System Requirements (Full Version)

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Larry Holt -> System Requirements (8/15/2000 9:56:00 PM)

Can anyone advise me of PC system requirements to play SPWAW really well on? I had a P133MHz with 128MB RAM and a 4MB PCI Diamond video card. I found that when I moved a unit, it moved forward one hex then the red hex ring moved to catch up, then this repeated until the end of the move. I upgraded to a P233 MHz but its still the same. So, I wonder is this a CPU, RAM or video card issue? Will 300MHZ, 500 MHz, 700 MHZ run fast enough to avoid this two step move lag annoyance, i.e. run fast enough to move smoothly. Or do I need a video card with more memory or an AGP card or more RAM or faster RAM (I have a 66 MHz bus system with fast paging RAM, not even EDO). I know if SPWAW requires Direct X but I don't know if it uses the kind of instruction set that a video card with onboard processor can take advantage of. Has anyone found them magic component that runs fast enough to run SPWAW smoothly? TIA. ------------------ An old soldier but not yet a faded one. OK, maybe just a bit faded.



Paul Vebber -> (8/15/2000 10:48:00 PM)

Do you have Move delay on XXX? I have an old non-MMX P166 with 64MB RAM and an old 4 MB Stealth 2000 and it takes about 3-5 seconds for a T-34 to move its full movement. My PIII 667 is a blur, Version 3 is quite a bit faster too, thanks to Mike Wood tweaking things up some:-)



Larry Holt -> (8/15/2000 11:32:00 PM)

Yes, I set move delay to XXX. I also turned of the music and battle field sounds to lessen the CPU load. Do you know if the game speed during movement is CPU or video card limited? Obviously the speed of the AIP's decisions, fire resolution, etc. are CPU related but movement is not clear to me. If just drawing pixels is the limiting task and if the game uses textures that the video card can cache then a new card might help, however if calculating movement points or something similar is going on under the hood then I need a faster CPU. Thanks for mentioning that V3 is faster. I'll wait until it comes out to see about upgrading further. ------------------ An old soldier but not yet a faded one. OK, maybe just a bit faded.



Hauptmann6 -> (8/16/2000 1:10:00 AM)

I belive tha tthis game requires processor power only, it originaly came out when graphics cards of that sort where pretty rare. and being a 2d game would not really need it. It is one of the few games where having a voodoo does not help



Arralen -> (8/17/2000 4:49:00 AM)

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Holt: Can anyone advise me of PC system requirements to play SPWAW really well on? I had a P133MHz with 128MB RAM and a 4MB PCI Diamond video card.
I just tested v2.3 ( the Kanev Scenario) on my second machine (o.k, don't tell her I said it's mine:-) ): K5-166 430HX Chipset 2x 16 MB FPM 2x 16 MB EDO S3 Trio V64 2MB PCI Graphics drawing pad which runs propietary (and slow) mouse/pencil driver With movement and scroll delay set to XXX is was quite enjoyable. So it's obviously not CPU power that is missing in your case (as you already can see from upgrading 133 to 233 without any effect), and with 128 MB you should be on the bright side of life as well [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] So maybe you have some applications running in the background (virus scanners, firewalls, etc.)? Hit ctrl-alt-derl and have a look what task are running - there shouldn't be much more than systray, explorer, SPWAW. (Hint: tested SPWAW on a HP VLi with P-III/550, 128 MB, Matrox G250, running Nt4.0 Sp6; guess what .. SPWAW runs with 99% CPU usage all the time even on that machine [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] .. so if there's any other app running with similar needs you're in trouble - obviously ) If there are no apps running in the background something 'bout your Windows configuration is seriously wrong .. Arralen



Fredde -> (8/17/2000 2:06:00 PM)

I used to play it on my p75/32mb ram and amazingly enough it was still playable ;-) Now i upgraded to a mighty p133/64 mb ram by nicking parts from old computers at work.



yegor21 -> (8/17/2000 2:32:00 PM)

I had a 75p/16ram .... it played the game!!! clean your computer like eras it and insttall it over it should work then avrything is right whith your PC.I just upgraded to 600P/128ram what a difrense! ------------------ Ruski General Yegor



Larry Holt -> (8/17/2000 7:25:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Arralen: I just tested v2.3 ( the Kanev Scenario) on my second machine (o.k, don't tell her I said it's mine:-) ): K5-166 430HX Chipset 2x 16 MB FPM 2x 16 MB EDO S3 Trio V64 2MB PCI Graphics With movement and scroll delay set to XXX is was quite enjoyable. ... Arralen
Thanks for the test. You say that it is enjoyable, may I ask if you see the two step movement delay that I do (unit moves one hex, then red hex ring moves to catch up)? I don't have anything running in the background and its W98.2 recently installed so I don't think that the registery has had time to get bloated. I'm wondering if your EDO might be the difference. I've got some sitting around somewhere (although less than the 128 of fast paging that I have now), I'll try and see if less but faster memory runs the game faster. In the meantime I've been drooling over www.tomshardware.com & www.sharkyextreme.com. I think I'll try and tell my wife that we need an Athlon 800 MHz for the kids school work, yea for school work. [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img] ------------------ An old soldier but not yet a faded one. OK, maybe just a bit faded.



jerrek -> (8/17/2000 8:55:00 PM)

i seem to remember playing a lot of steel panthers 1 on a 48633 with 8mb ram. I think it played acceptably as otherwise i wouldn't have bothered. Actually this was a free copy as i got a demo - used a game patch provided by ssi (on the same mag disk by chance) to obtain almost the entire game. only thing missing was the set campaign - could do random campaign and also any missions i could download i suppose.



