Embarassing game engine

[Rangermon]

<p>I just recently got back into eq2 and I knew my video card was on the way out and long-story-short I just ordered a new XPS 630 from dell (quad core 6600 and a single 8800gt). I can't wait to get back into the game once i get my new computer. I read that an older single core processor will perform much better than my quad core? I'd like to reccomend this game to my friends but if it performs poorly on a new set up with mid-high end components then I will be embarassed to admit that I play the game. </p><p>I understand there are no plans to address this issue? I was looking through the forums for some official word on this but I was not able to find anything. </p>

[Wingrider01]

<cite>Rangermonty wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I just recently got back into eq2 and I knew my video card was on the way out and long-story-short I just ordered a new XPS 630 from dell (quad core 6600 and a single 8800gt). I can't wait to get back into the game once i get my new computer. I read that an older single core processor will perform much better than my quad core? I'd like to reccomend this game to my friends but if it performs poorly on a new set up with mid-high end components then I will be embarassed to admit that I play the game. </p><p>I understand there are no plans to address this issue? I was looking through the forums for some official word on this but I was not able to find anything. </p></blockquote>runs fine at full graphics minus shadows here, QX6850 here, only ything I turn off I turn off during normal play is shadows (personal I have them) and in a raid run I turn off spell effects simple because I can;t see.

[Rangermon]

That is really encouraging. I see all these threads that list my video card as being a problem. If i can play the game on the higher settings with a decent frame rate that is all I am really looking for.

[jagermonsta]

<cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>runs fine at full graphics minus shadows here, QX6850 here, only ything I turn off I turn off during normal play is shadows (personal I have them) and in a raid run I turn off spell effects simple because I can;t see. </blockquote>I have a QX6850 myself and the game does NOT run fine.

[Llach]

<cite>Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>runs fine at full graphics minus shadows here, QX6850 here, only ything I turn off I turn off during normal play is shadows (personal I have them) and in a raid run I turn off spell effects simple because I can;t see. </blockquote>I have a QX6850 myself and the game does NOT run fine.</blockquote><p>I have a Q6600, QX9650 and the game runs great on both systems.  Also have an E6750 and it runs good there too.</p><p>Perhaps people should take the time to phrase their replies correctly and say "The game doesn't run fine on MY particular setup one reason or another".</p>

[jagermonsta]

<cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>"The game doesn't run fine on MY particular setup one reason or another".</blockquote>No?Perhaps people should phrase their replies explaining what FINE is.Fine is a consistent 40+ FPS. Thanks.

[Llach]

<p>I usually get 30-35fps + but I also run with 8xAA and 8xAF as well so expect a performance drop from that.</p><p>I also do not use the shadows (except the generic one) as they are buggy enough to become annoying.</p><p>Raids require me to turn spell effects to minimal, not for performance, but so I can see the durned mobs.</p><p>But as far as "working ok" goes, then I would say the game works ok.  Room for improvement - HELL YES.  Should they?  The jury is out on that, as the last round of improvements saw the threads here almost double!!</p>

[Openedge]

<cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I usually get 30-35fps + but I also run with <b>8xAA</b> and 8xAF as well so expect a performance drop from that.</p><p>I also do not use the shadows (except the generic one) as they are buggy enough to become annoying.</p><p>Raids require me to turn spell effects to minimal, not for performance, but so I can see the durned mobs.</p><p>But as far as "working ok" goes, then I would say the game works ok.  Room for improvement - HELL YES.  Should they?  The jury is out on that, as the last round of improvements saw the threads here almost double!!</p></blockquote>Note the bolded line aboveDo you have the ini file setting that turns this on? If not, you are NOT running with AA, and as such YOU are not running..."fine"I use an e6600 4 gigs and an 8800Gt , AA is OFF and AF is at 8x and it does NOT run WELL (but, it is <b>acceptable</b> with a few major "tweaks&quot<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Thanks

[Wingrider01]

<cite>Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>"The game doesn't run fine on MY particular setup one reason or another".</blockquote>No?Perhaps people should phrase their replies explaining what FINE is.Fine is a consistent 40+ FPS. Thanks.</blockquote>The system rarely drops below the 40+ FPS, mainly in a raid situation. Will have to admit I RMA'd a pair of 8800's back to the manufacturer and went back to the 7950GX2's. that solved a lot of issues I was having with the system and various games.

[Llach]

<cite>Openedge wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I usually get 30-35fps + but I also run with <b>8xAA</b> and 8xAF as well so expect a performance drop from that.</p><p>I also do not use the shadows (except the generic one) as they are buggy enough to become annoying.</p><p>Raids require me to turn spell effects to minimal, not for performance, but so I can see the durned mobs.</p><p>But as far as "working ok" goes, then I would say the game works ok.  Room for improvement - HELL YES.  Should they?  The jury is out on that, as the last round of improvements saw the threads here almost double!!</p></blockquote>Note the bolded line aboveDo you have the ini file setting that turns this on? If not, you are NOT running with AA, and as such YOU are not running..."fine"I use an e6600 4 gigs and an 8800Gt , AA is OFF and AF is at 8x and it does NOT run WELL (but, it is <b>acceptable</b> with a few major "tweaks"<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15">Thanks</blockquote><p>lol, thanks for the concern.  But, yes I do know how to edit my eq2.ini file and enable AA.  I even managed after hours of hard work to turn off bloom too.</p><p>Dropping the sarcasm; I understand that the 8800GT has a few "issues" with EQ2, personally I one to blame Nvidia for that, rather than SoE.  Especially as Nvidia still can't get 100% reliable drivers out for Vista (google for the driver resetting in vista for more on that).  </p>

[Openedge]

<cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Openedge wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I usually get 30-35fps + but I also run with <b>8xAA</b> and 8xAF as well so expect a performance drop from that.</p><p>I also do not use the shadows (except the generic one) as they are buggy enough to become annoying.</p><p>Raids require me to turn spell effects to minimal, not for performance, but so I can see the durned mobs.</p><p>But as far as "working ok" goes, then I would say the game works ok.  Room for improvement - HELL YES.  Should they?  The jury is out on that, as the last round of improvements saw the threads here almost double!!</p></blockquote>Note the bolded line aboveDo you have the ini file setting that turns this on? If not, you are NOT running with AA, and as such YOU are not running..."fine"I use an e6600 4 gigs and an 8800Gt , AA is OFF and AF is at 8x and it does NOT run WELL (but, it is <b>acceptable</b> with a few major "tweaks"<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15">Thanks</blockquote><p>lol, thanks for the concern.  But, yes I do know how to edit my eq2.ini file and enable AA.  I even managed after hours of hard work to turn off bloom too.</p><p>Dropping the sarcasm; I understand that the 8800GT has a few "issues" with EQ2, personally I one to blame Nvidia for that, rather than SoE.  Especially as Nvidia still can't get 100% reliable drivers out for Vista (google for the driver resetting in vista for more on that).  </p></blockquote>I asked a simple question was all...not a concern..I do not know you from any other poster, and would not know your "skills sets"...so I also would not have known you knew how to do this...as I have seen many a poster state "Yes, I run fine with 16x AA...huh? what? INI file setting? where is that?"We do know it is an 8800 issue, and on the 8800 having AA on is like a death sentence when particles are on also...Turn off particles if using AA you're good...turn off complex shaders in cities, no crashes...this has been my experience on several setups in my home and at friends homes as well..No matter what CPU the OP gets, we do know he will most likely have issues with the 8800, and I just wanted to verify when you say you are running "fine" what the full setup is. (I noted for example Wingrider has 7950's and NOT 8800's...so I can see why he is running "fine&quot<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Just clarifyingThank you

[Llach]

<cite>Openedge wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>** snip **</blockquote>I asked a simple question was all...not a concern..I do not know you from any other poster, and would not know your "skills sets"...so I also would not have known you knew how to do this...as I have seen many a poster state "Yes, I run fine with 16x AA...huh? what? INI file setting? where is that?"We do know it is an 8800 issue, and on the 8800 having AA on is like a death sentence when particles are on also...Turn off particles if using AA you're good...turn off complex shaders in cities, no crashes...this has been my experience on several setups in my home and at friends homes as well..No matter what CPU the OP gets, we do know he will most likely have issues with the 8800, and I just wanted to verify when you say you are running "fine" what the full setup is. (I noted for example Wingrider has 7950's and NOT 8800's...so I can see why he is running "fine"<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15">Just clarifyingThank you</blockquote><p>hmm my apologies for misreading your post.</p><p>I am a "lucky" 8800 user.  But I do use an 8800GTS 640mb, so I don't know whether me having an older version of the card makes the difference in this case.</p>

