A Question About FarCry's Advanced Visual Options

[PrayForDeath]

First of all, I've noticed an option called "Machine Spec", you can set it to Low/Medium/High/Very High, anyone knows what this thing exactly do? I tried all the options, but noticed no visual difference!
Second of all, there's "Render Mode", you can choose Default/paradise/Improved/Cold/Cartoon, can you explain to me the advantage of each of these modes? (I noticed that Cartoon mode makes the game look like XIII , but do these modes give me different FPS?)
Finally, when I went to FarCry's options in Windows (not in game) there was a button under the Video Options (advanced) tab, it said "Customise", I clicked on it, and found some interesting tweaks, you can change every visual feature in the game, so can you tell me some recommended settings for my 9800Pro?
Thanks

edit: Hey, just installed NFS:Underground and played it with my new 9800SE "PRO", the game is so slow, I used fraps and it shows 14FPS average with max details 1024x768 res and 0xAA/0xAF! Is that normal? My rig is 2Ghz Celeron, 512 PC 2100 memory and 9800Pro, if that's normal can you give me some recommendations for NFS visual settings? I noticed that if I turn off either "world reflection detail" or "motion blur" the game runs a little faster ~20FPS! But that's not acceptable for me, and I think a 9800Pro must do atleast 30FPS with these settings!!
Help Please!

 

[PrayForDeath]

Bump

 

[Evdawg]

with that processor and that ram.. its holding your video card back. (and your video card isnt very good in the first place. Reason is, its a 128Bit card, it runs about the speed of a 9600pro).

Sorry to give you bad news but.. celerons suck (for gaming), and so does your graphics card =(

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Your rig is PrayingForDeath.

I have doorstops with more horsepower. A Celeron 2.0 and 9800SE do not a good FarCry experience provide.

Set everything to "Low" in FarCry and drop the res to 800x600. Ditto for NFSU.

- M4H

 

[BlvdKing]

Sorry, but you do need to upgrade to a Pentium 4 to get more out that video card. Also, don't some of those 9800 SE's softmod into regular 9800s?

Install the Omega Catalyst drivers and give the soft mod a try.

Upgrade that CPU!

 

[PrayForDeath]

Guys, when I said 9800SE "PRO" I meant it was softmodded into a Pro, and this is the PowerColor C3 Model that has 256mbit memory and comes with the Pro's stock Core/Mem speeds, so what I have right now is a 9800 Pro using latest Omegadrivers based on Cats 4.7.
And as for FarCry, I didn't say it was slow at all, the game runs great, with 1024x768 no AA/AF and all details max except for textures medium cuz I only have 512Mb (very high textures need 1024MB), I was just asking you about those extra features and options, I was curious to know what they do.
I also play Painkiller with max details 1024x768 resolution and 6xAA 16xAF and I average around 25FPS which is good for me.
My only problem is with Underground, that game runs too slow compared to the other "more demanding" games, and that's what puzzles me! Any help please
Thanks in advance

 

[SneakyStuff]

Get P4, celerons are TURRIBLE for gaming

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Guys, when I said 9800SE "PRO" I meant it was softmodded into a Pro, and this is the PowerColor C3 Model that has 256mbit memory and comes with the Pro's stock Core/Mem speeds, so what I have right now is a 9800 Pro using latest Omegadrivers based on Cats 4.7.
And as for FarCry, I didn't say it was slow at all, the game runs great, with 1024x768 no AA/AF and all details max except for textures medium cuz I only have 512Mb (very high textures need 1024MB), I was just asking you about those extra features and options, I was curious to know what they do.
I also play Painkiller with max details 1024x768 resolution and 6xAA 16xAF and I average around 25FPS which is good for me.
My only problem is with Underground, that game runs too slow compared to the other "more demanding" games, and that's what puzzles me! Any help please
Thanks in advance

Upgrade your processor and RAM. Seriously.

