Pinch Punch, first day of the month!

[Silverhaze]

Well its HERE!!!

It came at 8:15 this morning and Ive just installed XP and the vid drivers.

Now Im trying to work out how to get the audio to work. Its enabled in the BIOS but windows cant see it.

As ever, reading the manual helps in these situations.

The mobo has a CD with all the drivers on it. Isnt that nice!

[were]

yur comp is that fast..well,ahem,i guess we wont see you here for a bit

[Silverhaze]

lol

It came with Price of Persia: Warrior within and I installed that. Strange thing happened with the video cut scenes, they ran really bad. The main game ran perfectly with all the settings on high.

Just installed Doom 3, lets see how that goes.

Might just need some better codecs or something?

[Silverhaze]

Just played through the F.E.A.R demo, bit short but its awesome!! Creeped me out nicely with that little girl standing at the top of the ladder!!

Stuttered a little bit in places.

[were]

you might need to update your videocard drivers(and possibly) reinstall the directX again.

make sure you uninstall your old videodrivers

[Damian]

Considering he just installed everything today, it is very unlikely that anything is out of date.

[were]

lol thats true..but you still need to goto the videocard's manufacture website and get the updated videodrivers..it could be some fixes to play some 3d type games

other than that..your good to go(or went)

[Silverhaze]

Well at first I installed the drivers that came with the PC but I also went and got the Forceware for Windows XP/2000 Version: 78.01 and then installed them. Maybe I should try totally uninstalling them and trying again.

Its not that the games arent smooth, its almost as if its smooth but the scenery stutters a bit?! Its hard to explain.

Maybe I need to adjust refresh rates in windows or something, Im using 85 at the moment. I did try lowering it to 60 but it didnt seem to have much of an effect. I should try playing with the vsync settings on the card but I heard that most apps override those options anyway.

[Silverhaze]

You know what. I think its just the games. Half Life 2 does it too on the really detailed open air areas when you move the mouse fast. F.E.A.R also does it a bit so maybe I should fiddle with refresh rates and things.

I have my desktop set to 1280x1024 85hz what do other people use? This isnt with an LCD monitor btw.

Anyway, yeah HL2 is pretty impressive but the best thing about it is easily the physics and those ceiling limpit things with the tentacles. I love throwing stuff at them and watching them pick it up. The way glass breaks is brilliant and Ive only really just started the game. I have the pistol and the machine gun so far.

Still, Im waiting for Black & White 2 and F.E.A.R Those are my 2 most wanted.

[Zep]

Try this site Haze: http://www.tweakguides.com/

It tells you how to get the most from your graphics card/machine for each specific game.

[Silverhaze]

Sweet Zep thanks for that!!

I spoke to a friend of mine about this and maybe Im just overreacting. Its been a while since I played a FPS on a PC so I cant really remember what the older ones were like. Its weird how the mouse movement is totally smooth and doesnt stutter at all. Just the graphics that almost look as if they are. Bah I dunno, its the sort of thing you would have to see to understand.

Its sort of like when you scroll through text on a cheap LCD screen, black text on a white background and it sort of leaves a shadow behind for a split second. Like that only not as bad.

[adidas]

are you using a CRT?

[Silverhaze]

Yep, bit fat chunky 19" tube

I studied the problem yesterday, its like a flicker. Say you were looking in game at a lamp post, ok still or moving slowly the lamp post looks the same but speed the mouse up and look at the lamp post as it moves by and it splits into 2 identical lamp posts side by side. Its not actually there because I took a screen shot when it was looking like that and the shot was perfect.

So, its like its flickering between the 2 images and then when you stop moving the mouse they come back together, almost like when you go crosseyed and you see the different images through each eye at the same time.

You really dont notice it that much but it gets worse in open areas when the frame rate drops from the usual 71 to 40. Could well be something to do with the flicker on the monitor but lowering windows refresh rate doesnt seem to have much of an impact. Cheap monitor no doubt.
I should try it on another newer one I have.

[Zep]

All I can think of is updating your monitor drivers and going into the games .cfg files and seeing what the refresh rate is in there. I have never come such a problem, so if you want to swap computers you know where to find me.

[Silverhaze]

Much as I'd love to Zep

I think Im gonna get a LCD eventually. Samsung do a 19" for under £200 which got quite good reviews.

I dont think I even have any drivers for my monitor. I didnt think you needed such things?

Im using a Dell M990 19" and according to some site I saw the drivers are native to XP anyway, I just went through the Display Properties and chose to update the drivers. Dunno if it will make a difference, I think XP was using those anyway.

I ordered a new mouse today too as Im fed up with the shitty response time on my old standard Logitech optical 2 button wheel mouse.
I got a Logitech MX510 Performance Optical Mouse

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Gaming_Mice.html

3rd one from the top on that list. I got one with a cord because I dont like cordless mice. THey're too heavy.
So, should come tomorrow or friday, I'll let you know what its like.

[Zep]

I dont think I even have any drivers for my monitor. I didnt think you needed such things?

XP had my monitor (Relisys 988 19" CRT) registerd as a Plug & Play; as soon as I updated the correct drivers, the visual qulity was muchly there. Plug & Play = No Waaaay.

[were]

**edited beyond belief**

[Damian]

nevered new mouses have engines?WTF.!?..say son the webpage..
my aunt has a mouse with a red beam at the bottom..no wheel.Looks kewl bu i hate it.Tad heavy and slow response time.

I nominate post of the year!

[adidas]

I second!

[Silverhaze]

Yeah that was sweet! I third that.

[were]

ahh screw you guys..god damn lucky i dont live next door you you guys..ill be kickin your asses

[Zep]

hehe, it's a fucking masterpiece

[Silverhaze]

I love you like a brother were!

You never cease to bring a smile to my face and I thank you for that