Two Bugs
by Eli McClanahan · in General Discussion · 04/04/2002 (2:49 am) · 10 replies
*The first is simple to explain. When I try to create a new mission in the mission editor, RW crashes after a few seconds.
*The second is somewhat confusing. Game play is bogged down and becomes very very slow when I face a certain direction. On the stronghold map, whenever I face towards the town when I'm in close proximity to it, the game becomes very sluggish and displays the disconnect image off and on, yet I can still move, although the movement is barely discernable.
This happens with D3D a little less, and becomes less apparent with 16 bits, but the resolution doesn't seem to affect it. I was told in the game "it's just your system," but I have a relatively good system. AMD 1.2 mhz, 128 ram, 80 gigs memory, and a standard nvidia vanta video card. I asked a friend to try to play the game as well, and he had the same problem. He has basically the same system as me, but using a pentium 3 and with about 500 ram and a better video card, which I'm unsure of what brand it is.
It's very annoying and disruptive to gameplay. I find that I can correct it if I turn away from the direction I'm facing, but this is no excuse to say, "Oh, everything is fine then." It's caused me to be killed more than once, and is especially a problem on the other map I've been playing on (unsure of the name but has a castle extending from the water near the spawn points).
It seems to occur whenever I face an animated visual affect. I went into the mission editor and removed the middle fire from the orc village and could move fine afterwards.
I've attempted to find a better version driver for my nvidia vanta (4.12.01.0539, hardware version 21) but to no avail. Any and all drivers I've ever found for it are for some reason very old (around version 4.00) or incompatible.
*The second is somewhat confusing. Game play is bogged down and becomes very very slow when I face a certain direction. On the stronghold map, whenever I face towards the town when I'm in close proximity to it, the game becomes very sluggish and displays the disconnect image off and on, yet I can still move, although the movement is barely discernable.
This happens with D3D a little less, and becomes less apparent with 16 bits, but the resolution doesn't seem to affect it. I was told in the game "it's just your system," but I have a relatively good system. AMD 1.2 mhz, 128 ram, 80 gigs memory, and a standard nvidia vanta video card. I asked a friend to try to play the game as well, and he had the same problem. He has basically the same system as me, but using a pentium 3 and with about 500 ram and a better video card, which I'm unsure of what brand it is.
It's very annoying and disruptive to gameplay. I find that I can correct it if I turn away from the direction I'm facing, but this is no excuse to say, "Oh, everything is fine then." It's caused me to be killed more than once, and is especially a problem on the other map I've been playing on (unsure of the name but has a castle extending from the water near the spawn points).
It seems to occur whenever I face an animated visual affect. I went into the mission editor and removed the middle fire from the orc village and could move fine afterwards.
I've attempted to find a better version driver for my nvidia vanta (4.12.01.0539, hardware version 21) but to no avail. Any and all drivers I've ever found for it are for some reason very old (around version 4.00) or incompatible.
#2
As much as I hate to see this as a response, you might consider upgrading. You can get an older GeForce 2 or 3 for well under $100 these days. Try www.pricewatch.com
Josh
04/04/2002 (2:59 pm)
If I had to bet, I would guess it is a problem with your graphics card. The Vanta is (I believe) just an upclocked TNT/TNT2, which is about 5 generations behind the current state of the art.As much as I hate to see this as a response, you might consider upgrading. You can get an older GeForce 2 or 3 for well under $100 these days. Try www.pricewatch.com
Josh
#3
why the fire? its not like its drawing loads of alpha stuff..
Hmm.. try getting better drives.. or new ones.
Phil.
04/04/2002 (3:56 pm)
Tush!! my tnt2 rocks! :))why the fire? its not like its drawing loads of alpha stuff..
Hmm.. try getting better drives.. or new ones.
Phil.
#4
04/05/2002 (6:45 am)
lol im guessing you mean a 80 gig HD right? you said 80 gig of memory. :) lol well i have an older vid card on my other comp and it doesnt like drawing anything.. i can have like 3000+ polys untextured with no slow down but as soon as i texture them its slows WAY down. maybe its the same thing but at a higher level... like your vid card CAN support it but the combination of the town and the particle emitters, just slow it down a bit.
