something like the S3 cards, or the ones by Matrox, ATI or Rendition,
this was pretty expensive, and why? Well, it actually went for more of an all-in-one approach:
Including the video card itself,
the SEGA Saturn ports that you could plug into the back,
and also a built-in sound card.
And the sound card was, you know, a real sound card!
You know, it had General MIDI, 32 channels, 16 bits 48 kHz PCM sound, wave table stuff,
and all of the junk that you expect for a sound card in 1995.
The actual video capabilities weren't too bad either!
At least, for the time period.
So, you had the NVIDIA NV1 chipset, on this Diamond card, at least.
There was also a version that included DRAM instead of VRAM,
and that chipset was made by SGS-Thomson — it was the STG2000.
Either one of them had 1 to 4 MB and included a 75 MHz memory clock,
so it could do all sorts of wonderful 3D stuff,
but the thing is, it just didn't do it in the same way as every other card on the market out there.
In fact, it is very similar to the SEGA Saturn in the fact that it uses quadratic texture mapping.
Now, what the heck is that?
Well, if you know anything about the Saturn and the way it renders stuff,
then you might have an idea. This does the same thing.
Basically, this uses "quads", or squares, instead of triangles to speed up rendering
by reducing the CPU workload, at least in theory.
This results in fewer polygons and renders better-rounded objects.
So, you could actually make things with squares instead of just a bunch of triangles everywhere
And at the time, with a lot lower speeds of CPUs and memory clocks and all that stuff,
it made sense to use squares, instead of triangles, at least in some situations,
to get better-rounded objects or models in your game
because triangles– you had more processing power required.
Now, as memory got better and better, this made little sense.
And it also kind of made little sense at the time,
because this meant that there was no support for OpenGL.
They didn't even want to include it! I read a statement by NVIDIA and SGS-Thomson
saying that they didn't think consumers would need OpenGL at all,
so they just didn't bother with it.
And then by the time Direct3D came along, and DirectX,
this couldn't do that either, because it didn't support rendering through quads,
only through traditional triangles and those types of polygons.
They did release a driver or a patch for it to update it to run DirectX,
but only through software! So you're effectively running
a hardware accelerator in software mode to run hardware-accelerated DirectX/Direct3D stuff...
It made no sense, and it was one of the many reasons this thing went down.
There were some more reasons it just never caught on.
One was the price. You know, you have all these integrated components in there,
making it more expensive, and a lot of people already had
a bunch of expensive components in their computers that this meant to replace.
Maybe this would make more sense if your computer just didn't have
you know, a sound card,
or game ports, or a decent video card.
But if you had this stuff, especially for DOS,
then this thing made very little sense
because if you had, say, a card by Roland for sound,
and maybe even a card by S3, or with an S3 chip,
for video,
or, uh, you know, Tseng Labs, or anything like that,
especially for DOS, and DOS is a big deal at the time,
then this just didn't match up.
I mean, if you compare, say, the sound quality
of the General MIDI output of this thing
versus something like a nicer Roland card,
it's no comparison.
Inside the box, you get some lovely documentation here.
Starting with the user's guide.
It's a guide for users, as you might expect.
Well, users of the Diamond Edge 3D.
Uh, not other types of users.
Whatever I'm talking about.
Yeah, Diamond did not deal in those people.
But yeah, this is just to basically describe
how to install the card.
And set it up.
And some other things as far as drivers and whatnot.
It's pretty standard
as far as, like, how you'd install another video card.
The only thing that's really different is installing the little
Edge board connectors to the
Edge board
to actually plug in the SEGA Saturn controllers.
Otherwise, it's pretty basic stuff. But we will get to showing that here in a moment.
And of course, it also came with the CD Portfolio.
Pretty self-explanatory. It is a folio
port... for CD.
And also comes with a couple basic instruction manuals for some of the games.
Although calling them instruction "manuals"...
bit of a misnomer. It's this, like, most basic
installation tips in both Japanese and English.
And... that's it. No actual manuals here.
So, yeah. Just– just for installation.
So, otherwise, all you get are the games themselves.
And this really where all the good stuff is.
So we've got NASCAR Racing.
by Papyrus.
This is a version specifically for
the Diamond Edge 3D and compatible cards.
A version of Panzer Dragoon.
"Not For Resale."
