Ultimate Gaming Machine

If you prefer video to reading, here's a 16 minute thriller (two 8 minute parts) that will have you on the edge of your seat...I made it quickly this morning (since I'm finally free from work for a day) and it was unscripted so please forgive the uh's and um's...

Part I - Boot DOS

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Part II - Merry XP

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This is going to be a total brag thread so please stop reading if self-important, look-at-me people bother you…

Not really the ultimate gaming machine hardware wise, but it absolutely satisfies my obsessive-compulsive disorder driven need to collect…

The hardware is a stock Dell XPS m1710 w/ a T7600G 2.33 GHz (bios overclockable, but I never overclock) Core 2 Duo processor, 3 GB RAM (yep…I lose some speed due to non-matched sticks), an nVidia mobile 7950 GTX w/ 512 MB running at whatever Dell set the clocks to and Dell’s latest approved drivers (174.31 from March 2008…I ran modified drivers from laptopvideo2go on my last laptop and it caused some issues with multiple displays and TV out and only bought me, maybe, 1 or 2 fps, so I stay away from them now), and Sigmatel on-board audio (I use drivers that were Dell approved for an XPS desktop, but not approved for the m1710…it eliminated popping in quite a few games, most noticeably, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and improved Windows Media Player sound quality).

Windows XP SP2 is installed (graphics card is not DX10 compatible so I saw no reason to go with Vista, and some reasons to avoid Vista: more overhead, potential incompatibilities with older Windows 95/98 based games particularly with sound setup).

I purchased the laptop used off eBay in March, bought a 320 GB 5400 rpm drive and did a clean install of the Dell Media Direct partition and XP operating system…

I spent the next 8 months loading up my game collection and purchasing some new ones that my old Toshiba 5205-S119 couldn’t run…

 

All games are running at their max resolution and most of the eye candy on (if I turn off anything, it’s usually HDR lighting…significant improvement in performance and I guess I don’t notice HDR lighting effects much…no wow in it for me) with the exception of Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, World in Conflict, Crysis, Crysis: Warhead, Oblivion and Silverfall. I’m running these games at 1280x800, full screen. I don’t measure fps…I just adjust resolutions/settings until the game is comfortable for me to play.

All the games, for me, run flawlessly with the exception of Crysis: Warhead which has some sound issues (stuttering) that don’t occur with Crysis…I’ve tweaked the config file…streaming vs not streaming textures…went to the lowest resolution and set all the graphics options to low or off in the menu, and I still get the stuttering periodically in Warhead (never get it in the original Crysis and supposedly, Warhead has been optimized)…I also play Warhead off an external USB drive, but I tried installing it to the internal drive and the stuttering persisted…Warhead probably doesn’t like the onboard Sigmatel audio…

I’ve also had to enable V-Sync for several of the games to prevent an irritating flicker (it’s not tearing, or it may be tearing happening very fast)…I find that unusual on an LCD, and I never enabled V-Sync on my old laptop and didn’t have those problems…could be either a driver issue or moving from a Go 460 to a 7950 GTX…downside is that there is no global nVidia driver option to enable Triple Buffering which helps offset the V-Sync fps penalty even though the card supports Triple Buffering and has plenty of memory…

There is also an issue with the intro movies on Silent Hunter 3 and 4…they play for about 5 seconds and then the sound/video starts stuttering…I can play the .wmv files in Media Player with no problems and gameplay is very smooth…not sure what the issue is there…I downloaded the games from Steam and they play from an external HDD, but I don’t think that’s the issue…it may be another Sigmatel audio problem…

The two trickiest games to get running were System Shock 2 and Jane’s Longbow 2…DOS games are easy under DosBox…most Windows 95/98 games will work just by setting compatibility in XP to 95/98…but for some games, the change to the NT kernel in XP was challenging…and then on top of that, neither of those two games like duo processors…so you have to adjust the executable to have ‘affinity’ for either CPU 0 or CPU 1 (doesn’t matter which)…so when that executable runs, only one processor is doing the addressing and data crunching…