[Rangermon]

<cite>Openedge wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Openedge wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I usually get 30-35fps + but I also run with <b>8xAA</b> and 8xAF as well so expect a performance drop from that.</p><p>I also do not use the shadows (except the generic one) as they are buggy enough to become annoying.</p><p>Raids require me to turn spell effects to minimal, not for performance, but so I can see the durned mobs.</p><p>But as far as "working ok" goes, then I would say the game works ok.  Room for improvement - HELL YES.  Should they?  The jury is out on that, as the last round of improvements saw the threads here almost double!!</p></blockquote>Note the bolded line aboveDo you have the ini file setting that turns this on? If not, you are NOT running with AA, and as such YOU are not running..."fine"I use an e6600 4 gigs and an 8800Gt , AA is OFF and AF is at 8x and it does NOT run WELL (but, it is <b>acceptable</b> with a few major "tweaks"<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15">Thanks</blockquote><p>lol, thanks for the concern.  But, yes I do know how to edit my eq2.ini file and enable AA.  I even managed after hours of hard work to turn off bloom too.</p><p>Dropping the sarcasm; I understand that the 8800GT has a few "issues" with EQ2, personally I one to blame Nvidia for that, rather than SoE.  Especially as Nvidia still can't get 100% reliable drivers out for Vista (google for the driver resetting in vista for more on that).  </p></blockquote>I asked a simple question was all...not a concern..I do not know you from any other poster, and would not know your "skills sets"...so I also would not have known you knew how to do this...as I have seen many a poster state "Yes, I run fine with 16x AA...huh? what? INI file setting? where is that?"We do know it is an 8800 issue, and on the 8800 having AA on is like a death sentence when particles are on also...Turn off particles if using AA you're good...turn off complex shaders in cities, no crashes...this has been my experience on several setups in my home and at friends homes as well..No matter what CPU the OP gets, we do know he will most likely have issues with the 8800, and I just wanted to verify when you say you are running "fine" what the full setup is. (I noted for example Wingrider has 7950's and NOT 8800's...so I can see why he is running "fine"<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" />Just clarifyingThank you</blockquote>As the OP I want to thank everyone for contributing to this thread. I am getting the quad core 6600 and the 8800gt video card. I will search a little bit around the forums to find what settings people are using to get their video card to work. If there are workarounds that are required then I will take the necessary steps. I am not looking to place blame on SoE for the problems that nVidia might be having. The lack of support for dual/mulit core processors is unfortunate. If I am unable to make the game run smoothly on my computer and retain some of the graphical properties that make the game unique then I will be inclined to try some of the latest generation MMOs as they come out.

[Llach]

You may want to take a look at the 3870x2.  If the drivers are better than the 8.1's then it may well be a good card for eq2

[Hukklebuk]

these INI file settings you all are talking about regarding AA / AF - I've ordered an apparently the same system as the OP - 630 / Q6600 / 8800, and would like to understand what's behind these settings / what they are and where they go in the INI file.Oddly this will be my first nVidia card for this game, and it's starting to work me up before I even have it that "the way it's to be played" is broken?

[jagermonsta]

You can also force AA/AF through the driver.

[Rangermon]

<cite>Aollish@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>You may want to take a look at the 3870x2.  If the drivers are better than the 8.1's then it may well be a good card for eq2</blockquote>While I appreciate the information. I have a good video card and I have no intention of buying hardware that is 'good for eq2'. I am prepared to tweak eq2 to the extent of disabling shadows or perhaps modifying the .ini file people were mentioning earlier. I am not mad at SoE or nVidia. I don't know/care who dropped the ball on the 8800s in eq2. It seems simple to me as I don't have much invested in the game right now. If it works with a few simple tweaks then great (disable shadows,add " this line" to that .ini file), I look forward to leveling a monk to 80 and complaining about not having a place in the game. If it doesn't work or it requires off brand drivers or tweaks at the bios level then I have no reason to continue my subscription.I still have every intention of searching the forums but if anyone would be so kind as to list some of the workarounds that people are using to get the 8800s working? I read that disabling shadows is a place to start but is there anything else for a single card configuration that I should consider? I also started this thread hoping that I would hear that there was something in the works for multi-core support anything that is in development or coming down the line?

[Llach]

<cite>Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>You can also force AA/AF through the driver.</blockquote>You have to do that AND enable AA thorugh the ini file.