On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Rokenn Swiftsong wrote:

> >From: John Kim <kim@...>
>
> >The worst are are effect spells. Those will drop my Celeron
> >450 with Voodoo3 card (overclocked to 3000 speed) to about 2
> >frames per second, even at low particle density.
>
> This is why I have taken to turning particle density OFF in a large group
> and always tell my group members they should too. I have a PIII-450 with a
> Viper 770 and 256MB of ram and I still get massive lag in caster heavy
> battles. The only problem with PD being off is that many songs and spells
> give no visual clue. Verant should make it so there is something, even a
> little glow. As it is I have to pay very close attention to the text
> messages in battle to weave well, it can get very tedious.

Yup, that's why I leave it on low. If I'm busy charming or
mesmerizing or raising everyone's resist, I have to know
whether or not my party needs me to chain as well, and I
usually can't tell if I can't see the root graphic effects
swirling around the mob.

Since you have a 770 (TNT2, right?), can I ask what card you
had before, and how you feel about the performance of the 770?
I'm thinking of upgrading from my Voodoo3 to a TNT2 card.
The V3 speed is very nice, but the color banding is obvious
and I think it's a bit slow with the heavy spell effects. The
spell effects don't seem to lag the card as badly in glide
mode, but framerate is a bit slower and the banding is even
worse.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...