And my biggest heartache…Crimson Skies is unplayable with hardware acceleration with the newer nVidia drivers…nVidia blames the developer (Zipper Interactive), but I have a hard time believing that since Crimson Skies ran fine on my Toshiba with 70-series nVidia drivers…somewhere in their driver updates, nVidia broke compatibility with a function call in Crimson Skies and nVidia is unwilling to fix it for the two of us that still play Crimson Skies…

 

And here’s the beautiful part of the whole setup…

All the games run without the CD/DVD by either using executables with the disc check removed or creating an image of the disc with Alcohol 52%... all you have to do is turn on the laptop, plug in the external HDD (if the game is on the external HDD), and click the shortcut…no disc swapping or even loading up the image (the shortcut does that with the axcmd executable)…no wearing out my BluRay burner…some of the shortcuts have (CD) after them…these are multiple disc games that require CD swapping at some point…since the shortcut only loads disc one, on these games, when the next disc is requested, I have to Alt-Tab into Alcohol and mount the next disc…the (CD) just reminds me of that…NOTE: I own all of the games and still have 90% of the boxes. I just find it irritating to have to carry discs around or wear out an expensive optical drive…and I’ve never had a problem with StarForce or SecuRom or any other software protection scheme (I hate look up this word in this paragraph of this page which was popular in the early 90’s…eg, Dark Legions)…so I’m not sure what all the fuss is about…but just because I haven’t had an issue doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to someone else…knock on wood…

And to me, that is the whole beauty of a gaming laptop…it will always win over a desktop or gaming console…I put my laptop in its backpack, the power supply, and the two USB HDDs, and I’m taking all my gaming goodness with me wherever I go…sound, display and controllers all built in (I do have a Razr Diamondback for when I need that third button [ie. Crysis] and more precise control…and I have (2) Saitek P2900s for sports games and platformers)…

And without further ado, the list…

 

Under DosBox 0.70 (someday, I’ll get around to upgrading to 0.72)

Abuse
Alien Logic
Bioforge
Blackthorne
Command & Conquer
Crusader: No Regret
Dark Forces
Dark Legions
Descent
Doom
Duke Nukem 3D
Full Throttle
Heretic
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis
Magic Carpet
Master of Magic
Master of Orion
Mechwarrior 2
Panzer General
Shadow Warrior
Skynet
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
Star Trek: Judgement Rites
Steel Panthers
Steel Panthers 2
Syndicate
System Shock
Terra Nova
Warcraft
X-Com
X-Com: Terror from the Deep
Z

 

On the laptop internal drive
(The attached thumbnail is the folder that opens when I click an icon in my Quick Start menu...boot the computer...click the icon...choose your game...double-click...and off it goes...easier than an XBox 360...)

Baldur’s Gate
Baldur’s Gate 2
Battlefield 2
Battlefield 1942
Battlefield 2142
Battlefield Vietnam
Battlezone
Beyond Good & Evil
BioShock
Call of Duty
Call of Duty 4
East Front 2
Rising Sun
West Front
Century of Warfare
Chessmaster 9000
Chronicles of Riddick
Civilization 2
Civilization 3
Civilization 4
Close Combat 2
Close Combat 3
Command & Conquer 3
Command & Conquer Generals
Company of Heroes
Curse of Monkey Island (CD)
CyberStorm
Dawn of War
Demon Stone
Diablo
Diablo 2
Dragonshard
Dungeon Siege
Dungeon Siege 2
Empire Earth 2
Fable
Fallout
Fallout 2
FIFA 2005
Freedom Force
Freedom Force vs 3rd Reich
Galactic Civilizations 2
Gears of War
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Grim Fandango
Ground Control 2
GUN
Heretic 2
Heroes of Might and Magic 2
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Heroes of Might and Magic 4
Heroes of Might and Magic 5
Homeworld: Cataclysm
Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale 2
MechCommander 2
MVP 2005
NBA 2005
Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights 2
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Madden 2005
NHL 2004
No One Lives Forever
No One Lives Forever 2
NOX
Oddworld - Abe’s Oddysee
Panzer General 2
People’s General
Tiger Woods Golf 2005
Planescape: Torment
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Quake 2
Rainbow Six: Vegas
Red Alert 2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Rise of Legends
Rise of Nations
Rome: Total War
Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
Sid Meier’s Pirates!
Silent Storm
Space Siege
Star Trek: Armada
Star Trek: Armada 2
Star Trek: Bridge Commander
Star Trek: Starfleet Command
Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Starcraft
Supreme Commander
System Shock 2
Temple of Elemental Evil
Titan Quest
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
Ultimate Spider-man
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 3
War Wind 2
Warcraft 2
Warcraft 3
Warlords 3
Warlords 4
World in Conflict
Worms: Armageddon
X-Men Legends 2
You Don’t Know Jack - Movies
You Don’t Know Jack - TV

