A problem with minimum specs - Page 2

03-19-07, 08:28 AM

It really makes me sad, that my laptop fulfills all the technical requirements, besides the fact that a 128mb memory card is required. Phoned Dell yesterday to try to get a new videocard (my current is 64mb), but according to them, it is not possible to get 128mb video card to my dell inspiron 8500 laptop!!!

So it seems now that i will be unable to play the game and have to stick with my SH3

.

Does anyone think there is anyway to get the game to work with 64mb videocard?

danlisa · 03-19-07, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devastat

It really makes me sad, that my laptop fulfills all the technical requirements, besides the fact that a 128mb memory card is required. Phoned Dell yesterday to try to get a new videocard (my current is 64mb), but according to them, it is not possible to get 128mb video card to my dell inspiron 8500 laptop!!!

So it seems now that i will be unable to play the game and have to stick with my SH3

.

Does anyone think there is anyway to get the game to work with 64mb videocard?

It's entirely possible after examining the files that there might be a way to reduce the graphics load.

For example, changing the sea bed texture, reducing the resolution of Ship/Sub texture.

There are, however no promises.

Gammel · 03-19-07, 08:33 AM

Sorry changing drivers did not work, hope your computer is still fine.

If you´re still in mood of doing funny stuff to your computer, go into your system bios and try playing aroud with a funktion called "AGP aperature size"or something like that...
If it´s set on 64MB increase the value to 256 and try again with the game. Dont forget to save the setting before exiting bios. As far as i know it´s very unlikely that changing that setting could harm anything on your pc or cause major problems, but do it at your own risk.

Perhaps it´s a good idea before doing any more configuration change to make a complete backup of your harddisk.

Did you tried to turn off all ingame sounds (dont know if even possible)

lowering sound hardware acceleration did help some SH3 players with problems...

good luck!

geetrue · 03-19-07, 08:34 AM

I bet it's just the video card ... the 128mb ram is the real problem. Neal's video card is faster in all the other areas especially the 512mb of video ram.

Computers need balance between all of it's componets, cpu, memory, video, sound, hdd ... like a fine racing car they neeed to be tuned.

He'll be back with a good report I'm sure of this ... well with frame rates at least.

ReallyDedPoet · 03-19-07, 08:35 AM

I have come across this before, but cannot seem to find it, an online scanner that checks your computer to see if it will run a specific game:hmm:

Does someone know of such a site, one that gives more than the min. specs to run the game, rather rec. specs

Might be worth it to post.

ACSoft · 03-19-07, 08:51 AM

It is the never ending chase between hardware technology improvements and software technology improvements who immediately "eat" the hardware progress with their new codes !!!

Personnaly, I would love that software developers stay always a "bit behind", to preserve the fluidity on the average PC when the game come out. But I presume the law of the market forbid that. They are always pushed to be the best !!!

Speaking of SH4, I must say it is not so bad as it is, for example, with FSX (flight Simulator X), but even my "Monster" PC take big hits during battle of Midway or into big harbors. Hits which are unfortunately visible on the screen (small stutter). Note, it is with all graphic options maxed and it was SH4 beta version.

On the other side, the good news is that the game was rock solid on this PC. Never had the smallest crash, even with multiple other tasks behind. A very good point for the SH dev team.

ACS

My PC:
Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH DELUXE
Proc: INTEL CORE DUO EXTREME (CONROE XE) 2.93GHZ
Memory: DDR2 2GB [1GBX2] DDR800 (PC2-6400) CORSAIR TWINX
Hard-disk: 2X SATA300 320GB - 7200 HITACHI DESKSTAR T7K500 (16MB)
Graphic: MSI GeForce 7900GTX 512DDR
OS: Windows XP version 2002 SP2 (french)

danlisa · 03-19-07, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

I have come across this before, but cannot seem to find it, an online scanner that checks your computer to see if it will run a specific game:hmm:

Does someone know of such a site, one that gives more than the min. specs to run the game, rather rec. specs

Might be worth it to post.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Well there's that one, although Silent Hunter is not listed.

ReallyDedPoet · 03-19-07, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ACSoft

On the other side, the good news is that the game was rock solid on this PC. Never had the smallest crash, even with multiple other tasks behind. A very good point for the SH dev team.

