Performance Concerns

I've been playing around with the Tech Demo for a little while and am considering purchasing Alpha.

The computer I am using is a Dell XPS Studio (desktop) with a quad core processor, Radeon HD 4200 graphics card, and 3gb of installed Ram, running Windows 7. Looking at the requirements page in the wiki, my computer seems to be at or below the minimum requirement.

I was able to get the Tech Demo to play without video or audio lag by dropping all of the graphic settings to "lowest" and decreasing the screen resolution. The recommended graphics settings set everything to "low", but there was too much lag and audio delay. Also I don't know if it a bug in the game or if it's my computer, but there seems to be a 1-2 second delay between any button I press and the corresponding action; I have to hold the turn button for a few seconds before the steering wheel will respond.

Before getting alpha, I would like to know if anyone thinks my computer can handle the new textures and improvements. Being that the Tech Demo is just a test version, could it be drawing more resources than it requires, and causing the lag at higher graphic levels? If so, could it be possible that Alpha (and subsequent releases) would be more streamlined and less demanding on my system? The reason I ask is because I also play RoR, and have 3.8 and 4.0; 3.8 is glitchy and usually has a little bit of lag, where 4.0 very rarely lags and I've never really had any issues with it.

 

Your computer will sadly not likely handle the Alpha too well if you already have to run everything on "lowest" in the tech demo. It may be worth it for the extra vehicles, but you won't be leaving GridMap too often. The 4200 is a weak card iirc, but the processor is more important for this game. The number of cores in a processor isn't really a whole lot to go on, a series/model number would be much appreciated. (There are resource-light vehicles and terrains existing as mods. Even if the official content is too much for your computer at the moment you could use those mods instead if you bought the game, and then you already have a license if/when you upgrade your PC.)

 

I also have a studio XPS, but they come in different models. I know that your videocard will not handle the game, and while that RAM is low it should work. (RAM is cheap anyway, upgrading should be easy.) What we need to know is your CPU, try getting CPU-z.
A videocard upgrade for cheap is the hd 7750 or 7730, both can handle the game pretty well.

 

I dont see why people recommend installing CPU-Z just to obtain the CPU model when A) System information in windows displays it and B) DXDiag in windows displays it.

I usually recommend the latter. Win key + R to open the run dialog. Just type "dxdiag" and hit ok. Gives enough info for our needs without requiring installation of external tools like CPU-Z (which does have its benefits anyway, its just right now we dont need them).

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In my experience. The alpha is no faster than the tech demo. If your PC is struggling with tech demo, it will likely struggle with the alpha sadly.

 

I've had system information screw up before, didn't know about dxdiag.

 

I havent personally seen system information screw up, but it really wouldnt surprise me if it did one day. You know, to this day I have not worked out what on earth the numbers in the windows experience index which system information loves to throw in your face actually correspond to in the real world.
Apparently mine is 5.1 with graphics being the lowest. The what is rated text simply says "Desktop graphics performance", what about it? How many invisible pink unicorns it can render flying broomsticks through a cotton candy wonderland? Rather useless set of benchmarks really so wouldnt surprise me if alongside the windows experience index uselessness M$ manage to cockup the system information page somehow.

DXDiag is reasonably good for just getting a hardware listing out of your machine. I think its even present on windows RT.

 

Alright, thanks for the replies.

I have a studio XPS 7100 with an AMD Athlon II x4 630 (2.6GHz).

Beyond an upgraded graphics card, is there anything else I should do to my computer before getting Alpha? Would an upgraded graphics card also require an upgrade to the power supply, fans, or CPU (just to make the graphics card work properly)?

Is there any chance, even a slim one, that this game will be released on Xbox, because I go a feeling that by the time I get done upgrading my computer, I could just buy an actual gaming computer and not worry about it.

 

People recommend CPU-Z because it has a ton of other things, like real time cpu clock, voltages, etc etc.

Your computer is slow overall, so in your case I recommend selling the computer and buying hardware to build a new one.

 

Ok... I just go back to living vicariously through YouTube.

 

I don't know your income/budget, but you can build a pc that will max beamng for just over $1k and one that will run it for ~$600. A full upgrade would cost you about $500, so a rebuild is better.

 

I know that it includes real time CPU clock, but so does task manager (or at least in windows 8 it does, I honestly never checked windows 7). But we dont need any of that info to know what PC he has and somehow I would expect that if he/she had played with overclocking etc they would have mentioned it and we wouldnt be in the situation where we would have to ask for info anyway.



CPU-Z is a useful tool, I won't deny that. Its just 99% of the time for asking what model processor a person has on a forum you really don't need it. I personally think if someone who isn't tech savvy comes along that it is much easier to guide someone through getting a DXDiag output for us than it is to tell them how to download/install CPU-Z and then get details from that. For someone sitting at home overclocking a system on the other hand, DXDiag, System information, Device manager and task manager will be fairly useless tools in comparison to CPU-Z.

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Back to OP. The 630 was released in both AM2 and AM3 socket types (also FM1 I think). Now this is something CPU-Z may actually be useful for as it can tell you if your motherboard is AM2, AM2+, AM3 or AM3+. You can easily obtain AM3/3+ socketed processors, the current AMD FX series chips occupy AM3+ sockets so you might actually be able to upgrade. Question is, is it worth it? Its an older system, although you might be able to obtain an upgrade, what else will also need upgrading and will you eventually need to swap other components too? In my opinion, probably not worth an upgrade. Probably better off looking to build a new machine and perhaps reuse the hard disks and optical drives from your old machine.

 

The processor is an AM3 (938)...

To the point about it being worth it; I really enjoy the tech demo and would really like having the full game, but I don't see $100 worth of fun, and I certainly don't see $600 worth of fun (and that's just scratching the surface of "maybe it will play"). I have an Xbox and don't like PC games, so this would be the most advanced game on my computer and that's not worth getting a new computer; I'll wait for it come out on consoles, and if it never does, I'll have just as much fun pretending GTA has realistic vehicle damage.

 

Even if you have to put all settings on lowest and never leave gridmap, it's worth it. Trust me.

 

that will never, ever, ever, ever happen, consoles just arnt powerful enough, even the next gen consoles arnt powerful enough, and then there's also the costs of a dev console and all that, it just wont happen, i will say, that do what potato said, beamng is completley worth it, even if you are stuck on gridmap for forever, its still a load of fun.

 

Like I said earlier, even if you can't use the official content there are tons of mods that cater to all performance levels, higher and lower. All of dkutch's mods run on just about anything, and Sevennemesis' golf cart is a good mod, too. Nadeox's Demo Derby circuit from RoR has also been ported, and several (dozen?) variations on Gridmap exist.

 

Alright I try it; I wasn't that interested in the terrain based maps anyway, and if the worse that'll happen is I'll end up with what I already have, plus a couple new cars and upgradeable content, that's not that bad.

One last question...

Does purchasing Alpha make me eligible for free upgrade to Beta or whatever comes next, or would I need to re-buy the game to get it?

 

If you purchase the alpha, you get all future updates, including the final game, free.