 

On the external 320 GB drive
(This is my Steam drive…games purchased and downloaded via Steam are marked with an *…I have other games that use Steam as a launcher but they were purchased in the box…)

Act of War
Alien Shooter: Vengeance*
Assassin’s Creed
Call of Duty 2*
Command & Conquer 2: Tiberian Sun (CD)
Crysis
Crysis: Warhead
Dead Space
Deus Ex
Disciples 2 Gold
Disciples
Divine Divinity
Doom 3
Fantasy Wars
Far Cry
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Half-Life 2 & Episodes 1 and 2
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Half-Life
Counter-Strike
Hellgate: London
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
Oblivion
Oddworld: Abe’s Exxodus*
Prey
Privateer’s Bounty: Age of Sail 2
Psychonauts*
Quake 4
Rainbow Six 3
Rainbow Six: Lockdown
Rayman 2
Red Alert (CD)
Sacred Gold*
Sam & Max Season 1 Episode 4* (Free on Steam)
Silent Hunter 3*
Silent Hunter 4*
Silverfall
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Star Trek: Elite Force
Star Trek: Elite Force 2
Star Wars: Jedi Academy
Star Wars: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
Star Wars: Republic Commando
SWAT 4
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Unreal 2

 

Games on the external 250 GB drive
(I call this my 'You probably want a Flight Stick or Racing Wheel' drive)

Age of Empires 2
Age of Mythology
Arcanum
Black & White
Caesar 3
Commandos 2
Dark Reign
Descent 3
DiRT
Escape from Monkey Island
F1 Racing 2002
Fire Fight (CD)
Flanker 2.5
Freespace
Freespace 2
Sid Meier’s Gettysburg!
Heavy Gear 2
IL-2 Sturmovik
Independence War
Independence War 2
Interstate ‘76
Jane’s F-18
Jane’s Longbow 2
Longest Journey
MechWarrior 3
MechWarrior 4
NASCAR Racing 2002 (EA)
NASCAR SimRacing (Papyrus)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Pacific Fighters
Pharaoh & Cleopatra
Sanitarium (CD)
Septerra Core
SimCity 3000 Unlimited
Star Wars: Tie Fighter
Star Wars: X-Wing
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
SubCulture
Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
Warlords: Battlecry 2
Wing Commander: Prophecy (CD)
Zeus & Poseidon

 

wow!!! games galore

 

I have to admit that is one of the biggest collections I have seen in a long time.

 

I don't have the HD space for that kind of game collection. Black Friday is just around the corner though.

 

Nice rig there mate

 

This thread should have been titled: Ultimate Game Collection

nice rig, even more impressive collection...

 

you are about 1 graphics card short and 2 generations of gpu tech behind to say "best gaming rig"...

but that game collection is massive.

 

Well if anything else this thread is good for a laugh.

 

I think you missed my disclaimer...

If I'm playing Crysis and Dead Space, I probably have just an idea that the gaming laptop world has moved well beyond Merom processors and nVidia 7-series cards...

*shrug* I started looking to buy a new laptop last fall (2007) and was eyeing the Alienware m15x with an 8800m GTX until users experienced all sorts of problems...I thought about the m1730, decided DX10 and Vista weren't worth the trouble and the m1730 wasn't worth the size/weight and bought a used m1710 for a steal of a price on eBay at the time ($2000 w/ a BluRay Burner)...

The point of the title was to get people to look so even if it was good for a laugh, the person looked...I was proud of what I did, my wife doesn't appreciate (understand) it, and I wanted to show off...

