|
|
|
The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
|
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
7. October 2009 @ 10:36 |
Link to this message
|
Well, regarding where the Finnish servers are - the posted times on the replies aren't in European times, are they? I think I noticed once that the times were in central U.S. times - which would work with Houston Texas. Let's see - its about 7:30 in the morning here on the west coast - I'm gonna see what time this posts.
Originally posted by Keith:
I always forget about you foreigners coming over here using our sites.
Hahahaha. Good one again, jonny boy. (Or I coulda said jonny yob.) But it's too early in the morning to think up a snappy retort.
I'm on my new get-up-in-the-morning-(yawn)-and-make-money-for-the-new-rig-and-say-see-I-told-ya-to-doubting-sam schedule. And no coffee yet!
|
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
7. October 2009 @ 10:48 |
Link to this message
|
|
Actually the 'time posted' is adjusted for your time zone, depending on where you are. It wasn't always that way, but it certainly is now.
|
Member
|
7. October 2009 @ 11:22 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm gonna have to change my sig because I've realised how aimless it is out of context :P
In context it does!! Honest! Although explaining the context will take 6 months....
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY! |
Member
|
9. October 2009 @ 11:08 |
Link to this message
|
YES! I've won against DiRT 2!!! I got the UK TV advert that's no longer shown taken off air :-)
Quote:
Dear Mr Lee
Thank you for your complaint about a TV ad for the computer game Dirt 2. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you.
I understand you feel the ad was misleading, as it implied that all versions of the game would be released on 11 September, when in fact the PC version would not be.
We contacted Clearcast, the organisation that clears ads prior to broadcast, and they said they were unaware at the time of clearance that the PC game would not be released until December. They have now made the ad unacceptable and it is no longer being broadcast.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
Kind regards
Laura Edwards
HECK YEAH! Aimless but successful!
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
9. October 2009 @ 11:10 |
Link to this message
|
|
Lol, I doubt you were the only one to complain, but congrats anyway :)
|
Member
|
9. October 2009 @ 11:13 |
Link to this message
|
|
I have to wait till next week for it to be listed as an adjudication then I can find out more information :-)
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
9. October 2009 @ 17:22 |
Link to this message
|
|
Nice going. Finally a company that listens to fans :D
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
AfterDawn Addict
|
9. October 2009 @ 17:44 |
Link to this message
|
|
Do NOT say that about Codemasters... Believe me.
PSP, all the way from 1.00 to 5.50 GEN D2 - DS Lite w/ M3DS Real (M3 Sakura v1.34)
PS3 3.01 - iPod Touch 2G 16GB Jailbroken - Xbox 360 60GB - PC, Q6600, 3GB DDR2, GTX260 (216) 896MB |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
9. October 2009 @ 17:56 |
Link to this message
|
|
Nah, more like an advertising standards agency that listens to complaints...
|
Member
|
10. October 2009 @ 13:31 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Shokz:
Do NOT say that about Codemasters... Believe me.
lol If I have a good root around I should be able to find the email where Codmeasters tell me to sod off :-)
And the email where they tell me FUEL isn't going to be patched even though I tell them how to cheat at online racing by right-clicking in windowed mode or that AA doesn't work or.....
And the email where they tell me GRID 1.3 patch doesn't exist even though there was a forum post listing it's fixes 6 months previously and the online is fullll of cheaters.
And the email where they ban me from the CM forums for proving no actual fans want to wait for DX11 on DiRT 2.
:-)
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. October 2009 @ 13:38
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
10. October 2009 @ 14:12 |
Link to this message
|
So, i've been loosely following the development of Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising for around two years, and at first i was quite interested due to how they presented the game; amazing graphics, gritty, realistic, wide open spaces etc etc...
But, over the past couple of months my interest had diminished because the few videos i'd watched of the final product made it seem pretty clinical with only "reasonable" graphics (and to be honest, i was really only considering buying it because the graphics had looked incredible in the rendered shots, and i was hoping they could pull it off in the full game), so i wiped it off my preorder list but decided i may as well give it a download (yeah, i know, i'm evil and all that).
First time i played it i cranked all the graphics settings to max and started the first mission. "Hmm", i thought, "it's ok, looks better than ArmA II, but everyone's right, they're certainly not as good as we were all hoping". So, after my first little disappointment i ran with my team over to the first objective, all the while thinking "games love bloom these days, don't they?" looking at the washed out colours and the annoying orange tinge to everything... Well, at least it wasn't quite as bad as ArmA II's...
I also noted that the gun was too close, it took up slightly too much of the screen, it got distracting.