ACS

My PC:
Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH DELUXE
Proc: INTEL CORE DUO EXTREME (CONROE XE) 2.93GHZ
Memory: DDR2 2GB [1GBX2] DDR800 (PC2-6400) CORSAIR TWINX
Hard-disk: 2X SATA300 320GB - 7200 HITACHI DESKSTAR T7K500 (16MB)
Graphic: MSI GeForce 7900GTX 512DDR
OS: Windows XP version 2002 SP2 (french)

It should be, that is a rock solid PC there

, I am sure it also powers your house and other things

ReallyDedPoet · 03-19-07, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danlisa

Quote:

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

I have come across this before, but cannot seem to find it, an online scanner that checks your computer to see if it will run a specific game:hmm:

Does someone know of such a site, one that gives more than the min. specs to run the game, rather rec. specs

Might be worth it to post.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Well there's that one, although Silent Hunter is not listed.

Thanks, maybe there are others as well

The bottom screen is from that site. Edit: it is just an example from that site, not from my computer.

03-19-07, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danlisa

Quote:

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

I have come across this before, but cannot seem to find it, an online scanner that checks your computer to see if it will run a specific game:hmm:

Does someone know of such a site, one that gives more than the min. specs to run the game, rather rec. specs

Might be worth it to post.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Well there's that one, although Silent Hunter is not listed.

Dang I wanted to use it but for some reason active x controls don't work (doesn't even prompt to allow use and I have all active-x stuff set to prompt or enable...

danlisa · 03-19-07, 09:19 AM

It's abit touchy with IE but works fine with Firefox & Opera. Although you may need to check your Active X Security settings.

03-19-07, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danlisa

It's abit touchy with IE but works fine with Firefox & Opera. Although you may need to check your Active X Security settings.

Like I said all set to prompt or enable. Might end up being forced to download firefox

Mad Professor · 03-19-07, 09:43 AM

This is probabley a case of "Do you have dual channel memory enabled by having two matching model sticks of ram? or Does your motherboard support dual channel at all?"

Everybody assumes everyone's got a decent computer. Sadly not all of us have a decent computer.

He probably has a PC so old *means HIS crappy backup one*, it runs on pc133 sdram 168 pin slots. Or if he's lucky he has DDR200/266/333 184 pin slots with no Dual Channel support. It can run SH3 fine because the specs allow it to run minimally on a Pentium 3 or an Athlon T-bird systems. That means it can run on SD or DDR variants of memory with no problems. *Check the box for specs*

Silent hunter IV was design to run only on DDR and DDR2 systems with Dual Channel support, along with Hyper-Threading <--Intel and Amd---> Hyper-Transport *This includes future developments of memory controllers.*

It wouldn't matter if he bought the BEST VIDEO CARD IN THE WORLD! It would still be bottlenecked by the memory bandwidth/performance and processing power of a Socket 478 running at FSB *Front Side Bus* 400 or 533 with a high multipler. Example Pentium 4, 2.6ghz "Northwood" core running a 400 FSB would run 26x100 = 2.6ghz. The "100" in that equation is the actual FSB in mhz for that processor. It has 1-2 ratio processor-memory divider = 200 FSB x 2 again for Double Data Rate *DDR*, return feed = 400mhz in bandwidth.
Amd Athlon Xp family actually runs at a lower multipler and a higher but more "TRUE" FSB. Example: Athlon Xp 3200+ = 11 x 200 = 2.2ghz, 200 x 2 for Double Data rate = 400mhz return feed in bandwidth.

Unless you're unlucky and got a SDRam/168 pin slot version motherboards of a socket 478 or a 462 then it just runs at 100mhz with a memory divider for the Processor with a 4-1 ratio P4, or 2-1/1-1 AMD. Simple as that.

If you didn't understand that, let me put it in layman terms. Its still going to bottom out at the crappiest FPS *frames per second* no matter what newest or latest high end videocard you can put in your very old computer. Its going to be bottlenecked by the memory bandwidth and the processing power of your CPU.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that dual channel + size of memory is about 30-40% of your total system performance.

