The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Thank you This is why I hesitate to replace my 8800GTS so soon. It is still a very powerful card and will play near any game maxed at 1920 x 1200.

Okay, I think I found where you were in your screenshots. I tried to remove the UI for these ones, but it gave me the black "cinematic bars" effect when taking screens with fraps. It changed the height of the shots a bit too. It might be a conflict with the drivers, but I think they're still quite nice

 

photobucket - ok I'll check it out

 

OH MY, SAM:






OH MY, INDEED

(ERECTION)

YES IM THAT EXCITED


now i just need a price

 

Those screenies are great fellas!! What game is this??

Half Life: Episode 2...???

Link me to it guys.... /me wants to read about this game and see if the GM is worthy of owning a copy..

....gm

 

Estuansis! Jeezuss! All the shots are good, but that FIRST SHOT. That is a work of art. It's a painting. The reflections in the water - not to mention how you composed the scene. Are you a flippin' photographer? :O

You know, I've heard it said before more than once that Source is just about the best engine there is for water effects, but if anybody ever needed any proof of that statement I'd just send them your picture. Here it is again!



Fuuuuuuudge!!! It's lovely. Shaff, what do you think, bro, you liked my pic, you said "What game is that - bloody fantastic" but look at the piece of poetry the dude put together. I just want to go to that idyllic place of beauty, dangle my feet in the water, listen to the birds and the bubbling brook, kick back, eat my peanut butter and jelly, read Thoreau, drop acid, well - for you boozer - shrooms, put some flowers in my hair. I'm trippin!!

Anyway, let's forget about my scenic spot. I don't care anymore. Help me to get to this place so I can shoot the same scene. Do you remember where you found this? I have a feeling, estuansis, that you're loading this in here from a collections of favorite screens, which might mean you don't really remember exactly where you were when you hopped out and took this photo. (btw shaff i'm using photobucket - thx)

But kuddos to you, estuansis, for doing this bit of sight-seeing. That's like the whole thing sam is into - appreciating the beauty of the graphics, all the work these artists have put into creating an enchanting environment. We have to find this place again, and if we do, I'm going to Save Game the hell out of it! Wait 'til sam gets his 2560x1600 fully maxed hands on this one, right sam?

I'm cranking up my gaming rig tomorrow and I'm going to try to find this kodac moment. Search your memory, estuansis. I'll jump in the river from my place, and wander around a bit, but I have the feeling that it's somewhere earlier along the river. Nice work dude! I'm gonna submit it to the national geographic and tell them it's from my cannon! LOL

-Rich

 

Greensman, OMG, I thought shaff was the ONLY person in the world who hadn't yet played EP2! Lol

Ok, here's a link Page 81 on the nonofficial graphic card thread that will tell you a bunch of stuff about the Half Life 2 series, especially EP2, in several spots on the page. Check it out!

 

shaff, you're so funny dude, no wonder they keep banning you - nobody can keep you down LOL So what the hell language is that - boozer says you're pakistani - how many languages do YOU speak - 8 for the booze guy. I'm sweatin like a pig tryin to finally get spanish working halfway enough to follow the tellie, and you guys are cruisin on all cylinders with these impossible dialects!

 

@harvrdguy

Lol, somewhat. My dad got me into photography a while back and I've been doing some on the side. Not sure if that affected how I took the screen though. I just picked a view that looked good.

Thanks for the compliments. I don't like the cinematic bars because I think they mess with the image compression a small bit. Oh well, they still look good considering the resize.

I also agree about the water. Some of the most realistic, atmospheric, and moody water to be seen in any game.

The water shot is from the part where you have to turn off the highway and drive down the river/stream. At least that's where it seems to lead me every time I play. I think the name of the sequence is "Riding Shotgun" if that helps. It should be fairly early IIRC. I think I was near the turn-off into the water when I took it.

Oh, and try to remove your UI when you take your shots. I want to see what happens with an ATi card. My card takes then normal with the UI on, but letterboxes them like that with it off.

And for the record, yes, all in-game settings are as high as they can go. 8xQAA w/ multi sampling transparency(for fences, foliage, tree branches, etc) and 16xAF all forced in the control panel.

Alternately, I've been doing some screens with the X1800XT 512MB on my 1280 x 1024 screen. Shall I post a few of those too?

 

Estuansis, there you go dude, I used to take a lot of photos also with my nikkormat. I knew you knew a lot about composition the way you laid out that shot.

Ok, now I should be able to find the place - early in riding shotgun. Hear that Sam? Forget about those pesky laser guns in the swamp, and all that other crap (like the basement with the three Hunters) in Under the Radar. Once I find it I'll tell you, Sam, exactly where it is!

Estuansis, I don't think it would hurt to get a shot at the lower resolution you quoted above - that was Ray's former monitor and I think shaff and some other guys are also at that resolution - correct me if I am wrong guys. But for the best comparison, I believe we should all have the identical shot if possible.

So I would suggest that you find that exact spot if you can. I'm gonna keep your screen up on this computer and try to nail the same place when my gaming rig gets turned on. (Hey how are you going to get into ep2 on your other computer - oh yeah, steam lets you download to multiple computers off your one steam account - I forgot! Steam rocks!)

I don't know exactly what you mean by UI. I'll be shooting at 1600x1200 but I'll try to make a note of all my settings - card is x850xtpe, cpu is just 3.2 p4.

(Btw, nobody else has weighed in on your artwork yet, but Greensman was impressed. I linked him over to p.81 with a bunch of info about EP2.) - Rich

 

Estuansis et al. Your super awesome screenie is NOT in the very beginning of [edit] Riding Shotgun. You come out from a cave, and you are on a 1000 foot section of road. You come to a dead end, and Alyx says "Well I guess it wasn't going to be as easy as driving down the road." You turn left to cross the river. I have been up and down that 1000 foot piece of river, and I can't find your spot - the three boulders, and the semi-dead tree on the right side of your shot.

I DID experience something new in the game however. After finishing my shots, I was driving around like an idiot looking for the dirt path - I seriously couldn't find it. I slammed right into a big boulder, and Alyx says with a half chuckle "GOR...DON!"

Funny bi*ch! "You don't like how I drive, getcha own ride!" LOL

Graphics card is ATI x850xtpe. Resolution 1600x1200. Here are my settings:

Following are the first 3 screens of that section of river. By the way, I found out where the screenshot folder is, but I get the same exact screen by hitting PrintScreen and pasting into my cheapie but mostly fully-functional graphics program, Ulead 4.3. A big shout-out to Shaff for all these screens, I'm using photobucket. I sized all screens 800 wide for this forum like estuansis did.

Here's the first shot:



Notice that, unlike your screen, my screen shows the HUD, and it shows my weapon. I switched to crowbar because it takes away less from the shot - I tried pistol, etc. You get an ammo count with any other weapon, and the gravity gun is just too pronounced. So, estuansis, by using frap you were able to eliminate the Hud, and also the weapons display? Or did you do some cropping?

I'm doing a direct comparison now with your screen vs mine in two browser tabs. I'm noticing that my screen has what I would call greener greens. I don't know if this is location, or Ati versus Nvidia. What do you think Sam? I believe I like this photo place in the river almost as much as the place you found. Not quite. I really love how the river narrows down in the distance in your shot. But graphically - what do you think, estuansis.

This place has the HUGE advantage of being very easy to find, right at the beginning of [edit] Riding Shotgun, where you thought your screen was located, but trust me it's not. Should we just make a small compromise and take the path of least resistance and use this place? Suggestion, since you were going to take some shots on your 1280x1024 rig, see if you can find this exact spot. Maybe we'll make this the official shot - what do y'all think about that??

Here's the last two shots of that section of river.

