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Wed 7 Apr, 2004 04:29 am
I recently bought Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 "A Century of Flight".
When I go to play it, the following message appears.
Invalid Driver or hardware detected.
The drivers currently installed for your video card may cause your computer to stop responding when Flight Simulator is running.
SiS 630/730.0
Click Yes to search for newer drivers, or No to continue in software mode. Some graphical features may not appear in software mode.
I have clicked yes, but what I get is a test of my current drivers, not any clear indicaion of how I might upgrade.
How DO I upgrade? Do I need a new and better videocard? Can I install better drivers? How?
Then, this appears:
Software 3D enabled.
Your computer cannot currently use 3-D hardware acceleration. Software 3-D mode has been enabled. Some graphial features may not appear in software mode.
Does this mean my puter is too puny to run 3-D, or can I do something to make it better?
This thing is fun - it even has 2 historical flights that wee flown by me rellies, in the thirties! How fantastic is that! 'Twould be funner if it ran properly!!!!
Thank you folks for any help you can give.
"SiS 630/730.0" is your chipset
(definition). ...Your graphics adapter is built in to your motherboard. If you want real 3D performance you should get yourself a dedicated AGP graphics card.
If you wanna attempt to improve what you've already got, make sure you've got the latest driver...
Here is SiS's page with graphics-category downloads for your chipset:
http://download.sis.com/index_step3.php?product=27&category=2
Here is a direct link to their 40+ MB (!) download for Windows XP for your chipset:
http://driver2.sis.com/graphic/igp/730630/630_209_winxp.zip
But you might not need to download that big file. If you right-click My Computer, then click Properties > Hardware tab > Device Manager button, what exactly is listed under 'Display Adapters'?
Sis630/730, Monger.
Is the dedicated graphics card pricy? Would that fix all the problems?
Okay. Well, I'd first try running the setup program found in the XP driver .zip file I linked to above, & see if that helps.
The graphics in that game of yours, if you can take advantage of them, are nothing short of stunning. You can run it on a lesser machine to be sure but for best results a Pentium4 2GHz+ machine with a minimum of 512MB DDR RAM and a 128MB video card is what I'd recommend. You might even want to look at 256MB video cards. And you should have a good joystick...makes a big difference.
Good video cards are a bit expensive, but if you dig the game it's probly worth it. I'd recommend cards by ATI, Matrox and Nvidia.
If you need help picking out any hardware you should let us know...I think some others here are more aware of current good models & deals than I.
Well, me puter is below pentium 4!!!!
But you be right - even with what I have, 'tis fun!!!!
I am downloading as we speak.
I shall look to the video cards....
dlowan wrote:Well, me puter is below pentium 4!!!!
Do you know whether you've got a Pentium3 or an Athlon? If it's an Athlon, depending on which Athlon CPU it is it might not be "below" a Pentium4. I'm not very familiar with the chipset you've got, but I think the SiS 630 is for P3's and the SiS 730 is for Athlons.
With many PCs it tells you on the first screen you see when booting up. Another way to check is to right-click My Computer, click Properties, and see what's listed below where it says "Computer:" (sometimes it's not super descriptive though). And there's probly a sticker somewhere on your PC that mentions either AMD or Intel.
AMD (Duron) processor.
1.29 gigahertz
496 MB ram
though I got more....
Worth getting a new card? The drive made a difference - but I am hungry for better - 'tis fun!!!!!
Damned if I can get to fly under Sydney Harbour Bridge, though!
Looks like I'm 71 gigs short of a full pack!!!!
You have 512 MB of RAM installed, bunny, but the onboard video reserves 16MB to itself, leaving 496 for the 'puter to use as it pleases. I'd say, contrary to Monger, that your processor should be up to the job, but I agree with him you should move up to an AGP video card, w/at least 64, or better yet, 128MB of memory. I find FS'04-Century of Flight runs badly on a 600 Mhz PIII, 384 MB of RAM, and a 32MB AGP card, more or less acceptably well on a 900Mhz PIII, 512 MB RAM, with a 64 MB AGP card, and it really rocks on 2.8Ghz P4, 2 Gigs of RAM, and a 256MB AGP card ... damn near justification all by itself for a fine 21" flatscreen CRT monitor.
Oh, and as Monger mentioned, the better the joystick, the better the game plays.
I've had a couple, buy my favorite is the joy-pad PS/2 looking thing I've got now. I used to prefer the full joysticks, but as I've played many PS/2 games, I've come to like that set up. When I bought my joypad, I made sure it was simular to the PS/2 pad. I use it on MS Flight Sim 2002, I think it is, and it works pretty good. Only problem is the throttle and rudders are on the same analog stick. That makes it fun, sometimes. Hard to fligh the Helo too. I like to fly in Downtown KC and pretend I'm the Traffic reporter guy, then go land on various building, just cuz. Ah, sometimes it's the little things. . .
dl - I'd invest in a decent video card. You dn't necessarily need the higher-end 256mb cards. I've found that my little NVidia 16mb card does just fine. There's only two games I've wanted to play on it that I can't, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and Halo. But it does FS2002 just fine! And Civ3, and Freelancer. Mechwarrior 4 did okay, too. But investing in a mid-priced card would be a good idea, IMO.
Hmmm - I don't think I will be playing games, other than this one, really, Turner. And this has really high end graphics, I believe.
But I shall have to see what the cost is, and probably wait for a while.
I'm not saying buy a cheap graphics card. I'm saying that a lot of the games don't require the high end cards. I'm sure you could get away with a 64mb card, and you can get a decent card cheap if you look at the right place. Try
www.pricewatch.com or
www.pricescan.com. Since you're down under, don't know if those will help out or not, but there's always ebay, too.
timberlandko wrote:I'd say, contrary to Monger, that your processor should be up to the job, but I agree with him you should move up to an AGP video card, w/at least 64, or better yet, 128MB of memory. I find FS'04-Century of Flight runs badly on a 600 Mhz PIII, 384 MB of RAM, and a 32MB AGP card, more or less acceptably well on a 900Mhz PIII, 512 MB RAM, with a 64 MB AGP card, and it really rocks on 2.8Ghz P4, 2 Gigs of RAM, and a 256MB AGP card ... damn near justification all by itself for a fine 21" flatscreen CRT monitor.
Oh, and as Monger mentioned, the better the joystick, the better the game plays.
Ah, someone who's actually played the game on a range of machines weighs in. Excellent. Timber's performance listings there look like excellent pointers, dlowan.
dlowan,
Paramount Computers have a 128mb ATI Radeon 9200 AGP Card
for $100. You might like to check online. Also check any or all of the computer outlets on Beach Rd. Price and performance with computer hardware is a matter of timing. I wait and buy once pricey items. I never have the latest but always have good.
Thanks! Beach Road? Where?
I will remember paramount, Gozmo - canna buy right now.
Er - I know this is a stupid question - but I know you can increase RAM on a puter - but can one add gig? Or is that a new mummy board, and hence a new puter?
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