NWN2: Technical Challenges

[kalimeeri]

FYI, I just had one incomplete/corrupt autosave with 1.03, so stay on your guard. I was going from Blacklake back to Crossroad Keep, in Act III. When I brought the game back up and loaded that autosave, I could go everywhere BUT CK. I loaded the prior quicksave, and it was fine.

[Fionavar]

Hey when I start up NWN 2 I get a error, it says  it cannot find any Direct3D devices or something along those lines.

 

My specs:

 

[OS]

Name=WinXP

Version=Windows XP v5.1 build 2600 Service Pack 2

Service Pack=Service Pack 2

Status=Pass

 

[swapFiles]

C:\pagefile.sys=1524

 

[CPU]

CPUCount=1

CPUSpeed=2992

CPUFamily=15

CPUModel=4

CPUStepping=3

CPUVendor=Intel

CPUName= Intel

[Gorth]

Vid Card Driver Status=Fail

Anything you can do about that one? Newer/better drivers available for your card?

[Sand]

This is a list of unsupported video cards:

 

ATI Radeon 7200

ATI Radeon 7500

ATI Radeon 8500

ATI Radeon 9000

ATI Radeon 9200

 

Intel 82810 Integrated Graphics

Intel 82815 Integrated Graphics

Intel 82830M Integrated Graphics

Intel 82845G Integrated Graphics

Intel 82852 Integrated Graphics

Intel 82855 Integrated Graphics

Intel 82910GL GMA 900 Integrated Graphics

Intel 82915G GMA 900 Integrated Graphics

Intel 82915GV GMA 900 Integrated Graphics

 

Intel 82855GM Extreme Graphics 2

Intel 82865G Extreme Graphics 2

Intel 82865GV Extreme Graphics 2

 

Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS Express Integrated Graphics

Mobile Intel 910GML Express Integrated Graphics

 

Nvidia GeForce 2MX

Nvidia GeForce 2GTS

Nvidia GeForce 3 Series

Nvidia GeForce 4 Series

 

SiS Xabre series video cards

 

XGI Volari V3

 

I bolded the video card setup that you have. Neither the onboard video nor the ATI card will work with NWN2.

 

This is the list of supported cards which Obsidian released prior of release of the game:

 

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro

ATI Radeon 9600 Pro and XT

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and XT

ATI Radeon X600 series

ATI Radeon X700 series

ATI Radeon X800 series

ATI Radeon X1600 series

ATI Radeon X1800 series

ATI Radeon X1900 series

 

Nvidia GeForce 6600 series

Nvidia GeForce 6800 series

Nvidia GeForce 7600 series

Nvidia GeForce 7800 series

Nvidia GeForce 7900 series

 

I hope this helps.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Sand

[Elven6]

Damn, well I aint gonna buy another video card, ill stick with games that work on my card and of course console games.

 

Thanks for your help guys, hope I can still return the game!

[Sand]

The question here is why did you get a game that your card does not support?

[kalimeeri]

Come on, that isn't fair. Those bright shiny game boxes have been getting smaller and smaller, and I haven't seen one yet that says 'Warning: This game may not run on your machine!! If you don't know what kind of video card the computer company sold you, Don't buy this!' They leave about one square inch of space for system specs, and its typically stuck down on one side in the corner, because it looks boring.

 

You and most of the others here know their machines from the inside out, and read every inch of the fine print just for a thrill. And anyone like that knows the value of 'wanting to believe'. In other words, it might be possible to 'make it work'. I've lost count of the number of games that weren't supposed to run (on various systems), but did so ... okay, with a lot of encouragement, and maybe not very well, but still. My machine meets specs, so all I can do is guess, but NWN2 is probably one of the few that wasn't kidding.

[Sand]

When Obsidian gives you the specifications for their game, they give you the correct specifications.

 

Remember Murphy's Law of Computer Gaming: The listed minimum specifications written on the box by the publisher are not the minimum specifications of the game set by the developer.

[taks]

'Warning: This game may not run on your machine!!  If you don't know what kind of video card the computer company sold you, Don't buy this!'

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Generally speaking, one can infer from the term "minimum" that below such level the game will not run. particularly when followed by the term "recommended," which one can further infer that below such level the game may not run well. and yes, when you're spending $50+ on a game, you should pay attention to that one square inch. those that can't be bothered by knowledge of what is in their computer, and what they are purchasing to play on it, should box the computer up and send it back. they are not qualified to use it.

 

taks

[Elven6]

Yo that stuff is garbage, my old computer 533Mhz, 256MB ram, 128MB video card, etc ran KotOR 2, BattleFront, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and a load of other stuff that "wasen't supposed to run on my specs" perfectly after I started ending a few tasks.

 

 

 

Edit: I forgot to mention.... It was a eMachine!!!!!!!!! I think the bus speed was like 128 or something. and it was Intel Celeron!

Edited January 21, 2007 by Elven6

[metadigital]

Yo that stuff is garbage, my old computer 533Mhz, 256MB ram, 128MB video card, etc ran KotOR 2, BattleFront, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and a load of other stuff that "wasen't supposed to run on my specs" perfectly after I started ending a few tasks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So therefore the recommendations are completely false? Even when they specifically disqualify your video card?

 

Right.

 

Just because you got lucky and were able to play a game (but I bet it wasn't a fun experience as the underperformer struggled to keep up) that was beyond the specifications of your PC doesn't allow you to make such a syllogistic conclusion. And then come here looking for help to fix it.

[Elven6]

No it wasen't has bad has it seems, it was a 50/50 thing, sometimes it worked perfectly and at other times it was horrible. A restart fixed it, not saying it can working on all games but it was still a pretty cool thing to do back then!

[taks]

Yo that stuff is garbage, my old computer 533Mhz, 256MB ram, 128MB video card, etc ran KotOR 2, BattleFront, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and a load of other stuff that "wasen't supposed to run on my specs" perfectly after I started ending a few tasks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

doesn't invalidate anything sand or i said. certainly sometimes the minimums aren't necessarily true, and you may get away with running things that shouldn't run, but purchasing any product not knowing what it's claimed capabilities are is foolish. following said purchase with another that does not meet the specs is foolish as well.

 

taks

[Sand]

I have an eMachine.

 

However I increased the RAM to 1gig, put in a wireless card, a video card, and sound card, disabled onboard video and sound, placed new hard drives, replaced the PSU, and added in more fans.

 

Yeah, its an eMachine... Barely...

Edited January 21, 2007 by Sand

[Elven6]

Im was given the game has a gift, so stop making stupid assumptions, makes you seem like a prick. And the old eMachines sucked big time, not sure about the new ones.

[taks]

Im was given the game has a gift,

then take it back if it doesn't run.

 

so stop making stupid assumptions,

neither of us made any assumptions.

 

makes you seem like a prick.

comments like this actually make you a prick, you don't even have the benefit of seeming like one.

 

taks

Edited January 22, 2007 by taks

[taks]

btw, i should mention that i have upgraded, finally, to a 1280x1024 LCD without a hitch (20" dell). not sure why it does not seem to be a problem, but it is not. the 6800 is running just fine. of course, i have a 7800 GS on the way since my son's box needs a vid card.

 

taks

[alanschu]

Yo that stuff is garbage, my old computer 533Mhz, 256MB ram, 128MB video card, etc ran KotOR 2, BattleFront, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and a load of other stuff that "wasen't supposed to run on my specs" perfectly after I started ending a few tasks.

 

 

 

Edit: I forgot to mention.... It was a eMachine!!!!!!!!! I think the bus speed was like 128 or something. and it was Intel Celeron!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Then I do not believe you.

[Elven6]

Yo that stuff is garbage, my old computer 533Mhz, 256MB ram, 128MB video card, etc ran KotOR 2, BattleFront, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and a load of other stuff that "wasen't supposed to run on my specs" perfectly after I started ending a few tasks.

