Bjossi on 21/3/2007 at 14:49
Quote Posted by Chainhit
I can run half life 2 at 20fps on a 8mb videocard with 1000mhz and 256 mb of ram. Sure it looks like shit, but its definatly doable. I ran it with my 1gb ram/1800mhz processor and ti4200 at like 50fps on medium-high.
You should leave half life to do what it does best, Natural selection/opforce/hldm.
If my photobucket was not down I would host the image.
Somehow I doubt 20 FPS is the case there, 8 MBs of vRAM is far below the minimum that texture data uses. And not to mention that the Havoc physics alone eat up a big part of the clock cycles of the CPU.
A Geforce 2 MX would maybe bring the number up to 20...
Bjossi on 21/3/2007 at 19:52
Plus, HalfLife 2 already has a badass sound effect for our Magnum 2100. :devil:
When I'm in a bad mood, shooting a combine in the head with the .357 or the shotgun brings a smile to my face. The sounds, the blood, the physics; it all creates a satisfying scene to watch.
Kefren on 21/3/2007 at 20:56
Quote Posted by Bjossi
Activating the games you buy is a free process.
I never said you had to pay to activate the game. My complaint is just that you DO have to activate the game! What next? Can't watch your DVDs until they are verified on a server?
That kind of 'protection' is just an annoyance for the person buying the thing. My DVD collection has a lot of things in it where you can't even get to the film/series until it has cycled through pages of unskippable anti-piracy adverts and warnings. Your choice is then put up with it, or copy the damn thing and strip it all out so that it goes straight to the film. Madness.
Bjossi on 21/3/2007 at 21:08
Quote Posted by Kefren
I never said you had to pay to activate the game. My complaint is just that you DO have to activate the game! What next? Can't watch your DVDs until they are verified on a server?
Doesn't it suck knowing that legal customers suffer from the actions of people that think it is ok to download software for free that the developers took years and millions of dollars to do?
Kefren on 21/3/2007 at 21:10
Quote Posted by JediKorenchkin
I find it funny that people have a problem with it when it's on account of a game, but it's okay that an OS does it, or a copy of photoshop.
I have a problem with activation whatever it applies to. I either don't use software that requires activation, or get versions without it.
Quote Posted by JediKorenchkin
As for copy protection or activation problems, I've had neither with Steam. Once you purchase the game, you can throw Steam on any computer and log in as your account and install without a problem.
Yes, as long as the PC you play on has a net connection.
But what about the future? Supposing SS1 had required online activation? I doubt if the servers would be around nowadays after so many company changes/buyouts/closures. You could say the same about SS2. Of course, someone then would probably hack it to get around it, but what about games that are not held in such esteem? You might end up not being able to play them because no-one bothered to rip out the protection. The fact that a game isn't popular doesn't mean it isn't good. And there is no point saying that you wouldn't play old games anyway - the two games I am playing at the moment are 'Myth' and 'Martian Gothic'. I want my games to be around indefinitely if they are good - a culture of activation doesn't help that at all.
Quote Posted by JediKorenchkin
Actually what makes you mentally deficient is your flawed argument. Speaking of Half-Life 2 as being linear as a bad thing inside a System Shock forum is just icing on the cake. System Shock had a sense of freeroam but you still had a set of objectives and a line to follow.
Half-Life 2 looks good; it is exciting; it is interesting technically. However it is as linear as Doom - no amazing breakthroughs there. Once you complete a street or building there is no going back. There is no choice of routes. They try and make it feel open-ended, but it isn't. However SS1 and 2 allow you to always go back; to choose your route to explore levels; to even choose the order to do levels. Despite its good points, HL2 is last-gen in terms fo freedom when compared to SS1 or SS2. The only modern games that look like they will match the SS series for freedom are Bioshock and STALKER.
Kefren on 21/3/2007 at 21:14
Quote Posted by Bjossi
Doesn't it suck knowing that legal customers suffer from the actions of people that think it is ok to download software for free that the developers took years and millions of dollars to do?
I've got over 75 original games in my collection. Only one is a Russian (bought, in case) version with stripped-out protection where I assume the developers didn't get any money from it - HL2. None of my other games require online activation. Just enough protection to stop casual copying. The point is, no protection is unbreakable to those who are determined and skilful. But you have to strike a balance between something that deters casual copying, and something that is a hassle to legitimate customers. Requiring online activation is an example of the latter.
Bjossi on 21/3/2007 at 21:21
If it is any comfort, I wouldn't doubt that some day HL2 will be released as a free-from-Steam version.
Aekeron on 22/3/2007 at 01:24
That's not really a comfort, or the point...
I have many friends that are in a similar boat with STEAM/HL2. They own valid versions of HL2/CSS/all that cack and yet as they don't play CSS online, they much prefer to use a dodgy downloaded version of HL2 that doesn't require you to have an extra resource-using program running in the background, a delayed loading whilst steam 'does its thing" and a constant connection to the internet (or risk the game randomly coming out of offline mode).
It's certainly not right to steal games/films/music/whatever but, as has been said, introducing measures that are circumventable (read: all measures so far iirc) for 'pirates', but cause hassle and reduce enjoyment for legitimate customers isn't the way forward. Not that I could hazard a guess as to what <i>is</i>, of course.
JediKorenchkin on 22/3/2007 at 01:30
Quote Posted by Kefren
Half-Life 2 looks good; it is exciting; it is interesting technically. However it is as linear as Doom - no amazing breakthroughs there. Once you complete a street or building there is no going back. There is no choice of routes. They try and make it feel open-ended, but it isn't. However SS1 and 2 allow you to always go back; to choose your route to explore levels; to even choose the order to do levels. Despite its good points, HL2 is last-gen in terms fo freedom when compared to SS1 or SS2. The only modern games that look like they will match the SS series for freedom are Bioshock and STALKER.
Being able to go back isn't non-linear. System Shock games don't let you really choose the order to do levels. In System Shock 1 you have choices of which to go to, but you go through all of them eventually, and it doesn't change anything. You back track between levels but it isn't non-linear because it doesn't affect anything. You're still following a set path. Deus Ex gives you choices that affect the game's characters and the eventual outcome. That's nonlinear.
Oh, and Steam isn't very resource hungry, either. Keep the spyware off your computer, get a decent amount of ram, and listen to classical music to upgrade your IQ, and you'll be good to go.
Aekeron on 22/3/2007 at 01:37
I didn't claim it was resource-hungry. Resource-using is a fine hair to split, but I purposefully avoided saying 'hungry' as I knew someone would jump on that. Le surprise.
I'm not sure why you're insisting on insulting people's IQ during your posts. It doesn't really increase the validity of what you've written - merely makes you look "really cool".
The whole 'linear' term as applied to computer games is a bit of a blurred subject too - not one that I'd make a bold, all-inclusive statement on personally.
