why is my i5's 5700MHD struggling with a 9 year old game? :(

hi, im trying to play serious sam the second encounter on my thinkpad (specs in sig). I expected it to run on max settings since on my old computer which had a now quite old radeon 9600 pro turbo could run it on max settings.

whats wrong? should i look for an alternative driver or something?

 

It would run fine if intel would learn to code openGL drivers.


They won't though so that's the problem. the onboard gpu stuff just doesn't work well with opengl games (doom 3, quake stuff, serious sam 1. I think serious sam 2 uses direct x/can use direct x)

 

any suggestions on what i should do? it really shouldnt have a problem running a game that was essentially designed for a geforce 3

 

MagusDraco is correct about OpenGL support for the Intel Graphics.

I can't even run Counter-Strike 1.6 at 60FPS or more with my Intel GMA 4500MHD and that game is from early 2000. It'll jump around 15FPS-45FPS consistently even though the Intel Graphics should support 100FPS for a game this old. My old Geforce3 Ti200 runs Counter-Strike 1.6 flawlessly though.

I don't think there is anything you can do about it.

 

serious sam second encounter HD is directx 9.0c, not OpenGL.

 

What is openGL?

Mr. Mysterious

 

an open source alternative to microsoft's directX

tip: wikipedia is your friend

OpenGL - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

IrisGL (what OpenGL was based on) and OpenGL itself were around before Direct3D. I'd say Direct3D is the (proprietary) alternative. (PS: OpenGL only competes with Direct3D, it does not do other functions such as input and audio as DirectX does)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Serious Engine (not the HD version) can use either a OpenGL or Direct3D renderer, as can its competitors. Now, the matter is simply finding a configuration file to change the rendering option. I don't have the game, but check under video options, and see if you can use a Direct3D rather than OpenGL.

 

Any way you spin it, most AAA mainstream titles are D3D based these days. Sad world.

 

Many of those AAA titles are also ported from Xbox 360. D:
And that only uses DirectX, not like Windows, PS3, Wii, Linux distros and OSX.

 

well it's not like microsoft was gonna let someone use openGL in their system.


anyway serious sam is like $6 on GoG and I've been meaning to try it out so *buys it, goes and sees if he can get it to work on the IGP of his envy 14*

Ok the game seems to run fine on my i5 520m on direct3d mode (in video options)


'course I'm using the GOG Version. Not sure how that may change if you're using the steam version or something.

 

did you buy serious sam or serious sam second encounter? second encounter needs higher specs to run

 

first one, was it the second you were having trouble with?

 

yes, i'm trying to run the second one. they have this HD version where it has levels from the first one as well. but they migrated the levels over to serious engine 3 and improved the graphics.so requirements are higher than the first serious sam. but its still a old game, so dont know why i can play it on max settings, and there does not seem to be an option to select opengl/directx i think this is because serious engine 3 is directx only, plus it dosent seem to allow me to change settings in detail, for example i cant select the antialiasing etc. all it lets me do is select if my gpu, cpu,and gpu memory are low, mid, high, ultra and so on....

 

serious sam 2 works fine as well (on D3D mode, everything maxed in video options, most things maxed/one or two just not messed with since I don't wanna mess up sharpness too much) in advanced options --> rendering stuff.


Make sure the power saving stuff on your intel gpu is set to maximum performance while on battery?

It plays the game find on my end (or at least it plays the temple of effects/whatever) fine


edit: keep in mind I'm running at 1024x768 since the only higher options is 1152x850 or something so...yeah.

SS1 and SS2 aren't giving me native resolution so I just said "eh"

 

yea i'm runing at 1023x786 as well. i'm assuming you disabled the HD5650?i've already put the settings to max performance on the graphics in the power saving profile so that cant be it.

 

yeah. I'm on the intel gpu.

odd.

are you using the gog version or some other version?

 

it was installed from the cd

 

that could be why.

the GoG version is modified a bit to run well on windows vista and 7.

it also is patched to the latest version (like 1.004 or 1.07 or something..or both..I saw both of those version numbers in the folder, one mighta been the map editor)

 

well i finally found out how to customise the graphics settings. it turned out it was trying to render the 3d in full HD. i reduced that, reduced the shadows, antialiasing etc and now its running smooth with not much of a quality hit imo.

i think the minimum specs for the HD version is higher, i didnt realise that. you're not running the HD version are you?

 

No. I'm on the regular version no SS HD (brand new engine, counts as like a 2 year old game then)

 

yea, i didnt realise it was such an extensive update...i assumed it would be just some updates in terms of artwork etc

thanks for all your help though, +rep. the graphics do look much better on the HD version, so even when i turn down the settings its still an improvement over the old one so i guess im happy. i wanted serious sam for my x201 as its a good stress buster lol. no need to think, just shoot everything that moves, plus some good jokes/gags throughout