Purpose of this beta is...

from Sins Forums
Hey All...



Since the MAIN purpose of this beta is for IC to verify soase will run on a wide variety of PC hardware, shouldn't there be a thread with detailed spec's of our current (not your fantasy PC!) rigs (including driver versions)? Then trying various resolutions record frame rates, using your favorite fps counter (like fraps). I think we should also give them min, max, and/or averages during large battles and when just exploring a new world with a small fleets.



Then going back to NOT having fun and providing gameplay feedback as much as we want. I do think we're ahead of their phase 1 milestone however, since there's not an excessive amount of bugs.
7,891 views 18 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Capital idea! 
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Spec's
P4 HT 3.5Ghz
Asus p4p800 deluxe
3gb ram PC3200 - 2x512 samsung, 2x1024 kingston CL3
Geforce 7800gs+ AGP 512mb
Resolution 1680x1050
Sound Blaster Audigy SE

Drivers:
Intel chipset 8.1.1.1010
Geforce 93.81
Creative 01.04.0061

Average frames per second:
Start of game - 60+ fps

battles with 20 ships - 50 fps
battles with 50 ships - 45 fps
battles with 100 ships - 25 fps
Battles with 200+ shpis - 5-10 fps

Mouse over an item, to see the information panel 15-20 fps
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Sounds good to me. I suggest you start the thread, since it's your idea.

For these results to be consistent, you need to set up consistent situations. Here's how:

1. Tell everyone which specs they should post - graphics card, processor, RAM, operating system, driver versions, and anything else important.

2. Provide a link to the same FPS counter program for everyone (Fraps will do).

3. Most important of all, create standardized situations for the game to render. That means you need to provide everyone who is testing with two or three saved games, so that when we report our 'big battle' FPS numbers, we're all reporting the same 'big battle'. For extra consistency, put the camera somewhere important and leave it there for the duration of the test, so we're all rendering almost the exact same sequence.

4. Conduct the tests yourself and make your second post a good 'example post' for everyone to follow.


Good luck, I think this is a fantastic idea for testing how well the game runs.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
My comprehensive specks are:

System: God Box
Purchase Date: 2/15/2007
Chassis: CM Stacker 832
OS: Vista x64 Ultimate
MB: Asus Striker Extreme (680i) v1.01 BIOS
CPU: QX6700 (Quad Core) OCed to 3.5Ghz
RAM: XMS2 Dominators 4GB 1250 Mhz, pagefile DISABLED
GPU: 2 Calibre 8800 GTX P880+ OC with 768MB (TEC active cooling)
SLI Enabled: Yes (101.70 drivers)
SPU: SB Xi-Fi Fatal1ty
HDD: 4 WD Raptor 150GB (Raid0)
NAS: 6TBs Hitachi DS T7K500 (Raid5)
DVD: Plextor B900A
PPU: NONE
Monitor: 2 Dell 30" 3007WFP-HC & 2 Dell 20" 2007FP
PSU: CM Real Power Pro 850watts
KB: Logitech G15
WC: Logitech QucikCam Fusion
SS: Altech 5.1 THX Theater System
TB: Kensington Expert Mouse

Note: I only listed my video drivers as they are the most important drivers for the game. I would list my other drivers but I dont see a need for them.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Sounds good to me. I suggest you start the thread, since it's your idea.



Hey it's an "open source" idea. You just made it more valuable. I was thinking Kryo can pin a new thread on this subject (taking all of our ideas) and then we can run with it. Besides, I'm better at inception than execution! LOL!
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah like that
So maybe we could have a savegame to test for maybe 1min or so, and tell our fps.

The problem is just that the save will be needed to change everytime theres a new patch
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

The problem is just that the save will be needed to change everytime theres a new patch


I think the IC boys could provide us with the appropriate saved games (they probably have hundreds each). I doubt it would be hard for them to make these, even for each patch! Let them create the baseline they want to see tested.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
But the results, cant be compared from different patch versions, as the saves cant be 100% the same.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
But the results, cant be compared from different patch versions, as the saves cant be 100% the same.


True...so when a new patch comes out, we get new saved games for that patch and we all re-run the test. I see this as an on-going event. I think "beta tester" implies we all need to work a little, even though we paid for the priviledge. HEHE!
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

But the results, cant be compared from different patch versions, as the saves cant be 100% the same.


True...so when a new patch comes out, we get new saved games for that patch and we all re-run the test. I see this as an on-going event. I think "beta tester" implies we all need to work a little, even though we paid for the priviledge. HEHE!


Have no worries, if things work out well maybe SD and IG will list us in the credits.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Spec's
C2D E6400 @ 3.0Ghz
Asus P5B-Deluxe Wifi
4Gb PC6400 - 4x1Gig G.Skill HZ Ram
X1900XT 512Meg (664/747mhz)
Resolution 1920x1200
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Vista Ultimate 64-bit
2x 320Gig SATA Seagate drives

Drivers:
ATI 7.2

Average frames per second:
Start of game - 60+ fps

Battles with 25 ships - 55-60 FPS
Battles with 50 ships - 50-55 FPS
Battles with 75 ships - 50-55 FPS
Battles with 100 ships - 45-50 FPS

I know I've had bigger battles but never had my FPS drop below 40 FPS so far that I've noticed. Details maxed out.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

Yeah like that
So maybe we could have a savegame to test for maybe 1min or so, and tell our fps.

The problem is just that the save will be needed to change everytime theres a new patch


Would be better if there was a time demo mode. Where it will run a set of tests load the screen with big battles etc and such then get an average.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top


Note: I only listed my video drivers as they are the most important drivers for the game. I would list my other drivers but I dont see a need for them.


For those times when sound problems occur, those drivers may be relevant! I agree that the rest of the system drivers may be irrelevant, although the systen BIOS (you have listed) and chipset versions may be helpful as well.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
AMD64 3500+
1 Gig mem
MSI NX6800GT-T2D256 graphic card
MSI K8N NEO4 PLATINUM SLI mobo that uses Creative sound Bluster Live
24-bit H/W audio
LOGITECH X-230 2.1 speaker
SAITEK Gaming Keyboard PZ08AU
Windows XP SP2
Bios Version 6.00PG (Phoenix Tech, LTD)
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
Oh...


Other useful information would be Windows updates and how "fresh" your current Windows install is. A bloated registry can cause significant performance issues. You never know...someone may have the same hardware as you and have a bug that you don't have. Once hardware failure is ruled out, then software revisions/version factor in.
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
Would be better if there was a time demo mode. Where it will run a set of tests load the screen with big battles etc and such then get an average.


now thats a great idea
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
I was wondering if it may be better for IC to include a small system speck application in the next update. That way they would have a standardized format the way they want it as well as some tests and we just email the data back to them.

Additionally we could simply use the Direct X or MS system specks applications but that would not give them test data.
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top

For these results to be consistent, you need to set up consistent situations. Here's how:

1. Tell everyone which specs they should post - graphics card, processor, RAM, operating system, driver versions, and anything else important.


Sisoft Sandra XI Lite (free for personal use) works nicely and can create small text reports. Along with dxdiag and driver versions for video and sound, we can make an extremely comprehensive report for all of our systems (although, it might be a bit much!)

Sandra Link


2. Provide a link to the same FPS counter program for everyone (Fraps will do).


Fraps Link

Anybody (devs included) want to elaborate more with the other two points Comassion had and the others within this post? I also liked the timedemo idea Deathman20 had, is this even possible? This thread has kind of fizzled out, maybe it's time to let it "out to pasture"... :-O