Shouldn't my pc be able to run AC4 Black Flag?

Hey guys, having some issues with Black Flag.

My Specs are: Windows 7, i7-360QM @ 2.40GHz with an AMD HD 7970M.

My laptop is the P170EM.

Basically the only way I've gotten it to run is to have res at 1920x1080 with every other setting off or on low. If I do anything else it crashes my game. Had a look on notebookcheck.com and it said I could run it at 1366x786 with High settings. Didn't work as it crashed and I only had 29 fps...

Is there any setting that works for the 7970M? Or have I just wasted $50?

 

double check to make sure you are running on high performance.

then run some of the benchmarks from 3dmark and 3dmark11 in sig below and compare your scores online with others with similar spec.

i know nothing about amd/ati but could the game be using your HD4000 instead of your ati card.

i dont know black flag so no idea how it should run.

 

Definitely switched to high performance, but will do thanks

 

It's an awful port that can't properly use multicore and has terrible scaling issues (reducing settings gives too little fps). Are you using the latest drivers? AC4 is an Nvidia game so I guess it's a bit nasty with AMD cards (like it wasn't already with all of them...).

 

Nah I don't have the latest drivers. Last time it took me 3 days to figure out how to update AMD drivers (never buying an AMD card ever again). I checked before buying and loads of users said they ran it fine, so not sure what the issue is. Can the drivers really make a 15-20 fps difference? Depressing having bought a £1200 laptop 5 months ago and not being able to play a game even on high settings.

 

Your laptop is more than fine, that game is not the one to test it properly. It gives problems even to users with desktops twice as good as our systems.
Theoretically the drivers won't give such huge boosts, but you never know. Both AMD and Nvidia have made a habit of releasing lots of bad drivers and a few that actually help.

 

what are your settings ? and fps ?

 

1920x1080 with everything off and on low was under 20 fps, while the setting that should be giving me 45 fps (1366x768 high graphics and environment, SSAO and 2x MSAA) was giving was ranging from 20-30

 

Are you sure it's using your dGPU and not iGPU?

 

yes. what drivers are you running?

 

AC4 is one of the worst optimised games i ever played. it's not your cards issue. Almost all Ubisoft games like that. They are in bed with nVIDIA and i thing they are not interested about AMD cards.

 

would explain why even AC3 has a terrible time running on my laptop

 

Download the latest drivers here: Videocards - ATI Catalyst Windows 7 8 and Vista

Be sure to use "mobility" and not the "desktop" ones.

 

did you ever end up getting you second 5870 and, if so, how much of a performance gain did you see in AC4?

 

drivers ? 13.12 WHQL i expect.. else it can give you these kind of low perf issues..

 

Ew, Ubisoft games. The epitome of DRM-laden, poorly-optimized, lousy consoles ports. I'd stay away.

Didn't he say his M17x got fried?

 

Yeh double checked it

Not really sure lol something with a 31 in it I think. They were the new ones back in June when I first got the laptop. I really hope the drivers is not the case as last time it took me ages to figure out how to do it. Not very computer literate as I just use them for gaming and work.

 

There's your problem. You need to download and install the latest driver ASAP. It's really easy to do, just install on top of your current driver and the installer will take care of the old driver removal and new driver installation for you. The one you're using now doesn't even contain an application profile for the game, so you're not benefiting from any of the driver performance optimizations which AMD released specifically for AC4. Up-to-date drivers are even more important given that this is a Ubisoft title which have a history of performance issues especially at launch.

 

With no AA, AO and VF, everything else at high in 1920x1080 i have 30-40 fps in big town or big ship fight with tons of fog, 40-50 fps in big island with tons of trees and grass like the jungle, everything else ( mission maps, ship on the sea, ship fight without tons of fog, island without city or jungle etc...) are at 60 fps. I'm using 13.12 WHQL

Try updating your driver you should be able to have this kind of performence. BTW this game is awesome. YARRR

 

Which driver do I download? Some guy posted a link. I guess the top one? Is it easier to install this time? Just download, install and restart pc? Last time I had to do some complicated thing involving moving files, deleting old driver files completely, re-installing the catalyst centre etc. Took ages to figure out

 

I have to wait for another new motherboard, the one I got AlienFX didn't even work on it. I sent the one I received back to China a few days ago and am waiting on a new replacement. I already have both 5870M's ready, but it will be about a month before I get that motherboard.

 

Can anyone link me to a good guide for installing and drivers. Preferably one that is good for computer illiterate people as I'm terrible lol.

 

I'm using a Nvidia GTX 670MX with a 3630QM and get 40 fps+. I have 1080 with a mixture of normal/low with FXAA and have had no problems. Nvidia Experience suggests 1366*768 with low setting but it runs and looks great.

 

Install them on top of your current ones as I suggested previously.

 

Just download the drivers and install, start with the 13.12 ones. If those don't install, then get 13.11, or below - but 13.12 should work fine with the 7970m. What notebook do you have anyways, from my experience sometimes installing newer drivers on Alienware notebooks may be a hassle.

 

I installed the new driver on top of the old one. Hasn't made any difference. I guess that means I have to do that delete all old driver folders and clean install thing? :/

 

Follow the steps here to clean install your new drivers: Proper AMD/ATI Driver Install - Alienware User Support

If that doesn't work then you have to ask actual 7970M owners about this, you haven't mentioned your notebook make so I'll just direct you to the Alienware 7970M thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ultimate-installation-tweaking-guide-210.html

 

Has anybody problem with AC4 save game?every time i started the game i lose my previous save so i need to start from the begining

 

My save is fine, but I hear people are having some issues with the cloud saving feature. The steam forums might have more details about this.

 

hey EvoHavok how much fps did you get ?
i have the gt60 2oc and i would love to know how will the machine handle this game

 

On custom settings 20-40 mostly. It dips under 30 in areas with dense vegetation. The higher fps is during sailing. The cities also bring good performance, unless there's vegetation nearby (for example the outskirts of Nassau are laggier than the middle of the town, Havana is very smooth). When rain starts, then you lose a few more fps, too. Not the most recommended gaming experience, but I got accustomed to it. I wish the game would use the i7 properly, that would help a lot. Many of the settings bring minimal to no performance difference, either. Although many people recommend lowering the Environment quality setting, for me it barely does anything unless it's on lowest and that brings too much pop-in. Ubi should have more care for their pc ports. Haven't tried the 332.21 drivers yet.

Anyway, here are my settings and a few screenshots to see how the game looks with them:
http://i.imgur.com/KQ7DqrD.png
http://i.imgur.com/Sa1NmmV.png
http://i.imgur.com/zzC0c6H.png
http://i.imgur.com/6VEXaKG.png
http://i.imgur.com/exxKwmI.png
http://i.imgur.com/8CTedjz.png

Hope it helps!

 

It's a good thing Black Flag is fun, because it looks pretty bad considering how weak the performance is. The rig in my signature chugs pretty hard in scenes with a good amount of vegetation and there's some pretty obnoxious texture popin (NPCs faces change when they get within 20 feet)

 

Yeah, that's true. The environments and the water look gorgeous, though.