And Virtua Fighter Remix.
Also a special edition for this.
And you also have the Diamond Edge drivers, Version 1.0 here.
But like I mentioned earlier, there were
other driver versions available later.
We're probably just going to be looking
at 1.0 here since... well, that's what I have.
And we'll just be taking a look at it in its original form.
'Cause why not?
Now let's get to the actual hardware.
And there is a bit more going on here than your
typical video card of the time, or even
of now.
Um...
not so atypical, though, is the card itself.
This just your standard, like, PCI card. Uh...
Not anything too weird going on here
except that it is not just a video card.
As mentioned earlier, it is also a sound card.
So we have sound card inputs and outputs on the back here
in addition to the normal VGA output.
And there's also this little deal here,
which may look like an ethernet jack, and in fact,
I think it is the same basic deal,
but it is actually for the game port
to allow you to plug in normal 15-pin PC joysticks.
You had a little dongle sticking out the back of your computer.
In addition to plugging in the end of your joystick. So...
not exactly...
the, uh...
most appealing thing ever.
But I guess it beats making, like, twice as tall, or, uh...
Yeah, I dunno. They just kinda had to do it because
of the sound card ports. Obviously.
Now, the other thing that is really kind of interesting with this
is the fact that you can plug in SEGA Saturn-compatible controllers.
And, so, you have this little breakout box here.
This Edge board, as it's called. Just put it in anywhere in your computer.
And then you have two little ribbon cables here
for Port A and Port B.
So, it looks like this here is Port...
A? No, this is Port B. Frick.
Better get it right, I suppose.
And so the little red, uh, part of it
connects to Pin 1 there.
Uh, let's see if I can actually...
There we go!
And then we have, uh, Port A,
which goes right here.
So, yeah.
In the back of your computer, you basically got, uh...
these two...
slots in the back taken up.
And I'll show this installed in a computer here in a moment.
And of course, it also comes with
two SEGA Saturn pads here.
Which curiously, they look a lot like, uh...
I mean, just the original Japanese
Mark I SEGA Saturn pads.
In fact, they have the same model number on the back: HSS-0101.
I'm assuming these are the original pads it came with.
Obviously, I didn't but this thing new, though.
So, I'm just kind of trusting that, uh...
the person actually put the original pads back inside the box
when they sold it.
And yes, it is fully-compatible
with your other SEGA Saturn controllers that you may have.
So, uh, we've got this deal here that came with Nights into Dreams.
And yeah. You can just plug them in right here.
And there you go.
You got SEGA Saturn pads on your PC way before the day of U-yes--
uh, USB pads
and without having to worry about any sort of cumbersome conversions
from SEGA Saturn over to 15-pin joysticks.
It's just right there!
That is really friggin' cool, I gotta say.
That's enough of the close-ups and technical nitty-gritty.
Let's go ahead and plug this thing into my older Packard Bell
or some other computer that's pretty weak otherwise
and see how this does. And we'll do some comparisons between
normal software rendering and the 3D acceleration provided by the Diamond Edge.
Well first up, what you get is some software
and it's not really any kind of 3D configuration software
but you do have this "Media Rack"
and some things to mess with the audio capabilities of the card.
Not much to look at nowadays, but back in the mid-90s
this was expected and completely awesome!
But yeah, the first game here we're going to try is Virtua Fighter.
And this right here is just using the software rendering mode of the game.
As you can see, it looks pretty much like a game running in software mode.
The resolution's not terribly high.
It's running a bit slow. It's a little bit choppy.
The textures really aren't that great.
The models are a little bit crappy looking.
And yes, I have cranked the settings up a bit.
It could go higher resolution, but then it becomes completely slideshow territory.
And that's just par for the course,
especially when you're running it on a system like this
which is with 32 megs of RAM and 133 MHz.
Playing the game with the Diamond Edge 3D
3D acceleration mode, though, is AMAZING in comparison.
Check out that smooth roundedness of those quads.
The nicer floor texture, the fluid movement.
Just everything. Better shadows, better animation.
It is kinda like night and day, really.
And if you're having trouble noticing, well let's do a direct
side-by-side comparison here and you can see
that running it in the 3D accelerated mode
is just absolutely awesome.
This was the big appeal of these 3D accelerators back in the day.
