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Large Battles and Processor Speed


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A question for BTS or beta testers:

I currently run the CM demo on a P1 233MMX w/ 64 MB and a Voodoo 3 3000 16MD 3D card.

All three demo scenarios run super smooth. My frame rate is very fast. My question is, has anyone tested a battalion sized battle on a system similar to mine? If so, is there any problems crunching numbers or with the frame rate.

Thanks and regards,

Josh

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Thanks Fionn, that is great news.

I saw such tremendous improvement in CM from an earlier upgrade to my system. I am relived that I will be able to experience the same thrill in large battles. That is, once I get my computer working again.

Regards

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Guest Big Time Software

I have a 400Mhz G4 with a decent, but NOT great, 16MB card. Nothing is slow for me, although a MASSIVE Paris map did drop the frame rate noticably (probably just below 30fps if I wasn't using a debug version). But we are talking 1500 meters of nothing but buildings, 4 or 5 blocks wide, with a big park in the middle. So I think if you have a decent 3D card and a 200-300MHz processor you should be in great shape for 90% of the scenarios and noticing a speed hit for the rest. But, I used to play CM at about 5 fps with my old clunker and unoptimized code, so a "low" 20 fps still seems liquid to me smile.gif

Steve

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<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lee:

All I can say is, I can't wait to get my Athlon (somewhere in

the 850-950 mghz range). smile.gif Imagine CM running at 80+ fps

95% of the time (and 60+ the rest of the time). This will

define liquid smooth. smile.gif<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You might want to wait until thaere's a board produced for the Athlon that supports 4X AGP. You shouldn't have to wait too long, but last I checked (and my info may be dated) no board for the Athalon supports better than 2X AGP.

------------------

He who gets there the fastest with the mostest wins.

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Guest Ol' Blood & Guts

I've got a Celeron-433. I've also got a 4x AGP Diamond Viper V770 TNT2 Ultra card. Question is: Does my motherboard support 4x AGP?

My tech support suggested to set it back to 2x, which was the factory default. They also suggested to read my motherboard manuel, but it fails to mention anything about this.

Anybody have a similar system and know what AGP speed it supports?

Thanx

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I myself have been designing and playing on some some HUGE operatins maps. One is 3.5k+ by 2+k, the other is 3k+ by 1k. The former has at times a few battalions going at it. The latter is played on the whole map for each battle. For these really large battles I think it will help to have ram and processor speeds. Mind you it's not the execution that suffers, the action itself runs silky smooth but in the orders phase while the AI is trying to figure out what to do with a battalion or more of troops, that can take a few minutes, though it's gotten 100% faster as the betas have come along. Still you can imagine the thinking that the CPU has to put into something like this. (BTW I have a PII 450. 128mb RAM)

Los

[This message has been edited by Los (edited 02-04-2000).]

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Guest Ol' Blood & Guts

Yes, it's really not the execution phase thats the slow down, it's the orders phase in which scrollong around the map that gets slow at times, especially around buildings and big groups of trees.

The overall execution of the animations is silky smooth. Tanks' guns erupt so fast that I'm not gonna be able to get the "smoke and blast" effects in a screen shot until frame by frame playback in the release version.

How do you take a screen shot, by the way? A HOTKEY, I presume?

As mentioned above, I have a Celeron-433 w/ 128 MG SDRAM--(just went up from 64 MG recently). Problem is to get my graphics card's settings tweaked right for CM. So damn many options!

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I love the idea of a HUGE map for a campaign game. I'm talking one that is 5 KM long so the batlle can shift to and fro. It would be great to get relief troops in the rear and have to get them to the front line over several turns or to get an AT gun and tow it to an ambush position for a later (much later) turn. This sounds GREAT!

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OB&G:

If you have an Intel BX/LX based chipset motherboard, then I think you will only get AGP 2X type speeds. I'm not sure which chipsets support AGP 4X, I assume the new i820 chipset does and possibly the latest 133Mhz VIA chipsets. So if your board isn't one of these then AGP 4X means nothing (though there may be a jumper on the Diamond board for AGP 4X or 2X selection).

The only other thing I could recommend for speeding up your video is to try out NVidia's latest drivers (Detonator 3.68 I think is the latest). If you do install these however, you will lose some of your features that Diamond includes in their release of the drivers (like certain control panel extensions, etc.). OTOH Diamond does a very good job most of the time in tweaking the OEM drivers for performance, so there may be little, if any, performance improvement. confused.gif

Droooolll... BIG, HUGE maps... The ebb & flow of battle... I hope I don't lose my job once CM comes out. biggrin.gif

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Guest Big Time Software

One battalion + per side MAX. Brigade/Regimental is simply not possible. Too many units for both hardware and the user. I don't know about you, but the prospect of several hundred units under my command doesn't really make me all jazzed up to play smile.gif

Truth is that the scale of combat at CM's level is the same on any front. In fact, the Germans generally had lower troop densities in the east because of the vast distances that had to be covered. And for as much manpower the Soviets had to draw from, the same went for them as well. This is the NORM, but just like on any front there were major operations where troop densities were extra ordinarily dense. Again, nothing different between the fronts here. The difference was the scope of an offensive in the East. Where two corps would but heads in the West, two Armies would lock horns in the East.

Steve

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Guest MantaRay

Ol Blood and Guts wrote:

********************************************

<I've got a Celeron-433. I've also got a 4x AGP Diamond Viper V770 TNT2 Ultra card. Question is: Does my motherboard support 4x AGP?

My tech support suggested to set it back to 2x, which was the factory default. They also suggested to read my motherboard manuel, but it fails to mention anything about this.

Anybody have a similar system and know what AGP speed it supports?

Thanx>

*********************************************

Well I have a DV770, but it depends on what motherboard you have for it. Is it Super Socket-7?

The 770 can go to 4X AGP by closing all 4 jumpers on the card. I think that AGP 4X isnt even optimized to work on most people systems anyway, and the 770 is still one of the best cards out there, and WAY better than any Voodoo 3.

Boy I cant wait for 2 weeks to pass. Athlon 800 is calling me. smile.gif

Ray

------------------

www.panzerelite.iwarp.com

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Actually setup penalties for towed AT guns etc have been in for a long time.

IOW if you tow an 88 into position and then unhook it it won't be able to fire for a few minutes to simulate the time it took the crew to get it set up to fire.

Obviously there's a sliding scale for this with larger guns taking longer etc.

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That makes perfect sense to me about the time it takes to set up a gun. Many things in this sim sound just right.

Am I correct in saying that the campaign maps will be about 5 KM long X 2.5 KM wide? Like I said before....this would just be perfect for having recon squads or halftracks try and sneak around the extream flanks and disrupt the rear. ddddddrrrrrooooooollllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!

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Guest Big Time Software

Lanzfeld, I believe that is the TOTAL size of the playing area for a campaign. However, you will not be able to play on the WHOLE map at once. Just too many polygons to do it for now.

However, what you suggest can still be done. In fact, we have a few campaigns that were specifically designed for recon. The first battle you only receive your recon force, then the next battle you get your combat formations. If you do your recon well in the first battle you should be able to cause MAJOR damage right away in the second.

Steve

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Guest Big Time Software

I think it was 1500m long by 800m wide. Something like that. And yes, it is plenty of room to play on. I think you would get lost on a 5x2.5km map wink.gif

Steve

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