I reach the top of a hill, i look down at the small cluster of houses below me where the Chinese are sitting, waiting. I crouched next to some rocks and released my first few rounds into an unsuspecting enemy below, the first volley thudded into the ground around him and he burst into action, turning round to face me, i released another and he collapsed; dead. The other enemies started returning fire and the other three members of my team did the same, i smiled slightly watching the rounds sale back and forth; white arrows of light shooting through the air.
Later on i'm driving a Jeep along the road and we come into contact with two more heading towards us, we stop and get out, watching the emeny draw closer, they in turn get out of thier vehicles and we start firing, slowly taking them out, but it was no use, they, using their greater numbers, start to flank us on both sides, they close in and i get hit in the arm, i hide behind a low piece of crumbling wall and bandage myself, one of my team gets shot dead, one of the enemy appear to my left, maybe a hundred metres off, i quickly switch to my gun but i hear a loud thwack and my screen goes blank; he got a headshot.
After finishing the first mission i exit the game, slightly underwhelmed, but certainly interested enough to give it another shot. I go to the nVidia Control Panel, go to the settings for Dragon Rising and set or force everything to their maximum apart from Antialiasing which i set to 4x with Supersampling enabled. I went back on the game and started the second mission.
It looked good. Very good. Very early morning, dark, subtle blue filter, nice sky, nice scenery, nice everything.
The only thing i could really fault were the relatively low resolution ground textures (nearly completely hidden in the foreground by the amount of grass, so only a minor issue).
Supersampling does a more than good job at smoothing the edges of the grass and the tree leaves in Dragon Rising, and even with only 4x AA there was not a jaggie in sight (i noticed later on there were still a few on some buildings where texture edges ran near 0 or 90 degrees, but there's not much you can do about that).
Anyway, point is, with the game looking beautiful and me running through the woods at night, closing in on my first objective, i was starting to love this game.
I do still have one nitpick, and i'm afraid it is a rather large one - you get about 7 or 8 clips in both your primary and secondary weapon at the start of a mission, and you can pick up more / swap weapons with downed enemies, but other than that, there very very few ammo stashes or anything, so you do have to watch your bullet count. A couple of times i've ended up having to use my pistol for long range firefights, but that's one of the things that makes the game good, my problem is that if you die and retart from the last checkpoint, all enemy bodies you'd killed previously are wiped from the map, so at one point i was left defending a village from around twenty enemy troops and only one clip of machine gun ammo left because there were no bodies left from when we'd originally stormed the village. I quickly used that and had to fight with only my pistol, spending the ammo for that even faster. In the end there were still a number of enemies incoming and all i had left were four grenades... Needless to say i failed.
It's very very hard to get out of situations like that, because whenever you run out to collect fresh ammo from the bodies of those you've just killed, you in turn expose yourself and are likely die anyway.
All in all, basing my verdict on the three missions i've played so far, it's a very solid "realistic" shooter and is certainly worth your time. Just make sure when you reach a checkpoint you have enough ammo to last you through...
Overall, an eight out of ten.
Screenshots later if any of you are interested :D
PSP, all the way from 1.00 to 5.50 GEN D2 - DS Lite w/ M3DS Real (M3 Sakura v1.34)
PS3 3.01 - iPod Touch 2G 16GB Jailbroken - Xbox 360 60GB - PC, Q6600, 3GB DDR2, GTX260 (216) 896MB
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
10. October 2009 @ 14:41 |
Link to this message
|
Nice Review. Currently in the process of getting it myself. Looks pretty good. It may be my new addiction a la Battlefield 2 :P
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
10. October 2009 @ 15:09 |
Link to this message
|
Yeah, I haven't played I good "traditional" shooter in quite some time - sure Killzone and Halo et al are good, but after a while I crave a normal real world FPS, and there haven't been that many recently.
One good thing is it seems the PC version's being rated about one point higher than the console versions - nice to see an example of what the PC's good at.
PSP, all the way from 1.00 to 5.50 GEN D2 - DS Lite w/ M3DS Real (M3 Sakura v1.34)
PS3 3.01 - iPod Touch 2G 16GB Jailbroken - Xbox 360 60GB - PC, Q6600, 3GB DDR2, GTX260 (216) 896MB
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
10. October 2009 @ 23:00 |
Link to this message
|
|
I must admit, most of my enthusiasm came from the pre-renders, that's a shame. I will have to try it to see for myself though.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
11. October 2009 @ 08:20 |
Link to this message
|
|
The only things graphically i can still moan about after setting everything i could find to max is that the grass draw distance is too little (as in, far away, there's no grass cover, just flat ground texture, which is slightly annoying), helicoptor rotor blades still look like fake disks when they're at full speed and trees at long distances look rubbish.
