Ideas...
 

Yes Morty it's anIntel core i 860 or something of the kind and the pc is an Acer.Aspire AM5811.. I really regret having to give up my Toshiba Satellite laptop though because of the Harman Kardon speaker embedded and the ATI HD 3850 GC (512 dedicated but up to 1789 mb available)which is great but unfortunately they paired that with a 2.0 ghrtz processor which can't keep up with Zee's mods.I 'll have an Nvidia Gt330 GHC instead and I am no fan of Nvidia ,I think ATI makes better GCs price/quality wise( my opinion),but the price was really unbeatable and I can always change my Gc for an ATI 4870 later on....:yeah:

MMMMMMMMMMM re Mrs. Panzer commander you need to keep the honeymoon going:hmmm: How about buying her a cool leg epilator which gives you massages and pedicurte as well.That way she'll be busy playing her new electronic s for hours while you blissfully blast T34 s unnoticed:sunny:?

Cheers

G'Day
It's just the stock game cd with no add'ons
Resolution is 640 x 480 @ 32, 60Hz Can I change it to something else to make it run better ?
Morty helped with task manager apps, so now I can run as gunner :)
Your new rig sounds like pure chocolate :O: ooh yeh

SFK 1942 sent from US today, should have it in about 10 days
It's funny I was going to ask what game SFK was because it sounded really good, and only just last week realized you guys were talking about Steel Fury :har: Doh :doh: Well that's rather noob of me

TANKs Gents
Darren
KnightsCross

Hi KC & Frinic
 

Been away being beaten up by Win7 on a new notebook. Its not really for gaming but it has a nice HD screen and hopefully might cope well with Steel Fury. Mainly it's for internet use and making backups D/L etc.
After some problems I seem to have most apps running OK and loaded up some utilities like 7Zip and Image Burn all the time fighting off Microsoft's attempts to have me subscribe to endless downloads of useless dross.:damn:
My HP printer worked, finally, after I forced it to run on another model's driver (64Bit) the original driver was for 32 bit.

KC you could try to run your game at the monitor's "native resolution" i.e. the one it was designed to accommodate; you should be able to find out from manufacturer's information on your model. This might not work but worth a try. If however your graphics card can't support/fill the screen fast enough you'll have to revert back.

Frinic - the honeymoon's now over, Mrs Panzer Commander was found playing solitaire (AAaagh) on this lovely new notebook - sacrilege
she wouldn't entertain CoD, IL2 or Flashpoint DR, oh no bl**dy cr**py solitaire - women!!!!! :damn: I informed her not to wear this machine out on frivolous games :haha:
Let us know how your new PC is performing when you get it up and running, I too think ATI are best GPU's at present but I like NVidea they've just fallen behind right now.
At least you can get inside Desktops easily for repairs/upgrades.
Poor old KC having to read all this sunshine blog about PCs whilst suffering 640x480 res screen. Never fear KC steel fury will run better for you.

All for now Best Regards - Mort :salute:

SF vs fps
 

Wow KC I am amazed! You must be playing the game in slow motion...The advantage is that it gives you plenty of time to see those T34/s coming ever so slowly at you and then your shell whizzes its way in a ballet-like motion( a bit like scenes in the Matrix).

Seriously Man this is terrible.I had TvsT installed on my wife's laptop, a decent Acer with 1.9 gHz processor, 2gbs of ram, 120 gbs hard disk and a 256 mb dedicated Nvidia 7000.The game played fairly well at lowest resolution 800x 640 with antialiasing and forest animation turned off ( water details as well since it does not play a big role in the game) and the rest was set at 70%.I averaged 12 to 18 fps.But your machine is hopeless at least to play sims.Even Steel Fury on the same laptop I cannot play it because ,surprise, surprise it is awfully slow 5 to 8 fps and unlike TvsT at these low values gameplay is terrible!While SF is not a graphic hog it demands a fast processor.If your processor is below 2.0gtz then the game will be very, very slow.If your graphic card is less 256 forget it it either won't play or you'll have to turn everything off and believe me the game loses its flavour with low or poor details.

My own findings: Tvst( without ZeeWolf's mods) minimum 2.0 ghtz, graphic card minimum 256 mb dedicated not shared.RAM 2 gb minimum.

Steel Fury; processor 2.0 ghz, graphic card 512 dedicated( for good quality), ram 2 gb minimum.

TvsT with Zeewolfs mods processor 2.4 ghtz minimum, graphic card 512 mb dedicated minimum, ram 4 gbs

I am talking about people with Vista as OS the values the results might be better if you have a more user-friendly OS like XP and Windows 7.

