13 réponses à ce sujet

[katrionab]

Hi everyone,

Longtime NWN fan here. Have just purchased Neverwinter Nights Complete edition, and am coincidentally looking for a new Windows-based family laptop. My local hardware stores are advising to purchase online due to the required graphics cards (we are a small town of ~10k), but I'm not tech savvy enough to know how to match the criteria on the back of the NWN Complete box with the descriptions online.

Can anyone recommend a Windows laptop in the $600 US range that could handle NWN Complete? We don't really require the family laptop to do anything other than run NWN and access the web,

Thanks!

Kat

[Tchos]

Well, considering the architecture of the game engine, the best kind of computer to run it (and other games that don't support multi-threading) is to get the fastest single-core CPU you can find. More than one core won't help with this game, and usually means each individual core is too slow. You also need a certain level of graphics card, or it won't run. I don't have that information on me, though.

[katrionab]

These are the specs from the folder's rear:

OS: Windows XP SP2/Vista/7
Process: intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or equiv.
RAM: 1GB
HDD: 30GB
DVD-ROM: 6x or faster
Video Card: ATI Radeon X700 or Nvidia GeForce 6800 (with pixel shader 2.0 or later)
Sound: Windows XP/Vista/7 compatible sound card

[Tchos]

Okay, now keep in mind that I'm not as experienced with gaming on a laptop as I am on a desktop, though I have done both.

As mentioned, a single-core CPU is what these older games expect, and they don't run well on multi-core CPUs (this and other games such as Everquest 2), so I looked for some single-core laptops that matched the specs.

Also, I considered the display size to be important for gaming, as well as the ability to connect it to an HDTV with an HDMI cable, which is how I preferred to play with my laptop, along with a wireless full-sized keyboard and mouse and/or game controller.

On NewEgg I could only find one example of a single-core 2.4 GHz laptop with a large screen size and what looks like a suitable graphics card.  Unfortunately I don't recognise the brand name.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834312712

According to a review, the graphics card is Intel HD Graphics 4000, which should do the job for this game and other games from this time period.  It claims that it also does the job for more current games if you use lower settings.

As alternatives, there are plenty of name-brand computers like Acer and Toshiba that seem to fit the specs nicely, though with a smaller screen. 

I do note that these all seem to come with Windows 8, and I haven't seen anything I liked about Windows 8.

[kevL]

i notice that that graphics chip is integrated. Unfortunately the video should *not* be integrated ( esp. for NwN2 ) but rather should be on its own card. I think this has to do with VRAM (video-RAM), and i figure you'll want at least 500mb on the vidcard itself ( min. )

I'm using an old GT8500 nVidia desktop card; it has 500mb VRAM and can be considered 'entry level' for NwN2

[Rolo Kipp]

<making a bid...>

You might also look to the major manufacturer's outlets. Lenovo, for example is offering a decent laptop for under $500 that is similar to my own, and I have no problems running NwN2. Take the $140 or so you save and max out the memory to 8gigs :-)

Edit: The laptop I link to is Win 7. The few problems I *do* have seem to be related to upgrading my laptop to Win 8 :-P
Edit 2: Lenovo is the company that bought the IBM Thinkpad & Ideapad lines

<...for adequate>

Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 04 juin 2013 - 01:15 .

[Tchos]

I agree that a graphics card is best not integrated, but outside of dedicated gaming laptops, I haven't had much luck finding such a thing outside of a desktop. I expect they exist, but I don't really know where to start looking for that.

[Rolo Kipp]

<radiating...>

The lapto I linked to above has a discrete graphics card:

Graphics
AMD Radeon™ HD 7520G

You do have to look for the descriptions in the fine print sometimes, but mostly if it's Intel, it's integrated, if its Radeon or NVidia, it's discrete.

<...enthusiasm>

[Tchos]

Ah, I checked again since what you mentioned sounded familiar, and the review for the one I linked says:

"In this review, we send Lenovo's IdeaPad G780 (M843MGE) through our test range. The test device sports Nvidia's dedicated GeForce GT 630M graphics card, Intel's Core i5 processor including the integrated HD Graphics 4000."

So it seems to have both kinds of graphics in it.

(Though the review is not all that positive in other respects.)

Modifié par Tchos, 04 juin 2013 - 01:47 .

[Rolo Kipp]

<broken...>

Many of the Ideapads (like mine) featured "switchable graphics"; you could switch between the lower power integrated or more powerful dedicated graphics.

*This BREAKS if you upgrade to Win 8!*
Forewarned is fore-armed.
Worked great under Win 7, though...

<...hearted>

[Dann-J]

It might be best to avoid the more recent Nvidia graphics cards, if you'll only be playing NWN2 on it. They can cause a range of graphical bugs.

The laptop I play on experiences the terrain normal map bug, for instance, although I now know how to design my own areas to prevent the bug occuring. That doesn't help where the official campaigns, or other people's modules, are concerned though.

[casadechrisso]

DannJ wrote...

It might be best to avoid the more recent Nvidia graphics cards, if you'll only be playing NWN2 on it. They can cause a range of graphical bugs.

The laptop I play on experiences the terrain normal map bug, for instance, although I now know how to design my own areas to prevent the bug occuring. That doesn't help where the official campaigns, or other people's modules, are concerned though.

I was just about to say if it's for NWN2 better get nVidia graphics, because AMD chips don't render point light and interior shadows at all (which extremely sucks for building too). They also still have performance issues with high shadow resolutions, my old nVidia 8800GT was better for the job than my current AMD 6850. NWN2 is a "nVidia-The way it's meant to be played" game and it shows here.

I know nVidia drivers are more problematic - as in finding one that works properly, but in the end only nVidia cards (with a proper driver) can give you the whole NWN2 experience, graphics wise. If you want all of it that is, if you can live without shadows, by all means no reason not to go with AMD. 

[katrionab]

Thanks for your responses, everyone. Much appreciated!

[Dann-J]

casadechrisso wrote...

DannJ wrote...

It might be best to avoid the more recent Nvidia graphics cards, if you'll only be playing NWN2 on it. They can cause a range of graphical bugs.

The laptop I play on experiences the terrain normal map bug, for instance, although I now know how to design my own areas to prevent the bug occuring. That doesn't help where the official campaigns, or other people's modules, are concerned though.

I was just about to say if it's for NWN2 better get nVidia graphics, because AMD chips don't render point light and interior shadows at all (which extremely sucks for building too). They also still have performance issues with high shadow resolutions, my old nVidia 8800GT was better for the job than my current AMD 6850. NWN2 is a "nVidia-The way it's meant to be played" game and it shows here.

I know nVidia drivers are more problematic - as in finding one that works properly, but in the end only nVidia cards (with a proper driver) can give you the whole NWN2 experience, graphics wise. If you want all of it that is, if you can live without shadows, by all means no reason not to go with AMD. 

It sounds like the best option is to try to find a five year old Nvidia card and drivers (and a working computer that can actually use them).

The best performance I ever got from the game was about two computers ago, even though I've since had graphics cards and computer processors that were much more powerful.