- M4H

 

[PrayForDeath]

And what's wrong with a 25FPS average? I thought eyes can't see faster than 24FPS!
Nobody has answered my FarCry question, does anybody know what those features are used to? (Render Mode, Machine Spec, Advanced customizable video options)?

 

[jim1976]

It makes no sense. You can play Far cry satisfactory with most of the options set to high and having probs with NFSU, a less demanding game?
Also which options in Far Cry are you reffering to?

Your system isn't a good one(except your gpu) but surely not an unusuable one. An upgrade could help you as the guys mentioned.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
And what's wrong with a 25FPS average? I thought eyes can't see faster than 24FPS!
Nobody has answered my FarCry question, does anybody know what those features are used to? (Render Mode, Machine Spec, Advanced customizable video options)?

Render Mode simply applies a fullscreen shader to change the whole image appearance. Minor FPS effect.
Machine Spec sets the graphics details automatically.
Advanced, it tells you when you select each item.

And yes, 25FPS is "the suck". Download FPS Compare, set one side to 30fps, the other to something nice and high like 120. Now tell me you don't see a difference.

Thread on the subject.

- M4H

 

[gururu]

I don't know why you guys are trashing his system. Sure, a cpu would help, but he may not have that option right now. Besides, he seems to be content with his fps (25fps isn't THAT bad). I'm as curious as he as to what all these options do.
Pray for Death, I'm not sure the 512mb is holding you back in textures, as I run very high textures to get around the same fps with my 9700pro. Now that may be a cpu cache thing...

 

[MercenaryForHire]

FarCry Tweak Guide

Page 7 has all the explanations that the config tool does too.

- M4H

 

[jim1976]

512mb isn't bad at all but surely helps a lot to have 1024mb with the stuttering in the game.
25fps isn't good. As MFH told you it doesn't matter if you can see the additional frames or not.
More frames mean better gaming experience. If you were talkin about 60+ fps then I could understand your comment. It's not that noticeable. But 24fps? Simply it is below mediocre

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

When the fps gets too low the controls become unresposive.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Originally posted by: jim1976
25fps isn't good. As MFH told you it doesn't matter if you can see the additional frames or not.
More frames mean better gaming experience. If you were talkin about 60+ fps then I could understand your comment. It's not that noticeable. But 24fps? Simply it is below mediocre

I thought about it and I came to conclusion that 24 "AVERAGE" FPS is bad because in this case, your minimum FPS will be like 10-15 and the minimum FPS is the most noticable FPS unlike AVERAGE or MAX.

When the fps gets too low the controls become unresposive

Exactly

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
FarCry Tweak Guide

Page 7 has all the explanations that the config tool does too.

- M4H

Thanx for the link

I don't know why you guys are trashing his system. Sure, a cpu would help, but he may not have that option right now. Besides, he seems to be content with his fps (25fps isn't THAT bad). I'm as curious as he as to what all these options do. Pray for Death, I'm not sure the 512mb is holding you back in textures, as I run very high textures to get around the same fps with my 9700pro. Now that may be a cpu cache thing...

Maybe because your have DDR memory (Mine is SDR), and what's your memory speed by the way?

It makes no sense. You can play Far cry satisfactory with most of the options set to high and having probs with NFSU, a less demanding game? Also which options in Far Cry are you reffering to?

My FarCry options are: 1024x768 res, all settings max except for textures medium and no AA/AF, the game looks great (except for the low res textures) and the FPS is good for "me"

Thanks alot for the responds, guys

p.s: does DDR memory have a high advantage over SDR in games? (I know SDR is 100-133Mhz and DDR is 266-400Mhz)

 

[Scifience]

Your processor and RAM are what is holding you back.

Celerons are the WORST processors ever invented. My 733 Duron was faster for games than my 1.3 Celeron by a few FPS if I recall correctly.

The RAM speed also makes quite a big difference in gaming. The speed of the RAM determines how fast data from the memory can get to the processor and other components of the system for processing. DDR definately makes a difference, not so much because it is DDR, but simply because of the faster speed.