Total newbie: questions

[Saville]

Hi there,

 I used to be an Air Warrior addict many years ago....then Warbirds after that.

 But the games grew away from my CPU power (P200 MMX) and I haven't bought a new machine. I'm likely to do so in the near future and was thinking of getting back into the Sims.

 I have a couple questions. If this isn't he place to ask them let me know where a better place is.

BTW, I attempted to send email using the address on the web page and it bounced.

 anyways, here's my questions:

1) I have a cable modem. Can you play online with that? Is there any advantage of cable modem over regular modem?

2) I see they claim all you need is a P233. But what do you REALLY need?

3) I have Thrustmaster sticks, throttle, and rudder pedals. Have the games progressed beyond those? Or is that still enough to play and do well?

 Thanks,

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Saville

[This message has been edited by Saville (edited 10-11-2000).]

[AKDejaVu]

 

1) I have a cable modem. Can you play online with that? Is there any advantage of cable modem over regular modem?

Cable modems usually have lower ping times than regular modems.  I've found in virtually every on-line game I've ever played that lower ping times are better.

 

2) I see they claim all you need is a P233. But what do you REALLY need?

It all depends on what you have connected to it.  I'd have a tendancy to say your p200 isn't going to cut it.  I know that my P2-450 seemed to handle it just fine with a TNT2 card.  Somewhere between the two is the minimum you are looking for.

With the addition of smoke.. I'd recomend a 450 or higher to avoid those 5 fps situations.

 

3) I have Thrustmaster sticks, throttle, and rudder pedals. Have the games progressed beyond those? Or is that still enough to play and do well?

Yes.  They are very outdated.  You should box them all up and send them to me.  I will see that they are disposed of properly

Actually.. these will do just fine for the game.  The TM stuff has a long way to go before it is "outdated".  Hopefully, Guillemont hurries the USB stuff through so I can go back to it

AKDejaVu

[Westy]

On cable modem? Definatley good. But your mileage may vary depending on what ISP you have access to. I'm not impressed with Road Runner at al judging by many complaints.  I have ISPchannel for cable modem service and
it has rock steady connections, reliable as all hell and proactive in upgrading pipes that start experiencing congestion.

As for the CPU issue. All I can say is try Aces High with the free down and see. I'm sitting at a 500mhz Pc with 128mb PC100 memory but with a real bnottom of the barrel video card and AH is unplayable with the frames per second (FPS) I get. SO if you have a good video card and a clean system you could be fine.

As for your "HOTAS" equipment? You're all set!!  It could only get better by buying the latest and newest  USB gear.  

 Download AH, fLy offline to shake it out and learn the commnds etc, grab a two week test drive and then see how it goes for yourself!
 
  -West

[popeye]

Saville!!!

Nice to see ya.  I knew you couldn't stay away forever.  

I don't have a cable modem, but many players do and it seems to work very well.

I think you will want more than a P233.  AH has great eye candy, and you'll want to enjoy all of it.  I'm running a Celeron at 550 with a TNT2 video board, and get 30-50 FPS in high resolution.  My stuff is a couple of years old, so other players will have better ideas about what to buy today.

Your flight controls will work fine.  AH allows you to mix and match just about any combination of controls, so you can upgrade one piece at a time.

I think you're gonna like AH.  

popeye

ps.  The MOL is here with a great bunch of guys.  Give me a shout when you're looking to hook up with a squad.

[indian]

Westy you can get a tnt2 for around $70 and it works very well. Old drivers are best.

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Tommy (INDIAN) Toon
Indians Home page were links to help pages can be found.
Indian's Homepage

[Saville]

 

Originally posted by popeye:
Saville!!!

POPEYE!!!!!!!

>Nice to see ya.  I knew you couldn't stay >away forever.    

   Well you were right. I got rid of the wife, kept the house and computer, so now I can play when and where and how I want ;^)

I was hoping to run into some old AW/WB guys. Good to see you.

>I don't have a cable modem, but many players >do and it seems to work very well.

   Yeah that seems to be the general word.

>I think you will want more than a P233.  AH >has great eye candy, and you'll want to >enjoy all of it.  I'm running a Celeron at >550 with a TNT2 video board, and get 30-50 >FPS in high resolution.  My stuff is a >couple of years old, so other players will >have better ideas about what to buy today.

   Ok so it doesnt' sound like you need a1Ghz system to play.....

>Your flight controls will work fine.  AH >allows you to mix and match just about any >combination of controls, so you can upgrade >one piece at a time.

