Empire Total War system requirements

[PseRamesses]

Sir Beane, and others ;)

I´m worried that the game doesn´t handle multi threading, any news on that? Here´s the specs for my new PC I bought for christmas.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz
Graphics: 2xASUS RADEON HD4870 512MB
RAM: 2xKingston HyperX 2GB DDR2 1066Mhz
HD: 2xWestern Digital Caviar Blue 640GB SATA2
Sound: ASUS P5Q Pro

With 4 cores I´m hoping to be able to play on maximum graphic settings. Huge units are NOT important to me. I rather go with medium settings here. What y´all think?

[Squints]

Vista
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz
2 gb memory
256MB ATI Radeon X1650XT GDDR3

I can only run realistically on low campaign map and medium battle.

I assume it would be because of the graphics card? Maybe could use another gb of ram?

[ZIM!!]

Im upgrading my computer now anyways can someone reccomend a set up that would allow me to play it with everything on ultra

I currently have

2.6 Ghz processor
2 Gb of ram
Pentium 4
XP home edition

Its really slow and choppy playing now.

[pevergreen]

The game supports multi threading.

Get a dual core processor zim, as wlel as a decent graphics card. That is what is holding mine back, I've got an nvidia 8600 laptop card.

One day. One day I will custom build my own computer.

[Squints]

I'm probably going to pick up 1 or 2 gigs of ram and a 512 card today...

[pevergreen]

512 card in what? Nvidia? What series? ATI?

That matters more than the memory on the card.

Also, what type of RAM?

[AussieGiant]

Hey pev,

based on what you are seeing now and what machine you have do you think my machine will be able to handle Ultra settings?

XP Service Pack 3
Overclocked Dual Core at 3.4Ghz (OC'd from 2.4Ghz)
2GiG's of 800Mhz Ram
Overclocked 8800GTX 768mb ram (running at 8800 Ultra speeds)
150 Gig WesternDigital Raptor 10 000 rpm

[Squints]

I just realized my problem may be because of the resolution I'm playing it on. Hmmm... I have a 19 inch widescreen monitor, resolution around 1400 wide. That may be messing with my poor, poor graphics card.

I've had the card for like 2 years now, so I'm gonna upgrade it anyway. If it still can't pull it off, I
m turning the resolution down to 1080 or so, playing in a window so that my screen doesn't bug out every time i run the game.

[Rufus]

I'm considering a "gaming laptop," since this game just came out and we've been considering a laptop for a while. Would GREATLY appreciate any recommendations among these three available at Best Buy. I assume laptops are something where you get what you pay for, more or less, but if the cheapest one ($750) will run E:TW at high settings, I'd like to go for that.

Toshiba Satellite Laptop $750

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
Intel® Centrino® Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile 2.0GHz
WXGA TFT-LCD 15.4" widescreen with TruBrite technology (1280 x 800)
4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650 512MB

Asus Laptop $1,000

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Intel® Centrino® 2 Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile 2.13GHz
WXGA 15.6" widescreen with 1366 x 768 resolution
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512MB GDDR3

Gateway FX Edition Laptop $1,150

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
Intel® Centrino® 2 Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile 2.26GHz
WXGA 17" high-definition widescreen TFT-LCD with Ultrabright technology
4GB DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS 1GB GDDR3

Thanks very much for any input!!! All I can humbly offer in return is concise yet thorough AARs, with screenshots provided by one of the PCs above, written in character as best I can! (I love writing AARs but haven't done it on here since MTW1). I'm thinking "The King's Journal" ... "In receipt to-day of a missive from our cousin in The Hague. He has offered to acquaint our Admiralty with a most ingenious improvement in the design of a frigate, strengthening the hull without any sacrifice in speed. I am skeptical, but all he asks in return is a blockade of our mutual enemy's port at Brest, an action whose merit is obvious and one we likely would have done anyway."

[Pinxit]

What the... I run everything on ultra, or max, but the soldiers in the game fade away into 2 pixels when zoomed out, even the slightest. WHY? It looks awful.

[AussieGiant]

Well my machine seems to handle High setting at 1600 x 1200 (21 inch 4:3) with 4 x AA and 16 x AF without too many problems.

