rec.autos.simulators

Dear racefans,

I am going to buy a Pentium II 450 with a voodoo II card next month.
Is there someone who already played GPL on a system like this ?

Regards,

Remco

If your wondering how it will run well...

That's 36fps (max limit) all the time with all the AI (19), all the graphics
in 800x600 and probably a higher resolution (1024x768).

I mean... that's a top notch PC    ;-D

- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard!
- Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
- Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking)
- Sponsored by http://www.awpss.com/ on the NROS
- "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

Mike.

In general, GPL on this platform flies. With all the graphics to maximum,
detail bias at 100 and 1024X768 (12Mb V2 SLI), car response is excellent,
with NO lack of response of any kind when locking wheels, touching the
verge, etc. Frame rate is stuck at 36fps for an entire hot-lap around the
'Ring (with no traffic mind you.. I'll get to that).

On my P250MMX, it would cause a hiccup in frame rate everytime you ran onto
a verge, clipped a barrier, or even got into a slide - which is exactly the
moment you need absolute confidence in the response to your inputs. These
glitches are removed with the PII-450.

However, even so, there are still a few issues regarding frame rate that can
annoy. Thomas Heinemann summed it up in an earlier post...

The graphics definitely seem to be running past the players viewpoint
un-evenly. No amount of turning down the detail has any effect on this.

IMHO this is a combination of the Voodoo2 having certain display issues with
mirrors on the in-cockpit view, but mostly game engine problems, either in
the rendering pipeline or physics generation. I find it hard to believe, as
others have speculated, that it is a fill rate or texture swapping
limitation. Turning off Sync to Vsync in the V2 properties also does nothing
for the effect.

Basically when hot-lapping with no other AI cars, the above is hardly
noticeable; until you DO notice it. Then it puts you off. A tiny bit. BUT,
turn on even just 5 cars to play against, and say goodbye to any smooth play
whatever. It feels about the same as the demo used to play on my P200 before
I overclocked it, and when I insisted on having full details on on my Voodoo
1. Not smooth.

It seems to get really bad when the AI cars have work to do, such as trying
to pass, and go round more complex sections of track (the frame counter
drops to about 18fps, but the CHANGES in frame rate are always more
noticeable). This, combined with the fact that watching a replay of the same
section is nearly smooth ( especially if you are not in-cockpit) does tend
to sugest the AI routines are un-optimised.

Now I would like to think that all these 'problems' are due to it being a
beta, and will be fixed for the final version; but being a cynic I think
they probably won't... we'll see.

To sum up, for hot-lapping, this system runs GPL as near-as-dammit
perfectly. Lapping the 'Ring is AWESOME. And for that alone it is easily
worth pre-ordering your copy of GPL right now. However, add some AI cars,
and it's time for that PII-1000.... which is a shame, cos I would look
foward to trying to out brake Jim Clark or Graham Hill (or both!) at the
kurussel without having to worry if my inputs and corrections are going to
be over-ridden by framerate problems...

What does everyone else think? Am I spouting shite and nit-picking? Any
questions? I must however say that GPL is still everything I hoped it would
be.... and the final version still has'nt arrived yet!

Pete Tabram

It's like saying 'Do you think I can use my new Ferrari to run to the corner
store and pick up a paper?'

Honestly, PII 450's just came out - how the hell do you think the game was
developed if you're worried about performance on the top-line systems??

Keith

Mike.

Actually, I think it's a legitimate question -- I tried running the
GPL demo on a P200 and it was unplayable even in low-res.  We've seen
games before that when they came out, ran only so-so on a top-line
system with all the graphics details turned on (anyone remember Grand
Prix II? )

Tim

Brian

I tried it with a Voodoo 2 12MB on a PII 400Mhz and a V-Raptor 8MB AGP.
The V-Raptor wins on image quality and speed. I haven't tried changing
any settings for the Voodoo 2 like disabling v-syncing.

Alex

<Snipperdeknip>

This all is based on the Beta...But if the final version has the same
problem, there is a workaround, albeit expensive...

Use TWO PII-450, one hosting a MP race which will handle the AI, and
one acting as a client, which you use. Add a Hyper Stimulator (Classic
ofcourse!) and you got a super setup. Just don't eat for a couple of
months (weight saving!), don't pay the rent, and forgot about that new
car. :-)

Remco

--
Mike Wallace

This is NOT good...I would expect low framerates if I were running
software-mode,
but not with a PII-450 Voodoo2!?
I would even accept that the framerate drops now and than, but a
"Studdering"
game engine, in this wonderful groundbraking sim???
I cannot belive that they are gonna ship a "broken" game engine...and in
doing so,
they would probebly spoil what easely could have been the best game of all
time!

The most worrying part is that no betatester has neither confirmed or denyed
this very HUGE problem!

Hmmm, lets hope so! :)
Thomas Heineman

I hope I am. Let me just stress that hot-lapping with no other cars is
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. Add some cars = major framerate stuttering. It looks
similar to both the Quake2 mouse movement jerkiness problem (until they
fixed it), and games that have major texture thrashing problems (although I
not saying it IS texture thrashing, it just gives a similar effect). And it
doesn't do it all the time.

It is definitely a case of the CHANGE in framerate that messes things up. If
the entire race ran at a constant 18fps (or even 8fps - being a veteran of
gp1 on an A500 :-0 ) I'd be more than happy....

Pete Tabram

SNAFU skrev i meddelandet

Good to hear that the quake staff fixed the problem in quake,
that leaves me with some kind of hope for a patch if it isnt fixed already.

And I couldnt agree more....its absolutly the cange in framerate thats
the problem, not the framerate itself. (although id love to race 20 cars
at steady 50fps ;)

Thomas Heineman