What's wrong with my Dominions?

LuckyRaccoon · #1 June 15th, 2007, 06:06 PM

So is that it then? I mean do you plan on fixing that or are you already? It's near impossible to find a new computer that doesn't ship with vista.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #2 June 16th, 2007, 01:48 AM

Well... I could point out some PC distributors with more flexibility, or go into linux dualboots. And mention that even in brick and mortar stores, you can easily find a new computer without Vista. It's called a Mac. Surely you've heard of Apple?

Sorry, had to get that smart-aleck out of my system.
I know what you meant. And considering where the bulk of the market is, Vista capability may be an unfortunate necessity.

Personally, I have no interest in Vista. I may go out of my way to avoid migrating to it. But I do want to be helpful, so I'm doing some google searches online. Unfortunately, my searchs didn't turn up much. But you may want to try window's vista's compatibility mode. It allows you to select specific versions, including Windows XP, Service Pack 2.
http://cws.internet.com/article/3645-.htm
It's described down at the bottom of the article. I'm not confident it will help, but it is very quick to try out.
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3817

NTJedi · #3 June 16th, 2007, 04:02 AM

Quote:

LuckyRaccoon said:
So is that it then? I mean do you plan on fixing that or are you already? It's near impossible to find a new computer that doesn't ship with vista.

Dell offers systems without Vista... not hard to find. And if gaming is your interest then you want to stay far away from Vista even the benchmarks show XP is better.
So I guess we should be asking you... "Do you plan on fixing that or are you already done ordering a better laptop without Vista?"

Fal · #4 June 16th, 2007, 07:26 AM

I have vista and have no problems with Dominions 3, just make sure all hardwares are properly updated, then reinstall the game.

Nick_K · #5 June 16th, 2007, 07:40 AM

... Vista's the 'new thing' though, right? At the moment it's not necessary, but won't we start seeing vista-only games released once it's been out for a few years and covers the bulk of the windows market?

llamabeast · #6 June 16th, 2007, 07:58 AM

Yep. I wouldn't upgrade to Vista now, and won't for some years I think, but if I bought a new computer now I would get one with Vista on it (and then I'd put ubuntu on dual-boot).

Anyway, poor old LuckyRaccoon, you've obviously already got a computer with Vista and don't want to hear all this. It sounds like Lazy_Perfectionist's idea with the compatibility mode might help. The first thing though is definitely to upgrade your video drivers.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #7 June 16th, 2007, 10:16 AM

And run windows update. There aren't any that deal specifically with Dominions, but there have been updates that improve compatibility with a long list of programs, some of which are games. Don't need to install them all, just look them over, see if any might help, then decide which ones are worth installing. DirectX, I recommend you update that if there are any new versions available.

Edi · #8 June 16th, 2007, 11:42 AM

Quote:

LuckyRaccoon said:
So is that it then? I mean do you plan on fixing that or are you already? It's near impossible to find a new computer that doesn't ship with vista.

The game was developed to be multiplatform and to work on Linux, Mac and Windows (89/2k/XP). Vista wasn't out then and generally most Vista problems are related to poor driver support. It is quite unreasonable to expect a team of two (only one programmer) to actually go back and modify Dom3 to be optimally Vista-compatible at this late a date.

As stated by one person above, no problems with Vista as long as you take care to update your stuff to the latest specs. Microsoft supplied drivers suck arse in most cases and you need to go to the hardware manufacturer for drivers which either will or will not work. Or you can start exploring options for Linux dual-booting.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #9 June 16th, 2007, 12:09 PM

Beat me with a wet mackerel and call me an idiot. I really should have noticed this the first time I responded.

Intel Graphics. That's certainly the problem. Intel graphics has a long history of being mistaken for an actual video card, but failing miserably.

General minimum Requirements:

* 256MB Ram, 500 MB disk space
* A good OpenGL accelerated graphics card (geforce or equivalent is recommended).

Windows minimum Requirements:

* 600 MHz Pentium II Processor
* Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP

Alneyan · #10 June 16th, 2007, 12:44 PM

LuckyRaccoon, my own advice would be: upgrade yours drivers, straight from Intel. If it doesn't work, try playing with the flags Gandalf mentioned. in particular -xxx and --noglext. You might also want to try other 3D games and tell us which ones work, if any (I don't think the problem comes from Dominions as such).

Regarding the Intel Graphics card: the Intel Graphics 950 should have enough firepower to play the game, and its specs are definitely higher than the first Geforce cards. More significantly, Intel claims the 950 can run these games and Vista's Aero interface, so it should be able to run Dominions with decent performance, at the very least.

For that matter, Dominions doesn't actually require a 3D card in the first place; my old computer could run the game with only software support (Mesa on Linux), though it didn't have much in the way of processing power. It was slow, of course, but it works - if you don't mind its s.l.o.w.n...e..s...s.

As I understand it, the 950 doesn't have support for some advanced features, the like of hardware T&L. Still, I'm pretty sure Dominions doesn't require that kind of feature, since the game runs under software Mesa. But you do need *some* kind of OpenGL support somewhere, so that means proper drivers.