Re: GTA IV graphics optimisation that works

Tom wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:00:46 -0000, "Trimble Bracegirdle"
<no-spam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have it smooth & generally OK on Dual Core 3.2 Ghz ...8800 GTX ...3 Gig DDR2 RAM ..latest drivers.

BUT because I use an 19" CRT rather than LCD,
I can get sharp & good (enough for me) graphics at 1200 x 1024 or less.
The games setup ridiculously set the screen res. at 800 x 600 with the Largest
Textures and a very, very small draw distance (like 15%) . & everything at highest.

The 8800 GTX has 768 MB onboard memory & that silly short draw distance
depends on how much (many?) of those Large Textures will fit.
Changing this to Medium size Textures let me set the Draw Distance to nearly 100%

Looks fine.
Most complaints re. graphics performance I've seen are from people wanting
resolutions like 1600 plus .

This is exactly why I refuse to go LCD for gaming. If you want games
to look good you are locked into a high native resolution. If you
don't want a high native resolution you have to resort to a smaller
LCD where 1280 is the native res. No longer adequate for doing real
work on the PC in my opinion, but the perfect resolution for gaming.

For the last 5 years or so I've been watching PC gamers get sucked
into the widescreen LCD craze... It bothered my eyes back then, still
does, even on the fastest LCDs available, and the limited ability to
reasonably change to whatever resolution runs the game well were the
big warning sign that LCDs were not good for gaming.

Those who hold on to their CRTs, or better yet buy (hard to find) good
ones will find their gaming enjoyment greatly enhanced over LCDs.

Once you go back to playing on CRT and are no longer victim of input
lag, 60hz refresh, the foolish marketing promises of widescreen that
still have not panned out 5 years later, etc, you will once again
realize why you enjoyed gaming in the first place.


1680x1050 on a 22" WS LCD is not a huge step up in rez from 1280x1024 on a CRT. If you have a mid range graphic card there should be no reason your games should run any slower. Really not sure about your comment about WS gaming "not panning out 5 years later" I've had my 22" Dell for 4 months now and I would never go back to my 4:3 19" CRT. Gaming is amazing in WS. Makes you feel like you're more a part of the game when you have more viewing area. 60hz on a LCD is rock solid, unlike a CRT at the same refresh rate.I play fast moving FPS games and I have not seen any type of lag, smearing, etc with my 5ms LCD.
Plus the screen size is great for everyday stuff. It's great for video and photo editing. And what I do when I'm using Firefox is I have the browser placed in the middle of my screen so I can now get to my desktop icons and see my widgets without having to minimize my browser. This is very handy.
Also my LCD puts of a lot less heat then my CRT did, which is great because my PC already puts out a lot of heat so less is better for me. And it's so nice having all the extra desk space now I don't have that huge CRT sitting in front of me. I still get blown away when I look at how thin this monitor is compared to what I was used to dealing with. Not to mention how much lighter it is. If I need to move it, it's nothing. If I had to move my CRT is was a major chore.
JLC
.

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