McCarty13 0 Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) Need some advice from someone who really knows computer specs and this game. I have a 4 year old, hell maybe 5 year old. Sony Vaio. Its a 2.8 Pentium 4 It currently has a 128 meg vid card and 1 gig of ram. I bought a 512 vid card and 3 megs of ram I also bought BHaH. I gave it all to my computer guy who ran into problem after problem getting it to upgrade. I've switched video cards so far from one 512 to another. I even bought a new tower with power supply. All to find out that my motherboard wont support more than a 256 vid card. So far Iv'e spent $553. I could return the 100 dollar 512 vid card and get a 256 for probably 40 making it a grand total of 490$ spent. but would I even be able to play the game? Its a clean install of XP no extras running at all. Would it work at a smaller screen res? My other option is to return everything having only spent 200 on my computer guy which can't be recouped. and just look at it as a loss. and maybe buy a new PC at another date. By the way I'm a mac user so the PC was for this game only. Im not out a computer if I return everything Im only out the opportunity to play this game. CFS 3 and BHaH sit quietly on my desk mocking me. PLEASE weigh in with your thoughts. Mike Edited July 21, 2009 by McCarty13 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 21, 2009 sorry for you loss,,but imho get out for as cheap as you can... I dont think you can bring that computer up to a point where you will be happy with how bhah plays. Gotta feeling at most its pc3200 memory, probably does not have a pcie slot, and probably does not support sata... So any money you put into it is probably money out the window... oh,,,and get a new computer guy.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 22, 2009 sorry for you loss,,but imho get out for as cheap as you can... I dont think you can bring that computer up to a point where you will be happy with how bhah plays. Gotta feeling at most its pc3200 memory, probably does not have a pcie slot, and probably does not support sata... So any money you put into it is probably money out the window... oh,,,and get a new computer guy.... Yeah your right. It doesnt have a PCIe slot. it has AGP and I cant seem to get it to even install a decent AGP card over 128 apparently sony never upgraded the bios. I would be more furious if I wasnt in shock over the whole thing. This is kind of why i switched to Mac in the first place. But I really, really wanted to play this game so I figured upgrade my video card and ram and do it...not so easy. Speaking of which if I install windows on a good mac will the game run? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 22, 2009 sorry, should have clarified my first answer to you... that computer will play bhah. Ive played it on pretty much the same computer, but think i was running with a 2.9 celeron. I pretty much ran with sliders at i think 5 2 2 2 1 Point i was trying to make was that if you sink money into the system, it will obviously play better, but will never play great, and would recommend you just make the best of what you get in the game with your existing system until you are ready to get a nice gaming computer. what is the model# of the computer? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 22, 2009 (edited) sorry, should have clarified my first answer to you... that computer will play bhah. Ive played it on pretty much the same computer, but think i was running with a 2.9 celeron. I pretty much ran with sliders at i think 5 2 2 2 1 Point i was trying to make was that if you sink money into the system, it will obviously play better, but will never play great, and would recommend you just make the best of what you get in the game with your existing system until you are ready to get a nice gaming computer. what is the model# of the computer? pcv-rs 430G Is the model number. I tried and I tried last night to get a 256 card to run on that thing but it just wont take. So right now I'm stuck with that motherboard and a 128 vid card and 3 gigs of ram Heres a question. How much does HD speed apply to this game? I have an old hard drive. 7200 I figure I can get a deal on a new motherboard and cpu for probably 110 or so. I could probably get 4 gigs of ram for pretty cheap. and I could get a better video card in it. Then my weak link would be the HD. Since I already bought a new tower and power supply I could just start swapping everything out a piece at a time. What would you suggest I get first the mother board and cpu? would I then need new ram? Right now I have 3 1 gig chips that are 333 ddr I think. I could take them back, I have about 25 days before I can't, since I just got them. Thanks for helping me. S! Edited July 22, 2009 by McCarty13 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Panama Red 22 Posted July 22, 2009 If you buy a second HD (or reuse a old 