What It Is…
The following is a description of 3D Analyzer, as per the developer:
The 3D Analyzer Tool was created and refined to overcome limitations posed by modern 3D Games and other Applications on several current mainstream 3D Cards. With the help of 3DA you can change different graphic options under DirectX 8 and OpenGL. 3DA changes different CAP-bits for example, if a game requires HW T&L 3DA emulates these bits and the games runs on graphic boards which don't have HW T&L capabilities. 3DA doesn't emulate any features in software(except cube mapping, which is done with a simple 2D texture), like Pixel or Vertex Shader. 3DA is also a very nice tool for benchmarking. It generates detailed log files (CSV) with FPS and other parameters.
In simple terms, 3D Analyzer is a tool that can emulate certain graphics options that a graphics card is not capable of; to make up for its shortcomings. So, for example, if you have an outdated graphics card, or an integrated one, it might not support some graphics options such as Pixel Shader 2.0, or hardware TnL (not to worry, you don’t need to know what these mean). Certain 3D games require these, and are not playable without them. 3D Analyzer can help bypass these restrictions and enable you to play that game you’ve always wanted to play.
What You Should Know
- 3D Analyzer is no longer under development. It was last updated in 2002, so it is a tadoutdated. If, say, your game requires Pixel Shader 3.0, you are out of luck. Just don’t expect it to work with the most recent games.
- Not all games will work with 3D Analyzer. Only those with an .EXE game launcher will work (ex: Steam games will not work). I will tell you which games are compatible later on.
- There is only so much that 3D Analyzer can do. So if your computer has a 10 year old processor and 256 MB of Ram, don’t get your hopes up. 3D Analyzer will not boost your CPU performance nor magically give you more Ram.
- Some people claim it uses CPU power to do the emulation, so not even a graphics card is needed (did they get their computer from a flea market?). As for the credibility of this statement, your guess is as good as mine.
- The program does not in any way alter your hardware or game permanently. I have never had any problems using 3D Analyzer, but use at your own risk.
Using 3D Analyzer
Each unique game requires different settings in 3D Analyzer, but for this tutorial I will be using Far Cry, a video game that debuted back in 2004. This is what Far Cry looks like before using 3D Analyzer on my Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics card:
- Run the downloaded file, which extracts the program files to a folder.
- In that folder, fire up 3DAnalyze.
- Hit the “Select” button. Locate and open your game’s EXE game launcher. For my game, the EXE file is FarCry.
- If you don’t know which EXE file to choose, you can always right click on your game shortcut and click on properties. Then under the shortcut tab, look in target for your game launcher.
- Check-off the appropriate settings in 3D Analyzer. Far Cry works best in the following settings.
- Another important feature is the “VendorID” and “DeviceID” section. This “tricks” your game into thinking you are using a different graphics card. 3D-Analyzer provides a list from which you can pick VendorIDs and DeviceIDs from:
- Set it to the appropriate number as shown in the program. You can choose between an NVidia or ATi card. Leaving it at “0” defaults to your original graphics card.
- You can even choose to save the settings in a batch file (hit the “Save batch file!” button), so instead of doing the above all over again the next time you play, just launch the batch file and it will automatically configure the settings for you.
- Hit the “Run” button and voila! Get gaming!
This is what Far Cry looks like after running 3D Analyzer:
Which games work? And what about the settings for each game?
Every unique pc game works differently, so there is no one pre-set setting that will work for all games (although most games will work with the settings in the screenshot above). You can always experiment with the settings, but a simple Google search will suffice. This is discussed on many blogs, and you will see many posts for what setting each game requires. YouTube is also another great source for visual aid.
Conclusion and Download Links
Developer: Tommti Systems
Version reviewed: 2.36b
Download size: under 1 MB
Supported OS: Windows 95 and up (works on both 32/64 bit systems)
Price: Freeware, no longer in development
[Download Page] – click on the big image of 3D Analyzer
[Direct Download] – Mirror (.zip file)
3D Analyzer is a great tool for those of us who do not own a great graphics card. Sure it doesn’t work with the latest hardcore games (and it will not give you the performance of an actual dedicated graphics card), but hey, anything is better than nothing. There are many great games out there, dating back to four five years ago, that you can easily acquire to use with this tool. 3D Analyzer is a savior for us cheapskate gamers. Too bad it is no longer updated, because I feel there is great potential in this program. In any case, give it a try, what’s the worse that can happen?
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