Ultra settings drop it to less than 20 fps so it's not playable.

Just though I'd let you all know.

[ArtillerySmoke]

What the... I run everything on ultra, or max, but the soldiers in the game fade away into 2 pixels when zoomed out, even the slightest. WHY? It looks awful.

IIRC, M2TW was the same way. It's like there are two different models, one for zoomed out and one for zoomed in. This allows for the thousands of troops on screen at once without heavy lag when zoomed out and commanding.

[Husar]

I'll ask again since nobody answered my questionWhich do you think I should upgrade first-a 256 mb graphics card into a 512 mb or would you say I should upgrade my dual-core 2.16 GHz processor?(cheap laptops ftw)

I say upgrade the graphicscard, a 512MB card should be better but it's not just the amount of Mb that does the trick, a 512MB GeForce 8600GT is weaker than a 256MB Geforce 8800GTX although I think the latter doesn't exist, but a 512MB version of the same card usually doesn't do a whole lot and is certainly not worth an upgrade.

[Dalthius]

My system is...odd. I bought a powerful laptop right before the new DX10 cards came out, so I'm stuck with a 7950 GTX. Whoa is me.

Anyway, I'm running the following:

Vista x64 Premium
Intel Quad Core 2.4 Ghz
4GB RAM
7950 GTX

I have a 24 inch (or 25 inch, hell, can't remember) monitor. On "high" settings at max resolution I get severe stutter, on medium I get very light stutter but playable. Any recommendations on settings/resolution? I'm thinking that running at max resolution (1920x1200) is probably a no-go with the card I have...

[Pinxit]

IIRC, M2TW was the same way. It's like there are two different models, one for zoomed out and one for zoomed in. This allows for the thousands of troops on screen at once without heavy lag when zoomed out and commanding.

But I had no such experience with the previous games, not in this extent. This is not intended. Its some weird flaw. It must be. The game looks like crap in land battles because of this. I cant even place the camera 20 meters from a unit until it goes 2 pixels. And thats going from Ultra to 2 pixels.

[A Very Super Market]

No, it isn't. It is totally intended.

My comp can't make it past medium, and I barely see them

[pevergreen]

But I had no such experience with the previous games, not in this extent. This is not intended. Its some weird flaw. It must be. The game looks like crap in land battles because of this. I cant even place the camera 20 meters from a unit until it goes 2 pixels. And thats going from Ultra to 2 pixels.

Think about it. When you are zoomed in, the computer is rendering and completing animations of hundreds of troops. It goes slower, when you are zoomed out, its better for everyone if the problem of animating and rendering all that is just turned into sprites with a few frames. Every total war game has used sprites. Zoomed out and watch things walk, they have a 2 frame walk. Go back to Rome: Total War and zoom out while facing the front of Hastati. They will suddenly face a different way, due to the sprites.

It makes the game go better, you can't tell the difference.

[Pinxit]

Think about it. When you are zoomed in, the computer is rendering and completing animations of hundreds of troops. It goes slower, when you are zoomed out, its better for everyone if the problem of animating and rendering all that is just turned into sprites with a few frames. Every total war game has used sprites. Zoomed out and watch things walk, they have a 2 frame walk. Go back to Rome: Total War and zoom out while facing the front of Hastati. They will suddenly face a different way, due to the sprites.

It makes the game go better, you can't tell the difference.

Im going to give you a screenshot of what it looks like when I am able to. I do promise you, either the design is very flawed, or there is something wrong with my comp. Its not supposed to look like that. But since I dont have a screenshot, I am using someone else to make my point. This, below, is how it is supposed to look. In my game the first row of soldiers do look like that, and all is well. But the line behind is a blur on my set up. It isnt on everyone elses. Its crazy.

[ArtillerySmoke]

Im going to give you a screenshot of what it looks like when I am able to. I do promise you, either the design is very flawed, or there is something wrong with my comp. Its not supposed to look like that. But since I dont have a screenshot, I am using someone else to make my point. This, below, is how it is supposed to look. In my game the first row of soldiers do look like that, and all is well. But the line behind is a blur on my set up. It isnt on everyone elses. Its crazy.

That guy probably has a better graphics card then you.

