Is your PC fast enough for NASCAR?

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>Subject: Is your PC fast enough for NASCAR? >Date: 8 Dec 1994 03:06:04 GMT >Hi. How does a 486dx2/66 with local bus VGA run NASCAR? What sort >of frame rate can be attained? From the demo, I know one can turn off >over half a dozen graphics complexities to speed up the game. So >what do NASCAR owners recommend? Are you happy with the frame rates and >the speed sensation? >ie. 486/66 with VLB, full texture mapping, etc

I run it with car textures on, 38 cars on the course, course objects on, drawing 6 cars in front, 2 behind, 2 cars heard, and the paint/lines turned on, everything else is off. With this and a 486dx2-66/VLB it runs acceptable *most* of the time -- ie when there aren't any crashes, etc. I would not run it on anything less than a 66, but that is just my preference. I know others that are satisfied with less. You are welcome. +=================================================================+ | Robert Berryhill - Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz| | Plano, Tx or was that Congress? | +=================================================================+

Hi. How does a 486dx2/66 with local bus VGA run NASCAR? What sort of frame rate can be attained? From the demo, I know one can turn off over half a dozen graphics complexities to speed up the game. So what do NASCAR owners recommend? Are you happy with the frame rates and the speed sensation? ie. 486/66 with VLB, full texture mapping, etc Is it playable on my 486/33 with VLB VGA? or do I need to upgrade my CPU? Motherboard? Thanks for any comments. -David-

>>Is it playable on my 486/33 with VLB VGA? or do I need to upgrade my >>CPU? Motherboard? >I would not run it on anything less than a 66, but that is just my preference. > I know others that are satisfied with less. I run it on a 486dx/33 with only 30 opponents, 4 seen front and 2 seen behind and only car detail turned on. With this, it runs at an acceptable speed under most conditions. I have noticed tho that if I'm in a pack of cars, it tends to bog down in the turns at some of the longer tracks. The problem is that some of us have to choice but to run it at 33, so we have to put up with what I feel was a major***up my Papyrus -- they made the game too complex for any computers on the market today (Not even a Pentium 90 and run SVGA with full detail). I believe the over-complex graphics detract from what is otherwise the best simulator I have ever seen. -- Rich Rich Williams -- CWRU Department of Chemical Engineering

Yuck =) I had to run ICR on a 386DX/25 for a while and that sucked, but it ran ok on my 486DX/33. Now i get NASCAR, which I feel is the best sim ever (it makes me want to get the T1 just to make it more realistic), and I have to turn stuff off. Well, at least I can leave the car detail on. If I had to turn that off, I don't think I'd play it. -- Rich Rich Williams -- CWRU Department of Chemical Engineering "It is a far better thing I do than I have ever done before. It is a far better resting place I come to than I have ever known." -- Sydney Carton

>Hi. How does a 486dx2/66 with local bus VGA run NASCAR? What sort >of frame rate can be attained? From the demo, I know one can turn off >over half a dozen graphics complexities to speed up the game. So >what do NASCAR owners recommend? Are you happy with the frame rates and >the speed sensation? Well, I play it on a P90, my bro' plays it on a dx2/66. The P90 manages about 14 FPS with everything but grass texture on, 7 opponents drawn in front, 3 behind, and 7 heard via FM sound. The DX2/66 manages about 13 FPS with track and car textures off (slight digression here; why oh why does it turn track texture off and leave grass texture on? wouldn't doing it the opposite way round make more sense? duh). Of course, this is all rather subjective. Another thing to note is that playing from the***pit view rather than the outside views speeds things up a lot (but you don't get to see as well, which I suppose is more realistic). BTW, even a Pentium 90 with PCI SVGA struggles in SVGA mode! Lovely pictures (especially the car textures) but soooo slooooowww! If only it could run on a symmetric multiprocessor.... *sigh* -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not necessarily represent those of UNC-Chapel Hill, OIT, or the SysOps. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

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> Hi. How does a 486dx2/66 with local bus VGA run NASCAR? What sort > of frame rate can be attained? From the demo, I know one can turn off > over half a dozen graphics complexities to speed up the game. So > what do NASCAR owners recommend? Are you happy with the frame rates and > the speed sensation? > ie. 486/66 with VLB, full texture mapping, etc > Is it playable on my 486/33 with VLB VGA? or do I need to upgrade my > CPU? Motherboard?

