Thief: Deadly Shadows System Specifications

[grafixmonkey]

LOL gorman...

Well Windows XP and 2000 do have many things about them that are so different from 98 that it would cause a problem. Users, for one. The way users work is different, and games are starting to store your game settings as part of your windows user settings. So if a computer is shared, you can have different resolutions, graphics settings, and key bindings for your user than, say, for your sister's. Then there's the NTFS file system, which may actually be the biggest thing because it supports pretty much any drive size. Win98 is limited to either FAT (maximum size is 2GB, not enough to store T: DS) or FAT32, which has enough storage if you use that filesystem, but having win98 does not directly imply that you have fat32 unless the person who installed windows chose fat32. (You can see the source of this info *here*.)

XP also has a different directory structure than 98 and ME, putting user profiles in 'Documents And Settings' instead of in the windows directory, as I think I remember 98 doing the one time I attempted to have multiple users on it. And it has slightly different rules for hardware and software access than 98.

Could also be because of some little-known features of XP, like being able to "relocate" certain special folders, like put your "My Documents" folder on the G:\ drive to have it protected by a RAID system, something that supposedly caused crashes in Deus Ex 2 if you'd done it.

anyway, those might be a few reasons for the XP requirement. I'm not quite sure why most games would be compatible with both but specifically not T: DS, but maybe it was a "mostly" compatible situation like in DX:IW, where if you did certain things in one OS or another the game would barf. (or maybe Lord Gates put a little bit of funding into the team, like Gorman says, hehe)

[RedLegg]

Originally posted by Gorman Truart
You know what really chaps my ass, though? Most computers have 98 on em. 98 SE, or 2000 tops, but there aren't many of the last. I have to format mine and reinstall XP, and I THINK everything else is satisfactory. I also THOUGHT my machine was toppa the line.

This ain't nothin but pure and simple, old-fashioned Communism! Happens everytime those Microsoft Freaks start poontangin around with the law!

Hail to the Gates, the Chief Thief.

Regarding the "most computers have 98 on em." claim you assert. I offer this as a rebuttal:

Windows Version

XP SP 1 (Build 2600) 538,960 56.32 %
XP (Build 2600) 231,572 24.20 %
98 SE 60,008 6.27 %
2000 SP 4 (Build 2195) 53,180 5.56 %
Me 31,255 3.27 %
2000 SP 3 (Build 2195) 8,238 0.86 %
2000 (Build 2195) 7,908 0.83 %
98 7,248 0.76 %
XP Dodatek SP. 1 (Build 2600) 4,938 0.52 %
2000 SP 2 (Build 2195) 4,845 0.51 %
XP Szervizcsomag 1 (Build 2600) 2,328 0.24 %
(Build 3790) 2,260 0.24 %
XP SP 2, v.2096 (Build 2600) 944 0.10 %
2000 SP 1 (Build 2195) 902 0.09 %
XP SP 2, v.2055 (Build 2600) 489 0.05 %
95 432 0.05 %
XP SP 2, v.2082 (Build 2600) 425 0.04 %
XP SP 2 (Build 2600) 190 0.02 %
NT version 4.0 SP 5 (Build 1381) 137 0.01 %
XP SP 1, v.1151 (Build 2600) 94 0.01 %
Other 547 0.06 %

Source - http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

[prjames]

Based on those numbers:

89.35% of Steam users are XP & 2000 users
6.27% use 98SE
3.27% use ME

Based on the formula
(old+added)/(old), I conclude (if y'all want to increase sales):

Patch T: DS to support 98SE, and increase your PC sales 7%

Patch T: DS to support 98SE and ME, and increase your PC sales 11%

(Something for Eidos to think about after ship )

(I assume the earlier 3% number you quoted included expected X-Box sales)

- prjames

[Salvage]

AHEM


Not supported doesn't mean it wont work. It just means that if you have problems don't go asking EIDOS or ION for help.

Many Windows programs run under Linux through Wine, but the developers surely don't support that.

[LeatherMan]

Originally posted by Salvage
Not supported doesn't mean it wont work. It just means that if you have problems don't go asking EIDOS or ION for help.

Many Windows programs run under Linux through Wine, but the developers surely don't support that.

There are several games that have been natively ported to Linux but are not "officially" supported. One example being UT2004 where they proudly display the Linux (and Mac) logo on their System Specs page while their Support page says:

Windows 98
Windows 2000
Windows Me
Windows XP

If your platform is not mentioned above, this product is unsupported on your system at this time.

The game works under Linux, but they offer no guarantee of success (Epic/Atari has offered Linux patches in the past (for UT2003) so they do support Linux ultimately).

So, it is very likely that Thief: DS will work perfectly fine under Win98SE/Me, Eidos/ISA just won't guarantee success.

[RedLegg]

Originally posted by prjames
Based on those numbers:

89.35% of Steam users are XP & 2000 users
6.27% use 98SE
3.27% use ME

Based on the formula
(old+added)/(old), I conclude (if y'all want to increase sales):

Patch T: DS to support 98SE, and increase your PC sales 7%

Patch T: DS to support 98SE and ME, and increase your PC sales 11%

(Something for Eidos to think about after ship )

(I assume the earlier 3% number you quoted included expected X-Box sales)

- prjames

The 3% refers to the number of likely customers that would purchase Thief in the 11% of the total market share. The cost involved in continued development (not to mention the human cost which after 14 months of crunching is hard to calculate) for such low "pontential" figure doesn't seem to make clear business sense.

Xbox sales are not factored at all, since that version will work on all Xbox units. Thank goodness.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by RedLegg
The 3% refers to the number of likely customers that would purchase Thief in the 11% of the total market share.

What would be the equivalent number of likely customers that would purchase Thief from the "rest of the market share", namely those using 2k or XP? If you don't mind me asking.

[FISCHER]

I have all the specs for thief3,

WinXP Pro
Intel Pentium 4 2,66 Ghz
1Gb memory @ 333Mhz
Audigy 2 Soundcard
2x 120 Gb harddisk 8Mb Cache
But... a GeForce4 Ti 4200 (AGP8x)

Can I still play thief 3 with high detail or at least medium (with res. of 1024x768) or do I have to buy a new videocard?

[RedLegg]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
What would be the equivalent number of likely customers that would purchase Thief from the "rest of the market share", namely those using 2k or XP? If you don't mind me asking.

Certainly I don't mind you asking. The pontenial is greater than 3%, however even at that small number it it would far more than the pontential that may purchase from the other demographic.

[RedLegg]

Originally posted by FISCHER
I have all the specs for thief3,

WinXP Pro
Intel Pentium 4 2,66 Ghz
1Gb memory @ 333Mhz
Audigy 2 Soundcard
2x 120 Gb harddisk 8Mb Cache
But... a GeForce4 Ti 4200 (AGP8x)

Can I still play thief 3 with high detail or at least medium (with res. of 1024x768) or do I have to buy a new videocard?

Probabally low-to-medium with that video card.

[Mad_Yugo]

Will it *run* on my system?

Pentium III 500mhz
320 Megs of Ram
GFFX5200

The splintercell games do, and they have simmilar system reqs.

[Mr. Perfect]

Considering the CPU is bout 1/3 of what they want, and the 3D card is the lowest supported, I'd have to say it'd be a absolute slide show.

[Quillan]

Admittedly there are going to be some changes in the engine for this one, but I ran DX: IW on my system under 98SE without problems (I've since upgraded to XP Pro). I expect you'll be able to do it for T: DS also, but as mentioned, tech support won't be able to help you if you have problems.

Also, EAX Advanced HD is EAX 3.0 or 4.0. I don't think any cards but the Creative support that format.

And the AMD processors run faster than their clock speed indicates. A Duron 1.3 would have outperformed a P4 1.5 ghz by quite a bit. The Athlon Thunderbird 1.4 was outperforming the 1.8 ghz P4 back then.

[darkwolf3000]

I have 1.46 GHz...will that be good enough to run thief: deadly shadows?? I'm look forward 2 this game

[Mr. Perfect]

I didn't realize Durons even performed. :P

[RedLegg]

Originally posted by Mad_Yugo
Will it *run* on my system?

Pentium III 500mhz
320 Megs of Ram
GFFX5200

The splintercell games do, and they have simmilar system reqs.

Run would be about all it would do. I will most likely unplayable.

[Huntress]

grafixmonkey...well let me just say that since my monitor on this computer (Compaq) came with and still uses a 15" so I'm limited to 1028X768 res and my VooDoo can use 32bit but choose to use 16 as my Thief requires 16bit I just leave everything at that Otherwise I have everything turned on high and get very good graphics and speed is fine...I see everything fine that I'm supposed to see and runs without a hitch I suppose I could reinstall it on my newer computer and get all the other so-called goodies(?) you've spoken of but I don't feel it necessary as I really don't think I'm missing out on anything


LOL Mr. P. Duron's perform just fine! Just that they are more limited as to higher Mhz than the Athlon's (XP's) and my board currently is so limited for support of same Depending on other games I'm interested in will dertermine if I upgrade overall eventually but not just for Thief!

RedLegg...how did the TB perform? Thanks and Good Hunting!

[grafixmonkey]

Well, I'm not bashing your rig, but if you have to run at 1024x768 and 16 bit color and can't turn on antialiasing, then the voodoo 2 isn't exactly the "card to have" right? Yeah it runs fine. But on a geforce 3 it runs perfectly.

And RedLegg the requirements say it needs a P4 of at least 1.5ghz, and that cpu supports SIMD instructions that the P3 does not, so there's a decent chance it won't run with that proc. There's an even higher chance that the proc, if it can run it, will run it too slowly to be enjoyable. (sounds to me like they have been adding lots of nifty stuff to the game that requires the processor to do heavy calculations - like the physics engine - there were no truly dynamic objects in the Splinter Cell series, which probably means less processor use.) At least, the admins said they already had to turn a bunch of the engine settings off to get it to run on a P4 1.5, and a P3 500 is at least 30% slower than the P4 1.5.

[Mr. Perfect]

I know, but the Duron/Celery CPUs also have considerably smaller L2 caches, slower FSB speeds, and slower ram systems then the Athlons/Pentiums. So a 2.0GHz Celery perfroms far below a 2.0GHz P4. Hence my scorn.

[RobertMR]

Firstly, here are my specs:

Windows XP
P4 1.4ghz
783 mb RAMBUS (RDRAM)
Nvidia 5950 Ultra (256 mbs)
60 gig HD (7200 rpm)

Everything seems more than able, except for my processor. My current mobo will allow me to upgrade to a 2.0 mhz. Would going from 1.4 to 2.0 make a signifigant difference in gameplay?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Robert

[KlynnGrey]

yes upgrading your processor will help, also a bios upgrade for your mother board might allow a larger size processor, giving your computer a longer life as well, do a google search on your motherboard and bios upgrades or talk to a techy at your favorite store, a bios upgrade is fairly easy if you follow instructions well, most motherboards now have a program that does it for you and the website for maufacturer usually has instructions, be advised if you do it wrong you can ruin your motherboard, talk to people first.

[Huntress]

grafixmonkey...I guess you didn't read my post earlier very well...I said on this machine I play DE 1 on has a VooDoo 3/3000 not a VooDoo 2. Although I made an error when I said I could use 32bit with it, I mixed that up with my other system specs and it's graphic card. When you said the other card runs perfectly...sorry but I don't see your point. My card runs the game perfectly...just cause it doesn't use AA or whatever doesn't mean that it doesn't run perfectly...that's just so much extra goo that doesn't have anything to do with performance overall of the game itself...just like 32bit color...so what? Sure it might make it a little prettier but not so much as to make that big a difference. I've used 32bit and as far as I'm concerned it's not that much more different...sure it's nicer to have it I guess but it's not game breaking. So whatever's fair?

Mr. P. sorry but I do believe the Duron is a better CPU than the Celery...as in fact the Duron does use the Athlon chip and therefore the board I have said I was limited to the amount of Mhz I could use with a Duron, said I could use an Athlon also but a faster CPU was rated for it. Well guess what...I can and do use the same higher equivlant with my Duron since it uses the same chip as the Athlon and it's not overclocked

And as far as the SIMD thing...AMD came out with their MMX a few years ago ahead of Intel...that's when Intel decided that they better catch up and got on the bandwagon and expanded their instuctions with SIMD to compete with AMD, etc. That's what made the K6-2's so much better in that regard over Intel So while Unreal engines where being used so much during that time made running all those games for me such a pleasure and no hassles at all; or Quake's, etc. whether using OGL or D3D...my system performed them very well as I've said earlier and had no regrets what-so-ever not having some of the other extra frills you seem to think are otherwise more important? Ok fine...we agree to disagree Later and Good Hunting!

[RobertMR]

Originally posted by KlynnGrey
yes upgrading your processor will help, also a bios upgrade for your mother board might allow a larger size processor, giving your computer a longer life as well, do a google search on your motherboard and bios upgrades or talk to a techy at your favorite store, a bios upgrade is fairly easy if you follow instructions well, most motherboards now have a program that does it for you and the website for maufacturer usually has instructions, be advised if you do it wrong you can ruin your motherboard, talk to people first.

Thanks for the info. I did what you suggested and found a BIOS update for my mobo, but it doesn't mention anything about allowing for a faster processor... Hmm. Well, I will continue to check around and if nothing else, I will update to a 2ghz... better than nothing

I know this is veering a bit off topic, but I was going to play Thief2 over again in preparation for DS, but i have been having problems getting is to work with XP. I'm sure there is a simply remedy, but I am at a loss...

Thanks in advance for any further info...

Robert

[KlynnGrey]

The bios may not actually say it improves the cpu upgrade or it will be disguised as an upper clock speed limit, depending on your board manufacturer,Asus, has a program that tells you this, then just look for changes after upgrading.
as for playing thief on xp search these forums for that specifically and you will find a command line run that installs it the way its supposed to. also for hyper threading it may not work, if you go into task manager and find the thief executable under processes you can right click for a menu to set affinity and disable hyper threading that way you're not disabling it for every program through the bios, if your processor runs hyper threading in the first place.

[RobertMR]

Originally posted by KlynnGrey
The bios may not actually say it improves the cpu upgrade or it will be disguised as an upper clock speed limit, depending on your board manufacturer,Asus, has a program that tells you this, then just look for changes after upgrading.
as for playing thief on xp search these forums for that specifically and you will find a command line run that installs it the way its supposed to. also for hyper threading it may not work, if you go into task manager and find the thief executable under processes you can right click for a menu to set affinity and disable hyper threading that way you're not disabling it for every program through the bios, if your processor runs hyper threading in the first place.

I will check that out. Thanks again for all your help!