7200 rpm HD), and move your "swap file" to that second HD, it speeds up your "swap file" since the PC does not have to track your game and "swap file" with the original HD "scanner/reader". It allows the original HD to "read/scan" your game and second HD to concentrate on only the "swap file". This is a old trick that has been around for years, but not everybody knows it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 22, 2009 Hopefully you will get some more input from other people so you will have more opinions to weigh. That ram is pc3200 or pc2700. Pretty old stuff in the scheme of things... Gonna stick with my original statement.....any money you sink into this is gonna be a waste. So yes,,take that memory back. Let me know how many empty memory slots you have, and i will find out exactly what memory your computer takes, and will send you some if you have room for it, just to get you up above whatever it is you have now. Actually, you wont be terribly dissapointed at how the game plays on your system, you are just going to have to tone down all your detail sliders. Unless you start looking at others screenshots,,and start seeing some of the things they are seeing, you should be pretty content with the game. Will see what i can find as far as that model and not taking the card,,,,, btw,,,exactly what card is it you are trying to stick in there? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 22, 2009 If you buy a second HD (or reuse a old 7200 rpm HD), and move your "swap file" to that second HD, it speeds up your "swap file" since the PC does not have to track your game and "swap file" with the original HD "scanner/reader". It allows the original HD to "read/scan" your game and second HD to concentrate on only the "swap file". This is a old trick that has been around for years, but not everybody knows it. So the HD speed is important for the swap file? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 22, 2009 (edited) you should have 4 slots...didnt say anything about matched pairs, so i think your ok there i have a 512 stick, and 2 256 stick of pc2700 here if you want them,,just pm me your address. as far as video card,,could not find anything about that system not taking a 512 card. there is a good chance that card might have had a 4pin power connector on it, (the same one you would use for a hard drive, or cdrom)... any chance you missed that? And, if it takes a power cord, and you plugged one in, i might try it again with one of the other 4pin connectors off of someting you know is getting power,,like a cdrom... Edited July 22, 2009 by sitting_duck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 22, 2009 you should have 4 slots...didnt say anything about matched pairs, so i think your ok there i have a 512 stick, and 2 256 stick of pc2700 here if you want them,,just pm me your address. as far as video card,,could not find anything about that system not taking a 512 card. there is a good chance that card might have had a 4pin power connector on it, (the same one you would use for a hard drive, or cdrom)... any chance you missed that? And, if it takes a power cord, and you plugged one in, i might try it again with one of the other 4pin connectors off of someting you know is getting power,,like a cdrom... Thanks sitting duck I have one slot thats open in it the other three slots have 1 gigs. I tried to stick one of my old 256s in the extra slot but it wouldn't take. the computer refused to boot up. I tried three different cards. a radeon 4450 I think it was. which was a 512 card. everytime during install it would crap out at the last second and say my system or hardware wasn't compatible. Then i was told that particular card had a common problem with that so I took it back and got an evga geforce 6200 512 card. turns out that one wasn't compatible with my power supply, so i got a new power supply to run it. Then during install of the card the same thing happened. It just wouldn't take the drivers and would switch back to basic vga driver and the crawl along like a slideshow even dragging windows across the screen. So I took that card back and replaced it with a 256 version of the same card because I was told the bios for that board wasn't updated. This card wasn't powered (the others were). Same problem during the final part of installation. So I took that card back and put my geforce 6600 gt 128 card back in since thats the only one that works and Bam!! went in like a dream and loaded all the software. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 22, 2009 Thanks sitting duck I have one slot thats open in it the other three slots have 1 gigs. I tried to stick one of my old 256s in the extra slot but it wouldn't take. the computer refused to boot up. I tried three different cards. a radeon 4450 I think it was. which was a 512 card. everytime during install it would crap out at the last second and say my system or hardware wasn't compatible. Then i was told that particular card had a common problem with that so I took it back and got an evga geforce 6200 512 card. turns out that one wasn't compatible with my power supply, so i got a new power supply to run it. Then during install of the card the same thing happened. It just wouldn't take the drivers and would switch back to basic vga driver and the crawl along like a slideshow even dragging windows across the screen. So I took that card back and replaced it with a 256 version of the same card because I was told the bios for that board wasn't updated. This card wasn't powered (the others were). Same problem during the final part of installation. So I took that card back and put my geforce 6600 gt 128 card back in since thats the only one that works and Bam!! went in like a dream and loaded all the software. cant say if this is the source of your problem with video or not,,,but if you go to the sony support page for that computer,,,max memory is only 2 gig..... MODEL PCV-RS430G PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.80C GHz† with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology CACHE MEMORY 512KB Integrated On-Die Level 2 FRONT SIDE BUS SPEED 800MHz STANDARD RAM 512MB PC-2700 333MHz DDR (expandable to 2.0GB) HARD DRIVE 120GB††3 7200rpm Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive DVD±RW / CD-RW DRIVE*** DVD±RW -RW (4X max. write / 2X max. rewrite / 2X max. read) +RW (4X max. write / 2.4X max. rewrite / 2.4X max. read) CD-RW (16X max. write / 10X max. rewrite / 32X copied all that off of this site http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/PCVRS430G_mksp.pdf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 23, 2009 cant say if this is the source of your problem with video or not,,,but if you go to the sony support page for that computer,,,max memory is only 2 gig..... MODEL PCV-RS430G PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.80C GHz† with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology CACHE MEMORY 512KB Integrated On-Die Level 2 FRONT SIDE BUS SPEED 800MHz STANDARD RAM 512MB PC-2700 333MHz DDR (expandable to 2.0GB) HARD DRIVE 120GB††3 7200rpm Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive DVD±RW / CD-RW DRIVE*** DVD±RW -RW (4X max. write / 2X max. rewrite / 2X max. read) +RW (4X max. write / 2.4X max. rewrite / 2.4X max. read) CD-RW (16X max. write / 10X max. rewrite / 32X copied all that off of this site http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/PCVRS430G_mksp.pdf Yeah thats my system alright. But it does recognize 3 gigs of ram. Maybe it said that because at the time 512 ram was the largest they made. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 23, 2009 lol....could be wrong,,,but i dont think thats why they are saying max is 2gb. i would at least give the 512mb card one more shot with only 2gb of ram in there... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 24, 2009 I'm thinking about this at the moment. for about 260 I can get intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 motherboard and cpu (it has on board video but a PCI-E slot as well) 4 gigs of ddr2 pc6400 ram and a decent 512 or maybe even a 1 gig video card for the PCI-E slot Then i can use my same new tower with power supply, dvd, and HD. Any thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 25, 2009 (edited) if you can get all that for 260 (and leaning heavily to the 1gig card,,,) id say you would be doing pretty good your not into it for a bundle,,and you have a decent system. Edited July 25, 2009 by sitting_duck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 26, 2009 if you can get all that for 260 (and leaning heavily to the 1gig card,,,) id say you would be doing pretty good your not into it for a bundle,,and you have a decent system. Yup thanks for all the advice. I did get a new HD as well. Its all put together and having the OS put in now. I should be able to report tomorrow that the game is up and running. MM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 27, 2009 Okay I am up and running and boy do i suck? How many pilots did you guys go through in quick combat before you made it out alive? Is there no reset option or do mission over? I mean I am awful. I could fly the hell out of RB3D but these cockpit views got me all discombobulated. Whats the best cockpit view that works with the hat on my old sidewinder force feedback 2? Is there a option somewhere in the game where I can set up the buttons on my stick? Also I didnt see the graphic slider options. I probably shouldnt post this all in this topic. MM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) lol..we all started somewhere... sliders (and other settings)...going to post this link,,but there is another thread in the forum that has some settings that are different,,and alot of pilots have said they like them alot...