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Socoder -> Off Topic -> Game Requirements

Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 17:30
garand
If you made a game how would you find out what the minumum system requirements for it were?
Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 17:31
steve_ancell
Get others to test it, I think.
Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 17:38
power mousey

yes, especially with some family members and a few friends too.

then if you are feeling frisky and risky,
put it up on this showcase.
Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 17:41
Jayenkai
Mums PC, Nans PC, or any neighbours PC that youve had to "repair"...

And by "repair" I mean "delete hundreds of viruses"


*Id have included apostrophes, but firefox is doing that silly thing again whereby hitting the apostrophe key brings up the "Find" thing. Except its not the normal "Find", its some weird new crazy "Quick Find" thing instead.


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Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 17:53
power mousey

Moms Pc....Dell computer.

Marks Pc.....HP Computer, like mine but better.

Wes Pc... both a Mac and a Dell too.

Dianes' Pc...just a Windows laptop for work.

I also have a HP Pavilion computer and a Compaq Presario.
In the future, I will be upgrading my HP computer.

Besides, I have to play some of these neat games that I have missed out. Like Heroes of Might and Magic V, Oblivion, Dungeon Siege 2, F.E.A.R, and also for the up n coming games such as Hellgate London and Fallout 3.
I hope my computer can handle these games. And can handle them good or very well.



Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 20:04
blanko1324
They need to make some kind of program to determine minimum specs... I don't know how, but maybe some kind of program that you'd run the game through that would emulate a computer with certain specs. That would be great.

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Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 20:05
garand
Yes, that would be awesome.
Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 20:24
Yayyak
You can set up VM's such as Qemu, Bochs, etc, to have certain specifications. While these aren't completely accurate, they give a good indication of performance. They are a bit tricky to set up though, especially Bochs.

When you find a set of specifications using Bochs that you think are minimum, you should then go and test those on a real PC. I use a combination of Bochs and my brother's pentium II to test my current project.
Wed, 28 Feb 2007, 23:37
JL235
You could probably calculate an estimate of the memory it would require and the most basic graphics they could use. Old cards cannot do things newer cards can, like the various levels of pixel shader. With this in mind you can 'predict' certain minimum requirements.

Testing is the only true way however. If you do make a product, you'll always need to beta test it. Then you simply require all testers to anonymously give their pc specifications. That'll be the best way.
Thu, 01 Mar 2007, 01:20
power mousey



Cool Cat says: give my Diablo a cigar!

meow, meow. purrrrrrrrr.


purfectly purrs, -
Sat, 28 Apr 2007, 05:47
JL235
With DirectX you can communicate with the graphics card to find out what features are available and so what it's capable of, and what it isn't. In DirectX tutorials you usually check everything before you impliment it, even full screen mode, so that you then have a backup version, like a Windowed mode.

If for example your graphics card couldn't do all the lights that were required for a level in the game, you'd check first and then impliment less lights and up the ambient light to compensate. DirectX has a big emphasis on checking graphics card capabilities before using them, and so check if a graphics card can meet your minimum requirements or not.

I read on Wikipedia that OpenGL doesn't have a mechanism for checking if a feature of the graphics card is available or not. OpenGL will automatically software render anything that it cannot do on the graphics card, causing slow down. But it also means all of OpenGL's capabilities are implimented.
Sat, 28 Apr 2007, 22:22
hyruleknight
DD, there is a way of checking what graphics card is installed in OpenGL. not the same as the feature you mentioned but you can get the same affect but more work to implement. i forget the exact code for it but i will dig it up when i am feeling a bit better*

OpenGL works on the assumption that hardware acceleration exists, DirectX does not.

*friday was LAN day with my freinds, we didn't go to sleep till 5:30 am EST

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i like green haired girls...