Is NOLF2 worth buying?

[Killer Ape]

Yes JB. That's where my rig started chugging. I think there's just too much AI going on (all those respawning guards need to constantly check if you're visible, noisy, etc.), putting a hit on the CPU? That area also just has a lot of textures if you think about all the junk in the rooms. After I got out of Siberia things speeded up. I set the difficulty back to "Easy" for the heavy respawn areas and that seemed to calm things down a bit. I must say that the graphic difference between 1600x1024 and 1024x768 wasn't that noticeable, aside from a little more jaggies. Nothing some antialiasing won't cure.

I too miss the SS2/Deus Ex alternatives to disarming the cameras/alarms, i.e. hack them or disable them. A lot of the fun of SS2 was waiting for the right moment to make that satisfying, camera crunching swing with the pipe...

 

[apoppin]

Yep, I played on "easy" during the heavy respawn scenes. Is that cheating?

However, my system handled the whole thing with only a couple of (2 or maybe 3 times) slowdowns. I like 1024x768 on a 19 incher so my Radeon 8500 took it in stride (4x Aniso) with all details maxed. I was about to put my 1.2Ghz Tualatin Celeron to pasture 'till I O/C'd to 1.5Ghz (125FSB) and was amazed at the performance increase (not bad for an "old" SDRAM platform).

I liked the game a lot better after Siberia (although the water scene in the beginning was graphically awesome). I'll never the forget the chase on the trike . . . . And I forgot about the cameras . . . won't a micro-missile take them out? (I have used a "fire" arrow to take out the revolving "camera" eyes of Thief II recently.)

 

[Killer Ape]

apoppin, are you still running that BX6r2? That is one sweet board. It was down right painful to put mine out to pasture after 3 years and going from a Celeron 400@500 to a Celeron2 533@897 to a P!!!700@933. It almost felt like I should take it behind the barn and shoot it rather than leave it to collect dust in my closet. sigh. To think they're still going at 1.5GHz is simply amazing. That BX chipset is a work of art.

This is the Overclocking Forum right?

Mini Missle? Didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to tease gamers with weapons they haven't acquired yet...

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: JellyBaby
Currently on the "infiltrate the records building" chapter. Lithtech is doggin' a bit on this level which makes no sense since it's mostly an indoor area with small rooms...?

I'm not really enjoying the unlimited respawning of enemies. Undying had this as well. Maybe I just need to get used to it. Why can't I just blow the crap out of the alarm systems?

hey i'm on the same level too!


unlimited enemies yes, but unlimited ammo too its sad, just sit in a dark room and wait for the dead bodies to pile up

and yes easy is cheating come on! they rarely toss a grenade, so sniping a bunch to death is easy. hell one time the guy missed had the grenade bounce off the wall and blew himself away

noise doesn't seem to be a problem once one guard sees you. makes it easy to open up on a bunch. alarm goes away after all recent spawn die

i'm trying to get past the %#@ electric fence right now. i missed something.. musta missed something grr

no chugging for me, then again i only run 1024x768

apoppin, are you still running that BX6r2? That is one sweet board. It was down right painful to put mine out to pasture after 3 years and going from a Celeron 400@500 to a Celeron2 533@897 to a P!!!700@933. It almost felt like I should take it behind the barn and shoot it rather than leave it to collect dust in my closet. sigh. To think they're still going at 1.5GHz is simply amazing. That BX chipset is a work of art.

another tually modder? same here cept i'm using a p3v4x since my originally bx bit the dust long ago 1.48ghz cuz of old pos ram holding me back at 135bus. amazing i can still run games using just a radeon 1 ddr high res textures too.

 

[JellyBaby]

Ape, I think you hit the nail on the head. The slowdown must be related to the number of AI players in the environment. People critized Morrowind (an RPG) for having a slow rendering engine. With Morrowind it wasn't so much the number of AI creatures but the huge number of 3D objects, interactable objects...and probably the load-less terrain system. In both cases the CPU becomes the bottleneck. Guess 2.24 GHz doesn't go as far as it once did...

I wish NOLF2 could drop the frequent level loads...I seem to bump into load area transitions a bit too often for my liking!

I should probably boost my Stamina skill to get a bigger health and armor bar. So far I've bumped up Stealth the most...I'm a Thief at heart I guess. I can evade enemies easily and move at speed in shadows...helps to deal with that infinite respawning. Playing at Normal skill level.

0roo0roo, disabling the e-fence made me backtrack, too, as I missed the solution at first.

Mini Missle? Didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to tease gamers with weapons they haven't acquired yet...