The subtle point of the thread, and what I think many people miss, is that gaming has never been about the hardware...it's all about the software...

Duke Nukem 3D is still my all-time favorite FPS...in my opinion, nothing comes close to the fun factor of Duke Nukem 3D with a friend on a serial connection...storytelling has gotten better in the FPS world (thank you, Half-Life) and graphics have become almost movie CGI quality (thank you, Crytek), but that doesn't make the game itself more fun...

Anyway, thank you for looking and I understand the comments and expected them...it's probably the most self-aggrandizing thing I've ever done...maybe I need to do a Facebook page...

PS. And wait until I figure out a way to fit a Pokemon thread on the NBR forums...gotta have 'em all...

 

Holy mother of god did you ever get ripped off.
You could have just bought this and stuck it in any new laptop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118009

 

If we're not including games installed on a hard drive, I think I'd have you trumped. I've got a pretty sweet collection of games (in CD format) since Duke Nukem made the convert from floppy. I also definitely have you trumped in # of steam games too.

Bragging is fun (but I admit I haven't touched 95% of my games in years).

 

I'm afraid you wouldn't make it as a Price Is Right contestant...

Almost 8 months later, and here's Dell's selling price on a Scratch & Dent m1710 comparable to mine...(this listing has 4GB of RAM vs my 3GB of RAM): $1639 (and then you have to pay taxes, which for my state, would be another $163)...

I don't think I got ripped off...

The most irritating part is the condescending attitude...as if you know everything, and I know nothing about laptops...

I spent quite a bit of time researching laptops prior to making my purchase, and once again, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts...there are many other features that I love about the m1710 besides the parts, but since that's what interests most people here, that's what I listed...and I think my Toshiba 5205 was more feature rich still...but the graphics chip became insufferable...

I upgraded my Toshiba's optical drive from the original DVD-CD/RW to a DVD+R and then a DVD Super-Multi (purchased from Ultradrives whose prices are a bit cheaper than New Egg...and Ultradrives has great customer service...my first upgrade had the firmware set to be a Master...on the 5205, the internal HDD was the Master on IDE Channel 0 and the Style Bay was the Master on IDE Channel 1...I didn't know any better and when I popped it in, it didn't work...Richard P. at Ultradrives exchanged it for one with the firmware set to Slave, and didn't even charge me the return shipping though it was my fault...) And by the way, I think the link you posted is to a BluRay reader, not a burner...Ultradrives has an internal Panasonic BluRay burner for $199...so maybe I did get ripped off...and right now BluRay media is way too expensive to use for burning so the argument is pointless...I have one blank BD-R that the eBay seller included with the laptop, and I haven't even used it...

But I digress from the thread's intended point...again...it's a gaming machine because it has lots of games, all available at the double-click of a mouse...

 

The playing is more fun than the bragging, but bragging doesn't hurt...

I have lots of other games sitting in the closet that weren't worth installing...I got suckered into buying them the first time, installed them, tried them, and deleted them (Metal Marines...blech) back when my HDD was about 540MB in a top-end desktop from Micron...there are others that were OK back in the day, but they haven't held up well (F-14 Fleet Defender, Wing Commander and Ultima Underworld come to mind) so they stayed in the closet...

I'm relatively new to Steam for purchasing games...when I bought Half-Life 2, I was infuriated that I had to use Steam to load the game...really, really upset...I vowed to never give Steam a dime...but I've changed...you can't beat their weekend sales...and trying to get my original CD version of X-Com: Apocalypse running on XP is difficult at best...buy it off of Steam for $5 and they've done all the work for you...and I like the auto-updating of games...

You may still have me beat...

And I rarely have time to play anymore, but Christmas holidays with the two brothers-in-law will be great...

 

Not making a very good argument, your telling me for 132$ more you could have bought a better specked machine with a warranty directly from dell? =/ I suppose laptops with built in Christmas lights are more important to people now days. "Shakes fist" when will they learn.

