Double client buildup of the graphics engine

[Metafly7]

Everyone by now knows that you guys at FC dont wanna drop those people with old computers but i for one would most likely be waiting to update my pc (read buy a new one) untill the requirements for the new graphics engine client are out there.

So this thread is about two things:

One; Do people share this with me and just buy new computers when the new engine hits or are there really people out there who dont have that oppurtunity if and when that time comes?

Two; If the answer to the above comes out without anyone objecting, wouldnt you guys wanna send out a sort of survey, either within game with the new ingame store in place or something or through mails, to see if that really is the mentality that people follow?

Because if the answer to this is indeed that everyone will update their machines, then it would make up for a lot of timeloss on making the "old" client work. Time possible to spend on the "new" client instead.

Anyways just wondering, since thats sort of my sentiment towards this

Feel free to flame if im really saying something stupid

[Arriviste]

Somewhere here in the forums it was clarified by FC that the old engine would remain available to those who need it. If I have time to track down the exact statement, I'll add it here.

It's probably not the only place that it's been mentioned, but I found a reference to both clients being available after the new engine is released: link.

[Metafly7]

Ive read that too, but if theres no1 who will need it in the future then its kind of a waste of time. I imagine that they base their information about peoples computers on the computer checks they sent out a few years ago. Those would show clearly how everything is now but not how it would be if they were to switch to higher requirements. Would ppl want to play the game top notch or would they really pick for the older client? Sort of the question, im wondering if this is how it works, i dont mean to say that they should stop working on the client. Merely if it proves no1 would use it

[Redbar]

It's been suggested a few times that the new engine should actually run better than the old one on pretty much any hardware bought new in the last ~5 years (more or less due to the newer directx). The most likely candidates I see for running the old engine would be those few people using wine to run AO on linux or macosx (which is very clearly not a supported configuration).

[Honorbound]

1. By the time the "new" engine comes out, it will be at least 5-6 years old (maybe even older, I'm too lazy to look up when AoC was launched ) so it will most likely give acceptable performance on hardware around the same age even if it received some upgrades in the meantime. And even if you are not the "I always must have the newestest rig in the block" kind of guy (which I'm definitely not either, my previous system was nearly 8 years old when I finally decided to buy a new one, which is 1.5 years old now and I'm planning to use it for another 2-3 years at least, longer if possible), upgrading your system once in every 5-6 years sounds reasonable.

2. It was said that the old and the new client will be working alongside each other exactly because of this, to not reduce the population of the game even furher by locking out players with older system that may have difficulties running the new client.

3. The "new" engine is supposed to be quite scalable, so at the expense of turning off some of the "high end" visual features (antialiasing, godrays and dynamic shadows/lighting are usually amongst the most GPU intensive effects), it should run well on older systems. And if you have an option to scale it back to a previous Dx API level (eg. Dx8.1 instead of Dx9, which is an available option even in some relatively recent render engine generations), then it will run even on 8+ years old systems to begin with.

Disclaimer: I don't now the specs, system requirements and config options AoC offers regarding visual/rendering quality, so someone who has access to that game could give us a small overview of how scalable it is and how does it work performance-wise.

[Otansaanpas]

I'm too lazy to look up when AoC was launched

what does AoCs launch has to do with AOs coming engine which is based on TSW?

[DocJones]

Hi, i am a Mac.

I think i am somewhat required to keep the old engine up an running. Possibly the new engine will run with WINE, but i dont count on it too much...

[Metafly7]

Then there we have it ^^

And yeh Honorbound, im currently running a PC from 2003 myself could actually be even older than that. Im not a very likely person to change my PC either, mostly prolly because i just dont play games other than this.

Anyways theres people going to be needing the second client then with a fair ammount of chance so then this discussion is pretty much nailed

[DocJones]

It's not as if we can influence the decision to keep or disband the old client in any form or shape. Experience has shown that FC does what FC wants, not what the playerbase or part of it suggests.

Ok, that was not meant to come around snappish....

[Dagget]

They have said they will run both old and new clients side-by-side. For how long remains to be seen. Eve Online did exactly the same thing a few years ago, running parallel clients for about 18 months.

The engine is the same used for Age of Conan and, most likely, The Secret World and is continually updated; as they have indicated they want a unified graphics engine across all their MMO's. It got a major overhaul put into place in March which improved visuals overall but which also had the negative effect of reducing fps on a variety of less-than-cutting-edge hardware. AoC went from 'reasonably playable' to 'not playable fps' on lots of laptops and modern PC's using integrated graphics. I suspect the engine flavor being bolted into AO will be far less of a strain on graphics subsystems due to not having to support DX10 and the 'lighter' texture loads from AO assets.

.

[Xkeeper]

Considering FC refers the new engine as "The New Engine Client" And the fact that the engine comes from AC and AC Has or had two clients..

Im pretty sure FC will release a client for the new engine and a client for the old one

[Dagget]

Considering FC refers the new engine as "The New Engine Client" And the fact that the engine comes from AC and AC Has or had two clients

AC? You mean AoC? It has had exactly one graphics engine(Dreamworld), which has had one major, and numerous minor updates. The current AO engine will continue as the 'old' AO client once the newer Dreamworld engine (ported directly from AoC) goes live.

[omegahealer]

AoC has 2 clients, depending on DX version you wanna run the game in... but that may very well no longer be the case.

[Sithark]

Never bought/upgraded a new hardware to play a game. Never will. No point spending 1000-2000 euro on a new PC, when you can do the rest of what you doing with the PC except play AO. I would most probably quit AO instead. Or freeze account's till i realy (not to play games only) need new hardware.

[Legion84]

to be honest i think the new engine would probobly work on any pc anyone is using now that plays AO, i don't know that for sure but, if your computer is at least less then 6 years old and was decent back then i shouldn't see why it wont, i'm running dual core, with 2gb ram ddr2 and a 8800gtx i built 4years or so ago and i'm sure it will run the new engine smoothly and better then what it does the current engine.. sure if it's a little less spec than mine you might have to turn some of the graphics down, take of AA and stuff but it still proboblies run smoother and look better than what it does now...

On another note it would be nice to see some fresh material on the engine update, a video walking through some of the new areas that have changed the most, i don't think the whole game has had a new make over mainly the most important areas like bore, tir and omni ent? and then they might be adding to other playfields in time ? as they just want a stable engine that works.. but that is pure speculation...

[Ixal]

The engine itself will run a lot more smoothly on modern hardware, but since they're also increasing texture resolution to current MMO standards and replacing models it might bog down old machines badly even on low settings.

Rule of thumb, If you're currently running AO on medium or less, you probably need to replace your computer since you won't be able to handle the shaders and updated textures even on low settings. I mean.. There's no reason at all to do anything with a 10 year old computer setup. Aside from explosives and fun times.

[Demoder]

1. By the time the "new" engine comes out, it will be at least 5-6 years old (maybe even older, I'm too lazy to look up when AoC was launched ) so it will most likely give acceptable performance on hardware around the same age even if it received some upgrades in the meantime. And even if you are not the "I always must have the newestest rig in the block" kind of guy (which I'm definitely not either, my previous system was nearly 8 years old when I finally decided to buy a new one, which is 1.5 years old now and I'm planning to use it for another 2-3 years at least, longer if possible), upgrading your system once in every 5-6 years sounds reasonable.

Last I heard they're using the same engine as AoC was upgrading to earlier this year, in an effort to keep all their products on the same platform.