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Age of Conan Performance review

OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

Excellent review of how AoC performs with various computer setups:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/8077-age-conan-hardware-performance-review.html

In a nutshell, the minimal system as expected failed to play the game in any acceptable manner and the recommended system barely got by.  Even a very high end system could not run with all the high settings on with acceptable performance.

As expected AMD graphics cards did not perform well, when they should have been close to the Nvidia ones.  Almost a nobrainer that this game was optimized for nvidia cards.

But they were really wowed by the graphics.

Good and objective read.

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Comments

  • jybgessjybgess Member Posts: 355

    I was reading that link and it said AOC was the first MMORPG that had DirectX 10..... I thought LoTRO has DirectX 10????

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    At this point none of them have it, AoC is supposed to get it in a patch later this year.  It was announced as being in the release, but was pulled because of problems.

  • jybgessjybgess Member Posts: 355

    I thought LOTRO had it... My bad

  • ZorlacZorlac Member Posts: 101

    LOTRO is DX10

  • WolfenprideWolfenpride Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 3,988

    The graphics in AoC aren't even worth the required hardware

    I personally would get just as much pleasure looking at L2 graphics *quite good imo* or lotro

    meh, they definently need to work on increasing performance for the game though

  • theanimedudetheanimedude Member UncommonPosts: 1,610

    When I played AoC I played on absolutely maximum settings, with a full 60FPS, no drops, ever.

    I don't see what all this performance crap is.

    Mind you, the game really isn't all that good, but the performance ive never had an issue with.

    image

  • DragonSharkDragonShark Member UncommonPosts: 227

    I played the game with a minimal computer (Sempron 3100+, GeForce 6600) and I found the game quite playable.

    I really don't know what people are doing wrong if I could play the game just fine on that system.

  • ThillianThillian Member UncommonPosts: 3,156
    Originally posted by Ozmodan


    At this point none of them have it, AoC is supposed to get it in a patch later this year.  It was announced as being in the release, but was pulled because of problems.



     

    Lotro has DX10 for a half a year now..

    REALITY CHECK

  • CyberWizCyberWiz Member UncommonPosts: 914


    Originally posted by DragonShark
    I played the game with a minimal computer (Sempron 3100+, GeForce 6600) and I found the game quite playable.
    I really don't know what people are doing wrong if I could play the game just fine on that system.

    You are just a plain liar, not sure why tho, are you on Funcom's payroll or something?

    A friend of mine has an Athlon at 2800 mhz with a 7950GT 512MB and he can barely play the game. Lowering the settings even more helps, but then he doesnt even see anymore textures and the ground just becomes 1 brown area. Also lowering to 800x600 is an option, but it only marginally increases performance.

    I checked his computer and OS and hardware are working perfectly. He can play games like Bioshock nicely ( obviously not in max settings tho ).

    The game runs like crap, and if you in anyway want to see some of the the nice graphics the game has to offer, you need at least a 7950GX2 graphics card to run a bit smooth.


    greetz

    If you are interested in subscription or PCU numbers for MMORPG's, check out my site :
    http://mmodata.blogspot.be/
    Favorite MMORPG's : DAoC pre ToA-NF, SWG Pre CU-NGE, EVE Online

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188

    More proof from a very legit site:

     

    Age of Conan has set a new precedent not just for MMORPGs, but PC gaming as a whole. Bringing the world of Hyboria to life with its unique game play features and mesmerizing levels of detail, it is a pity that the full beauty of the world is only available to a certain few. This however, is the trade off for any game focused on graphics quality. Hit games such as Crysis and Assassin’s Creed have been subject to the same criticisms. With DirectX10 support on its way, users are looking forward to expanding the visual appeal, but it is bound to set requirements to achieve the full effect even higher.



    In many cases it is very clear where Age of Conan’s performance allegiances lie. We saw a rather noticeable difference between similar priced hardware; with the 8800GT giving such excellent results, and so competitively priced, it leaves little doubt where the bang to buck ratio sits. Keep in mind, with the roll out of the DX10 patch, whether or not the card will retain its position remains to be seen. We also saw the cheaper Intel E6600 dual core processor out stripe a more expensive AMD quad core competitor. FunCom was bang on with their recommendation, especially given that the game still struggles to fully utilize a quad core’s potential. The ram tests results show little difference, we could not suggest that 2GB is ample for a gaming system to ensure flawless gameplay, but is it sufficient. Overall, our findings lead one to see that while Age of Conan does hold some special graphical features for extreme systems, it by no means shuts out the casual guys, still offering gorgeous scenery and the same exceptional realism for gamers with typical gaming systems.