#5
sounds pretty darn important... ;)
d
04/05/2002 (6:07 pm)
we may need more optimized particle generation, AND more adaptive particle gen/rendering for older cards.sounds pretty darn important... ;)
d
#6
Anyway, you have to remember that the majority of people buying this game don't have the latest vid cards or even the latest computers. A lot of the problem with testing sometimes is that it's done optimumly, and that screws a lot of buyers.
About half the people I know have to troubleshoot a game for a week before it will work, just because it isn't compatible because it's "too old."
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. Why exactly my vid card hates camp fires only I don't know... It also isn't too fond of those players being hung over the roasting pits. With two of them side by side, it gets twice as bad.
04/05/2002 (11:09 pm)
Did I say memory? Yes I did... Guess I shouldn't post here at 2 in the morning.Anyway, you have to remember that the majority of people buying this game don't have the latest vid cards or even the latest computers. A lot of the problem with testing sometimes is that it's done optimumly, and that screws a lot of buyers.
About half the people I know have to troubleshoot a game for a week before it will work, just because it isn't compatible because it's "too old."
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. Why exactly my vid card hates camp fires only I don't know... It also isn't too fond of those players being hung over the roasting pits. With two of them side by side, it gets twice as bad.
#7
Now, that doesn't mean that you should be shooting for only top end machines, but for people starting out making games here, requiring a GF 1 or higher card doesn't seem unreasonable.
Josh
04/06/2002 (7:41 am)
Actually, the majority of people buying software in stores do have newer computers. I have seen several studies that show that something like 80% of software is bought by people that have bought their computer within the past 2 years. People with older machines, in general, buy signifigantly less software.Now, that doesn't mean that you should be shooting for only top end machines, but for people starting out making games here, requiring a GF 1 or higher card doesn't seem unreasonable.
Josh
#8
Many of the base PCs from manufacturers (<$1K) have motherboard-down video (lots of Intel i810, SIS, VIA/Savage, etc.), which generally tap into system RAM for shared memory (8, 11, or 16MB typically), and usually are somewhat lacking in performance, features, and drivers/stability -- at least as compared to say your average 32MB Ge2MX.
So, assuming a GeForce (or even a TNT) can be done, but understand that 'mainstream' mass-market machines might not be supported at that point.
I'd like to think that TGE could make the best of whatever machine it is on. Takes a little more work, but we have a HUGE community...
d
04/06/2002 (1:09 pm)
Even though people MAY have purchased new PCs in the last two years, that doesn't give a good view of the video card market.Many of the base PCs from manufacturers (<$1K) have motherboard-down video (lots of Intel i810, SIS, VIA/Savage, etc.), which generally tap into system RAM for shared memory (8, 11, or 16MB typically), and usually are somewhat lacking in performance, features, and drivers/stability -- at least as compared to say your average 32MB Ge2MX.
So, assuming a GeForce (or even a TNT) can be done, but understand that 'mainstream' mass-market machines might not be supported at that point.
I'd like to think that TGE could make the best of whatever machine it is on. Takes a little more work, but we have a HUGE community...
d
#9
Vid cards are funny in that the ones packaged with the machine are a lot of time about half a year older than the rest of the computer, or at least that's what my Uncle, a computer technician, tells me.
Add that up and my computer is about "1.5 years" old. Take into account that about 60% of people at most have a computer that old, and then take into consideration that most aren't going to buy a new vid card when they get a new computer... Well, you get the idea.
Back to work on my Stronghold variant. :D
04/06/2002 (7:11 pm)
I'm saying "newer computers" in the sense of the past 5 months. Mine is not even a year old and I have to troubleshoot at times. It was top of the line when it came out, of course, aside from the vid card.Vid cards are funny in that the ones packaged with the machine are a lot of time about half a year older than the rest of the computer, or at least that's what my Uncle, a computer technician, tells me.
Add that up and my computer is about "1.5 years" old. Take into account that about 60% of people at most have a computer that old, and then take into consideration that most aren't going to buy a new vid card when they get a new computer... Well, you get the idea.
Back to work on my Stronghold variant. :D
#10
04/07/2002 (5:41 pm)
I had the same problem that you are talking about on my 900MHz box. It only has a 16Meg video card and lags like all hell. On my 2GHz box with a 64Meg GForce 3, it kicks but... The only lag that I get on that machine is because I am on 56k dialup... (no broadband is offered in my area... not even sattelite... believe me, i've looked). I was killing people lastnight and getting the top score on almost everygame (anyone sees a player named "Bong", that is me). 
Eli McClanahan