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Have to get new system--need help to make sure CM games will run!!


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3 hours ago, Thewood1 said:

I have been wondering if there is a law of diminishing returns on FPS in CM.  I have watched carefully over the years as I change my laptop every year.  I use Barkman's Corner as a benchmark.  My last two PCs have all been over 4GHz CPU clock speed.  But I am still getting 25-30 fps on maximum settings when looking up the road from behind the Panther.  That's about what I was getting with a 3.3GHz PC four years ago.  Granted that the nVidia cards improved along the way also..

I don't buy my PCs based on what I think CM's performance might be any more.  It just seems the hardware doesn't matter after a certain point.

There are three trends to be aware of:

(1)  Instruction/second are no longer following Moore's law for single processor.

(1a)  This is due to the limits of physics.

(1b)  As the limits of physics are approached, the cost of manufacturing increases substantially.  It's kind of like the faster you push a mass, the ever growing amount of energy required.

(2)  The number of cores have been increasing significantly.

Now, most games fail to use multiple cores (even just 2) effectively.  The only example I can site that improves linearly with number of cores is chess engines.  Why?  They are primarily search engines of the move tree into the future.  This work is very easy to divide up between multiple cores.  Now, only Magnus Carlson might appreciate this.  But where it makes a difference for the rest of human players is in the speed of their game analysis and the ever intuitive nature of that analysis.  Early machine analysis was very machine like.  Meaning just gave a sequence of better moves you could have made.

Edited by markshot
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On 12/22/2019 at 7:12 AM, Erwin said:

Interesting.  I use a 30" monitor with 2560 x 1600 but have been thinking about getting a 35"-40" TV.  If one is viewing approx 24"-36" away from the screen, do you think one would see a discernible difference between a HD TV vs a UHD 4K TV?

(I read someplace that unless one is close to a UHD 4K TV the human eye can't distinguish more detail/pixels than when watching a HD TV.)

I missed your question.  Sorry.

I cannot tell you what can be discerned.  I know my eyes are not so great.  I have a custom pair of glasses just for these monitors with a focal length of 80 cm. *

I like 1080p, it looks great on 32" ... I think a bit larger would probably be okay.  You do need to keep in mind two things:

(1)  Too close or large and things are going to start to look pixelated, since the resolution is locked.

(2)  If you need corrective lenses (I think progressive is wrong for this, since you will sit and look at only one distance ... also these days most game manuals if they exist are PDF anyway) ... If you need corrective lenses, the distance from your eye to the display center and the display corners could vary considerably causing you to have less than optimum viewing.  This issue increases with TV size or viewing closeness.

* Frames and lenses are dirt cheap here in Taiwan.  Like many Americans are obese; many Taiwanese need vision correction.  I do not believe this is genetic, but due to excessive study as children further complicated by cell phones.  So, you can get glasses made to any specifications you desire ... you will get hours of free professional optometrist testing and advice.  In the USA, there are two major chains with 30 day money back guarantees, but those who do glasses are not nearly skilled and you often exercise the money back option.

Those are my thoughts.

PS1:  I love my NEC 21" 1600X1200 display which can no longer buy.  It is sharper and with a 4:3 aspect ratio.  When I just want to read news or write posts, I use it.  Also, I have some old games that will only do 4:3.  So, I have both angled in as you see in that photo for the same focal length.  I usually use one or the other.  The only game I know which handles two displays well is Command Ops 2 (from Panther Games; Lock and Load Publishing {David Heath's successor to Matrix Games}).  If you use two displays, then look into www.ultramon.com; fantastic utility.

PS2:  Don't compare diagonals directly.  It is viewing area which matters (if we remove pixels from the discussion).  So, for example, the difference between a 20" and 21" 4:3 1600x1200 display is something like 13-14% increase in viewable area.

Edited by markshot
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You can d/l the full installer.  Actually, that's the best route since then you know you have the most up to date version(s).  But, be aware that older saved games may not work on a newer version.  I have one system that has not got the most recently updated versions of the CM2 games so that I can complete old campaigns.

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As I always keep the same drive partitioning:

C - System

D - User data

E - Games and game data (I relocate off of C as necessary with junctions)

---

New system:

(1)  Install game where you want to make sure registry, DLLs, and activations are taken care of.

(2)  Rename main game directory and data (just in case).

(3)  Copy old main game directory and data.  This should recover mods, tweaks, and saved games.

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PLEASE NOTE:  On my last round of WIN10 64 Pro upgrades from WIN7 64 Pro, I did 1 system build and two clones of it with AOMei Backer Upper.  Then, used Driver Easy to catch up any drivers for WIN7 -> WIN10.  Cloning was accurate, stable, and saved a tremendous amount of my time.  If I am not changing OS in the future, then that is my plan for the next PC.

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