DX8 vs. DX9 Card

ultimate_ed · Post by **ultimate_ed** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:21 pm

I've been playing KOTOR with a Radeon 8500 64MB card (inherited from my brother). The game looks pretty good and seems to play smoothly enough. I was wondering if upgrading to a DX9 video card like a Radeon 9700/9800 Pro is going to make the game look better.

With the 8500, I'm getting some kind of artifacts almost in a line going across the middle of the screen. It isn't constant, but it's distracting when it shows. I started playing a 1600x1200, but after a while, the display would would go wild with a bunch of triangle sections missing. I cut it down to the next level (1280x960) and it's been holding up other than the artifacts.

I suppose I'm trying to talk myself into a new card, but I'm wondering if the game will benefit that much from it.

Thanks,
--ED

drivendriver · Post by **drivendriver** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 5:18 pm

A 9700/9800 would allow you run the game at a higher frame rate (for a given resolution), or to enable FSAA with less of a performance hit.

However, although I haven't seen KOTOR on an 8500, I doubt that the game looks much better on a 9700 or 9800. I didn't notice any special effect in the game that 8500 can't do.

Concerning the line across the screen, are you sure that it's not just one of the Trinitron lines?

Concerning the "display going wild" at 1600x1200 with your 8500, are you overclocking your card (either the GPU or the memory)? What you're seeing probably comes from the fact that some vertex data is corrupted. This can be caused by overheating.

If you're not overclocking, then you should contact ATI and ask for a replacement. Your 8500 should be able to handle 1600x1200 without any corruption (at the factory speed anyway).

BTW, KOTOR uses OpenGL.

ultimate_ed · Post by **ultimate_ed** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:03 pm

Thanks for the reply. That's interesting to learn that KOTOR uses OpenGL. I had thought DirectX since the documentation prominently calls for DX9. That why I also figured that KOTOR would take advantage of DX9 features that I wouldn't be able to get with a DX8 card. Definitely some good info.

As for the line, it's definitely a digital artifact of some sort. I do have a flat screen with the Trintron lines and the artifact is up higher on the screen.

Is there a way to get a screen capture in the game? I could see about trying to document it.

The card is well beyond a warranty replacement anyway. My younger brother gave the card to me when he bought himself a 9800. It's served me well, although I haven't done much gaming with it.

drivendriver · Post by **drivendriver** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 10:34 am

Ed,

I don't know if there's a screen capture key in the game. To get a screenshot you can use fraps (http://www.fraps.com). The following should also work:

- Press the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard
- Exit the game
- Open Paint
- Choose "Paste" in the menu

Hope this helps.

BTW, I'm a bit biased, but the 9800, 9700 and even 9600 boards are all very good

ultimate_ed · Post by **ultimate_ed** » Sat Jan 03, 2004 1:42 pm

Thanks for the info on FRAPS, I'll have to check that out. For now, I was able to get a screen caputer using the print screen, paste into Paint trick. I did a quick edit in Photoshop to highlight the area. This time it's fairly minor. It's not consistent in its appearance (it almost seems like a shimmering effect) but it's always at that elevation from the bottom of the screen. Here's what it looks like:

http://home.houston.rr.com/edwardklein/kotor.jpg

The back pixels don't stand out as much in a straight screen shot, but they do catch my eye as I'm moving about.

I've never seen an effect like this in other games I've played.