Giants: Citizen Kabuto ROCKS!

Hello All,

I have played Giants on and off (mostly) for the last few years. Performance was subpar. I ran across a GeForce 3 patch that added DirectX 8 features to the game and I thought I would try it out as I now have a ATI 9500 Pro DirectX 9 card and a Athlon 2100+. Things started out ok, but then got real slow in the same place, Story 5: Charger. That was the farthest that I had ever got before.

I decided to flash my BIOS on my card and I got 270 core/270 memory up to 370 core/295 memory with stock cooling yet I got no frame rate increase. I even turned down the res to 800x600x16 with all bumpmaping turned off.

Oh well, I will keep playing and see how it goes. MAN was it fun! I thought the mercs were kinda cool but WOW was Delphi the Sea Reaper fun! Her turbo movement was very, very cool and I loved her sword. The base building was very fun too.

Then I played Kabuto! HAHAHAHA It was like playing Rampage but in 3D! Barracks that kept spitting out mobs were like candy machine. One would come out and I would eat 'em. If I was full health I would just stick em on one of my two horns to eat later. And the special attacks were WICKED!

OMG I almost forgot the best thing, the cut scenes! HAHHAAHA, some of the best I have every seen. WAY funny! =)

Great game if you can get around the very low framerate. I would be interested in seeing if anyone with a Intel 3.2GHz or AMD 3200+ gets better results.

Dr. Ffreeze
 
I have that game lying on my shelf since years now and never managed to get hold of that patch. would you have a download location or could you email it?
 
All,

Looks like my very low FPS might be due to me using the EAX files. I have a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1. If I don't use the EAX files I get much better performance but I have tons of loud hissing, crackling, and popping. If I use the EAX files I have great sound but low FPS. If I don't use EAX and if I turn off all sound hardware acceleration in dxdiag I also get fast fps and no hissing but it just rubs me the wrong way not to use my hardware to the fullest.

I am now looking into getting a new soundcard (I have been looking for an accuse to buy one for a few). I am leaning towards a $75 Audigy 2 just because it has the lowest CPU usage and 100db S/N ratio. The Fortissimo and VIA 24bit sound cards look interesting. I need to do a bit more research.

Dr. Ffreeze
 
I enjoyed the Mechs and Delphi missions, but the game just falls flat on its face once you hit Kabuto.

"What the <bleep> is a Kabuto?" Great cutscene.
 
John Reynolds,

I really like the idea of Rampage, the old arcade game. That is why I think I like bashin building and doing body slams where the ground would move like a cannon ball in a puddle of water (the ground actually rippled with Kabuto body slams). =)

/shrug
Dr. Ffreeze
 
that was such a funny game, those cut scenes before you took over Kabuto were such a laugh!
 
I agree, Giants is a phenomenal game. I can't count the number of times I've played it through. To me it's the ultimate definition of what a game should be; gorgeous visuals, fantastic gameplay, great sound and music, excellent multiplay, and humorous cutscenes. I'm still waiting for a game to best Giants in all those categories. It's in my Top 10 favorite games of all time list, and I've been gaming since the old Atari 2600 days. There's a lot of good memories with Giants. :)
 
The first couple of weeks after release it was unstable, thanks to the publisher forcing the game out the door and pissing off the developer in the process. Fortunately Planet Moon was able to get the game rock stable after the second patch.
 
All,

I just bought a Audigy 2 ZS (new Creative card as of Sept 10th). When it gets here I will see if it speeds up any of my EAX issues in Giants. I hope so, but don't think it will. I have been looking to upgrade from my Live! 5.1 for quite a while now. Giants EAX issues is a good excuse I guess. =)

Dr. Ffreeze
 
I never did finish the game, got half way through the Kabuto missions when my HDD failed and I lost my saved game; Kabuto's missions were too boring to continue with so I didn't bother going on. The earlier bits were excellent though! Shame about the low-res shadows though, was there any way to enhance those? User interface could have used a few tweaks too.

Didn't they censor Delphi's texture for the US release as well?
 
Hey, care to take some screenies of the game with DX8-shaders? Last time I played the game I was using GF2MX :(
 
Does anyone know if the Geforce 3 Patch works on ATI cards, (ie was it a DX8 Patch and GF3 was all that was out, or was it nvidia specific?)?
 
Clashman,

Does anyone know if the Geforce 3 Patch works on ATI cards

Yes, it works on my ATI 9500 Pro.

breez,

Meccs look pretty nice with the DX8-patch.

Aye, I like Kabuto the best. I like hitting F to look at him from the front then Insert, Home, or PageUp (or Delete, End, or Page Down, I forget) and see his roars. =)

Dr. Ffreeze

PS. And when he has a "snack" or two on his horns, it is quite humorous (I bet my Mom would find that disturbing) =P
 
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