[Aurora Paradox]

My primary PC recently decided to go AWOL recently.   I've had to start using my old one until I can get my primary up and running again.  Unfortunately my old PC is no where near as powerful as my primary.  Could someone give me recommendations on what settings and enhancements I can use without any lag occuring.

Specs are as follows:

Pentium 2.40 GHZ with HT
512 MB of RAM
Ge Force 5200 FX(non overclocked)

Thanks in advance,

Aurora Paradox
 

[Jeff Vader]

Without any lag? You're best off playing vanilla.

With some potential, minor lag? You can easily use the MediaVPs. If you experience disturbing slowdowns, remove the AdvEffects. Mama's rig (~1.93GHz, 512 RAM, Radeon 9600) can run the game without AdvEffects just fine.

[Aurora Paradox]

Without any lag? You're best off playing vanilla.

With some potential, minor lag? You can easily use the MediaVPs. If you experience disturbing slowdowns, remove the AdvEffects. Mama's rig (~1.93GHz, 512 RAM, Radeon 9600) can run the game without AdvEffects just fine.

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

For reference the specs of my primary were:

AMD 3.0 GHZ Dual Core
2 GB of RAM
Ge Force 8500 GT

I experienced no lag whatsoever when playing FSO with all enhancements on that PC.


Aurora Paradox

[Jeff Vader]

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

Pretty much the same thing as with other games. A little twitch here and there, especially in BOEs and, to some extent, in asteroid field missions. Like I said, I've played FSO with the MediaVPs (excluding the AdvEffects) on moma's computer with the aforementioned specs and it has been quite enjoyable.

But in regards to the asteroids, use the 3.6.8 MediaVPs instead of the 3.6.10 Betas, since the latter have some serious performance-killer asteroids.

[Aurora Paradox]

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

Pretty much the same thing as with other games. A little twitch here and there, especially in BOEs and, to some extent, in asteroid field missions. Like I said, I've played FSO with the MediaVPs (excluding the AdvEffects) on moma's computer with the aforementioned specs and it has been quite enjoyable.

But in regards to the asteroids, use the 3.6.8 MediaVPs instead of the 3.6.10 Betas, since the latter have some serious performance-killer asteroids.

OK thank you for the clarification.  I actually made a mistake with the specs I put down for my old PC.  They actually are:

Pentium 2.60 GHZ with HT
Ge Force 5200 FX 128 MB
512 MB of RAM.

I'm still new to using the Freespace Open.  How do I run the mediavps without including advanced effects?

Thanks again,

Aurora Paradox

[Jeff Vader]

How do I run the mediavps without including advanced effects?

If (and when) you have the MediaVPs in \freespace2\mediavps\, just remove mv_adveffects.vp and mp-710_adveffects.vp.

[Aurora Paradox]

How do I run the mediavps without including advanced effects?

If (and when) you have the MediaVPs in \freespace2\mediavps\, just remove mv_adveffects.vp and mp-710_adveffects.

Thanks for everything.  I just have one last question before I start downloading the game onto this PC.  Should I use the 3.6.9 executable or the experimental 3.6.10 executable?

Thanks again,

Aurora Paradox

[Jeff Vader]

That is a matter of preference. 3.6.9 is the latest official and stable release, but it suffers from the dreaded red-alert bug on certain occasions. And you'll have to remember to manually enable the jpg/tga textures from the Launcher. 3.6.10 builds are somewhat unofficial, but do not suffer from the red-alert bug, can enable the jpg/tga textures automatically and are, well, more fun to use. The Recommended build linked in my signature has proven to be a sturdy choice.

[Aurora Paradox]

I'll give the 3.6.10 executable a try then and see how it goes.  Any other words of wisdom other than always keep one eye on my six.

Aurora Paradox

P.S. I did have one problem when running FSO on my primary PC.  The voice in the tech lab and some of the standard pilot voice overs during missions were a computerized voice and not an actual voice over.  How would I fix this if I encounter it on this PC?

[Jeff Vader]

The voice in the tech lab and some of the standard pilot voice overs during missions were a computerized voice and not an actual voice over.  How would I fix this if I encounter it on this PC?

Under the Launcher's Speech tab, tick off all options.