   Good to know. That was my biggest investment in WB: I bought two of everything just so flight control damage didn't keep me from playing. ;^)

>I think you're gonna like AH.    

   Could be.

Where do I get a list of the capabilities? Things like:

Do clouds work?
Does AH have the Internet "radio"?

stuff like that?

popeye

ps.  The MOL is here with a great bunch of guys.  Give me a shout when you're looking to hook up with a squad.

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Saville

[Badger]

 

Originally posted by Westy:
.....but with a real bnottom of the barrel video card and AH is unplayable with the frames per second (FPS) I get.

Westy... <S>

I have a Diamond TNT Ultra just gathering dust.  You're welcome to it if you handle the shipping to get it to you.  It worked real well with AH and the drivers it came with.

Regards,
Badger

[Westy]

 CC Indian. Thanks! "This pc" is my work PC so no $$$ coming from me to fix it     I had to work last Saturday but managedd to log on to AH with it for soem vehicle action. Flying was too hard at 5-10fps.  I do have a TNT2 Ultra in the home PC. Which is just a 333. It runs very well in AH,  full res. textures and at 1280X1024 screen res.

 Saville, the clouds in AH are almost indescribable. They're fantastic and for me they are  where I enjoy fighting the most. They are not everywhere online (frame hit too much) but when they do float in at 20k over a base where the action is happening the immersion during "cloud fights" is phenominal. Cat and mouse games can be alot of fun  
 And Roger Wilco was integrated into AH a version or two back. Works like a champ!
 The list in differences between what AW doesn't have and what AH does is enormous. There really is nothing comparable between the two. The differences between WB's and AH I'll leave to one of the WB types.

  -Westy

[Naso]

Seville,

I play at 20-30 (even 45!!) fps hires 1024x768 with:

PII266, 128 Mb RAM (memory, not spanish  ), Voodoo 3 2000 Video card, SBLive! 1024 and a Thrustmaster set.

No problems at all !!!

Download and enjoy  

[Mickey1992]

>>3) I have Thrustmaster sticks, throttle, and rudder pedals. Have the games progressed beyond those? Or is that still enough to play and do well?

LOL.  I play with a two-button joystick.  You should do quite well.

[Fury]

Hey Saville,

Here are my system specs:

Gateway 200mhz Pentium Pro
128meg RAM
Creative Labs Graphics Blaster 16meg Riva TNT
20gig HD
Logitec Wingman Warrior
19" monitor
Cable modem

I used to use a MS Sidewinder 3DPro (I broke it after 3 years).  Had some spiking with that stick.

I do not have a seperate throttle or rudders.

I used to connect at 28.8 with my 33.3 modem.

As you can see, I am under the system specs.  However, I am able to play AH just fine on my system.  Even with my old dialup, I rarely saw warps and have never been accused of warping.  My frame rates are 20 - 24 and may dip as low as 9 when at a field that contains a lot of smoke damage.  I find my normal frame rates just fine for me (but I've never seen 50+ so I can't compare it).  Nine is a little low  

<<edit:  I am running the hi res patch, and also run video at 1024x768, 32bit>>

Fury


[This message has been edited by Fury (edited 10-11-2000).]

[Saville]

Originally posted by Fury:
Hey Saville,

>Here are my system specs:

>Gateway 200mhz Pentium Pro
>128meg RAM
>Creative Labs Graphics Blaster 16meg Riva TNT

  Is it still p[ossible to buy a NON-AGP advanced video card? I don't have an AGP motherboard and PCWORLD doesn't even bother to show non-agp cards any more so I don't know what's out there.

Thanks Fury




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Saville

[LJK Raubvogel]

You can still find Voodoo 3 3000 PCI cards if you look around a bit.

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LJK_Raubvogel
LuftJägerKorps

[Fury]

My PC will be four years old in a few weeks.  I'm pretty sure it's not AGP but not positive because now we're getting over my head.

I bought my card at Circuit City last spring.  Pretty sure PCI, will check when I get home.

Fury

[LLv34_Snefens]

My old computer I played the first 10 months of AH on is a P2-300 with 64MB ram and a Voodoo2 12MB video card, and using a 56KB modem connecting from Denmark (Europe)
I got 29 FPS in non-demanding enviroment (climbouts), and about 18-24 in low level dogfights. This was playable just fine, but I would have fps drops when entering clouds and smoking fields. Nothing that was a major drawback for my enjoyment tho.

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Ltn. Snefens
RO, Lentolaivue 34

[This message has been edited by LLv34_Snefens (edited 10-11-2000).]