rec.autos.simulators

Greg,
I have a K6-200, Asus TX97 with 64 megs and a Thriller 4 meg.
I've been testing the GPL Demo in 800x600 mode and it runs flawlessly. I
haven't seen any screen jurk, great graphics.
I have a SB 32 and the Sound needs a little work in the Demo.
Jim

  Close, the sims GPL and N3 will run with either the 3dfx or the Rendition based
vidcards.  FWIW.  I'm running a stock DSII no overclocking etc and a P200mmx with
32meg edo and the 1 car demo of GPL runs very smooth at BOTH 640x480 & 800x600.
dave henrie

I'd appreciate a little advice from you folks testing the GPL demo.  

I'm planning my next system upgrade for the main purpose of being able
to run GPL.    For a little background I'm  an amateur  racer and I've
had every Papyrus game except SODA going back to about 1990.

The hardware I can afford will probably be either one of the new
Super Socket 7 boards with a P233MMX or  maybe I'll go up to a PII
board, but it will still have to be a 233.    I'm targetting 32 Mb of
RAM unless I hear otherwise here.    Also, I'm trying to decide
between a Stealth II 220 or a Thriller 3D AGP card.   Don't bother to
recommend anything else, since I want to run CART and NASCAR II in 3D
mode, too.   I already have a NASCAR Pro wheel.

Is anyone running GPL with this kind of configuration?   If so, how is
it?   Should I wait until I can afford a faster processor?

Thanks for your help.
-Greg

It should run in that config. however I believe that GPL and the up and coming
N3 will require a 3Dfx card.  Food for thought

Johnie

Actually, Papyrus has always been partial to Rendition cards, and GPL
is no exception.  GPL plays and looks best on my Stealth II vs. my
Voodoo1.  Since N3 will be using the same graphics engine, I'd expect
it to be the same.

Darin

Sounds reasonable. I'd stick to socket 7, but only for political
reasons (not giving Intel a new monopoly). Don't expect new socket 7
chips from Intel. A PII with the same clock speed will be a bit faster
than a regular Pentium. Don't buy one of those new PII "light" (don't
know what the official name is). They have no on-chip L2 cache. Since
slot one mobos don't offer L2 cache either, you'll end up without any
L2 cache. Not advisable.

Go for 64 MB. It's not that expensive (especially if compared to other
components), and 64 MB are recommended for the demo. If you buy a
socket seven board, make sure it can cache more than 64 MB, or you
won't be able to upgrade memory later on. And buy SDRAM DIMMs, not EDO
SIMMS.

I have no opinion on these cards. If you're mainly interested in
Papyrus sims, a Rendition card is a good choice, anyhow. Especially
since you can always add-on a Voodoo (II) if feel it necessary later
on.

Good.

From what I read in this newsgroup, anything above an Intel P166MMX
(coupled with a 3d card, of course) is capable of running the GPL demo
with satisfying speed. Slower processors, even if equipped with fast
3D cards, seem to have problems. This leads me to the conclusion that
the physics model requires quite some calculating power. Now,
considering that the AI cars of the full program will also eat up some
processor cycles, it might be possible that a P233 will not be able to
run the sim at full speed. This remains to be seen, however. Why don't
you postpone your purchase until GPL comes out?
And don't forget to buy a soundcard for the new machine.

--
Wolfgang Preiss       \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.

Uni des Saarlands       \ and U.S. law. You have been warned.

Interesting. It looks better on my Canopus Pure 3d card than on my v1000
rendition card. Will be interesting to compare rendition v2000 to Voodoo2.
--
Don Burnette
I-65 Racing
Dburn on Ten
AOLL Iroc Series Administrator
http://pages.southtech.net/palmetto/aoll.htm

Buy a new computer ! I'm planning on purchasing 2 -Pentium333  Mhz systems
each at 4 grand a piece one to run GPL on sunny days the other for overcast
only. I enjoy wearing a helmet when
driving for the true experience of racing. I applied for a job at Nascar
explaining that I have 2 years
experience of driving nascars to no avail. Seems they snub us real drivers
with the real sim experience!

BoB BaRker

Where do you get your ***?
Does your supplier have any more?

By all means, get 64 MB of RAM.  Don't shy away from plain old EDO RAM
either, as it is only 5% or so slower than SDRAM (yet less expensive and
less confusing to buy).  I bought 64MB recently for less than $100.  RAM
is such a good deal now, you may as well get at least 64 if you are
building a machine.

I run, as I said, a K6-200/Screamin'3D/Monster3D combo and the game runs
great on either video card.  I'm sure that a Rendition 2200 will run the
game very well and with better picture quality than my 3dfx does.  Go for
the Thriller 3D if you can afford it!  Good luck on the upgrade!

matt

--
Matt & Audrey Lewis

  Well here in Australia the price of SDRAM is the same as EDO so price
is the key. I'd say if it's similar get the SDRAM for sure because it
might do you for your next upgrade as well (PII, etc). Also, the demo
requires 32 megs and has no AI so I'd say get 64 meg for sure!

   Unfortunately I have what I thought was a i233mmx but turned out to
be a 166 or 200 :(( Anyway, it runs at 233 if I keep the room cool. I
just got a Voodoo II card and it's the best piece of hardware I ever
purchased. Before this I was running in software mode with no graphic
options at all and the fps were only just bearable. Now I can run with
all options and get a very slight stutter in the last corner. This
disappears by removing trees only. I can't wait to see what it's like if
I ever get the cpu I paid for and have it running at 262mhz. Before
Voodoo II = 1.09.45, right after = 1.08.22  :)))))) BLISS!!!!!!!!