Performance

[Hobbes]

I use a quite old Mac.
iMac G4 800 Mhz 512 RAM and a GeForce 4 MX

Altough a played on a very low detail level, I always had performance problems with Vega Strike, especially in the battles. Additionally, I have a very slow web connection.
So, before I download Privateer I would like to know:

Is the game playable on my computer ?

 

[hellcatv]

it should be a bit more playable than Vega Strike...we really cut down on the ram requirements...
I'm playing on an iBook 600 MHz....
leave it downloading overnight and see for yourself.. the sys recs are certainly no higher than VS

 

[MamiyaOtaru]

the sys recs are certainly no higher than VS

unless there happen to be a lot of Tarsii and Centurions on the screen.. Those are two high detail ships that still have no LOD model. The way they are textured (which necessitates splitting them into several different meshes) makes it rather difficult. Doing a LOD for the galaxy wasn't much fun, so I've put off doing one for the other two.

Fortunately, it doesn't often happen that they are both on screen at the same time in significant numbers, and with your card it will just cause some minor slowdown. And eventually when I do the LODs it shouldn't be a problem then. To be honest though, as graphics cards keep improving, my motivation keeps going down. Of course, my graphics card isn't improving, I'd have to buy a new one for that And it just might prove cheaper for me to make some LOD models hehe

Anyway, my old desktop isn't too much better than your comp (though it's hard to make a direct comparison) and it plays it just fine.

 

[Pontiac lazy]

unless there happen to be a lot of Tarsii and Centurions on the screen.. Those are two high detail ships that still have no LOD model. The way they are textured (which necessitates splitting them into several different meshes) makes it rather difficult.

Just an idea:
Merge all of the textures into one, then remodel the ship in low-poly and uvmap it with this texture.
All parts of the high-poly meshes have empty LOD-meshes except one .... -> the lowpoly-mesh from above.

Would that work?

Pontiac

 

[Wendy]

Anyway, my old desktop isn't too much better than your comp (though it's hard to make a direct comparison) and it plays it just fine.

Y'know, I THINK you might experience the same issues here. But it's hard to say for sure, as I really haven't played VS.

I experienced dome really bad frame drops and slowing of the action inPrivateer-R, but then I had swarms all over me, not five or six or even 20, but the Militia and the Confeds, and Retros and pirates were in significant numbers. And I have to say, it never happens unless there are swarms of other ships.

In instances like that I wish I'd set the the game optimisation DOWN (to Compiled Vertex Arrays or Vertex Arrays) instead of up. However, it only happens when there's a LOT going on.

You have the same amount of RAM and a better Vid Card for gaming, but I have a faster processor. ALmost twice the speed of yours. I'd give it a try. Currently I run with Extreme Detail in 1024x768 32 Bit Colour Windowed mode with reflexive PER PIXEL lighting.

My Vid Card is a non-standard SiS -- AG315T-64 (64MB SDRAM with TV Out) that has driven Hellcat crazy.

THink you might want to give it a try?

You could try setting the Optimisation down to Compiled Vertex Arraya or even Vertex Arrays

You could always try running in a lower resoluition too, say, 640x480.
Again, less data for your card to track.

First I'd try 640 x 480 sharp detail
after that I'd step down everything else. But if you're on dial-up it can be a painful download.

I'd like to say you won't have problems, but I can't promise you won't. I just know I enjoy the game

 

[Hobbes]

Of course I will give it a try. This is Privateer
One of the best games I have ever played. No chance that I would not play the remake.

 

[MamiyaOtaru]

Just an idea:
Merge all of the textures into one, then remodel the ship in low-poly and uvmap it with this texture.
All parts of the high-poly meshes have empty LOD-meshes except one .... -> the lowpoly-mesh from above.

Would that work?

Pontiac

It could. Have the low detail model be the lod mesh for the biggest mesh in the high detail model? It would just look weird if the other meshes blinked out of existence before the LOD for the main mesh came in - parts would just disappear. Could be fixed by having the main LOD mesh appear before the other meshes LOD out of existence, then there would be weird clipping and we'd be ADDING polygons to the screen lol.

I could fiddle so that all the meshes LOD at very close to the same point, but it will never be exact.. depending on how the ship is rotated, some parts are closer than others. So we are left with some parts being temporarily invisible, or temporarily duplicated, neither of which is optimal.


I'll just ahve to do the low detail version and split it in pieces to make LOD meshes for each mesh on the main model, like I did with the galaxy. Or combine all the textures into one and remap it (I did that with the centurion, though that version isn't in the game, it uses a skin that can't be in the game) That was even more of a pain though lol

It sucks for modellers to have to limit themselves to one mesh, and it sucks for LOD makers to have to split LODs into meshes.. Ideally VS would handle LOD at the unit level instead of mesh. There is a reason it's that way though I guess, so the stuff on the back of the super star destroyer doesn't have to be full detail just because you are right next to the nose.. Makes sense for large ships, sucks for small ones. OK *best* case would be choosing which way to do it, by unit or by mesh. Till then, I split the LOD meshes hehe [/ramble]