(belive its by homeboy) but the ones here will work.. //www.com-central.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=118 scroll down till you get to the cfs3config setting....remeber we are talking the cfs3config in obd,,,not in cfs3 once the game is up,,,escape brings down the hanger drop down,,,select controls, and this is where you can assign keyboard commands to your joystick. Unlike cfs3,,you cannot save the profile to something with another name,,,there is only one profile, and its called MINE..... you can change pilot settings in workshop so they never die,,,,,, and,,not sure how your getting into qc, but from off manager,,,dont selct the qc there,,,go to workshop,,and select cfsqc on that screen,,,when the next window pops up,,,dont select planes,,,just go to field,,,you should then get a quick combat medal,,and you can make all your game changes from that... also in workshop,,make sure spawn contol is set to campaign,,(the recommended one),,,that should make a new set of enemy planes appear after the last on crashes.. cant help you too much with views,,,when i started,,i mapped f4 (toggle views) and f3 (toggle cockpit) to a joystick button,,so if i was loosing sight of a plane, i could swith to an outside view really quick.....everyone uses trackir now,,,so external views are not so important,,(but i still us them) hope that helps Edited July 27, 2009 by sitting_duck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 27, 2009 lol..we all started somewhere... sliders (and other settings)...going to post this link,,but there is another thread in the forum that has some settings that are different,,and alot of pilots have said they like them alot...(belive its by homeboy) but the ones here will work.. //www.com-central.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=118 scroll down till you get to the cfs3config setting....remeber we are talking the cfs3config in obd,,,not in cfs3 once the game is up,,,escape brings down the hanger drop down,,,select controls, and this is where you can assign keyboard commands to your joystick. Unlike cfs3,,you cannot save the profile to something with another name,,,there is only one profile, and its called MINE..... you can change pilot settings in workshop so they never die,,,,,, and,,not sure how your getting into qc, but from off manager,,,dont selct the qc there,,,go to workshop,,and select cfsqc on that screen,,,when the next window pops up,,,dont select planes,,,just go to field,,,you should then get a quick combat medal,,and you can make all your game changes from that... also in workshop,,make sure spawn contol is set to campaign,,(the recommended one),,,that should make a new set of enemy planes appear after the last on crashes.. cant help you too much with views,,,when i started,,i mapped f4 (toggle views) and f3 (toggle cockpit) to a joystick button,,so if i was loosing sight of a plane, i could swith to an outside view really quick.....everyone uses trackir now,,,so external views are not so important,,(but i still us them) hope that helps Thank you very much sir. S! MM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 27, 2009 Hey Sitting Duck i went to the link you posted but I can't find the OFF part of the settings and tweaks am i blind or is it buried many pages deep? MM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+malibu43 142 Posted July 27, 2009 FWIW, and since you asked, I play all my sims on a Mac Book. I have XP installed using bootcamp, and it's just like having two computers in one. The Windows partition for games, Mac for everything else. If you need to have a Mac no matter what, you could probably upgrade to a good mac and just use bootcamp to play sims in windows. If you can live without a Mac, or you don't want to upgrade your Mac at this time, you can get twice the power for half the cost by going with a PC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted July 27, 2009 sorry,,my bad,,,should have said that even thou these are for cfs3, they apply to bhah also,, its the post at Feb 2 3:47 am,,,configuring cfs3 and here is the thread with homeboys (or rabu's to be more accurate) settings.... http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=44430 as everyones systems is different, what works for some will not work with others,,,so play around with them,,,and see what works for you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McCarty13 0 Posted July 28, 2009 sorry,,my bad,,,should have said that even thou these are for cfs3, they apply to bhah also,, its the post at Feb 2 3:47 am,,,configuring cfs3 and here is the thread with homeboys (or rabu's to be more accurate) settings.... http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=44430 as everyones systems is different, what works for some will not work with others,,,so play around with them,,,and see what works for you. How do I access this parameter editor? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