 

 

 

Edit: I forgot to mention.... It was a eMachine!!!!!!!!! I think the bus speed was like 128 or something. and it was Intel Celeron!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Then I do not believe you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Then you are a fool! When you go to task manager or w/e you end tasks that are using up alot of system memory, including explorer. But you keep the mandtory things on. Then you start your game from the run option at the top, it works 50% of the time!

[alanschu]

I'm well aware of the Task Manager thanks.

 

 

When you talk about running Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory on an Intel Celeron 533 MHz processor "perfectly," I wonder exactly what you mean by "perfectly."

 

We're talking about a processor that was released when the AMD "high end" chip was a K6-2 550 MHz. Unless you mean the old Coppermine version. In any case, you're getting a processor running on a 66 MHz FSB. Was it even possible to get a motherboard that supported RAM faster than PC-133 that would support it (because machines that shipped with it only came with 66 MHz RAM. Talk about speedy!). I'm going to assume it's at least the Coppermine Celeron II, otherwise you wouldn't even have support for SSE instructions.

 

I'm surprised your emachine motherboard even supported a 128 MB video card. Maybe a GeForce 3....assuming your eMachine had at least an AGP 2X slot to put it in. And the GeForce 2 was the worst nVidia based video card you could have that had the required pixel shaders to run the game. "Perfectly" indeed. This is of course all running on a system with a 66 MHz system bus, with a 533 MHz processor, and slow memory.

[Elven6]

I'm well aware of the Task Manager thanks.

 

 

When you talk about running Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory on an Intel Celeron 533 MHz processor "perfectly," I wonder exactly what you mean by "perfectly."

 

We're talking about a processor that was released when the AMD "high end" chip was a K6-2 550 MHz.  Unless you mean the old Coppermine version.  In any case, you're getting a processor running on a 66 MHz FSB.  Was it even possible to get a motherboard that supported RAM faster than PC-133 that would support it (because machines that shipped with it only came with 66 MHz RAM.  Talk about speedy!).  I'm going to assume it's at least the Coppermine Celeron II, otherwise you wouldn't even have support for SSE instructions.

 

I'm surprised your emachine motherboard even supported a 128 MB video card.  Maybe a GeForce 3....assuming your eMachine had at least an AGP 2X slot to put it in.  And the GeForce 2 was the worst nVidia based video card you could have that had the required pixel shaders to run the game.  "Perfectly" indeed.  This is of course all running on a system with a 66 MHz system bus, with a 533 MHz processor, and slow memory.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I had a ATI Radeon 9200SE in it which was supported, Chaos Theory wasen't perfect like the others were at times but it was "playable".

[alanschu]

So you got Chaos Theory to be "playable" on a Celeron 533, with a 66 MHz system bus, and at best 256 MB of PC-133 memory?

 

Also, the other games are just perfect "at times?"

[Sand]

Just a question here... What do those games have anything to do with NWN2? If you try to play NWN2 below specifications and using hardware that isn't supported don't expect the game to work. Plain and simple.

[metadigital]

I had a ATI Radeon 9200SE in it which was supported, Chaos Theory wasen't perfect like the others were at times but it was "playable".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wake-up call: when the publishers give "minimum specifications", it doesn't mean "minimum specifications to get the title screen to display", it means "minimum specifications to play the game to its conclusion, however painful it might be at times whilst the harddrive thrashes to keep up with the virtual memory requirements or the GPU overheats trying to produce more than single-digit framerates, etc."

 

The fact that you got the game to play was good fortune; to expect that this gives you some sort of supernatural guarantee to play Doom 3 on your Casio wristwatch is just foolish.

[taks]

Just a question here...  What do those games have anything to do with NWN2?  If you try to play NWN2 below specifications and using hardware that isn't supported don't expect the game to work.  Plain and simple.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ah yes, more sense from my favorite of the otherwise senseless... you speaketh the truth sand-san...

 

i gotta give you credit sand, when you try, you are actually rather level headed. of course, in the end, i simply like to poke fun at you of all people!

 

taks

Edited January 27, 2007 by taks