 

So long as your rig makes you happy, that's all that counts

My Dell XPS M1710 was purchased new, yet my scratch/dent XPS M1730 with maxed out specs ended up costing a few hundred bucks less. The M1730's entire screen and chassis were replaced under warranty, so it literally looks new. The only clue that it's a refurb is the green sticker at the bottom.

 

How do you choose what game you have to play when you boot up ur PC? Dont you have dilemmas?

 

You desperately need: the original MechCommander, Wing Commander II + Special Operations expansions, and both Wing Commander Privateer games.

Nice collection mate. It was hard to pick out missing classics, because you pretty much have all of them.

 

Great collection, I especially approve of the Infinite Engine games

 

Congrats the M1710 is a great laptop still. However the M1730 would have done you better I can guarantee 8800m GTX SLI blows that 7950 out of the water.

 

Absolutely...

I really didn't want to move up to a 17" notebook, but the m15x appeared to struggle with some build quality issues out of the gate...

I'm not particularly loyal to any brand (my two previous laptops were Toshibas...315 CDT in 1997 and a 5205-S119 in 2003) and spent a lot of time looking...

Besides the specs, I really liked the front panel controls on the m1710 and the Dell Media Direct boot...besides games, I have a lot of music on my laptop and with the top closed on my 5205, I could just push a button on the front, and it would boot into XP, start the Media Player and play my last selected list...the m1710 was the closest I could find to that...but you have to open the list and then you have to manually select a list to play after the 10 seconds it takes to get into Media Direct...I really wanted a subwoofer, too...

I was hoping that a gaming laptop would arrive with an external LCD screen for use with Vista gadgets...I still don't think there's one...

And I looked at the m1730 for a long time, and it's a great machine, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for...

And I have no problems with Dell refurbished...both my desktops were bought refurbished...one certified and one as-is (scratch and dent)...both work fine and I've never found the cosmetic problem on the s&d...but the eBay seller told me no dead pixels on the m1710 which Dell won't guarantee...I was sold...

And this isn't a reply to your post, but I keep my LEDs turned off...I'll turn them on every so often when I'm showing off my laptop just to be obnoxious...and I hate to admit it, but they do look cool pulsing in time to music...I even keep the touchpad LED off...

 

Yep...that's the hardest part...

I'm playing Diablo 2 right now as a Necromancer with my horde of skeletons (Act II)...I completed it a long time ago as a Barbarian and as a Paladin, but the news of Diablo 3 sparked some interest...

I'm also playing through Crysis and Dead Space...

But the sad truth is that I don't have a lot of time, and it usually comes in snippets, so, more often than not, I'm playing Black Tiger or Bionic Commando on mame or Mike Tyson's Punchout on FCE Ultra because those games lend themselves to playing just a little bit...lots of reward iin very little time...

 

I own MechCommander, but I never really played it...I don't remember why...based on your recommendation, I'll have to install it and try it...

I never played WC2...I played the original (and then went with the Star Wars simulators...probably not any better, but it was Star Wars), the third and fourth ones, and Prophecy...some of the only games to get FMV right...for some reason, Wing Commander (and Star Wars, but Star Wars is Star Wars) always seemed more like you were in a turret rotating around in space than flying through space...the only games that ever felt like flying through space were WC: Prophecy and Freespace...that may have been because of the large capital ships to give you a point of reference rather than a starry background rotating around but never getting closer...and I'll always have a fond spot for Prophecy since it was the first game I bought that used the 3dfx card in my desktop...it's the only reason that I have a Glide wrapper on my m1710...flare effects in Prophecy...

I played the first Privateer through until the end...fun but I was disappointed in the end game...it may have been one of the first non-linear games...do what you want when you want...play through the story or ignore the ancient alien artifact story...I never played the second...

I'm missing some classics like Harpoon 2...can't get it to run...and some other naval sims (SubCommand, 688i, etc) which you can purchase from Steam...but I've decided to start playing again vs installing, testing and tweaking...

Thanks for the MechCommander recommendation...

 

LOL, skeleton hordes OWN in d2

 

Lol just imagine having to install them all again one by one.

 

I won't argue with that...a single 8800m GTX will blow me out of the water...and that's a nice laptop in your sig, but I wanted something slightly more portable...(the m1710 is smaller and weighs about 4 lbs less)...

