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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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26. November 2012 @ 19:07 |
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Originally posted by shaffaaf:
finished BO2. my god i need a GPU upgrade. i cant even play BO1 with all low settings at 1920x1200, without it dipping into the 40s online. so currently have BO2 on my xbox. great SP. and the online is nice, but my god are controlers crap vs kb/m
I think coming up on 4 1/2 years is pretty good for a graphics card, for someone playing games seriously! :)
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AfterDawn Addict
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26. November 2012 @ 19:12 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Originally posted by shaffaaf:
finished BO2. my god i need a GPU upgrade. i cant even play BO1 with all low settings at 1920x1200, without it dipping into the 40s online. so currently have BO2 on my xbox. great SP. and the online is nice, but my god are controlers crap vs kb/m
I think coming up on 4 1/2 years is pretty good for a graphics card, for someone playing games seriously! :)
without a doubt. kind of the reason i dont want to upgrade.... sentimental value. i cant bare the thought of it just sitting in my components drawer gathering dust. Id rather it die, which might seem a tad macabre LOL.
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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26. November 2012 @ 19:14 |
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Can't get too attached to stuff else we never move on... It's something that plagues me too, but I can at least draw the line at graphics cards... just!
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harvardguy
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26. November 2012 @ 21:42 |
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Originally posted by estuansis:
I am slowly being turned off to gaming in general. Quality standards have dropped like a rock in the past few years and the number of consolized idiots turning crap games into best sellers has only increased. EA Games is certainly partly to blame for this. They seem to have developed the rather bad habit of forcing otherwise decent companies to release games as early as possible, ruining their quality. Why in the world do we need another painfully generic multiplayer FPS?
I believe this video explains it quite succinctly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOHyD49DaeA
Haha, Jeff, that video was hilarious! Yes, no more block walls - just put a "return to battlefield" and add a countdown from 10 backwards - as BF pioneered. They're all doing it now. Well, my beloved Vietnam map pack in BC2 has that - and actually after a bit, you get used to it. You have to stay inside the map! Well, all right. And - no going backward - yeah, you get used to that after a while.
But I agree - if you just fill up the game with that kind of stuff, just everywhere you turn, it cheapens the experience. And that was the MOH experience - just kind of cheap. Mildly entertaining, but only just mildly. I got into the multiplayer, for a while, and actually almost got used to not being able to tell an enemy from a friend, but it couldn't hold my interest very long - I'll take CS:GO or BC2 any day.
I really am waiting with a great deal of expectation, for what Respawn comes up with. The quality level of those two guys, Vince and who?, is so high, I would expect another billion dollar franchise. I just hope it isn't Future Warfare with rocket ships, because then I'll probably just sell my gaming rig and start playing checkers.
DO YOU WANT RED OR BLACK?
I see that BO2 renewed your faith, Jeff, from Treyarch no less, lol. Actually the really only cool chapter, in my opinion, was the horseback riding in Afghanistan. I don't know why, but the futuristic stuff didn't interest me much.
And they had that on-the-rail stuff like in the video, which reduced my respect for the game. For instance, when I tried to melee the soldier guarding the right side of the radio shack, I was instantly killed for no reason. Did he turn around suddenly? - it never happened elsewhere in the game. I finally realized that, like the video, the game just did not want me to knife that one guard.
Finally I followed the "7m" yellow sign right to the window, and then to my surprise, I climbed in. "Oh, that's what these idiots wanted me to do - just follow the distance marker."
They do that again later in the same sequence. You are fighting off waves of soldiers from the botched attempt to seize the radio shack. I played it through again the other day and thought - "why is this so hard now? - I didn't have any trouble the first time through" I tried holding on the side, I tried behind the tree - suddenly these guys were all expert shooters and I was going down - fast. Finally, upon respawn, I looked over and noticed again, the distance marker, which indicated I should catch up with Hudson who was dragging Woods along.
