Which mods are OK for low/mid range PC (mainly video)?
 

Hello,

For those that don't want to read the whole post, this post boils down to: "Which mods will not choke a 64MB graphics card?"

First off, sorry if this has been discussed before (probably over and over). I did use the search...and well maybe it is just me but the search leaves a lot to be desired.

Anyway I have a Dell Inspiron 5160 (laptop) with:

3.2 GHz Pentium M
1GB of RAM
Nvidia GO FX 5200 w/64MB oc'd to 225/455 (orig. 196/400)

I am running a clean unmodded install of SH III w/1.4b patch. SH III is very pleasent to play with this setup (originally had a 32MB 5200 and though playable it was slow).

My question is, What mods are ok to run with this setup. For instance GW is one I am interested in but, don't want to bother dl'ing it and others only to see performance tank. I know by using Jsgme it would be easy enough to experiment but I am hoping with the knowledge here in these forums I and others in similar straights might be able to save time and heartache.

If this is a beaten to death topic or a part of a FAQ, please point me in the right direction and I will go from there.

TIA!

GW with NYGM Campaign Mod can be pretty taxing.

Mostly though it's only in port with 32x+ TC.

Unfortunately, my rig doesn't compare to yours, so I'm not sure if it'll be playable or not.

I have a 128 MB video card, but only 512k RAM. I use a lot of different mods, and get slow frame rates sometimes, but I'll bet you're better set to go than I am. I'd use JSGME to install different mods, so if you run into problems they're easy to remove.

I am most worried/curious about the 64MB of RAM on my video card as being a limitation...it is listed as the minimum spec on the box for an un-modded SHIII. I am assuming that the textures are a bit larger in the various uber mods.

Well, I have tried making a mid-end add on for GW, but I'm not sure about the low-end part. I have 128 mb myself, and it runs fine, but you would might want to consider buying a new graphic card with 128 mb or even 256 mb!
You can read the readme in mods section or at my site!

By the way, the amount of memory is relatively unimportant. When you want to buy a fast car you look for the engine power (the graphics processor) and not really for the size of the fuel tank (RAM). There are for example some 512MB cards on the market that are vastly inferior to some 128MB cards.

mods
 

I think that most of the slowdown comes from the 16Km atmospheric mod, the harbor traffic mod, and the dea floor mod. These mods are included in most of the supermods. If you dl and install the 8 Km atmoshperic mod, and the sea floor mod for 64 mb cards or the stock sea floor files from the orginal SHIII data folder, your game will run just fine, except in the harbor. Just put up with the slow frame rate for a few minutes leaving the harbor. The harbor traffic modifications are impossible to delete from the major mods as they are in the campaign_LND;_RND; and _SCR files. Unless you are knowlegable in editing these files, you can't remove the harbor traffic from them.
irish1958

Re: mods
 

Actually, the no friendly mines option of GW (.SCR) also removes the scripted air traffic which helps a fair amount. You could also simply use the stock SCR file and have a basically empty harbor if that was the only thing preventing you from using GW. I do not believe the RND files will have a major impact on the friendly harbor framerates. There are probably a number of cutback harbor traffic SCR options floating around out there.

I myself am in the middle of upgrading.

Nowadays, you can get 128MB fairly cheaply (<$100) and even 256MB for <$200. You might as well upgrade, as you will need to quite soon looking at some of the games coming out today. Better safe then sorry, and it's worth it in the long run.

U-Bones Irish1958 & Carotio,

Thanks for the input, thats great information!

For those others that have suggested upgrading my video card,
unfortunantly the machine in question is a laptop and only two cards will fit the internal form factor...the Nvidia Go FX 5200 32MB and the 64MB...so its as good as it is going to get until I get a new laptop (not soon).

Gizzmoe,

The problem is, is that once the RAM gets filled on the video card, textures start getting put into main system memory and when that happens....even the most powerful engines start to choke. In my case its a double whammy...I am stuck with 64MB of RAM *and* a low end graphics core.

Thankfully, with the stock game it has chugged along quite nicely and if I can choose not to use the above mentioned enhanced elements I am hoping it remains just as playable.