snowcrash

released next friday (02/08/2002)

amazon and play have it for sale on pre-order for 26 quid

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Unfortunatly I don't believe that it is going to be released then

I can't find any other sites at all that state that release date


Anyone else have any info on this?


Cheers,

Nick

DazV

I knew they've been saying it was imminent about a month ago.

The benchmark demo based on the engine has been released to hardware sites such as anandtech

It wouldn't surprised me if it appeared this month.

ChrisS/P1

Amazon.co.uk still say the 2nd, Play.com have moved their date back by a week to the 9th August.
Basically, it's out when it's out.

ptholt

have to say im really unimpressed with it and not enjoying it at all

much more like quake 3 in some ways which was also a poor game imo.

hurts me to say it as an fps nut, but im just not keen with what ive seen / played

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

The UT2003 benchmark has been with the HW sites for a while now tho....... a technology benchmark is not necessarily anywhere near having a complete game ready for release mate.

Just my opinion

Edited to say that I loved Quake 3 Team Arena to bits, way more then normal Q3.

[Edited by Mr Footlong - 7/24/2002 8:41:45 PM]

[Edited by Mr Footlong - 7/24/2002 8:42:54 PM]

DazV

Agreed Mr Footlong. I remember one of the sites saying the main game was about a 1month away. They were feature complete and polishing it.

-DV

PS: Trust dodgy PT HOLT to have a bleedin' copy.

ptholt

I was feeling knackered the first time i tried this, so have tried it again last night for about 3-4 hours.

Opinion is still the same unfortunately.

Single player you create a team and one of three team games in a little league scenario (cant find a 'deathmatch' style option anywhere!!).

have a few gripes that ive come across :-

1. graphics - kinda looks a little like your playing in widescreen as things seem short and fat (like me ) could be the res im playing at (800x600) but there is a reason for this <see performance below>. Also the weapons, the weapons 'points', items around a level - boxes etc look like they've come from quake 3....

2. bots - am playing on 'vanilla' settings and its like taking on the arnie & rambo! The bots have an uncanny ability to 'know' when your round a corner and i've walked into countless rockets/shots etc, very annoying. Also there accuracy is incredible!
they seem able to hit me across a massive space when they are but dots on the horizon, whereas im finding you have to be pinpoint accurate to be able to hit them (this could have been due to being tired again)

3. Weapons - Not keen on what they've done to some of the weps, bio canon was never a fave, now its just worse. Flak cannon seems 'weedier' tho does look better, lightning gun (quake again!) is pretty dire, MASSIVE reload times between shots with this one. Rocket launcher is now a three shot rather than six (which was always fun).

4. Performance - Im running an athlon 2.2 512 meg ram, 7200 hdd and a geforce 3 ti500 and at anything ABOVE 800x600 its unplayable on the DEFAULT settings after installation. Texturing is set to normal, frame rate 30, not many things are set to 'high' but in 1024x768 i can't even rotate on the spot without lagging out.

Have to say i've been more than a little disapointed with this one, have a sneaky feeling that someone else has coded this and is just selling it under the same name, wouldnt surprise me if this game comes out BEFORE it gets reviewed and you know what that normally means.

Edited to say, this is 95% finished and is some weeks old, a release soon is on the cards.

[Edited by ptholt - 7/25/2002 8:59:10 AM]

DazV

They do say this UT2003 benchmark based on the game's engine is the first real app to really stress the new breed of 3D cards.

You can expect the situation to get worse by Christmas when Doom III will be using 12 texture passes. Carmack has said the new part from ATI (R300) and NVidia (NV30) can do this in a SINGLE cycle and will have an obvious performance advantage.

-DV

ChrisB

What's a GF 3 Ti500? 6 to 8 months old?

Kinda takes the **** IMO.

DominicA

Pete, have you played the instant game option??? DM practice type?

ptholt

Didnt try the instant game game Dom, just assumed it would be the same but without the team managing bits and pieces etc, will try that tonight.

DominicA

aha, i tried all the other games, thought nah, don't like it, then clicked the instant one by chance and low and behold!!!!! UT

DominicA

start off with the tree-tops kinda map!!!

ChrisS/P1

The first map is pants (i.e when you click on play new game).
The instant action maps work much better.
I've got a 600Mhz P3, with 256Mb and a GF2MX400 64Mb, and it is near enough playable on 800X600.
Bearing in mind this version is unfinished, and may well have a load of debug code in it, I'm definetly getting it (whenever it may come out).

