Far Cry Spec problem

[rhone81]

Despite the fact I have a PC that exceeds recommended spec, Far Cry always puts me into low detail settings. When I change to higher ones game invariably crashes. It detects that I have a "very high spec" PC, but always puts me into "low" detail, environment, lighting, bilinear etc.

PC:

Pentium D Viiv 2.8Ghz
1GB Ram
ATI Radeon X600 Hypermemory*

*I believe this graphics card essentially "steals" resources from main system?

If anyone can help me or indeed confirm this card is creating a bottleneck it would be very much appreciated.

Regards Graeme.

[draco7891]

Unfortunately, you are correct in assuming the issue lies with your video card. The x600 series (desktop cards and otherwise) are fairly underpowered, and their inclusion in laptop systems (I assume this is a laptop, yes?) is more concerned with their very low power draw, rather than their performance.

The Hypermemory series is an ATI tech to simultaneously use system and on-board memory for the video card (so that fast, critical operations can be done in the faster video memory, and other tasks sent to slower system memory), to reduce costs. However, with 1GB, I doubt you're running out of memory.

The best thing to try is to start at the low settings and change each option individually, to see if there is a consistent sticking point. That will help diagnose if you can run the game at acceptable detail levels.

Draco

PS: Welcome to the forums. :thumbup:

[Karlsweldt]

What version of DirectX are you using? That program has a buit-in test which you can run, to evaluate the overall system's performance. The latest version is 9.0c which works very well with W2K and XP, but not so well with Win 9xx. On-board graphics for a PC can always be bettered with an add-on card. But with a laptop, there is no real "upgrade" besides newer video drivers. A program such as Everest Ultimate Diagnostics www.lavalys.com/ is not expensive, and can diagnose your system's complete setup and display all findings and 'secrets'.

[rhone81]

Thanks for your replies. I'm using a a Dell Dimension 9150 Desktop and have tried turning up the quality until I've now achieved a good balance between smoothness & appearance and it seems to be OK. To use the game to the max tho' will probably buy new card.

Cheers again!

[Shoboy]

even though FC is "old", the x600 card is not very powerful for running an intensive game like FC.