I'm so totally nerdy and uptight that I had a spreadsheet with various configurations of an m1710, m1730, Alienware m15x, predicted Alienware m17x, Alienware m9750 and Toshiba X205 with specs and list prices, eBay prices...I was well informed when I bought my laptop, and the m1730 w/ dual 8800m GTXs was available in March when I made my purchase...in fact, I think they were running a sale on it...the X-whatever it was processor w/ dual 8800's for $3000...it was a tough decision but I think I made the right one (for me)...

And the rule for me is once you've bought a piece of electronics, stop looking or you'll get your feelings hurt (the rule applies for me more in the home theater realm than laptops)...but I'm aware of the new Alienware 17" with Crossfire and that the m17x is finally out...also, Sager has a model with a desktop processor and 9800s, which if it can keep cool with anything less than a 1/2 ton A/C unit, is an interesting proposition...

But I'm ruining the thread again...it was meant to foster game discussion and not so much on the hardware side...I could have bought a more powerful computer, but so far there's no game that makes me feel that I should have...Crysis and World in Conflict aren't those games...Oblivion, maybe, when I get back to it...Fallout 3 will probably make me wish I had better hardware...but Dead Space runs great...

 

Ummm...not even funny...

And it's not just the installing...it's the messing around with patches, settings and configuring 95/98 games under XP...

I have my registry backed up to an external drive and the games are spread across (3) drives...so any one HDD eating itself wouldn't be completely catastrophic, but it would be painful...

If the internal drive went bad, I still have a lot of the older games installed on my 5205 which sits in a closet all by itself (I wanted to put it in a shrine in the living room hallway, but my wife poo-poo'ed that idea)...with the registry backed up, I could recover the OS and just copy those folders over...but still painful...

In fact, having a setup like this actually discourages me from wanting to buy a new laptop...my OCD wants to have everything on one machine, but I'm not doing this again...when I buy a new laptop, my m1710 will become my legacy XP gaming system...I'll break it out once a year to celebrate nostalgia and show my sons how good gaming was back when we had to walk up the hill both ways to school in the blazing heat and snow...

 

Did you actually try Fallout 3? because it runs perfectly with Single card for me

 

I haven't...I purchased Dead Space and got in a little bit of trouble with the Mrs....and then I purchased a no-longer-available-in-stores Deluxe 2-Player Lazer Tag Team Ops Set with the thunder packs and virtual scopes and HUDs from eBay for $150...she really freaked out...

So it's going to be at least a couple more hours before I have the courage to do anything more than put gas in my car...

And right now, I'm waiting to see what pops up on Black Friday...

But that's good to know that your machine runs it well...I think it's the same engine as Oblivion...I could probably run Oblivion at 1680x1050, but I like the scaling better at 1280x800....

 

I could run Oblivion on my XPS M170 at 1920x1200 so I think you will run the game great. My M170 is still here with me today except bad GPU That I have to fix to get the old beast up and running again.

 

Hmmm...interesting...

I have Oblivion and I tried it at 1920x1200, and it was just a wee bit choppy for me...if 1920x1200 doesn't work, I usually skip right down to 1280x800 and crank up all the other eye candy...

It may be a difference in background processes running or the driver I'm using...I'll try again...

What GPU chip was in your old(er) Dell?

And nice 1730...

 

wow nice game collection! lol hope ur laptop wont need any reformatting soon lol xD

 

I have to +rep for the mere mention of Duke Nukem 3D. Way way outdated by today's standards but that game was flat out a blast in its heyday and nothing so far has come close in the fun factor.
Shrink ray guns that shrink your enemy, then while they're trying to run away from you, you chase them down and squish them under your feet. Or freeze them with the freeze gun and knock them into little ice chunks with one swift kick! Soo fun. Played on Kali a bit but it was too buggy , best times were playing with friends on a LAN.

 

That's exactly the way I feel...you can always tell who was in on, what I call, the golden age of PC gaming...

