Unreal ][ Awakening

[igalan]

Is someone playing this game? The graphics are terrific, and the game gets you inside the story quickly. But it is the most hardware demandig game ever!

I have a XP2000+, Asus A7N8X Deluxe, 2x256 MB DDR ram running in sync in dual channel mode, 80 GB 7200 rpm hdd, a ATI 9600 Pro 128 MB DDR (AGP x8), and with all this in some parts of the game it is completely unplayable (less than 5 fps!!!). I'm running the game at 640x480x32 bits, medium detail no AA. What the hell does it need to run smooth? A dual Opteron 244? There must be something wrong, a XP2000+ isn't the very best, but it should be enough (it is for every other game :) ). Considering the slow performance, a XP3200+ wouldn't improve much things... BTW, with the GeForce 3 Ti200 things where still worse, and the ATI 9600 Pro has proven about 35% to 40% faster.

[igalan]

Ok, something is definitely wrong with this game. Just for the hell of it, I installed the game in my living room computer:

Asus A7N266-VM
AMD Tbird 1,2 GHz
Aopen GeForce 4 MX440 64 MB
256 MB DDR RAM
Seagate Barracuda 40 GB 7200 rpm
Microsoft Windows XP SP1

And, surprise surprise! Here the game runs fast as hell!

I checked the website (the Spanish website) and there aren't patches or anything. Later I checked the official website and forums and another suprise! I'm not the only one with this problem, in fact there's a lot of people with fast computers (P4 2,4 GHz or more and Radeon 9800 Pro/GeForce 4 Ti4800) that have the same problems!!! So it seems that this game has important problems with some computers, and there's no real fix yet (ini tweaks can improve a bit, but not much). BTW, I had the same problem with the GeForce 3 Ti200, so it's not related with the video card or its drivers.

Yesterday I bought this game, and I can't get a refund or change for another one (those are the policies of most shops, so you don't make a copy and change for another game). Lesson learnt. Next time

1.- Download from ED2K
2.- Try and see
3.- If works well and is worth buy, else nothing is lost!!!

[LPDad]

Yep, very fun game.

Played it on an XP200, Gforce 4 -4400, 782 RAM.

Ran like a charm, no problems, all settings on high.

[yousuf]

the game kinda favors nvidia cards abit.
well thats what i think
correct me if wrong

[Kernel]

But it is the most hardware demandig game ever! It's really not my friend gets it to run on a PIII933 128RAM Geforce2

[igalan]

I had exactly the same problem with the GeForce 3 Ti200 (Det 44.67), worse in fact. So the problem is not the driver or the video card. When I upgraded to the ATI 9600 Pro the speed increased, but it's still very slow on some places, so slow that it's completely unplayable (less than 5 fps, and sometimes 0,5 fps!!!!)

I know that there is no problem with XP services. I stopped most of them and no change. Anyway my other computer is fast will all services running. Changing unreal.ini setting did not help. There is something that is slowing down Unreal2 to death and I can't find it :( .

[LPDad]

Igalan, I had this problem when I was fixing up my brother-in-law's computer.

I know you are using an ATI, and I use a gForce 4 4400, but this is how I fixed my problem, maybe you could try it with a gforce)

A good part of the problem was the Detenator drivers. Whenever you update to new drivers there is a good chance that some of the previous driver gets left behind, you will also see this if WinXP installs its own version of the driver before you put your nice new det drivers in.

1. Completely Uninstall the game (you can keep the saved games, but move them to a temp folder then move them back after you reinstall the game)

2. Do a defrag on the drive where you have the game stored

3. locate and install the latest version of Detanator Destroyer (google search)


4. Uninstall ALL of your video drivers (and use the det destroyer) to get every last bit.

Reinstall your Drivers of choice...(I use v43.45 XP-- and they work like a charm)

5. Reinstall the game, and do the standard tweaking to your preferences.

6. If you need I can post my .ini file for you or locate the tweaks I used on the .ini.....but they are basically the same ones used on UnrealTournament2003.

I do not know how you would get rid of leftover Ati drivers, but maybe you have some leftover Det drivers that are interfering. Couldn't hurt to clean everything out.

[igalan]

I will look for an older driver, as you suggest. However, before installing the ATI I changed the video driver to VGA, uninstalled the nVidia detonator, rebooted, and I checked that no files where left. This is what I do to upgrade to newer Dets, except that this time I changed the GeForce for the ATI.

Anyway I only have problems with this game, all other games run perfect, fast, smooth, and with exceptional visual quality. Oh, and as I explained I had the same problem with the nVidia. I don't have experience with ATI, but I have a lot of experience with nVidia and I can say 100% confident that I had installed properly the detonator 44.67, and no previous version was left anywhere.

The drive is not fragmented, either. And I also tried stopping all services not required, and all programs running in the backgroud. This improved a bit but the problem was still there. :(

But I will try reinstallyng the Catalyst driver. Thanks anyway.

BTW, I was trying 44.67, and they worked better than 44.03, some issues with 3D Mark 2001 SE where fixed.

[LPDad]

I was afraid of that.
Sorry, but I have no experience with the new ATI cards.

but, hey, it was worth a mention. Like I said, I ran accross that problem on another 'puter and that is what fixed it.

other than making sure your memory is not overclocked, and recheckin for some odd bios settings, I have no more suggestions. (it sounds like you really know what you are doing anyway--it does not make much sense why it does not run well on your machine.)

sorry I am not more help.:mad:

[jay-jay]

Originally posted by yousuf
the game kinda favors nvidia cards abit.


I've found quite a lot of games and hardware perfer nVidia cards rather than ATI, i have had quite a few problems with my 9700 Radeon.

[igalan]

Problem fixed! The solution was very simple, I changed the AGP Aperture from 64 MB to 128 MB! I searched the Internet and found a page that explained how systems with 512 MB of RAM and ATI Radeons have this problem when you set AGP Aperture of 64 MB.

Now the game is really fast in all circumstances with 2xAA, 2xAF, max quality, 1024x768! wooho :cool:

[LPDad]

Great!!

I hope we helped, even if it was to just get ya thinkin!!


and thanks for posting the solution, hopefully you have helped someone else.

[igalan]

The weird thing is that no other game is affected by this issue. I have exactly the same 3D Mark 2001 SE, and all other games that I currently have run the same with 64 MB AGP or 128 :rolleyes: . Since my other computer has 256 MB it was not affected.

So everybody with Radeons and 512 MB ram go and change AGP Aperture from 64 MB to 128 MB!!!