As soon as I did, my character suddenly helped carry Woods, which triggered the appearance of the helicopter. "Oh, that's what I was supposed to do." LOL When they tighten the rail to the most narrow possible path like in the video - in this case: "unless you help move Woods along for those five steps you will die" - you lose respect for the game. That's how I felt about BF3 the sp game. I started shooting all those Persians chatting amongst themselves out there on the street, before the militants came, just to see what would happen. Headshots had absolutely no effect - their conversation went on as if I weren't there. That is not how Zampella and West would run a game. They would make me lower my weapon, at the very least. That is polish, that is fine-tuning, not doing that is cheap.
So regarding BO2, I thought BO1 and World at War were much better. But you have more appreciation of the graphics effects, Jeff - you can notice and respect graphics accomplishments that I don't recognize. I enjoy them, but I can't pick them out like you can. Yes I do enjoy good graphics, but it appears that for me, the ticket is the character acting.
Oh - yeah - I remember now. It was the character acting that I felt was lacking in BO2, whereas in World at War and BO1, the earlier Treyarch titles, that main Russian character, Viktor Resnev, in both games, was so flamboyant and so well acted, it uplifted the entire gaming experience for me.
In BO2, yes, they brought back Woods, which was good - he kept telling the story, and then Mason the kid, now all grown up, mainlined the future sequences - but as a character actor he was very plain and not memorable - just an okay guy like a million other okay guys.
That was another problem in MOH - the game highlighted in the video you linked us to, Jeff. I can't remember one single memorable actor in that game - every one of them just as bland as can be. Oh, but now I remember - the hurricane flood waters chapter, THAT was amazing, maybe even better than the horseback riding in BO2. Those flood waters were surging, they were giant black waves and you were screaming along in those little boats - that 90 seconds was maybe almost worth buying the game - almost. So I guess the best character actors in that game were the hurricane flood river waves. LOL
Compare that with MW1 and MW2 - Vince and Jason filled up those games with VERY interesting English characters - think back to COD2. And even the hodge podge of MW3, included bringing back the great English guy from MW1. You had rich character acting - that's what helps make a great shooter experience, I think. When you go to their Respawn web site and read interviews with West and Zampella, they say they enjoy being in LA and plan to stay there, because of the proximity to Hollywood. They have easy access to great acting, great voice talent, without the need to jump on an airplane.
Even Spec Ops The Line, really a 3rd person shooter like Max Payne, had several great character actors, especially the main guy whom you play as. "Circle the helicopter around again" he says, manning the minigun. "Why?" asks the pilot, the black guy, one of the 2 guys in his small squad. "I want to see what this gun will do." He then proceeds to massacre the entire group of rogue American soldiers, and even takes down most of the high-rise tower.
He plays a guy on the edge of nuts. That's a friggin character actor for you!!! (I read about him - he's got a gruff presence - he plays a lot of villains in the movies - they thought he was brilliantly cast as the lead in Spec Ops.)
Speaking of Max Payne - again - great acting all through the game.
I really enjoyed all the crysis titles - good acting, heroes and villains. The girl was kind of a caricature though, those ukranians don't know how to throw a girl into a game unless she has major T&A going for her - a scientist no less, lol, with low cut jeans and belly button. Well, okay. It didn't detract much. But they could have used a little subtlety, like Vince and Jason would have done. A little more like Alyx - you know, sexy but not Jayne Mansfield. But anyway the games were great.
I don't know how Far Cry 3 will turn out. I'll play it for sure.
But I know that at least, we have two studios with some major talent, Crytek and Respawn, feeding the fps genre, and maybe Treyarch will get back to using memorable, high-quality actors.
Originally posted by shaff:
without a doubt. kind of the reason i dont want to upgrade.... sentimental value. i cant bare the thought of it just sitting in my components drawer gathering dust. Id rather it die, which might seem a tad macabre LOL.
What!? I thought you and Sam were the kings of selling stuff. Jeff trades all over the place. I thought I was the only guy who has never sold anything. "can't bare the thought of it sitting there" Hahahaha. Put it up on ebay!!! (One day I'll figure out how to do that.)
Rich
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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27. November 2012 @ 04:01 |
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Ebay isn't difficult Rich. I jumped right in. MUCH easier than I figured it to be. As is usually the case ;) One day, I'll be programming, and laughing about how much I was intimidated by it all. I almost have a handle on HTML language. Once I do, I'll move on to Java, and then C#(C sharp), and then C++. I here this is a good order to take it. I have a guy at work, that I can pick his brain :D
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. November 2012 @ 04:01
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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27. November 2012 @ 12:40 |
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I agree that the story isn't as good Rich, but the campaign is nonetheless above average.