Now I do suggest you do the above and get the latest drivers known to date even if they had stop driver support over 3 years ago for your motherboard. The not so latest drivers from ATI for your 9800 which If I remember correctly stop support for 9x00 series card after driver version 6.5, so get something before that. Two if your powersupply hasn't been giving you problems and it rated 350 watts or higher with around 18 amps on the 12v rail, you're FINE! Another thing you can do is see if you have matching sticks of ram to enable dual channel mode or find out if your motherboard has dual channel support or the type of memory it runs.

Sorry if I sound like a total snob, but I just don't like seeing people blow their money on something thats just not going to solve the problem anyways.

03-19-07, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rilder

Quote:

Originally Posted by danlisa

It's abit touchy with IE but works fine with Firefox & Opera. Although you may need to check your Active X Security settings.

Like I said all set to prompt or enable. Might end up being forced to download firefox

Well bit the poisonous pancake and did this, Woot I hit all recomended on Oblivion except the Video card which is probably between recomended and Min. Now to go uninstall this wannabe web browser :p

(wholy crap I got behind in keeping my vid. drivers up to day almost a whole 1.0 behind O.o)

Reckall · 03-19-07, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Professor

This is probabley a case of "Do you have dual channel memory enabled by having two matching model sticks of ram? or Does your motherboard support dual channel at all?"

If this is the problem, then it is worth mentioning how the package doesn't mention memory requirements at all except for 1GB RAM (2GB racommended). So, the average Joe able to run Oblivion and Medieval 2: Total War on my low end system (by accepting a radical toning down of the graphic quality), will think very well that his rig is still within the parameters foir SH IV.

Anyway, luckily I can do some checks on other PCs with different specs, so I hope I'll be able to see if I can identify where the bottleneck is (specific system, drivers, graphic card...) Fact is: on my rig, the "fade in" when you start a mission takes fifteen seconds

03-19-07, 08:33 AM	#18
Gammel Commodore Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 641 Downloads: 276 Uploads: 0	Sorry changing drivers did not work, hope your computer is still fine. If you´re still in mood of doing funny stuff to your computer, go into your system bios and try playing aroud with a funktion called "AGP aperature size"or something like that... If it´s set on 64MB increase the value to 256 and try again with the game. Dont forget to save the setting before exiting bios. As far as i know it´s very unlikely that changing that setting could harm anything on your pc or cause major problems, but do it at your own risk. Perhaps it´s a good idea before doing any more configuration change to make a complete backup of your harddisk. Did you tried to turn off all ingame sounds (dont know if even possible) lowering sound hardware acceleration did help some SH3 players with problems... good luck! __________________ nie das Boot verlassen

03-19-07, 08:34 AM	#19
geetrue Cold War Boomer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Walla Walla Posts: 2,837 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	I bet it's just the video card ... the 128mb ram is the real problem. Neal's video card is faster in all the other areas especially the 512mb of video ram. Computers need balance between all of it's componets, cpu, memory, video, sound, hdd ... like a fine racing car they neeed to be tuned. He'll be back with a good report I'm sure of this ... well with frame rates at least. __________________

03-19-07, 08:35 AM	#20
ReallyDedPoet Canadian Wolf Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Canada. The one and only, East Coast Posts: 10,902 Downloads: 946 Uploads: 5	I have come across this before, but cannot seem to find it, an online scanner that checks your computer to see if it will run a specific game:hmm: Does someone know of such a site, one that gives more than the min. specs to run the game, rather rec. specs Might be worth it to post. __________________ Back in the Day

03-19-07, 09:19 AM	#26
danlisa Navy Seal Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 5,499 Downloads: 45 Uploads: 1	It's abit touchy with IE but works fine with Firefox & Opera. Although you may need to check your Active X Security settings. __________________