Not that point one and three could actually be made much better without adversely affecting performance, but still :(
PSP, all the way from 1.00 to 5.50 GEN D2 - DS Lite w/ M3DS Real (M3 Sakura v1.34)
PS3 3.01 - iPod Touch 2G 16GB Jailbroken - Xbox 360 60GB - PC, Q6600, 3GB DDR2, GTX260 (216) 896MB
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 08:27 |
Link to this message
|
|
mmm, Draw Distance is in the same bag as proper textures, physics and AI in my list of 'things developers should actually work on'.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 14:10 |
Link to this message
|
Sam, Would you concur with this statement? I hate to lose all my progress! :P
Vista: C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\savegames
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\savegames
Application Data and its subfolders are hidden, so go to Tools > Folder Options in Windows Explorer, click the View tab and 'Show hidden files and folders'.
Copy the saved games to a flash drive, floppy or CD. After you've reinstalled the game, copy the files back to the GTA IV\savegames folder.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. October 2009 @ 14:12
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 14:15 |
Link to this message
|
|
Well I haven't gone looking for GTA4's save games, but that looks like the right location to me.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 14:18 |
Link to this message
|
|
Can you think of any reason why simply copying that folder wouldn't work? Seems perfectly logical to me LOL!
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 14:22 |
Link to this message
|
|
The method's sound, that's something I do for a few games to keep the save files.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 14:25 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thanks for your input :D Im currently backing up my VelociRaptor data. I'm reformatting so I can take a snapshot of my registry. Sorta keep tabs on it ;) I am aware that some registry settings are invisible though :P (Trialware appies for instance).
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
11. October 2009 @ 21:48 |
Link to this message
|
Wow, Kevin, your sig is looking quite snappy and colorful. Is this a recent revision?
Going back a few days:
Originally posted by Keith:
YES! I've won against DiRT 2!!! I got the UK TV advert that's no longer shown taken off air :-) ....
I have to wait till next week for it to be listed as an adjudication then I can find out more information :-)
Hmmmmm. Remind me never to sue you in a court of law or to call you jonny yob again, lol.
More: ....
Originally posted by Keith:
lol If I have a good root around I should be able to find the email where Codmeasters tell me to sod off :-)
Sigh - if it isn't one thing "yob" its another "sod off" and "root around." Where do you Brits come up with these expressions and what the hell does "sod off" actually mean - is it "sod" as in grass - like "go watch the grass grow" or something like that? And who ever knows what "root around" could possibly mean - let's see - I guess one says that pigs "root around" with their noses in the dirt looking for roots to eat - so you were saying that you would be looking hard for that email.
.... like a pig ..... with your nose in the dirt ....
Very picturesque.
Never mind, I have to go drive on the wrong side of the road and buy some petrol for my lorry.
Originally posted by Keith:
And the email where they tell me FUEL isn't going to be patched even though I tell them how to cheat at online racing by right-clicking in windowed mode or that AA doesn't work or.....
And the email where they tell me GRID 1.3 patch doesn't exist even though there was a forum post listing it's fixes 6 months previously and the online is fullll of cheaters.
And the email where they ban me from the CM forums for proving no actual fans want to wait for DX11 on DiRT 2.
Holy Moly! I know a trouble-maker when I see one. :P
You obviously are going to be a lawyer - wait - let's see: (Brit-speak) You obviously are going to be a Barrister!
Originally posted by Shokz from down under:
so i wiped it off my preorder list but decided i may as well give it a download (yeah, i know, i'm evil and all that).
Yeah, you and everybody else on this forum - and the only time I try anything - with gta4 no less - I get a threatening letter (worse yet actually sent to my caustic cad/cam blue collar brother whose name somehow is on the bill and then delivered to me with a stern lecture about being sued for millions of dollars) from the cable company threatening to cancel my service, lol. I told him "I already bought the game!" He said, "That's probably worse." Wait I need a good lawyer - or barrister - has Keith hung up his shingle yet?
DRAGON RISING BY SHOKZ
Wow, Shokz, brilliant review of Dragon Rising. We've got another Estuansis here!
Sounds challenging - and good - and something for the future new rig as you explained your final game settings. What skill level were you playing at - normal, or hard, or expert?
I like how your review kind of sucked the reader in - you weren't really too taken with the game at first - and disappointed with the newer screen shots. But you were intrigued - and you found the right settings - and then you began to really like it!
I ask what skill level, because I have been quite frustrated with a few rounds of Company of Heroes, mostly because I'm an RTS noob.
COMPANY OF HEROES
The first campaign - maybe the fourth in the game - that caused me to throw the game away out of frustration (I actually cut the disks with a scissors I was so mad - lol) and then rebuy it in a few days (only $6.88 wasted) turned into one of my favorites that I can now beat - no problem - on expert. The secret turned out to be how to build an impregnable base allowing enemy tanks to enter a kill zone where groups of AT guns finish them off easily.