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 |
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harvardguy
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27. November 2012 @ 23:50 |
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Yeah, maybe you're right. I shouldn't be so critical. I really miss Viktor lol.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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2. December 2012 @ 05:36 |
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I personally enjoyed all the action and military hardware being thrown around. I also enjoyed seeing characters from the old game and telling the end of their stories through the next generation. The selection of weapons was great as well. I liked the futuristic weapons.
MW2 was pretty short, but it was awesome, and MW1 and 3 were pretty decent length. Also awesome. I really liked the campaign. America! lol
All of the Call of Duties had excellent graphics. Only World at War and Black ops 1 were really inconsistent.
I think I will have something to say about FarCry 3 when it comes out. Gotta have it :P
From what I've seen it's excessively pretty. Performance looks promising for me when I make my upgrades.
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
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. December 2012 @ 11:29
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AfterDawn Addict
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9. December 2012 @ 11:32 |
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Sorry for the double, but just got FarCry 3. Performance is as expected somewhat weak mostly due to my stock CPU and 1GB of video memory. Still all I do is use Very High instead of Ultra and average 30-70. Very variable framerates depending on where you look, but smooth and playable for the most part. Expect much better things once I have new hardware :)
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
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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9. December 2012 @ 13:35 |
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Originally posted by Estuansis:
Sorry for the double, but just got FarCry 3. Performance is as expected somewhat weak mostly due to my stock CPU and 1GB of video memory. Still all I do is use Very High instead of Ultra and average 30-70. Very variable framerates depending on where you look, but smooth and playable for the most part. Expect much better things once I have new hardware :)
Buck and that CIA dude have some of the best missions, the rest of the game was pretty much a WTF! dats tripin or a yawn fest.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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9. December 2012 @ 14:25 |
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I think it's consistently interesting and fun. Beautiful graphics, lots of great guns, a decent story. Is a bit performance intensive but I would imagine my upcoming upgrades are going do trick for that :)
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
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harvardguy
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11. December 2012 @ 20:10 |
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Originally posted by estuansis:
I think I will have something to say about FarCry 3 when it comes out. Gotta have it :P
From what I've seen it's excessively pretty. Performance looks promising for me when I make my upgrades.
So, again, what are your planned upgrades? You were going to be trading some graphics hardware as I recall to get at least 2 gigs vram, correct?
HOLY MOLY - FAR CRY 3 IS OUT?????
Originally posted by DXR88:
Buck and that CIA dude have some of the best missions, the rest of the game was pretty much a WTF! dats tripin or a yawn fest.
Lol, dxr is as critical as I am. New Year's Resolution for myself - don't be critical, be grateful.
Originally posted by Estuansis:
I think it's consistently interesting and fun. Beautiful graphics, lots of great guns, a decent story. Is a bit performance intensive but I would imagine my upcoming upgrades are going do trick for that :)
I'm gonna go get it immediately if not sooner!
Uh oh, I'll have to wait in line:
Jeff - it sounds like the new hardware is just around the corner. Any thought about waiting for AMD 8000 family - should be coming up pretty quick, I would think.
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. December 2012 @ 20:23
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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11. December 2012 @ 21:30 |
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Did i ever tell you the definition of insanity?
the Definition of insanity is doing the same side missions over and over again expecting shit to change. that. is. crazy. but the first time some one told me that i thought they were bullshiting me so "Boom" i just continued doing side missions. then i started to see it every where i looked, every where i looked, all these F#$king Game Companies every where i looked doing the exact same F#$king side missions over and over and over and over again thinking this time people wont notice Nonono, please this time people wont notice.
Im sorry, I Don't Like the shit you've been selling me.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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12. December 2012 @ 10:06 |
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Yeah I agree it's a bit of a grind but compared to the previous game is such a huge jump in every way, it doesn't really matter. It's certainly an above average shooter. One of the best I've played in years. You have to consider the developers who made it. For them, this is a huge leap.
I'm not using Ultra settings yet but it's a very close contender with Crysis for graphics. I believe all the important ones are maxed. Having similar environments makes the comparison easier. I'll still give Crysis the nod in art direction and overall visual fidelity, but FarCry 3 is far better optimised and also much more consistent in visual quality. Water was kind of a disappointment in FarCry 3. Very pretty but not spectacular. Crysis 1 and Source Engine hold the title of best water in my book.
https://forums.playfire.com/_proxy/?url...216ae14d385488a
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/atta...18-26-18-25.jpg
You'd have to see these two in motion, which I'm sure most of you have. Very atmospheric and realistic.
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
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12. December 2012 @ 10:07
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. December 2012 @ 10:10 |
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Originally posted by Estuansis:
Yeah I agree it's a bit of a grind but compared to the previous game is such a huge jump in every way, it doesn't really matter. It's certainly an above average shooter. One of the best I've played in years. You have to consider the developers who made it. For them, this is a huge leap.
I'm not using Ultra settings yet but it's a very close contender with Crysis for graphics. I believe all the important ones are maxed. Having similar environments makes the comparison easier. I'll still give Crysis the nod in art direction and overall visual fidelity, but FarCry 3 is far better optimised and also much more consistent in visual quality. Water was kind of a disappointment in FarCry 3. Very pretty but not spectacular. Crysis 1 and Source Engine hold the title of best water in my book.
https://forums.playfire.com/_proxy/?url...216ae14d385488a
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/atta...18-26-18-25.jpg
You'd have to see these two in motion, which I'm sure most of you have. Very atmospheric and realistic.
Both links 404. Clipboard size issue?
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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12. December 2012 @ 10:19 |
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Hmm seems to be. Cbf'd to fix it right now. You get the point.
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
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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13. December 2012 @ 04:37 |
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Originally posted by Estuansis:
Yeah I agree it's a bit of a grind but compared to the previous game is such a huge jump in every way, it doesn't really matter. It's certainly an above average shooter. One of the best I've played in years. You have to consider the developers who made it. For them, this is a huge leap.
I'm not using Ultra settings yet but it's a very close contender with Crysis for graphics. I believe all the important ones are maxed. Having similar environments makes the comparison easier. I'll still give Crysis the nod in art direction and overall visual fidelity, but FarCry 3 is far better optimised and also much more consistent in visual quality. Water was kind of a disappointment in FarCry 3. Very pretty but not spectacular. Crysis 1 and Source Engine hold the title of best water in my book.
https://forums.playfire.com/_proxy/?url...216ae14d385488a
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/atta...18-26-18-25.jpg
You'd have to see these two in motion, which I'm sure most of you have. Very atmospheric and realistic.
yeah it could be worse, you could be fetching diamonds in briefcases. i still think FC1 was the best farcry ever, the AI was smart, the guns had recoil and vehicles were a privilege.
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harvardguy
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14. December 2012 @ 02:29 |
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Well, DXR and I both like to bitch - but there's that New Year's Resolution to think about - stop f*@kkking complaining. Uhhh .... something like that. LOL
Far Cry 3 kicks some major butt.
I have it on ultra - it looks quite nice, quite nice indeed. Very colorful for sure. I dropped from 8x AA where I was barely 30 and perceptibly lagging - to 4x AA, and now I'm at 45fps, that's with overclocked cards at 975, running 75 degrees the hottest, 65 the other. Very smooth - I can't perceive any lag at all.
The water cannot compare to Crysis - or Steam - but still, it is pretty. It doesn't splash when you walk in it, nor are there any waves. BUT .... it is damn pretty otherwise, and if you look into the little ponds here and there, for example up at that scientist's house, there are little skeeter bugs flying along the surface of the pond, and little things hitting it making circular waves - VERY realistic.
THERE IS EVERY MANNER OF BEAST IN THIS GAME - JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE YOU GO!!! That adds quite a bit of atmosphere as you hoof it through the jungles. I would rather get away from the damn dogs than waste ammo - same goes for the tigers. Not to mention boars, or those very interesting birds that roar like a lion - they are so easy to kill, but one DID kill me while I was trying to skin his buddy.