DominicA

4 Pete

a straight gf3 with 64Mb, Athlon 1.33 and 512ddr and 1024*768*32 with everything on was fine.....

now have a 4400 and 1280*1024*32 is the nuts.....

MarkO

All these gripes about performance. FFS, the game's not even out yet!!!

Think about it - people still play UT today, and how long's the game been out? 3 (or is it 4) years? Consider the h/w you needed to run it originally.

You guys have got used to running UT at 1280x1024x32 with all the detail on and still getting 60+fps. Consider the hardware you'll be running in 8-12 months' time, and how good UT2003 will look then.

Okay, so it might be a bit jerky and you might have to run at 800x600 until you next upgrade? So what? I play UT on my 633Mhz Crusoe laptop (with an ATI 4MB gfx card) on the train, and at 800x600 with medium/low detail I probably get about 25fps - maybe 30 on a simple map. But I still *love* playing it - it's not boring yet.

ptholt

trust me its not 'a bit jerky', a bit jerky i can cope with.
freezing for a few seconds every time i turn or move forward i cant.
I would agree with you if i was trying it on full detail and texture settings, unfortunately im not.

ChrisS/P1

There must be something seriously wrong with your PC, as my 600Mhz piece of crap with a GF2 can cope with it at 800x600.

ptholt

works ok on full detail on gp4.......

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

I too can vouch for Mr Holt's machine being in tip top condition config-wise, as I built it!

He is running an Epox 8K3A motherboard, 512 or 768mb PC2100 DDR, My old Hercules Gf3 Ti500, sb live!, 7200rpm ata100 drives, XP Pro and hopefully pretty upto date detonator drivers.
I thought that it was running a XP2100, but he might have changed again. The hardware (mobo, RAM, VGA etc) are all set as optimally as they can be on this board, so it is pretty rapid.

In the master Nvidia display options, you have got anti-aliasing disabled still pete?
If so, in the version of UT2003 that you have, are there any anti-aliasing options available. Anti-aliasing will completely kill your UT2003 performance. Probably won't be it, but a pretty damn good candidate for graphics speed slowing nowadays.


Cheers,

Nick

DazV

Ah Mr Footlong, that explains it. Pete's running a GF3 Ti500 which has been overclocked to the point of death.

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Er no, ********. He doesn't overclock anything mate

DazV

Hehe, you misunderstand numb-albeitsmaller-nuts - YOU DID!! As you state, its your old card, DOH!




Just kidding, I'm sure its in tip-top condition!

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

I don't really bother with overclocking graphics cards mate. Too much risk for too little gain really. The Ti was mine for only about 3 months before I went onto a 4600

Now CPU's are a different matter.....

I don't overclock other's machines in any way at all really....
Only ever ramped the GPU's up to see what results could be got on 3dmark, then drop them back down again

Cheers,

Nick

RichiW

I`m running an 1800XP O/C`d to 1663mhz and a GF4 4200, my 3DMark score is 9489.

I have to play in 800x600 medium everything, anything more and its not nice at all frame rate wise

Rich.

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

This is beginning to sound like a nightmare....

I downloaded a Trailer for UT 2003 from America today and it did seem to play slooooow on the demo too

Richi, I am only doing about 10800 on my 4600 mate on a 2.2g northwood (nothing overclocked). Once I finally get all of the watercooling parts from the U.S, I will be kicking 3g, but I don't think that is going to make much difference by the sounds of it.

I placed a pre-order at game on Friday, as they seem to believe too that UT is coming out on Friday. We shall see.....

Cheers,

Nick



[Edited by Mr Footlong - 7/28/2002 10:16:56 PM]

DominicA

just wondering what version of the demo build you're all running?? i've been running 927 on a 1.33 Athlon with 512DDR and a GF4 4400 and 1024*768 at FULL detail everything on, is great...

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Amazon have changed their date to 18th October 2002 and I have heard this elsewhere between the 18th-25th of October.

They may surprise us, but I doubt it......


Cheers,

Nick

RichiW

Mine is build 147 IIRC.

Just checked again, and i`ve actually got everything turned ON at 800x600, with texture detail set to MEDIUM and coronas OFF.

Rich