[kyleb]

If I turn shadows down to low can get away with the full resolution textures and no swaping. Those look just as high res as any other game I have played, but I'd rather go with more shadows and a bit less textue detail.

[mito]

Originally Posted by kyleb

I haven't seen anyone mention the kung-fu. You can press jump+melee to do a flying kick or crouch+melee to slilde kick. Melee attacks are quite effective in the slow-mo mode and add a bit of something new to the game.

Interesting. I'm gonna try "kung-funging" that creepy girl.

[dbeard]

On my AXP2600+, 512Mb , 800XL I found that at 1024*768, I can enable everything to maximum (4x FSAA, 16xAF), maximum world and corpse detail as well as turn on soft shadows with no (or very few) glitches. The only glitches I saw was with explosions covering most of the screen.

The one trick was to put textures to minimum. Anything other than minimum, and I get substantual freezes awaiting data to load from the HD. Turn a corner, freeze, fight. Little girl comes on screen, freeze, scare.

The game looks fine to me this way but I do notice the lower resolution in textures. I would rather have good gameplay than the better textures with the unbareable pauses.

Has anyone looked around with soft shadows on? Looks like anything shadowed is blury, like every edge has multiple slightly offset edges. Not a smooth blend to light. Makes the sceen look blurry around shadows.

I know the game is supposed to be scary but the vibrating corpses can really get distracting. I hope they get the physics figured out.

[Skinner]

Softshadows is not worth the framratehit (even with a 7800gtx) for me, but I guess this is a matter of taste.
As far as texture resolution is conserned, it almost looks in some places NOLF2 had higher and more detailed textures sometimes, and I realy mean this.
Off overall this is way better, but I'm waiting for the day 2048x2048K will be here...

[Diplo]

Originally Posted by Skinner

As far as texture resolution is conserned, it almost looks in some places NOLF2 had higher and more detailed textures sometimes, and I realy mean this.

At what setting are you talking? The trouble is that modern games using normal mapping etc. use up a lot more video memory than older ones which leaves less room for textures (which is one of the reasons D3 had such low-res textures). It's the compromise that currently has to be made.

One good thing about FEAR, though, is that the Options give you plenty of chance to prioritise what you prefer best. If you want to sacrifice lighting for higher-res textures then you can. It's nice to see such 'tweakability' available in-game.

[Cartoon Corpse]

i hope the have some bright and cheery maps. i hate this scummy dark feel all the time that all current games seem to be hooked on. is that cause the engines do that better?

i sure don't think NOLF2 had better textures than this, but i loved NOLF's.

[Diplo]

Originally Posted by Cartoon Corpse

i hope the have some bright and cheery maps.

I'm not sure if "bright'n'cheery" really fits into the remit of a scary psychlogical horror game with tons of violence

[Diplo]

Available at : http://www.tweakguides.com/FEAR_1.html

[kyleb]

Originally Posted by Skinner

Off overall this is way better, but I'm waiting for the day 2048x2048K will be here...

There really isn't much point in using that high res of textures unless it is used to cover a quite a large area. I mean hardly anyone runs their screens at anywhere that high of res so in most situations mucht of the detail in such a large texture would be waisted.

[Skinner]

Originally Posted by kyleb

There really isn't much point in using that high res of textures unless it is used to cover a quite a large area. I mean hardly anyone runs their screens at anywhere that high of res so in most situations mucht of the detail in such a large texture would be waisted.

Wel Epic stated on their website they will use some:

Normal Maps & Texture maps

We are authoring most character and world normal maps and texture maps at 2048x2048 resolution. We feel this is a good target for games running on mid-range PC's in the 2006 timeframe. Next-generation consoles may require reducing texture resolution by 2X, and low-end PC's up to 4X, depending on texture count and scene complexity.

http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html...ogy/ue30.shtml

Diplo, I'm running everything on max IQ

[Crusher]

Originally Posted by kyleb

There really isn't much point in using that high res of textures unless it is used to cover a quite a large area. I mean hardly anyone runs their screens at anywhere that high of res so in most situations mucht of the detail in such a large texture would be waisted.

The area doesn't have to be that large in absolute terms, what is more important is how close to the viewport the object gets, and the ratio of screen pixels to texels when it gets that close.

[swaaye]

It really does push my "little" 6800 Go 12x1x5 256MB @ 380/750 to the max. This is a Pentium-M 2.13Ghz with 2GB DDR2. Inspiron 9300.

My bro's P4-2.6 Northwood, 1GB PC2700, Radeon 9700 @ 344/250 (heh it's a weird, tweaked board) really chugs. He runs 1024. The difference between 800x600 and 1024x768 is significant.

I can't get the demo to work on my desktop. 9700P, AXP Mobile 2.2GHz, 1.5GB PC3200. It wouldn't even load at all until I reinstalled Windows (it was a OLD install) and changed the demo's folder name (?!??!). Now it just immediately crashes when I try to start a new game. I've tried EVERYTHING I can think of lol. Buggy demo eh.

I have the demo running on my notebook at 1440x900 with no AA, 4xAF, and generally max settings other than texture res which is at medium. Even 2x AA made it chug too much. It's surprising how demanding this game is.

I've played thru it a few times now and it's growing on me. I'm thinking I like the story and all the crazy weird nonsense that could come out of it. Looking forward to the release of this.

[digitalwanderer]

I just played it for the first time and I died after trying to take on a squadron head-on.

All I gotta say is, "woah"!

Is the 10/18/05 release date still on? I'm thinking of pre-ordering this one, it really looks like it has some possibilities.

[IbaneZ]

Great demo. One of the best yet. The "ladder sequence" scared the s**t out of me. Yikes!

Cool engine too. It kinda looks like a playable 3dmark-05 with more effects.

This will be a good game! Goty?

[digitalwanderer]

I actually didn't like the whole ladder mount/dismount system, but like I said I haven't gotten very far into the demo yet.

(And spare yourself the trouble Baron, I ain't gonna read this thread again until I finish it! )

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

I actually didn't like the whole ladder mount/dismount system, but like I said I haven't gotten very far into the demo yet.

I thought it was better than the usual "scrabbling around/falling off/unable to get onto ladder" type of thing we often get.

I actually liked the demo, apart from it being way, way too short for such a massive download. The game suits my "cover, snipe, clear the area" style of play. It works better if you put the bullet time somewhere handy like a mouse button so you can use it all the time (like Max Payne). Even performance was okay once I knocked the autodetected texture settings down from high to medium.

Although Monolith never seem to have the most technologically advanced or prettiest engines, they always come up with a really fun, ejoyable, cinematic single player game with lots of imagination and set pieces. I'm looking forward to the full game.

[ANova]

Originally Posted by Cartoon Corpse

i hope the have some bright and cheery maps.

Now why would you want to ruin the game like that; its name is FEAR for gods sake.

[trinibwoy]

Originally Posted by IbaneZ

The "ladder sequence" scared the s**t out of me. Yikes!

For real. I screamed like a biatch!! A pardner of mine was watching and he laughed for a good 10 mins at my girlie scream. Although he admitted that he could never play F.E.A.R cause he's an even bigger wuss than me

[AlStrong]

I flinched, but I realized it was only a game

[digitalwanderer]

I finished it and gotta say I really enjoyed it, I'm looking forward to the completed game.

Call me crazy, but I thought the bullet shockwave/trail-thingies looked absolutely stunning.

[london-boy]

Beautiful game. Absolutely the best looking game i've seen in action.

Shame i could hear my system cry, trying the demo at 1024x768 at mostly high detail... on a 5900U... err...

I'll try playing around with the settings a bit and see what the best config is, keeping the highest settings for textures, effects and resolution. I think the shadows are keeping the framerate very low, big like farcry which worked perfectly with all maximum settings apart from shadows, which were on medium-low.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by trinibwoy

For real. I screamed like a biatch!! A pardner of mine was watching and he laughed for a good 10 mins at my girlie scream. Although he admitted that he could never play F.E.A.R cause he's an even bigger wuss than me

Ha, you girly-man! First thing I did was reflexively unload half a clip into it.

Nice to see a game that's actually creepy and disturbing, not just flinging things out at you from the dark corners in order to make you jump. Those things that you half-see scrabbling just out of shot and into the shadows as you turn around are just not right. Or people eating human hearts. Or the doors getting bent out of shape before they get smashed open.

I was impressed by the enemy AI. They take cover, sneak around, try to flank you,they leap over fences, run quite quickly, etc. They don't mess about when they spot you.

I even saw one go from ducked down behind a window, cross the room crouched down and then standing upright while sqeezing behind a column against a wall to minimise my shooting shooting angle whilst shotgunning back at me.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by Cartoon Corpse

anyone use that particle weapon to good effect anywhere? (in the office by the stairs i think) i tried it on the heli and a couple soldiers to no real effect.

It's your basic rail-gun. Kills the grunt enemies in one shot, but you need to be very accurate or use bullet time if your target is moving.

[Cartoon Corpse]

Originally Posted by IbaneZ

Great demo. One of the best yet. The "ladder sequence" scared the s**t out of me. Yikes!

Cool engine too. It kinda looks like a playable 3dmark-05 with more effects.

This will be a good game! Goty?

you mean when you mount a ladder (later in demo) and the spooky kid is right there? and you don't have a gun?

thanks i replayed and used the particle weapon. it never occured to me to aim/zoom it! it's got the best zoom of all the weapons i found!

anyway, watch out when shooting electrical boxes with yellow stickers! blew my self up! also went around blasting stuff i missed first time around, just to see. glass, crates, barrels (boom), pipes, etc.

[IbaneZ]

Originally Posted by Cartoon Corpse

you mean when you mount a ladder (later in demo) and the spooky kid is right there? and you don't have a gun?

Yep, that's it.

I saw that the nvnews dude jAkUp made a little video with some F.E.A.R action. Pretty cool stuff.
Clicky