.TuG.Beaver Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 While bored last night I decided to install a few old games onto my new system (CPU/Mem/MB/GFX) to see if I could crank things upto the max and see what they looked like. I picked 4 games off the shelf and set about getting all the latest patches, etc. Games I picked are: Battlefield 2 + v1.41 Patch Fear + v1.08 Patch Far Cry + v1.40 Patch Stalker + v1.0005 Patch Here's the results..... Battlefield 2: I originally last played this back in december 2006 according to my stats page in-game after I retrieved my old acount - at the time I was playing on a 6600GT and my old Athlon64 3500+ and I could put everything up high @ 1280x1024 on my 17" TFT. Now I have the uber rig with the 1680x1050 widescreen, I thought I could now set absolutely everything to max and it would fly. Um, well it does fly, but it looks like shit! The 1st problem is, BF2 only supports upto a max 1280x1024 screen resolution with the only 'widescreen' option being 1280x960 (which was more for laptop screens) - so I cranked everything up on uber and joined a server and spawned in. It was the same mad, fun gameplay of capping the flags I enjoyed from before and I picked my trusty sniper kit and went off to a suitable point and just started capping heads. The gameplay is still good, but the engine is now totally out-dated for the hardware and widescreens. I've done a little digging on a few forums, notably the "Widescreen Gaming Forums" and found a tool called "Widescreen Fixer" which works with a number of older games. Site: http://imk.cx/pc/widescreenfixer/ Forum: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11529 I've yet to test the program, but it has alot of good reviews. Sadly, even putting BF2 into the correct screen resolution, probably wont make it look any better than it does. Verdict: Thumbs Down! I'll do STALKER next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Beaver Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow Over Chernobyl This isnt that old a game, but when it was originally released, it was buggy as hell and the frame-rates were shocking. I've installed the latest patch (v1.0005) and fired it up and was impressed that it had my 1680x1050 widescreen mode, so I selected this & turned everything upto max settings. Originally when I played the game (on old patches), I could only get about 15-20fps even with my 7950GT - however with the new CPU/8800GT combo - it flies along at a steady 45-50fps. I have to say it does look extremely nice in full detail & widescreen, just a shame I never really got into the game play or MP side of it. It could be a good co-op game I think. Verdict: Thumbs Up! I'll do FEAR next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Beaver Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault Recon This isnt a particularly old game and I do remember it looked pretty good & played pretty well on my old 6600GT & 7950GT with everything high @ 1280x1024. The one thing I do remember is that it was probably one of the 1st games to make me feel sick while playing it because of the bobbing when moving. Playing it now @ 1680x1050 with everything on high, to be honest it still didnt look any different from how I played it before and still the same old sick feeling after 5 mins of play through the SP. The game certainly looks nice, but the engine is somewhat dated and wasnt really using any of the newer effects that I've seen. Verdict: Thumbs in the middle! Next the daddy of old school games - Far Cry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Beaver Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Far Cry Oh my ****ing god! If you own a copy of Far Cry & have a new gfx card, you seriously need to get this game installed, crank everything up to "Very High" and prepare to come in your pants at the sheer beauty on offer. The config tool is excellent and allowed me to pick the right 1680x1050 screen res and then set every single option to "Very High", also set Anti-Aliasing on highest & Anisotropic Filtering on highest. The still runs at an amazing 90-100fps on my 8800GT. I could take pictures of how nice it looks, but they honestly dont do it justice. Verdict: ****ing 2 Thumbs Up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Tweak Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Make sure you select the 16:10 aspect ratio (if available) as this si what PC monitors use. It makes a bit of difference to the way games look. I've just been playing MOH:Airbourne multi player, Jesus those maps are big, and high! the sniping on that game is emense! Beaver, put Oblivion on, then Bioshock! Amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Beaver Posted January 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Make sure you select the 16:10 aspect ratio (if available) as this si what PC monitors use. It makes a bit of difference to the way games look. I've just been playing MOH:Airbourne multi player, Jesus those maps are big, and high! the sniping on that game is emense! Beaver, put Oblivion on, then Bioshock! Amazing! Oblivion = ghey Bioshock = Nice gfx, but still ghey! Computer says No! hehe. I didnt bother buying MOH:A cos the MP was so ****ed up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Tweak Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 You know the two games that have really impressed me since I got my new rig (apart from Crysis and COD4) are Gears Of War, with everything on high at a good resolution it looks truly amazing. And UT3, how can a game run so fast on line with everything set to high at the highest resolutions?? Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.JJUK Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 yep Gears of war Graphics are very nice, nice gameplay as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Beaver Posted January 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 You know the two games that have really impressed me since I got my new rig (apart from Crysis and COD4) are Gears Of War, with everything on high at a good resolution it looks truly amazing. And UT3, how can a game run so fast on line with everything set to high at the highest resolutions?? Awesome. I bought UT3 the other week & yes it looks bloody good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.Tweak Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 yep Gears of war Graphics are very nice, nice gameplay as well. Yeah, on hardcore mode it's very tactical, lots of cover and move stuff.We should have a co-op game sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krise madsen Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Barring technical issues beyond my understanding (i.e. just about everything computer-related), I'd say that CryEngine1 (FarCry) is arguably the most under-used middleware engine for first person shooters. Evah. Whenever I play though the first, pre-Trigen levels of FarCry, I get this little voice whispering "just imagine what an enhanced Ghost Recon game would be like on this engine" into my ear. Imagine the extra "stuff" you can put into such a game (compared to FarCry), considering the increase in average hardware power since 2004. And imagine all that "stuff" (and developer resources) being gameplay features, AI algorithms, and just more stuff happening on screen - as opposed to higher polygon count. Yummy. Respectfully krise madsen PS: And yes this is me beating the dead horse named "Ubisoft", who own the Ghost Recon IP as well as rights to use CryEngine1 (yes they do, it was part of the deal when Crytek left them for EA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.TuG.h0 Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 far cry ey? I got a new gfx card not too long ago and a decent rig, think I might reinstall it, see how it plays. You shuold try unreal tournament and unreal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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