Tried the Demo, But...

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[Britannic]

It is absolutly brilliant! Eventhough my top frame rate was.... 9! I'm afraid it's WAY to slow on my cpu, and I dont wanna have to put it into windowed and change my res every time to get a good frame rate. I'm still going to get it, but Im also going to get ss06 and leave ss08 alone till a 800x600 patch comes out. Of course, as I'm sure your all aware, theres a way to get 640x480 by selcting a higher res after using a lower one, but That's a bit of a rigmaroll! I understand that if the res was lowered, the gui would overlap, but, come on, whats more important? A few words being covered up wich can be componsated by the keyboard anyway, or a basically unplayable game. 

But thats enough of that. Vstep, you guys are GENIUS'S! What I have seen so far of the game is unbelievable. Maybe just because I dont go on many games, and so not used to the 'thrill', but seriously, well done guys! 

My specs:
Amd Athlon Dual~2016mhz
nvid geforce 6100 256mb ramdac
1gb ram (XP)
and all the other stuff's o.k.


(P.s- my house has no central heating so in winter it gets below 8 degrees- this normally acts as an overclock system for my cpu and it clocks to about 2300mhz, so hopefully I may be able to play in winter with a good 16fps!  )

Thanks, Sky.

[[RWP]DJM]

As far as I can tell, the 1 thing letting your PC down is the graphics card.  A little more RAM would also help the performance/quality balance to be achieved

I use 2gb RAM and it makes a great deal of difference to your games, my desktop comes back straight away on all my games, whereas before it would take a few seconds and a refresh to get it back

Regards.

DJM.

[Eemspoort]

I played the demo this morning. It's laggy, but that's deu to my graphics-card. My Processor and memory should be up to it. I'm thinking of getting the GeForce 7600 GS 512MB AGP. And hope that it runs smooth then.

[[RWP]DJM]

I played the demo this morning. It's laggy, but that's deu to my graphics-card. My Processor and memory should be up to it. I'm thinking of getting the GeForce 7600 GS 512MB AGP. And hope that it runs smooth then.

It should do, any 7 series should be fine

Regards.

DJM.

[Maelmoor]

I can run the game smoothly with my 3ghz, 1gb ram and Geforce 6800 Ultra, so 1gb ram will do fine, even if w is of course even better 

[Britannic]

Thanks, DJM- Its shared graphics, not dedicated-would that make a differance?

[Stuart2007]

My laptop has shared memory and is OK if it has fully populated memory slots. Best avoided though if possible.

Stu

[[RWP]DJM]

Thanks, DJM- Its shared graphics, not dedicated-would that make a differance?

Shared graphics, as I'm sure you know, takes RAM away from your PC to perform graphics functions.  This can have a dramatic effect on overall system performance.....this doesn't mean it will, but keep this in mind

As Stu says, avoid shared graphics if possible, dedicated is designed to be more effective and always performs better in any bench-test

Regards.

DJM.

[Stuart2007]

Sorry. Wasn't trying to interrupt.

DJM is right (as usual ) I think my post was a bit misleading. Compared to a dedicated GFX card, a shared one will not be as good, as DJM says.

But you CAN get away with a shared unit but only if you FULLY populate all simm slots with as much memory as possible. And set the BiOs to auto allocate memory.

Stu

[[RWP]DJM]

Sorry. Wasn't trying to interrupt.

DJM is right (as usual ) I think my post was a bit misleading. Compared to a dedicated GFX card, a shared one will not be as good, as DJM says.

But you CAN get away with a shared unit but only if you FULLY populate all simm slots with as much memory as possible. And set the BiOs to auto allocate memory.

Stu

You weren't interrupting or misleading at all

I think both of us combined our efforts there to make the entire subject more understandable (I hope so anyway)

LOL @ 'as usual'......we try our best, but we're only human and ALL make mistakes

Regards.

DJM.

[Stuart2007]

we're only human and ALL make mistakes

Speak for yourself

Stu

[[RWP]DJM]

Speak for yourself

Stu

LOL, there's always one

[shipfan55]

i get full frames with mt GeForce 7600 GT!

[Britannic]

Thanks guys-i do admit I always wondered what differance my system would have if I had 1024meg instead of 768. Undoubtably, buying another Ram stick would up my frame rate, but would it be better to get a dedicated card? My Nvid is geforce 6100 but nforce 405, which as I'm sure you know means its integrated. Would this make a differance in changing the graphics, as a card may conflict with the on-board graphics? Excuse me if I'm being a bit thick, It's just I havnt' really 'played' with graphics hardware before.

I tried changing the Page File last night from 1152 meg to 2400meg. As I'm sure you can guess, that made no differance-but I'm just so desperate to be able to run ss08 as I'm getting it tomorrow.

P.s- Is it possible to have Intel Graphics on an AMD board? Just wondering.

Thanks, Sky.

[[RWP]DJM]

Thanks guys-i do admit I always wondered what differance my system would have if I had 1024meg instead of 768. Undoubtably, buying another Ram stick would up my frame rate, but would it be better to get a dedicated card? My Nvid is geforce 6100 but nforce 405, which as I'm sure you know means its integrated. Would this make a differance in changing the graphics, as a card may conflict with the on-board graphics? Excuse me if I'm being a bit thick, It's just I havnt' really 'played' with graphics hardware before.

