[gman19]

I would love, repeat, LOVE, to be able to run FSOpen, only...my stock VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP graphics card sucks more ass than...well, you get the picture. At the first hint of a beam weapon, FSOpen freezes up on me and fries my computer worse than a McDonald's hamburger. Is there any workaround for this? I've tried resolution changes, command line parameters, alternate builds/executables, everything. My card can handle max resolution and high detail models in the retail version, with nearly a hundred capital ships with as many beam cannons firing simultaneously and get ZERO slowdown whatsoever. Run FSOpen, first mission, a single beam weapon is fired and my PC locks up. I really, really want to use FSOpen (multiplayer support, easier modding, etc.) but can't because of this simple issue. Is there any way to fix this at all? Besides getting a better PC/graphics card? Honestly, every game I have works fine and I don't think I'll shell out a hundred-plus bucks for a card that will be used for one thing only. Any help?

[diceman111]

Ok well I aint no expert but have you tried
 - Updating your graphics card drivers
 - If you are using the adveffects.vp try and remove it and see if there is any differens

[Vretsu]

I hate to break it to you, but your graphics card (as you've said) is just too horrible to run FSO. Stop looking for ways to defy the natural order of things! Upgrade! FSO is much more graphics-intensive than the 9-year old FS2 retail engine. You shouldn't be surprised by this.

It's like complaining that your graphics card should be able to run Doom 3 because it could run Doom 1 at 500+ FPS.

So, yes, I'm afraid that you must upgrade. And not just for FSO...you probably won't be able to run any modern games with that card. I'd mail you my 9800 Pro if I could somehow get all the pieces to amalgamate, or something.

[diceman111]

Yeah did some googling your card seems to be a bit too slow for almost everything.

[gman19]

Well, my game list includes:

The Sims (runs perfectly)
Tremulous (runs perfectly)
WarRock (fps ~ 0.3 on good days)
Delta Force 2 (runs perfectly)
Delta Force Land Warrior (runs perfectly)
Orbiter (runs perfectly...most of the time)
FreeSpace2 (runs perfectly)
FSOpen (runs perfectly, except during a beam firing, then locks up)
F/A-18 Korea (runs perfectly)
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors (runs perfectly)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (runs perfectly)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (runs perfectly)
Hidden and Dangerous Deluxe (runs perfectly)
Battlecruiser Millennium (runs perfectly)
Various N64 Games (run perfectly)
Various SNES Games (run perfectly)

So, am I a bit out of date? Yeah, most of these are 90's/early 2000's, but they work fine. GTA:SA is '04, works fine, Orbiter is '07, high-res version works fine, etc. And FSOpen works fine until beam weapons get involved. So, I've basically got a ****ty card? Or should I install new drivers? Just found out that three quarters of my system's drivers are out of date...  Please...don't shoot me!!!!

[diceman111]

Well try the drivers thats always ok asfor the games you have there they are all ok but GTA San Andreas is basicly an updated version of GTA III atleast if I remeber it correctly (looks brigther but you really dont need a good computer to run it since it can run a PS2 if I remeber correctly.

Or wait until somebody more experienced comes around maybe its a bug or something since it was just when a beam fired....

/Dice

[MP-Ryan]

Two things:
1.  Run the debug build and see if any specific errors come up.
2.  More drastic, but...

Try extracting the mv_effects.vp contents to the appropriate folders, and then delete the beam effects. It's a crappy work-around, but it'll remove what you've indicated is the problem.  Be aware, however, that there may be other comorbid problems that you'll discover in doing this.

[Wanderer]

As you have an IGP card  make sure you nothing memory intensive running on the background. Also try playing the FSOpen first without any additional mediavps (apart from mv_core.vp). Then start adding mediavp files until you find good quality/performance.. Also if you start swapping mediavps in and out of the game make sure their respective patches are moved as well (mp-710 files).

[Huggybaby]

IGP cards are no good, that's common knowledge, eh?

BUT, gman19 has beam problems, as did I , and I have a much better video card. So, try this gman19:

Try using the vp file I made using DaBrain's optimized beam glows:
Download this 7zip file: http://huggybaby.fs2downloads.com/beams.7z

Extract the file and put it in your "C:\Games\FreeSpace2\mediavps" folder and it will really help beam slowdown problems if you have them.

Thanks Turey for the help and DaBrain for the beamglows.

Huggybaby

[MP-Ryan]

Also, try checking your system/SCP configuration.  See attached document.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[gman19]

Huggybaby: I tried that, still locked up on me.

MP-Ryan: I'm reading your file and making some adjustments to my PC right now. Will update momentarily.

UPDATE: Still nothing...now I'm getting ~25 FPS with streaky stars and about 30 planet decals; you know, the environmental backdrops? There's dozens of those for the first mission, and the thing is taking about 30 times more time to load than normal. Ah well. I'll just use the retail FS2...not much I'm missing with it anyway.

[Vretsu]

Did he say that? Blasphemy!

