System reqs doubled for nightfall?

I just had a look on the nightfall box, and compared it with the other two.

Prophecies:
Minimum:
Pentium III 800mhz
256 MB ram
ATI 8500 or geforce 3/4 with 32mb VRAM

Recommended:
Pentium III 1 ghz
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9000 or Geforce Ti 64 MB VRAM

Factions: Exactly the same as prophecies

Nightfall:

Minimum:
Pentium III 1ghz
512 mb ram
Radeon 8500 64MB Vram

Recommended:
pentium IV 2ghz
1GB Ram
Radeon 9600, geforce 5700

As you can see, the minimum and recommended system specs are nearly doubled for nightfall. Can we expect better graphics now? I didn't notice anything that could need more system resources in the preview event.

It's the new shaders and lighting effects. Don't think they were totally finished with them during the preview, but the login screeen shows a lot of the newer effects with the fire "waving" the air around it and the water looking more like water.

Yes, noticed the increase in specs too, fortunatly I just bought myself a new pc, so I cannot be troubled to much by it

If you have a computer that is well beyond those recommended, you probably won't notice a difference.

I couldn't imagine playing the game on the minimum...

Meh - I'm ready, could use an upgrade though.

if you have a computer that is that close to the specs that you are worried...you have other problems

plus the specs are probably for the lighting and shaders...which all can be disabled

There is per pixal lighting, character's mouth's now animate in sync with
speech, and apparently some other tweaks here and there..

I hope to see the engine grow!, it will definatly have to continue to develop as obviously we are going to expect better and better graphic's as release's go on.

Just upgraded my alienware with a new 512mb 7800 card, though I could use another gig of memory just to be certain xD

Hmm Factions had the same reqs than Prophecy, however I felt a change. I was playing Prophecy with the minimum req before Factions with no lag except when I had to load a map (but the lag was gone after). When Factions came out, it became REALLY laggy for both campaigns, not just Factions, and actually it was hardly playable. I upgraded my RAM since, but I'm affraid it's going to be laggy again for me with NF, for all 3 campaigns (I have 768Mb of RAM atm).

If you still have an older computer, you can try running it with the -dx8 command line option. The DirectX 8 renderer seems to be a lot less demanding, but you won't get most of the postprocess effects and stuff. Worth a try, if performance is really bothering you.

My computer is just like the Recommended specs, but just a faster cpu. But i'm fcked for the next chapter.. better start scrapping up some money.. -.-

There's a slight chance GW will not work fantastically on my computer so therefor could you tell a little more about that option? Where it is,etc.

Oh great, I'm gonna need a new video card. -.-

I'm not too worried about not necessarily meeting the recommended on my laptop...I don't mind it running at a lower amount of detail...

Huh? Gotta love silly people who live in their own world.
My only concern is my graphics card, and its done just fine chp1 & chp2.
Chp3 I'm getting a little worried but we'll see what happens.

I just love the fact I've been able to enjoy the game WITHOUT going nuts on cards, new PC - the game looks just find to me as it stands. But yeah my older geoforce 2 ultra is getting taxed, meanwhile it doesn't make a lot of sense to upgrade. PCI Express is here and I'd be buying an AGP card...

But yeah I might end up needing to look for a reasonable AGP upgrade in the interim :b

I have the 512MB, HD space, my P4 is fine.
But yeah now I'm close - I have other problems with a half a meg of RAM?
My graphics card, memory, processor do what I want to date.
If I have problems now though it'll be chp3 upping the ante.
I'm not a fan of games [regularly] making me upgrade - one reason I play a lot on consoles.

Anyways I'm not too worried about it but thanks OP for the heads up...!

Glad GW is moving with the times and improving its graphics, ive never fancied WoW as it still looks like 2001.

I'm guessing just in your shortcut for the game add -dx8 to it, might be a question to the order though if you use other options. Hmm I might be on board there as well

Wait though what's the deal here, their own weblink shows the old reqs... getting a little cheesed:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/faq/nightfall-faq.php at the bottom

What are the minimum and recommended system specifications for Guild Wars Nightfall?

Minimum System Specs:

Windows XP/2000/ME/98
Intel Pentium III 800 MHz or equivalent
256 MB RAM
CD-ROM Drive
3 GB Available HDD Space
ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX Series Video Card with 32MB of VRAM
16-bit Sound Card
Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse
Recommended System Specs:

Windows XP/2000
Intel Pentium III 1GHz or equivalent
512 MB RAM
CD-ROM Drive
4 GB Available HDD Space
ATI Radeon 9000 or GeForce 4 Ti Series Video Card with 64MB of VRAM
16-bit Sound Card
Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse


...So here I am and my 32MB RAM card has limped along OK (tho FPE/some Nightfall stuff did seem to make it chop a bit more) - per the web FAQ it's business as usual. This an ANET bait and switch?

they already implemented some new graphics for the current chapters.

and just to make a point- it is amazing how low the requirements are for this, I think people are forgetting about just about any other new game coming out and what the average req.specs of most new games these days are.

Im not saying anything about older computers vs new computers, but the fact that even the pvp is totally playable on a 64mb gpu and a modem is amazing compared to other modern games.

and just for the record, I was completely happy most of last year with my old 64bit gforce card... but I am much much happier now with my (sapphire) x1600 512mb it was cheap too, and I didnt have to get a new motherboard (i dont have pci-e) I dont want to try and sell you one, but if anyone is seriously in the market for a higher-end agp card check out x1600pro, x800gto, and similar cards...(for ATI, Im no guru on nvidia) what you need to pay attention to is the core and memory speeds dont ever buy a card simply for what it's advertised RAM is... if you are looking for a good card, dont buy one without consulting technical forums and asking around... and get opinions from a few sources. There are also websites that show comparisons of FPS wit different cards for different games. (( example, a 256mb card with 64bit bus size is going to give you less than a 128mb card with a 128bit bus))

Back to GuildWars, I really think the graphics are amazing compared to what it takes to run them, we should be thanking anet that the 'recommended' is not the 'minimum' because it could have easily been so. They really did make a game that just about anyone with a (5+ year old) computer can play.

I bet that its on ANET's end. The more people that play, the bigger the capacity has to get or things will continue to bog down.

QFT



Guild Wars has the lowest system requirements of any game with graphics that are on par with it. There are many games out there that require beefier systems and offer less graphically, when it comes right down to it the new requirements and recomendations are probably what most people are running already. As it's been stated in this thread, anyone whos system can't handle the new graphics could easily use the DX8 rendering and enjoy the game just as much. However ArenaNet is keeping their engine up to date, a fact that all the fans with decent gaming rigs are probably thankful for, I know I am.

I can understand the hesitation to drop a new AGP video card into a machine, when the same chipset can get up to or perhaps more than 50% improvement just comparing the PCI-X and AGP flavors. I recently had a dying video card that was causing me all sorts of headaches, rather than buying a new card I upgraded Mobo, CPU, memory since I decided to go with AM2, all basically so I could get a PCI Express video card... We're at an interesting point in the gaming timeline, right now the hardware (can be built to where it) exceeds the needs of most games, instead of having resolutions and graphic options that the average player can't currently take advantage of, many games are playable today with the highest settings on a mid range gaming system (I.E. not a dual 7950 SLI setup with 4GB 800mhz DDR2, something more like a 7600 with 1-2gb memory). While this situation never lasts long (new games tend to take advantage of new technology, and DX10 is around the corner), it does make it questionable as to whether or not an upgrade should be postponed (possible so that you can start out with Vista, or a quad core, or the next video card generation comes out, whatever) or if it's viable in todays market to pick up a machine for a reasonable price with a lot of upgrade potential. If I hadn't had a dying video card, I might still be postponing my upgrade myself, in the hope of building a better system at a similar price point. However Guild Wars provides options for Anet's customers, whether they're running a top of the line system, or trying to run their current system until something dies.

There is no shortage of games that are virtually unplayable with their minimum system specs, Guild Wars can provide a nice gameplay experience whether you're using brand new or aging hardware. I would say that this is less bait and switch than it is Anet keeping their promises (of updating the graphics engine) and providing additional graphical content to it's fanbase with PCs that can support it.