14 replies to this topic

[SirFuzzi]

First, let me foreword by apologizing if this is the wrong area to post this.

I'm running this game on a laptop with Windows Vista. I've got more than enough capability to run it, I'd think... I'm running in compatibility mode, but it's still being slow as molasses when more than 7~ characters are on screen at once or if there's a particularly big sprite of some sort (doors mainly). It lags really badly, giving me trouble clicking buttons to leave menus at times if things are particularly bad. I can, however, disable the software transparency, resulting in some very bad graphical issues (the gears of the clock in the lower left being... 'beside' their allotted window, all items have a black 'box' around them, spells' animations are rather glitchy)... I'd like not to have to play the game suffering a visual disaster, though. I've determined it's not my computer itself (in terms of power or overheating, at least). So, I've come to ask one of two things, situation dependent.

1) Will this fix patch help the slowdown issues associated with faster machines?

or, if not,

2) Then how, by the blasted planes of Baator, do I get this game to run smoothly, and (ideally) without graphical error?

[badger]

I think it might be helpful if you could provide the gfx card info of your laptop, as from my own experience you can play the game perfectly on vista, even without using the compatibility mode. Some of the newer cards are known to be lacking drivers that fully support torment.

Try GhostDog's pst ui mod and see if it improves things.

[SirFuzzi]

Well, I tried, and tried to get the widescreen mod and both gave me an error on attempt of installation.

According to my computer, "Up to 1535 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS TurboCache", and I have 3 gigs of RAM.

I'm pissed at this... you'd think a top-end computer wouldn't have trouble playing an old game. For all the 'wonders' these new computers work, they sure suck at what they used to be good at.

Edited by SirFuzzi, 01 January 2009 - 09:01 PM.

[Qwinn]

Well, I tried, and tried to get the widescreen mod and both gave me an error on attempt of installation.

You did try to install the Widescreen mod first, before ghostdog's UI, yes? That order is required.

You shouldn't be having installation issues. Odds are you're doing something out of order or whatnot.

Qwinn

[ghostdog]

SirFuzzi, what kind of errors did you get? As Quinn said the widescreen mod must be installed before my UI and you must choose one of the 1280x800 / 1280x768 / 1280x1024 resolutions as only these are supported by my UI. You should check if the resolution is supported by your laptop, I believe 1280x768 is the one that is best suited for laptops, but it may depend on what size is your screen. I would also strongly recommend you to install the Fixpack, it may not help with the performance problems but it resolves many other problems and bugs.

The problems you mentioned are probably because of your nvidia card, since newer nvidia cards are known to have issues with Torment. There have been reports that my UI helps with the game performance, but you should also check this thread and see if any of the tweaks help you. http://www.shsforums...showtopic=30840

[SirFuzzi]

The errors I got:


Your game is not currently supported, sorry.
Only ToB (eventually with Tutu), TotSC, IWD2 and HoW currently work.
FAILURE:
Unsupported game.

BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [C:\Program Files\Black Isle\Torment/MOVIES4.BIF]
BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [./cache/MOVIES4.BIF]
BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [F:\CD5\/MOVIES4.cbf]
BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [F:\CD4\/MOVIES4.cbf]
BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [F:\CD3\/MOVIES4.cbf]
BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [F:\CD2\/MOVIES4.cbf]
BIFF may be in hard-drive CD-path [F:\CD1\/MOVIES4.cbf]

...that BIFF one got displayed over and over again. I'm suspecting it's because of a directory error somewhere, but my directory is just C:\Program Files\Black Isle\Torment, so...

And, thanks for all this help! It is hugely appreciated! I've been butting horns with this problem for a couple days now, it's nice to know I might be reaching a solution.

[taplonaplo]

i suppose F: is your cd drive, you need a full installation of torment: http://www.bootstrik...nline/tti1.html (which is mentioned in the readme of the widescreen mod btw)

Edited by taplonaplo, 02 January 2009 - 10:29 AM.

[ghostdog]

I think you get this error because you haven't made a full install of the game before installing the widescreen mod. This is a requirement only for PST and it's easy not to see this in the widescreen readme. I also mention it in my readme though. It's better to do a full install anyway to avoid disc swapping and have better loading times. The full install requires to copy all cd's in your hard drive, see instructions on how to do this here.

If you have made a full install then there must be some other issue with the widescreen mod, check the widescreen mod forum

edit: tap beat me to it

Edited by ghostdog, 02 January 2009 - 10:38 AM.

[SirFuzzi]

Ahh... was not aware that a 'full install' was not granted by the autorun install! Thanks for the tip, let's see if this fixes it tickety-boo.

EDIT: Okay, I tried, but I still get errors. I read the FAQ, and I have an install from the CD; what, at this point, can I do to fix this, then? (I'd rather not report my game version)

Edited by SirFuzzi, 02 January 2009 - 12:47 PM.

[ghostdog]

Have you made a new full install from scratch and then tried to install the widescreen mod? It would be better to uninstall the game, delete all folders and then re-install it.

[SirFuzzi]

My CDs are too far-gone in scratched-ness to work, it seems... I tried copying but it's not working. I guess my option is to buy a new set of disks.

Ah well. Any alternatives in the meantime? I reinstalled from my disk (from the disk 1, anyways) and it coughed up the same error.

[SirFuzzi]

-prepares the riot shield-

Well, I found the source of the installation problem. Turns out, I hadn't patched.

I will now accept all tossings, launchings, throwings and otherwise projecting of any rotting or rotten fruits, vegetables or hunks of meat.

But, seriously, thanks for all the other info (full install, mods). A great help!

Edit: But, after all that, I still have transparency effect problems (all items have big black blocks behind them), and turning on the software transparency causes the game to slow down horribly. Any ideas here?

Edited by SirFuzzi, 03 January 2009 - 09:07 AM.

[Tolknaz]

The following thread describes your situation quite accurately:
http://www.shsforums...showtopic=30840
I'm on the same boat myself since i own a Nvidia card too. In short, there is no good way at the moment to play IE games that don't support 3D acceleration. Complaining to Nvidia is the only thing that can change this.

[SirFuzzi]

How do I enter windowed mode? The one guy mentioned it eliminated the problems, for him.

[taplonaplo]

open torment.ini
find

Full Screen=1

change it to 0