Neverwinter Nights 2!!!

[takyris]

Yeah, but the Obsidian forums are there anyway. Tons of stickies and a number of them on hardware/graphics settings as you can imagine. Just click on forums and then go to the Neverwinter Nights 2 forums.

Yes. As I noted in another post. I did not take issue with the statement that NWN2's forums are at BioWare.

I took issue with the implicit statement that BioWare was failing to support NWN2 properly, when trancejeremy complained about BioWare's links sending him to Atari. The link on BioWare's support page is there as a courtesy, not as an acknowledgment of support liability.

 

[Thanee]

Three weeks ago, I would have recommended the 7900GTO for $253 as the best overall card for you to get. Problem is - everyone recognized that for being true and they pretty much instantly sold out.

That's also what is written on Tom's Hardware... he recommends the Radeon X1950 PRO now in this range.

For comparison, only the 7900 GS and 7950 GT are mentioned, though.

[SBLOCK]Best PCI-E Card For ~$180

Radeon X1950 PRO

Codename: RV570, 90-nanometer technology
36 Pixel shaders, Eight Vertex shaders, 12 Texture units, 12 Raster Operator Units
256 bit external memory bus (512-bit internal ring bus)
575 MHz core, 690-MHz DDR (1280 MHz effective) Memory

The X1950 PRO is similar to the X1900 GT, the main difference being that it is not based on the X1900 XT, but a whole new and less power-hungry core.

The card's main competition is the 7900 GS, which it soundly beats in almost every benchmark.

I have already seen brand-new X1950 PROs for as little as $165 on Newegg. At that price this card is an absolutely incredible deal.

Best PCI-E Card For ~$250: None

In this price range, the best buys used to be the Geforce 7900 GTO and Radeon X1900 XT 256mb.

Unfortunately, I can't find them for that price anymore. What we can find in this price range is the 7950 GT, which is a good card, but it is more expensive than the X1950 PRO and only offers similar performance. It is thus hard to recommend.

Supposedly, ATI will release the X1950 XT this month, which should be a recommended buy once it becomes available--assuming it can be bought in this price segment. Until then, keep your eyes out for X1900 XTs and 7900 GTOs, in case they resurface in the $250 range.[/SBLOCK]

Bye
Thanee

 

[trancejeremy]

I took issue with the implicit statement that BioWare was failing to support NWN2 properly, when trancejeremy complained about BioWare's links sending him to Atari. The link on BioWare's support page is there as a courtesy, not as an acknowledgment of support liability.

Well, the trouble with that, is that it wasn't implied (though I can understand that as a Bioware employee, you might be sensitive to such slights, so my apologies if it seemed that way). I wasn't irked at Bioware for not offering technical support - I was irked at nobody offering technical support. When you finally get a game you've been waiting for, then get a stupid error message, it's very irksome.

Anyway, it's really Atari's responsibility. They stink at that. So it's nice that Obsidians/Bioware at least have forums where I was able to find the answer.

Actually, it's kinda funny. I just spent 7 hours downloading the 64 bit version of .net 2.0 (I'm on slow dialup), but now that I look on the disc, it's actually on there. The installer apparently just assumes everyone has 32 bit XP and runs that version of the installer. D'oh...

 

[trancejeremy]

Anyway, now that I get it running, I have to say it runs pretty well for me. It defaulted to max everything, and I got a fps of 14.95 indoors. Which I didn't find bearable. So I turned the shadows to low, and that doubled the framerate. Which is quite playable.

One thing that was very annoying, is the game defaulted to a refresh reate of 60Hz. Which is nigh on unbeable on a CRT monitor. And there is no obvious way to change it to something that doesn't kill the eyes. Poking through the nwn.ini file, I seemed to have fixed it, but after I exited, it changed it back...


edit: Now the refresh rates seems to have stuck.

Anyway, the graphics in the game are weird. They aren't what you call sexy, but they have a very impressive amount of detail. And it can handle a very large number of people on screen at once without a slowdown. Oblivion, OTOH, ran at a higher frame rate for me most of the time, but during some of the mass battles, like the one where you help defend the town, it was really choppy and made fighting almost impossible.

Spoiler

And is it me, or is the Tiefling girl you rescue sound exactly like (and sorta look like) the Twilek girl from the KOTOR games?

 

[Kaodi]

How do you check to see if you are running a 32-bit or 64-bit XP? My CPU is an Athlon 64, but when I got my computer I don't think I was actually aware that there was a seperate version of XP for 64-bit instead of them being built into the same package. If I end up getting the game in a few days, it could end up being an issue, like it was for you, trancejeremy.

 

[takyris]

Well, the trouble with that, is that it wasn't implied (though I can understand that as a Bioware employee, you might be sensitive to such slights, so my apologies if it seemed that way). I wasn't irked at Bioware for not offering technical support - I was irked at nobody offering technical support. When you finally get a game you've been waiting for, then get a stupid error message, it's very irksome.

