|
|
|
The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
20. December 2008 @ 19:56 |
Link to this message
|
Not so much ANY chance - but seriously, to up the settings (which is why you want to upgrade right?) you're really going to want a Quad for GTA4.
Just installed the PC version of Mass Effect. Shame upping the resolution only makes the menu look good. The game is undeniably still the same resolution the Xbox runs at, certainly all the textures are, at least.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
20. December 2008 @ 20:32 |
Link to this message
|
Yeah, that WOULD be the idea behind the upgrade for sure!!! Hahahaha! Good point!!
Hey, remind me to ask you guys later about laptop recommendations and what I should look for.
I am going to start holding open houses next year during the week, and I will need a laptop with LONG battery life - or maybe just extra batteries. My budget is under $500. Used is fine. Do they all have batteries you can slide in and out? I'll have to pick up a wireless card, or tether the laptop to a new business cell phone.
Should I buy new from Dell? Should I ask boozer to help me find a killer deal? I figure core 2 duo, 80 gig.
By the way, I would actually want to wipe the drive, and repartition it and run w98 and xp dual boot (I have some important business software - paperport - that runs way better in w98 mode - creates smaller and faster files downloading listings from the real estate web site - versus the xp version.)
I don't know if my W98 cd will let me do the partitioning - it should. Well, I can google and research that a little bit more.
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
20. December 2008 @ 21:02 |
Link to this message
|
Just be advised 98 does not support NTFS, so I would recommend partitioning the drive using XP, making an extra FAT32 partition solely to put 98 on. You will want NTFS over FAT32 as FAT32 can't see any file bigger than 4GB.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
21. December 2008 @ 00:06 |
Link to this message
|
I would love to partition using XP, but I have never figured out how to get XP to partition OTHER than NTFS, using Disk Manager. The only option it gives you is NTFS. Maybe partitioning off the XP disk gives you more options - maybe that's how I can do it. Or for that matter, maybe I can partition off the W98 disk - I'm trying to remember if the W98 CD is a bootable ROM like the XP CD is. If not, maybe I can just copy my W98 startup floppy to my flash card, and boot off that, assuming the laptop bios allows me to boot off a usb device. What laptop does anybody recommend?
Sam, regarding disk size, you will be surprised, but FAT32 was expanded, I suppose they had to do that before XP fully caught on, and it supports drives way bigger than 4 gigs, which - I think you're right - was the original upper limit. Mo says he has gone all the way up to 160 gigs! I don't know about that, but I am right now typing on a computer that has two drives, both FAT32, the C drive is 40 gigs, and the newly cloned D drive is 80 gigs!!! Here's the proof!!!
........
When you run DOS fdisk, to do the partitioning, I seem to recall it asks if you if you have a Large Volume beyond 4 gigs - I just did this recently.
I was running out of disk space on this computer, with two 40 gig FAT32 drives, dual boot W98 and XP, but before they get impossible to find, I purchased some cheap 500 gig IDE drives from newegg for my two IDE hard drive enclosures. That freed up the drives that were in the enclosures, so the larger NTFS, at 160 gigs, went into my gaming rig, and the 80 gig NTFS got repartitioned to FAT32, as you see in the image above, and went into this business computer, after I cloned the 40 gig over with norton ghost - which handles the formatting as part of the cloning process. I wanted both my drives here to stay FAT32, so that when I'm on windows 98 on the C drive, I can fully access the D drive.
Up to recently, here on my business machine, I used to have my everyday desktop on the C drive on Windows 98 - outlook express, Internet Explorer, talking to you guys on the forum, everything. Other than my gaming rig, I rarely used XP unless I needed to do a lot of color printing on my Epsons. There is a certain type of real estate that I used to do until just recently in this market crash, that involved downloading and printing to paperport hundreds of pages of real estate listings weekly. The W98 version of PaperPort produces a 500kb 300dpi 24-bit compressed color thumbnail, which prints out very nicely on my color Epson 980 network workhorses, after I modify each listing by adding phone numbers that were removed when the listing expired, etc., pulling from another data base, or from the tax rolls, so I can then call and solicit the listing. The XP version of the program does the same thing, but each final image is about 1.5 mb in size, taking 3X more time to download. If I ever go back to working expired listings, I need Windows 98. Yeah boozer and estuansis, that was me on the web site - I never answered before 'cause I friggin' HATE that picture LOL
But 6 months ago I thought my C drive on this machine was going bad - I had to leave my side cover off so I could jiggle the IDE cable to the C drive, when the bios wouldn't find my IDE drives, which started happening every few days.