I have a 386DX/40 with only 4MB or RAM and I'm very happy with the game. Of course I have to turn all of the detail off but I can run 19 cars 5 ahead 2 behind and everything is relatively smooth. When I get some more RAM then I'll be able to turn the car detail on. As long as you've got a 486 and you are a race fan then Nascar is definitely worth the investment. Go ahead splurge!! KC

>The problem is that some of us have to choice but to run it at 33, so we have >to put up with what I feel was a major***up my Papyrus -- they made the >game too complex for any computers on the market today (Not even a Pentium >90 and run SVGA with full detail). I believe the over-complex graphics detract >from what is otherwise the best simulator I have ever seen. I don't believe SVGA should have been included at all; it was a nice idea, but really it's just a gimmick. However, one of the things that makes the game so good is the mostly excellent AI, and it's that that sucks the CPU time up as much as the GFX. A P90 _will_ run in VGA with all the detail and opponents at a decent speed, and IMHO that's about as good as we can expect. Those with lesser machines (who are, of course, in a minority... not!) will just have to make do with less detail and/or fewer opponents (easy for me to say, I don't have to use a 2/66!). This argument comes up every time someone releases a game which needs state-of-the art hardware (if any PC can ever be described that way :). The two push each other forward, but sadly users get left behind. (I had to make do wioth a 386DX/33 until a few weeks ago; imagine NASCAR on that...) -- Gizmo -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not necessarily represent those of UNC-Chapel Hill, OIT, or the SysOps. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

makes the game so good is the mostly excellent AI, and it's that that sucks the CPU time up as much as the GFX. The digital sound is a big resource hog also. I was a final beta tester and was told by the team that it runs (can run) up to 20% of the overhead. Jeff

: Hi. How does a 486dx2/66 with local bus VGA run NASCAR? What sort : of frame rate can be attained? From the demo, I know one can turn off : over half a dozen graphics complexities to speed up the game. So : what do NASCAR owners recommend? Are you happy with the frame rates and : the speed sensation? : ie. 486/66 with VLB, full texture mapping, etc : Is it playable on my 486/33 with VLB VGA? or do I need to upgrade my : CPU? Motherboard? : Thanks for any comments. : -David- I play Nascar on my 486 sx 33 with all detail off apart from the car textures. The frame rate is quite good with 8 cars ahead and 1 behind, and ive also found that if i start the game with a -f flag i get poorer engine noises (more like icr), but the frame rate is faster! Does anyone know why this is???? Dunk -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duncan Frazer | All opinions expressed above are mine. Some I may Uni of Kent at Canterbury | agree with wholeheartedly, and others may be lies! | Please note: I reserve the right to be wrong ...

>(David Paul Gymer) writes: >> However, one of the things that >>makes the game so good is the mostly excellent AI, and it's that that >>sucks the CPU time up as much as the GFX. >The digital sound is a big resource hog also. I was a final beta tester >and was told by the team that it runs (can run) up to 20% of the overhead. Just for reference, I've tried FM sound via SB16, digital sound via SB16, and digital sound via GUS; FM and GUS both effectively take sound out of the speed equation. Over the weekend I've settled for no grass or asphalt texture, most other texture on, 38 cars drawn ahead and 7 behind, 7 heard, 15 FPS minimum (18 max), and on my P90 this runs silky smooth all the time. (VGA, obviously! SVGA still sucks!) On a DX2/66 you probably need to reduce the number of oponents to get the same effect, but I've found that after SB digital sound, asphalt texture is a big CPU hog. Turn it off, just leave the paint/skids on. -- Gizmo -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not necessarily represent those of UNC-Chapel Hill, OIT, or the SysOps. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --