Multiple Issues with the game

[Charly_Owl]

So hi guys,

I bought CloD for cheap last week. I know an upcoming super-patch is coming soon, but I wanted to share my current problems with you and ask you for advice.

I have a Dell laptop XPS L702X, with an Intel(R) Core i7-2630QM CPU @2.00GHz with 8,00 Go RAM. I have an NVIDIA GTX555 Graphic card and it ran games like Battlefield 3 without any problem even at high settings. Same for Il-2 1946 or DCS A-10C Warthog.

However, I have been able to load a campaign mission once and I had to deactivate the anti-epilepsy filter thingy to remove weird colors on my screen. Then, I restarted and experienced EXTREMELY low performance, even at lowest settings. I don't understand why. Then, I tried again and the following happened: I get to the briefing, I load the mission, try to choose a plane, then get this weird black box... I still try to fly despite that glitch and my window switches back to my desktop, but with sounds. I can still hear the plane's engine starting when I start it, but the game window just seems to have disappeared.

My question is: What do you advise me to do? (despite burning this game to purify it with fire)

My other question is: will the patch adress those particular issues and allow me to play the game properly? I know there's supposed to have a significant fps gain, but will it be enough? I am well above minimum required specs...

Thanks in advance,

A newcomer that would like to play the game...

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6649/bugxb.png

[kendo65]

Not sure what has happened. You can use Steam to check the integrity of the COD files on your PC. If it finds any issues it can replace files to get things running again.

Open Steam (online), go to the Library section, right click on the il-2 Cliff of Dover entry and you'll get a menu (first pic).

Click on 'Properties' at the bottom.

Then click on 'Verify Integrity of Game Cache' (Second pic)

Let Steam do its thing. If it finds any errors it will download some files.

If that doesn't find anything, then I think (like myself and many more people here :) ) that you will have to hope the devs come up with the goods in the patch. Supposed to nearly double fps.

Hope you get it working.

[Charly_Owl]

Verifying the integrity of game cache, for some reason, appears to have solved my black box issue. Thanks!

However, I still get that low fps. It's REALLY annoying! Are my computer specs really that bad?

[Clu43]

Could try to clear out your cache folder at C:\Users\YOU\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\cache
Let CLoD rebuild them at startup.

[Buchon]

However, I still get that low fps. It's REALLY annoying! Are my computer specs really that bad?

Here some information and performance charts of games in the Nvidia GT550M :

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-555M.41933.0.html

[Charly_Owl]

Thanks, Buchon. I didn't see CLoD in the performance charts, but performance level seems quite acceptable. Decent fps for Battlefield 3, which has one of the highest requirements. I don't see why or how CloD could have higher requirements than that.

Could it be just an issue with the way the game is coded for now? I heard the next beta patch will considerably augment the average fps, especially with machines between minimum and recommended specs. Could this potentially solve the issue?

[FS~Phat]

There is no guarantee that games will work on mobile graphics. I once had to hack desktop drivers to run on my laptop to get a game to work because no matter what I did there was just something strange going on with the mobile drivers. I believe CLOD has such a disclaimer on the minimum requirements from memory. If you can get it to work at all on a mobile GPU, your lucky anyway. Unfortunately that mobile GPU is no where near enough for this game.

Just for reference I have a VAIO VPC-Z128GG with 1GB GT330M, i7-620M 2.66Ghz, 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD and on CLOD I only get about 15FPS maximum with everything pretty much on minimum settings @ 1920x1080.

Here's your mobile GPU compared to a bunch of others, looks like you have the 2nd fastest in that range of GT555M's. (there is no GTX555)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-555M.41933.0.html

Its unlikely that the patch will make much difference to that level of hardware. Sorry but thems the facts!

Here's my results with an external GTX580 1.5GB on the same laptop. Blackdeath 35-50FPS @ 1920x1080 Everything on high, shadows & SSAO off. (the 330M only does 3FPS with the same settings)
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=26715

Minimum Requirements with supported video cards at release.....

IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover system requirements


OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows® 7 / Vista SP2 / Windows XP SP3
PROCESSOR: Pentium® Dual-Core 2.0GHz or Athlon™ X2 3800+ (Intel Core i5 2.66GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 2.6GHz recommended)
RAM: 2GB (4GB recommended)
VIDEO CARD: DirectX® 9.0c compliant, 512Mb Video Card (1GB DirectX® 10 recommended) - See supported List*
DIRECT X®: DirectX® 9.0c or DirectX® 10 (included on disc)
DVD-ROM DRIVE: 8X
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c compatible
HARD DISK: 10GB
PERIPHERALS: Mouse, keyboard (joystick with throttle and rudder control recommended)
MULTIPLAY: Broadband connection with 128 kbps upstream or faster

*SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS AT TIME OF RELEASE:
ATI® 4850/4870/5830/5850/5770/5870/6870/6950/6970
NVidia®: 8800/9800/250/260/275/285/460/465/470/480

I just did some further research for you and the GT555M just isnt enough to meet minimum requirements. It's less than a GTX8800 which is the minimum spec.

G3D Rank Subsystem
1072 094 GeForce GTS 250
1060 095 FirePro M7740
1064 096 GeForce GTS 150
1048 097 GeForce 8800 GTX << Minimum spec
1046 098 WinFast GTS 250
1042 099 Mobility Radeon HD 6570
1042 100 Quadro FX 3800
1028 101 Quadro FX 5600
1023 102 GeForce GT 555M
1020 103 GeForce GTS 240
1017 104 Quadro 2000 D
1011 105 GeForce 8800 GTS 512
1011 106 Mobility Radeon HD 5850
0990 107 Radeon HD 3870 X2
0982 108 GeForce GT 445M
0978 109 GeForce 9800 GX2
0967 110 Radeon HD 3870

[Charly_Owl]

Thanks for the info, FS-Phat.

This is really disappointing... I didn't know this game had such monstrous requirements!

Lots of sims, such as the DCS series (thinking about Black Shark and A-10C) run like a charm on my machine. I guess I'll just go back to them (sigh).

[6S.Manu]

Thanks for the info, FS-Phat.

This is really disappointing... I didn't know this game had such monstrous requirements!

Lots of sims, such as the DCS series (thinking about Black Shark and A-10C) run like a charm on my machine. I guess I'll just go back to them (sigh).

Wait for the patch... the version you're actually playing is an alpha...

[Charly_Owl]

@Manu:

What I don't understand is that this game has come out in what, 2011? I bought this laptop last spring with the highest laptop graphic card available at the time (Nvidia GT555M 3.0 Ghz, sorry). I run some of the most demanding games on the market without a hitch, and then, this game comes out and my hardware has become completely obsolete all of a sudden?

'Makes me sad, really.

I'll wait for the patch, yet I keep in mind what Fs-Phat told me. I'm not really keeping my hopes up on this one...

[Ataros]

DCS engine is several years old already, BF3 has much less visibility distance and models details, ROF is DX9 only... This makes CloD one of most demanding games. The patch will improve performance though.

I hope you have more than 1GB of VRAM and run Win7-64.

"The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M is a fast middle class graphics card for laptops." http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-555M.41933.0.html

You definitely need more than a middle class card for a high-end game. I used to buy notebooks but got rid of them for a desktop system that is much more easily upgradable every 1-2 years.

Try playing on external CRT monitor if you have one. They allow playing at lower resolution at the same monitor size without quality loss.

[Strike]

@Manu:

What I don't understand is that this game has come out in what, 2011? I bought this laptop last spring with the highest laptop graphic card available at the time (Nvidia GT555M 3.0 Ghz, sorry). I run some of the most demanding games on the market without a hitch, and then, this game comes out and my hardware has become completely obsolete all of a sudden?

'Makes me sad, really.

I'll wait for the patch, yet I keep in mind what Fs-Phat told me. I'm not really keeping my hopes up on this one...

Yeah don't give up yet mate. A patch is in the pipeline which is more or less promising a solid FPS increase with a re-write of the entire graphics engine. You should see improvements if your GPU is the bottleneck. I have BF3 and DCS + other demanding games and none are as demanding as CoD (maybe ARMA 2 :p). I can at least play, but I am still eager to see what this patch does :)

We are hoping for a patch this week, if not maybe next week. The way i see it the chances of a new patch grow higher every day ;)

[6S.Manu]

@Manu:

What I don't understand is that this game has come out in what, 2011? I bought this laptop last spring with the highest laptop graphic card available at the time (Nvidia GT555M 3.0 Ghz, sorry). I run some of the most demanding games on the market without a hitch, and then, this game comes out and my hardware has become completely obsolete all of a sudden?

'Makes me sad, really.

I'll wait for the patch, yet I keep in mind what Fs-Phat told me. I'm not really keeping my hopes up on this one...

Some posters here think that the game is demanding because of its complexity: I might argue that "no texture's compression", "no preloaded damage models" (!!!) and many more issues here are a matter of alpha stage software.

The release? probably they ran out of budget, or somebody fled away with the cash...

[Charly_Owl]

I understand what you mean there, Manu. I hope you're right.

I mean... I wouln't die if I could not play this game, life goes on and there are lots of other decent sims on the market. I just liked the idea of having a HD cockpit and a "better" flight model to fly with, even if it meant fewer planes. Don't get me wrong, Il-46 is good-looking, sounds great (especially with mods like UPack) and is fun to fly with and I can still have lots of fun with it. With the DCS series too (I just love the excessively complex cockpit/avionics/armament systems, and it's a real treasure trove for an aerospace eng. student like me).

But, you know... I just liked the idea of having something one notch higher, just for the eye candy, fantastic lighting and knowing where each switch is and what it exactly does.