M2TW resolution, it's stuck! (now its about my graphic card)

[PurpleScotch]

Well in M2TW, resolution is stuck at 1024x768, I can't reduce it, I want 800x400 or something like that to get a decent framerate with high graphics, right now I can play with 1024x768 but with some graphic stuff switched off/reduced..so help will be appreciated.

Other question, I have an ATI RADEON 9550 256mb graphics card, is it good?

Thanks!!

[PurpleScotch]

Bring
Up
My
Post

Come on people, I need help here .

[Spart]

I'm not sure if such resolution is even possible with this game. Minimum resolution for me is 1024x768 too. No way to lower it =/
How weird is that?

[caratacus]

I am sure someone will give you more technical advice concerning graphics cards but the minimum resolution for this game is 1024x768 and there really is no point in reducing it anymore because it is a lot more graphically intensive than RomeTW. I would be very surprised if given the limited capabilities of your graphics card that the game experience would be up to much, it would certainly be laggy and the images far from detailed. I suggest you try and upgrade the graphics card, my graphics card cannot handle this game and as a consequence I have not bought it yet, too busy modifying RTW anyway and am waiting for the prices to fall this month.

[wipeout140]

Straight from readme

______________________________________________________________________

III. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
______________________________________________________________________


The MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS are as follows:

- English version of Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP

- Celeron 1.5GHz Pentium 4® (1500MHz) or equivalent
AMD® Athlon 64

- 512MB RAM

- DVD-ROM Drive

- 9GB of uncompressed free hard disk space

- 100% DirectX® 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card and latest
drivers

- 100% Windows® 2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest
drivers

- DirectX® 9.0c

- 128MB Hardware Accelerated video card with Shader 1 support
and the latest drivers. Must be 100% DirectX® 9.0c
compatible*. The Nvidia® GeForce 4 Ti 4400 or the
ATI Radeon® 9600 SE is the recommended minimum video card.

- Monitor must be able to display 1024x768 resolution or
above


The RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS are as follows:

- English version of Microsoft® Windows® XP

- Pentium 4® 2.4GHz (2400MHz) or equivalent
AMD® Athlon 64

- 1GB RAM

- DVD-ROM Drive

- 9GB of uncompressed free hard disk space

- Sound Blaster Audigy or equivalent

- 100% Windows® 2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest
drivers

- DirectX® 9.0c

- 128MB Hardware Accelerated video card with Shader 2 support
and the latest drivers. Must be 100% DirectX® 9.0c
compatible*. The Nvidia® GeForce 7300 or greater, or the
ATI Radeon® X1600 or greater is recommended.

- Monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024 resolution or
above

[Elric von Rabenfels]

You should try to alter your medieval2.preference.cfg in your Medieval 2 folder. Search for the resolution and change it into that one you want and dont forget to check read only on it after that. But your monitor has to support it. But i think it will coz you wouldnt ask this then .

[Citizen]

Other question, I have an ATI RADEON 9550 256mb graphics card, is it good?

Well it's a fairly old card... especially by today's standards. However, try turning down some of your settings and see if that improves game play. Do you what kind fps you're getting at the moment?

[PurpleScotch]

Well, I put unit detail on low/medium, textures medium, trillinear texture filtering, grass low, vegetation is high..and the rest is almost the same standards.
Now I get a good frame rate, but also now I now it's not my CPU that's causing lag, it's my Graphics Card, or is it?
(CPU= Pentium 4 2.66GHz)
(RAM=1GB)

[Spart]

CPU of course causes lag in larger battles, but yeah, it's mostly the good old ATi that's dying. Afterall, this game is graphically very intensive.

[Citizen]

Yeh, Spartacus is pretty much right. It appears to be your graphics card that's having trouble and struggling here. From what you've said, you seem to have everything as low as you dare go without making everything look ugly. So I guess save up for a new card man.

[PurpleScotch]

Thanks guys, but any good card on your minds, maybe a not so expensive 512mb *crosses fingers, and hopes theres one* or a very good 256 that can do good.

[Spart]

Nah, video memory means nothing. (or it does, but if comparing 128mb gf 6600 to 512mb gf 6600 for example... There's really no difference. So lets put that aside for now.)
Just tell your budget, decent card for a decent price would be 7600GS or GT. Depends much on where you live, but usually these are quite affordable.
And they'll do very well with M2, I'm running with 7600GT, high settings =)
No use getting too powerful gpu, your cpu would just bottleneck and your power supply wouldn't stand it.

[PurpleScotch]

Which do you say I should get? 7600GS or GT? Also were can I read more on this card?
Hope this is the card that would solve my M2TW problems.
My budget hmm...Anything affordable ... But this card does interest me.
Thanks!

[Doono]

Im pretty sure your motherboard is agp but you need to check if its 4/8x otherwise it wont take a 7600.

7600GS AGP card is about £75
7600GT AGP card is about £100

Both are 256MB cards but the GT is a much better choice because it runs on GDDR3 instead of GDDR2

They also sell a 512MB GS version for about £100 but this is more of a marketing ploy since it's not powerfull enough to utalise all that video memory at a stable level.

If you can afford it the best agp cards are the 7800GS/GT and radeon x1950Pro which cost around £180 but i would personally upgrade to pci-e for £200 than waste it on an outdated graphical interface.

[Spart]

Actually, 7600GT is slightly more powerful than standard 7800GS, so 7800GS really isn't an option I think. X1950Pro is powerful alright.
If he would upgrade to PCI-e system, that would mean he would have to change his cpu too. And maybe even his power supply. So it would cost.

So, killerxguy, if you just want to play M2 and some other current games fine, 7600 AGP-series is OK. But then again, it's old technology, and if you still want to keep up the next year and year after that.. Well, get ready to upgrade the whole thing.
PC's suck =)

[Citizen]

Well AGP is pretty old.

I'd suggest the eVGA 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E Card. It's the one I have and it performs extremely well on a 19" @ 1280 x 1024 with most settings on med/high and AA x4 on most of the top games out at the moment.

It is also SLI ready, so if you buy a new mobo, you can buy two for fairly cheap and pair them up for extra performance. The option for SLI is a decent alternative to upgrading and it's a match for the eVGA 7950 for roughly the same price.

[Doono]

he won't need to if its a pentium 4 he can easily get a LGA 775 socket mobo with pci-e that supports pentium 4. But if his RAM isnt DDR2 he may need to get it repalced. If his budget is about £200 he will have no trouble making this upgrade but it does depend if hehas access to websites like newegg.com or scan.co.uk

Something like this, I assume you don't overclock:

motherboard $83
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128016
x1950pro $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161060
RAM if required (1 gig) $103
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145525

Total $376 or £190

[Spart]

Sure, but that P4 with X1950Pro? Not worth it, cpu upgrade would be really inevitable.
Then you'd have to add a new PSU too, since I don't think the old one would handle such an upgrade. That's a lot of cash..

But yeah, his own decision. Depends on what he wants to use that PC for. If he is a true gamer, update is necessary, but remember the new cpu =)

E: Oh you have DDR2 RAM? I'm stunned!

[PurpleScotch]

I remember my RAM is DDR2, but if I need another GB of RAM, please say so . Hmm, those stuff are interesting though, I may but them...thanks for the links. *crosses fingers and hopes it ships worldwide*

EDIT: Okay, I want to be sure of it (when I upgraded my Ram 2 months back, I heard the word DDR2) I heard there are programs that help you know what your RAM is.

[PurpleScotch]

BUMP
Are there any programs that allow you to know your RAM 's kind, because I remember the word DDR2, but I have to be sure of it 100% before buying those stuff.