Questions about speed and sound
 

I got 2 questions..

1. I now its a stupid question but are there any sounds in the game? I know there is no sound in space (vacum and all for the sake or reality but this is a game right?) but I was wondering whther there is any sound effects in the game.

In the options, I found a sound volume control but so far as playing the game, I've never heard any sound effects. No explosions, lasers, torps or even button feedback effects...

I tried looking in the game directory and didn't find any wav files so I thought that the game doesn't have any effects.... Just wondering whether this is true...

I can here music; just no sound.

2. What kind of performance are you guys getting? I'm getting 12fps using the standard view (default) on 1024x768x32. (No AA, Default Anisotropic filtering etc).

I'm using:-
Athlon 1200 (non XP)
Abit KT7E (Latest BIOS)
512MB SD-RAM
2x HDD 7200RPM 2MB Cache (15GB & 80GB) (playing of the biggest one).
Virtual MEM is set on seperate HDD (first partition).
ATI Radeon 9600PRO using CAT 3.8 (set to direct3D default setings).
Sound Card is CMI8738 PCI
Running WindowsXP Pro (relaive new install; 2 months ago)

Haven't had any other problems playing any other games with it.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Have you tried installing the latest Version of Direct X and the latest patches for your sound and video card?

Go into the options menu before starting the game and see if sound has been disabled.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Yes there should be sound effects. The sound files, .wav, should be located in the Sounds folder under the SF root folder.

As for fps, the best I have every seen at 1024x768 is 40fps. I run the game at 1600x1200 and get about 30fps, and my system is fairly up-to-date:
P4 @ 3.12GHz
512MB 400MHz DDR RAM
ATI 9800Pro
So, I don't think fps really has much meaning for SF.

[ November 29, 2003, 02:39: Message edited by: Wydom@ker ]

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

@Wyndom@ker


Speed Issue:
I believe 12fps and 40fps is a HUGE difference. Anything around 10 is a pain. Anything above 25fps for me is acceptable (for none First Person Shooter games).

Secondly, Sound Issue:
I dont seem to have a "Sound" directory under the Starfury directory. The folder under "Starfury" are:-

Campaigns
Images
Data
Temp
XFiles
Music
Fonts
Currgame

I have already patched to ver 1.08 but I never realiazed the lack of sound until recently. I am about to delete and reinstall to see if it makes a difference.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

YAY! I got sound!
I checked that the sound folder is here this time around too. And the laser do make sounds... Fantastic.

And, unusually, the fps went up a bit too; I'm getting around 20fps (1024x768x32) now. Weird. Previously, I was using 1024x768x16 and only got me around 18fps cause I couldn't stand 12fps at 32bit.

[ November 29, 2003, 07:39: Message edited by: Din Ahmed ]

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Well, I got the opposite, I can hear sounds, but don't get the music (and yes, the mp3 files are there, in the 'music' folder), it always crashes after a while if I activate the music http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[ November 29, 2003, 11:01: Message edited by: ace joh ]

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

I wasn't aware you could activate or deactivate music? Is there a way to which music to play from within the game?

Sorry, this doesn't help your problem with no music...

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Yes, you can deactivate music in the options menu.
Your second question is quite weird, but I think you mean if you can choose which music the game would play? I think the only way to do that is by modding it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Or just copy over the existing tracks with your own MP3s

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Speaking of music difficulties...

If I have the music playing when I'm playing the game, once in a while the game will just freeze up on me. However, if I disable the music, the problem disappears. It seems to freeze up when the sound track for a particular system or location ends. Anybody else have any similar problems??

Renegade 13

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

do you mean with 'freeze' it crashes to desktop? If yes, then I have the exact same problem as you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

My friend got 100 fps. But he does 3D rendering as a job and bought a graphic card so that explains it. You should hear when he activates the card. It sounds like jet engine.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

I get no music, period. I'm not bothered, though. I've listened to the music(1) and I must say I prefer not having any - for me, its more immersive without any muzak twinkling in the background.

Setup :

P800EB. 384 ram. 60 gig (40+20) hd. Geforce 2 MX 400. Vibra 128 sound card(2). Win98SE, pruned and savagely brutalized to remove all offensive 'default' software and thus make it more reliable.

(1) Not impressed, sorry. Then again, I just played homeworld 2 so that could be a factor.

(2) Most likely culprit. Not gonna be codecs or whatever - I assure you there's nothing wrong with my windows A/V subsystems. Other than that damned sound card. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">A) Not '3D Rendering', though its okay. Preferable is 'Raytracing'. Mention that in conversation to him and he'll be quietly impressed.

B) Raytracing is processor intensive. It only uses the graphics card for previews and while you're working on it. Rendering the final scene is done in the background. Also, Starfury itself isn't graphics intensive either. I'm pretty sure my old S3 Virge could handle it with few or no problems(1).

C) The fan on your friend's graphics card is misaligned. I'd suggest to him to get it replaced ASAP if he has cooling problems where he lives.

(1) If you ignore the fact that no trully DX7, never mind 8 or 9, compliant drivers exist for it.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Definately get the latest sound drivers. For a while Creative Live cards were causing crashes/no sound. Make sure its up to date. Same with video card drivers. Windows Update might not have your sound card's drivers, so make sure you get them from the manufacturer's site.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Stone-D. I speak english as a second language and so I don't know all the terms. And since my friend is a finn, I speak finnish with him so I don't use words like raytracin or 3D rendering. I use finnish terms though they aren't much better than my english ones. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Besides I'm very dum when it comes to 3D so I try to avoid talking too much of it and make fool of myself. Doesn't work most of the time.

I guess the point is, prepare to tolerate strange and funny english on my behalf.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Exan : Sorry if I may have sounded rude, I wasn't intending to be. It was a 'Oh, by the way' sort of thing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Nobody starts off an expert... you gotta learn somewhere. In my opinion, internet forums are one of the best sources for learning, after Usenet.

Instar :

LOL, tried that. Latest drivers I've ever been able to find for this chipset is dated 2001, IIRC. (can't check, at work ATM).

Every other driver is up-to-date... well, sorta. Up-to-date does not equate 'better' when it comes to nVidia's Detonator drivers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

yep, I had updated my drivers too, everything is up to date, I think. And it happens on the 2 pc's I have here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

No problem Stone-D. Internet Boards are good. And the tutorials in 3D softwares. Though I haven't had much experience since my previous computer was 433MHz Celeron and prior to that 100MHz pentium. They aren't exactly the best for 3D.

By the way, if anyone is interested doing planet graphs,(portraits, pictures, whatever) here's a good program for it.
Terragen
Terragen is free in non-commercial use and a new Version just shipped out.

Re: Questions about speed and sound
 

Wow, thats pretty ancient. And I tend to agree about the detonators, sometimes they are a bit off. I usually end up reading the detailed readme PDF or whatever they post just to check it. Then again, every nVidia driver Ive ever used (including non-WHQL ones) have been very very good for my GF4 Ti. Definately better drivers than ATi for sure!