What is slowing me down?

[KlumpDud]

While my system (see sig) is not state-of-the-art, it is by no means old.

I downloaded the demo for Far Cry, and in order for it to run smoothly, I have to set all the detail settings to Low.

I was thinking that maybe it's because my graphics card doesn't hardware support DirectX 9. If that is the case, what graphics card do support DirectX 9 and all the other new features out there?

Has anyone else out there tried the Far Cry demo? If so, what detail settings do you use?

Thanks.

[lil Jimmie]

I'd say it's your video card, I have the full game and I run it on high detail settings and have no problems with the game play. My friend has a 9700 PRO and he runs it on very high detal as well with no problems

BTW the full game is better than the 2 demos but the onlline play sux IMHO however the single player and story line are great.

Edit- I double checked my settings as well as my buds and we both run the "very high" detail settings

[Hi Ho]

You need a video card that supports DX9 such as a Radeon 9600 Pro/XT or 9800 Pro/XT. However, for some reason the demo runs fine with everything on high on the system in my signature with a Ti4800.

[DragonNOA1]

My 4200 can run everything on medium settings just fine.

[KlumpDud]

I notice you have a lot more RAM than I. Could that be it? If I get another 512MB would it run smoothly on high detail?

Also, in the demo, under options, what aliasing setting do you have it set on?

Hi Ho, does your 4800 support DirectX 9?

[Hi Ho]

Hi Ho, does your 4800 support DirectX 9?

No, none of the Ti series cards support DX9. That's why I don't know why it works so well. The Nvidia FX series is supposed to support DX9 but the performance has been dissapointing. That is why the Radeon 9600 and up cards are being recommended. The ATI cards have much better performance especially in DX9 games.

[DragonNOA1]

I've heard that the game loves RAM so it might have something to do with it. I uninstalled the game but I don't think I had AA on. What resolution are you running? I was at 1024x768.

[Hi Ho]

I've heard that the game loves RAM

The funny thing that I forgot to mention is that I am temporarily down to 256MB of RAM while I await a replacement for an incompatible stick. What explains the performance I am getting? I have AA on 2x in the Nvidia rivers and it's set on medium in the game and the resolution is 1024x728

[lil Jimmie]

256Mb of ram is the bare minimum for FarCry. I thought you had 512 when I said your video was the weak link.

[Hi Ho]

Originally posted by Hi Ho The funny thing that I forgot to mention is that I am temporarily down to 256MB of RAM while I await a replacement for an incompatible stick.

[DragonNOA1]

Who knows then. I've heard the demo wasn't all that optimized, so maybe its partly the demo.

Klump: 2200+, 512 RAM, 4200... low settings
Dragon: 2100+, 1024 RAM, 4200... medium settings
Hi Ho: 1.8 Ghz (2200+ right?), 256 RAM, 4800... high settings

Between Klump and me my RAM probably helps out, but for Hi Ho your graphics card must be much more important than just RAM. So in the end, I guess it comes down to graphics card and if it can handle all the eye candy. Hey, this is Far Cry remember, the next generation of games.

[Hi Ho]

Maybe background programs? Fragmented hard drive? I don't know.

1.8 Ghz (2200+ right?)

That's another thing. I should update my signature. That is actually an Athlon XP 1800+(1.5GHZ I believe). I don't really know why my signature says that. I am going to fix it now. That just makes it more baffling.

[lil Jimmie]

The full game does run better than the demos did.

[aym]

Hi Ho I'm amazed!

I have a P4 2.4B, GF 4 Ti 4200, down to 256MB RAM too (one stick decided to die before I got the game ), at 1024x768, and no AA, the game is very choppy on medium, and levels take forever to load.

It's time for some upgrades I think...

EDIT: typo

[Hi Ho]

Yeah, I don't get it. However, like you, it does take forever to load but once in the game it runs fine and looks amazing.

[KlumpDud]

Originally posted by Hi Ho Maybe background programs? Fragmented hard drive?

My system is streamlined to the max.

[KlumpDud]

Here's an updated recap:

Klump: 2200+, 512 RAM, 4200... low settings
Dragon: 2100+, 1024 RAM, 4200... medium settings
Hi Ho: 1800+, 256 RAM, 4800... high settings
aym: P4 2.4 Ghz, 256 RAM, 4200... low settings

[KlumpDud]

by the way, in the game's video options there is Anti Aliasing that you can set to Off, Low, Medium, or High.

What the hell is Anti Aliasing? Why do they give you this option in the game? What should it be set at? Why?

[Hi Ho]

Anti Aliasing smooths out the jagged edges on angled objects. It can take a lot of performance out of a game if set to high. This setting is also in the video card drivers. I don't know if the game overrides that driver settings or not.

[DragonNOA1]

In computer graphics, antialiasing is a software technique for diminishing jaggies - stairstep-like lines that should be smooth. Jaggies occur because the output device, the monitor or printer, doesn't have a high enough resolution to represent a smooth line. Antialiasing reduces the prominence of jaggies by surrounding the stairsteps with intermediate shades of gray (for gray-scaling devices) or color (for color devices). Although this reduces the jagged appearance of the lines, it also makes them fuzzier.

source: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/a/antialiasing.html

Looking at those computer specs makes me even more confused.

[timbit]

Klumdud etc... i don't know if this will help, but when i was having some trouble with unreal tournament, i had to change the aa and the af in my driver. i would suggest knocking them down to "application preference" or lower if possible... also, in my driver at least, there are options to change the texture and mipmap detail settings. moving these down would help as well. hi ho, by any chance have you oc'd your system?

[Hi Ho]

hi ho, by any chance have you oc'd your system?

Nope. I'm just very baffled.

[KlumpDud]

Well, i'm gonna start with the cheapest upgrade: 512MB more of RAM will put me at a total of 1024 and costs about $70 on pricewatch. I'll let you guys know if I see a difference.

[aym]

BTW, UT04 works just fine with high frame rates on medium.

[tomster2300]

UT04's demo works fine for me when I play online. A Ti card can handle UT04 and I'm sure it could handle Far Cry---u just wont get the eye candy that you would with a card that supports Direct X 9. The FX series is Nvidia's solution to entering the Dx 9 market.

[KlumpDud]

I don't have UT so there's no point in making a comparison.

[tomster2300]

Download the demo, that's all I did. It'll give you a relatively good thing to compare too.

[KlumpDud]

You're drifting away from the topic, though. I'm trying to figure out why I can't run the Far Cry demo smoothly on anything but low detail.

[Hi Ho]

Here are two screenshots I took:

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Am I missing any eye candy?

[DragonNOA1]

Originally posted by KlumpDud Well, i'm gonna start with the cheapest upgrade: 512MB more of RAM will put me at a total of 1024 and costs about $70 on pricewatch. I'll let you guys know if I see a difference.

Definitely report back on how it goes. I guess you have all chipset drivers, vid/sound drivers, and OS updates right?

Hi Ho... looks good to me. What is your resolution and AA set at?