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F.E.A.R. Graphics and Gameplay

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by The_Pope, 24 Oct 2005.

  1. The_Pope

    The_Pope Geoff Richards Super Moderator

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  2. eek

    eek CAMRA ***.

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    ooo the game does look pretty, it just appears that I had my settings all completely wrong!!

    This sort of review is really good for someone as lazy as me as I had initially rejected FEAR on the grounds that it was jaggy and plain and couldn't be bothered to fiddle with the settings!

    It looks like I am just about to lose my social life for a few days!!! doh!
     
  3. The_Pope

    The_Pope Geoff Richards Super Moderator

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    What did you have your settings set to mate? On what sort of system? To be honest, the Auto Detected settings are a little conservative - I only lost 2fps by enabling 2xAA yet benefitted massively in terms of image quality as a result.

    That's what it's all about though, innit? Trust me - you'll enjoy it, and save some beer money by staying in this week :)
     
  4. Reaper_Unreal

    Reaper_Unreal Minimodder

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    So can we infer from this review that the graphics settings should be roughly equivalent to that of the demos? You guys didn't really cover my system. 4000+ and X850XTPE doesn't seem to really mesh with any of your choices too well, oh well, that's what demos are for.
     
  5. The_Pope

    The_Pope Geoff Richards Super Moderator

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    Well Reaper, it's possible to fill in the gaps using the existing data. A 4000+ is a bit faster than the 3700+ system, and a X850 XT PE is a bit faster than the X850 XT tested.

    I played through the game on a 2.2GHz P4 but with a X850 XT PE and managed 1024 2xAA well enough. It wasn't 100% smooth all the time, but any stutters didn't impact on the gameplay, just a brief pause when entering a really big room etc Certainly tolerable.

    I think you'll find that you could run 1024 2xAA smoothly; perhaps 1024 4xAA as well. 1280x960 0xAA should also be doable, according to Tim's numbers. At outside bet would be 1280 with 2xAA - the visuals will be crispy, but it may or may not be 100% smooth depending on your standards. Tim doesn't settle for anything less than super smooth, but some people like me can tolerate the odd stutter.
     
  6. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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    You should be able to play at 1024x768 2xAA 16xAF Medium detail with Volumetric Lighting through the whole game with pretty much no problems. A 3700+ is only 200MHz slower than the 4000+ you've got and an X850XTPE is a little faster than the X850XT. :thumb:

    My suggested settings for all of the video cards we tested should be pretty conservative and you can increase them a little if you don't mind a bit of lag here and there.
     
  7. The_Pope

    The_Pope Geoff Richards Super Moderator

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    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Detail: you can have a mix of Medium and Maximum. Have a play to decide what you think is important. Max Particles looks so cool, but gets in the way of the gameplay a little when you can't see what you're doing :)
     
  8. Shadowed_fury

    Shadowed_fury Minimodder

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    Looks like my card is gonna have to go soon! Doh..
     
  9. MrWillyWonka

    MrWillyWonka Chocolate computers galore!

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    This has just tempted me to get a 7800GTX instead of a GT, oh well. I look forwards to playing the game!
     
  10. eek

    eek CAMRA ***.

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    Settings were pretty much what it told me, then i whacked the res up to 1280x1024 to match my TFT - I guess that is where i went wrong, resolution over quality plus the fact i had no AA either!!

    My system is DFI SLI-D, AMD64 3000+ (venice) @ 2.7GHz, 1GB Mushkin Redline, 6600GT etc etc so although it's not great, i expected more from FEAR than i got!
     
  11. ufk

    ufk Licenced Fool

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    even on my aging xp2600 1gb ram with an fx5500 its playable (autodetected as a meduim spec machine), frame rates are a bit low but with some tweaking of the detail levels even a modest machine like mine will play it quite happily, time for a new gfx card tho ,going to have a little overclocking sesh to see if I can get it running a tad faster whilst i raise some cash

    and you're right the AI is simply amazing
     
  12. funkbro2

    funkbro2 What's a Dremel?