I'm shooting the same little island group of rocks with tree, but from the other side. First one, with Alyx waiting on the left, you see the road up above on the left - you can tell exactly where that little island is. Thanks again, shaff, this photobucket is SO EASY to use - press the Direct Link button, then paste into here. I'm lovin' it!


Then the same shot without the car. This was an EP2 screenshot. I see that my Ati tray tool display in upper right is gone. I'm getting 34 to 37 fps as you can see from the top two shots. I can turn the ATT off and on at any time, so Printscreen is still the easiest. What is everybody's opinion? I think the top screen taken from the other side of the island is the best - everybody agree?

Back to the game, I now have to battle all those hunters at the radio beacon tower, to get to the next section of river.
Rich

 

Wow a lot to read. If I PM you my email harv, can you send me an appropriate save? I'll do the honours at last...

 

Well guys, I just got my 4850. It's the Asus version(still reference design though).

The packaging is VERY pretty lol.

 

Ugh yeah, Asus really overdo their graphics packaging. The box for my 3870 from them is twice the size of the box for my X38-DS4, and I'm not joking either.

 

I used the console command to remove the HUD/UI(whatever you want to call it) and it gave me the black bars when I snapped the shot with FRAPS. To try this, look it up on google. I don't remember the exact command variable.

I don't think we need an exact shot between the three of use to get a decent comparison. Both screen shots are pretty close as far as location, colors, and screen elements. I think the difference in color has to do with lighting and shadowing more than IQ. Episode 2 uses very nice HDR lighting that is affected by the direction of the sun/light source. I think both shots are very similar in quality, taking into account the settings and resolution. Try turning your texture resolution to high. It shouldn't affect your FPS very much if at all.

The place you found is pretty close to where I was. I'll try to find that spot on the 1280 x 1024 rig and post some more screens.

 

Gosh darnit, someone send me that save game, I'm lazy and tired! lol

 

Sam, estuansis, et al.

The magic place estuansis had found is nowhere to be found in Riding Shotgun. That means it is somewhere in Under the Radar and we would be back to the problem that Sam had - trying to get past laser guns and 3 hunters in the basement - all of that. There is a point after the combine trap and the battle with 3 hunters in the basement, that you cross the river again, and that must be where you found it.

So, Sam, Estuansis agrees that my shot - taken from different angles right at the beginning of Riding Shotgun, is somewhat similar to his in quality and composition. So let's use that. Estuansis talked about a console command to remove the HUD, or UI. So I might try to go back there and shoot without the crowbar. But in any case, Sam, with or without the HUD, and crowbar, just go to that same spot, at the beginning of [edit] Riding Shotgun. Here's the screenie again:



You'll find it quite easily, it's just a narrow 1000 foot section of river - look for the little island with the rocks and the one tree. You can jump down the bank next to the mouth of the tunnel, and you'll be right there. Shrink to 800 pixels wide and we'll all have the same size screen. Thanks, Rich

 

Here, I took some shots with the X1800XT. I tried to get the same shots as on my 8800GTS. Tell me how they look













I'm still working my way through. I'll get some shots of the stream soon.

 

Another batch of screens. Including the river shot you wanted

I really don't feel like going through all that again on my other rig >.< I think these would show well enough the differences between low and high resolution. 1280 x 1024, 1600 x 1200, and 2560 x 1600.

1920 x 1200 isn't all that different from 1600 x 1200, just widescreen. But 1280 x 1024 shows nicely what to expect on a lower resolution

Anyway, the same shot you took is in there.

 

is ti jsut me or does going from 1680x1050 to 1920x1200 have very little to no difference on how a game looks?

 

It isn't a gigantic increase in image quality, no. But it can have an impact if you are especially sensitive to jaggies. I know I am.

That's why antialiasing is so useful at any resolution. It drastically reduces jaggies even on low resolutions like 1024 x 768. 1024 res on this(correction, the 1280 monitor) monitor with 2xAA looks significantly better than 1280 res. It is actually quite pleasant to play. But 1280 res with 4xAA is even better and almost completely eliminates jaggies if not completely in most games.