Ape, apoppin does this frequently. He spoiled the "100-foot tall end boss" in Serious Sam...in fact he actually put that in the damn thread title. But for some reason we forgive him and press on....

 

[0roo0roo]

yup, the game eats the mhz. but look at the character models. the fingers are nicely rounded, very good faces etc, very detailed stuff only things ican't turn on are aniscop and bump mapping stuff. my video card is that old


not sure why they recomment 128mb vid card for high settings. my 32 mb card doesn't choke on the high textures

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Killer Ape
apoppin, are you still running that BX6r2? That is one sweet board. It was down right painful to put mine out to pasture after 3 years and going from a Celeron 400@500 to a Celeron2 533@897 to a P!!!700@933. It almost felt like I should take it behind the barn and shoot it rather than leave it to collect dust in my closet. sigh. To think they're still going at 1.5GHz is simply amazing. That BX chipset is a work of art.

This is the Overclocking Forum right?

Mini Missle? Didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to tease gamers with weapons they haven't acquired yet...

Micro missile . . . oops, is that a tease? I hope also mentioning the "trike" didn't do anything but whet your appetite for the further levels. (Did I mention that Cate gets . . . Oh, N/M).

Is JB still complaining about my boss "spoiler" in Serious Sam FIRST Encounter? :Q I thought I was fashionably LATE with my question on how to beat that bad guy.

No more BX chipset . . . I "upgraded" to a Soyo TISU MB. It'll be awhile before I upgrade again (when my system finally "chokes" on a game I like).

 

[Killer Ape]

JB, the AI definitely seems to put a serious hurt on the CPU. The Trailer Park level ran smooth despite being a fairly big outdoor level, lots of objects, 4 or 5 Ninjas jumping around at any given moment. The difference seemed to be that level had very few interactive objects (no desks to search), and the enemies were single-minded: They know you're there and simply make a bee-line for your juggular. Maybe a little tactical stuff going on (flanking etc.), but little other silicon brain power required. I also bet the enemies' node map, if that's what the programmers used for AI pathfinding, is pretty simple on that level compared to a complex indoor level with doors, stairs, alarms, etc.

I'm in India and starting to get some choppiness again. Guess what the levels like? Proactive policemen hunting you, interactive NPCs, lots of interactive objects etc...

Anyway, I'll forgive apoppin anything for continuously finding ways to keep that antebellum BX board running AND getting faster .

BTW and OT: Tried Arx Fatalis yet? Curious about it as a FPRPG and Looking Glass descendent, even if it does have a D&D theme . Played a little of the demo and it seemed kinda like Thief with more elaborate RPG elements.

 

[Killer Ape]

Okay apoppin, I'll still forgive and admire you even though you cheated by upgrading to an 815 chipset .

Just no more talk about Cate's mini missle. Uh, that didn't come out right...

 

[apoppin]

Cate's MICRO-missile.

Wait till you get to use her ASSs.

(is this a great game or what?)



I had to upgrade. My PowerLeap Ver1 Tualatin adapter failed and I bought a Soyo TISU MB during the RMA for $50 shipped (less than what I sold the BX board and Ver2 adapter for). I figured when I finally sold my system, it would be nice to have a system that correctly reports the CPU speed. The only fault with the TISU MB is the AGP card has to be JAMMED into the MB slot without the screw (a "known" issue) . . . needless to say, when I finally sell it, it will go with a PCI videocard.

 

[Killer Ape]

Micro missles, ASSs, Cate...I"M TRYING TO WORK HERE DAMMIT! :disgust::|:|:Q

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Killer Ape
Micro missles, ASSs, Cate...I"M TRYING TO WORK HERE DAMMIT! :disgust::|:|:Q

Then WHY do you keep hitting REPLY?






"Work" . . . yeah sure right . . . what level are you WORKin' on right now?

EDIT: M-I-S-S-I-L-E. Missle sounds like something you use in church (or is that measiles?).

(I think I spelled it wrong here first.)

 

[Killer Ape]

Oh no. You're not tricking ME into replying again with that lame attempt to...GRRRRRRRRRR...:|

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Killer Ape
Oh no. You're not tricking ME into replying again with that lame attempt to...GRRRRRRRRRR...:|

First it was an attempt to discuss Overclocking in Software and now it's OT. You must be having a really slow day . . . me, I am (finally) "rained-out" here in San Diego (looks like a "Thief-2 Day" - I'd surf (it's BIG) but there is too much crap washing into the ocean right now).

 

[apoppin]

NOLF 2 - $22.90

Hurry.