It turned out to be a conflict with the ATI 9800 graphics card I had, which I had burned up by removing the fans from an after-market heat sink that Mo and I had installed years ago. Before I figured that out, however, I moved over here to XP, and I grew to like it. I still print to paperport, like tonight I printed the receipt from an ebay game I bought, but printing out a page here and there is no problem. And there is nothing like XP stability - I haven't seen a blue screen in ages LOL. Plus somebody once said that although Windows 98 can see the whole 1 gig memory I have, it can really only effectively use just 512mb of it, whereas XP for sure loves to use the whole thing as we all know!
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. December 2008 @ 00:10
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
21. December 2008 @ 00:37 |
Link to this message
|
FAT32 recognises drives bigger than 4GB, but can't create or read single files bigger than 4GB, such as DVD images.
To create a FAT32 partition, do not create the full size partition when installing Windows, then format the remaining space once in XP to be FAT32 you can install 98 on.
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
21. December 2008 @ 02:04 |
Link to this message
|
Wow, Sam, you said file, and I read it as drive. Duhhh! Too much ebay buying tonight has me stoopid. Or maybe it's the aluminum hahaha. Btw, why is YOUR Lexa aluminum and the new Lexas are steel?
Also, you are implying install W98 after XP - but I have never known of how to do that - we usually install 98, and then when you go to install XP it says "Oh, you already have an operating system, do you want this one as an additional?" You say "Yes" and then it asks which partition you want it on, and then you have dual boot.
As far as I recall, W98 is not smart like that, and doesn't ask you questions like that, nor does it allow you to install it into particular partitions. (I may have that wrong.)
But anyway, if I can create two partitions on the laptop drive, they can both be FAT32 - in fact I WANT them both to be FAT32 - XP of course runs fine with either file structure, although optimized for NTFS. So then, if I am correct in needing to start with W98, I assume it would put itself into the first partition. But maybe not.
Or are you saying, create a small partition for W98, leave the rest of the disk unpartitioned, install w98, which will put itself into the only part of the disk that is partitioned, then, during the XP install, partition the rest of the disk FAT32 for XP?
That was question #1 about the laptop.
Here's question #2 about my gaming rig:
Can I undo dual boot which I no longer need on that machine? I have no need for windows 98 on my gaming rig, and there are no xvga drivers for the new cards - not even the 3850 - W98 runs in 16 colors at 800x600 - ugh - ugh - ugly!! That's why I'm selling off the 3850, but I'll keep the x850xtpe - ati made a w98 driver for that board. I can have a nice counter-strike spare rig, and still run business applications, 24 bit color, 1024x768, on w98.
Right now, all of my computers have XP as the second boot on the D drive, windows 98 being on the C drive where the boot.ini file resides. I want to be able to boot into vista, or xp, but have no use at all for windows 98 on the gaming rig.
The new motherboards will support only two ide devices, one being my dvd burner, the other, if I keep my current setup, being a small C drive where w98 is installed, just to sit there so my dual boot into XP on the D drive continues to work. Since you said the newer motherboards never lose the sata controllers no matter what you do to the fsb timing, then I will clone my gaming rig 160 gig pata D to a 640 gig sata, adding a 30 gig partition for vista, and one more partition as a spare, for something like windows 7 perhaps, and if not, just for data.
So I suppose I could make everything work with the little 40 gig pata physical drive C. But couldn't I just get rid of that drive completely?
What would happen if I took out the little C Pata drive? XP wouldn't boot of course because it wouldn't be able to find the boot.ini file on the C drive I just removed.
But there is something called fixboot. I used it one time when I had to re-install windows 98, which lost my boot.ini file on the C drive. A microsoft document in Windows XP Help told me to boot off the xp cd, which got me to the repair console, where I then typed "fixboot" and it replaced the missing boot.ini file on the other drive. Now what if there were no other drive. I am wondering, if I did the same thing having removed the C drive, would it put the boot.ini file then on the sata root, and I would no longer have dual boot? Or maybe fixboot is not appropriate in that situation.
It's not worth spending a lot of time on, because the workaround is just to keep the little C drive. But certainly I could try that fixboot trick and see what happens. I could make a copy first of all root files on the D drive, in case I had to undo any weirdness. Do you have any thoughts on that Sam?
