If anyone complaining about a problem doesn't choose to include data to use for diagnostics, answers just aren't possible. PCs are not *anything* at all like game console systems. OK, perhaps that really isn't new to you, but think how many totally inexperienced beginners a big hit game like this attracts. There is almost nothing that is truly "standard" between various branded PCs, making the game developers' jobs very difficult, and requiring that warning labels be attached to game boxes for those games that have serious requirements (which included this one).
Let's also be sure at this point that you actually have used a SEARCH tool in here, so you might as well include mention of what criteria you used for that (the site redirector for Bing, Google, and Yahoo is the same for all of those: site:social.bioware.com..
In case you have misunderstood how to evaluate your PC compared to that game box label (and you may believe you do understand, and actually end up having been mistaken), we have no choice other than to start from that point. Please fill it all in (if you have a problem with doing that easily, and are in the DA: O {and ME} Social Site Forums, do a search for "Basics" without the quote marks). Mass Effects 2 includes its own Configuration tools that will reveal the information to you.
Basic Hardware Specification Chart (Empty so far)
Game Version: 9.- - (also include expansions installed)
Retail or Digital: Retail DVD / Digital Version Vendor
Processor Manufacturer: AMD / Intel
Processor Type: Athlon 64 / X2 / X3 / Pentium / dual core, Pentium D, i7 Quad Core, etc.
Processor Core Speed: -.- GHz
Operating System / Service Pack: Such as WindowsXP/SP2, Windows Vista/SP1, W7 etc.
System RAM: X.x GBs
Direct3D APIs dated: (Dx9 version date)
Video Card Manufacturer: Either ATI, or nVIDIA, not including Intel (no support).
Video Card Model: (examples only) Radeon HD 5670 / Geforce GT240
Video Card RAM: (example) 256 MBs
Video Card Driver Version: (examples) Catalyst 7.10 / 196.21 (use numbers, not the word latest)
Sound Card Manufacturer: Creative Labs of whatever make or brand
Sound Card Model: SB XFi or whatever applies for your sound card
Sound Card Driver date:
Sound Card Driver Version: 4.34 (again, numbers please)
DVD Type: (DVD/ROM or DVD/RW, SCSI IDE, etc.)
Hard Drive Type: (SCSI, IDE, SATA)
Free Disk Space: C:\\ 15GB (Indicate additional drive letters and amount of free space where game and saved files are located if you have multiple or partitioned drives).
Power Supply: (include brand and wattage rating of the power supply and amperage on the 12-volt rail for PCs). This information is usually available on a label on the power supply.
Description: Describe your technical problem as best as you can
(Now quoting Bioware's Chris Priestley)
" Problem Details
a. When it comes to problem details, think about the five basic questions. Who? What? When? Where?
Why? Okay, so “Who?” doesn’t really apply here, but the others do.
b. What? What is the nature problem that you’re seeing?
c. When? When does the problem occur? Every time you engage in a particular action or only
after so many hours of play?
d. Where? Where does the problem occur? Is the problem localized to a particular planet or does
it occur everywhere?
e. Why? As much as possible, can you isolate the problem to a specific set of steps?
If you follow these guidelines, and provide the requested information when posting, it will increase the likelihood that someone will be able to help you diagnose the problem and find a solution."
(And this is only for the raw hardware variations. Potential software conflicts are far more likely to be game play problems, and developers cannot test for all possible program loads.)
Please use standard business class punctuation, spelling, and paragraph breaks.
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Kalec Stromhir wrote...
Also a another major issue I see with a lot of systems, is people using very low quality power supplies, some costing under $30. Most times changing this has fixed the issues, but the damage that was casued was too late.
Example is this guy's post, he has good system but a $20 PS to power it.
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/106/index/1476882/1#1505255
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shep82 wrote...
Another big problem is people just not reading the damn box and buying a game their rig can't support.
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Gorath Alpha wrote...
I agree to both caveats, and authored a few reference articles here in the DA: O Tech Discussion Forum to aid those with an interest in allaying their ignorance. However, a huge percentage of the population doesn't want to read anything harder to deal with than a series of garbled-up L33T TMs in a horrible excuse for actual language.
That is why (IMO, a part of why) console games outsell PC games, in spite of serious limitations in comparison to the same games for PCs. They don't have to read anything or understand anything, they can just vegetate mentally. (Not saying all console game players are that negative toward reading, but the percentage does seem pretty bad.)
Here is the starting article:
PC Hardware Basics (and inventorying PC Components)
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/509580
(Power Supply importance *IS* included!) Howeve4r, a dedicated article just about PSUs was added later (linked further down in the thread).
Video Card Rankings
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/128343
Generational Ladders (and detailed NTK-based ranking list)
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/575571
The added reference article covering just power supply problems on PCs is found here:
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/1935044
(Note: The forum software, or my browser, one or the other, stopped loading the composition window to grab quotes from after I reached the point at which the Power Supply article was mentioned.)
G
When the weather turns nice, from late April and early May, forums such as this one start losing traffic and readership. By July, it's a mere fraction of its winter activity. Weekends detract from the numbers of people checking in even more, so the archives become the main way to get an answer.
If any new arrival is to have any hope at all of getting enough attention to encourage an answer via a real, current comment, he / she really needs to follow the established procedures, and fill in all of a proper problem report.
http://social.biowar...6/index/4795299
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So, I've discontinued replacing the parts of the thread from there onward. A few days later, my browser (FireFox) and the forum were working together just fine, again but I think this much covers the situation nicely, already.
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