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oDDity

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Well, so far so good. I'm getting a whopping 1 frame per second; even during the "face creation" page where there's absolutely nothing on the screen except a face and a horribly detailed background. I'm re-starting the game now to try 640 x 480. Bethesda may have raped me again, like they did with Morrowind. How do they manage to create the poorest performing games in known history every time?

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Hell, Gamespot are doing a live stream of a guy playing Oblivion 12 hours a day. I watched it for about an hour - it's more then enough. The game looks to be pretty fun and good imo.

 

The stream vid link is somewhere on the Oblivion forums.

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Well, 640 x 480 resolution sucked. Just installed new nVidia drivers that came out a few days ago. Will see if I get a screaming fast framerate now. LOL, yeahh, right ;) I really did, literally, get 1 FPS on 800 x 600. Probably got about 3 or 4 FPS on 640 x 480. Up until this game, my PC was okay. Let's see how the new drivers help, if at all...

 

EDIT: Framerate is a bit more manageable now... but I'm in a cavern with 7-foot high ceilings, so I'm not keeping my hopes up for later in the game. Now if I could just figure out how to drop something so I'm not encumbered and so I can move. Can't find out how in the control menus or manual; Google searches are coming up empty; and it's not very intuitive given the inventory menu. Oh well. Peace out all -- good luck if you get the game. PS: oDDity is smart. I'm not. Yes, that means I plunked down the ca$h for it. I might not get to enjoy until I upgrade my computer. (EDIT2: Figured out by trial & error to hold Shift down while clicking inventory item to drop.)

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THat guy must have a beast of a computer to run the game and fraps at that framereate.

I like the bits they've stolen from Gothic at least, the way the characters behave reaisticially instead of standing about like zombies, and the way they fall unconscious first when you bat them up, and you then decide if you want to finish them off.

The big fat xbox HUD reminds me of T3 though, I hope that can be as easily changed.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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@DF: yeah, that's becoming lower-end unfortunately :(

 

I have a 2600+ XP, 1.5GB RAM, 6600 GT (128mb) and an AN-& uGuru motherboard (made for overclockers :D ) So I'll probably have settings near 80%. If you're gonna upgrade, wait till near the end of this year as Windows Vista is coming with DirectX 10, said by Microsoft to increase vid card performance by 6-8x (i reckon around 2-3 but whatever). Then you can buy a directX 10 specific vid card and be set for TDM running smoothly no matter wtf it sends at you. Of course, you'll have to get a better cpu eventually too - that's not getting improved by Vista obviously.

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DirectX 10, said by Microsoft to increase vid card performance by 6-8x

 

ROFL!!! Did they really claim that? Change the "x" into a "%" and I might, MIGHT believe it. Every time video card providers release new drivers they make completely bullshit claims of performance gains (I still wonder how they get away with this lie, every single time... "30% performance increase", although the framerate is the same and water effects become broken... great job <_<); I guess Microsoft figures, "we might as well lie too, and while we're at it, let's make it a big one!"

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Anyone who has it, could you do us a quick favor?

 

Open the world map and pan it around (I assume you can click-drag it; I saw someone do it in a video on the official boards) and take some snapshots of it, so we can see just how "big" the world really is? It looks like, from every map shot I've seen, that it's basically just that infamous ring of mountains around that river and city in the center. Surely it goes beyond that? ...Substantially? Otherwise, any time you're "outside", the island, mountains, and basically the whole playworld is within view, and that doesn't seem quite right.

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DirectX 10 will make all video cards use the same API architecture or something like that, so it will be way easier for game makers to make games for PCs. I'm actually kind've looking forward to it. And I've also video cards made for DirectX 10 will see better performance -- I can't remember the percentages though.

 

In a way, I see it as consolizing PCs, in that game makers can, essentially, make one version of their game and not have to worry so much about being compatible with the plethora of video cards that are out there. Some see this as a potential technological limiter of video card manufacturers in that Microsoft will be running the show as far as what video card technology advances are allowed through, but I'm not sure if this is just rumor, fear, or anti-MS talk. Honestly, I'm not much concerned. I think it will be okay. And I agree that I should wait to upgrade my PC until DirectX 10 video cards are out.

 

I don't think BFG is a "budget" card. When I bought it, it was one of the only ones in a hard-plastic case enclosing the video card box, making theft harder and making it look "special" -- LOL. The clock speed was faster than most other 128MB cards, and some 256MB cards. BFG (http://www.bfgtech.com) offers 24/7 free tech support and I think the video card is warranted for life, or something like that. I read a review of BFG a while back where they were curious as to what BFG would do if their vid card did fail a few years down the road. Do they replace with a newer card that's on the market? Refund money? or what. I don't know. Interesting though.

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In a way, I see it as consolizing PCs, in that game makers can, essentially, make one version of their game and not have to worry so much about being compatible with the plethora of video cards that are out there.

 

Ahhh yes... this must be where the 6 to 8x speed increase claims are coming from.

 

Simply compare the games available at the beginning of a console's life, and near its end, to see the advances that can be made when everyone is working with the same hardware and learns all the tricks about how to optimise for it.

 

Eg. N64 - Mario 64 vs Conker's Bad Fur Day.

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Sneaksie - I opened up a world map in the game and panned around it. I forgot to see if you can zoom out. But at the default zoom level it had me at, the map was a big map that was a 4 x 8 grid. That is, if you're looking at the default zoom level and scroll the map across (starting from the upper-left corner), it scrolls across 4 screens to the right. And then if you scroll down the map, it scrolls down 8 screens down. (I'm not talking "full computer monitor screen widths" here; I'm talking the widths using the map they show when you open your inventory. In the lower-left corner of the map, it says, Province of Cyrodiil.

