Scotty I need more power!

Alarik · #1 March 9th, 2004, 09:18 AM

I am trying to play on a Sony Viao laptop with a Pentium III and I didn't figure I would have any problems but am finding it too slow to realistically play. ( It takes almost a minute to move the map even one click) The battles completely freeze me out. I did download the patch. I saw you guys talking about drivers and dx9. Not sure if DX 9 is on my computer yet unless it comes with the game. I'm assuming I really could use some new drivers but want to make sure I get the right one as I don't want to have any big problems with a computer I use for other things. Wish I was more tech savvy about these kinds of things and could really use some help. Thank you in advance to any good samaritans I may find on this internet highway.

Norfleet · #2 March 9th, 2004, 09:32 AM

Your computer is simply inadequate for the task of playing Dominions II at normal graphics levels, in all likelyhood. Laptop graphics capabilities are notoriously awful, and I've heard particularly scathing remarks about Sony VAIOs. If you want it to run, try modifying your shortcut to dom2 -x. That will reduce the level of fanciness in your graphics to a level which probably won't make the computer chug. Maybe.

Note that not having enough RAMs, in conjunction with a large map like World, will undoubtedly exacerbate the problem.

tinkthank · #3 March 9th, 2004, 11:17 AM

I know nothing about computers, but I play on a Clevo (no-name) Pentium III with somethink like 1Ghz (?) and 512 RAM and a 64MB something-graphics (starts with an A?) card, Windows 98 SE and notice no problems whatsoever. On Windows 2000 (otherwise: Same setup) it sucks all my resources and I find it hard to play at all. Try maybe Win 98? Sorry if this is stupid, I can only see the surface of computer problems.

Chazar · #4 March 9th, 2004, 11:56 AM

I'm running it on my Laptop, a Fujitsu-Siemens with not-uptodate ATI Radeon Mobility Graphic.

First it was awfully slow (Battle Frame count was around 2 with even the lowest quality setting, unbearable), both under Linux and WinXP, but those Omega-drivers recommended in that sticky thread really worked: Now I've set quality to the highest value and the frame count is still around 90...

This sounds incredible, but I guess that this is due to the very bad OpenGL support in most (Laptop-)Graphics drivers (eg. ATI in my case, which officially doesnt support the mobility chips).

So try different (third-party) drivers like those Omega-Drivers. Maybe just trying the game with one of those up-to-date Linuxes-from-bootable-CD (Knoppix, etc.) might also be worth a quick try...

Alarik · #5 March 9th, 2004, 03:02 PM

Thanks to all. I know there is a solution because it runs some (graphically) fairly comparible games like Shogun: Total War really well. I'm on windows 98...I personally think it's a driver issue. Can anyone recommend some good third party drivers that are compatible with the standard Viao Graphics card? I love computer games but on some of these tech issues I'm way out of my depth.

NTJedi · #6 March 10th, 2004, 07:36 AM

Use MSCONFIG to clean out the startup group... and disable any anti-virus services.

See if that improves performance.

Sindai · #7 March 10th, 2004, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alarik:
Thanks to all. I know there is a solution because it runs some (graphically) fairly comparible games like Shogun: Total War really well. I'm on windows 98...I personally think it's a driver issue. Can anyone recommend some good third party drivers that are compatible with the standard Viao Graphics card? I love computer games but on some of these tech issues I'm way out of my depth.

My guess is your laptop uses a Radeon card, and thus you're suffering from ATI's horrible OpenGL support. (Most games these days - like Shogun - use Direct3D to do their graphics, only small-developer games like Dom2 use OpenGL any more).

To make sure, though, go to "Run" and type "dxdiag." This'll pull up the DirectX diagnostic program, which will tell you virtually everything you could want to know about your computer. Go to the "Graphics" (or something like that) tab and tell us what it says your graphics card is.

Arryn · #8 March 10th, 2004, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sindai:
(Most games these days - like Shogun - use Direct3D to do their graphics, only small-developer games like Dom2 use OpenGL any more)

Not true. Since D3D is a Windows-only API, any developer, regardless of size, that has an app that is multiplatform (as is Dom) must use OpenGL. And many games from large companies support OpenGL as a secondary API. Knights of the Old Republic, 2003 Game of the Year, is an example.

Sindai · #9 March 10th, 2004, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Arryn:
Not true. Since D3D is a Windows-only API, any developer, regardless of size, that has an app that is multiplatform (as is Dom) must use OpenGL. And many games from large companies support OpenGL as a secondary API. Knights of the Old Republic, 2003 Game of the Year, is an example.

I already knew all of that. It's not relevant to the discussion at hand.

GavinWheeler · #10 March 11th, 2004, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sindai:
only small-developer games like Dom2 use OpenGL any more

Quote:

Originally posted by Arryn:
Not true. Since D3D is a Windows-only API, any developer, regardless of size, that has an app that is multiplatform (as is Dom) must use OpenGL.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sindai:
I already knew all of that. It's not relevant to the discussion at hand.

Looks directly relevant to me. Are you sure that you have read what Arryn wrote, carefully, and also that what you have written is really what you meant?