NWN1 running slow/choppy. I need some help please.

[Legacy_TheReaLSuReSHoT]

               Hello everyone. 
I hope I can get some help here.

I have what I think was the collector's edition that came out in 2002 (5 discs, NWN1, SoU and HotU, and I THINK it came with some other stuff too).
I used to play this game all the time on the same exact computer I have now. It used to run fine, I just had to turn all the graphics settings down all the way, etc.

 I recently pulled the game out and decided to play it again, because I hadn't played it in years (plus I haven't been able to play some pen and paper D&D in over a year, and basically had an itch I wanted to scratch).
So, I installed it and for some reason, it was running really slow/choppy, even when I turned everything down.

Now, there is almost no difference between my system a few years back, and now. Except for the fact it is now a little older, and I THINK last time I played this I was using Windows ME and now I have XP.

I haven't patched it yet, because I have dial-up and downloading a patch takes a long time, so i will probably drive to the nearest "big town" use a library computer and download patches. I don't know if that would make the difference here or not.

Any suggestions or ideas on how I can get this game running good enough where it is playable?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Gorath Alpha]

               When you want to allow the readers here to compare your hardware to the practical system requirements, we can tell you whether your reollection has failed you.  

Original (OC) release date Jun 16, 2002

What are the minimum and recommended system requirements for playing NWN1's Diamond Premium Collection?

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

   * Windows ME/98 128 MB RAM
   * Windows XP/2000 256 MB RAM
   * 800 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor
   * 8x CD/DVD-ROM Drive
   * 3.8 GB free hard disk space
   * 32 MB Open GL 1.2 compatible video card with Hardware T&L
   * DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
   * DirectX 8.1 (included)
   * Keyboard, Mouse

RECOMMENDED:

   * 1.3 MHz or faster Intel or AMD Athlon processor
   * 512 MB RAM (for XP))
   * 64 MB NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS, or ATI Radeon 7500 or faster video card.

SUPPORTED VIDEO CARD CHIPS:

   * NVIDIA GeForce4
   * NVIDIA GeForce3
   * NVIDIA GeForce2
   * NVIDIA GeForce 256
   * NVIDIA TNT2 (32 MBs and up, only)
   * ATI Radeon 8500
   * ATI Radeon 7500
   * ATI Radeon 7200
* Matrox G550
   * Matrox G450 

Don't forget that nVIDIA, particularly, kept selling still lower powered cards like the MXes that aren't up the the TNT2 minimum by a long shot, and that old parts are no longer able to run the same way after they have aged, than they did while still new.  Power supplies in particular begin failing in just two or three years, as do the little cooling fans on various components, such as video cards. 
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 15 mai 2011 - 08:22 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_TheReaLSuReSHoT]

               Seeing where the game had been on this computer before, and was playable then, I didn't think putting my hardware info up here was that important, because obviously they were good enough for me to play it before.

Processor Manufacturer: AMD
Processor Type: Athlon
Processor Speed: 1.00 GHz
Operating System / Service Pack:  WindowsXP Home Edition Service Pack 2
System RAM: 768 mb
Video Card Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Video Card Model: GeForce FX 5200
Video Card RAM: 128 mb
Video Card Driver Version: 5.6.7.3

I couldn't remember how to get to my sound card info. I am not sure if the sound card is the problem though, because this still is choppy if i turn sound off.  I am not sure what other info is needed.
I already know that the video card I have was one of the really terrible ones NVIDIA had put out...I didn't know it at the time I bought it, but I know now, but still, this game ran well enough for me to play with this card.

I am thinking maybe age could be the factor here, although, for the years between the last time I played NWN and now, I didn't use this computer much, so there shouldn't be as much wear and tear on the parts as there would normally have been on a computer that has been around this long.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Gorath Alpha]

               I think the graphics card is about half dead.   It was pretty bad when brand new when compared to the GF3s and GF4s, literally being very little better than a minimum card for this game, in spite of being almost two years newer than the game was.  Its fan probably wore itself totally out years ago when you played last, and really isn't worth replacing, unless you can find a friend who held onto the AGP type of video card when those were obsoleted six years ago.  

