GRAW demo, who else is disappointed

ajg · Post by **ajg** » 27 Apr 2006, 07:07

Well like probably all gamers on this site, downloaded GRAW from gamershell yesterday. What a PC disappointment. I can live with first person view, and the squad guys AI is not too bad. But what happened to the lovely visuals? all the textures look pants, and some of the effects/explosions look decidedly ropey. Also some odd textures on my ATI rig, not sure about Nvidia rigs. was hoping this was gonna be next gen, but found it works at almost max settings on my 850xt AGP system. I willl probably buy it as i think the gameplay will be a selling point but not the candy fest i had hoped

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 27 Apr 2006, 07:18

I'm not !!!!
Everything is wonderfull for me ... 8)

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:12

Does it look really next gen or is it under todays standards Paddy?

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:16

It's utterly Fantastic ... just no AA for Nvidia or ATI ...

ATI users seem to be having a fe problems but I could be wrong ... see here

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4255

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:20

Okay, i think i'm gonna download it tonight aswell and see if i get the same problems.
I hope not but since i'm an Ati user it may very well be bad for me. :(

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:23

I'm not sure but as it is all working fine for me I can only guess it's an ATI thing ... I hope it works well for you mate ... :D

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:26

me too. I just don't understand why Ati is so often badly supported.
GRAW had these problems.
Oblivion has bad shadowing.
Matrox does hardly support it.
I makes me nuts. :?

ajg · Post by **ajg** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:05

funny, cos my frames are good. even with my 850xt card? but this is only at max 1440 res. Weird one though, i can alter the AA and it does affect the framerate, but does noting in game. I will have to have a look at Paddys GRAW running, but i am not impressed with the textures and shadows. I am not even happy with the explosions etc. they are nothing special. Shame, why not use the latest CRYengine?

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:16

Maybe they focused to much on making nice looking explosions for the PhysX engine and forgot about the users without one of these cards.
Or they did that on purpose offcourse. :evil:

neoWidescreen · Post by **neoWidescreen** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:41

I have 5mins left before GRAW demo finishes downloading... which means this could be my last post for days. :lol:

It's no wonder developers have so much trouble with ATI cards... their drivers are hopeless. If ATI cleaned up their act and produced better drivers, i might even consider buying an ATI card. :shock:

4mins of downloading to go........... later'z! :D

sandys · Post by **sandys** » 27 Apr 2006, 12:48

The Ati user might just need a patch, especially the odler cards like the x850 as they would be SM2 cards, Splinter Cell needed a patch before it looked good on ATi too if I remember.

ajg · Post by **ajg** » 27 Apr 2006, 13:13

Its not ATI's fault. i bet this was developed for Nvidia cards, which kinda makes it hard for them to keep up as they are at a disadvantage straight away. Yeah might be a driver issue, but i am not sure how that could alter the textures? And neo, don't get too excited, the demo will take you 20 mins max...

neoWidescreen · Post by **neoWidescreen** » 27 Apr 2006, 14:53

ATI GUYS... DON'T LOSE HEART!!! READ BELOW!!!!

If you feel the game textures and quality is crap, follow these instructions.

Go to the: "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter DemoDatasettings" folder and edit "renderer_settings.xml" using notepad. (make a backup of this file first though)

Scroll down and change these variables from value="crap" to value="HIGH".

EG.

Code: Select all



   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_backdrop&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_buildings&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_buildings_low&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_characters&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_default&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_effects&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_ground&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_lightmaps&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_no_lod&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_plants&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_player_vehicles&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_props&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_props_bump&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

   &lt;variable name=&quot;texture_quality_props_high&quot; value=&quot;high&quot;/&gt;

This will boost up your graphic quality so it's as sexy as Paddy's workstation....but without the 3 monitors, 80FPS, and SLI-goodness. :( But at least you can see what the QUALITY is like!!!!!

btw, The game has an ATI logo on boot-up instead of a more traditional "nVidia".

ajg: i keep dying in the courtyard.... so it's kept me busy for a good hour. But i'm not complaining. :)

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 27 Apr 2006, 14:57

I downloaded it at about 9.30pm ... I was still messing with it and playing at 3am ... :mrgreen: ... but it is very short.

ajg · Post by **ajg** » 27 Apr 2006, 15:59

Its not ATI's fault. i bet this was developed for Nvidia cards, which kinda makes it hard for them to keep up as they are at a disadvantage straight away. Yeah might be a driver issue, but i am not sure how that could alter the textures? And neo, don't get too excited, the demo will take you 20 mins max...

yeah, should have noticed that at 3am this morning, doh... foot in mouth there, lol.... it IS ATI's fault.... i can set everything to high, but the textures then go whack, maybe cos of sm3 lighting or something but it does look better. really needs AA though... will have to get my nv setup running again soon so i can see what she is like then. there is hope yet to be impressed :)

ajg · Post by **ajg** » 28 Apr 2006, 07:31

Well after checing out Paddys Ghost Recon last night i can say it was a damn sight better than what i had seen with my machine. Still not blown away mind, the jaggies from the lack of AA is bad, the lighting still looks poor compared to all the latest games with HDR and Bloom effects (as they promoted themselves in screenshots). Maybe a few patches are in order

Gabbo · Post by **Gabbo** » 28 Apr 2006, 08:53

I am not seeing any problems with how the game runs/renders on an ATI card. It looks fantastic to me. I didn't have to resort to manually altering that settings file that neo pointed to. It already had everything at "high".

THis game runs 40-50 FPS @ 1920x1200 on a single x1900xt(x). The game has the freakin ATI brand at the splash screens. I would think that the game supports the cards.

Rus great. Looks great.

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 28 Apr 2006, 12:31

Yeah ajg poped around to look at my set up last night and we looked at some pre release PC screenshots ... they seem to have some AA and much better lighting ... :roll:

Another game where the pre release screenshots were "Tweaked" ... ?

Here is a screenshot that was released before the demo ... there seems to be some AA ... ?
Look at the roof edges and the edges where the walls meet the ground ...
It's best to look at them full size ... click to enlarge ...

Here is a screenshot I took with everthing at max ... no AA at all.

It was clearly from an earlier build of the game as the radar at the bottom and the crosshair have changed ... :roll:

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 30 Apr 2006, 11:48

Okay. Now about something else. What do you guys think of the gameplay.
I believe it rocks but it is soooooo difficult. I die every time even though i'm now playing on easy.
Also i think the squad members are kinda stupid at some times.
I had more than once that one of the members just ran in to a with enemys infested courtyard even though i ordered him to hide behind a wall or something. Really irritating. :?

Any tips and tricks would be helpfull. :D

neoWidescreen · Post by **neoWidescreen** » 30 Apr 2006, 13:03

I would have to agree - the gameplay is hard. But that's fine. The gameplay feels SOLID which is the main thing, and too many games of late have been released feeling unpolished.... so GRAW is a refreshing change.

My biggest complaint it the arrangement of keys for crouching/prone/standing. You have to reach other and press V to stand up: I am constantly going prone. But i guess i can remap that.

Directing the teammate AI is a bit difficult; using the wheel to select a team member, then the wheel again to tell him what to do is a bit tedious. i would prefer a simple "hit 1" point at direction and hit spacebar. In heat of battle you dont have time to screw around with the wheel. In the end i just let them follow me. :P

I am really keen to see how this game works in multiplayer adversial & the terrorist hunt. The co-op was fun, but if the leader dies it's game-over for everyone -- a real kill-joy.

The one thing i CONSTANTLY kept thinking is.... BRING BACK 3RD-PERSON-PERSPECTIVE. i know that means peaking is made obsolete but hopefully some modders can fix it.

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