"Units in ETW are hugely improved over Med2, each unit can have variants of each body part modelled- torso, legs, arms, head, hat, cross-belts, hair, cuffs, face hair, and hands. It’s a huge number of variations to render and a challenge to efficient instancing."
Is the guys serious:doh: Clonarmies:disgust:
But good guide!
March 07, 2009, 04:39 AM
zhaz
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strategos Brutus
"Units in ETW are hugely improved over Med2, each unit can have variants of each body part modelled- torso, legs, arms, head, hat, cross-belts, hair, cuffs, face hair, and hands. It’s a huge number of variations to render and a challenge to efficient instancing."
Is the guys serious:doh: Clonarmies:disgust:
But good guide!
My units looks different. Just like he said. Maybe you need to increase grpahical settings?
March 07, 2009, 08:21 AM
Ondaderthad
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strategos Brutus
"Units in ETW are hugely improved over Med2, each unit can have variants of each body part modelled- torso, legs, arms, head, hat, cross-belts, hair, cuffs, face hair, and hands. It’s a huge number of variations to render and a challenge to efficient instancing."
Is the guys serious:doh: Clonarmies:disgust:
But good guide!
As ForlornHope explained HERE on high setting the soldiers look different. See his screenshots.
March 07, 2009, 05:53 PM
jegui
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ondaderthad
As ForlornHope explained HERE on high setting the soldiers look different. See his screenshots.
The only thing is that they have locked the unit detail settings to High in most rigs which is a shame... my 8800 gts 320Mb delivers only Cloned armies even if I set everything to high :( they should have allowed people to mix and match ultra,high, etc 'cause I'd rather have different soldiers than nice trees to look at :whistling
March 07, 2009, 07:03 PM
Larry Blackmon's Codpiece
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Cloned armies isn't as big an issue as it was in previous games, as the units are so meticulously detailed that it isn't as noticeable.
March 08, 2009, 09:23 AM
Valentin the II
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Is there any way to go around the games limitations?
I really want this high unit detail, I'm even willing to trade shadows for it!
March 08, 2009, 07:50 PM
thomonkey
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
yes. look around this forum. you edit a text file and it unlocks all options. its so easy.
March 09, 2009, 07:22 AM
Demokritos
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
The angelic advice is right here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by drwizardphd
HOW TO UNLOCK GRAPHICS SETTINGS:
1. Locate the Empire: Total War preferences file. Not sure about Vista, but on XP its default location is C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\Application Data\The Creative Assembly\Empire\scripts
2. Open up the file and find the line:
gfx_video_memory 0; # gfx_video_memory <int>, Override available video memory (bytes) #
3. Change the value "0" to something bigger. I think it uses bits, but I'm not sure. I set this value to 536870912, which is 512 mb converted to bits. You can find a converter on the internet and set this to whatever value you like, not sure what will work, but that number worked for me.
I have a 256mb HD radeon 2600xt AGP and I can run the game on high/ultra settings with no problems and very playable fps, lowest it gets is around the 20's. I have honestly no idea why they decided to limit it in such a way but this method should provide a permanent workaround.
Good luck!
Made an old P4 3.0 MHz HT with 3.0 GB RAM and GeForce 7600 GT 256 MB graphics card set at 1680 x 1050 resolution go all ultra settings for me. Big - I say BIG - difference. So I salute DrWizardPHD. :)
PS. You can't see this preferences file unless you tell the computer to show its hidden files and folders. In Windows XP, you do that, for instance, by open up a window for any folder in your computer, select "Tools" in the menu for it, select "Folder Options" on the list there, then click the "Show" tab, and finally find and mark the option to show hidden files and folders.
March 09, 2009, 09:38 AM
Cromagnon2
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
I wonder which or if there is a setting that can disable rain detail, cause rain seems to affect fps allot in my game, even when the game is paused.
March 09, 2009, 11:27 AM
Watercress
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
demokriotos, do you have vista verison of the guide? it would be damn helpful.
March 09, 2009, 02:14 PM
jegui
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Thanks a lot Demokritos and drwizardphd, you made my day and saved me an expensive VC upgrade... +rep
I can't believe that CA capped the hardware like this... After applying the change my VC is actually handling ETW much faster :-) on ultra/high settings...
March 10, 2009, 02:43 AM
Demokritos
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
@CroMagnon - I don't think there is a setting which can reduce the detail of rain alone. You probably need to tune down the general setting for detail in the game. Just experiment with those settings to see what works for you. Start with all settings on lowest possible (including perhaps resolution on your screen) or off completely, and then work your way up one setting at a time until you reach your threshold.
By the way, if you have an NVidia (GeForce) graphics card, have you tried enabling triple buffering on the 3D settings of that card (not the video settings inside the game) together, perhaps, with a program called RivaTuner? This combination solved a problem to run M2TW on max video settings for me.
@Master Magic Mage - Sorry, I'm not familiar with Vista. But you should find the directory for that preferences file (properly called preferences.empire_script or preferences.empire_script.txt) by searching your computer for it (perhaps stating the search conditions to include hidden files).
Edit: I came across the following (unconfirmed) reference for Vista owners in an other thread: C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\The Creative Assembly\Empire\scripts
But another one wrote "I have the steam version of ETW and the files were located at
c:\users\username\appdata\roaming\the creative assembly\empire"
@Jegui - Yes, it is rather odd that CA fooled many players to believe their cards weren't good enough to run this game properly.
March 10, 2009, 09:09 AM
snarfer
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
With Vista, for me at least, it was C:\Users\[my name\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Empire\scripts
Make sure you have hidden folders and files set to be viewable.
March 10, 2009, 12:18 PM
hamzta09
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Demokritos
The angelic advice is right here...
Made an old P4 3.0 MHz HT with 3.0 GB RAM and GeForce 7600 GT 256 MB graphics card set at 1680 x 1050 resolution go all ultra settings for me. Big - I say BIG - difference. So I salute DrWizardPHD. :)
PS. You can't see this preferences file unless you tell the computer to show its hidden files and folders. In Windows XP, you do that, for instance, by open up a window for any folder in your computer, select "Tools" in the menu for it, select "Folder Options" on the list there, then click the "Show" tab, and finally find and mark the option to show hidden files and folders.
I cant find that line: gfx_video_memory or anything with "video" or "memory" in them.. *Could not find xxxx*
Running vista.
March 10, 2009, 12:48 PM
Watercress
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
yeah i found it. still, cant run any better. for me, its takes AGES to load a battle.
March 10, 2009, 01:35 PM
CannabisCorpse
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Demokritos
The angelic advice is right here...
Made an old P4 3.0 MHz HT with 3.0 GB RAM and GeForce 7600 GT 256 MB graphics card set at 1680 x 1050 resolution go all ultra settings for me. Big - I say BIG - difference. So I salute DrWizardPHD. :)
PS. You can't see this preferences file unless you tell the computer to show its hidden files and folders. In Windows XP, you do that, for instance, by open up a window for any folder in your computer, select "Tools" in the menu for it, select "Folder Options" on the list there, then click the "Show" tab, and finally find and mark the option to show hidden files and folders.
ok so im wondering what amount of byte I should put in there
My setup: 9800gtx+ OC SLI
E8500 at 3.16ghz
4gb OCZ ddr2 ram at 1066mhz
vista 64 bit
and will this setup be enough to run at ultra most of the stuff?
March 10, 2009, 02:33 PM
Demokritos
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by hamzta09
I cant find that line: gfx_video_memory or anything with "video" or "memory" in them.. *Could not find xxxx*
Running vista.
Are you running the demo by any chance? Because some guy said that line is missing in the demo. In the full game, you find it the 11th from the top in the preferences file.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Magic Mage
yeah i found it. still, cant run any better. for me, its takes AGES to load a battle.
The above tweak only affects the detail by which the graphics can be rendered, a step from medium video settings up to ultra. Which is a BIG beautiful step. Loading and turning times are governed by other things. I don't have much of a problem there, not with Windows XP, P4 3.0 MHz HT, and 3 GB RAM. Vista and 2 GB RAM might be more problematic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CannabisCorpse
ok so im wondering what amount of byte I should put in there
Read point #3 in the quote which you quoted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CannabisCorpse
My setup: 9800gtx+ OC SLI
E8500 at 3.16ghz
4gb OCZ ddr2 ram at 1066mhz
vista 64 bit
and will this setup be enough to run at ultra most of the stuff?
Well, you saw my specs, didn't you? If I can, surely you should be able to do it, and more smoothly, too. You'll like the show. ;)
March 10, 2009, 06:56 PM
Watercress
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
meh, it is probably my massive lack of RAM. only got 1022 mb, and im on a vista.
March 11, 2009, 02:24 AM
Demokritos
Re: Graphics Settings Official Guide
Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Magic Mage
meh, it is probably my massive lack of RAM. only got 1022 mb, and im on a vista.
Yes, 1 GB RAM won't take you that far these days, I'm afraid. Especially not with Vista, since this operating system consumes considerably more resources than XP, according to what I've read, which leaves less RAM over for other applications, like games...