Especially with the limitations of the CPU
and other things like that for software rendering
using a 3D accelerator, especially one like this,
really did give it quite a fantastic look.
And it's also an improvement over the SEGA Saturn version.
I mean, it looks very close to the arcade,
if not even a little better, if you ask me.
Moving right along to Panzer Dragoon.
And here it is running in the software renderer once again.
The game's actually pretty smooth on this system.
It's definitely not terrible by any means, as far as the frame rate and all of that
for software rendering.
And you've got a bunch of nice cool-looking textures
underneath that resolution somewhere. [Laughs]
It's obviously not ideal and could be a heck of a lot better.
And, indeed, it is.
Moving on to the Diamond Edge 3D mode,
and not only do we have better resolution, better frame rate,
but I think also smoother animation
better-looking character models, maybe by a little bit,
and, uh, more stuff going on, too.
In fact, if you had the Diamond Edge with more than 1 MB of RAM,
you could enable extra sound effects
and some other things that really just make the game even more eye-popping.
And ear-popping, I guess.
I guess that what you call better sound effects? I dunno.
But yeah, looking at 'em directly side-by-side, it's just awesome.
Totally playable in the software renderer, of course.
I would still have loved to have played this game on the PC back in the day
with the software renderer, but if I had a choice,
I mean, obviously you're gonna be going with the 3D accelerator.
It's just sharper, smoother, has more sound effects,
all sorts of awesomeness that you just want
if you're going to be playing a game like this.
'Cause this game is awesome and it deserves the very friggin' best.
And lastly, we're gonna take a look here at NASCAR Racing.
And this is the software renderer mode.
And yes, I am driving backwards
because I like doing that so I can wreck into everybody
and it's just a lot of fun to me.
And this is how I am familiar with playing this game.
To me, this looks completely normal.
You know, the resolution, the textures, the frame rate, really.
And while you could make it run a little smoother,
you had to really crank down the graphics
in order to be able to achieve a steady higher frame rate,
especially when there's a lot of stuff going on.
And yeah, there's always a lot of stuff going on in this game,
especially when you're crashing.
But, man, the Diamond Edge 3D mode is awesome!
Higher resolution interiors and gauges. The menus look better.
The environments look better.
Everything is– uh, it's just really impressive.
I've never seen this game look so clear and smooth!
And just– it doesn't slow down like crazy
when there's a bunch of crap flying all over the place
when you're wrecking like a moron.
The replay modes are actually friggin' watchable.
It's just... awesome!
And this is on the same machine, you know? This is the same specs.
All we did was swap out the video card.
Don't have to mess with CPU, RAM, anything else.
It's just... awesome.
This is why I was so into 3D accelerators back in the day because
it took a game that you were very much familiar with intimately
and made it feel like an entirely new experience.
I just– I love this stuff.
And you know, I still get a huge kick out of it, if you can't tell.
And that's all for this episode of Oddware.
I do think that this card is incredibly interesting
and is also very highly collectible.
You know, it's collectible to console gamers
and, uh, SEGA collectors and stuff because
well, it plays classic SEGA Saturn games on a PC
with a specific renderer that allows them to look
just like the Saturn counterparts, and better too.
It's also very collectible to PC people because
this is just a weird piece of history. I mean, it's the very first card
to use an NVIDIA chipset.
It's also very expensive for the time.
Well, not very, very expensive, but expensive enough for it to be prohibitive
and as such, not many people bought it.
And it's very rare. It's very hard to find these things.
And you'll see them go for absolutely hundreds and hundreds of dollars,
sometimes without anything. Just the card itself.
You know, I would not have been able to do this video at all
if it were not for David.
Thank you very much, sir, for loaning me this card
to take a look at in this episode because
I've been looking for one of these for many, many years
and was never able to find one.
Definitely go ahead and check out his Twitch page.
He streams under the name The Vine Method,
as well as on Facebook, so: facebook.com/thevinemethod
And if you enjoyed this video, then you probably will enjoy a lot of my others.
I've done several other Oddware videos
and many more are to come,
as well as tons of stuff on retro games and old PC stuff in general.
So definitely check out my channel for those, or
just subscribe to be notified whenever there are more.
You can also check me out on Twitter and Facebook
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and also gives you some perks like signed floppy disks
and doing Q&A session videos
and whatever else I happen to come up with.
And as always, thank you very much for watching.