[deathfun]

I've been going about searching for Freespace 2. I know I can get it on GoG.com, but there are other ways. I've tried those 'other' ways and they just don't seem to work out in the end. So now I've run out of options.

Before I purchase from GoG, there are a few things I just want to know from other people whom have gotten it via GoG.

I've been browsing this site and found some cases where the main Campaign in Freespace 2 will simply freeze and close for no apparent reason. I don't want to get into a situation where I can't play a game I just bought simply because well... it doesn't want to play.



Has anyone encountered any sort of issues with Freespace 2 retail?

Just need more up-to-date information on the topic hence why I am making a new topic.

Ram and graphics/video card specs would  be helpful but not needed.

[sigtau]

Never had an issue like that before, never HEARD of an issue like that before.

Besides, if it were a major issue, the Hard Light forums would probably have the ability to knock out any problem that arises.

[Scotty]

That, and you just need the retail to install the latest build.  Then you can play the FS2 retail campaign in beautiful mode.

[The E]

Yeah. In almost all cases, getting the game from GOG and using the installer^* to get all the SCP goodies will result in a flawless playthrough.

That is not to say that it is perfectly bug-free or anything, but that most cases have alrready been encountered, and can usually be fixed in short order. We are very proud of our short response times to error reports, and we are usually able to deliver a fix in short order.

As for Hardware, to play the retail campaign without enhancements, even comparatively crappy hardware should suffice. To enjoy the full detail and all the enhancements, a current mid-range PC should be able to run it all.

As for issues with retail, there are a few. Using FSOpen fixes most, if not all of them.

^* If you look around, you will find several threads in which I or other members of the board will scream at people not to use the installer. Those issues have recently been corrected.

[deathfun]

Well it's good that nothing has been encountered of such magnitude

Thanks for the info





Hey, another question. How well do you think the new MediaVP's for 3.6.10 (the graphic enhancements) would run on a 504MB ram?
That's right. 504 MB

[The E]

Hey, another question. How well do you think the new MediaVP's for 3.6.10 (the graphic enhancements) would run on a 504MB ram?
That's right. 504 MB

Everything except mv_advanced should work, depending on the graphics card. What make and model do you use?

[Mongoose]

Yeah, I ran all of the MediaVPs except for Advanced on 512 MB of system RAM and a 64 MB video card with only the occasional slowdown during ship-heavy battles (and even Advanced worked for a while, before the updates got too graphics-intensive), and that was with almost the full range of graphical features (shinemaps, glowmaps, and such) activated.

[deathfun]

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.93GHz
504MB of Ram

And the bottom line says "Physical Address Extension"



I am simply looking at my system properties, and that's what I get. I know nothing about my computer basically, just that it runs

[The E]

Do you have a 3d accelerator card? Graphics card?

Open the Start menu, click on "Run", and enter dxdiag. This should open the DirectX diagnostics program, which, on its Direct3D page, will tell you what sort of GFX hardware you have.

[deathfun]

I may sound crazy, but there is no Direct3D page.


There is:
System
DirectX Files
Display
Sound
Music
Input
Network
More Help


I can tell you what version DirectX I have (9.0c) and the Approx. Total Memory (128MB) but nothing regarding GFX

[The E]

Look at "Display". There should be some information about the 3D card in use.

Not to be rude, but it is a really good idea to familiarize yourself with your system. If you have problems, having the Hardware specs ready cannot hurt.

[deathfun]

The chip type is Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL

Assuming that is what you are looking for

P.S.

I have no idea what the hell that means (bolded)

[The E]

That's ... an amazingly crappy graphics chip. Running retail (or rather, FSO with retail data) should be no problem, but anything more advanced than that is probably out.

[eliex]

It looks like the graphics chip is irreplaceable according to its article on Intel.

[deathfun]

That's ... an amazingly crappy graphics chip. Running retail (or rather, FSO with retail data) should be no problem, but anything more advanced than that is probably out.

Welcome to the computer made for work, designed for work, and used for mostly nothing, but work

Until it was given to me for whatever I wanted to do with it.

It looks like the graphics chip is irreplaceable according to its article on Intel.

...damn

[Colonol Dekker]

Scrimp, save, beg, borrow and steal. . . .alternatively get a job and buy a new rig.
 
Although the mvps are not a necessity, they do look nice.

[Scotty]

If you have 1gig or less of RAM, avoid all asteroid fields like the plague .  If an asteroid field mission comes up, lower the detail level.  Maybe it's just my computer, but it slows to a jittery crawl in an asteroid field with the 3.6.10 mediavps.

[deathfun]

Hey, what about older version on the MediaVPs? Older generally means not as graphically current

Is this the case with FSOpen?

If so, which version would I be looking at

[eliex]

The only older version of the current mediavps would be the MediaVP 3.6.8z's.
However, your computer might lag in major battles if you use the full set though.

[Mongoose]

It isn't really as clear-cut a case as "older version = less graphically intensive." While the older MediaVPs did have fewer graphical enhancements (due largely to the fact that fewer models/effects had been worked on back then), those they did have were often significantly less efficient than their counterparts now, and the arrangement of the VPs meant that certain high-impact effects were located amongst less memory-intensive options, where they didn't belong.  In addition, I doubt that the previous MediaVP set would play very nice with recent builds, and the last thing you want to do is use previous SCP releases.  If your rig can't handle the 3.6.10 VPs, I doubt you'd have any better luck with what came before.

On a slightly different note, if you knew what sort of motherboard was in that machine and what it supported, you might be able to find a cheap graphics card that would still be a big boost over what you have now.  If you download and run CPU-Z (just the no-install 32-bit version should be fine), run it, and click "Save Report" on the "About" tab, you should be able to generate a profile of your system hardware that will let some of the hardware gurus around here determine what your options are.

(Also, I'm going to move this over to Support, since it probably belongs there at this point.)