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
21. December 2008 @ 04:45 |
Link to this message
|
The original Lexa is the 'premium product' that comes with the carry bag as standard (though when I asked, they gave me another anyway) and uses the Aluminium design. The Blacklines are the more midrange cases, which are Steel, and cost far less.
As for the drives, I'm not entirely certain as I use separate physical drives for this purpose - it makes it all a lot simpler..
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
21. December 2008 @ 22:43 |
Link to this message
|
I agree 100% - I have always used two separate drives for the dual boot. The laptop is going to blaze new ground for me. LOL
Well, what follows is a review of Brother in Arms, Hells Highway.
Hells Highway ran okay for about 70% of the game, until I got to the rain. Crashed repeatedly - doesn't matter what I do with the resolution or settings - all the way down to 640x400, all low, and I can't get through the rain for more than 5 minutes without reboot - showing about 95%+ cpu activity, and almost no gpu usage with these low settings. So that's it, no more Hells Highway until the 6600 upgrade Lol.
The game seems like it was rushed into production after numerous delays. Once you get past the weird Max Payne-ish opener in a bizarre hospital setting, with strange fluorescent colors - totally garish - the game opens for real on the gorgeous Holland countryside - and it REALLY is beautiful. They are pushing a quote from PC Gamer - "best looking wwII game ever" - not sure if that's true - maybe. But when I say rushed into production - the game prominantly displays Version 1.0.0 as if there will be several fixes - I looked for a patch but none available - I suppose it will depend on how well it sells.
There are no customizable controls!! Unheard of. For both prior games I used the middle mouse - my grenade button on COD4 - for the special squad command function. The right mouse is always for scoping in, on any fps I play. Not with Hells Highway. Right mouse is for squad commands, middle for scoping in - can't change it! Hahahaha.
You can imagine the numerous times I almost sent my squads to their deaths trying to scope in on distant enemies, hahahaha. "Go there, no Go there - right where you already are LOL"
But the countryside is certainly beautiful. The sky boxes are obviously fixed in position, and distant trees often are merely 2d cutouts - kind of strange. I think those are things that would have been smoothed out if they had not had a huge last minute deadline. From Miles being in the business - I know how it can be when these games get delayed and the publisher finally forces everybody on the development team to put on a big rush - Hells Highway was supposed to have come out this past summer.
But that might be Ubi's mistake, because those flaws could really hurt sales of the game. I am not sorry I got it, used on ebay, for about $10. See what I mean, it's already super cheap. Parts of the game are very nice.
They have a new thing, called "digging in" which is supposed to be somewhat realistic. You can "hug" a tree, or a low wall, etc. with the Q key (lol my quick change weapons key - not for this game!) so you can't get hurt by enemy fire. Then, still in this "dug in" state, you can press the move key, like W, and you will extend over the wall where you can scope in for extra accuracy, and blast the germans when they stick their heads up - but when you take too much fire and everything starts turning red, you just let go of the W, and drop back behind the wall, and you regain your health. I started using this feature more and more - I was playing on veteran - but I haven't unlocked the hardest setting yet by finishing the game - and without using this "dug in" feature certain sections would have been almost impossible.
I think for the series, three parts so far, that part two, Earned in Blood, has been the best game so far. It had much better graphics than part one, Road to Hill 30, and slightly better game play than the other two.
But getting back to my review, lol, the graphics of Hells Highway are often flat out gorgeous, (on my new Dell LCD), ignoring the 2d distant tree cutouts that appear in a few scenes. Water is very very nice - inside textures of rich oak panelling is nicely done. Lamps can be shot and knocked over, but candles are immovable, hahahaha. I guess they didn't want to start any more fires than there already are - fire effects are pretty nice!
Wait til you first see the farm with the windmill. The whole thing is like being inside of an exquisite painting. Estuansis would not have to worry about not being able to enjoy the ambiance. For the most part, the germans stay where they are, holding their designated positions, until you advance your squads to engage them. The first farm section with the windmill, was not rushed. It must be one of the chapters that got to the PC Gamer reviewer.
That's probably why the game was late. In a few chapters they reached such a high level of artistic expression, that they decided to try to go for superlative quality, which put the game way behind schedule. Overall result was a huge rush at the end, already 6 months late, and an unfinished feel - starting out with No Customizable Controls - wow! You might see that in a demo, usually not, but I haven't seen that for a long time in a production game - too bad really. I don't know how the game is selling but unlike COD4, and COD2, both of which are killer - no real flaws at all!! - I have a feeling that sales of this title are going to be disappointing.