 

I searched the web and found this map which is pretty much the same map, geographically speaking, just zoomed way out and colorized: http://www.elderscrolls.com/images/codex/r.../racemap02B.jpg

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Ahhh yes... this must be where the 6 to 8x speed increase claims are coming from.

 

Simply compare the games available at the beginning of a console's life, and near its end, to see the advances that can be made when everyone is working with the same hardware and learns all the tricks about how to optimise for it.

 

Eg. N64 - Mario 64 vs Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Actually, if you view the "Windows Vista: Gaming and DirectX 10" video at this URL (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/microsoftfl...utoplay=6141988), he says DirectX 10 is not backwards-compatible (e.g., to like DirectX 9, DirectX 8, etc.) like it was in the past. DirectX 10 will be able to do significantly improved performance because of that backwards-compatibility break. So they're anticipating a 6x performance increase with DirectX 10. They also have Shader Model 4, the next version of HLSL (High-Level Shader Language); there's no difference between pixel shaders and vertex shaders any more; they're just shaders. And there are also geometry shaders. You're able to do longer shaders.

 

The 3-D Desktop they show in the 2nd Developer inteview at that site looks pretty cool.

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Sneaksie, your problems are coming directly from your videocard. The FX series is pretty well known for sucking absolute ass when it comes DX9/SM 2.0. Think of all the hooplah Valve threw around back when they were comparing the 9800Pro to the FX series when it came to running HL2 using DX9. It's pretty much the same situation here, or worse really since Oblivion only supports DX9.

 

My computer is well below specs for the game, yet I'm able to run it at 15-30 FPS quite easily with the draw distance maxed, the textures set to high, some other miscellaneous settings tweaked. In fact I'm actually running Oblivion about as well as I do Morrowind, which is really surprising..and it's all to do with my graphics card. To put it bluntly, the FX line is Nvidia's big mark of shame, and anyone that has one is pretty much getting the shaft right about now.

 

If you want a better AGP card, the 7800GS is about the best you're gonna get, and probably the last high end AGP card to ever come out. It's easily comparable to the PCI-e flavors of the same card, and roughly the same price (about $300).

 

As for as world size, Cyrodiil is slightly larger than Vvardenfell was in MW. I think a rough estimate is that MW was about 8 square miles, whereas Oblivion is close to 12..so it's about 1.5x larger.

 

And lastly, to boil it all down, my quick synop of the game itself. Basically..it's Morrowind, albeit with alot of MW's old problems fixed and polished. It isn't nearly as easy as the previous game for one. Armor and money are much harder to come by. The NPC's, while still kinda sparse (which adds to the underpopulated feel that was so prevelant in MW), seem to have alot more life because of the spoken dialogue and scheduling...it's almost, but not quite, as good as the Gothics. The quests are FAR better, no longer just simple fed-ex deals, there's actually alot of variety and interesting situations you can get yourself into.

 

But it's still an Elder Scrolls game, so if you didn't like any of the previous incarnations there won't be much here to change your mind. It's just that Oblivion is the most polished and well thought out of the bunch.

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In a way, I see it as consolizing PCs, in that game makers can, essentially, make one version of their game and not have to worry so much about being compatible with the plethora of video cards that are out there.

 

Ahhh yes... this must be where the 6 to 8x speed increase claims are coming from.

 

Simply compare the games available at the beginning of a console's life, and near its end, to see the advances that can be made when everyone is working with the same hardware and learns all the tricks about how to optimise for it.

 

Right. Having a standardized interface means exactly the opposite. It is convenient and faster to CODE for, but you buy it at the expense of not being able to fully use the hardware. Not that it really matters, because every year one or two new and increased models are thrown on the market, and by the time a developer would know the tricks of a specific hardware, it will be long outdated since.

Gerhard

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Actually, if you view the "Windows Vista: Gaming and DirectX 10" video at this URL (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/microsoftfl...utoplay=6141988), he says DirectX 10 is not backwards-compatible (e.g., to like DirectX 9, DirectX 8, etc.) like it was in the past. DirectX 10 will be able to do significantly improved performance because of that backwards-compatibility break.

 

UGH! That's even worse. :angry: I wonder what game companies will do. Either write an extra layer to maintain compatibillity, or stick to DX9. Game companies need to be conservative, because they can not afford to support the newest and best hardware exclusively, especially if it means that older hardware can not be supported any longer. It takes some time for market penetration until enough cards have been sold, so I wonder why MS does this? A test of their muscles?

Gerhard

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That's exactly the anti-MS talk I figured you'd have, Sparhawk :D You're quite predictable ;)

 

If you want a better AGP card, the 7800GS is about the best you're gonna get, and probably the last high end AGP card to ever come out. It's easily comparable to the PCI-e flavors of the same card, and roughly the same price (about $300).

Wow! Thanks man! I was looking around last night and almost bought one of these! I figured I should do more research, but since you're confident it will help, that's awesome. I would have more faith in my purchase. Yeah, my FX card has been pretty good; but have never really been impressed by it like I have with past video card upgrades. Oh well.

 

I just might have to get this 7800GS card, but I may wait a while before doing so. I noticed a few manufacturers made them, like XFX, eVGA, Albatron, MSI, BFGTech, Leadtech. Is there a certain 'brand' I should go with? It looks like XFX (Core clock: 440MHz, Memory Clock: 1300MHz) and eVGA (Core clock: 430MHz, Memory Clock: 1300MHz) have the highest speeds. I assume I should go with one of them? Are they reputible? eVGA's is about $25 cheaper after doing a mail-in rebate ($299 minus $15 mail-in). Maybe that's the best bet? XFX is $309. Opinions welcome.

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