Keeper Arnal on 22/11/2003 at 05:52
I know it was mentioned that the textures in the demo may not be the highest available, but here's a comparison between the textures in DX1 and DX2. Even if they do get better, the geometry detail is still a very low.
Inline Image:
http://www.picdump.jolt.co.uk/dx/textures.jpg Hmmmm, says me.
tomi1kenobi on 22/11/2003 at 05:58
I can't give a straight answer to any of the tech problems but the readme file had a lotsa dos and donts that sorted some of the probs for me, mostly concerned with slowdown and framerates. Maybe the answer is there for you guys, too.
Amorpheus on 22/11/2003 at 06:00
What was the distance there? Not exactly a conclusive side-by-side comparison...
Keeper Arnal on 22/11/2003 at 06:02
The distance is as close as I could get to the surface, which is as good as the same. The gaps in the boards are more or less the same width. I didn't resize the image in anyway, both were taken at 1280x1024 resolution.
Joben on 22/11/2003 at 06:29
Quote:
Originally posted by Chibboleth Why is the HUD so unbelievably obtrusive? ... How, in the name of all things holy, did they manage to make an interface that's actually less intuitive than the one in the first game?
The interface is an odd issue, i assume you speak of the inventory menus and such?
...i meen ive seen Spector in interviews talk about how bad the first one's interface was...but i didnt even REMEMBER an interface. So
i thought about it and realized I didnt remember it itself because it was just a standard Windows style tabed menu system that i didnt have to think about at all...maybe not the most efficent concievable system, but everyone and their great aunt knows how they work...I never heard any complaints about it until they hype for DX2 started...then i heard it from the game designers, not players. as they say If it aint broke, dont fix it.
ZylonBane on 22/11/2003 at 06:54
Quote:
Originally posted by Keeper Arnal The distance is as close as I could get to the surface, which is as good as the same. The gaps in the boards are more or less the same width. I didn't resize the image in anyway, both were taken at 1280x1024 resolution.
I noticed this myself. Apparently DX2 doesn't use detail textures. Great, huh?
tomi1kenobi on 22/11/2003 at 07:19
Quote:
Originally posted by Joben ...i meen ive seen Spector in interviews talk about how bad the first one's interface was...but i didnt even REMEMBER an interface.
as they say If it aint broke, dont fix it.
I heard that. The old one was much simpler and easy to use. OK, the inventory boxes at the bottom weren't exactly pretty but you got used ot it quickly. Now it's justy way too much fiddling about. I'm sorry if I sound like a party pooper with nothing positive to say but honestly: I'm not thrilled and excited at all. Pity.
Gingerbread Man on 22/11/2003 at 07:50
Buh. It looks like I'm playing on a console. On a TV. Big-ass font and cheesey FOV.
Well, I'm kinda underwhelmed. I know it's a stripped-down demo and all (at least, I hope it's stripped down), but it's just kind of underwhelming. To be honest, I think DX probably looked better, for one thing -- though it's been a while since I played DX, and I sure as hell was able to set the resolution higher than 800x600 without getting a slideshow.
That's the first thing I wish to gripe about. I've just come off playing Max Payne 2 and Morrowind at maximum resolutions, maximum detail, dynamic lighting, full-on textures, you name it. And I can't set this demo higher than 800x600 with lower than highest details etc without it getting too choppy. Like as in "the subtitles take approximately 30 seconds longer than the audio" choppy.
The interface is horrible. I might be able to get used to it after a while, but that's not something you should ever say about an interface. I don't buy a game so that I can spend three hours of play getting used to it. It's intrusive and unintuitive and I can't tell what half the icons are supposed to represent.
Admittedly, most of my disappointment is probably due to the fact that I can't set the resolution high enough to make the game passably pretty. I have no idea why this should be, unless an Athlon 2500+ with a GeForce FX5200 and 512M DDR is hovering around the minimum specs required. But playing a game at 800x600 on a 19" screen borders on MS Paint.
I really hope, in a couple of weeks, someone tells me that the retail release is much smoother and that the demo was so pared down as to be laughable. I want to like this game, but based on the strength of the demo (what little of it I managed to see before having to turn it off before I started crying) I think I'm very disappointed.
So here's how I can be cheered up:
Can anyone suggest how I can get the damned thing to run at a decent resolution without sacrificing framerates?
<s>Plus am I stupid or is there no way to holster weapons? I don't like the idea of running around with a weapon drawn all the time, only I can't figure out how to put the damned things away once I draw one for the first time.</s> Nevermind, I'm (predictably) stupid. Dave explained it to me in small words.
And the weapon models are absolute pants, as well.
I'll stop moaning now. I don't mean to be a whiner, and I'm trying not to be. But it's so hard when I'm faced with something this poor.
(edit)
And the sound is crap. Really. Smash a crate with the knife, and tell me that's what you'd expect from an outfit like ISA.
Renzatic on 22/11/2003 at 09:00
This helps alot. A few techminded fans have found a way to fix more than a few of the niggling little details that bothered me the most in the demo. By editing the INI file you can fix the mouse lag, make the hud a more managable size and most like adjust the font sizes to something a bit more tidy. You can even change the FOV I believe...
(
http://www.ionstorm.com/forum/viewthread.asp?forum=AMB_AP619612110&id=34880) Check it out, a whole thread dedicated to modding DX2 til you have it set up the way you want it. Since most of my problems with the game are based around asthetic details it helps me out alot.
It's pretty funny how all the problems that plagued me back when the original was released are back again in full force. I couldn't run DX1 worth half a shit on my old setup, which was actually really good for the time, and this one is exactly the same. Ion Storm might make good games (the jurys still out on DX2 for me), but they can't program a smooth running engine even if their kids left nuts depended on it.
lol, and I thought the sound was pretty damn good...the intro music comes to mind here.
Crion on 22/11/2003 at 09:39
I played the demo and I got the same feeling as GBM. What the hell happened? It looks nice but it feels so damn average.
And that one ammo for everything crap? When I found out I could shoot corpses and watch them fail, I did that until I ran out of ammo. Oh, no problem I just switch to the shotgun. WHOOPS I USED UP ALL THE FUCKING AMMO WITHOUT REALIZING IT AT ALL.
Inline Image:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/icons/icon13.gif I really hate where they've taken this game.
