pretty much as the title... i own the ORIGINAL version of the game, running it in SOFTWARE mode... and the game runs like a dream.
Can run the CD version i got in 3DFX but that causes the same issues as with GoG's Version...

The problem are: IT SLOWS DOWN!! It will hardly do anything on my computer, when in races i takes it nearly a few seconds to react...

The funny thing is, the game runs smoothly, 58 fps averagely... but it won't respond to keyboard or any other input when a race has stated, i can easily see my opponents zoom by me, but i can do nothing but watch...

When on the test track with the GoG version, the game runs "a-okay" but after a few moments it goes unresponsive...

So my problem is, can i with the GOG version revert back to the "Software rendered" version and still enjoy the game? or am i forced to throw out this game?????

The PODMMX.exe requires files that are not included in the GOG release (e.g. Data\Binary\Voitures\Chrome.ch3). Therefore you will not get it running.

But you might try to use an alternate Glide wrapper.

The POD Gold release at GOG includes a glide2x.dll that is a Glide wrapper and a run-time patch for the unmodified PODX3Dfx.exe. The changes include:
- redirecting %WinDir%\UbiSoft\Ubi.ini to <POD>\UbiSoft\Ubi.ini
- redirecting CD-ROM audio track playback to <POD>\Track02.mp3
- overriding (buggy) CPU detections
- disable CD-ROM checks
- ...

Therefore this glide2x.dll is required to run the game at all - but it has quirks (map and rear-view) and limitations (fixed to 640x480).

PodHacks is intended as replacement for the run-time hacks - to allow you to use a different Glide wrapper (and it allows you to use 800x600 with GOG's Glide wrapper :)).

The recommended Glide wrapper for POD is . Holger Bredel has some good tips on his [url=http://home.arcor.de/hbredel/POD/POD-English/pod-english.html]website to get (the original) POD running on modern machines. It might help you to setup dgVoodoo.

Yes, i also recommend dgvoodoo wrapper. While nGlide much easier to use and the development still alive, but at the moment it doesn't have all graphical feature that dgvoodoo wrapper has. For example, missing shadows on tracks and object (biggest flaw, the tracks really look dull in colour), corona effect, gamma etc.

Thank you a lot for the information guys! +1

One thing:

Is the run-time hacks which GOG provided through glide2x.dll also available with the PodHacks+dgVoodoo combo? I.e. will the CD-ROM audio track still be redirected to <POD>\Track02.mp3 for example?

tl;dr Is the any disadvantages over using PodHacks+dgVoodoo over glide2x.dll?

And sorry for pulling this thread out on an off-topic track. If it's to any help I will provide some info about PodHacks and dgVoodoo on the POD page of GOGwiki if needed. :)

As far as I can tell, no.
PodHacks is open source and might be fixed and/or extended if required.

Together with your answer and the very well written readme you provided with PodHacks I think all my questions has been answered. Once again, thanks for clearing things up for me! ^^ EDIT: Have you seen the list of Minor issues on the GOGwiki? Is any of these fixable through run-time hacks?

Most of the issue can be solved by using dgvoodoo wrapper. I already forward the issues to GOG team but they can't modify it (glide2x.dll wrapper) due to legal reason.

EDIT: what i mean is graphical related problem. Restart seems working with dgvoodoo wrapper, there are no random crash on exit. But the mirror glitch still there.

Some of the "bugs" cannot be fixed. Each POD binary uses fixed size arrays (length depends on release/version) for a lot of game data (vehicles, tracks, ...) and there is often no overflow check. If you overflow the internal limits (e.g. too many cars) it will overwrite the memory block that follows and will result in undefined behavior of the game (if you're lucky it crashes immediately).

Alright, thank you for the clarification!

Thanks for the help... i'll test it when i get some time... another question now woanders my mind: why does GOG not provide the "Original" game instead of these fault hacked versions??

GOG stands for "Good old games" but what they did with
Pod does NOT make them live up to "GOG" name of a "good old games"

More like ROG - "Ruined old games"

Sorry, but there never were issues with the OLD CD-VERSION - (my CD broke tho')
I feel more like the ruined a good game by FORCING people to use tons of workarounds just to make the game run "Somewhat"...

I wish i knew a place where i could BUY Pod (except for Amazon since it does not deliver to Denmark)

^
POD run fine with my machine, albeit few technical glitches. When you said your PC has slows down problem with the CD and GOG version when running on 3Dfx but fine with software rendering mode, i'm inclined to believe that the real culprit behind this is your machine. POD is an old game, it shouldn't tax too much resources from your PC. It should run fine on most of modern system, unless you're using very old PC.