    Spot on summary imo.

    Even their minimum testing shows that.



  • CyberWizCyberWiz Member UncommonPosts: 914


    Originally posted by Ozmodan
    Excellent review of how AoC performs with various computer setups:
    http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/8077-age-conan-hardware-performance-review.html
    In a nutshell, the minimal system as expected failed to play the game in any acceptable manner and the recommended system barely got by.  Even a very high end system could not run with all the high settings on with acceptable performance.
    As expected AMD graphics cards did not perform well, when they should have been close to the Nvidia ones.  Almost a nobrainer that this game was optimized for nvidia cards.
    But they were really wowed by the graphics.
    Good and objective read.

    You can say alot about AoC and it's steep system requirements, but saying that the game is optimized for Nvidia and not for ATI is just incorrect.

    At the time the review took place, Nvidia cards just were better then ATI cards by a large margin.

    Things are quickly changing tho, and the 4870X2 hits Nvidia hard.

    Look at an UP TO DATE review here :

    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354&p=4


    greetz

    If you are interested in subscription or PCU numbers for MMORPG's, check out my site :
    http://mmodata.blogspot.be/
    Favorite MMORPG's : DAoC pre ToA-NF, SWG Pre CU-NGE, EVE Online

  • DragonSharkDragonShark Member UncommonPosts: 227
    Originally posted by CyberWiz


    Originally posted by DragonShark

    I played the game with a minimal computer (Sempron 3100+, GeForce 6600) and I found the game quite playable.

    I really don't know what people are doing wrong if I could play the game just fine on that system.

    You are just a plain liar, not sure why tho, are you on Funcom's payroll or something?

    A friend of mine has an Athlon at 2800 mhz with a 7950GT 512MB and he can barely play the game. Lowering the settings even more helps, but then he doesnt even see anymore textures and the ground just becomes 1 brown area. Also lowering to 800x600 is an option, but it only marginally increases performance.

    I checked his computer and OS and hardware are working perfectly. He can play games like Bioshock nicely ( obviously not in max settings tho ).

    The game runs like crap, and if you in anyway want to see some of the the nice graphics the game has to offer, you need at least a 7950GX2 graphics card to run a bit smooth.



    greetz

     

    You think I honestly need to lie about being able to play this damned game on a computer that isn't up to snuff? Are you just dense?

    I played on high settings with the Sempron 3100+/GF 6600 combination. I turned shadows off, I turned water reflections off. I brought my visual range in fairly close, but I maxed out the LOD sliders so that it would load the higher textures immediately rather than having it constantly loading all different levels at all times. I reduced the shader level to 2.0 (6600 can't do 3.0), and I turned the particles down to medium.

    And that's all. This isn't rocket science, and I'm sorry that you and your friend seem to think it is.

    So quit telling me I'm lying, when you quite clearly don't know the first thing about trying to optimize both a game and a system.

    I've since upgraded to an Ahlon 64 3200+ and a GeForce 7600 GS. Tortage has some stuttering still, but not much, open field I'm getting FPS in the 20s, and some of the dungeons are getting upwards of 50 fps.

  • CyberWizCyberWiz Member UncommonPosts: 914


    Originally posted by DragonShark
    Originally posted by CyberWiz

    Originally posted by DragonShark
    I played the game with a minimal computer (Sempron 3100+, GeForce 6600) and I found the game quite playable.
    I really don't know what people are doing wrong if I could play the game just fine on that system.
    You are just a plain liar, not sure why tho, are you on Funcom's payroll or something?
    A friend of mine has an Athlon at 2800 mhz with a 7950GT 512MB and he can barely play the game. Lowering the settings even more helps, but then he doesnt even see anymore textures and the ground just becomes 1 brown area. Also lowering to 800x600 is an option, but it only marginally increases performance.
    I checked his computer and OS and hardware are working perfectly. He can play games like Bioshock nicely ( obviously not in max settings tho ).
    The game runs like crap, and if you in anyway want to see some of the the nice graphics the game has to offer, you need at least a 7950GX2 graphics card to run a bit smooth.