03-19-07, 09:43 AM	#28
Mad Professor Seaman Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 35 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	This is probabley a case of "Do you have dual channel memory enabled by having two matching model sticks of ram? or Does your motherboard support dual channel at all?" Everybody assumes everyone's got a decent computer. Sadly not all of us have a decent computer. He probably has a PC so old means HIS crappy backup one, it runs on pc133 sdram 168 pin slots. Or if he's lucky he has DDR200/266/333 184 pin slots with no Dual Channel support. It can run SH3 fine because the specs allow it to run minimally on a Pentium 3 or an Athlon T-bird systems. That means it can run on SD or DDR variants of memory with no problems. Check the box for specs Silent hunter IV was design to run only on DDR and DDR2 systems with Dual Channel support, along with Hyper-Threading <--Intel and Amd---> Hyper-Transport This includes future developments of memory controllers. It wouldn't matter if he bought the BEST VIDEO CARD IN THE WORLD! It would still be bottlenecked by the memory bandwidth/performance and processing power of a Socket 478 running at FSB Front Side Bus 400 or 533 with a high multipler. Example Pentium 4, 2.6ghz "Northwood" core running a 400 FSB would run 26x100 = 2.6ghz. The "100" in that equation is the actual FSB in mhz for that processor. It has 1-2 ratio processor-memory divider = 200 FSB x 2 again for Double Data Rate DDR, return feed = 400mhz in bandwidth. Amd Athlon Xp family actually runs at a lower multipler and a higher but more "TRUE" FSB. Example: Athlon Xp 3200+ = 11 x 200 = 2.2ghz, 200 x 2 for Double Data rate = 400mhz return feed in bandwidth. Unless you're unlucky and got a SDRam/168 pin slot version motherboards of a socket 478 or a 462 then it just runs at 100mhz with a memory divider for the Processor with a 4-1 ratio P4, or 2-1/1-1 AMD. Simple as that. If you didn't understand that, let me put it in layman terms. Its still going to bottom out at the crappiest FPS frames per second no matter what newest or latest high end videocard you can put in your very old computer. Its going to be bottlenecked by the memory bandwidth and the processing power of your CPU. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that dual channel + size of memory is about 30-40% of your total system performance. Now I do suggest you do the above and get the latest drivers known to date even if they had stop driver support over 3 years ago for your motherboard. The not so latest drivers from ATI for your 9800 which If I remember correctly stop support for 9x00 series card after driver version 6.5, so get something before that. Two if your powersupply hasn't been giving you problems and it rated 350 watts or higher with around 18 amps on the 12v rail, you're FINE! Another thing you can do is see if you have matching sticks of ram to enable dual channel mode or find out if your motherboard has dual channel support or the type of memory it runs. Sorry if I sound like a total snob, but I just don't like seeing people blow their money on something thats just not going to solve the problem anyways. Last edited by Mad Professor; 03-19-07 at 10:13 AM.

03-19-07, 08:28 AM	#16
devastat Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	It really makes me sad, that my laptop fulfills all the technical requirements, besides the fact that a 128mb memory card is required. Phoned Dell yesterday to try to get a new videocard (my current is 64mb), but according to them, it is not possible to get 128mb video card to my dell inspiron 8500 laptop!!! So it seems now that i will be unable to play the game and have to stick with my SH3 . Does anyone think there is anyway to get the game to work with 64mb videocard?

03-19-07, 08:51 AM	#21
ACSoft Soundman Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Switzerland Posts: 149 Downloads: 57 Uploads: 0	It is the never ending chase between hardware technology improvements and software technology improvements who immediately "eat" the hardware progress with their new codes !!! Personnaly, I would love that software developers stay always a "bit behind", to preserve the fluidity on the average PC when the game come out. But I presume the law of the market forbid that. They are always pushed to be the best !!! Speaking of SH4, I must say it is not so bad as it is, for example, with FSX (flight Simulator X), but even my "Monster" PC take big hits during battle of Midway or into big harbors. Hits which are unfortunately visible on the screen (small stutter). Note, it is with all graphic options maxed and it was SH4 beta version. On the other side, the good news is that the game was rock solid on this PC. Never had the smallest crash, even with multiple other tasks behind. A very good point for the SH dev team. ACS My PC: Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH DELUXE Proc: INTEL CORE DUO EXTREME (CONROE XE) 2.93GHZ Memory: DDR2 2GB [1GBX2] DDR800 (PC2-6400) CORSAIR TWINX Hard-disk: 2X SATA300 320GB - 7200 HITACHI DESKSTAR T7K500 (16MB) Graphic: MSI GeForce 7900GTX 512DDR OS: Windows XP version 2002 SP2 (french)

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