[Mongoose]

I'm able to get just about every feature, including what's in AdvEffects, to run on a machine with 512MB of RAM and a Radeon X300 card without an inordinate amount of lag (other than the aforementioned glitchy asteroids and the occasional hey-have-ten-destroyers uber-mission).  The 3.6.10 in-progress builds seem to have become a lot more efficient resources-wise than even 3.6.9 was, and that itself was a big step up from previous releases.

[Colonol Dekker]

No Welcome yet?

[Mongoose]

Happy?

[Colonol Dekker]

You guys are slipping no long winded welcome speeches = no welcomes =

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Also, the old welcome beam.

[Mars]

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

For reference the specs of my primary were:

AMD 3.0 GHZ Dual Core
2 GB of RAM
Ge Force 8500 GT

I experienced no lag whatsoever when playing FSO with all enhancements on that PC.

 

Is the 8500 GT > 7600 GTS?

[Excalibur]

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

Pretty much the same thing as with other games. A little twitch here and there, especially in BOEs and, to some extent, in asteroid field missions. Like I said, I've played FSO with the MediaVPs (excluding the AdvEffects) on moma's computer with the aforementioned specs and it has been quite enjoyable.

But in regards to the asteroids, use the 3.6.8 MediaVPs instead of the 3.6.10 Betas, since the latter have some serious performance-killer asteroids.

OK thank you for the clarification.  I actually made a mistake with the specs I put down for my old PC.  They actually are:

Pentium 2.60 GHZ with HT
Ge Force 5200 FX 128 MB
512 MB of RAM.

I'm still new to using the Freespace Open.  How do I run the mediavps without including advanced effects?

Thanks again,

Aurora Paradox

Your old computer? Many people don't have a "primary" that good. *looks around for people to support him*

[Jeff Vader]

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

Pretty much the same thing as with other games. A little twitch here and there, especially in BOEs and, to some extent, in asteroid field missions. Like I said, I've played FSO with the MediaVPs (excluding the AdvEffects) on moma's computer with the aforementioned specs and it has been quite enjoyable.

But in regards to the asteroids, use the 3.6.8 MediaVPs instead of the 3.6.10 Betas, since the latter have some serious performance-killer asteroids.

OK thank you for the clarification.  I actually made a mistake with the specs I put down for my old PC.  They actually are:

Pentium 2.60 GHZ with HT
Ge Force 5200 FX 128 MB
512 MB of RAM.

I'm still new to using the Freespace Open.  How do I run the mediavps without including advanced effects?

Thanks again,

Aurora Paradox

Your old computer? Many people don't have a "primary" that good. *looks around for people to support him*

Keep looking.

[Polpolion]

I know what minor lag equals in most other games and I can tolerate it.  However when you say minor lag in FSO what exactly are we talking about here.

Pretty much the same thing as with other games. A little twitch here and there, especially in BOEs and, to some extent, in asteroid field missions. Like I said, I've played FSO with the MediaVPs (excluding the AdvEffects) on moma's computer with the aforementioned specs and it has been quite enjoyable.

But in regards to the asteroids, use the 3.6.8 MediaVPs instead of the 3.6.10 Betas, since the latter have some serious performance-killer asteroids.

OK thank you for the clarification.  I actually made a mistake with the specs I put down for my old PC.  They actually are:

Pentium 2.60 GHZ with HT
Ge Force 5200 FX 128 MB
512 MB of RAM.

I'm still new to using the Freespace Open.  How do I run the mediavps without including advanced effects?

Thanks again,

Aurora Paradox

Your old computer? Many people don't have a "primary" that good. *looks around for people to support him*

Wait, what? When was this thread bomped from?

[Aurora Paradox]

I'm able to get just about every feature, including what's in AdvEffects, to run on a machine with 512MB of RAM and a Radeon X300 card without an inordinate amount of lag (other than the aforementioned glitchy asteroids and the occasional hey-have-ten-destroyers uber-mission).  The 3.6.10 in-progress builds seem to have become a lot more efficient resources-wise than even 3.6.9 was, and that itself was a big step up from previous releases.

How close are the specs of a Radeon X300 Card to the Ge Force 5200 FX?  I feel a tad humbled by asking this because my major is computer science and I feel like I should know the answer to this already.  I'm just not very familiar with the various Radeon cards yet.

Thanks in advance,

Aurora Paradox