Author Topic: Gameplay as a function of... (Read 1202 times)

slimm50 · « **on:** November 11, 2003, 11:09:57 AM »

...your video card.

How much difference does a good video card make, when you’re talking about gunnery? I have been flying combat flight sims for a number of years, now, and am quite familiar with ACM, flight characteristics of various planes, etc. In short, I’m no novice. But occasionally when I’m on someone’s 6 (yeah, it does happen) my bullets seem not to be hitting their mark. My video card is prolly barely adequate for the game, and I was wondering if anyone has noticed a marked difference in his or her game after an upgrade.

My card is a TNT2 32 MB AGP;
CPU is PIII 866, w/ 512 MB RAM

Octavius · « **Reply #1 on:** November 11, 2003, 11:23:21 AM »

For me, frame rate plays a HUGE role in gunnery and tracking. If it's not fluid motion it annoys me. I can't enjoy a choppy game.

A few years ago when I finally bought faster parts, I was in heaven with the silky smooth transitions and uber fast frame rates. Gunnery improved, SA improved, everythign improved. Not solely from nice frame rates of course, but it sure helped.

mrblack · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2003, 11:26:23 AM »

I get Huge FPS numbers and I still suck:aok

slimm50 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2003, 11:33:03 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by mrblack
I get Huge FPS numbers and I still suck:aok

There's no substitute for experience. However, even the most experienced pilit is at a huge disadvantage if their equipment is too sub-par.

SlapShot · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2003, 12:18:33 PM »

A new (good) card allows you to turn up the Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering which greater improves the crispness of what you see. Along with increased framrates that make movement smoother, you will better be able to judge where and when to fire. The other benefit is its much easier on your eyes too.

Changing to a new card will probably give your gunnery a boost, but how much, ... depends on whether you have the "eye for the lead" or not.

>

slimm50 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2003, 12:23:31 PM »

"Anti-Aliasing", "Antroscopic Filtering" ?? Where have I been????

I have much to learn. Thanks to all of you for your input.

slim03

Arlo · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2003, 12:36:28 PM »

The joystick makes a difference as well. I had a crappy Logitech that had spiking issues from day one and went downhill from there. Eventually it just would "spike out" giving me the "don't move your controls so fast" message and locking up everytime I breathed on it unless I had it so dampened it could hardly move the plane at all. Getting a cheap Saitek made all the difference in the world.

As far as video cards are concerned, I've never been part of the "eye-candy is everything" crowd that clamors for "game improvements" that force us to upgrade every other year by buying the latest vid card, doubling or quadrupling our ram, upping the proccessor .... or ... if we're already maxed out ... building yet another "screamer" from scratch. I find the game playable and myself competative if I can keep 20 fps or higher in all situations (something my onboard video chip can handle at the moment). But I've already taken a look at the AHII beta and it's unplayable without an upgrade. From what I've seen of the screenshots, it looks nice and I like the idea of forrest cover for gvs and farm buildings scattered across the countryside and all but any upgrade that is strictly for eye-candy purposes never impressed me all that much. AH still looks fine to me.

Octavius · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2003, 02:39:09 PM »

"anisotropic" filtering

slimm50 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2003, 02:45:53 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Octavius
"anisotropic" filtering

ahhh...as one schooled optical mineralogy, (I have a geology degree) I understand isotropic/ anisotropic properties, at least as the terms apply to polarized light microscopy.

Thanks

Hornet · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2003, 05:46:37 PM »

to shamlessly quote Dok's Dikta:

2. (Graphics) Speed is Life

DipStick · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2003, 11:29:17 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Arlo
I find the game playable and myself competative if I can keep 20 fps or higher in all situations (something my onboard video chip can handle at the moment).

I find that hard to believe. I usually get around 50-60 fps with ATI 9700 Pro but took off as escort for a mission of 6-7 B17 boxes other day and it dropped to around 6-10 fps or so when looking back at them...

Ghosth · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2003, 11:48:11 PM »

I've been flying Sims online for over 6 years now.

I can only afford to upgrade my machine roughly every 2 years.

The first 6 months are golden, relish them because they fade all too quickly.

The next 12 months are so so, while you can still get good sorties they are harder & take more planning.

The last 6 months I end up flying goon, buffs, & doing GV runs when I'm on at all.

There are a couple of very reasonably priced ATI cards that could do wonders but you do need a fairly modern system to run them.

Arlo · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2003, 11:56:23 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by DipStick
I find that hard to believe. I usually get around 50-60 fps with ATI 9700 Pro but took off as escort for a mission of 6-7 B17 boxes other day and it dropped to around 6-10 fps or so when looking back at them...

1: I fly at 800x600 16 bit.

2: The only thing that has dropped me below 20 so far has been the fps sucking cloud clusters of death on some maps. Then again, I don't fly in or escort 6-7 boxes of B-17s on a regular basis. And if I did I wouldn't fly right in front of them and gaze at them loveningly over my shoulder.

*ShruG* I may apply to Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

I'm going for the 9600 xt upgrade when it's time. Skuzzy recommends it over the 9700 series. Think I'll up my ram to 512 while I'm at it.

slimm50 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2003, 08:16:44 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ghosth
I've been flying Sims online for over 6 years now.

I can only afford to upgrade my machine roughly every 2 years.

The first 6 months are golden, relish them because they fade all too quickly.

The next 12 months are so so, while you can still get good sorties they are harder & take more planning.

The last 6 months I end up flying goon, buffs, & doing GV runs when I'm on at all.

There are a couple of very reasonably priced ATI cards that could do wonders but you do need a fairly modern system to run them.

Couldn't part of the problems you have stem from where you fly from, ghosth? I mean...Fargo, ND? I heard they have to pipe in sunlight to ND cuz it's so far away. The electrons have to travel too far to get to your 'puter. And barbed wire prolly isn't the best thing to use for a connekshun...heheheh.

Seriously, though...thanks for the heads-up.

vorticon · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2003, 10:05:35 AM »

a good video card (gf2 mx440minimum) means the game runs smoother...having played with and without that smoothness it does make quite a difference...especcially for gunnery...i was hitting 60% of the time with the onboard graphics card (15-40 fps...) and 80% of the time with the gf2 (80fps)