It was insulting to get killed by the chainsaw in Doom...but that was nothing compared to getting squished after being shrunk in Duke Nukem...or getting smashed after getting frozen...or walking into a room full of pipe bombs...dying by cleverly placed laser wire mines while charging a Holo Duke...or having your buddy hover over you with the jetpack (you could hear it, but you couldn't find it) because you forgot about looking up (looking up these days is second nature)...and the taunts were ridiculously over-the-top funny...my friend and I wore that game out...even though we were both fiercely competitive, we spent most of the time laughing our butts off...our wives would sit there and shake their heads and then go shopping...

PS. Thank you for the rep. It may be the only one I get after the false advertising of the thread title.

 

Ummm...*scratching head* Which are the Infinite Engine games? Freedom Force?

 

Infinite Engine is used in the Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Icewind Dale and Fallout Series.

Pretty much each is a must-have in the CRPG genre

 

It was an go 7800 GTX. I had around 30 fps running outside in Oblivion, tweaked of course. Well I had in fact a very optimized XP system on that laptop. Ran Crysis in a custom config at 1280x800 30 fps average, not too shabby That´s why I want it alive again even though the GPU costs like a desktop 4850 GPU which I could get but won´t

I will use it to connect it to my HDTV, that would be great.

 

It's actually supposed to run very quietly and cool, albeit weighing 12 lbs.

 

Computer spec's aren't the best, but it's decent enough. But I do love the game collection you got there.

 

Yep...taking up HDD space with those games was an easy decision...that's why they all run off the internal HDD...

They were easily the best group of RPGs since Ultima III/IV, Bard's Tale and Questron on the Commodore...

I suffered through some of the early to mid-90s RPGs D&D RPGs (Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession, Menzobarranzan, Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager, etc)...and I guess I was one of the few people who didn't like Elder Scrolls: Arena or Daggerfall or Morrowind...

The only thing that comes close to the Baldur's Gate and Fallout series for me is Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic...I haven't played Mass Effect...didn't some of the folks from Black Isle startup Bioware?

It was sad to see Interplay go under...I thought they were one of the better publishing houses...

That's why I have a love/hate relationship with technology...I loved my 5205 but it just couldn't keep up...it still does some things that no other laptop ever will (bells and whistles and conveniences, but I liked them)...

If this laptop goes down, I would be torn between fixing it and buying a new one...this one does almost everything I want it to...

Playing older PC games on an HDTV would be worth the fix...

That's about what the m1730 and m17x weigh, isn't it?

 

i would like to know what you have tweaked i have a lappy with a 7800GTX (my sister's actually)

 

@IWantMyMTV: Please edit your post next time instead of posting a new one 1 minute later. Thank you.

 

I just posted a link to a 16-minute video clip (61MB in cheesy WMV) to demonstrate what I was trying to explain...I put it at the top of the first post on the thread...

And just a couple of corrections to the video dialogue...

X-Com is NOT running under DosBox...Microprose (Hasbro had bought them) released an X-Com bundle that ran under XP after applying a graphics patch...that's the reason the cursor was initially active in the window...my bad...

Also, the author of the Build emulator is Jonathon Fowler...who got help from the principle architect of the Build engine...it bothered me so bad that I couldn't remember Jonathon's name that I looked it up...

Ken Silverman is the architect and designer of the Build engine...

There's a class act guy...long after 3DRealms stopped paying him to program the Build engine, he continued to support it and helped bring it into the XP era with Jonathon Fowler doing the porting...Ken will still take the time to answer people's questions about how to get Build games running as long as you own the .grp files...I've never corresponded with either, but you can tell that they do it for the love of programming (gaming) and not for money...kudos to both Jonathon and Ken and thank you for allowing me to play Duke Nukem 3D on my XP platform...

 

True brainer, I´ll see if I can optimize it for a single 8800 GTS.

 

The putfile.com servers seem to be grumpy today...

So, I split the video in to two 8 minute parts and uploaded them to YouTube (after putting the kids to bed and wrestling with YouTube for a while...I still can't figure out why YouTube, when converting the low quality .wmv files to .flv, scrunched the video information down so I could have lovely black borders...any YouTube experts around?)

They're on the first post for your enjoyment (boredom)...