New here, and please tell me I didn't waste $10

[Sock Eating Golden]

Hi all. First I've really enjoyed lurking on this board. I played Wolfpack years ago and have been looking for a Subsim to play now. SH3 peaked my interest and I figured since the game is 5 years old and my Netbook is only 1 year old (and meets the requirements) that it would run no problem. Wrong. I can't get past the "Can not initialiize 3D engine" disclaimer. :damn:

Is it possible to run SH3 on a netbook?
Is there any Subsim that can?

Thanks for you help.

Nick

[Herr-Berbunch]

Are you running Win 7, and what is your screen refresh rate?

Set that to 60 Hz and you should, I think, be fine.

Also make sure you're patched correctly (1.4b even though is says 1.3)

Let us know how you get on. :D

[Sock Eating Golden]

I'm running Win XP, refresh rate is at 60hz. Working on the patch. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the quick response.

[Sock Eating Golden]

I checked the version on the .exe file and I'm already running v1.4.0.1. so that explains my problems installing the patch. But I still can't load the game.

[Jimbuna]

What are your machine specs?

[Sock Eating Golden]

Win XP
1.6 Ghz Intel Atom
1Gb ram
DirectX 9 Installed
Video Mem 128 Mb (Shared)
Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family
PS1.1 Installed



Thanks again for all your help!

[Herr-Berbunch]

I'm not 100% sure, but SH3 needs to run at a certain resolution 1280x768 IIRC, if you can't display that on a small netbook's screen then I doubt it'll work. Could you connect to external monitor that is capable of that res and retry?

Edit: standard resolution for SH3 is 1024x768, duh! There is a res fix to take it up to 1280x768. I think just about all netbooks are 1024x768 but still try external monitor, you never know!

[Arctic wolf]

Welcome aboard Sock Eating Golden! :salute:

I'm afraid I have bad news for you. Netbooks aren't usually meant for gaming. They lack the graphical juice required to run games. That's usually because of a non existent dedicated gpu (graphics processing unit). In order to play failry recent - 2005 onwards - games properly you need at least a low end dedicated graphics card. The built in Intel Chipset is just not meant for gaming. Although the more recent ones come with 512 mb dedicated memory onboard to give some extra power, it's usually only enough to play ancient games at lowest settings. Yet you might experience lags and abysmal frame rates.

Your 128 mb shared memory is not adequate to play games of the likes of SH3. Plus, the Intel Atom processor lacks the processing power of more conventional mobile processors. My sis just got a Dell netbook with exactly similar specs to your netbook and she can't even run Microsoft Office 2010 - not enough memory!. :damn:

I believe the answer is no. You won't be able to run SH3 on your netbook. :nope:

Just my 2 cents.

[Mittelwaechter]

DX9c installed on XP?

Post your DxDiag and we'll see further.

START -> run -> dxdiag

Work through tabs and run all tests.

Save results and post here.

[Gerald]

Artic Wolf says that it will not work and run the SH3,and I agree, but anyway I hope that there are other things that attract :yep:

[Arctic wolf]

but anyway I hope that there are other things that attract :yep:

I hope so too mate. I can only imagine how cool it would be to be comfortably lying on your bed with the lil netbook on your chest as you navigate your boat through a violent storm.:rock::rock:
That's the first thought i had when i saw my sis' netbook. Best of luck!

[Gerald]

http://imgur.com/olhUX.jpg

or this

http://imgur.com/YWI70.jpg


:roll:

[Herr-Berbunch]

Vendor, that's just cruel showing shots that he'll (probably) never be able to recreate until alot of money spent! :nope:

[Mittelwaechter]

Who says no 3D games run on netbooks?

It depends on the netbook hardware and software.

http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-3121_7-10002002-14.html?s=0&o=10002002

Again - a DxDiag protocol shows your hardware components and your installed software (OS, drivers and codeces).


If the 3D tests fail, your onboard graphic is probably not capable to run the game.

[Gerald]

Vendor, that's just cruel showing shots that he'll (probably) never be able to recreate until alot of money spent! :nope: to find a way to have the SH3,on a computer, it need not be a notebook,there are often other opportunities,as you know.

[Sock Eating Golden]

Welcome aboard Sock Eating Golden! :salute:

I'm afraid I have bad news for you. Netbooks aren't usually meant for gaming. They lack the graphical juice required to run games. That's usually because of a non existent dedicated gpu (graphics processing unit). In order to play failry recent - 2005 onwards - games properly you need at least a low end dedicated graphics card. The built in Intel Chipset is just not meant for gaming. Although the more recent ones come with 512 mb dedicated memory onboard to give some extra power, it's usually only enough to play ancient games at lowest settings. Yet you might experience lags and abysmal frame rates.

Your 128 mb shared memory is not adequate to play games of the likes of SH3. Plus, the Intel Atom processor lacks the processing power of more conventional mobile processors. My sis just got a Dell netbook with exactly similar specs to your netbook and she can't even run Microsoft Office 2010 - not enough memory!. :damn:

I believe the answer is no. You won't be able to run SH3 on your netbook. :nope:

Just my 2 cents.

Great post. I was able to run it while hooked up to an external monitor. Though not well, not well at all. Especially when looking at any surface ships. Dropping all the Visual settings helped a bit. But, it's still to choppy to enjoy.

You're absolutely right that netbooks aren't meant for gaming. When I bought this one I wasn't gaming at all and this suits my needs perfectly. I was just bit by a bug lately and wanted to try to fit a square peg in a round hole.

So my next question is. Is there any sub sim games that you would recommend for my specs? And where would I find them?

[Capt. Morgan]

...
So my next question is. Is there any sub sim games that you would recommend for my specs? And where would I find them?

Aces of the Deep (Atlantic), and Silent Hunter 1 - Commanders Edition (pacific) are both highly regarded, and would probably play fine through DosBox.

Check out the Classic Subsim forum http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=173 People there would be able to advise you

[K-61]

My previous notebook would not run the game. It had an Athlon Turion CPU, 2 GB of system RAM and 128 MB dedicated ATI graphics card, and would run the game at 1-2 FPS. Totally sucked, as I was hoping the 17" widescreen would do it justice. On the other hand, my newest gaming notebook just chews through the game and asks for more.

I've looked at netbooks but fail to see their attraction, other than their compact size. For just a few dollars more you can get into a larger lower end notebook. Still, if their size and weight appeal you get a nice, compact unit that is adequate for internet, but not much else. That's why they call them netbooks.

[pickinthebanjo]

You would most likely need at least a 2.0 Ghz processor, and at least 2 Gb of RAM. As well as a decent GPU.

[FIREWALL]

Welcome aboard Sock Eating Golden! :salute:

I'm afraid I have bad news for you. Netbooks aren't usually meant for gaming. They lack the graphical juice required to run games. That's usually because of a non existent dedicated gpu (graphics processing unit). In order to play failry recent - 2005 onwards - games properly you need at least a low end dedicated graphics card. The built in Intel Chipset is just not meant for gaming. Although the more recent ones come with 512 mb dedicated memory onboard to give some extra power, it's usually only enough to play ancient games at lowest settings. Yet you might experience lags and abysmal frame rates.

Your 128 mb shared memory is not adequate to play games of the likes of SH3. Plus, the Intel Atom processor lacks the processing power of more conventional mobile processors. My sis just got a Dell netbook with exactly similar specs to your netbook and she can't even run Microsoft Office 2010 - not enough memory!. :damn:

I believe the answer is no. You won't be able to run SH3 on your netbook. :nope:

Just my 2 cents.

I stopped reading after your post. Your Right It can't be played on a Netbook.

Basically. Not Enough Horsepower.

[krashkart]

Win XP
1.6 Ghz Intel Atom
1Gb ram
DirectX 9 Installed
Video Mem 128 Mb (Shared)
Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family
PS1.1 Installed



Thanks again for all your help!

A dead ringer for the system I have. Yes, SH3 will run on my netbook, but I use an external monitor instead of the flatscreen in the laptop. Some games will not run with the limited screen resolution on the netbook (I get 1024x600 by default), but if yours came with a standard VGA port you should be able to play it with an external monitor where you will get the true screen resolution demanded by games. Wouldn't hurt to upgrade the RAM as well, and watch out for the external freecam views with that 945 chipset. They will probably be very choppy. Some OpenGL games will refuse to run on that chipset as well. But you should be able to run SH3 well enough to enjoy it.

Now I'll read the rest of the thread and see how much of what I posted has already been covered. :haha:


EDIT: And after reading the thread I am confounded as to why my machine runs SH3. :-? It must be blessed. :D

This one I have will run a variety of games that aren't ancient history. The settings usually need to be reduced but overall I get the play time that I want. Haven't tried it with any newer games that have come out. Doubtful that it would handle a good portion of them. :yep:

[Arctic wolf]

Check out the downloads section of this forum for starters. There are names of some good old subsims that you might find interesting. http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php

Aces of the Deep, SH2, SH1, Shells of Fury, Jane's 688(I), etc. These are all classics and should run smoothly on your system. Check em out! :up: I think you might be able to purchase them on Steam or Amazon.

I know what you mean mate, netbooks are awesome as long as you don't plan on running (moderately) high end games on them. I almost went for one but then decided I couldn't do without a couple of games in my laptop. Am very satisfied playing SH3 on my new Lenovo. :yep:

[drakkhen20]

i've always had problems with Intel chip-sets in any laptop and the reason is because it's just not made for it. unless you actually go out and buy one that's made for it but even then the laptop chip-sets aren't just enough and limited either way you want to discuss just because of space and cooling requirements. you don't need a massively expensive computer to run it just make sure you get something that meets those requirements at that time. any 1.5ghz CPU and geforce 8800 or equivalent ati video card will run the game and most of your computers nowadays have 1 gig or more of ram in them and its a 32-bit based game. but if your getting at playing these graphical games i would recomend an upgrade.:D

[Gerald]

i've always had problems with Intel chip-sets in any laptop and the reason is because it's just not made for it. unless you actually go out and buy one that's made for it but even then the laptop chip-sets aren't just enough and limited either way you want to discuss just because of space and cooling requirements. you don't need a massively expensive computer to run it just make sure you get something that meets those requirements at that time. any 1.5ghz CPU and geforce 8800 or equivalent ati video card will run the game and most of your computers nowadays have 1 gig or more of ram in them and its a 32-bit based game. but if your getting at playing these graphical games i would recomend an upgrade.:D There are plenty to choose from, and as long as you want a good uptime and decent graphics card,there are option,but I share your opinion on upgrade :yep: