Graphics Card Question

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Okay, so I need some computer help. I have used this laptop to play the online game City of Heroes before, with no graphics problems, but it's been over a year since I last tried it and now I seem to be having problems. I'm going to assume this is because my computer has not improved while the demands of the game have gone up.

All I have to go on is that the game lags really really bad when I try to play, and it tells me that I may be using outdated drivers for my graphics card. I have tried to update my drivers, but there hasn't been any difference with the performance of the game.

SO! Here's my stats:


<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="8" width="100%"><tbody> <tr><td class="SubText" >DDisplay adapter type</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle" width="260">Total available graphics memory</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">1406 MB</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle" width="260"> Dedicated graphics memory</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">256 MB</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle" width="260"> Dedicated system memory</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">0 MB</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle" width="260"> Shared system memory</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">1150 MB</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" >Display adapter driver version</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">8.634.1.0</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle" width="260">Primary monitor resolution</td> <td class="SubText" align="left" valign="middle">1440x900</td></tr> <tr> <td width="10">
</td> <td class="SubText" >DirectX version</td> <td class="SubText" >DirectX 10</td></tr></tbody></table> Am I doomed? Do I need a new card, or computer, or something else less invasive and easy? Help!

[Yog]

You have a rather slow integrated graphics chipset, so if you were to play graphics intensive game such as Crysis, I would not expect more than 5 frames per second. CoH has however very low system requirements, so I would assume it is possible to play without stuttering. I'll write a more detailed response later tonight, because I have to head out.

Go here to verify if you can run it:
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com

.. also please tell us more detailed specs of your laptop, what kind of CPU, memory etc

[Morgan Evanar]

You need an actual graphics card. How much do you want to spend? You can get a night and day difference for $100. How big/what resolution is your monitor?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I want to spend nothing, as that's what I can afford. :( But if an upgrade is a good idea then suggestions are welcome for down the line, like maybe after we've paid baby medical bills. So I guess in that scenario we're more likely to just upgrade to a new computer.

I'll see about the other specs later, Yog. My screen is 17"...

edit: the Can You Run It? site says I can indeed run the game so... I don't know wtf is up with it! Trying it again now though.

[Yog]

If you go to windows start button, type "dxdiag" in the search field, and save the result as a *.txt file and attach it here, we should get some detailed info about your system specs. :)

[Atreyu]

Judging by Holly's latest comments in this thread (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16071) it seems she fixed the issue. :) (graphics settings were set to ultra high)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yeah I figured it out. I feel dumb. :/

[Yog]

Doh!

Well, as I told you before, the system reqs are very reasonable. :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

I run it on the highest possible settings and it still looks.. average. It's not a very.. graphically pleasing game :lol

[Atreyu]

Considering the game is as old as WoW (released 2004) and has had barely any graphical updates since that's not surprising. :lol

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I like it though :colbert