Mobility Radeon 9700 and NSF III: HS

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Hi, if anyone can shed some light on this curiosity, I'd be much
obliged: I have a P-M 1.5 GHz laptop with 1 GB of system RAM and an
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of video RAM, and I'm still unable
to run the old Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit full-screen with the
graphics all turned up high! Does anyone know why that is, please??

TIA!

 

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Left Hand of Empire wrote:
> Hi, if anyone can shed some light on this curiosity, I'd be much
> obliged: I have a P-M 1.5 GHz laptop with 1 GB of system RAM and an
> ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of video RAM, and I'm still unable
> to run the old Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit full-screen with the
> graphics all turned up high! Does anyone know why that is, please??
>
> TIA!

What, exactly, do you mean by "unable to run"? Is this a problem with
the graphics using every available option in the game itself rather than
a framing or screen resolution problem?

Q

 

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Left Hand of Empire wrote:

> Hi, if anyone can shed some light on this curiosity, I'd be much
> obliged: I have a P-M 1.5 GHz laptop with 1 GB of system RAM and an
> ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of video RAM, and I'm still unable
> to run the old Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit full-screen with the
> graphics all turned up high! Does anyone know why that is, please??
>
> TIA!

If you're using the default WindowsXP drivers, then that's the reason
why. They have horrible performance, sometimes I'm wondering if the
OpenGL/DirecX acceleration is even enabled in them. Give the drivers
from www.omegadrivers.net a try. If it's a driver issue, the Omega
drivers will definitely fix it.

Also make sure you have the ATI GART drivers installed. For my laptop
(Compaq Evo N600c) there is a WindowsXP patch from Compaq that installs
those drivers, check with your manufacturer. In this case too the
WindowsXP drivers may work, but not 100%.

Cosmin

 

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"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in message news:<6cqdnSumAZoqyIfcRVn-gg@comcast.com>...
> Left Hand of Empire wrote:
> > Hi, if anyone can shed some light on this curiosity, I'd be much
> > obliged: I have a P-M 1.5 GHz laptop with 1 GB of system RAM and an
> > ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of video RAM, and I'm still unable
> > to run the old Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit full-screen with the
> > graphics all turned up high! Does anyone know why that is, please??
> >
> > TIA!
>
> What, exactly, do you mean by "unable to run"? Is this a problem with
> the graphics using every available option in the game itself rather than
> a framing or screen resolution problem?
>
> Q

Well, one or two graphics options are grayed-out (can't recall which
exactly right now; I don't have the stuff with me), and running
full-screen SXGA+ (1500x1420 or something like that) with all the
eye-candy on produces a noticeable enough of a lag in, I guess,
frame-rates, compared to the small postage-sized window in the middle
of the screen (pressing F-12, I think)....

I don't know where the problem lies, which is why I'm really
wondering. This is a 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, after all! I
can't believe an old title like NSF III can't be run perfectly smooth,
where animation and eye-candy detail is concerned, full-screen.

BTW, Morrowind runs like 95% fine with all details turned on
(real-time shadows, horizon to the max, etc.), so I think that somehow
NSF III isn't aware of the hardware available somehow....

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.need-for-speed,comp.sys.laptops,comp.graphics,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action (More info?)

"Cosmin N." <no@email.com> wrote in message news:<EpxSc.1639066$Ar.739172@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>...
> Left Hand of Empire wrote:
>
> > Hi, if anyone can shed some light on this curiosity, I'd be much
> > obliged: I have a P-M 1.5 GHz laptop with 1 GB of system RAM and an
> > ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of video RAM, and I'm still unable
> > to run the old Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit full-screen with the
> > graphics all turned up high! Does anyone know why that is, please??
> >
> > TIA!
>
> If you're using the default WindowsXP drivers, then that's the reason
> why. They have horrible performance, sometimes I'm wondering if the
> OpenGL/DirecX acceleration is even enabled in them. Give the drivers
> from www.omegadrivers.net a try. If it's a driver issue, the Omega
> drivers will definitely fix it.
>
> Also make sure you have the ATI GART drivers installed. For my laptop
> (Compaq Evo N600c) there is a WindowsXP patch from Compaq that installs
> those drivers, check with your manufacturer. In this case too the
> WindowsXP drivers may work, but not 100%.
>
> Cosmin


Many thanks for the omegadrivers.net reference. They don't have any
for the Mobility Radeion 9700, though; are the "regular" 9700 drivers
the same, then?

And yes I do have ATI's own software installed and running. I'm
thinking now that NFS III isn't "sensing" the hardware for some
reason, 'cause FRPG Morrowind runs like 95% (in terms of animation,
frame-rate) at SXGA+ with all the eye-candy maxed out.