PC/Game compatibility

It seems to me that many people are encountering compatibility problems between their new games and the new high power computers they are buying. I've been pc gaming for about 10 years and have never had this much trouble getting games to run. I thought it might be good to open a discussion about these problems.

I've come to the conclusion that a lot of it has to with the junky Gateway computer I bought that isn't worth the cardboard it was sent in. I also think Windows XP is, well, crap. But their is something that I can't explain.
Why do the same games run great on one computer but not another similar one?

Case in point: my computer, although not cutting edge, is no slouch on paper. P4 1.6ghz, 64mb nvidia graphics card, 256 mb ram, soundblaster live. Why does it run GPL with all the latest modification goodies in full detail with sustained framerates not dropping below 35 fps. Why does it also run NASCAR 2002 with nearly full detail, displaying a full field of cars with framerates not dropping below 28 fps even when racing 3 wide through the tri-oval at Daytona. And why does this same computer run Sports Car GT, or NASCAR HEAT, noticebly worse than on my 500mhz Voodoo 3 Windows 98 machine, that I cobbled together using old parts.

Lets take more modern games such as F1-2001, GP3, or GP4 and even Combat Flight Simulator 3 which my Gateway runs so poorly that I've given up on them. My Dad has a more upto date Dell, it's got like a P4 2.0ghz, 64mb nvidia card, 512 mb ram, soundblaster live. His comuter runs all the games I have mentioned so good that it makes me sick. What's up with this?

I love racing sims. When my wifes car is paid off next year I am free to build my ultimate race simulator - sounds cool. But if it's going to be this completely hit or miss deal I might just build my simulator around a Playstation 2 or X-box. Which brings me to another point - is Microsoft manipulating the system with a junky operating system that doesn't run games. And why doesn't Microsoft or some other company develop an operating system for the P.C. specifically to run games. Let's face it, we don't need the superfast computers that we are all buying to run Word Perfect.

I thought I would open this discussion and I am curious to hear what others think.



Aaron

Your welcome, interesting discussion , much has been said here about the vagaries of getting gp4 to run on different systems. Plenty of sims/games nowadays need heaps of ram, let me say that again, HEAPS and HEAPS, 512mb 333mhz ddr is the minimum nowadays. Run Enditall. P4 is cpu hungry as well so you can't afford bottlenecks. Have a look at Nuno's Superfast GP4 thread Pretty well documented here also is the fact that for some users GP4 refuses to cooperate if you run XP ;-/ It's weird how it works for some and not for others. If your mainly into gaming you should be running W98SE. XP creates a huge operating shell which chews up your valuable ram Don't really need all those bells and whistles to race Anyway, it won't be long before you'll need a P20 and maybe 512tfl of 1024mhz ddr ram to play. Check out my f1 cockpit in the off topic forum, there's already been complaints about the colour but you get that Cheers.

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[www.mediafire.com] Some say you should click it, you know you want to. [www.gp4central.com] <----GP4 Central

i like the gateway box.... how the hell could they get a cow into a square
shape? that is facinationg stuff...\
i m wondering.. why don't we get square stake?

Small point, but if you are running Win98SE, then installing anything more than 256Mb of RAM can be significantly detrimental to performance. This is a known limitation of this operating system. (Microsoft may claim compatibility up to 1.5G I think, but am not sure on that one. However, compatibility does not always equate to performance)

In fact, installing over 512Mb can result in a non-functional computer when booting into Windows depending on the rest of the hardware and drivers.

(Despite this advice a friend recently tried installing Win98SE on a PC with 1.0G Ram made from 2 x 512Mb (which previously had Windows 2000 installed). Everything was fine until he installed his Nvidia detonator drivers for GEForce4 Ti4200, whereupon he was confronted with a black screen every time he booted into windows. We then simply removed 512Mb Ram and the system worked again.

Best advice for Win98SE is always keep RAM to maximum 256Mb, unless you absolutely need 512Mb (Big scanners and Video capture work etc). If 512 Mb ram is physically installed, then run "msconfig.exe", select the "general" click tab, go to "advanced" and select the "limit memory" option and use 256Mb as the limit.