Incidentally, I played the game with GF3s, the first being a Ti-200, and my own fan quit halfway through, so after that, I finished with a Ti-500.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Gorath Alpha]

               

Gorath Alpha wrote...

. . . wore itself totally out years ago when you played last, and really isn't worth replacing, unless you can find a friend who held onto the AGP type of video card when those were obsoleted six years ago.  

Incidentally, I played the game with GF3s, the first being a Ti-200, and my own fan quit halfway through, so after that, I finished with a Ti-500.  

Actually, I was just in my shop, and the top box in a particular corner was from my original GF3 Titanium, and there was no "200" or "500" in the name, just plain "Titanium".  I did eventually pull the fan off of a GF4 that died some other way, and recycled the old GF3 card with that fan.  I also do have some "old" computers, one of which is about like yours, even has that same FX 5200 on it, when a GF2 GTS quit.  But I use it for X-Wing Alliance, when I feel like playing that. 

But compared to NWN1, that one is a very old game.

(And just so no one thinks I really have a building out back, or a half part of a garage to use, what I have is unused kids' bedrooms that not even grandkids have been using for a sleepover at GrandDad's since they reached their teens, so one such is a "clutter" room, with stuff I need to sell, give away, whatever, but not keep.  The other is where I "build" stuff when needing to heed the craftsman part of my psyche.  And I build PCs in there. 
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_TheReaLSuReSHoT]

               So, I would probably have to replace the graphics card, which doesn't make sense to do again in a computer I have had since like 2000. That sucks. I have ran through pretty much all the games I have that run on this computer.  The only reason I am using this old PC is because my good laptop suffered a fall, and my back-up laptop (which was frankensteined out of several laptops) finally bit the dust, and having been unemployed can't replace any of them.

 I was hoping that NWN would help keep me busy for a while, between the actual adventures, then all the different  modules that can be found online (i would just go to the library and download). Plus, I still have the D&D itch that must be scratched.

What a pain in the ass. Thanks for the help though.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Gorath Alpha]

               

Gorath Alpha wrote...

I think the graphics card is about half dead.

You can replace it with another FX 5200 for about $30, plus shipping, from Newegg, and I just looked, and saw several FX 5200s at eBay on the "Buy it Now" fixed price selling option, for less than $15, with shipping. 

About the same as an FX 5200, but actually capable of rendering most of Dx9.0b's SM2 pixel shaders in fairly reasonable frame rates, Newegg had this Geforce 6200 for $35 after rebate (plus about $5 worth of shipping):

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

About the same as the 6200, except slightly faster, and a lot newer, Computer Geeks has a Radeon HD 3450 for just $30 plus shipping:

www.geeks.com/details.asp

Far better than any of those (for this game, at least) was another Buy it Now sale at eBay, a Radeon X800 Pro for $23, with shipping included:

cgi.ebay.com/Celestica-ATI-Radeon-X800-Pro-GDDR3-VIVO-/280678709367

That one can render Dx9.0b's SM2 at excellent frame rates, and can even handle the basics of the SM-3 pixel shaders.

FYI, I looked for a GPU Review summary for any X800 with a picture included, and chose the one in the link below.  It's nowhere near to being as good as the X800 "Pro", but still miles above an FX 5200.  And using GPU Review's side by side comparison of raw specs just isn't a good way to show the difference between a Geforce and a Radeon, so I chose to show a Radeon 9250, a card the same age and the same power as an FX 5200 as the side by side second card, and when I did that, even the picture of a 9250 was similar: 

www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

(Oh, right . . I meant similar in the sense that the FX 5200 that I still have in that very old PC of my own has the exact same kind of "passive" heat sink, bright aluminum fins, no fan, just relying on air flow through the PC case to cool it.) 
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 18 mai 2011 - 01:23 .