Ultra portable PC to play M2TW Kingdoms mods?

[Frtigern]

Hello, as a servicemember I spend quite a time in the field and on any down time it would be great to fire up a laptop and get a few turns in on my favorite M2TW mod Europa Barbarorum 2. I guess first off the recommended specs for Kingdoms are from 2007, and here we are 10 years later and have phones as powerful if not more than computers back then. Second, you can't even find the types of laptops with those CPUs they recommended anymore. I heard M2TW was made for fast single core CPUs so multicore CPUs doesn't do anything. Second, unless modifying certain things, the game can't utilize more than 1GB RAM, but it doesn't mention whether speed of that RAM will affect performance i.e. like the fastest DDR4 RAM available now. Now game enjoyability and portability don't necessarily go hand in hand. You can have a 10" Windows laptop but in a normal laptop gaming position with it on your lap, its hard to make out any detail unless you lower resolution, which creates constant scrolling around. What's an ideal size? Sometimes a 15" almost seems too big both in weight and dimensions. Ultrabooks with no physical CD drives or hard disc drives are finally getting 15" laptops to a manageable weight but you pay a premium for that. What about game compatibility with newer OS'? Seems any new laptop you can buy has Windows 8.1 or 10 already installed and heard it can be frustrating to install Windows 7 on them. Battery life is not as important as most times I will be using it plugged in to something, and battery life drops drastically when using graphics anyways however if there is a good value laptop with excellent battery life that would be cool.

[Dr. Conquest]

Wow, that's a loaded question (and probably in the wrong section of the forum), but I'll give it a shot. You don't need the latest and greatest to play this game. You'll have to decide on a screen size that you're comfortable with, but as a general rule of thumb there will be in increase in laptop weight to accompany an increase in screen size. A 14" notebook may be a good compromise. Although I don't go for it myself, the popular 1366x768 resolution will allow the game to play at 1024x768 without stretching. Having a higher resolution does not make the game show any more content on the screen, so it's not like you'd be zoomed out further or anything like that. I have played the game comfortably on a Dell Precision M4300, Dell Latitude E6510 and HP EliteBook 8560p. Each of these computers had discrete graphics, not the Intel integrated solutions, but they are all 15" widescreen models. They all have some sort of 14" equivalent, however. I have made it work on Windows XP, 7 and 10, although I use an executable that does not requires a disc (circumventing a potential issue with Windows 10). Personally, I would not burn money on a really zippy high street laptop that may only last a couple of years. I prefer older business machines you can get cheaply on eBay, as they are generally more robust. They're not quite as slim and light as what you can get now, though.

[UndrState]

I'm currently using windows 10 with disk , and I've also had it run off of Steam as well .

I had a large format Viao laptop for many years , but the problem I ran into was M2TW was demanding on the computer , and the heat exhaust was next to the detachable power cord . Over time the heat melted something inside so that the cord didn't connect properly ; irregular charging killed the battery and since the cord didn't stay connected , the computer would turn off often . Expensive laptop kaput - keep an eye out for that .

What about a small form PC ? I've been thinking about building one myself to pair with the Avegant Glyph ( look that up , it's an interesting possible solution to a screen problem ) . Check out http://pcpartpicker.com/ and look at other people's ATX and ITX (esp. this ) builds, and see if that's something small enough for your needs . It's certainly possible to build one powerful enough to run M2TW maxed out , and what you'll spend extra on getting the special smaller parts you'll probably save because you're building yourself . If the thought of building it yourself seems intimidating , let me assure you that if I can do it , anyone can .

I've got some other websites on building PCs , so if you are interested just let me know .

[Frtigern]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately a small form PC isnt possible, at least not in a field environment. I'm looking at 14" Dell and HP laptops with 3rd gen i7 CPUs. Wondering whether integrated graphics will be able to hold up or to look for one with discrete graphics. If integrated what's the minimum specs I should look at?

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[UndrState]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately a small form PC isnt possible, at least not in a field environment. I'm looking at 14" Dell and HP laptops with 3rd gen i7 CPUs. Wondering whether integrated graphics will be able to hold up or to look for one with discrete graphics. If integrated what's the minimum specs I should look at?

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Look , it's an eleven year old game , so pretty confident that it will at least run on integrated . But then most laptops are not geared towards gamers - having an i7 isn't going to do much for your M2TW experience , but a better GPU would . Perhaps it's better to determine your budget , then your priorities ( do you have needs other than gaming ? are you going to be watching videos at same time as other things ? ) . Then it'll be easier to find and make suggestions .

[Frtigern]

I understand but I noticed a significant performance difference between vanilla M2TW and a complete overhaul mod like EB2 which probably pushes the recommended specs too much. Not sure if its CPU or memory caused lag.

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[UndrState]

I understand but I noticed a significant performance difference between vanilla M2TW and a complete overhaul mod like EB2 which probably pushes the recommended specs too much. Not sure if its CPU or memory caused lag.

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If you are going to call me an idiot , I'm not going to help you

Seriously , I understand . Just keep in mind that M2TW is limited to one core on the processor , 'cause it's old . Individual cores are still faster , just not faster enough , IMO , between i5 and i7 to make a big difference , even on full mods , when compared to a stronger GPU and yes quality RAM as well .

Brings me back to the budget , and your non-gaming expectations .

[Frtigern]

I'm not calling you an idiot, sir. Just trying to understand where I should be focused on for a game like this for myself and others. Maybe playing this game in my free time in the middle of nowhere for weeks at a time could introduce whats possible from TW to a wider audience that usually only plays XBOX or PS. As far as other uses, of course it would be nice to watch some movies but seems the 14' ones I can afford dont come with HD or even FHD screens. Then again I could just use my FHD tablet to watch movies on.

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[UndrState]

I know dude , just giving you a hard time .

The point I'm driving at here is that an i7 isn't the best bang for your buck on a budget when gaming is your goal .

[Frtigern]

Decided on this: Lenovo Ideapad 510s
Wasn't expecting to find an i7 kaby lake for this cheap new. In general, I found that most i5 and i7 processors were around the same price, maybe $50 difference and some other component differences. I know I sacrificed a little by getting a low power CPU, but considering my needs I didn't need a UHD 13-14" screen, 8 GB VRAM GPU and 40-50w CPU. The weird about this laptop is that it has a dedicated GPU but the integrated one (HD 620) is almost as good. I was happy to see it had one but would prefer its R9 series version more or at least a Nvidia 970M, although most laptops (even used) with 960M or 970M are still commanding a good price. Knowing it could play newer media codecs was a factor too.

[Frunk]

Thread moved from Medieval II: Total War General Discussion.

[Gigantus]

If you find yourself struggling with the FPS rate then reduce some of the in-game video settings, starting with grass, shadows and effects. Lowering the unit size will also help a lot as well as reducing screen resolution. EBII is known to put some strain on any machine, it appears to be RAM use related.

[Frtigern]

Played a custom battle on high settings, huge unit sizes, 20 units over 4000 men and it played smooth. Maybe a settlement siege will have some lag but I rarely engage in more than one stack at a time and usually a quarter of my stacks are elites and cavalry. Laptop did get hot so I will put it on a cooler.

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[Gigantus]

This should help with siege battles: Creating a World - Reduced City Textures