Actually, you're missing out on a lot. A whole lot...you're missing out to such a degree that attempting to put it in perspective would reverse the Earth's magnetic poles...or something. FSO takes the primeval Fs2 engine and runs with it...to the point at which it rivals and exceeds modern games. And you're not just missing out on FSO, you're missing out on a couple generations of great games. Half Life 2? Sim City 4000? Doom 3? Command and Conquer 3? Supreme Commander? Quake Wars? Far Cry? Crysis? You'll never, ever play them.

Get a new videocard and stop living in the early nineties. You can get a good one for $100 or less. Heck, you could replace your current card with a couple of dead stoats and it would run better.

[jr2]

$30 - $50 will buy you a halfway decent card... http://www.newegg.com http://www.bestbuy.com ...
IGPs are highly dependent on your installed system memory, as they share that for their own.  Decent graphics cards run 256MB - 1024MB on board; IGPs siphon off of the main memory.  Now, if you have 2GB of system memory, you can allocate 256 to the graphics card, no problem.  However, if you only have 256MB of main memory,
a) Win XP will run like a dog on death's door
b) Your graphics card will probably only borrow 32-64MB of that, making XP run slower, without allowing the graphics card to really do anything.
c) Your hard disk will "thrash" as it's using the page file way too much.  Bad for the hard disk, worse for the performance.

Get CPU-Z (link is on top-left of page).  Run that, see what your specs are.  (You can choose to save them to a file, and then when your posting choose "Additional Options..." then attach the file there... if you don't see the "Additional Options...", then hit the "Preview" button first, it should show up then.)

[Grizzly]

Decent graphics cards run 256MB - 1024MB on board

The maxium is currently 512mb memory ON A GRAPHICS CARD (you may be confusing this with system memory) and those cards are extremely expensive and not worth buying at all (you get only a small perfomance loss with a card wich is much cheaper)

[Wobble73]

Decent graphics cards run 256MB - 1024MB on board

The maxium is currently 512mb memory ON A GRAPHICS CARD (you may be confusing this with system memory) and those cards are extremely expensive and not worth buying at all (you get only a small perfomance loss with a card wich is much cheaper)

Oh Yeah, so this 768mb graphics card is a figment of my imagination?

and that was just the first I could lay my hands on!


*Edit* Here's the 1GB graphics card!

[Herra Tohtori]

What?

There are graphics cards with 1 GB of (dedicated) memory... Only thing it improves, though, is latest games with a lot of really large textures (and anti-aliasing, AFAIK - samples take memory).

Older games such as FS2_Open can run well with less memory, but obviously more is better here too. A bigger performance impact is usually caused by memory bandwidth of the card though, which depends on both core speed and memory speed as far as I know.

...damn. Too Slow!

[Bob-san]

Decent graphics cards run 256MB - 1024MB on board

The maxium is currently 512mb memory ON A GRAPHICS CARD (you may be confusing this with system memory) and those cards are extremely expensive and not worth buying at all (you get only a small perfomance loss with a card wich is much cheaper)

Oh Yeah, so this 768mb graphics card is a figment of my imagination?

and that was just the first I could lay my hands on!

Wow I never so much as realized that there are also 1024mb graphics. That one is extremely overpriced, though there was some Radeons with over 512mb of memory. Generally, those are rare, overkill, and overpriced.

I'd say just order less-expensive card for not very much.

[CP5670]

If you look around a bit, a PCI 6200 (a genuine 6200, not a TC) is about $30 and can be dropped into even ancient computers. It will run FSO fairly comfortably. At that price, there's little reason not to upgrade.

Wow I never so much as realized that there are also 1024mb graphics. That one is extremely overpriced, though there was some Radeons with over 512mb of memory. Generally, those are rare, overkill, and overpriced.

It's a FireGL model. It will suck at games for its price (it's comparable to a X1800XT), but has some slight changes that make it much faster than any gaming card in 3D modeling programs and give it some extra capabilities such as line AA.

Although the flagship R600 model may actually be a 1GB gamer card.

[jr2]

http://www.bfgtech.com/7950Gx2_1G_PCIX.html (sort of)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/20/ati_firegl_v7350  (too bad it's ATI )

The 6200 PCI:
http://www.bfgtech.com/6200_256_PCI.html

[IceFire]

What?

There are graphics cards with 1 GB of (dedicated) memory... Only thing it improves, though, is latest games with a lot of really large textures (and anti-aliasing, AFAIK - samples take memory).

Older games such as FS2_Open can run well with less memory, but obviously more is better here too. A bigger performance impact is usually caused by memory bandwidth of the card though, which depends on both core speed and memory speed as far as I know.

...damn. Too Slow!

No graphics cards in non professional applications feature 1024mb of memory...yet. Thats expected to change within days when ATI announces the Radeon HD 2900XT in 512mb and 1GB options.  The GeForce 7950 GX2 I'm not sure if you can count because 1GB is the total but its really just x512mb.  A fine distinction possibly but worth mentioning ...the two GPU's can't share that memory back and forth as needed.

gman19: I'd suggest going out and spending the $50 or so to get some sort of basic video card. It'll play all the games you have right now far better and you may even take a stab at some of the more recent stuff.  Something like a GeForce 7300 or a Radeon X1300 would do just fine.  Neither are the greatest but they have some decent features (same feature set as their high end counterparts) and should run FSO quite well.