    greetz



     
    You think I honestly need to lie about being able to play this damned game on a computer that isn't up to snuff? Are you just dense?
    I played on high settings with the Sempron 3100+/GF 6600 combination. I turned shadows off, I turned water reflections off. I brought my visual range in fairly close, but I maxed out the LOD sliders so that it would load the higher textures immediately rather than having it constantly loading all different levels at all times. I reduced the shader level to 2.0 (6600 can't do 3.0), and I turned the particles down to medium.
    And that's all. This isn't rocket science, and I'm sorry that you and your friend seem to think it is.
    So quit telling me I'm lying, when you quite clearly don't know the first thing about trying to optimize both a game and a system.
    I've since upgraded to an Ahlon 64 3200+ and a GeForce 7600 GS. Tortage has some stuttering still, but not much, open field I'm getting FPS in the 20s, and some of the dungeons are getting upwards of 50 fps.

    I am sorry that I called you a liar, I guess we have different views of what is playable.

    Greetz

    If you are interested in subscription or PCU numbers for MMORPG's, check out my site :
    http://mmodata.blogspot.be/
    Favorite MMORPG's : DAoC pre ToA-NF, SWG Pre CU-NGE, EVE Online

  • beaverzbeaverz Member Posts: 660

    Hmm having range set on close in a mmo can be called playign the game but honeslty range is the only thing that makes a mmo nice. Whats the point of having a huge world if dragons just popup at 5 meters in front of you. Sure you can play aoc on a peice of crap that you call a computer but honeslty why play at all if its to play something that looks worse that what most f2p mmos.

    I'm not a no life that sits in front of his computer all day long, I'm an intern that sits in front of his computer all day long.

  • MaGicBushMaGicBush Member UncommonPosts: 689
    Originally posted by theanimedude


    When I played AoC I played on absolutely maximum settings, with a full 60FPS, no drops, ever.
    I don't see what all this performance crap is.
    Mind you, the game really isn't all that good, but the performance ive never had an issue with.

     

    Agreed, and a co-worker plays AoC he has almost the same setup as the post below the one I quoted("I played the game with a minimal computer (Sempron 3100+, GeForce 6600) and I found the game quite playable."). And he says he plays AoC just fine, on low/medium settings.

    --------------------
    image

    -Currently playing FFXIV, and BDO.

  • DragonSharkDragonShark Member UncommonPosts: 227
    Originally posted by beaverz


    Hmm having range set on close in a mmo can be called playign the game but honeslty range is the only thing that makes a mmo nice. Whats the point of having a huge world if dragons just popup at 5 meters in front of you. Sure you can play aoc on a peice of crap that you call a computer but honeslty why play at all if its to play something that looks worse that what most f2p mmos.

     

    NPC range was set to 500. Trust me, that's plenty far enough to see any mobs or NPCs you need to see. Terrain, of course, you can see as far as normal. But, hey, if you think you need to see an NPC out to 2000 (and there's very few places that I've encountered where you can see unobstructed to even half that range) then by all means, play it that way. It's your game.

    But I and others are here to tell you that this game is absolutely playable on a low end "crap" machine. You just have to be realistic about what your "crap" machine is capable of. And my opinion? Most of the people foaming at the mouths about playability (from a hardware perspective) are unrealistic.

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188

    Im still adamant that AoC offers the ability to see NPC`s / Players from at a further distance in high detail than other games.

    It abilities I like I really like and not having to own an uber PC.



  • ThradarThradar Member Posts: 949

    LOTRO has DX10 support.  And I don't need to read an article to know that AoC performance sucked on a machine WAY above the recommended specs.  I experienced it firsthand.

  • FiXTFiXT Member Posts: 1

    Hey All,



    Just wanted to chime in in regards to the discussion surrounding the Hardware Canucks review on Age of Conan.



    I would be the articles author and just wanted to quickly address an issue that you brought to my attention regarding LOTRO DirectX10 capabilities.