If you have a desktop why don't you upgrade it?It's cheaper than buying a new one and graphic cards and RAM chips can be purchased at a real good price these days.

Re Steel Fury I love that game.The gameplay is nice, the special and graphic effects are good, the AI especially the infantry is good (although the damned AI tanks can be pretty stupid at times.They often drive/sink their tanks into deep water when trying to cross a river !).The landscapes are frankly pleasant with plenty of hills, rivers, lakes, small log cabin villages, forests and woods; lots of places to ambush or concela yourself and there are different 18 maps.Add all the mods( I have lost count) and user-made missions( I'll be pleased to share(email) those I have made once you have the Tiger mod installed )etc.This game is already a classic and like Panzer Elite(12 years now) will run for a long time thanks to the creators support and dedicated modders and fans.The stock misisons are a bit tame but once you get the mods and user-made missions you'll see more action and variety.Wait until you play my user-made missions!I'll post some pics of them.


That being said I believe ZeeWolf is doing the same with TvsT.He is going to turn that game into a classic and if modders can join him and create new games and vehicles etc.This game has the potential to be around for a long, long time.But right now it's a oone-man operation and it's going to take time to get there.

Morty heed me and buy Mrs Panzer Commander a leg epilator-manicure-pedicure kit.It always works with women...:arrgh!:

BTW you made inadvertently a pun when you said quote"Poor old KC having to read all this sunshine blog about PCs whilst suffering 640x480 res screen. KC and the Sunshine Band????

Cheers

Hi Gents
I've had a hectic few days around home with both my Wife & Son being rushed to hospital by ambulance about 4 days apart :cry:
My Wife had suspected heart attack, but they couldn't find anything and put it down to migraine
My Son was found on the road not knowing how he got there, turns out that he went over his push bike handle bars and broke his collar bone, he had amnesia and could only recall family members and nothing else, his memory is slowly improving
So just when I thought it couldn't get worse,:-? at 4am returning from a hospital trip I found my 9yo cat dead on the road, there were tears allround and after digging a nice spot in with the roses we were preparing to say goodbye when my Wife lost her footing and fell out the front door face first onto concrete, I was about 4 feet in front of her with the cat and may have broken the last part of her fall. She soldiered on and we sprinkled rose petals over the cat and finished just in time to go back to hospital to bring my son home. So now they are both very sore and resting while I play nurse, oh boy !

On another note
SFK 1942 arrived yesterday :DL I installed it and all appears ok except when I load a game or Tut. it gets to 100% loaded then the screen goes black and I get this message

Exception core:
001: Error initialization program.

in note pad, when I close the note pad the game shuts down
any Ideas ? Ive tried with the task manager setting shut down to a min and without turning anything off, all game settings low, my pc set up is on page 1or 2 of this thread

Tanks Gents
Hope all is well
Darren
KnightsCross

SF Problems
 

Kc; sorry to hear about your family problems! What a streak of badluck!!!!Did you break a mirror?????:hmmm: Sorry about your cat too I have a female cat of my own who 's also 9!!!!

And Sf is giving you grief too!!!! Unbelievable. I can't do anything about your wife and son except my best wishes for a speedy recovery .AS for SF here's what I can tell you:

if I remember well your computer has low specs? Refrsh my memory please!!! The minimum specs for the game to start are minimum 3 gigahertz processor speed,( my own is only 2 gigs through and the game runs fine because I have 4 gbs of RAM, and a solid graphic cards with minimum 512 dedicated and double(1028) shared) 1.5 gbs of RAM( although this is rather limited in my opinion), a graphic card with minimum 256 mbs dedicated( they say 128 but I frankly doubt that the game would run properly.I tried on one of my latops with such a cards and the fps were in the order of 4 to 5 ) and at least 3 ggbs of free hard disk space.

However the reason for the game to crash with such a message might be that there's something missing in your files or you haven't got Direct X 9c installed on your pc.Make sure you have it and that you have that Dir. 9C installed or that your sound drivers are also up-to-date.

If neither of the above is your problem then I suggest that you re-install the game into the C: drive making sure you have removed all the files form the previous instal.

Below in bold letters I have pasted what I have from my own SF installation manual.This may help you find out what the problem is:Cheers and better luck!!!!:yeah:

Recommended:
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200\Intel Pentium D 3GHz
Memory RAM 1,5 Gb
Video ATI Radeon x1600\nVidia GeForce 7600 256Mb
Operational system Windows XP SP2

ATTENTION!
- If you are having problems installing the game or the game won't start (Windows 2000 or Windows XP Service Pack 1), it is necessary to install an updated version of vcredist_x86.exe and Microsoft .NET Framwork 2.0 (dotnetfx.exe), which can be found on the game's installation DVD in a folder called REDIST. It is also recommended to install DirectX 9.0c, which can be found inside the REDIST folder as well.
- The game dos not work on nVidia GeForce FX video cards.
- The game requires a CPU with SSE instructions.
- The game my not work correctly if the CPU or the video card are overclocked.



2 Installation

Install DirectX 9.0c if it is not installed. Make sure to have the latest drivers for your ATI or nVidia video card installed. Run setup.exe and follow the installation instructions. You can start Steel Fury from the menu under Start\Programs\Lighthouse Interactive after installation is complete.


3 Controls

The "Default" control layout is specified in a file called user_controls.pdf. To change controls setting to your likings, choose Options\Controls from within the game.


4 Compatibility

The Game was tested on following CPUs:
- Intel Pentium IV 2,4GHz
- Intel Pentium IV 3GHz
- Intel Pentium D 3GHz
- AMD Athlon 2500 (Barton)
- AMD Athlon 64 3000
- AMD Athlon 64 3200
- AMD Athlon X2 4200

The Game was tested on following video cards:
- nVidia GeForce 6600
- nVidia GeForce 6800LE
- nVidia GeForce 6800
- nVidia GeForce 7600GS
- nVidia GeForce 7600GT
- nVidia GeForce 8800GTS
- ATI Radeon 9550
- ATI Radeon 9600
- ATI Radeon X600
- ATI Radeon X800
- ATI Radeon X1600


5 Mission Editor

The mission editor requires administrator rights to work. For the creation of height maps it is recommended to use a graphics editor that allows you to edit and save files as TGA. Gimp, a free graphics editor, allows you to work with TGA files. Get Gimp from www.gimp.org. It is desirable to save TGA files without compression (Note: Gimp saves compressed TGA files by default).


6 Known Issues

1) With single-core Intel CPUs, the game works about 30% slower than with equivalent AMD processors.
2) For the game to function correctly, it is desirable to have more than 768Mb system memory and 256Mb video memory.
3) The game does not work on nVidia GeForce FX cards!
4) Do not enable anti-aliasing within the video card's settings, as they do not affect the quality of the displayed graphics, but slow down the game considerably and could lead to visual artifacts on some video cards.
5) For the following ATI video cards, accelerated output (instancing) can be enabled: Radeon 9500, 9550, 9600, 9700, 9800.
6) ATI Radeon 9600 video cards might display artifacts connected with some parts of the landscape "dropping out". As a workaround, pause the game, switch to the Desktop (Alt+TAB), start the DOS command line interface (Start > Run Program > type 'cmd' and hit Enter). After the DOS screen is open, press Alt+Enter and the screen resolution changes. Press Alt+Enter a few times, then close the DOS console again. Return to the game and continue playing.
7) ATI Radeon 9600 video cards might display a black or green screen after the game has loaded. As workaround, press F12 (the screenshot key) - this will bring the screen back to live. Continue playing.
8) For increased game performance, turn off active anti-virus software before you start playing.
9) The game requires SSE CPU instructions
10) The game might not work correctly or freeze if the CPU or video card is overclocked.
11) If the game locks-up or reboots the PC after a while, try to disable sound hardware acceleration, high quality sound or disable the sound completely. Also, try to update your sound card driver.
12) If the game was installed on Windows XP Service Pack 1, it is necessary to upgrade to Service Pack 2, or, enable Windows 95 Compatibility Mode for the game application and the game installer. In addition, it is required to install .NET Framework 2.0 as well.
13) Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 might cause the game to crash to the Desktop. It is recommended to update your sound card's drivers with the SB LiveDriveUni-Pack.

G'Day, thank you for your kind words :)
I will go check directX9 i thought it was installed with the game and the other things you have mentioned
I'm a bit drain dead at the moment due to the last few days, my capabilities can't keep up with my desires :zzz:

here are my cp specs

Windows XP
Home edition
2002
Service Pack 3
AMD Athlon(tm)
1.15GHz,512MB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Audio Codecs
Vidio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Vidio Capure Devices
Virtual Memory 766MB Recommended, 1536MB Allocated
C drive has 149GB ,30GB Free

Tanks Again:salute:
Darren

Quite a bad run of luck there KnightsCross. Hope your Wife and Son both recover and everything works out fine.
Sorry to hear about the cat,being a cat lover myself I know it's hard.