Back to the good parts.
They have a tank chapter which is very short, but very nice. Better than previous tank chapters. It is over almost before it begins - they should have tripled the size of that chapter.
And they now have a very nice bazooka team - don't worry about mp3 machine gun emplacements behind sand bags - get the bazooka team within striking distance, and watch the bodies fly! Hahahaha. The bazooka guy explodes trucks very nicely too. And get him close enough, that mp3 nest up there way high in that building quickly turns into a smoking hole LOL.
Also, another cool thing they have is destructable environments - absent from COD4 - mostly fences and light wood barriers. If your enemy is behind the fence, you can shoot out the fence. Indicate to the bazooka squad that they should take out a fence, and watch the fireworks - bodies flying and body parts coming off - decapitations - missing legs - nice and gruesome! That can work against you, of course. I was dug in behind a fence, up against 5 nazis, which worked for about a minute allowing me to kill one guy, until my protection evaporated as fence parts started disappearing, when the guys started spraying in my direction!
Going back to bodies flying, occasionally they go into slow-mo, Max Payne style, for when you cap a german behind a wall with a nice head shot - that is very cool - you practically see the skull explode - it is bloooody. By the way, the germans are very hateful, so you really don't mind blowing their brains out. They shoot or hang innocent young dutch maidens - gets my blood boiling so I would gladly go back in time and massacre the lot of those wretched Nazi wankers, as the new Brit team-mate calls them. Lol. They have to add some humor in the middle of the horror.
Oh, speaking of the new Brit - he adds a lot to the game - he is one of the best things about part three. I forgot his name, but when I first heard him talking, at the farmyard with the windmill, I was looking around for the British platoon that must have showed up.
But he's an actual member of the 3-man assault squad and gets some good air time "What's your story mate? As for me, bastard son of a rich father and poor mother." His favorite thing to say when the bullets are flying is "we seem to be in an unfortunate stalemate." His other favorite is, directed at the sergeant you play in the game "Somebody was looking out for you on that one." Also, "You're a lucky yank, Dave." It is definitely a lot of fun having him on board. They probably took a clue from Call of Duty with all the great British campaigns.
The banter is funny, and adds a lot also, but they could have doubled or tripled the number of sentences for a little more variety. Still - it's pretty good. "The Jerries are really getting me pissed off today." "Well, you're not going to kill them by talking." "Somehow, I don't think they speak English." "Hey Fritz how'd you like that one." "One less Kraut to worry about." "This position is no good, but ... it might work." Etc. (not a very long list of etc. LOL)
The game is definitely worth the money, but they lost a chance to REALLY score in the final rush to ship. Art takes a back seat sometimes to business concerns - getting the damn thing out in time for Christmas!!
I'd have to give it a 7.5. I'd give #1, Road to Hill 30, a 6.5, and #2, Earned in Blood, an 8. For comparison purposes I'd rank COD 2, for its time, a 9.5, and COD 4, a 9.8, Half Life Episode 2, 9.5, the new Medal of Honor Airborne, a 6.5, and Medal of Honor Pacific Assault, the best of the series, a 9.5, and whichever title it was, Medal of Honor or COD, that featured the Rangers scaling the vertical cliffs on D-Day, a 9.3. If you haven't played squad-based play, you should give the Brothers in Arms series a try. You might want to pick up #2, Earned in Blood, the best of the series so far, in my opinion, for extra squad deployment practice, before launching in on this new Hells Highway title - assuming you have the horsepower to play in the rain. Just make sure you deploy the squad on mouse 2, and scope in on mouse 3, like the new game. LOL
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22. December 2008 @ 01:11
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
22. December 2008 @ 00:17 |
Link to this message
|
I find myself playing with partitions as of late. Vista X64 Ultimate SP1 on a 250GB Partition and XP Pro SP3 on the rest. I find myself using Vista less and less just because XP is so much more problem free. I hope Windows 7 works with more Creative sound cards because even the Audigy 2 is still in widespread use. I know the absence of my X-Fi Xtreme Music hurts a lot in music and some games.