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    hmm .. different setting for me for 6600GT

    i have a much lower specced system than the testbed

    AMD 3200+ (2.0ghz) Venice
    ASUS A8V Deluxe // AGP , also using onboard sound
    BFG 6600GT AGP (525/1050)
    Kingston value dual channel DDR400 512mb x 2
    7200 Rpm WD IDE Hd...
    freshly installed pc

    anyways

    i play on 1024x768 0xAA 8xAF , no SS, every other option enabled to maximum (sound, cpu etc) except Medium Textures Medium Shaders..
    performance decreases too much for my card when i put Max Textures.. i never tried full shaders though
    runs smoothly for my taste.. i lower settings abit for multiplayer
     
  13. boardsportsrule

    boardsportsrule What's a Dremel?

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    am i stupid or is the computer specs not listed..i see the video cards but not the specs of the comptuer..thanks
     
  14. DickH

    DickH What's a Dremel?

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    Using the built in test, my system gets

    Minimum 24
    average 43
    maximum 98
    1% below 25 fps
    51% between 25 and 40 fps
    48% above 40 fps

    My settings are:
    Effects Detail Maximum
    Model Decals Medium
    Water Resolution Maximum
    Reflections and Displays Medium
    Volumetric Lights on
    Volumetric Light Density Medium

    FSAA 2x
    Light Detail Medium
    Enable shadows On
    Shadow Detail Medium
    Soft Shadows Off
    Texture Filtering Anisotropic 2x
    Texture Resolution Medium
    Videos Maximum
    Pixel doubling Off
    DX8 Shaders Off
    Screen Resolution 1024x768
    Shaders Medium

    In the advanced computer options, everything is at max aside from sound and particle bouncing, those are at medium.

    I think these settings look pretty good, and the game plays nice and smooth. I believe I have room for upping something, what can I up that would be the most noticable without going too far?
     
  15. Irvine

    Irvine What's a Dremel?

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    Eeeek! You linked to the Multiplayer Demo instead of the Single Player one!
     
  16. P2D

    P2D 99.999% Pure Spam!

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    I downloaded the MP demo a few weeks ago and this just promted me into installing it. Spent 20 mins setting up the gfx to get them to the best possible quality without too much performance drop (Will post settings tomorrow). I decided to make a server to explore the maps and get a feel for the game as i do with every game, The server filled itsself up, so i ended up running a server for 5 hours hauling some serious ass and really getting into the game! Really is a cool game.
    (sorry :eek:)
     
    Last edited: 25 Oct 2005
  17. The_Pope

    The_Pope Geoff Richards Super Moderator

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    You're not stupid mate, but you might need some glasses :D

    http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/10/24/fear/4.html

    High-End System Setup:
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (operating at 2400MHz, 12x200MHz); DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR (NVIDIA NForce4 SLI); 2 x 1GB Corsair XMS4000 Pro (operating in dual channel at 200MHz with 3.0-3-3-10 timings); Western Digital Raptor 74GB, 10000RPM SATA 150 Hard disk drive; OCZ PowerStream 520W Power Supply; Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2; DirectX 9.0c; NVIDIA NForce4 Standalone chipset drivers, version 6.66.
     
  18. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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    I found that very choppy when I played with a 6800 GT. I think the in game test scored something like 85% over 40fps, but the average during the game was like 41fps - I'll dig out the graphs if you'd like me to. :)
     
  19. hitman012

    hitman012 Minimodder

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    This game is indeed hungry :(

    I can run with everything on max @ 1024x768 except anisotropy at 8x and Soft Shadows off. Specs in sig.
     
  20. r00t69

    r00t69 What's a Dremel?

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    Top review again guys.

    If I wasn't knee deep in Matrix Online I'd buy it. I might download the Demo and see how a 3800+/2GB/6800U SLI rig handles it though.
     
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