Side missions - I turned on the machine tonight after an all-nighter 24 hour non-stop gaming with a 2 hour break in the middle, just to try some side missions.
I am playing it at hardest difficulty to not finish so fast, but that means I get to try some things 10 times in a row, lol. Like running from the boats finishing up with a helicopter shooting at me. Good thing I had 5 health syringes ready - in fact I had a few more green leaves in my pouch and could have made more - of the 9 total. But as I say, good thing I had the 5 because I just barely finished that last part of that episode, and when you're re-starting, I am not sure you can hit pause and build more syringes - but maybe you can. I didn't try that. Maybe it would have worked.
I have a question - in the hut trying to protect the guy who is one his computer - there were some mines - proximity mines. Are they on one of my keyboard keys?? - I had no idea what to do about them or how to choose them. Tonight I'll look and see if there is a key for mines. Must be. What about molotovs - I have 6 frag grenades - maybe the side missions will unlock mines and molotovs. So anyway, tonight I want to try them, you know, the side missions that DXR loves so much, lol.
Jeff, you have never steered me wrong, and this game is great!!
Here's what I like: ANIMALS - did I say there are friggin animals every goddamn way you turn, and you better watch out because one of the little bi*ches is going to bite you. There are tigers - pretty much everywhere. That is awesome. There are some SCARY big black bears. I'm sure with my LMG I am okay, but ... jus saying - tigers and bears. Then there are those pesky Komodo Dragons that slither around and bite you when you aren't paying attention. And there are rats, and dogs, and dingos, and very nice goats, and buffalos, and deer - all manner of creatures except I haven't seen one snake since that poisonous one at the first tower. The animals are very realistic - and scary.
I will BET my last dollar, that you really like that FAST Movement mode, Jeff, where you can fly back to a settled village without having to travel there - it's just - "okay, imagine me trudging along for an hour - now fast forward to the village." Every time I make the trip I think of you, how you hated all the repetitive Far Cry 2 travelling. LOL That "fly back to a village" got me out of one real hot spot, where I was surrounded by about 10 pirates, a huge rock, and a cliff behind me. I hit the map - which nicely stops the action - and disappeared in a puff of smoke, lol. Yeah, I could have killed them all - MAYBE - but ammo is expensive!
Regarding the Far Cry 2 travelling, I still say, if you had used the boats, Jeff, you wouldn't have minded it as much.
Graphics - very pretty indeed.
But, now that I am thinking about Far Cry 2, yeah - that river was especially beautiful, and I have not been struck as much with anything here. Except for one sunset. I walked outside that big mansion house, and the whole light was glowing - very very nice. Another interesting little touch - the night club scenes when our hero, I forgot his name, eats the little red pill. Trippy.
DXR - it's not as good as Far Cry - in total - except for having modern graphics - because it's not Crytek. Far Cry was a standout in every way. But ... it does some things better - like the animals are GREAT!!!
But Crytek Far Cry, as I say, was a standout. Like for example, the dialog of the mercenaries: "Did you ever think about the morality - you know - the morality of what we are doing here?" They try to throw some conversation in this game, but they only have about 30 things the guys say, over and over again, lol. "Boy it hurts like hell when I piss." "Shut up and use the rubber." I guess that means the guy I am about to knife just picked up the clap. Or "Damn bugs." "I hate it here. Let's just give this place back to the rebels." It's just a little touch, but somebody should have expanded that 5 minutes' worth, to about an hour's worth of pirate banter.
But - again - I don't want to be too picky. Overall, it's a great game - I'm having fun - and some parts are REALLY challenging. When that helicopter exploded, I was really excited, "Oh, there is a god - I don't have to play this one escape scene another dozen times."
My fault for the hardness level. And the game tells you right in the beginning that you can drop difficulty down at any time - but I wasn't quite to that point yet - I did it in about 10 tries, and I was still good for maybe 20 more.
The sinking boat and the attacking helicopter in Far Cry was no picnic either. That was probably 10 tries also.
Have fun guys. I've got to end this and try some side missions, and see what DXR is bi*ching about, lol.
Rich
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harvardguy
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21. December 2012 @ 22:59 |
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I have been playing a lot of Far Cry 3. The game is even better than the very high marks the critics gave it.