The new campaign - about 12th out of 15 - that caused me to drop all the way to Easy to finally just barely last the required 30 minutes - was holding Hill 192. What a nail biter! The Krauts throw everything at you including off-site artillery from time to time!
I tried to quickly quickly quickly build something with tank traps and also barbed wire, in the very few tense minutes they give you on top of the silent hill before they go to the cut scene - two guys guarding a position below near the road - "Did you just hear something?" - then all hell breaks loose - and I went down to defeat time after time over about 10 hours of gameplay - even on Easy - until just barely beating it finally! I thought - something I think that Keith recently said - "This is STUPID hard!"
Also I thought to myself - "I don't know if I could ever beat this thing on Normal." But yesterday, having thought more about it and writing out notes, I skipped Normal and went straight to Hard, eventually dropping the half-track and ordering up some Anti-tank guns instead (after seeing that you weren't allowed to build tanks - I had to check to make sure) and from an internet walk-through on the campaign right after holding the hill - (I couldn't figure out what the points meant and I didn't realize that my points dropped because they were holding more victory positions than I was - "duhhh") I learned about how valuable a sniper is - so I bought about 4 of those guys for 16 points (you only have 75 points to work with total.) Anyway, when I discovered the quick defense strategy that works, stacking all the AT cannons on the side nearest the artillery and just tank trapping and barb wiring two main entrances behind that - I can now beat that 30 minute hell-raising session on Hard about 75% of the time. Tonight I might try it on Expert just for kicks.
It's challenging because you can't make one little mistake. If you overbuy engineers to build the defenses quicker, and you don't throw a few MG nests in there, all of a sudden you are over-run by infantry. If you take too long building the defenses behind you they swarm in - and early on you don't have the "money" to build the MG nests - your ammo and fuel and manpower points build each minute. So it's a careful balance - quite a nail-biter as I said going from dead silence - everybody whispering - to everybody screaming and things blowing up all around you!! Hahaha.
I'm enjoying the command perspective it gives you - I guess these kinds of things are what is taught at West Point - strategies for winning battles. It reminds me of what Patton (George C. Scott) said in the movie regarding Rommel "I read your book, you magnificent bastard!"
It's maybe not the same level of excitement as Shokz was just describing - getting a head shot suddenly from a dude on his left - but one review said it comes close to the excitement of fps. Sam talked me into it - he said I had to try a new genre. (I can't take too much change at one time - L4D is a big change for me from WWII shooters or CSS which I consider a type of WWII shooter like Day of Defeat, another Valve MP game, or COD4 which is not WWII, but it's still army type stuff.)
Wow, I just read some good google stuff on Rommel - reminded me of Call of Duty 2 - all the British El Alamein action and the tank battles and defeating the Desert Fox.
So, anybody else tried Company of Heroes?
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 22:12 |
Link to this message
|
'sod' is a lighter version of a generic expletive, generally considered acceptable in more conversations and less offensive. To sod off is to 'f off' but not quite as rude, and to be a sod, is to be perhaps a b****** or an S.O.B.
root around isn't specifically a british term, it's not one I use, but I'm sure you know what it means :P
Quote:
Never mind, I have to go drive on the wrong side of the road and buy some petrol for my lorry.
Don't try and take on our superior dictionary LOL. 'Gas' could mean an oil product for transport, or a completely different combustible fluid used for power generation and cookers.
As for a lorry, a 'truck' can be just about anything from a miniature pickup to a full-on "18 wheeler" or in english slang "artic". (the british version of "semi"). Here 'pick-up truck, monster truck' etc. are define, LORRY specifically is anything large, 7.5t rigid or bigger.
I assume you'll be playing Left 4 Dead 2 in earnest when it's released? :)
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 22:25 |
Link to this message
|
No. According to my backed up sig file, I created it on 8/21/09. Sounds about right. I decided to keep it simple, yet creative. While I liked my warp core sig, it was too flashy and distracting...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
11. October 2009 @ 22:34 |
Link to this message
|
Sort of graphics related, the 3008WFP is shortly going to have a big sister in our house... :P
As part of a combined plan to make home HDTV viewing easier, man more consoles at once without wiring complexity, and re-organise the living room area, the CRT TV is going to be upgraded to a new LCD - and you know me, I don't do things by halves.
The TV in question is a Toshiba Regza 42XV635DB - so chosen for a low cost, 100Hz, low input latency mode and essentially being the best value large HDTV out there. Expect a few pics when everything is all up and running - two file servers and the laser printer beside a 42" HDTV, both Xbox 360s and the legacy consoles (PS2, Gamecube, Megadrive) with a homebrew surround system.
|
|
