© 2003-2026 Ironclad Games Corporation Vancouver, BC. All rights reserved.
© 2006-2026 Stardock Entertainment
Search
Forum Home | Login
GlitchBoy
GlitchBoy
Join Date 03/2008
0

Not seeing any of the spectacular visuals I was expecting

No ships, planets, etc.... just the icons

March 21, 2008 11:26:58 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I just bought and loaded up this game and to my disappointment, I'm not seeing any of the fantastic visuals I saw in the screenshots.  All I get are icon representations for the ships and planets.  I have updated my video card driver (it's only a GeForce 4) and that made no difference.  For kicks, I installed it on an older PC I have in my office (has a GeForce 2 in it) and I'm seeing the same thing.

I searched the forums here but didn't find any other references to this problem (yet i'm having it on two seperate PCs)

Am I missing some obvious setting or is there something else going on?

Thanks,
GlitchBoy
technical
Locked Post
Search this post
Advanced Search
Subscription Options
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
MegaVolt
Join Date 07/2004
+3
Reply #1 March 21, 2008 11:47:11 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
There is a cinematic mode (somewhere in the bar at the upper screen) that toggles the icons, screenshots are usually made in cinematic mode but it doesn't really work well for playing.
And ... wow, Gef4 and Gef2. That's old. Great work SD and IC for having games run on such hardware at all
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Blair Fraser
Join Date 10/2006
+292 moderator
Reply #2 March 21, 2008 11:50:11 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Did you crank up all the settings? Full multisampling? Bloom? Full texture detail?  (The default graphic levels are at roughly medium quality overall) Did you increase your resolution? Every screenshot was taken in game I assure you since I personally took a ton of them from matches I was actually playing.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Vandenburg
Join Date 04/2006
+43
Reply #3 March 22, 2008 12:04:40 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I just bought and loaded up this game and to my disappointment, I'm not seeing any of the fantastic visuals I saw in the screenshots. All I get are icon representations for the ships and planets.


Try zooming in.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Solaron
Join Date 03/2008
0
Reply #4 March 22, 2008 12:24:43 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Try zooming in.


Ditto. Try looking at those tiny dots by the planet icons when you are zoomed out. You'll find it's not easy. So, to simplify things, when you are zoomed out, it only shows icons representing ships, planets, whatever, but when you zoom in and take a closer looks (default, mouse wheel scroll up), you can get a detailed look at bigger ships and frigates, and if you zoom in closer, you can see fighters/bombers (represented by white dots and contrails, cause they are tiny ships) as well as weapons in action on the ships, particularly the cap ships. You'll find that even with low graphical settings, those ship details will be pretty nice. Of course, it'll look better with higher settings.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Phazon88
Join Date 05/2007
+5
Reply #5 March 22, 2008 12:38:48 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
TBH I think its unreasonable to expect to see any spectacular visuals with a GeForce 4. You should seriously consider an upgrade if you want to experience this game the way it was intended.

I know that Ironclad and Stardock do their best to make sure it runs on a variety of hardware, but there is only so far you can go before you start creating a dated looking game.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
CrimDS
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #6 March 22, 2008 12:42:56 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I would say zooming in works.

SoSE actually has excellent graphics for a game of it's size, far better then what I expected. I'm very happy with it.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Schod
Join Date 10/2006
+1
Reply #7 March 22, 2008 8:29:40 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
if I'm reading the OP correctly he's not seeing *anything* but icons...
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
fragieD
Join Date 02/2008
+1
Reply #8 March 22, 2008 8:44:15 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Not DX9 compatible perhaps? The video card that is...
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
dakdak77
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #9 March 22, 2008 9:54:07 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Yeah, let's not focus on the graphics too much. I prefer focusing on actual gameplay fun much more, and would prefer the devs to spend most of their time on that when improving the game.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
kryo
Join Date 05/2003
+458 sdemployee
Reply #10 March 22, 2008 10:21:00 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
If he's got a Geforce4 MX, it's liable he's missing a lot of graphics. Which is to be expected since those are just repackaged DirectX 7 cards.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Szoreny
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #11 March 22, 2008 12:46:00 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I bought a Geforce4 MX so I could see shiny water in Morrowind. I think its time to let these cards rest in peace. Stop torturing your MX Glitchboy, not to mention yourself.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Solaron
Join Date 03/2008
0
Reply #12 March 24, 2008 1:45:58 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Lol, right on, Szoreny. GeForce4 MX RIP. Go big Glitchboy, save up money, and bask in the beauty of amazing graphics, although I am with dakdak77. Gameplay is far more preferable to pretty graphics. Nostalgia runs deep in my veins, and I like games like the Atelier Iris series, Ar Tonelico and the various other creations by NIS America and Gust, which are new games, but feature simpler graphics, in favor of incredible stories and awesome gameplay mechanics.

I'm not so big into pure eyecandy games. They get old too quickly. Of course, it's possible to mesh them, like Final Fantasy has done with XII, and will do with XIII and it's family. But, if it came to choosing between eyecandy or gameplay, then the answer is a no brainer. Gameplay.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
kryo
Join Date 05/2003
+458 sdemployee
Reply #13 March 24, 2008 11:58:09 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I bought a Geforce4 MX so I could see shiny water in Morrowind.


I'm surprised if that worked for you. The MX cards lacked the pixel shaders that were introduced in the GeForce3 series--only the mainline GeForce4s had them, and those were a lot less popular.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Szoreny
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #14 March 24, 2008 12:49:56 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I bought a Geforce4 MX so I could see shiny water in Morrowind.I'm surprised if that worked for you. The MX cards lacked the pixel shaders that were intorduced in the GeForce3 series--only the mainline GeForce4s had them, and those were a lot less popular.


Well, I'm not proof positive it was an MX, I bought it from a friend who'd upgraded to an ATI 9700 or something...it wasn't but six months before I upgraded in turn to a 9800, which is still like, - my all time favorite card, even though I've since gone back to Nvidia.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
GlitchBoy
Szoreny
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #15 March 24, 2008 12:52:32 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums


x
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
View all recent posts
Mark all posts as read Delete cookies created by the forum Return to Top
Stardock Forums v        Server Load Time:   Page Render Time: