What System Requirements are required for *very*good*operation*of the UO:SA game??

[Tanivar]

I've decided to get a new video card for my computer to get it to run UO:KR in more than slow-motion. While I'm at it, I mighty as well upgrade, or replace enough hardware to make it capable of running UO:SA well.

Question is, What specs will UO:SA 3D require to run very well?

I don't care what the recommended minimum specs are. I've been caught by those before with games and things ran not much better than KR does right now on this computer. While games will run with minimum specs, they don't tend to be playable.

What will UO:SA 3D require to run very well?

 

[Sir_Bolo]

What video card do you have currently?
Any entry-level video card you can find in shops nowadays should be able to run Kingdom Reborn without a problem.

And the system requirements for Stygian Abyss should be lower than for Kingdom Reborn, considering that the animation frame rates are going to be reduced by 30% to improve speed according to a recent comment by Supreem.

 

[doctoreclipse]

I can post my system and how UOKR is currently running and maby it will help you.
If others can do the same it will help the whole community.

My system:
Pentium 4 (3.2Ghz)
2Gig RAM
8600GS Nvidia graphics card (256Mb)

UOKR experience: Very slow. Dragging the backpack/paperdoll/other menu's lags like hell!

-- T.S. Bowers

 

[Diggity]

Take a look at the suggestions in this thread, particularly the graphics settings - http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=122985

With Nvidia video cards, I found performance was better running full screen or with frames off in windowed mode. My system spec is slightly below yours, I have a 7600GS based 256 MB card and it runs fine.

 

[Fink]

I hope they put a low-spec detect on the game and suggest settings accordingly. It's a bit rude to load something up for the first time and it's all maxed out.. and you can't even get to the options screen to turn it all down. Or, worse, you have to go hacking around some text file. Hacking text is simply unwarranted and I feel unacceptable in a professional product. I know how computer nerds (especially those who write games) love to tinker with such things but really it's a bore and a frustration for the rest of us.

My system is..

Pentium 4, 2.4GHz 1GB RAM
nVidia 7600GS 512MB

..KR runs terrific with some modest settings. Looking forward to (or hoping for) a smooth transition to SA.

 

[Diggity]

Low spec detect would be handy, but I suspect sometimes users config is more important. For example, when in KR windowed mode with frames on my system it is unplayable and very difficult to change user settings since cursor movement/clicks lag by seconds.

OTOH, I just got a cheapie netbook - Dell Mini 9. 1.6 G atom processor, 1GB mem, integrated video using shared memory, windows xp. KR runs surprisingly well on it in either windowed/framed/full screen mode in a 16 bit color/800x600 window. Increasing to 1920x1200 window it lags quite badly.

 

[doctoreclipse]

Maby I should have mentioned I run in windowed mode with 1680x1050x32bit
Maby thats why its lagging?

But I heard that there is problems with the 8600gs card through. So I suspect its the card.

 

[Ender]

KR ran perfectly for me with

AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ (2.3 GHz)
2 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 8400 GS
Windows Vista Ultimate

 

[Diggity]

Maby I should have mentioned I run in windowed mode with 1680x1050x32bit
Maby thats why its lagging?

But I heard that there is problems with the 8600gs card through. So I suspect its the card.

if you can, simple enough to try 16 bit color and see if that helps.

also if you are windows mode with frame, try toggling frame off or running full screen to see if either setting change helps.

 

[doctoreclipse]

oops. I made a mistake. I've actualy got the 8400GS Nvidia an not the 8600GS.
Will that be the problem maby?

I've tried 16 bit color. It makes a 20% difference in speed. Faster more responsive but still slower than my 1.3Ghz Celeron Laptop with a standard Intel graphics card.

 

[BadManiac]

8400 GS is slower than even most 7 series cards. Sorry to say, it's slower even than the high end of the 6 series.

If you're buying a new graphics card now there's really only one viable alternative. ATI Radeon HD 4770. It'll play every game on the market on high to max settings, and with a bit of shopping around can be had for $100. Obviously you can only get it in PCI Express format. If you have an AGP port instead, I can recommend the ATI Radeon 2600XT AGP. Tom's Hardware Guide recommends it as the best value for money AGP graphics card there is. And since no one is making any more AGP cards, it's likely to stay that way.

If you're shopping for an nVidia card, the Geforce 9600GT is a good mid range alternative, also around $100, but it's much slower than the ATI 4770. And nVidia doesn't have any viable AGP alternatives any more.

When buying a graphics card, the law of diminishing returns is very much present. Spending less than $100-150 will give you a LOT less performance, and spending a lot more will not necessarily translate to as much more performance. I recommend spending a little extra and getting something in the $100-150 range. It's worth it if you do any amount of gaming.

 

[doctoreclipse]

I found this utility that measures the raw speed of your graphics card:
www.stereopsis.com/blttest and I must say that my Intel laptop graphics scored more than 8 times than what my 8400 Nvidia card got! Wish I had done this before buying.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

They said, SA will require even less ressources than KR.

KR runs smooth as glass with a GeForce 7600 GS graphics adapter, which is a very low-cost 3D graphics card. I'm sure you'll do fine with this.

 

[Tanivar]

I'll need to buy a new motherboard to get a good video card.

This one uses AGP which has been replaced by PCI Express. The Nvidia card I had installed when I built it died years ago and the onboard video could handle UO and Gemstone so I never replaced it. AGP cards can be found for it but are not impressive, and are a bit pricey.

I'm going to see what newer motherboards can use the 2.6 gig P4 processor and gig of ram I have and go from there. This latest attempt at 3D looks promising enough to be worth the bother.

 

[Llwyd]

I asked a question about laptops in regard to KR in another thread: http://vboards.stratics.com/showpost.php?p=1288548&postcount=14

I think I should have posted my question here instead, since it seems I'll need to have SA in mind when I go shopping. Any feedback (please see my previous post at the link above) would be very welcome. I do not currently have a computer for UO and hope to purchase one soon.

 

[Old Man of UO]

What video card do you have currently?
Any entry-level video card you can find in shops nowadays should be able to run Kingdom Reborn without a problem.

And the system requirements for Stygian Abyss should be lower than for Kingdom Reborn, considering that the animation frame rates are going to be reduced by 30% to improve speed according to a recent comment by Supreem.

Well, I hope that EA does NOT do this. KR was published with a default frame rate of 30 fps for compatibility with lower end graphics cards, and it was awful. The 2D client is even slower, I believe. Change the KR setting to 60 FPS and it plays like a whole new game!

However, I think what was actually said is that the animation is improved for faster display, not reduced as you say.

 

[Fink]

What video card do you have currently?
Any entry-level video card you can find in shops nowadays should be able to run Kingdom Reborn without a problem.

And the system requirements for Stygian Abyss should be lower than for Kingdom Reborn, considering that the animation frame rates are going to be reduced by 30% to improve speed according to a recent comment by Supreem.

Well, I hope that EA does NOT do this. KR was published with a default frame rate of 30 fps for compatibility with lower end graphics cards, and it was awful. The 2D client is even slower, I believe. Change the KR setting to 60 FPS and it plays like a whole new game!

However, I think what was actually said is that the animation is improved for faster display, not reduced as you say.

I think he means frames for the animations rather than overall game framerate (eg: it might now only takes 5 action frames to swing a sword rather than say 9 or 13).

I'm a little discouraged by the reduction of animation frames.. I thought the KR ones were nice and smooth, particularly assuming war stance and the subtle idle movement on some mobs. I would have hoped high animation frames would be an option but being an animator myself I can see where that would be problematic.

 

[Llwyd]

Would this work? http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668269.php