Tankhead -> (8/18/2000 12:37:00 AM)

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Holt: I think I'll try and tell my wife that we need an Athlon 800 MHz for the kids school work, yea for school work. [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img] [/B]
Hi Larry! You would love 800 Athlon, You better be extra nice to the wife [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]. I run a Athlon 700 256 Geforce and 256mgs and it just screem. With all options to xxx like live delay ect.. This game rocks [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Tankhead ------------------ Rick Cloutier [email]rcclout@telusplanet.net[/email] Coordinator: Tankhead's SPWAW Resources http://sites.netscape.net/rcclout



kao16 -> (8/18/2000 4:40:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Tankhead: Hi Larry! You would love 800 Athlon, You better be extra nice to the wife [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]. I run a Athlon 700 256 Geforce and 256mgs and it just screem. With all options to xxx like live delay ect.. This game rocks [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Tankhead
So, how does the AMD Thunderbird 700 compare with Athlon and PIII? (Thundderbird just becoming available locally)



Arralen -> (8/18/2000 7:26:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Holt: Thanks for the test. You say that it is enjoyable, may I ask if you see the two step movement delay that I do (unit moves one hex, then red hex ring moves to catch up)? I don't have anything running in the background and its W98.2 recently installed so I don't think that the registery has had time to get bloated. I'm wondering if your EDO might be the difference. I've got some sitting around somewhere (although less than the 128 of fast paging that I have now), I'll try and see if less but faster memory runs the game faster.
hello Larry ! Enjoyable - that means "runs smooth, without delays or stuttering"; so nothing about "unit moves first, red marking ring follows". I forgot .. that there's a ALS120 ISA-Soundcard in that comp. - remember, the I/O from ISA soundcards can slow down your comp up to 20% ! And this is a especially crappy one (10 EU) Do you have a sound card? FPM/EDO-RAM No, one bank EDO won't make any difference. I'm not shure if it is run any faster, 'cause maybe both banks most go with the same settings. And you'll get 10% speed with "pure EDO" at best .. who says otherwise is just trying to fool you, or doesn't really know [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] So 128MB FPM are fine, really. Virtual Memory What are your settings for "Virtual Memory"? I would suggest that you make it 140MB FIXED - I hope you know what I mean. OS Win98SE .. that might be the problem - maybe your graphics driver isn't really suited for use with Win98 .. or your mouse driver - no, not kidding ! W98/98SE needs better CPU than W95, but with P233 it should be o.k. ?? New Comp No, don't do that. At first, you'll get into trouble at home. Second, don't waste money that you needn't spend - at least for playing SPWAW. CONCLUSIO Did you check that you set both "movement delay" and "scroll delay" to "XXX" ?? Maybe you should have a look for a used graphic card (ebay?) - should be few problems to get an PCI-TNT card for small money, or a Voodoo, or a G200, or the like. But, on the other hand, my TrioV64-card isn't that fast either ?? So it must be something with your Windows that's really really wrong .. Arralen



Larry Holt -> (8/18/2000 7:36:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Arralen: ...I forgot .. that there's a ALS120 ISA-Soundcard in that comp. - remember, the I/O from ISA soundcards can slow down your comp up to 20% ! And this is a especially crappy one (10 EU) Do you have a sound card?
I did not know that a bad sound card could slow my system down so much. Quite frankly I scrimped on it and got a cheap ISA one. I'll look into that. Thanks!
quote:

FPM/EDO-RAM No, one bank EDO won't make any difference. ... So 128MB FPM are fine, really.
Now that you mention it, I knew that but forgot about it. Thanks again.
quote:

Virtual Memory What are your settings for "Virtual Memory"? I would suggest that you make it 140MB FIXED - I hope you know what I mean. OS Win98SE .. that might be the problem - maybe your graphics driver isn't really suited for use with Win98 .. or your mouse driver - no, not kidding !
I know what you mean, I'll look into these things. Both my scroll and movement delays are set to XXX. ------------------ An old soldier but not yet a faded one. OK, maybe just a bit faded.



Paul Vebber -> (8/18/2000 8:26:00 PM)

Thanks for your input Arralon!! - help like this generally helps far more folks than the intended recipient. I am going to move this thread up to the "Game support" thread so folks will se it there!



