Question about the system requirements

[Nekomancer]

Ok, before i drop the ball (sorry, had to do this pun) and buy this game and am not able to play it, i'll just ask.

This is my PC:

AMD Phenom II X4 Quadcore clocked at 3.0GHz (stock settings)
2GB DDR3-1333 RAM
AMD Radeon HD4200 IGP with Catalyst 10.9 (the obvious bottleneck)
Creative Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP Professional SP3

As you can see my integrated videochip is a severe bottleneck right now. Especially in shader heavy games. Sadly, Unreal engine 3 games tends to be pretty shader heavy, which is a kick in the balls (i just can't stop that, sorry) for me. The performance in other UE3 games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, The last Remnant and Mass Effect 2 was below enjoyable.

My question is, has the game been tested on such a videochip or something comparable? How was the performance?

I target to play it at 1024x768 resolution. Please answer before the pre-order is gone .

 

[PUTZ]

I'm willing to bet an IGP isn't supported. [Just checked, they are not] And the minimum for an ATI/AMD spec would be the HD3000 series (add-in boards)


System Requirements

• • OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista, or Windows 7
  • Processor: 2.0+ GHz or better (dual core recommended)
  • Memory: 1 GB (2 GB recommended)
  • Graphics: SM3 Compatible video card (GF6800 minimum - GF8800 or higher recommended)
  • DirectX

 

[Nekomancer]

Well, my very old PC broke down and i wasn't able to salvage the videocard. Which was the thing that broke down and it was AGP anyway. I was already saving money for a new PC, but the money wasn't enough to get the complete set. So i decided to buy the videocard, part of the RAM and the OS (Win7 of course) later. I wanted a solid PC, but my bank account wasn't solid enough for the task .

And since i know the performance of an Geforce 6800 (guess what videocard died in my old PC XD), i know that my IGP has a somehow comparable performance, excluding shaders. These are the weak point of the IGP. That's why i'm asking.

 

[Yin]

Maybe try to see how smoothly Unreal Tournament 3 runs, download the demo if you don't have the game, since it uses the same engine the performance should be compareable. UT3 engine runs surprisingly very well on lower end graphics cards and computers from my experience.

 

[Hourences]

We have not tested it on such PC, maybe Tripwire or one of the distributors has but we have not. Our game is less performance hungry than most games though, so it might just work. The UT3 tip is a good one, it should run about the same as our game.

 

[Nekomancer]

Actually, i own UT3 and it runs at playable and even enjoyable speed. But since it's a bit older than other UE3 games i didn't mention it.

If it really runs at comparable speed i should be able to play it. Thanks for that information.

@Yin
Saying it runs on the same engine doesn't cut it. That's like saying: "If Half Life: Source runs on your PC, then Left 4 Dead 2 should too, they use the same engine after all". Even if two different games use the same engine, the performance can be different. Just compare UT3 to Mass Effect 2. Two different games, but the latter is way more demanding.

 

[Yin]

@Yin
Saying it runs on the same engine doesn't cut it. That's like saying: "If Half Life: Source runs on your PC, then Left 4 Dead 2 should too, they use the same engine after all". Even if two different games use the same engine, the performance can be different. Just compare UT3 to Mass Effect 2. Two different games, but the latter is way more demanding.

No, it's not like saying "If Half Life: Source runs on your PC, then Left 4 Dead 2 should too" Half-Life: Source uses an older engine, old graphics etc. mostly imported from Half-Life 1 which is from 1998, Left 4 Dead 2 is from 2008 on a newer engine and nothing imported from a old game. Mass Effect 2 uses a highly modified version of the Unreal Engine 3 too so you can't compare that to be honest, which The Ball by the looks of it does not. If you looked at the trailer of The Ball it has this very Unreal Tournament 3 similiar look to it, most games that have this also run on a "similiar" performance to Unreal Tournament 3, not to forget the fact that in the trailer of the game the maps seem pretty small and narrow which means you won't be rendering too much at the same time or areas miles away. UT3 engine in general is very optimized to run on older computers, I ran stuff like Gears of War, Devil May Cry 4 etc. maxed out on a old 8600GT and a 2.2 GHz dual core long ago, not because the graphics sucked, but because the engine runs so well.

Well, you should get the point.