I don't think your video card meets the minimum spec.
On my copy of Steel Fury the minimum spec card is listed as a Nvidia 6600.

I had one of those FX5200's when they first came out,I got rid of it pretty quick.
According to Wiki,it is only compatible up to Direct X 9.0b,so that may be the problem.

Thank you Gents
Looks like at the least I will need a new video card and then, start from there on SFK1942
well I will have to go mount up on a Tiger in TvsT

I can't believe that the night before my cat died I spent a couple of hours going through your subsim cat thread :o showing my Wife every cat !
You have or in some cases including myself, had some great cats, :cool: I will post a pick soon
:sunny:Thanks Puss 4da good times, rip.

Where else would you find a thread about cats but on a tank sim forum?
We like to go off-topic :up:

Graphic Cats
 

KC it does indeed look like you'll need a new graphic card as your is on the list of those that don't work for SF.

There's a price war between ATI Radeon and Nvidia these days and as a result you can get high end gcs for a good price.I would suggest an ATI Radeon 3850(the one I have).It's considered to be in the 2 out of 6 level of quality/specs and according to the reports I have read one of the best if not the best in terms of quality/price.It gives you 512 mb dedicated , 1024 gbs shared and up to 1368 gbs video memory available when no there are applications are running.

It's the one I have on my laptop and I am very happy with it. But you'll need to upgrade your processor otherwise it will be money wasted.Like giving your car anew n body and suspension and keeping the same old underperforming engine under the hood.Aim for 2.4 ghtz or more depending on your budget.

If you have more money available and want soemthing better you can go for the ATI 4870 which is currently the best (2 gbs dedicated).Otherwerwise Nvidia has competing models but slightly pricier.

Expect to pay anything between $ 120 to $ 200 and above(US dollars).

Cheers.

Since we all love Tigers playing TvsT I guess loving felines:DL is a prerequisite to become a ZW club member. ....


Cheerio

Hi KC sympathise with your problems
 

Sorry to hear about your troubles KC. Its not altogether helpful to say; but we all get these setbacks in our turn, however we sincerely sympathise with you.
Also had cats and they were all characters - much missed.
On top of all that your video card (the most expendable thing at the moment!!!) continues to function.
Don't think you wasted your cash on SF though it will be usable for a long while yet, my version runs on WinXP (32 bit) and Win7 64 bit so its flexible and won't age overnight. At worst it can wait until you get upgraded but I would urge you to download a couple of updates/patches (minimum the PzIV sight reticle and the widescreen mod/patch) to make sure you have all you need as and when.
All the Best Mort :up:

SF
 

I concur with Morty. Money spent on Steel Fury is money well spent. That sim with all the mods passed and future is very much alive and is rejuvenated. The Russian modders also seem determined from their chat on the Avia,Sukhoi forum to make some sort of Kursk mod as well.They have asked for maps of the Kursk area and I wouldn't be surpised if they come up with some new mod based on that.

Anyway including user-made missions( mine excluded:D), single missions and with all 4 Steel Panzer mods plus the Tiger 1.0, the Panther-Hetzer and Stug IIIF mods you have easily right now you have over 200 different missions( many are repeat simply with different tank models).Once you getb the hnag of the mission editor which fairly easy to use you can add your own and once all new tanks models are included in the new Steel Panzer 1.5 mod then you'll the choice between 60 to 70 different tanks and armoured vehicles and over a dozen guns types( artillery and AT).

Like Panzer Elite but more modern.

Not that you should not get interested in TsvT with ZeeWolf's mods and missions. On the contrary ,I think both SIms are great in their own fashion and complement each other.

Re price of graphic cards I was pessimistic you can get a good one for $ 80 these days but don't go beloew 512 mb dedicated. preferably go for minimum 896 dedicated or more.

Cheers

G'Day Gents
Wow what a week, :yawn:
Sorry I haven't been around much, got my Son home Thursday he's recovering well, then Friday had to rush back for my Dad who needs another stint put in, probably early in the week. My Wife still has a huge bump on her head but her head ache is finally going :nope: ouch
Thank you all,
For you kind words and support. Also for you advice on upgrades etc, I will be able to think about it now and I will reread your posts so I'm sure to take it in
Cheers
:salute:
Darren
KnightsCross

Is this any good for our games ? :hmmm: I can get 1 for $40
Tanks
Darren
I'm watching some others as well


XFX RADEON HD 4350 512MB GDDR2 PCI-Express Video Card
ATI Radeon™ HD 4350 Home Theater PC Enthusiasts: Step Forward.


If full-speed Blu-Ray playback and HDMI Audio 7.1 capabilities are your thing, then the XFX ATI Radeon HD4350 is your card. Offering 8GB of memory bandwidth paired with DDR2 memory, this low-profile card fits in almost any case or motherboard designed to have a PCI Express video card in it.
KEY FEATURES

• Unified Superscalar Shader Architecture
• Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT)
• 80 Stream Processing Units
• ATI PowerPlay™ Technology
• DirectX 10.1 Support
• Low Profile Compatible
• HDCP Capable
• ATI Hypermemory
• PCI Express 2.0

Or this ? $70

ATI Radeon™ HD 4350



KEY FEATURES

• Unified Superscalar Shader Architecture
• Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT)
• 80 Stream Processing Units
• ATI Radeon PowerPlay™ Technology
• DirectX 10.1 Support
• Low Profile Compatible
• HDCP Capable
• ATI Radeon Hypermemory
• PCI Express 2.0

Specifications Bus Type: PCI-E 2.0 GPU Clock: 600 Mhz Memory Bus: 64 Memory Type: DDR2 Memory Size: 1024 MB Memory Speed: 800 Mhz Thermal Solution: HEATSINK Minimum Power Supply Requirement: 300 Watt Outputs: VGA, , HDTV, , Dual-Link DVI Card Dimensions: 6.6 x 2.73 x 0.75 Feature: ATI Avivo™ HD Video, ATI PowerPlay™ Technology, ATI Hypermemory, Microsoft DirectX® 10.1

Package Contents: S-Video Cable

Almost :damn: forgot that I may also need to upgrade some other bits, I know I'm probably better to get a new pc but what would I need to change on this :lost: as a new pc is not an option atm

:lurk:

here are my cp specs

Windows XP
Home edition
2002
Service Pack 3
AMD Athlon(tm)
1.15GHz,512MB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Audio Codecs
Vidio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Vidio Capure Devices
Virtual Memory 766MB Recommended, 1536MB Allocated
C drive has 149GB ,30GB Free

Tanks Again:salute:
Darren ______

your computer's RAM is pretty low KC, upgrading that will run your games a little better... another 2.5 gigs will go a long way, I have 3 gigs of RAM in my machine and I can run TvsT and Steel Fury well with my HD3450 512

getting the HD4350 with 1024 VRAM will definitely improve your gaming performance, with said RAM and video card upgrades you should be able to handle quite a few newer games.

Tanks Sledge
I don't have a clue what the difference is with these 2 cards and weather the DDR2 memory is a separate item or part of the video card ? :o

The 1st one $40 XFX ATI Radeon HD4350 says it has 8GB memory with DDR2

The 2nd one $70 ATI Radeon HD4350 says it has 1024 MB Memory with DDR2

Are these the same ?
Is the DDR2 a separate unit ?
Is one of these better than the other ?

Do I need to add any other components, and what exactly please as I am totally noob at this

To me the 8GB memory for $40 seems the best, but I don't know what is actual memory or someone making it sound good ? both items are new

My aim is to be able to-
1. play SFK 1942 which I have just got
2. Join the ZeeWolf $60 club

Hope I don't sound to dumb, I'm slow but worth waiting for :D

Tanks
Darren
:salute:
KnightsCross

KC as I said in one of my past posts you need minimum 512 mbs dedicated.The HD 4350 you are suggetsing seems quite right.Apparently what matters as well as total video memory is the memory bus ( the higher the better 98 is better than 64) and the memory type DDR3 is preferable to DDR2.But i think your card is quite right and so is the price.

AS Sledgehammerand I suggested you need more RAM.I have 4 gbs of RAM but Vista eats 1 so I basically have 3 gbs effective.The more RAM the faster your programs will run. Otherwise it´s like having a Porsche engine with a 2 speed transmission.Hard disk spcae is also important .If your games are all in the C drive and it´s clogged with limited space available your games will run.It´s important to defragment your hard disk on a regular basis.Some pcs( like mine) do that automatically ofr you every week for example.Finally when you play turn you antivirus off and any other program running, UTorrent , window defender etc.This way all your pc´s resources are mustered for your games not spread around.

8 gbs memory??? for RAM yes but for a graphic card it´s IMPOSSIBLE it must be a typo.The best video cards do not offer more than 2 gbs of video memory and they cost a great deal more money than $ 40.AT that price that graphic card would have been sold out in minutes!!!!!Just go on the internet and check the models specs.There are dozens of websites where you can check it out

Cheers