    The reasoning behind the statement was due to the fact that while yes, LOTRO is the first MMO to incorporate DirectX10 into a game of this genre, to my knowledge, the Turbine engine had to be adapted after release to support the new API. It was not built around or intended to support DirectX10 and that came nearly half a year later.



    Age of Conan's Dreamworld engine was built on DirectX10 functionality, and while FunCom has delayed the launch of the DirectX10 capabilities, the native design of the game's engine was intended for DX10 play.



    In conclusion, I must apologize. The remark that AoC's Dreamworld Engine was the first DirectX10 engine in an MMORPG was rather misleading.  As you may note, the sentance claiming this has been reworded to reflect a more correct statement.



    Thank you all for speaking up about the issue, it is much appreciated as we strive for complete accuracy in our reviews. I hoped you enjoyed the read!



    P.S. - The reason many of the video cards are "outdated" and we were not able to show the latest from nVidia and ATI was due to the fact that when the actual testing was done, all of the cards were still under NDA and unobtainable.



    P.P.S - You guys have a bunch of really cool emoticons! I could practically write a life story.



    - FiXT

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
    Originally posted by FiXT


    Hey All,



    Just wanted to chime in in regards to the discussion surrounding the Hardware Canucks review on Age of Conan.



    I would be the articles author and just wanted to quickly address an issue that you brought to my attention regarding LOTRO DirectX10 capabilities.



    The reasoning behind the statement was due to the fact that while yes, LOTRO is the first MMO to incorporate DirectX10 into a game of this genre, to my knowledge, the Turbine engine had to be adapted after release to support the new API. It was not built around or intended to support DirectX10 and that came nearly half a year later.



    Age of Conan's Dreamworld engine was built on DirectX10 functionality, and while FunCom has delayed the launch of the DirectX10 capabilities, the native design of the game's engine was intended for DX10 play.



    In conclusion, I must apologize. The remark that AoC's Dreamworld Engine was the first DirectX10 engine in an MMORPG was rather misleading.  As you may note, the sentance claiming this has been reworded to reflect a more correct statement.



    Thank you all for speaking up about the issue, it is much appreciated as we strive for complete accuracy in our reviews. I hoped you enjoyed the read!



    P.S. - The reason many of the video cards are "outdated" and we were not able to show the latest from nVidia and ATI was due to the fact that when the actual testing was done, all of the cards were still under NDA and unobtainable.



    P.P.S - You guys have a bunch of really cool emoticons! I could practically write a life story.



    - FiXT

     

    Hey welcome to the forums.

    Hardware Canucks have a good rep with their reviews and testing and are a most trusted source for all things related in my opinion.

    Its great you use AoC as a benchmark, because of the options in game you can chose really can push your system. I think more than any other mmorpg.

    The fact that the Dreamworld Engine was intended to support DX10, it will be interesting to see how they change it back for the xbox 360 release next year. Just shows you it was intended for PC first and foremost in concept, with the ability and adapability to be ported to Consoles if they chose that route, which of course they did.

    Did you see the Anandtech results  www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx  and also Hardocp enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html ones too ?



  • ArckenArcken Member Posts: 2,431
    Originally posted by AmazingAvery

    Originally posted by FiXT


    Hey All,



    Just wanted to chime in in regards to the discussion surrounding the Hardware Canucks review on Age of Conan.



    I would be the articles author and just wanted to quickly address an issue that you brought to my attention regarding LOTRO DirectX10 capabilities.



    The reasoning behind the statement was due to the fact that while yes, LOTRO is the first MMO to incorporate DirectX10 into a game of this genre, to my knowledge, the Turbine engine had to be adapted after release to support the new API. It was not built around or intended to support DirectX10 and that came nearly half a year later.



    Age of Conan's Dreamworld engine was built on DirectX10 functionality, and while FunCom has delayed the launch of the DirectX10 capabilities, the native design of the game's engine was intended for DX10 play.



    In conclusion, I must apologize. The remark that AoC's Dreamworld Engine was the first DirectX10 engine in an MMORPG was rather misleading.  As you may note, the sentance claiming this has been reworded to reflect a more correct statement.



    Thank you all for speaking up about the issue, it is much appreciated as we strive for complete accuracy in our reviews. I hoped you enjoyed the read!



