Author Topic: Splinter Cell: Double agent.  (Read 5095 times)

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Offline Turnsky

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Splinter Cell: Double agent.
well, i did the smart thing, and bought the PC version, ignoring the console versions entirely..

one small issue, Ubisoft did the evil, evil thing and gave the game support for shader model 3.0 only, which means for those with older model ATI cards, you're sorely out of luck.

incase you're wondering, i have a radeon X850 Xt, with shader model 2.0....

 :blah:
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Offline CP5670

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
If it uses the same engine as CT, you at least have the consolation that the engine greatly prefers ATI cards in terms of performance. :p

I'm probably going to pick it up this weekend, although I won't have much time to play until later next week.

 

Offline Turnsky

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
if you do, make -sure- your card does the whole shader model 3 thing...
   //Warning\\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
do not torment the sleep deprived artist, he may be vicious when cornered,
in case of emergency, administer caffeine to the artist,
he will become docile after that,
and less likely to stab you in the eye with a mechanical pencil
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I have an X1900XTX. Doesn't this game support 1.1 or something as a fallback though? Chaos Theory did and 2.0 support was later also added in with a patch. CT actually looks quite good even on 1.1, although not comparable to the 3.0 mode.

I've heard that the first level of Double Agent is boring and the rest of the game is excellent. CT was overall one of the best games I've played in years, so I'm expecting a lot from this. :)

 

Offline Turnsky

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I have an X1900XTX. Doesn't this game support 1.1 or something as a fallback though? Chaos Theory did and 2.0 support was later also added in with a patch. CT actually looks quite good even on 1.1, although not comparable to the 3.0 mode.

I've heard that the first level of Double Agent is boring and the rest of the game is excellent. CT was overall one of the best games I've played in years, so I'm expecting a lot from this. :)

nope, shader 3 support only, i've toured around several forums, a lot of people are rather irate over it.

me, i haveta fork out some dough for a radeon x1600 agp.. unfortunately, i haveta wait for another week or so to order it, then however long enough to have it delivered.
   //Warning\\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
do not torment the sleep deprived artist, he may be vicious when cornered,
in case of emergency, administer caffeine to the artist,
he will become docile after that,
and less likely to stab you in the eye with a mechanical pencil
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I've go the 360 tin on order, you just reminded me i wont be around to recieve it.

CRAP. :(
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
President of the Scooby Doo Model Appreciation Society
The only good Zod is a dead Zod
NEWGROUNDS COMEDY GOLD, UPDATED DAILY
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Offline aldo_14

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I've go the 360 tin on order, you just reminded me i wont be around to recieve it.

CRAP. :(

Well, cancel it and get it on the cheapy-cheap when you come back then.

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I have an X1900XTX. Doesn't this game support 1.1 or something as a fallback though? Chaos Theory did and 2.0 support was later also added in with a patch. CT actually looks quite good even on 1.1, although not comparable to the 3.0 mode.

I've heard that the first level of Double Agent is boring and the rest of the game is excellent. CT was overall one of the best games I've played in years, so I'm expecting a lot from this. :)

nope, shader 3 support only, i've toured around several forums, a lot of people are rather irate over it.

me, i haveta fork out some dough for a radeon x1600 agp.. unfortunately, i haveta wait for another week or so to order it, then however long enough to have it delivered.

That is quite lame. That X1600 would actually be a downgrade for you in every way except for the SM3 support.

It would normally be a very bad business move to only allow SM3 cards at this point, but I suppose they can count on making up for it with lots of sales from the 360 verson. I guess the consoles are where the developers' efforts are being concentrated and the PC users are getting the shaft, as was the case with Chaos Theory and its broken co-op mode on the PC. :doubt:

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

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    • My old squad sub-domain
Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I've go the 360 tin on order, you just reminded me i wont be around to recieve it.

CRAP. :(

Well, cancel it and get it on the cheapy-cheap when you come back then.

I got it through Play.com for £40, and its passed the point of no return now  :sigh:
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
President of the Scooby Doo Model Appreciation Society
The only good Zod is a dead Zod
NEWGROUNDS COMEDY GOLD, UPDATED DAILY
http://badges.steamprofile.com/profile/default/steam/76561198011784807.png

 

Offline Deepblue

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I have an X1900XTX. Doesn't this game support 1.1 or something as a fallback though? Chaos Theory did and 2.0 support was later also added in with a patch. CT actually looks quite good even on 1.1, although not comparable to the 3.0 mode.

I've heard that the first level of Double Agent is boring and the rest of the game is excellent. CT was overall one of the best games I've played in years, so I'm expecting a lot from this. :)

nope, shader 3 support only, i've toured around several forums, a lot of people are rather irate over it.

me, i haveta fork out some dough for a radeon x1600 agp.. unfortunately, i haveta wait for another week or so to order it, then however long enough to have it delivered.

That is quite lame. That X1600 would actually be a downgrade for you in every way except for the SM3 support.

It would normally be a very bad business move to only allow SM3 cards at this point, but I suppose they can count on making up for it with lots of sales from the 360 verson. I guess the consoles are where the developers' efforts are being concentrated and the PC users are getting the shaft, as was the case with Chaos Theory and its broken co-op mode on the PC. :doubt:

FYI, the PC version is the same as the Xbox 360 version.

 

Offline Flipside

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I use an X1600, not a bad card, and at least the Shader 3 support is smooth, which is more than I can say for earlier Shader-supporting cards. Admittedly, the only game I have that supports it is Gothic 3 which spends way too much time accessing the hard drive anyway....