Graphically, I was wrong when I said that I had not yet seen the incredible water of Far Cry 2. The Far Cry 3 water is gorgeous - stunning reflections - the way the light shimmers. The overall map and the graphics leave me speechless.
If you play the side missions, you will learn how to drive a quad 4 runner, and you will learn how to drive a wave runner. I didn't think much of the quad earlier. But when the wind whistles as you drive along, it's quite a thrill. Those two skills will create hours of fantastic enjoyment as you barrel down the road in the 4 runner as I have been doing, or along the waterways in the wave runner - the shimmering water and reflections are sublime. Beyond my powers of description.
Performance-wise, I boosted the clock of my crossfire 7950s to 1050, up from rock solid stable 975, to achieve a little extra fluidity closer to 50 fps at 2560x1600, which helps in fast vehicle travel. I am at ultra everything settings, except 4x AA, not 8x which slowed me way down - I don't really notice any jaggies.
Clockrate-wise on the gpu, I had tried 1000 before and had it crash Sleeping Dogs in 10 minutes after seeming to be stable in Furmark and Heaven, but at the time I had forgotten to increase the vddc for stability. My rock solid vddc is 1087 millivolts. So I tried two higher clock settings, 1015 clock and 1050 clock, with two higher vddc settings - one at a modest 1115, and the highest at 1131 up from 1087 millivolts. Nothing too drastic.
If I don't have too much other stuff running (like my graphics program and my wordpad game notes so I can capture map locations of where the quad vehicles are parked) the 1050 clock, vddc 1131 is working fine.
No issues - 10 hours of stable gameplay at a time.
I have over a hundred steam screenshots - I'll do some major posting later. But here is one:
Oh, and I have become Robin Hood. I am using the bow everywhere. The way you have to hold down the left mouse to pull the bow string back gives an amazing amount of realism to the bow. I have been getting some great head-shots at bad guys peeking over cover from 20 yards. I feel like putting on green and taking up residence in Sherwood Forest. I am the man.
The tribe members like to say "Who is the man? I am." They are beginning to grow on me and I carry the repair tool in order to get their jeeps running, which earns me 50 bucks each time. My earlier complaint about them not talking much has disappeared - these guys hanging around while I shot my arrows were giving me all kinds of props how I have turned into an amazing hunter, cleaned out most of the pirates, etc. The more you do, the more they talk. It all makes sense now, lol.
Since explosive arrows are so powerful I don't feel such a need for the hugely powerful grenade launcher any more, so like I say, in its place I carry the repair tool. It is also handy on the wave runner as you do a lot of crashing running over rocks just under the surface. The first thing is that the engine cover comes loose - a one-second repair fixes that.
The explosive arrows really work well - only two needed to kill any heavy. One explosive arrow will kill any charging tiger or leopard or bear, although I prefer the challenge of killing leopards or tigers with regular arrows. It seems to take 3. The first gets them mad, the second quickly while they do the challenge, and the third while they are charging. It is wayyy scary - I have been killed several times. Several other times they clawed me and gave me one last chance for an arrow at them as the screen turned all gray and I bordered on death.
I could take an animal repellent syringe, but that is way too easy.
For weapons, I discovered the expensive special signature weapons and ended up buying the ripper and the shredder, since my $10,000 wallet fills up quick. Next I'll buy the silent pistol. The arrows are truly silent. The silenced shredder smg less so. But it is a good man shredder close in, however it burns through ammo.
But the $4,000 ripper LMG - they call it a MKG whatever that means, is so much more powerful than the regular LMG, I can't believe it. It has a fire rate of 15 rounds per second, versus 7.5 of the LMG, and the rounds don't bounce, and seem more powerful per round, but maybe it's just the not-bouncing. Two three-round bursts will kill a buffalo, versus 5 bursts from the LMG if they don't charge over the hill - a very hard kill with the LMG, very easy with the MKG. It rips through people the same way as I have seen.
