Hi,

I simply have a Low spec Laptop just for browsing the internet, I was looking at the Required Computer Specification Needed to be able to run LFS. I looked at it and I was quite surprised. Can anyone explain to me a :

Needed
1 GHz Processor
128Mb Ram
3D Graphics Card

Mine

1.2Ghz Processor
256Mb Ram
3D Graphics Card

Not be able to cope with LFS even when it has a higher spec and freezes alot. This to me doesnt make sense is there any way i could get my laptop be able to cope with LFS and run it on a full server?

Many Thanks,

Matty

Freezes? Do you mean freezes as in stops or low FPS? If the former then it's the HDD being raped (Laptops often have slow hard drives), if the former then tbh if everythings set to low then you've got to live with it.

Or overclock :P

Low FPS i get.

Might be overheating and slowing the chip down...
~Bryan~

Im sure its not overheating due to its not very hot underneath, if you get me

technically the heat of the heatsink has no correlation to the heat of the CPU, but while it's probably running a bit hot i think it's more the fact it's a bit slow thats the problem.

Quote from dmwright :

Hi,


Not be able to cope with LFS even when it has a higher spec and freezes alot. This to me doesnt make sense is there any way i could get my laptop be able to cope with LFS and run it on a full server?

I have a 1.4 ghz Thunderbird and I can't even get near it! I avoid servers with more than 15 players cause turn one ends up with something like 5 - 7 fps and it doesn't really go over 20 fps after that.

BTW it depend what CPU? 1 ghz doesn't mean anything. If it is a Celeron then even with 500 mhz more you couldn't do anything with it. If it was a pentium M it would be another story!

You have to bear in mind that minimum specs are just the specs you need to run the sim, with 1 car and low graphics.
Running it with a full grid is a whole different ball game. (and it simply isn't going to happen with your laptop)

Since patch X and it's huge grids LFS has become even more demanding.

Run in 16bit gfx and it will solve a lot of issues. Just make sure you enable dither as well.

If you lappy is older is might not have HW T&L which will be a major issue.

Quote :

Run in 16bit gfx and it will solve a lot of issues.

Not necessarily, most modern graphics cards are a lot faster under 32bit, which might sound strange but it's to do with Z-depth, 32bit optimisation in the firmware and design layout, and poor backward compatibility support. However most laptop graphics chips are indeed probably faster under 16bit.

Quote from The Moose :

You have to bear in mind that minimum specs are just the specs you need to run the sim, with 1 car and low graphics.
Running it with a full grid is a whole different ball game. (and it simply isn't going to happen with your laptop)

TBH I think they're dated from S1 days and trying to run S2 offline with that is ambitious and online pointless. The specs should really be set so that you can play comfortably online. I'd say my PC was just at the minimum specs for decent gameplay, 2.8ghz P4, 2.5gb ram and 9600 Pro in reality I get 100fps offline and at least 30 most of the time online, which is about the level you absolutely have to have for a decent experience.

i have 512 RAm and my avrage is 50 FPS on more crowdet and 70-80 if i drive with litle opponennts

but on bump and jump it sometimes say .. too many physical objects .. maybe computer cant handle all fences?

Quote from dmwright :

Hi,

I simply have a Low spec Laptop just for browsing the internet, I was looking at the Required Computer Specification Needed to be able to run LFS. I looked at it and I was quite surprised. Can anyone explain to me a :

Needed
1 GHz Processor
128Mb Ram
3D Graphics Card

Mine

1.2Ghz Processor
256Mb Ram
3D Graphics Card

Not be able to cope with LFS even when it has a higher spec and freezes alot. This to me doesnt make sense is there any way i could get my laptop be able to cope with LFS and run it on a full server?

Many Thanks,

Matty

download the latest patch of yourvideo card and remove unwanted programs

Quote from blackcarmafia :

but on bump and jump it sometimes say .. too many physical objects .. maybe computer cant handle all fences?

Yeah Bump and Jump is very CPU intensive, thankfully only getting about 25-30fps isn't too bad with that kind of racing only track that really causes me issues is Bunnyhop with all those tires it's just unplayable.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Not necessarily, most modern graphics cards are a lot faster under 32bit, which might sound strange but it's to do with Z-depth, 32bit optimisation in the firmware and design layout, and poor backward compatibility support. However most laptop graphics chips are indeed probably faster under 16bit.

While true in many cases I have found with the ATI mobile solutions I get far higher and more level frame rates in 16bit. But then I run my lappy at 2*AA and 8*AF at 1024*768 and still never fall below 40fps.

Lappy tech is such you are better to limit the work done to help with heat etc.

LFS
640x480x16 bit
2 AI cars with me dropped to spectate. Viewing inside the AI car that is behind. XFG at BLackwood. Solid 20 FPS.

Computer
Celeron 667 MHz with 256Mb SDRAM and old PCI (not express) Radeon 9250 256Mb graphics card. 5400 rpm hard drive as well (30 Gb I think)

Couldn't run online at all with that of course, but connected to my other computer as a LAN host, my daughter and I use to race together all the time. Connected to LAN, she would get 25-30 FPS on average, but dropping quite frequently while running on my LAN host.

I just wanted to post that. I have in the past also. But realistically, you can never go by the minimum specs. They are always the minimum that can barely run the software. Not a usable way to spec out a machine.

Hmm... Well the make of the CPU is VIA C3. Ive tried running it on low graphics, smallest screen, No running programs which arnt needed and got around 10FPS. Maybe i should stick with my computer were i get over 100fps .

Many thanks for the info,

Matt

A VIA CPU at 1 GHz is in no way comparable to an P4 at 1 GHz - the VIA CPU's make very little heat, but aren't that quick

I used to play online with my P3 1ghz, no graphics card and only 256 ram. Never got better than 20 fps though and averaged about 12-15.

N0w i get about 50-60 or about 30-40 with a full grid online with 1.8ghz dore2duo, 1gb ram and no graphics card (its in the mail!)

Keep in mind, laptops are slower in general.

Not only are the mobile graphics cards lower speed, the bus speeds between the expansion cards and MB are generally alot slower, and most laptops have shared video memory (using the system ram, rather than their own) which is very slow...

If you can play at all, enjoy it... I play on my laptop sometimes, and get around 50fps on average, but my laptop was bought specifically for gaming with those considerations in mind...