    P.S. - The reason many of the video cards are "outdated" and we were not able to show the latest from nVidia and ATI was due to the fact that when the actual testing was done, all of the cards were still under NDA and unobtainable.



    P.P.S - You guys have a bunch of really cool emoticons! I could practically write a life story.



    - FiXT

     

    Hey welcome to the forums.

    Hardware Canucks have a good rep with their reviews and testing and are a most trusted source for all things related in my opinion.

    Its great you use AoC as a benchmark, because of the options in game you can chose really can push your system. I think more than any other mmorpg.

    The fact that the Dreamworld Engine was intended to support DX10, it will be interesting to see how they change it back for the xbox 360 release next year. Just shows you it was intended for PC first and foremost in concept, with the ability and adapability to be ported to Consoles if they chose that route, which of course they did.

    Did you see the Anandtech results  www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx  and also Hardocp enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html ones too ?



     

    Im guessing they expect to make more money off of the 360 launch than the PC launch, so why would they focus on PC users? Frankly I think theyre just using PC players to pay for the beta until the 360 version launches.

  • muggermadisonmuggermadison Member UncommonPosts: 6

    They will never get this game on an X360, they could never stablize the build nor fix the bugs.  It will never happen.  Not in a 100 years. 

     

    Remember they need to run it through Microsoft first...never happen.

     

     

  • revelatorXrevelatorX Member Posts: 60

    Well I have a q6600 and 4GB of RAM with a 8800GTS  i had everything maxed out but it really didn't help much to turn things down... avg 32FPS and would drop to 15FPS some places.

    Even when i was getting 45 FPS the game would stutter in certain areas for no apparent reason.

    I wasn't satisfied with performance... although i thought the GFX were pretty good.

    I leveled to 80 on a POM and to 72 on a Demonologist. and out of the few MMO's ive played EQ2 WOW and guildwars, AoC is definitely the worst, and by a lot....  i really don't like this game at all. it had a few good idea's like Adult themes and fatalities but it pretty much ends there. everything is broken or incomplete and at the current rate of progress they will never get it to a likable state for me... i hate a lot of their "vision" for the game anyway.

     

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
    Originally posted by revelatorX


    Well I have a q6600 and 4GB of RAM with a 8800GTS  i had everything maxed out but it really didn't help much to turn things down... avg 32FPS and would drop to 15FPS some places.
    Even when i was getting 45 FPS the game would stutter in certain areas for no apparent reason.

    I wasn't satisfied with performance... although i thought the GFX were pretty good.
    I leveled to 80 on a POM and to 72 on a Demonologist. and out of the few MMO's ive played EQ2 WOW and guildwars, AoC is definitely the worst, and by a lot....  i really don't like this game at all. it had a few good idea's like Adult themes and fatalities but it pretty much ends there. everything is broken or incomplete and at the current rate of progress they will never get it to a likable state for me... i hate a lot of their "vision" for the game anyway.
     



     

    Whats your latency in game? upload speed? that can have a good effect too.

    Its really bizarre that people with good setups can get poor results and vice versa. When I first played I had a less powerful machine and got an average of over 40 fps with everything apart from x16 AA on and the extra AA on foliage. Even gamespot's results show that PC's less powerful than yours got better average performance.

     



  • TheHavokTheHavok Member UncommonPosts: 2,423
    Originally posted by revelatorX


    Well I have a q6600 and 4GB of RAM with a 8800GTS  i had everything maxed out but it really didn't help much to turn things down... avg 32FPS and would drop to 15FPS some places.
    Even when i was getting 45 FPS the game would stutter in certain areas for no apparent reason.

    I wasn't satisfied with performance... although i thought the GFX were pretty good.
    I leveled to 80 on a POM and to 72 on a Demonologist. and out of the few MMO's ive played EQ2 WOW and guildwars, AoC is definitely the worst, and by a lot....  i really don't like this game at all. it had a few good idea's like Adult themes and fatalities but it pretty much ends there. everything is broken or incomplete and at the current rate of progress they will never get it to a likable state for me... i hate a lot of their "vision" for the game anyway.
     

     

    That is one of the most honest reviews i have heard about AoC from somebody that has actually played the game extensively. 

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