Early guesstimate of system requirements?

[Caius]

Processor of 4GHz
4 GB of RAM
1 GB Vid-Card

I think those are the requirements for the best settings.

[Charge]

Next year will be released new generation vid.cards (g100/r700).
They will handle it very well!

[Hooahguy]

I think the minimum system requirements will be...
3 GHZ P4 or AMD equivalent
1 GB ram
8GB Hard drive space
256MB video ram with DX9.0c vertex/shader 2.0 (Nvidea 6800 or better)

Recommended...
Dual core 2GHz or more
512mb GPU or 320mb 8800 GTS
2GB ram
8GB hard drive
DX10 optional

in that case, im eternally screwed. im stuck with a PCI card, and the best i can get is an Nvidia 6200 (i think) and i dont even know what my procesor is like... but i know its 2.53 ghz.
i think having incredibly high even minimum requirements, as you stated above, will toll heavy on sales. most of us cannot afford to get totally new computers.

[hoom]

Simple fact: If M2TW looks & plays ok on your PC, you're going to be able to run ETW about the same visual quality & resolution.
It might not look as good as a better PC but won't look worse than you already have.
Same thing happened with RTW -> M2TW.

Only those currently maxing M2TW settings at high resolution with lots of AA & AF might have to choose between toning things down a bit or look at an upgrade to keep max settings, AA & AF but those sorts are probably going to be looking at an upgrade before then anyway.

[pevergreen]

The requirements could be quite different, remember...new engine

[hoom]

Remember... same hardware has same processing power.

CA are great coders so its unlikely that the new engine would require more resources to produce the same quality graphical output.
Maybe it does a bit more CPU work per soldier between frames (particularly in AI I hope) but the chances are most people are Graphics limited anyway so this shouldn't cause too much issue.

[Hooahguy]

i actually was just offered $1000 to do something really easy for the next year, so i guess ill be buying a whole new system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Belgolas]

I just basically took Supreme Commander's Recommended settings and put that as minimum. Also if you can't afford it that sucks. But I could be wrong. Half Life 2 you can get amazing graphics for little requirements. But don't expect the same computer to run games forever.

[ninjahboy]

might have to save up some money at the end of this year - infact i think my lil bro is getting a new computer might shove my old graphics card onto him and take a new DX10 one? :P

[gregori99]

I agree with some of the other comments. I will upgrade RAM and a new graphics card - within reason - but not Vista. If it's Vista exclusive count me out.

[Charge]

For minimum playable system I would recommend definately Core 2duo proc (no matter what model, overclock is useful), 1 gig ddr2, and 8800 gts 320 (this for now, but actually than game comes there will be more reasonable hardwares on market)

[hoom]

A 320MB 8800GTS while well behind the bleeding edge is still one heck of a graphics card & certainly way above the 'minimum'.

Minimum for running at max game settings & high resolution with decent AA & AF, maybe.

ETW better not be Vista only & DX10, because I won't be buying it in any kind of hurry if it is.

[Belgolas]

I know well actually I don't know, but it will not be DX10 only. There will be probably an option to allow some DX10 features like all DX10 games right now. Do no worries. The only worry is Vista. Which would lower their market to be very limited.

[Hooahguy]

im actually about to order a new laptop-
windows vista home premium
2 gb of RAM, Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2450 (2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
the 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400
160GB 5400RPM hard drive.
hows that? the maker is HP.
and only for $828.99!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I have

3.0GHz P4
2GB DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 128MB

Do you think this could handle ETW?

What about AGP graphics cards anyway? I would be willing to spend some 200€ on a nicer 512MB AGP graphics card. Could that help much regarding ETW?

[Charge]

Centurio Nixalsverdrus

3.0GHz P4
2GB DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 128MB

Do you think this could handle ETW?

Graphics on lowest, no big battles, etc... Also it may not support needed shader.

What about AGP graphics cards anyway? I would be willing to spend some 200€ on a nicer 512MB AGP graphics card. Could that help much regarding ETW?

AGP is yesterday. If you haven't troubles with money, I suggest you to move on a new platform (fully new comp).

[gardibolt]

im actually about to order a new laptop-
windows vista home premium
2 gb of RAM, Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2450 (2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
the 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400
160GB 5400RPM hard drive.
hows that? the maker is HP.
and only for $828.99!

See if you can upgrade the chip to a T7100 and the video to a Go 8600. Then you should be good to go.

[Belgolas]

I have

3.0GHz P4
2GB DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 128MB

Do you think this could handle ETW?

What about AGP graphics cards anyway? I would be willing to spend some 200€ on a nicer 512MB AGP graphics card. Could that help much regarding ETW?

Well you could probably get a PCI-e mobo and a new video card.

im actually about to order a new laptop-
windows vista home premium
2 gb of RAM, Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2450 (2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
the 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400
160GB 5400RPM hard drive.
hows that? the maker is HP.
and only for $828.99!

