Dirt Demo Released

[V_R]

The graphics look amazing!
What are the 'realistic' system specs you need to run this at 1280x960 with atleast a bit of eye candy? Will a AMD 3700/1 GB/7800GT do?

Sorry dude missed ya post first time round.

Form the Codemasters website...

Minimum Requirements
Windows XP or Vista
Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz or Athlon 64 3000+
1GB RAM
DirectX Compatable Sound Card
2x DVD-ROM Drive capable of reading dual layer DVD discs (DVD9)
12.5 Gb Hard Drive Space

Recommended Requirements
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66Ghz or Athlon X2 3800+
1GB RAM
GeForce 7800 or Radeon X1800 or better
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card

Going by that i dont see why you shouldn't be able to run it on mid-high, in my experience, its the shadows and particle effects that had the biggest impact on performance.

 

[Crankymonkey]

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

I can do without shadows; I dont enable them in most games because of the performance hit anyways.

Off to download the demo now!

 

[V_R]

I am really enjoying this game, been ages since i playeda decent driving game.

Few more pic's again, still trying to tempt you lot!

The trucks not as much fun as it looks....

 

[Crankymonkey]

I d/led the demo and tried it out. Awesome game, far better than the arcade NFS series.
I will probably buy this soon.

But performance on my system is not that great. I have to turn down quite a few of the settings including shadows, particles and AA to get acceptable framerates at 1280x960. But going down to 1024x768 enables me to tun up some of the eye candy and still get decent framerates except on the buggy race (which is still a slideshow).

Me thinks its time to go in for the 8800GTS finally.

 

[TriplexDread]

I'm still unable to play this damn game. I have uninstalled it gone back to Nvidia 94.24 and 97 drivers. Reinstalled and patched it still crashes on First setup screen HOW INFURIATING!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[floppybootstomp]

There is a lot of bad stuff being said about this game on the Codemaster's forums, apparently.

Seems it's not very happy running on quite a few computer setups and the security measures Codemasters employ is somewhat Draconian and restrictive.

I'm kinda sorry I posted this link now, although obviously some peeps are running the game ok.

I had problems with the demo , maybe that should have been a pointer.

As much as I love TOCA Race Driver Three, and I like the fact Codemasters are British, I have absolutely had it with their restrictions, Codemasters make Steam look almost friendly.

Goodbye, Codemasters, damn shame you don't have enough confidence in your own products to sell them without all those restrictions that make the game unplayable on many many systems.

Yeah, sorry guys, but it's the truth, and it makes me damn sad

 

[TriplexDread]

Yes very unfortuante I suppose. But I guess we can blame Piracy for a lot of those problems aswell.

Never mind, I'll sell it on I guess. At a loss of course

 

[V_R]

Did you install that starforce crap when you first ran the game? I didn't and have had no probs.

 

[Me__2001]

Did you install that starforce crap when you first ran the game? I didn't and have had no probs.

i didn't think you had a choice with that stuff ?

 

[V_R]

Patch 1.2 was released yesterday. Get it here


PATCH 1.2:

* Fixed a bug where some saved games were being corrupted during the save process. Saved games are only usable by the PC and user that created them.

* Includes a new set of leaderboards. These are separate to the existing leaderboards which will remain visible for people playing version 1.0 or 1.1.

* Also includes fixes of patch 1.1


PATCH 1.1:

* Fixed a bug where entering the options menu inside the game with no active sound card present would cause the game to crash.

* The game will now display an error message and prompt the user to quit the game when graphics settings are set beyond their hardware capabilities.

* Fixed an issue where on rare occasions vehicle's bonnets/wings would be invisible on entering a race.

* Corrected the minor miss spelling of Portuguese in the game.

* Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash when regaining focus from another application, or the desktop.

* The sound mixer now defaults to SOFTWARE, for improved game performance. D3D and OPENAL are still available, for higher quality.

* Increased maximum Head-cam movement speed by 50%

* 5 axes mode support for Thrustmaster "RGT Force Feedback Pro" wheel

* Fixed a bug where Force Feed Back on controllers would stop working after the user returned focus to the game.

* Fixed a rare bug where it was possible to drive your vehicle before the start lights had gone green.

* Ultra graphic settings modified slightly to be usable with hardware of today.

* Improvements in performance of both internal audio, and external OpenAL drivers

 

[V_R]

i didn't think you had a choice with that stuff ?

When i installed the game and ran it for the first time it asked me to install starforce. I said no, canceled out of it and 'fixed' it. No problems after that.

 

[Crankymonkey]

Ugh, if DiRT has Starforce, I am not touching it with a 10ft pole.

I planned to buy this game early next month after a h/w upgrade, but I guess it's not on my list now.

EDIT: I googled for SF and DiRT, and it does look like DiRT comes with SF, although suprisingly, the list here:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/list.php
doesnt include it.

 

[PotGuy]

What security measures are you talking about?




The last Codemasters game that I played was TOCA Touring Cars 2 on the PS1 so I don't know

 

[V_R]

What security measures are you talking about?

Starforce

Its a pile of w*** thats more hassle than its worth.

 

[ChristopherP]

Bought this in Game at Festival Place in Blazingstoke for £19.99 which is only a quid or two more than tinternet.

Its good fun!!

Though sometimes the engine sound cuts out which is really strange so i have to restart the game before it will work. Hopefully there will be a fix

 

[V_R]

You got the latest 1.2 patch Chris? If not try that, few posts up.

 

[ChristopherP]

Yep installed the patch Havent had much time to play it since, cant remember if it still had the prob after that but will give it a go

 

[ChristopherP]

Nope, Think its worse with the update so leaving it off for now. Reformatted my machine and no luck.

Think its a buggy game, im not the only one to have this prob according to the codemasters forums

 

[floppybootstomp]

It's a damn shame, but the demo actually put me off this game.

Codemasters seem obsessed with security, to the detriment of how the game actually runs.

They are fools.

I'll always buy games I like.

Microsoft, on the other hand.... oops, best not go there, me being a mod and all

Nope, I've had it with Codemasters, TOCA Race driver 3 will be the last of about five games I've paid for from them, their latest measures are really really over the top, restrictive and stupid.

 

[V_R]

Thats a shame guys, sorry to say but i've still had no problems with it.....

Chris, did you install that starforce crap?