[Crackerjack12]

I am running on an e-machine, and I was wondering if it is possible to do the following.

Change the video card
Change the processor
Add more memory

I am unsure how e-machines work which is why I am posting this. Model is T5082 with vista home basic.
FS2 SCP runs a tad slow sometimes, as do other things, and I wanted to speed it up a bit. Anyone have any suggestions, or should getting a different brand work?

[jr2]

The second two should be possible, not sure if the first would be feasible... can you run CPU-Z (see my sig) and see what the motherboard make / model # is?

[DR_C2]

You should be able to add a new video card, according o the e-machines website, your on board card has 128MB shared RAM. You should be able to disable the on board card and install a faster adapter. Your motherboard should have one open PCI-E slot.

I would add more RAM as well. According to e-machine, you can go up to 2GB, See below from E-machines web:

Operating System:  Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic1
 
CPU:  Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 6312
Hyper-Threading and Intel® EM64T Technology
Operates at 3.00GHz | 2MB L2 cache | 800MHz FSB
Chipset:  ATI Radeon® Xpress 200
Memory:  512MB DDR2 (1 × 512MB), 533MHz (PC4200)
Expandable to 2GB
2 DDR2 Slots (Total) | 1 DDR2 Slot (Available)
Hard Drive:  160GB PATA (7200rpm)3
Optical Drive:  DVD±RW 16x Multiformat Dual-Layer Optical Drive
Up to 8.5GB with Dual-Layer Media
Write max: 16x DVD±R, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 4x DVD+R DL, 40x CD-R, 24x CD-RW disks
Read max: 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CD-ROM disks
Media Reader:  High-Performance 15-in-1 Digital Media Manager™
Up to 40x faster
xD-Picture Card™, CompactFlash® I (CF), CompactFlash® II, Secure Digital™ (SD), Mini Secure Digital™ (Mini SD)4, Multi Media Card (MMC), Reduced Size MMC (RS-MMC)4, MMC Mobile4, MMC Plus, Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick Duo5, Memory Stick Pro®, Memory Stick Pro® Duo5, SmartMedia, IBM Microdrive
Video:  ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 Integrated Graphics
Up to 128MB of shared video memory
PCI-Express® (PCI-E x16) slot available Sound:  6-channel (5.1) high-definition audio
Amplified Stereo Speakers (USB Powered)
Communications:  56K ITU V.92-ready fax/modem (RJ-11 port)
10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN (RJ-4

[Herra Tohtori]

You'll get everything running very much better with just getting more memory and a real graphics card. Since you've got Vista, I'd advice on going to 2GB...

And as for GPU, I personally prefer NVidia based cards. I've got a XFX GeForce7600GT XXX-edition myself, and it's pretty good. Obviously there are better cards around but I'd say that if you're on a budget, GF7600GT is a very good card still.

You're better off with NVidia cards with Vista+FS2_Open anyway, as far as I've heard ATi/AMD drivers have had some problems with OpenGL. Although I don't know the current situation...

[Crackerjack12]

Thanks for the advice, getting more ram and a better video card should help solve game problems, especially the OpenGL errors.

Here's an error: Unable to get proper pixel format for OpenGL W32
Error: Unable to initialize display device!

File:C:\temp\fs2_open_3_6_9.t\code\graphics\gropengl.cpp
Line: 4609
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
(As if I understood that)

Video setting's are:
OpenGL
1024x768
32-bit
Trilinear
2x

[Mustang19]

I, too, have an Emachines, factory condition (even though I've had it for 4 years). As far as I can see this company manufactures low-end, so I'm not surprised you're having problems.

Your machine probably doesn't support HT&L, so try running in Direct3D instead if you don't want those error messages. Bear in mind that you'll also have trouble displaying textures from the newer mods, including the MediaVPs.

