This from the EQ Live website: In order to continue to move EverQuest forward and embrace rapidly changing graphics technology, we are going to require the use of DirectX 9 on the Test server. DirectX 9 will better use EverQuest's graphic resources, while providing better security and performance for your computers. You can download DirectX 9 at www.microsoft.com/directx. Thanks for all of your continued help in testing EverQuest.
- Brenlo the Test Subject
We contacted Brenlo after this was posted to clarify some details: People who wish to play Gates of Discord will need to install DirectX 9.0 on their system. People will need video cards compliant with DirectX9.0 This does not mean it has to support DirectX 9.0 features, merely that it is compliant. This change appears to be a pre-cursor to EverQuest 2, which also requires DirectX 9.0 compliance, as it will make existing EQ players upgrade their systems to machines ready to play EQ2 before it is released. We have sourced a very good replacement graphics card for people who wish to upgrade through Amazon which also has free shipping.
Copied from Casters Realm
Personally I think it sucks they are announcing this now after most people have pre-ordered GoD. I myself will be canceling my pre-order because my vid card is not DX9.0 compliant and I'm not in a position to replace it. Ghoste Blanc
65 Barbarian Assassin of Phoenix Ascendant
The Seventh Hammer
Quote:This does not mean it has to support DirectX 9.0 features, merely that it is compliant.If you have DX 9.0 on your system then you should be compliant.
"Dx9 Compliant" does not mean that it has to be able to run Dx9 features, it just means that the card's driver must support Dx9. GoD will still run on even an original GeForce or original Radeon, both of which are Dx7 cards.
I think his confusion is arising from CasterRealm pimping their Amazon.com link below the news release (even though the news release itself says your card doesn't have to support Dx9 features), suggesting you should get a new graphics card through them.
You don't need a new graphics card if you're using Ati's Catalyst 3.0 or later or nVidia's Detonator 43.45 or later, since each company's drivers have supported Dx9 since then. To my knowledge the only cards which had Dx8 drivers but not Dx9 drivers were 3dfx's last cards, the Voodoo 3, 4, and 5 (and their Dx8 drivers were beta, released right around the time 3dfx went under).
Quote:To my knowledge the only cards which had Dx8 drivers but not Dx9 drivers were 3dfx's last cards, the Voodoo 3, 4, and 5 (and their Dx8 drivers were beta, released right around the time 3dfx went under).
Yup, I'm running a 64mb VooDoo 5500.. which to this point still runs EQ very readily.. now I'm going to have to get rid of what is otherwise a perfectly good card just because of this lousy expansion. I may be being nitpicky but it would have been nice to announce the system requirements before the pre-order.
I happen to agree with CR that they are forcing people to upgrade thier computers now to play EQ so that when EQ2 rolls out they will have a larger customer base with computers capable of playing. Ghoste Blanc
65 Barbarian Assassin of Phoenix Ascendant
The Seventh Hammer
You can't expect SOE to go out of their way to support a 3 1/2 year old card from a company that's been out of business for over three years.
The beta Dx8 drivers may run Dx9 fine, though they may not. But considering you need a Hardware T&L capable card to play some of the newest games, you should be looking for an upgrade. The Voodoo5 is slower than an original GeForceDDR; if you have a remotely new processor, the performance increase will be very noticeable.
Well, from ATi I've owned a Rage Fury Maxx, 32mb Radeon LE, 64mb Radeon 8500, and I'm currently using a Radeon 9500 Pro. While I originally went to ATi (from a 3dfx Voodoo2) mainly because I didn't believe in nVidia's business practices, ATi has given me no reason to consider switching to another manufacturer.
The Maxx, while criticized due to it not having hardware T&L and not being able to be used in dual-core mode in Win2000 (or WinXP later), was a beast in games like EverQuest and Unreal Tournament because at the time neither game used Hardware T&L (I would chuckle when Kunark came out and everyone was playing Iksar, and people were /ooc complaining "Kunark slows my GeForce2 down to a crawl". The Rage Fury Maxx and Voodoo 5 were excellent cards for the Kunark era due to their brute power). Since at the time my main source of entertainment was EQ and I was running Win98, I was very impressed by the Maxx. The Radeon LE was a solid budget card which could overclock very well; I had no problems with that one either (I ended up affixing a P3 heatsink and fan to the core and overclocked it from its stock 150/150 to as high as 200/200; it was rock-solid at a 194/194 overclock).
I bought my Radeon 8500 immediately after the big price drop due to the GeForce 4Ti series being released; it was a solid card that took everything I threw at it and stayed in my computer longer than any card previously (13 months). The only thing I can say about my Radeon 9500 Pro is that it's going to easily surpass the Radeon 8500 for the card spending the most time in my computer, and I'm very impressed with the card. It's been in my computer for 10 months now and it's still performing well enough that I may not replace it until 2005.
From various forums you'll probably hear ATi driver suck, ATi drivers are bad, etc. etc.; I have never not been able to play a game with any of my ATi cards. There have been bad ATi drivers, but there have always been at least one set of rock-solid drivers available from ATi. To me each driver stands on its own merit or crumbles on its flaws, based on its performance and compatibility. There are many more good ATi drivers than bad ATi drivers; people who say 'ATi drivers suck' are generally nVidia fanboys who now that ATi has caught and passed nVidia in the performance arena, can only bring out the 'ATi driver suck' mantra of 5 years ago because they have nothing else left.
When I get into an arguement with a nVidia fan, I know I've won when he mentions the quality of ATi's drivers (here's an example; I'm "Clark" on the CoH forum, and I can't seem to get it through to another poster that while the 5900 is a good card, it's not as fast as a Radeon 9800 Pro).
I am not that worried about the ATI card really messing anything up. It is just the trypical anxiety of switching to a product that you have not tried and is a key component to the system. I have no doubt after the first batch of "bad" drivers Ati learned their lesson and has been putting out quality drivers since.
At least you would hope that the drivers are decent considering they have the market share/user base they have. I just will have to make sure I set a restore point, then do a good job of uninstalling the old drivers and installing the new.
After seeing some of the newer NVidia cards, well, that is part of the reason ATI seemed like the route to go. I guess I will find out for myself soon enough as I ordered the card last night and it should arrive middle of next week, I hope.
Well, the 9600 XT is in the machine and has been running just fine for 6 hours now. Ran 3dmark 03, 01SE, a little EQ and it didn't even so much as hiccup, although 3dmark03 is still brutal .
When I checked it was comparible to what everyone else with my basic setup was getting, and I left the the AV and some other stuff running in the background.
So far, so good. I haven't tried to OC it, but I do not see a need to bother. Smartdoctor has shown a nice steady voltage across the board, and no heat fluctuations.
Guess I will see when I have a hardcore gaming day how well things hold up.