Speaking of which, I'd also like to add: anyone who isn't using a decent Audigy sound card or similar is missing out. Onboard HD is nothing compared to a real Audigy or X-Fi. Even on my cheap 32W Logitech speakers, the difference is immediate and extremely noticeable. So much so that I don't feel the slightest urge to upgrade them. They perform excellently with a sound card that is already 2 1/2 years old.
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 |
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
22. December 2008 @ 01:34 |
Link to this message
|
That's interesting. I was playing more Valve online games for a while there - counter strike and day of defeat - and the microphone is used all the time while you play those games - it's a big part of the multiplayer experience unlike with COD4.
But I found that I couldn't get my mic to work on my audigy card, it overpowered the output although the mic tests indicated perfect - but when I plugged into the on-board realtek - my mic problems disappeared. Nobody could help me and I never worked that out. So my gaming rig Medusa 5.1 headphones run off the onboard realtek - the new upgrade is going to be the same way - gigabyte cf mobo has Realtek 8 channel sound. And I don't have a sound card any more. But for $60 or so, if you actually have speakers, and no mic problems, that's good to know that the Audigy or something similar makes a noticeable difference. I'm glad you are enjoying the sound quality.
Partition-wise, estuansis, let me ask you. Is it a good idea to create enough room for the operating system, plus extra room for the program files? You couldn't really do that, however, because how do you ever figure out how many programs you might have? But you can put a program anywhere, right, like data?
I am asking, because on my sata 640 gig, my plan, per shaff, was to set aside two 30 gig partitions, one for vista, and one for a spare - maybe for windows 7. So let's say I am running vista, and I have only 1 gig left in my vista partition, but 200 gigs available in my xp partition, I can install the program on that logical drive and nobody cares, right?
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
22. December 2008 @ 01:53 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
That's interesting. I was playing more Valve online games for a while there - counter strike and day of defeat - and the microphone is used all the time while you play those games - it's a big part of the multiplayer experience unlike with COD4.
But I found that I couldn't get my mic to work on my audigy card, it overpowered the output although the mic tests indicated perfect - but when I plugged into the on-board realtek - my mic problems disappeared. Nobody could help me and I never worked that out. So my gaming rig Medusa 5.1 headphones run off the onboard realtek - the new upgrade is going to be the same way - gigabyte cf mobo has Realtek 8 channel sound. And I don't have a sound card any more. But for $60 or so, if you actually have speakers, and no mic problems, that's good to know that the Audigy or something similar makes a noticeable difference. I'm glad you are enjoying the sound quality.
I'm using the Creative Fatal1ty headset right now and the sound is just dripping with excellence. All the highs and lows are crisp and pronounced. The guitar is so clear that you can hear the guys fingers on the strings. Same experience with my Logitech speakers. Logitech X-230s. 2 x 6W satellites and a 20W subwoofer. These speakers would seriously surprise you. They can go quite loud with awesome sound quality.
Conversely, my mic works just fine. Mine sees the most use coordinating squad tactic in Battlefield 2. But I'm also using an X-Fi Xtreme Music with all the latest EAX 3.0 support and the like. An Audigy 2 ZS is great if you can find one, and an Audigy SE is still quite a jump up from onboard and can be had for fairly cheap. I'd recommend one. Most problems are due to errors in setup or can be fixed in the options.
And don't ask me on HDDs. I'm about as clueless as you are in that department :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
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22. December 2008 @ 02:02
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
22. December 2008 @ 08:30 |
Link to this message
|
Rich - the 'dig in' feature is nothing new, it sounds basically identical to the cover feature used in Gears of War and Rainbow Six Vegas. Middle mouse for scope is annoying, non-customisable controls is annoying, bugs are annoying. As far as the graphics go, I've not actually tried BIAHH yet, I'm tempted to say Call of Duty World at War will more likely take the award for best looking WW2 game, as the graphics certainly are no worse than COD4, but World at War not only encounters graphics bugs on the 4870X2, but it's also a very buggy and poorly designed game itself, very disappointing compared to Call of Duty 4.
Funny you should mentio sales of COD4, they hardly sold any, the piracy rate of the game was extraordinary. I bought it, but certainly not initially.
Destructable environments is nice, it's one thing about Crysis that still gets me, but gruesome headshots aren't really a new feature in games.
For what it's worth, I run my microphone through my Realtek too as it has noise cancellation, my SB Live External doesn't...