Tankhead -> (8/18/2000 10:25:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by kao16: So, how does the AMD Thunderbird 700 compare with Athlon and PIII? (Thundderbird just becoming available locally)
Hi Kao16! I've been a AMD fan for years so I can't comment on PIII but for AMD check out their web site at http://www.amd.com Amd site should anwser all the questions you have. Hope this helps. Tankhead ------------------ Rick Cloutier [email]rcclout@telusplanet.net[/email] Coordinator: Tankhead's SPWAW Resources http://sites.netscape.net/rcclout



Scipio Africanus -> (8/19/2000 7:10:00 AM)

Hi Larry, My long experience with the 4MB Diamond PCI card led me to the conclusion that it is quite possibly the worst video card of all time. Aside from having the most inexcusably bad drivers, it tends to create a very tight bottleneck on even modest systems. The drivers have (among other things) major compatability issues with a number of software titles, causing everything from visual artifacts to out right crashes. I worked with this card for years, building it into systems for several clients. My professional opinion is that the card is pure crap. My advice is to turn your system off, open it up, rip the video card out and throw it out of the window (preferably 3rd story or higher). My current system is a PII 350, 128 Meg RAM- when I first built it I transferred my old Diamond card over- when I ditched the card and got a Voodoo 3, I saw a 300-600% increase in video speed and no more bugs (I was using a Voodoo 1 with the Diamond as well, so its not just a 3D issue). Hope this helps, ------------------ Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus



crazyivan -> (8/19/2000 12:38:00 PM)

hi Larry i have a plll500,256mgsram 100speed ,voodo3 3000 and a mx400 soundcard plus a viewsonic professional series 17 monitor all runs very quickly my vehs even the slow ones are a blurr.i guess if you have a smaller mhz cpu the best option would be more ram it really helps. have fun good to hear from you [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]



Arralen -> (8/19/2000 1:50:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Scipio Africanus: Hi Larry, My long experience with the 4MB Diamond PCI card led me to the conclusion that it is quite possibly the worst video card of all time. Aside from having the most inexcusably bad drivers, it tends to create a very tight bottleneck on even modest systems ...
So my first idea was right - it's the video card [img]http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] So go for an used one, here some suggestion on this: - go for a known brand, 'cause with "no names" you'll get in trouble finding drivers (my personal preferences are ELSA, Matrox, Diamond*, maybe Creative) - get yourself a "previous generation" 3D card, it should be just right with your P233/128MB; chipset would be Riva TNT, Voodoo3, Matrox ( don't know exactly, but it's the g200 card), with 8..16 MB hope this helps Arralen [This message has been edited by Arralen (edited August 19, 2000).] [This message has been edited by Arralen (edited September 17, 2000).]



Dave R -> (8/20/2000 6:27:00 PM)

I'm still running the game on my old P133 with only 32Mb of memory, and it runs fine. I do find though that before I start playing I have to do a clean boot otherwise it does play very slow.



Reg -> (8/23/2000 3:23:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Dave R: I'm still running the game on my old P133 with only 32Mb of memory, and it runs fine. I do find though that before I start playing I have to do a clean boot otherwise it does play very slow.
Ah... Glory days I got SP1, SP2, SP3, (SP3 Online got deleted for lack of space but played OK), SP2WW2 & SPWW2 on my humble 486/66 (16M Mem 1M Vesa video) and they all play OK. I've upgraded since then but I tried to run SPWaW on the old machine over a network connection. It nearly started but complained of being unable to allocate 5 Meg of virtual memory. I am sure this is due to Win95 (and particularly Explorer 4) being a resource hog on such a humble machine. I suspect SPWaW would run quite happily (though not particually rapidly) on the old 486 as well if I had more memory. If you have a speed problem with a Pentium, I'd look at the machine setup. Reg



Arralen -> (9/17/2000 3:25:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Holt: Can anyone advise me of PC system requirements to play SPWAW really well on? I had a P133MHz with 128MB RAM and a 4MB PCI Diamond video card. I found that when I moved a unit, it moved forward one hex then the red hex ring moved to catch up, then this repeated until the end of the move. I upgraded to a P233 MHz but its still the same.
I must admit - I never read your post carefully enough - this "unit first, ring follows" - issue is true even with the fastest machines, but with all delays set to XXX the units should move so fast that they almost "hop" to their target destination. Hope this helps Arralen



Ed Cogburn -> (9/17/2000 5:28:00 PM)

quote:

Originally posted by kao16: So, how does the AMD Thunderbird 700 compare with Athlon and PIII? (Thundderbird just becoming available locally)
The Thunderboard is the 2nd version of the Athlon, so its referred to as the "Thunderbird Athlon". The Thunderbird moves the 2nd level cache onto the CPU die, for a significant boost in speed. Originaly designed for a motherboard with a "Slot A" interface for the CPU package, there is now a "Socket A" version of the Thunderbird Athlon. The Socket A motherboards and the CPU package itself are cheaper to make than the older "Slot A" versions. The price difference is major. That's the baby you want: a Socket A, "Thunderbird" Athlon, as fast as your wallet can afford. It is superior to PIII at the same clock speed, it will be competitive with the newer Pentium coming up (as of about a month ago, when I stopped checking the hardware news regularly), and more affordable than Intel CPUs at this point. Highly recommended.



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