Deux Ex Demo issue

[fredwest]

Hi,
Have the demo of 'deux ex - invisible war'...all 224Mb of it. It installed just fine. Then I went to run it....

The PC beeped and the screen had a header across the top as if the game was loading but it didn't.......however it didn't crash the PC either which is always good

Using task manager I got to finally see this message as to why it wouldn't run...

'Engine requires video card with Pixel Shader 1.1 or greater capabilities'.

My rig is a P4 1.6, 512Mb, and a GeForce2 with the latest drivers (53.03) straight from nVidias site.

This demo never worked. I had a driver release from November last year initially and thought that that was the problem.....so today I got the 53.03 version but with no luck.

I feel like it's now a hardware issue.......ie my vid card is too old.....yet it'll play all my games.....

One more thing. The PC wouldn't play the Halo demo either despite the fact that I have DX 9b installed.....

It has to hardware (old age) hasn't it?


Any input here would be appreciated as I don't really have the funds just now to splash out on a new video card

[DragonNOA1]

Demo requirements:

GRAPHICS: 100% DirectX 8.1 compatible 32 MB

Geforce 2 is not DirectX 8.1 but instead DX7 compatible. So if a game requires a certain level of vid card, and yours isn't up to snuff... then you won't be able to play. Remember that you have an old card (I think 3 or 4 yrs old) and you are playing the latest game out that likes DX9 hardware.

[fredwest]

Hi Dragon,
Thanks for the input. The GeForce2 has 64Mb ram on-board and I think it's two years old anyway!

So a new vid card then eh? What about a GeForce4? Any ideas on a model with 128/256 ram?

[DragonNOA1]

Well I have and use a nVidia Ti4200 64MB. I can run all my games at 1024x768 with 32bit color and one level down from the highest graphic detail settings and everything works fine for me. But also check out the ATI 9600 Pro & 9800 Pro as they are faster and support DX9 but also a little more expensive. My nVidia card is DX8. I would try for a DX9 card with 128MB of RAM so that you can run any new game with all the bells and whistles on. Any more than 128MB is not needed and just a waste of money.

[fredwest]

Hi Dragon,
Great Stuff!

Have had my eye on the ATI cards alright but are still quite pricey. I reckon too that 128 RAM should be fine.

Must remember to make sure it's 100% dx9 supported though....or it's of no use!!

[DragonNOA1]

I wouldn't say no use as many games about to come out say that you can still play with lower cards but it just won't look as nice. DX8 is still decent but to get ready for the future I'd at least get an ATI 9600 Pro which supports DX9. Some games, as you have found out, only support DX8 and above. DX7 is just a little too old. I saw a 9600 Pro for $133 at pricewatch so the latest tech isn't too expensive. Look around for a good deal.

[fredwest]

Hi Dragon,
This is interesting.

I read an article where the latest ATI & nVidia cards were put head to head. It was said that nVidia 'cheated' on the performance because if shaders looked better with DX8 then the card would use them.....while ATI just used 100% dx9.

nVidia said that the results for benchmarking were legit but ATI said that they (nVidia) didn't have the technology to render true DX9 so if a 'problem' with DX9 came up they'd (nVidia) just switch back to DX8 for shaders etc.

I'm not too techy in the world of graphic cards. But I understand 'backward compatability' etc. If the card can't handle a DX9 request it just re-renders the image in DX8.

Now I like nVidia & ATI as I on e of each. Seems good to me if you can't render the image one way then try another!

I hope I haven't got these two guys mixed up and that it WAS this was around and not vice versa

You read that review on the nVidia - ATI head to head?

[DragonNOA1]

Look at benchmarks for unknown games. ATI always wins. But say for a Quake 3 engine game, which nVidia has had time to write "cheat" codes, you will see nVidia come close or even beat ATI. Why is there such a difference in performance? Decide for yourself.

[fredwest]

Hi yet again Dragon,
Well 'judge for yourself' is fine too.

I have a Radeon 32mb video card in this PC. THIS PC being a PIII 550 o/clocked to 632 (and has been for years without fail) with 512Mb RAM and XP Pro. This has ran most of my games for a year or so.

However it's more CPU power that I need from the P4 that really makes the difference. Now I'm up against the video card (like CPU performance wasn't enough )