I did a full game save, (hidden folder in the program application data) then practiced with about $2,000 worth of ammo killing buffalo from the roof of the Mosquito Bay safe house. Then I rolled the game back - I didn't have that much cash to throw away, lol. By the way, they keep some areas filled with pirates. The Erh Co warehouse #29 is close to Mosquito Bay. It's good for bow and arrow practice on pirates, plus lots of leopards and also tigers. They fill it with pirates, because that is where one of the Trial of the Rickyat is held - killing as many in a lumber yard as you can. I love those trials - they teach you all the weapons.
There is not too much that I don't love about this game!!
Here is how good I am at bow and arrows:
The target is 30 yards away:
Now look at all the bullseyes! LOL
Here's a holiday gift to all of you guys.
If you like the Nutcracker Suite - it's great holiday music. I downloaded a 450MB flac version from a classic recording off of vinyl records years ago - it's perfect quality. Copyright expired years ago. I converted it to 30 MB of mp3 at high bit rate - exceptional quality.
I have been playing it in my iTunes from my laptop hooked to my big screen TV which has decent speakers, and I boost the low frequencies on the equilizer, although it actually sounds best in my office with the big subwoofer of my altec lansing PC speakers - the lower end violas, cellos, bassoons, tympani, etc. beautifully fill in the sound. Tchaikovsky was remarkable - one foot in Serbian composition - the other in traditional western classical composition.
That reminds me - I'll turn it on right now, lol. Wow, always even better than I had remembered!
The following username and password access only that one folder on my web site.
username is afterdawn
password is afterdawn-1
I find that ONLY Internet Explorer will do ftp file transfer - chrome lets you see the files, but won't transfer them.
EDIT: I forgot to tell you where the ftp site is: in your Internet Explorer url, type ftp.harvardguy.com. Then you can probably cancel the first two requests for username and password, until you get to a page that says Internet Explorer can't load the page. On the command bar, hit the link called Page, and at the bottom choose: Open the ftp site in Windows Explorer - THEN fill in the username and password. When the window opens, right-drag and COPY to your desktop or to a folder. (If you accidentally move it out, then please copy it back in.) That's all - easy!
Happy holidays,
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. December 2012 @ 23:22
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. December 2012 @ 18:31 |
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I've asked this before, but I want to be certain, even though I believe the answer was yes.
If I install steam on my laptop, and transfer some games to it, are the respective game producers gonna be upset about that? I'm not distributing them. I simply want to test my laptop, and play games on new years away from home ;) Quite possibly on a projector :D
Can I do this legally?
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. December 2012 @ 18:32
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harvardguy
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29. December 2012 @ 18:56 |
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Yes no problem with steam - you can have your games on several computers at the same time.
By the way, I see you got your laptop working - oh yeah, I remember now - you fixed the display. Good job. I maintain 3 laptops for people, and it is wayyy convenient to be able to carry the thing around, with a thumb drive in the inner pocket for moving files back and forth with other desktops.
Here is a 15" bag that I recommend highly from ebags.
They used to be available in more colors. They used to carry this one in blue.
From the picture of the black one - and the person carrying it - it seems to be the identical bag, and it is a super good bag - very convenient with lots of pockets and water bottle bag too. Here is the carrying picture with a green bag, which is the one that I own.
Here's the bag shut:
And here's the bag open:
Anyway, have fun with your laptop dude.
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. December 2012 @ 19:13
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. December 2012 @ 18:57 |
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There are no restrictions on using the same steam account on multiple computers, and that applies to any game you have on steam. The simple reason is, logging into steam on one PC will log you out from the other, so you can't ever be playing more than one game at the same time.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. December 2012 @ 18:59 |
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Ahh. Yes of course, I understand that ;) Games for windows live should be theoretically the same. Thanks guys! Should be a fun new years eve!
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harvardguy
Member
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29. December 2012 @ 19:15 |
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see edit above on laptop bags - have fun Kev
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. December 2012 @ 19:18 |
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I have one. It can hold a great deal more than the laptop itself. Cords, thumb drives(naturally), multiple portable hard drives, and an Xbox 360 controller :D Not quite as impressive as yours... But hey. I'm happy :p
I would have thought a Sata II black drive could transfer to USB 3.0 quicker. 30Gb and 30+ minutes :S The so called compression is going slow. My processor isn't even working that hard.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. December 2012 @ 19:21
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