- - - - Please, I need help! - - - -

I am just about computer illiterate, so any help at all would be much appreciated.

Please read this through! Who knows, you may remember having the same problem with an old game of yours when you're finished.

After a rather long wait, I finally got 'Lock On: Modern Air Combat'. I loaded it all up, I couldn't wait to play! But then I get into the cockpit, and this:

external image

Needless to say, I was not happy. I've looked at the screenshots, and am pretty damn sure the game's not supposed to look like that!

I turned all the graphics down to 'low' and such, but still no change.

Now I don't know anything about those drivers and stuff, so I was wondering if any of you guys did.

Here's a list of my comps stuff:

What is on wtr's computer

OS Name: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600

OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation

System Manufacturer: Acer

System Model: Aspire SA10

System Type: X86-based PC

Processor: x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1 GenuineIntel ~2800 Mhz

BIOS Version/Date: Phoenix Technologies, LTD R01-B4S2, 26/02/2005

SMBIOS Version: 2.3

Windows Directory: C:\WINDOWS

System Directory: C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Hardware Abstraction Layer: Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"

Total Physical Memory: 256.00 MB

Available Physical Memory: 25.08 MB

Total Virtual Memory: 2.00 GB

Available Virtual Memory: 1.96 GB

Page File Space: 769.80 MB

Page File: C:\pagefile.sys

Erm, if that helps.

And this is under 'System Summary --> Compenents --> Display' in System Information:

Name: SiS 650/651/740/661FX/741/760 series

PNP Device ID: PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_6330&SUBSYS_0C5D105B&REV_00\4&1AFFAA3D&0&0008

Adapter Type: SiS 651C Rev 00, SiS compatible

Adapter Description: SiS 650/651/740/661FX/741/760 series

Adapter RAM: 32.00 MB (33,554,432 bytes)

Installed Drivers: sisgrv.dll

Driver Version: 6.14.10.3600

INF File: oem3.inf (Xabre660 section)

Color Planes: 1

Please, any feedback at all would be appreciated a whole lot. So even if you have just a small idea of what this could possibly be, I would be very happy to hear from you.


edit: Is a 2.8 Ghz board good or bad?



[edit on 27/3/2006 by watch_the_rocks]

You need a new 3D accelarator, dude. 32 MB video RAM is not enough even to play The Sims properly. Get yourself something with 128MB RAM at least, then all should be well.

Edit: Check this site out for reviews on the latest video hardware - avault.com...

Edit 2: But before you buy any new hardware, make sure your motherboard (mobo) can support it. Your mobo's manual should let you know what sort of graphics slot it has, hence which video card you can use.

[edit on 27-3-2006 by Beachcoma]

Does that mean bying a new computer?

Or just some chip? What does a 3D accelerator do, anyway?

The 3D accelarator (or graphics processing unit as they're called these days) is a special add-on card that processes video information for graphics intensive games. Think of it as and extra chip and circuitry dedicated just for processing video.

Here's a link to the wiki entry on GPUs: en.wikipedia.org...

I don't think you need to get a new PC, just a couple of choice upgrades. Primarily your GPU. Then if you have the budget get some more physical RAM for your system. 1GB chips are pretty cheap now, but 512MB is good enough.

And your 2.8GHz CPU is good enough. I'm only running 1.3GHz, but I have 512MB physical RAM and a 128MB GPU, so games run fine (for the most part)

[edit on 27-3-2006 by Beachcoma]

wow, thanks.

I have a few mates that love those swap/meet computer thingies. Yeah, and LANs. Do you reckon I could get the right stuff at one of those? I picked up Flanker 2.0 for AUS 10 bucks there once, full 300 page booklet and quick reference cards and all. Those places rock.

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
I have a few mates that love those swap/meet computer thingies.

Huh? I'm not sure I get you.

Swap meets? Err, those big meetings where all people get together and swap/meet/buy/sell computer parts and accesories. Pick up a 100 pack of CD-Rs for 8 bucks AU. Very good places to go!

yeah you just need to get a video card, on the net you can find one that'd run that game for prolly 70 bucks.

My advice is to get a card that supports DirectX9 and at least pixel shader 2.0. One thing you need to make sure of is the interface for your card. Does your computer support AGP or PCI Express? If you have a PCI Express slot You might try this card. It's 85 after the $40 rebate. I haven't got the rebate in the mail yet, but I can tell you that the card works quite well. The 7800 is too rich for me and the 6200 wasn't quite enough. (Although it would run your game just fine)
As you can tell I'm an Nvidia fan. Maybe some one else here would like to reccommend a nice ATI card as well.

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
Swap meets? Err, those big meetings where all people get together and swap/meet/buy/sell computer parts and accesories. Pick up a 100 pack of CD-Rs for 8 bucks AU. Very good places to go!

Oh. Well where I come from they don't have that sort of things. The closest thing to it are PC-fairs, where vendors peddle their overstock for a significant discount.

Anyway like dbates said, make sure you find out which slot your motherboard has. Your motherboard manual should let you know whether its AGP or the newer PCI Express.

If it's neither, meaning there's only a plain PCI slot (in other words you've got a very old motherboard) then I'm afraid the best card you can get will only carry 64MB of memory. But if you just bought your computer within the last 3 years it shouldn't be an issue.

Ok then, thanks people. I have a severely limited budget right now, most unfortuantely, but but hopefully Ill upgrade my comp somehow.

Does anyone know of any werehouses where they store these chips? Hehe.

I know there's a Freescale Semiconductors warehouse 2 km west of my position. I think they keep the RAM chips in there.