It does strike me as odd that they chose Shader 3's only, the difference between 2 and 3 is pretty minimal on the surface, so either they are using some specific features or they misread the market during development.

 

Offline Turnsky

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I have an X1900XTX. Doesn't this game support 1.1 or something as a fallback though? Chaos Theory did and 2.0 support was later also added in with a patch. CT actually looks quite good even on 1.1, although not comparable to the 3.0 mode.

I've heard that the first level of Double Agent is boring and the rest of the game is excellent. CT was overall one of the best games I've played in years, so I'm expecting a lot from this. :)

nope, shader 3 support only, i've toured around several forums, a lot of people are rather irate over it.

me, i haveta fork out some dough for a radeon x1600 agp.. unfortunately, i haveta wait for another week or so to order it, then however long enough to have it delivered.

That is quite lame. That X1600 would actually be a downgrade for you in every way except for the SM3 support.

It would normally be a very bad business move to only allow SM3 cards at this point, but I suppose they can count on making up for it with lots of sales from the 360 verson. I guess the consoles are where the developers' efforts are being concentrated and the PC users are getting the shaft, as was the case with Chaos Theory and its broken co-op mode on the PC. :doubt:

currently in use in my system, is a radeon 850xt, i might go the nvidia path, but considering that the 1650xt i have my eyeball is under $250AUD, i figure that it'd be bang for buck.

i guess my only crime is that i forgot my card is shader 2 only, (well, shader models 2.0a & 2.0b according to ati), it's not like most casual PC users would know what the hell shader models are.

hell, just looking at the forums(ubisoft's), there's at least a dozen threads looking for workaround to the shader issue, or demanding a patch that allows shader 2 functionality, and an equal number of immature idiots insulting those people to the ground.

yeah, DeepBlue, the PC version is a complete port of the 360 version, i know... however, this does me little or no good, as i'm not about to fork out more money for a game, that albeit i can't run right now, i already have, to play on a console..

the card i'm getting, will be the last piece of hardware this PC will see, as it will hit its "wall" so to speak..

edit 2: http://tinyurl.com/ydmazg might get this one, though, nice card, a little pricier.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2006, 10:22:39 pm by Turnsky »
   //Warning\\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
do not torment the sleep deprived artist, he may be vicious when cornered,
in case of emergency, administer caffeine to the artist,
he will become docile after that,
and less likely to stab you in the eye with a mechanical pencil
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I am going to get this soon. I have Slinter Cell 1 through 3 and have enjoyed them all, especially the multiplayer modes. Its a damn shame I can't play multiplayer as I have been waiting for the new features added to the spies vs mercs mode in double agent.

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I finally got some time to try the demo last night. What on earth did they do with the graphics engine? I was using just 1024x768 without AA or vsync and the framerate was consistently dipping into the 20s. To add to that, the game looked significantly worse than Chaos Theory as far as I could see (blurry low res textures and way overdone bloom). Does the full game perform like this?

Also, the only HUD elements I could see were the JBA/NSA rep meters. There were no light, sound or even health meters. Did Ubi totally screw up the series here? :(

I might buy it anyway, as there is a particularly good deal on it at the moment:
http://www.gogamer.com/Splinter-Cell--Double-Agent--I--Front-Page_stcVVproductId7227488VVcatId444710VVviewprod.htm

 

Offline Inquisitor

Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
So the smart thing is to get a version nobody can run?

;)

I have heard nothing but rave reviews for this. I have PT and CT, but I never finished either, I pretty much suck and mandatory stealth. I got them for the multi. What little I played of them was well executed, just not my cup of tea. Is the stealth any more forgiving in this one?
No signature.

  

Offline CP5670

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I'm reading mixed user opinions on this despite the high review scores. I was going to get it anyway as I have been a longtime fan of the series, but this has to be the most atrocious performance I've seen since DX Invisible War. Apart from the resolution, there is only one graphics setting available in the demo, a "standard" mode and a "next gen" mode, and the standard mode doesn't seem to work. I'm hoping the full game has it working and can allow the game to run reasonably well even if it doesn't look great.

I forgot to mention the stuttering physics engine by the way, akin to that of Doom 3, which causes movements to appear jerky even in the rare situations when the framerate is good.

At least in the demo mission, the stealth seemed rather less forgiving. :p That particular level is in broad daylight, so there are no shadows to hide in and your only cover is the rocks and other objects. Overall, the gameplay looked faithful to the previous SC games though.

 

Offline Roanoke

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
I remember reading a preview of multiplayer for (IIRC) Pandora Tomorrow which offered two distinct types of charicter. One was a kind of heavily armed SWAT/Assualt trooper with traditional FPS, the other was a quick assasin who used stealth and had the usual 3rd person abilities (ie look round corners while hidden) but only used hand to hand combat techniques. I recall it was seen as quite a big gamble for the developers.

Can't say I ever played it but i'm curious how it faired ?

 

Offline Deepblue

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
Very well. Splinter Cell multiplayer is now the best part of the games.

 

Offline Roanoke

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
Can't say I was such a huge fan single player of SC. Decent cinematic feel to it but the missions felt a little scripted, like you had perform a specific trick to continue. Where as something like Thief where you could choose how to overcome obstacles.

 

Offline Unknown Target

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Re: Splinter Cell: Double agent.
Yea, I'm with Roanoke. On top of that, it always seemed that once you got the big gun, stealth became secondary, because it was just as easy to pop every bad guy you saw.