In defense of 3dfx :)

OK I've seen a lot bad stuff about the Voodoo cards and Arcanum and thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

I'm running the game on Win98 w/DX8a. My system is an AMD T-Bird 1gig(266), Asus mobo, 20GB ATA100 HDD, 256Mb RAM and an old 16mb Voodoo 3/3000 AGP.

The game runs extremely smooth with a few exceptions. Theres some minor slowdown when my character has a lightsource like a lantern. And I get the stopwatch when running from block to block in a city. I don't know if thats a video problem or just the game updating the terrain and npc's for the new area.

I tried the game first with the last official drivers 1.07 and have since gone back to preffered unofficial drivers Xpentor's Xgamers5.

Don't seem to be having any problems with the card not handling "large textures" but then again AGP is supposed to be better at handling textures.

 

For want of something more useful to say: good for you. I'm glad someone has a system that can run it without too much annoying slowdown. The fact you achieved it against the popular opinion of your vid card makes it all the better.

You're certainly better of than my nvidea geforce2, but then mine's PCI :throwup:

 

Are you saying that your GF2 has problems Fatman?

Also, my system almost never experiences any slowdowns. Just thought I'd throw that little tidbit in :smile:.

Man, I've got to start playing Arcanum again (took a week-long break from it)...

 

I'm using the same card as you are, Sheriff, and I don't really have any serious problems. Thank God I didn't go with a Prophet, which was really hot a while back.

 

Why are you giving thanks for not going with a Prophet? Prophets aren't based on 3dfx technology, they're based on nVidia technology. At least all the latest decent Prophet cards are. I think. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I think Feldon maybe refering to different aspects of the Prophet's performance.

Feldon, are you sure you have the same card as me? Mine's PCI, is yours?

 

The Hercules Prophet series are all based on different chips. I have one with a Geforce 2 MX chip on it, and I like it a lot. The latest Hercules cards are based on the Kyro chipset though, I think.

Sherrif, I'm pretty sure it's not your GF2 MX causing slowdowns with Arcanum, even if it's just a PCI.

 

maybe its in the hard drive, i have this old harddrive about 4yrs old, the game sometimes stops and access the hard drive... restarting and freeing up some space do helps a lot

 

Yep, I'm pretty sure of that too, or at least that it's not the only factor. Mines a pretty balanced system, I'd say, with no single bottleneck, but it's kinda balanced so that EVERYTHING is a bit under par for hungry games.

I know I'm not the best UT player around, but I can't help feeling a little cheated when some bugger shoots me while my screen jerks and bucks trying to catch up with the action.

 

Sheriff, yeah, it's the same. And what I meant about the Prophet is that I think it's a problem card for Arcanum. I know it's a good card, though.

 

That's more likely a lag problem than hardware. Any half-decent computer can keep up with UT (I've seen a P2-400 with a Voodoo Banshee do it with ease at a good resolution and depth).

I love my GF2 GTS more than ever now though :smile:.

 

Maybe you're right, but the evidence suggests otherwise to me (without investigation, I'll admit).

My housemate and I both have ADSL connections fromt he same provider through the same servers.

When we play UT, I get all the screen jerking and he gets all the smooth scrolling. Given that the only thing that is the same about our systems is the internet connection, I'm guessing the problem is something else.

Another tip off, is that the problem noticeably lessened when I upgraded my graphics card recently.

 

Hmmm...I'd suggest upgrading your motherboard. It's the most likely bottleneck. If you have a CPU fast enough to play UT, and a GF2 MX, then I'd say your M'board is holding things up. Look at getting one with a higher FSB (Front Speed Bus, I don't know how tech savvy you are Fatman), or maybe a faster HDD or RAM. Or all three.

 

I got an IBM Telesto HDD. If you know of them, you'll know that isn't likely to be the problem.

Motherboard upgrade isn't an option, since my comp is a Compaq small form factor, which has a case less than half the size of a standard desktop.

RAM I should do something about, because I have 128MB, which I realise is not good.

 

You have the problem right there - you have a Compaq.

It's nigh-on impossible to upgrade those machines (at least, that's what my experiences have been like, and what used to be the case). More RAM is good RAM.