The computer is good but the video card is lacking. You need a better one if you want some eye candy.

[Hooahguy]

The computer is good but the video card is lacking. You need a better one if you want some eye candy.

See if you can upgrade the chip to a T7100 and the video to a Go 8600. Then you should be good to go.

funny- people were saying the same thing over at the official forums....
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/21856
im on the last couple of pages of that thread.....

[Tellos Athenaios]

Centurio Nixalsverdrus: a basic rule of thumb is, if you can play the latest issue in the series (smoothly) at full settings; the next one will be possible (with low settings). So if you've got M2TW you can already test that bit.

EDIT: In all likelihood, you still will have to upgrade your GFX card to something more powerful, though. Since this kind of game mainly seems to consume raw memory & power rather than sophistication; I'd say you should look for a card with a healthy dosage of onboard RAM; of the newer types.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Thanks for your reply, Tellos, and all the others who replied.

I'd say you should look for a card with a healthy dosage of onboard RAM

That's why I asked about the 512MB graphics card, although AGP. I know AGP is yesterday, but I do not want to do major changes, since my computer is running very well with most games (I even got FSX to run smoothly) and I don't want to spend so much money. Going for another type of card than AGP would mean I would have to change the mainboard, and then I could change the processor as well, and then the RAM.

[hoom]

Oh come on fellas, a Radeon 9800 is a fine piece of kit.
It'll run ETW just fine.
The question is at what resolution & if that is good enough for the person who is using it.
A 9800 is probably going to be fine at 1024*768 and mine managed ok in M2TW demo at 1280*1024 with careful fiddling of game options.
The same card ran RTW just fine at 1920*1200.

1024*768 is ~750,000 pixels
1280*1024 (17-19" LCD) is ~1.3 million pixels
1600*1200 is ~2 million pixels
1920*1200 (24" LCD) is ~2.3 million pixels
2560*1600 (30" LCD) is ~4 million pixels

You can see from the above that the number of pixels and so the amount of work per frame increases very quickly at the higher resolutions.
This is particularly important where advanced shaders come into play, with lots of extra work being done for each pixel meaning that you need lots of extra graphics power to run at the higher resolutions.

[Doug-Thompson]

Vista's having an impact, even for XP users. New games have to be designed to run on Vista. Those that do seem to assume you have a lot of processor and memory power. It's almost as if Vista assumes a mimimum level of complexity.

The batch of games coming out this year, starting with Bioshock, are finally beyond what my processor can handle. Despite this, I have no plans to upgrade. I can't get a new processor without getting a new motherboard, since a worthwhile new CPU won't be an AMD Socket "A." If I get a new motherboard, it won't have an AGP video slot, but a PCI Express. My video card is AGP. That mean's I'll need a new processor, motherboard and a new video card — might as well get a new machine with a better power supply for all that.

[hoom]

Yes, the leap from AGP to PCIexpress is a painful one for the upgrader:
New mobo, new CPU, new RAM (DDR2), new graphics card = might as well buy a new PC altogether

[Belgolas]

I doubt you could run it well. Maybe minimum settings at 1024 x 768 and tiny unit scale. I have a 7600 GT XXX and I can't run M2TW @1920 x 1200 with any specs well.

[hoom]

Thats because a 7600GT is a low-mid level card.

I have a low-high end X1900GT & it runs M2TW well enough at 1900*1200 with max. game settings & low AA/AF.

There is a huge step up from mid level to high end.

[Benandorf]

From looking at the screenshots:

System Requirements: whatever you got - it aint enough.

Well of course the screenshots they use to show off will be maxed out quality. And it truthfully doesn't look that much better than Medieval 2 graphics.

I'd say they will be a bit higher than Medieval 2, but if you can run that very well on low-medium (but run fine past minimum is the point), you should be able to run E:TW at minimum at the very least.

But this is just a prediction, of course.

[Mailman653]

AGP is yesterday?

And I thought I only needed to boost my 1.5 RAM to at least 2 or 3.

[Daveybaby]

Thats because a 7600GT is a low-mid level card.

I have a low-high end X1900GT & it runs M2TW well enough at 1900*1200 with max. game settings & low AA/AF.

There is a huge step up from mid level to high end.

Quoted for truth.

You can get AGP versions of the X1950pro, and while its not top of the range in absolute terms, its still pretty respectable, and is by far the most powerful AGP card out there. Whether it will handle empire's or not is anyone's guess though.

[Charge]

Mailman653

And I thought I only needed to boost my 1.5 RAM to at least 2 or 3.

RAM is a last thing that you need to upgrade! 1.Video card 2.Processor 3.RAM

For M2TW 1 gig is good.
For ETW maybe it will be minimum.