Ah, my bad. I've been on other boards having to explain to people that, really, BioWare didn't make this one, seriously, not at all. Apologies for seeing a slam that wasn't there.

And yeah, the error message of doom after getting a long-awaited game is pretty much never fun. That was Half-Life 2 for me. "Why... are all... the placeables... DISAPPEARING!!!?"

 

[RithTheAwakener]

Works fine for me. Fighter 4/ Sorc 1/ Dragon Disc 9. Proud owner of my own half-fixed castle.

 

[Mycanid]

An interesting premise. Looking for a cheap PCI-E card to tide you over until you make a bigger upgrade for Vista?

I don't disagree with the logic. I think it's reasonably sound. But the devil is in the details.

It all boils down to WHEN. When are you planning on getting that DX10 card? I suggest to you that one of the big factors in that answer is "when I have a real use for it".

Vista and Direct X10 games represent a very sharp break with the past. DirectX 10 is a major "reset" of the DX pipeline and there are serious questions of how well the market is going to be able to accommodate it. It is even possible that this "clean break" approach with DX10 could outright fail.

The base requirements for DX 10 is such that there is no going back. If you create your game for DX10 - you don't have a fallback support for DX 9.0c or b hardware. This is a big - nay - massive departure.

In fact, that's a DAMN scary propoosition if you are a developer. You are seriously limiting your potential market if you develop a pure DX10 game (leaving aside parallel hybrid development).

There is also the issue of Vista itself. While I do think that the current installed Windows XP base will migrate to Vista - I think it will be 18 months or so before this reaches critical mass.

Put another way - you won't have a good reason to purchase a DX10 card i.e., to play DX 10 games - for about 18 months or so, maybe as much as 24 months.

18-24 months is long time in computer hardware and gaming. If you were thinking "I'll get a DX10 card in 6 months" then that, I think, is going to lead to a different purchasing strategy then "I'll get a replacement card in 18-24 months".

Best PCIE-E option:

Three weeks ago, I would have recommended the 7900GTO for $253 as the best overall card for you to get. It's essentially a 7900GTX with slightly slower memory - in other words - while not quite bleeding edge, it was leading edge at an awesome price. Best card for the money, bar none.

Problem is - everyone recognized that for being true and they pretty much instantly sold out. You can't find the damn things anywhere. The recommendation was so obvious everybody snapped these up as nVidia dumped these cores and they are GONE.

Solution?

The 7900GT is on sale right now, after rebate, for $199. That's a SIGNIFICANTLY better card than a 7600, which in my view, is a card you do not want. It's got the cachet of a 7xxx series model number, but it is a pale imitation of the 7900 model line. The 7600 is a paper tiger. It's the card you want if you think you are getting a DX10 card in 6-9 months. But I don't think so, I really don't. As explained above, I think you won't have a need for a DX 10 card for quite a while.

The 7900GT is a damned snappy card and at $199 - you'll be pleased with the price and performance now - without having sunk too much $$ in that buying a DX10 card 18-24 months from now will seem to be a waste.

Link for the $199 7900GT at Newegg is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150195

Many, many thanks for the clarifications here Steel Wind. You have been a big help and a wonderful source of info for me in general and in this thread especially, and I want to thank you for it (I am sure others are also grateful)!

On a personal level I am really not an avid gamer at all, and the 7600 card worked fine for me in a high card requirements game like Oblivion. I am still hopeful that as the weeks and months go by things will be smoothed out and issues with NWN 2 will come out and be addressed, and that the 7600 will work fine for me. Perhaps this is merely wishful thinking on my part ... I will cross that hurdle when I come to it. But hey ... NWN 1 took some time to clear a bunch of things up, and it is still a wonderful game IMO.

Still the 7900 you recommended DOES indeed look like a good buy!

Once again, thanks for all your help and to all the other posters for their experiences of the game thus far - both satisfactory and frustrating.

 

[trancejeremy]

How do you check to see if you are running a 32-bit or 64-bit XP? My CPU is an Athlon 64, but when I got my computer I don't think I was actually aware that there was a seperate version of XP for 64-bit instead of them being built into the same package. If I end up getting the game in a few days, it could end up being an issue, like it was for you, trancejeremy.

It says it all over the place. Boot screens, the side of the start menu. It's only in professional edition, so I think it doesn't generally come with computers that already have an OS installed (they prefer the cheaper, Home edition).

 

[ThirdWizard]

An interesting premise. Looking for a cheap PCI-E card to tide you over until you make a bigger upgrade for Vista?

Thanks for the information! That's pretty much right on the money.

I'm putting together a whole new system. Right now the new stuff is going in my old computer, but I'm going to replace everything until I have a whole new machine over the next 4-6 months, hard drives and OS included. Then I'll put the old parts back together and have two machines. I'm thinking I might as well go Vista if I'm going to do that, whether by buying Vista or buying a pre-built PC and gutting it (or convincing my company that its a work expense - I am a programmer).

So, I'll think it over for a bit. I'm not buying anything until I get my paycheck in 2 weeks anyway.