Ages Delayed

[I.Brattin]

As Some or maybe all of you know. I have 5 ages in various stages of being completed. I have pretty much had to stop working on them. At first it was due to school, I graduated from college back in August. But thats not the case now. Now it is because I need a new video card. Back in March of 2008 I had my current computer custom built. The video card I had put in it at that time has died only after a year and a half. The only video card for a backup that would work with this computer was a low end card with only 32mb of VRam. While I can get URU to run it lags like crazy and there is graphical problems. Just in Relto I have gray grass, because the texture is not showing up properly. While Blender probably doesn't need as much VRam as Uru does. Any changes I make in Blender would be hard to make sure they work as intended will be hard till I get a new vid card. Which probably won't be for a while.

Therefor I will likely be delaying my ages, the first of which I had intended to release a v 0.1 by the end of the year, for the foreseeable future.

[teedyo]

Two words: warranty claim. It seems that even the cheapest video cards have a lifetime warranty. If you have the original purchase receipt; give it a shot. Worst that could happen is a denial of said claim. Of course that could take as long as saving for a new card.

[I.Brattin]

I had my computer custom built. Only receipt I ever had was from the people that built the computer and it was a blanket receipt that covered everything, and I'm not even sure where that receipt is. I have no receipt for the vid card itself.

To tell the truth I was debating upgrading anyways. That card was a 512mb. I see now that the new vid cards out there go up to 1gb. Of course I would have to heavily research it and make sure a 1gb card would run to begin with.

Either way it will have to wait till I can get a new card which again may not be for some time to come.

[Robert The Rebuilder]

You could always put a new graphics card on your Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Christmas/Winter Solstice list.

[I.Brattin]

Robert, I am fairly certain no one else would get me one right now. Mother is retired and living on a fixed income. Father and my step-mom have not sent anything other then money in like 20 years, which I will probably use to pay my Dec truck loan payment. Only person that might is my aunt but she has already done a lot for me this year, that I don't want to ask her. She bought me a new tire for my birthday after the old one went flat on the interstate.

Pretty much I will have to wait till my financial situation turns around before I can get one.

You know I have not had a good month with computers. When my graphics card failed I had just intended to hook up my Dell laptop, I didn't remember about the 32mb card at that point. I had not used it in 6 months. When I went to turn it on the caps lock blinkes 10 times and then turns off, it never boots. So pretty much I have no laptop anymore. That will likely wait even longer. I know this I will never buy another Dell, I have never had a laptop die simply because it hasn't been used in a long time. Makes me wish I hadn't sold my Compaq laptop when I bought the Dell. And I can't seem to find a cause researching it on the internet as it looks like that particular error message, the caps blinking, is not the same twice. Some say it has to do with the power, others say its the motherboard, others say its the memory.

Edit: Did some more research on my laptop. Someone had posted the Dell portable postcodes for my laptop. Blinking Caps lock indicates memory. There are three suggestions; reseat memory, replace memory, replace system board (motherboard). Already resat the memory. Next is replacing the memory, which I will wait on till after I have replaced my desktop's vid card. If that doesn't work I will likely junk it as a new motherboard will cost almost as much as a laptop from Wally World.

[ZURI]

Try http://www.pricewatch.com. You can find KILLER deals on PC components. Even an older card is going to play URU well. They have Radeon HD3870 cards for less than $100. I have 2 of them running crossfire in my system and it's crazy fast. Blender runs extremely well too, even with 2 monitors. Take a look when you have a chance.

BTW - Do you have AGP or PCI-E?

[I.Brattin]

Thanks for the suggestion on pricewatch. I will keep my eyes peeled on it for when I have the money. Right now though I can't even afford the cheapest card on pricewatch, right now I have $12 left in the bank.

I am hoping very seriously that a job I applied for I get as at least then I can fix my computer problems as well as my laptop, if it's fixable that is.

The 32mb card is standard PCI. But I have 2 PCI-E x16 slots, 3 PCI slots, and I think 2 PCI-E x8 slots. When I had this computer built I expressly wanted a PCI-E slot as that was the way vid cards were going.

[ZURI]

Thats bad concerning your financial situation. However, it is good that you thought ahead when you had your pc built. When you get your ducks in a row and can put some money into your machine, you'll have more - and better - options. Does is support Crossfire or SLI?

[I.Brattin]

Well originally my ducks were all lined up. The card that blew was a Nvidia Geforce 8500 512 mb PCI-E. I am pretty sure it was SLI.

On the 32mb card its too old for SLI. It's like 6 or more years old. It's a Nvidia MX 100/200 32mb PCI. Why I ever had it I don't know. Not a card I would have ever bought. Must have come with a computer that I upgraded at some point in the past.

Anyways I did some research and found something interesting.

Mar 10, 2007 ... Video Card: 32 MB NVIDIA(r) GeForce(tm) 1, 2, 3, 4, or FX; ATI(r) Radeon(tm) 7000-9800 or better ... Stay away from the MX series Nvidia card if possible. ... Make sure that your card meets the requirements (above). ... I have a pre-Radeon/Geforce graphics card, such as a TNT or Rage, will Uru run? ...

That came up in a search after finding out the minimum vid requirements for Uru was a 32mb vid card. So I tried seeing if there was a way to get the card to work better then it was. I found that in the description, you know the description you find below a link in a google search. The page it was refering to was UO's technical faq which nolonger exists.

That said I have managed to walk around a little in one of my ages with little to no lag, after tweeking the game settings. But the difficulty is getting out of Relto as it lags enough to where you don't see what your typing for several seconds. Walking in Relto is like being in a hood back in 2004 and it being packed full.

Maybe I will luck out here in a few weeks, I'm waiting to see if I get a trust payment. If I get it, which is not guaranteed - a long story, and the payment is enough to pay up current on my truck loan then I will see about getting a new vid card.

One thing this has all taught me is it is a good thing to have a backup. I will likely put the 32mb back in storage as a backup just in case ya know, once I have replaced the old card that blew on me.

[ZURI]

My apologies, I mean't no offense. I doubt you took any.... but still....

Best of luck getting your trust! I hope it works out for you. And go figure about your older card. It always seems to work that way. At least you can view your ages, even though it must be a pain to get through Relto!