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22. December 2008 @ 08:31
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
22. December 2008 @ 15:08 |
Link to this message
|
|
BiA: HH was pretty good. If you liked the first two games, you will like this. Yes, the controls are a bit funky and performance isn't stellar, but not terrible. The actual graphics are quite nice, just like a painting. The cutscenes look amazing and are in-engine. The gameplay is somewhat slow-paced and tactical, while still being quite tense. I also liked Earned in Blood and Road to Hill 30 better though.
I believe HH is on Unreal 3 Engine.
Road to Hill 30 - 8
Earned in Blood - 8.5
Hells Highway - 7.5
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 22. December 2008 @ 15:11
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
22. December 2008 @ 15:12 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm going to chime in with my 2 cents. I haven't played it in a while but Bia: HH is quite an amazing game if you like to take a break from constantly running and shooting. It takes a bit more strategy but that's what makes it fun.
|
|
mrk44
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
22. December 2008 @ 20:24 |
Link to this message
|
Hey guys, I got a friend who just got a new 4870, using it on an asus striker II, for some reason after it gets past the boot screen, and goes on to windows, nothing shows up. the old nvidia drivers for his old card are uninstalled already, and he installed the new 8.12 ati drivers as well. Can't understand why it still won't work...any ideas??
Cooler Master HAF 932 - Asus Maximus II Forumula - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.00GHz - 2x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2/8500 1066 Mhz - Corsair HX1000W PSU - Asus EAH5870 Graphics Card - Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB WD1001FALS HDD - LG CH10LS20 Blu-ray Drive - Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card - Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Speakers - Samsung P2370HD Monitor
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
22. December 2008 @ 21:25 |
Link to this message
|
I might suggest you try a program called Driver Sweeper. Just uninstall the drivers, start up in safe mode(usually F8) and run driver sweeper. Check to remove both ATi and Nvidia display drivers. Then install the latest WHQL stable driver for your card. Should work like a charm.
Here's the link:
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
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
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
22. December 2008 @ 22:52 |
Link to this message
|
Yeah, estuansis, that was a good tip you gave mrk. I finally did the same thing recently, buying something similar called driverclean, which also runs in safe mode.
It sounds like mrk's friend can't get into xp. So he's got to hit f8 like a madman soon after bootup, and try to get to safe mode to run the program. It will remove any trace of any ati or nvidia driver I believe.
I am glad to hear, estuansis and boozer, that you guys played hells highway and got all the way through the game, including the rain.
My p4 is below the game minimum, which is Pentium D, but until I hit the rain I was getting about 20fps with all high settings, which was not too bad. When I hit the rain I actually thought my gfx card broke, because for the first time in my life, I had a black screen, except for the red circle showing the nazi location. I waited and waited - no picture - except for the red circle. The most bizarre thing that ever happened to me. The card could not synch in. I actually thought I had fried my 3850.
Finally I rebooted and played a section of MOH airborne to verify that my card still worked, lol. I even loaded sp3, a listed requirement on the hells highway web site, and dropped all my settings to the floor. So far, so good - I had a picture again. I thought, okay, I'm going to get through this rain - but digging in on the wall - I took my first shot - CRASH to Bios for the 5th time.
Sam, does rain really add so much to the cpu load or is it just the way they programmed the game?
Abuzar, you're right. The pace of these Band of Brothers games is different - you usually have time to get your squads in position, with only a few exceptions where you are under time pressure. Then you look for flanking opportunities. It IS definitely a break from the run and gun - and supposedly more like actual airborne battle. I agree, it's a good changeup.
So estuansis, you too have now played the whole series. I see you also like the middle game the best, although you give the first game, Road to Hill 30, a higher rating than I do. I think the reason for my lower score on that game is because I played both those first two titles fairly recently - say about a year ago when I first heard about the series - and the graphics on Road to Hill 30 had already become kind of outdated by then. I think it's a 2004 title. I was actually not going to buy it after I played the demo. But then I played the demo of Earned in Blood and I was very impressed and decided for sure to buy it, so then it made sense to me to buy Road to Hill 30 and start the series at the beginning, and I'm glad I did it that way.
It was a good game, but Earned in Blood was REALLY good, the best one so far overall - not quite as good graphically as Hells Highway - but no bugs, no problem customizing your controls - and probably a slightly better storyline. No "rushed to meet a deadline" feeling about it at all I would say. But yeah, parts of Hells Highway are like being in a painting, that is VERY true.
Well, Sam, I will be interested in how COD5 turns out, once I get the equipment to play it, since you seem to think that it will be the best WWII title ever, graphically. I hear they have some mean flame throwers in that game. I am bidding on it right now. But I am absolutely shocked to hear you say that piracy ruined the sales of COD4. Do you know that for a fact, or is it from personal experience? I mean, maybe it's just some college geniuses in England who cracked the copy protection, and not everywhere.
Somewhere on the internet there are sites that track sales data on games - I am interested because I always ask Miles how a certain Valve title is selling, and he never knows LOL. Anyway, I gave COD4 a 9.8, ranking it higher than any game I have ever played - and I think the storyline and graphics are absolutely superb. Look at all the money shaff is spending on equipment to become the master of on-line play! If any game was ever worth $50, it was COD4. (I picked it up for $25 on ebay, lol - but that's okay - I provide the secondary market for all the guys who go out and buy the hot titles at launch.)
Rich
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
23. December 2008 @ 00:30 |
Link to this message
|
The only legitimate reason anyone has to buy CoD4 is for the multiplayer. I got the collectors edition when the game came out. I don't think I have any friends who actually bought it though. We're all playing Left 4 Dead together anyway :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
4 product reviews
|
23. December 2008 @ 04:40 |
Link to this message
|
A Striker II that still works? Wow, hats off. That's probably the most unreliable board in the world.
Rich: Rain tends to mainly add to GPU load - the two Call of Duty 4 maps with rain, when Anti-Aliasing is applied, halve and quarter my frame rate respectively, but if the effect is CPU rendered, which isn't uncommon, it will flatten your P4 as such effects usually consume most of a whole core on a Core 2 Quad.
I have Hells Highway installed and will play it soon, keen to see how it fares.
As for COD4, agreed on it being worth 50 dollars (I actually paid £29.99, which now works out to be $39), but for the multiplayer. The SP is fabulous, but a little short...
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
23. December 2008 @ 16:09 |
Link to this message
|
|
Wow, it wasn't just college guys in England - all of estuansis' friends also were able to pick up cod4 for free - that is friggin amazing. I'm astonished that their copy protection was so easy to crack!! But to play multiplayer, of course then you have to buy the game.
That must be it, Sam - they must have used the cpu to render the rain in Hells Highway. Amazing! I was doing fine until then LOL! I'll be interested in seeing what you think of the game.
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
23. December 2008 @ 16:12 |
Link to this message
|
|
All single players are cracked with ease, often on the same day of release of a new version. The Multiplayer being so easy to crack is unusual though, and was Activision's downfall. Cracking a singleplayer game isn't easily preventible, but stopping pirate multiplayer is easy and saves a lot of money on sales. COD4 is so popular if it was as hard to crack as Steam games, COD4 would have been one of the best selling PC titles ever instead of one of the worst.
|
|
spamual
Suspended permanently
|
23. December 2008 @ 16:39 |
Link to this message
|
on the consoles it was a brillaint seller, and on PS3 and xboxb 360 was the top online game played :)
and damn deservedly.
on of the best games of all time for me.
after RA2 :D
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
23. December 2008 @ 16:41 |
Link to this message
|
|
Yeah and to think that's the crap version! :P
|
|
harvrdguy
Senior Member
|
23. December 2008 @ 16:46 |
Link to this message
|
Sam, I started to feel really bad for Infinity Ward and Activision until I went to google and did some snooping and found this article from June: COD 4 sales top 10 million copies (I guess total sales were really helped by console sales which might not be so easy to crack.) I know that this is a big number, because I think the original Half Life got to about that number, mostly because of the followup mods like counter strike and day of defeat.
Anyway, the article says that Infinity Ward is pleased with this number. The same article says that COD2 total sales, also by Infinity Ward, have risen only to 2 million copies over all these several years - was that a 2005 game? So given your information about piracy, I wonder what total COD4 sales would be if they had better Steam-like protection? And maybe piracy is what killed COD2 sales - I thought it was a really excellent single player title. I played it a bit multiplayer, and no big deal - not like the quality of COD4 multiplayer. Maybe the mp is what is saving COD4 from a worse showing!!
So I feel a bit better - at least 10 million copies provides plenty of profit and incentive to pay for the development of future KILLER games like this. I don't care if the bad stuff doesn't sell - but when the good stuff doesn't sell - that's the end of the good stuff! LOL
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
23. December 2008 @ 16:48 |
Link to this message
|
I think 8 or 9 of those 10 million copies were Xbox / PS3 versions.
|
|