Different cards render in different ways. As Pevergreen pointed out to you - This is a matter of rendering only what it's zoomed in on, so that your performance doesn't suffer.

Your experience with previous Total Wars might not matter. This is Empire and it has significantly higher requirements than previous titles.

For the record - Everything you're describing is something that I, and everyone else I know, dealt with when it came to M2TW. There are basically 2 models - the fully rendered zoomed in version, and the zoomed out "sprites". I don't remember any TW being different except for MTW and Shogun, where it was only sprites whether you were zoomed out or not.

[Hender]

My set-up is pretty low budget, but also pretty recent.

Pentium Dual-Core E2200 2.2GHz
Vista 64 bit
4GB RAM
ATI HD 4670 512MB GDDR3
More than 100GB free on a 7200 rpm hard drive

What sort of settings should I be able to run at?

[Pinxit]

That guy probably has a better graphics card then you.

Different cards render in different ways. As Pevergreen pointed out to you - This is a matter of rendering only what it's zoomed in on, so that your performance doesn't suffer.

Your experience with previous Total Wars might not matter. This is Empire and it has significantly higher requirements than previous titles.

For the record - Everything you're describing is something that I, and everyone else I know, dealt with when it came to M2TW. There are basically 2 models - the fully rendered zoomed in version, and the zoomed out "sprites". I don't remember any TW being different except for MTW and Shogun, where it was only sprites whether you were zoomed out or not.

I didnt have that problem when playing Medieval Total War 2. Not even close. It looked fine at a distance. But this is like they have used sprites models from Shogun.

[pevergreen]

Most of those units are sprites, I think they look damn good.

Vist 32bit, 4gig ram, 2.4 dual core, 8600 GT.

Playing on Low for nearly everything for FPS increase.

[A Very Super Market]

Hender, probably low-medium

Pinxit, the units go like that all the time. I don't possibly see how you could view that as a problem, since I can barely ever zoom in on a unit without my flank collapsing.

[Leonhard]

Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.

What would be the AMD equivalent of this processor? Tried to find answers on the internet, but couldn't find it.

[Polemists]

Lol I think at this rate we are going to need to change this thread to

What pc can I buy to best run Empire within my budget

[robpa]

Here is what I have, I dont experience much lag at all and I have unit Size on High:



Manufacturer:
BIOSTAR Group
Processor:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory:
2046MB RAM
Hard Drive:
250 GB
Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT OC

[beatoangelico]

the game DOES support multithreading, at least dual core CPUs (I have an core duo 2 E8400). I don't know how this legend spread to the forums, but in battles I'm constanty around 60% of CPU occupation. Multicore support doesn't mean having the cpu at 100% occupation all time (even if it would be good, and some engines manages to do that).

If you fight a battle, then exit, restart, set the affinity for only one core in the taskbar (use alt + tab while in the main menu), and then re-fight the same battle, you should see a sensible loss of FPS.

I'd further say that, after you turn off that (badly implemented and as of now useless) SSAO rendering, the game becomes CPU bound for a lot of systems imho.

[pevergreen]

It says it works well on i7 cores, arent they quad cores?

[beatoangelico]

that's marketing gimmicks and probably not much else

intel pay developers to feature that logo and optimize their code for intel CPUs, and in return offer some help with their engineers, but since the engine was a work in progress for so long I really doubt they had the time to make advantage of the new quadcores

[Dalthius]

Well all I know is the game runs like CRAP. I'm running a Quad Core (see my stats page a few posts up), but I think a lot of my problems are due to my 7950 GTX.

I can't seem to find the proper balance with my resolution, either. 1920 x 1200 is just way too much for my crappy card to handle. I'm running somewhere around 1600 now, but I'm not happy with it. The game is certainly playable, but I have everything on low and it looks TERRIBLE. The campaign map still stutters slightly, the occassional video is almost unwatchable (duelling videos I can't watch, and the last video in the RtI campaign....but all the others are fine, weird), and every now and again I get lag in battles.

When I was toying with settings, the game looked GREAT on high but was just unplayable.

Other than sending the computer (laptop, Sager) back for a %^&*#$@ $900 upgrade or building a desktop, anybody have any recommendations for settings?