I tried changing the Page File last night from 1152 meg to 2400meg. As I'm sure you can guess, that made no differance-but I'm just so desperate to be able to run ss08 as I'm getting it tomorrow.

P.s- Is it possible to have Intel Graphics on an AMD board? Just wondering.

Thanks, Sky.

When you buy a dedicate graphics card, you disable the on-board card, some cards do this automatically

I also have an integrated graphics chip on my motherboard (also 6100), it's by-passed with my GeForce 6600

I did try the onboard graphics as I like to experiment with my PC so I know what it's capable of.  It was terrible when compared to my dedicated card

As far as the page-file is concerned, it's best to let Windows control this as changing it can affect performance

A little tip on RAM when upgrading, if possible get 2 sticks of identical size and type.  Most boards now allow you to run RAM sticks like this in Dual-Channel mode, this will give you a substantial performance boost.  As an example, if you have 1 stick of 1gb, get another 1gb and check the Dual-Channel settings on your board, the manual will tell you exactly which slots to put both sticks in to enable Dual-Channel mode (usually different colours)

Intel graphics on an AMD capable board?  Not to my knowledge, they always use nVidia integrated chips on AMD boards

Hope this information helps you out

If you need any further advice, please feel free to ask

Regards.

DJM.

[Britannic]

thanks a million DJM- i never realised how the memory being used differently could really effect performance, but now you've said that I think I may just try an upgrade...
Thanks, and Ill let you know what happens!

Cheers again, Sky

[Lanedre]

i get full frames with mt GeForce 7600 GT!

Do you have the graphics on the best choice with that card and the game runs smoothly?

Just wondered because i might buy that card today

[[RWP]DJM]

thanks a million DJM- i never realised how the memory being used differently could really effect performance, but now you've said that I think I may just try an upgrade...
Thanks, and Ill let you know what happens!

Cheers again, Sky

You're very welcome

I look forward to checking out your NEW spec when you upgrade (I may even be a little jealous )

Regards.

DJM.

[Britannic]

Thanks- as I say, I will try to get SOMETHING done, if not just an extra bit of ram  , but I gotta get permission from the trouble 'n strife  before I go spending money!

I must say, it was very reassuring you having the 6100 and upgrading with no probs at all-Ill check out the card your using! Just out of interest, what brand is your machine? Mine's an Acer Aspire T series.

Thanks, Sky.

[[RWP]DJM]

Mine is pre-selected hardware (basically, what I could afford to get).  I asked for specific items to allow for an individual setup, I based this on researching the hardware first

I didn't have a great deal to spend on the spec, but got a great system for the money

I am looking at upgrading some of these parts in the next 12 months......PC's eh

My spec:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
GeForce 6600 512mb graphics
2gb DDR400 RAM (running in Dual-Channel mode)
Realtek on-board 7.1 sound (running with a 2.1 setup, 1600 watt speakers)
1 SATA-II Hard drive 160gb
2 IDE Hard drives 120gb & 60gb (both 133, 7200rpm) - these 2 are from my old PC

Plus other hardware to keep me entertained:

Graphics Tablet
Capture Card (for analogue and digital capture from most devices)

Regards.

DJM.

[hongzhu]

hey all i just tried the demo now and i think its good but its way to laggy on my pc i got all the specs that they said would be reccomended and i got the geforce 7600 SE anyone know any good upgrades i could get to run the game more better?

[[RWP]DJM]

hey all i just tried the demo now and i think its good but its way to laggy on my pc i got all the specs that they said would be reccomended and i got the geforce 7600 SE anyone know any good upgrades i could get to run the game more better?

Hiya

That would depend on the model of your motherboard (among other things).

It may just be the case that you need to update some drivers for your system rather than upgrade your hardware

I would try the driver updates first.  If you are above the minimum, the game should run ok, so I would always presume a driver issue

Regards.

DJM.

[skipper]

I've just tried the demo(my kids were enthralled) and now ordered the game...b.t.w. I tried the demo on my two comps,one with a ati1900xt256mb the other nvdia6600gt128mb.Result:- as expected fps drop badly in presence of many objects ,vessels with the nvdia card, therefore if your going to upgrade your video card get something with at least 20 pipelines.
good one vst and any improvement for free is greatly appreciated.

[shipfan55]

I played the demo this morning. It's laggy, but that's deu to my graphics-card. My Processor and memory should be up to it. I'm thinking of getting the GeForce 7600 GS 512MB AGP. And hope that it runs smooth then.

i have 7600 GT but GS's are better!gts run the game with the no lag!

[Thl27]

Hello,

i would like to post my favourite Graphic Cards :

X1950 Pro with 512 MB / 179 EUR
Geforce 8800 GTS 640 MB / 369 EUR or the GTX 786MB Version for 499 EUR
X2900 XT with 512 MB / 349 EUR

I suggest don´t waste money with mid-class Graphic Cards (but that is just my opinion). The X1950 Pro is a very good choice, if u are familiar with ATI Cards.

my self, actually i own a Radeon X800 PRO. Shipsim and other up2date-Games running very well. And i only have an AMD 2600+ (333-Edition).

You should know that a HighEnd Processor such as E6600 or an AMD X2 6000 is needed to take the Advantage of the above Graphic Cards. My Opinion: If u are upgrading, than do it right, or the next Highend Game hunts your PC through the Forest.

I guess, i dont have to add that enough Memory (2 GB+) is necessary.

Bye and i hope i could help.

Torsten