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Shader Model 1 Support to be Discontinued
x_rast_x
Member Posts: 745
Of course, there's a huge uproar about it but I don't see the issue with what they're trying to do short-term - computers that don't at least support SM2 are already too old to be useful for much of anything other than browsing the internet and playing PS1 (and earlier) games on an emulator. From the way they're describing it the new 'Premium Lite' client will be better for almost everyone using Classic at the moment and for people on desktops that really are that damn old, you can get a GeForce FX for next to nothing off E-bay.
I'm a bit more concerned about their idea to drop SM2 support in December - most laptops these days come with Intel integrated graphics (GMA-series) which does *not* support SM3. Given how many people use laptops as their primary computers these days, I don't think requiring SM3 to run Eve is a great idea - while Eve might have a much higher proportion of PC gaming enthusiasts than other games in their general population, kicking the people who don't want to drop hundreds of dollars a year into their PC to the curb just isn't a good idea, IMO.
Comments
My main concern is running multiple clients when the drop classic.
Overall i think its a right move if Eve plans to stay modern and a leading game. DX11, Windows 7, Walking in Stations.... its time to move forward, and as painful as that might be for some of the legacy playerbase it must happen.
Perhaps dropping Mac, and Linux support might help them in the long run too. If its to hard for them to keep doing multiple clients.
I'm wondering if another reason for this change is to help realize the multiclient support that was mentioned at FanFest (sharing resources and processing between open clients).
Anything that only supports SM1 now'a days isn't very useful for gaming. I don't even think there have been integrated chipsets made in the last 5 years that didn't have SM2.
I currently run EVE Classic on an Atom powered netbook. While performance isn't spectacular its enough to run missions in and do anything less. Haven't had the opportunity to do fleet battles yet. I'm very confident that Premium Lite will bring a visual and performance boost even on this machine (my netbook has quickly become my primary pc). There have been a lot of processing improvements that the separation between CPU and GPU allowed with Premium and I can't wait to be able to take advantage of them.
But for God's sake, keep SM2 support for at least another year (ideally 2). SM3 was only very recently becoming mainstream in budget systems, and lets face it, a lot of gamers don't run $1500 bleeding edge systems.
Hell, my 7600GS AGP card has SM3. I'd hardly call upgrading to already fairly old technology "bleeding edge".
Multiple clients run much better if you use the premium client running classic graphics.
No loss here.
So my laptop has an 8800 GTS or something like that, so I think I'm good.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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I disagree, many of us had gone back to plain old classic set-up for multi client running. Do to the premium version of Eve crashing with multiple clients.
I will admit that i have not tried premium since right after it launched so I am willing to try it again, but ive gotten used to running 3 accounts at 75+ fps each even in fights.
If you have a fairly decent graphics card you should get good performance in EVE Premium if you turn off shadows and bloom.
I'd recommend watching the fanfest vids on the graphics updates they are planning as they talk about multi-client support in one of them that will allow players to run multiple clients WITHOUT each client needing a large amount of resources.
Next question, who makes a cheap sm3 laptop, or netbook? Im looking for one to play basic eve functions while im at world airports during travel trips each month.
The key to multiple accounts with Premium is multiple instillation folders. I've ran 2 or 3 quite often with out a issue as long as I use seperate instillations. Try to run off the same instillation and I can't do any off it. I wonder if its a problem with the way the use thier texture files to hide other information in them
Also i think that SM2 support dropping would be far more tolerable i they can get a Station only client for hte people who work the markets. that seems to be the biggest complaint for the laptop users is the lack of the ability to do stuff in station while away from thier main computer.
Actually SM1 notebooks arent that bad for pretty much all station operations. Hauling is tolerable and if you are outfitted correctly, missioning is doable in a droneboat. Since it is more comfortable to sit on the couch, I use my laptop for these activities. Now in 2 months I wont be able to do any of that without an upgrade. It had better be a major upgrade because 10 months later I'm going to have to deal with SM3. This sucks. Since all I need are windows, I should be able to change skills and lab installs from a cell phone (but can't) . Now I won't be able to use a laptop? Stoo-pid!!!
That said, I think I am going to try for an Asus n50vn in the $1000 range. It has an nVida 9650M GT card in it which should work well for a while. Here are some benchmarks. www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9650M-GT.10764.0.html
For those using laptops, that site is great for comparing graphics cards.
I doubt that CCP will pull the plug on SM2 support in December. They said they were considering it, hopefully after a long discussion thread on the official forums they'll see the folly of that and can it.
As for a cheap SM2 laptop, I play Eve regularly on an Asus EEE 1000H. Even with the 2GB RAM upgrade I gave it it still came in at less than $500 and with some performance tweaks I can do everything in Eve except fleet combat without problems.
On a desktop, if you're still running SM1 you can get a GeForce FX for less than $20 off E-bay, it's the best thing you can throw in an AGP slot.
My brother plays Eve with a nividia 6800gt 256 AGP (shader 3.0) and he runs the premium content with bloom off and shadows on Low (game still looks great) with no lag. I'm sure it will be ok.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum