Lowend Spec Laptop Working Well

For those asking or interested in just how low you can go and still get an acceptable experience, look no further.

Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9431)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
RAM: 3976MB RAM
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (Driver Version: 9.18.10.3200)
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Resolution: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Fantastic job Farsight! I was rather shocked to see this looking so great on such a low end machine. You've knocked it out of the park, the scaling you've done here is nothing short of phenomenal. Quite excited that I can play on my laptop or my gaming PC.

Wow, that's surprising. It's good to hear, but also shows there's lots of room for Farsight to push the graphics for those with high-end cards.

Frostyglitch said:

For those asking or interested in just how low you can go and still get an acceptable experience, look no further.

Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9431)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
RAM: 3976MB RAM
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (Driver Version: 9.18.10.3200)
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Resolution: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Fantastic job Farsight! I was rather shocked to see this looking so great on such a low end machine. You've knocked it out of the park, the scaling you've done here is nothing short of phenomenal. Quite excited that I can play on my laptop or my gaming PC.

Click to expand...

This is low-end??? Those specs make my laptop look like a darned Timex Sinclair!!! Sorry Farsight, no can do on the PC version, and I really thought I was going to be able to support it. Back to nexus 7 matters.......

That's not what I'd consider low-end at all. But I'm surprised the Intel HD gets along with TPA so well. The original Twilight Zone beta was completely unplayable on integrated graphics hardware.

The i5 is nice, but I consider any laptop with integrated graphics to be low-end for gaming.

Jeff Strong said:

The i5 is nice, but I consider any laptop with integrated graphics to be low-end for gaming.

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That's where I'm coming from exactly. This should give those folks with low end dedicated graphics cards hope that they don't have to build a new gaming rig just for TPA unless they want to. The difference between required and recommended goes a long ways on the budget. This laptop was $300 at Frys.

Once I get ahold of a demo I'll let you guys know how ot rins on a core 2 duo 2ghz with a radeon hd 2600 512mb.

This should set a decent low end benchmark

Great that it works well on Intel HD 4000, then TPA should be playable on a lot of computers.

My HTPC (first thing I could get it onto) is 1.6GHz Dual-Core and AMD Radeon HD6310. Runs great.

utblick said:

Great that it works well on Intel HD 4000, then TPA should be playable on a lot of computers.

Click to expand...

I hope so. Pinball FX2 is absolutely unplayable on mine.

rehtroboi40 said:

This is low-end??? Those specs make my laptop look like a darned Timex Sinclair!!!

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Ditto. I was a little shocked to see that OP's "lowend laptop" was a powerhouse next to mine, that I personally consider pretty up-to-date.

edit: It's not unlikely that my built in Radeon card will do a better job than an "Intel HD Graphics" though... I have no idea where any of those graphics card models stand compared to eachother, much less the laptop versions. Also, 1, 2 or 4 cpu cores will hardly make a difference at all for a game like TPA (I can't imagine anything they would or could use hardware multithreading for).

Yeah, again, it's only the integrated graphics that make it "low-end" for gaming.

Frostyglitch said:

For those asking or interested in just how low you can go and still get an acceptable experience, look no further.

Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9431)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
RAM: 3976MB RAM
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (Driver Version: 9.18.10.3200)
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Resolution: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Fantastic job Farsight! I was rather shocked to see this looking so great on such a low end machine. You've knocked it out of the park, the scaling you've done here is nothing short of phenomenal. Quite excited that I can play on my laptop or my gaming PC.

Click to expand...

utblick said:

Great that it works well on Intel HD 4000, then TPA should be playable on a lot of computers.

Click to expand...

rehtroboi40 said:

I hope so. Pinball FX2 is absolutely unplayable on mine.

Click to expand...

Frostyglitch said:

That's where I'm coming from exactly. This should give those folks with low end dedicated graphics cards hope that they don't have to build a new gaming rig just for TPA unless they want to. The difference between required and recommended goes a long ways on the budget. This laptop was $300 at Frys.

Click to expand...

I read this thread first thing this morning and boy it sure has bummed me out all day.

I guess and hope that TPA may work on this new computer that I paid way too much for.

I'm not sure that my Intel i3 3227u dual core with a 1.9 ghz processor and the intel 4000 graphics card will work well for playing TPA. Maybe the 6gb of Ram will help with processing.

MontanaFrank said:

I read this thread first thing this morning and boy it sure has bummed me out all day.

I guess and hope that TPA may work on this new computer that I paid way too much for.

I'm not sure that my Intel i3 3227u dual core with a 1.9 ghz processor and the intel 4000 graphics card will work well for playing TPA. Maybe the 6gb of Ram will help with processing.

Click to expand...

You can disregard my statement-i've just checked my laptop and saw, based on a post from mike (farsight) in the main pc forum that my computer meets the requirements for TPA. Only question now is whether and Intel mobile family chip set 4 series can handle it. We shall see......

I have a test PC running a dual-core Mobile Intel(R) Series 4 chipset with embedded GMA 4500MHD graphics adapter.
I get 60fps everywhere in PA except when a ball is rolling, where it drops to 35ish. Ball Physics processing time slows, however the rest of gameplay (emulation, etc) seems to continue at normal speed making the game unplayable. Is physics updates tied 1-to-1 to frame renders, or is it calculated based on elapsed time between frames?

KingNeptune said:

I have a test PC running a dual-core Mobile Intel(R) Series 4 chipset with embedded GMA 4500MHD graphics adapter.
I get 60fps everywhere in PA except when a ball is rolling, where it drops to 35ish. Ball Physics processing time slows, however the rest of gameplay (emulation, etc) seems to continue at normal speed making the game unplayable. Is physics updates tied 1-to-1 to frame renders, or is it calculated based on elapsed time between frames?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info-will not be getting the PC version now.

SteWieH said:

so i was looking around for the system requirements for the pc version of TPA but couldnt finding any. what are the current system requirements

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These quotes came from this thread: http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/5540-system-requirements

Mike Reitmeyer said:

Windows XP SP3 or newer.
GPU that supports DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 3.0
Most likely you will need a machine with 2GB of ram. Game doesn't require 2GB, but the OS and other apps use up RAM.

Click to expand...

Here's what I have for my computer:

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/25/2013, 20:00:13
Machine name: FRANK
Operating System: Windows 8 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (9200.win8_gdr.130531-1504)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire V5-471P
BIOS: V2.13
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3227U CPU @ 1.90GHz (4 CPUs), ~1.9GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 5940MB RAM
Page File: 3146MB used, 3753MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.02.9200.16384 64bit Unicode

It would seem that I have what I need for the computer version. I have Direct X 11 and I don't have any idea where to find the shader model for my computer. Any ideas from anyone? I am glad that they are going to put a test table on STEAM so we can all check out if we play the computer version or not.

Mike Reitmeyer said:

When we release on Steam there will be a demo version, so you can make sure your hardware works before buying.

Click to expand...

Hey Frank,

Shader models are determined by the version of DirectX you are running. Here for your convenience is a table listing the directX versions and the corresponding Shader Models:

Please note DirectX versions prior to DirectX 8.0 do not support shader models
• DirectX 8.0 - Shader Model 1.0 & 1.1
• DirectX 8.0a - Shader Model 1.3
• DirectX 8.1 - Shader Model 1.4
• DirectX 9.0 - Shader Model 2.0
• DirectX 9.0a - Shader Model 2.0a
• DirectX 9.0b - Shader Model 2.0b
• DirectX 9.0c - Shader Model 3.0
• DirectX 10.0* - Shader Model 4.0
• DirectX 10.1* - Shader Model 4.1
• DirectX 11.0* - Shader Model 5.0
• DirectX 11.1*† - Shader Model 5.0
*Not available for Windows XP OS
†Only available for Windows 8 OS

Timelord ...

Thanks Timelord for the info. My computer then fits the requirements and will patiently wait until the demo is put up on Steam to see if my computer can truly run this game.

If anyone wants to know where the cut off is for TPA not working I have found it, TPA ver 0.014 will play anywhere from 14 - 30 FPS on most tables. Some of the older ones with very little play field art, transparency, or overdraw are better. It's funny that Space Shuttle plays better than Genie.