Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim (
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frankie@stamford.edu.my wrote:
> Hi.
> I wish there were more new sims that could run on
> my PC instead of having to upgrade all the time.
This actually reminds me of the early 1990's, when I could only go to
"Software Etc." and imagine having a machine that could run the newer
games. It was cool to see what stuff was out there, and it didn't
bother me that I was out of the running for using newer software
because I just new I'd get a new PC down the line. When I finally got
my P200 MMX in '97, I went out and bought many of those older sims,
figuring that my PC would obsolesce fairly quickly, and that I could
stretch its appreciable life by playing the hell out of old games
before moving onto those whose lower-level system requirements were
closer to the top of my system specs. As it turned out, I'd
overestimated how quickly I'd tire of those games. As a result, my
rampant raids to the bargain bin have stuffed my CD drawer with dozens
of titles that I have no time to get to. The point is, I don't need to
upgrade because I'm plenty well stocked with titles as it is - and I
don't feel them as obsolescent unless I do something crazy like pick up
a computer gaming magazine with reviews of newer sims. In short, with
a system like yours, there's plenty to enjoy without resort to an
upgrade.
>
> Two games which worked well on my Celeron 466Mhz PC
> were Steel Beasts and Silent Hunter 2.
A sub fan? (What's "Steel Beasts"? sounds like a tank game.)
>
> Why can't game developers develop games which the
> other groups of people without a Pentium 4 or high-end
> AMD chips can use?
Because they'd probably be anemic in comparison to the ones written for
the higher systems. This ofcourse is a truism - the original EF2000
didn't even need a Pentium, and it offered beautiful graphics and
gameplay for its time; the first "Janes Fighters" sims did require a
Pentium, and didn't look anywhere near as good. That said, it's likely
that that upward spiral in sys-req had much to do with the fact that
you ended up with a Celeron machine as you describe - there was a time
when 466 mhz wasn't an anemic number. Ambitious software coding is a
big part of why we have such stupendous systems. It's not something to
be lamented. OTOH, sims have plateaued since '97 - with advances in
graphics and sound revealing just how limiting the entire format is.
Where are the 3D VR goggles we were supposed to have by now? If you'd
told me in 1992 that, over a decade later, we'd still be flying sims
watching through a 2D monitor, I'd be skeptical. (I'd also find it
hard to believe that so few sims have been released over so long a
period over the past few years). Yet this is what happened. PC games,
and esp. sims, have stagnated. We should be happy that there's any
evolution at all - a fact you'll appreciate when you finally get around
to upgrading your machine.
>
> It would also be nice of flight sim developers could
> offer games which have polygon-mapped and texture-mapped
> options of the graphics. Something like Flanker 1.5 with
> polygon and Gouraud-shading.
That sounds like "Flanker 2.5". Have you tried to run that game?
According to Gamespy, it's Sys-Req is a 300 MHZ PIII and 32MB of RAM.
Jane's F-15, which ran comfortably on my P200, should make up for not
being able to run Jane's F/A-18. It could probably do with a good
graphics accelerator - likely a 3dfx. If you're not into something too
hardcore, I'd suggest "EF2000 v2.0" or "Total Air War". TAW is
primarily an F-22 sim, but it's stronger as a theater-wide real time
strategy game involving warplanes. Also, either of the first two
Longbow games and the first "Enemy Engaged" will easily run on your
system.
When it comes to WWII games, I'm somewhat uncertain. My P200 couldn't
really handle the generation of sims that debuted with MS's first
Combat Flight Simulator, even when I installed a 3dfx card. It wasn't
until I swapped that machine for a 2Ghz P4 that that changed - I never
tried it on something closer to your set-up. Even so, you can easily
enjoy sims like the Aces series, or "Pacific Air War". While those
games might be more painfully outdated than available modern sims,
they're still quite worthy of your time, and ofcourse are likely to be
even cheaper than the above.
Did I miss any areas of interest?
>
> Regards
> Frankie "TornadoMan" Kam
> The place where Digital Integration's Tornado lives:
>
http://www.stamford.edu.my/socsscm/tree/tornado.html
).
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