In other words, get a real video card as soon as possible. Your RAM is fine for FreeSpace; 512mb should be enough. FSOpen is not an especially processor-intensive game by modern standards, so memory is not the issue. Just get a good video card. Don't be me.

[Herra Tohtori]

Your machine probably doesn't support HT&L, so try running in Direct3D instead if you don't want those error messages. Bear in mind that you'll also have trouble displaying textures from the newer mods, including the MediaVPs.

Wait a sec - if the card can't do HT&L, it won't do it in D3D any better than in OpenGL.

It's more likely that the card doesn't have OpenGL 1.2 support, but if it's an ATi Radeon XPress 200, it should (AFAIK)... Have the latest drivers installed for the graphics circuit?

In other words, get a real video card as soon as possible. Your RAM is fine for FreeSpace; 512mb should be enough. FSOpen is not an especially processor-intensive game by modern standards, so memory is not the issue. Just get a good video card. Don't be me.

Two words: Vista, memory. Those two go together... 512MB is minimum requirement for Home Basic, and it won't run well at all with that amount seeing how it takes about 600MB when idling when there is memory available.  And even if FS2_Open isn't very CPU-intensive (as you said) it still uses a lot of textures, which are big, and thus require a lot of memory - both GPU memory and RAM. And it needs to put this on top of the OS memory occupancy, or cache the memory, which takes time and HD crunching and is annoying as hell, increasing load times and whatnot. Go for 2GB ram if you can afford it; 1GB is practical minimum for Vista, whatever M$ requirements tell about 512MB being sufficient...

And high-poly models like Scarsteroids in BtRL will use plenty of CPU too. And Battle of Endor missions with a lot of units.

[jr2]

IMO the min requirements for memory in XP should be 512 MB, and for Vista would be 1024 MB (1GB).

[Crackerjack12]

I worry about e-machines. My first one was slow and had a short-circuit, and now this one seems to drain all of its memory. The minimum memory in use is around 300 of 512, so I guess I should find some chips soon.  Startup takes maybe 3 min., and hibernation takes about 1min.  An HP or Dell would be a good choice since they are known for performance and speed.

EDIT: The early version of FS2 SCP worked when using OpenGL, so I am guessing that the updates added some new video card requirements.

[Herra Tohtori]

An HP or Dell would be a good choice since they are known for performance and speed.

 

...they are? They are also known for their great price (for the manufacturer, that is).

If you want performance and speed, you can obviously get one from OEM manufacturers. It just costs somewhat more than making a PC of comparable specs yourself, by getting the parts and assembling it together... and what even better, you know exactly what the thing has eaten. And the MOBO actually has a real type name and not some manufacturer-specific codename (example: My PC's MOBO is called "Amethyst-M" in HP/Compaq sources, MSI MS-7184 in some sources, and the MSI pages don't even know either names so when it comes to problems with MOBO, I'm stuck with HP's customer service and/or random hardware forums, which usually work better anyway than HP's service.

My next PC will definitely be a self-put-together if I can help it at all.

[Mustang19]

Two words: Vista, memory. Those two go together... 512MB is minimum requirement for Home Basic, and it won't run well at all with that amount seeing how it takes about 600MB when idling when there is memory available.  And even if FS2_Open isn't very CPU-intensive (as you said) it still uses a lot of textures, which are big, and thus require a lot of memory - both GPU memory and RAM. And it needs to put this on top of the OS memory occupancy, or cache the memory, which takes time and HD crunching and is annoying as hell, increasing load times and whatnot. Go for 2GB ram if you can afford it; 1GB is practical minimum for Vista, whatever M$ requirements tell about 512MB being sufficient...

Heh. I run FS on 256mb of memory, 1.2 ghz processor. And that's with all the textures converted to TGA since my graphics card won't take DDS. I have to turn off LS nebulae but even with high unit counts I'll usually get 10-20 FPS.

So I'll bet you money that FSOpen will run fine on 512 RAM, everything else being decent. Unless you have Vista.