Phase II: Hardware Compatibility Test
Dee
Member Posts: 10,447
Hardware Compatibility Test
We're dedicated to making Baldur's Gate work on the widest range of hardware possible. To do this, we're doing an exhaustive test on every hardware configuration we can find.For Phase II, we'll be handing out copies of the beta to a select number of people to test it on their own systems. When we're satisfied that Baldur's Gate runs great on enough configurations, we'll move on to Phase III.
We'll be giving priority to those who are currently experiencing issues, with preference shown for those with unique hardware configurations. Copies will be given through Beamdog.com, and installers will be provided for both Windows and Mac as needed. Keep reading for more details on how you can be a part of this process.
How to Participate
We've received all the hardware setups we need for the purposes of this phase. Thank you to everyone for sending in your information; we'll post an update soon![spoiler]NOTE: Because of the way the system works, we can only extend this offer to those who purchased their copy through Beamdog.com.
Mac and Windows users are both welcome.
With a subject line of "Phase II" (no quotes), email me ( dpennyway@beamdog.com ) the following information:
* Operating System:
* CPU:
* GPU:
Then tell me briefly how the game is currently running on your system. On my system, the current version has no performance issues, so I would say "Works great, no problems".
So my email would be as follows:
* Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601)
* CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500 CPU @ 3.30GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.3GHz
* GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
* Current Experience: Works great, no problems
If you do not give your email a subject of "Phase II" (no quotes) and provide all of the information in the above format, you will not receive access to the beta.
Finding Your System Information:
Windows
You can find these three items by opening the DxDiag tool on your computer. You can access the program by pressing (Windows Key) + (R) and typing "dxdiag". When you press Enter or Run, you'll see a window with a number of tabs. Your Operating System and Processor (CPU) are listed in the System. Your Graphics Card (GPU) is listed in the Display tab.Mac OSX
Click on the Apple icon in the menu bar, and select "About This Mac", then "More Info". The Operating System information is listed as "Software", CPU is listed as "Processor", and GPU is listed as "Graphics".What Happens Next:
Once I have that information, and we confirm that your configuration hasn't already been tested, we'll set you up with a copy of the beta. Run it, play it, let me know if you encounter any strange behavior (preferably as a response to your initial email). What we're specifically looking for here is improvements to frame rate and general performance; if the game runs poorly on your system, let me know so we can help troubleshoot it.[/spoiler]If the game runs great, post your reactions here! We'll create some sort of spreadsheet as we start getting responses so that people can see what the general reactions are. We're looking to test at least 50 configurations.
Current Tally: 55
We're working on resolving the issues that were revealed during the tests so far. We'll move on to Phase III once we have all outstanding hardware problems resolved.
Post edited by Dee on
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Comments
If you see something you think is really awesome and you want to share it, go ahead and post a screenshot, discuss things you like, talk about the changes that you see. Some of the things are still being polished, but we're very excited for people to see what we've done here, and we don't want to discourage that discussion.
*Starts mumbling about how to post a video clip*
EDIT: To clarify, if you're a beta tester, you're still under NDA for anything that isn't a part of the BG:EE beta (including anything pertaining to BGII:EE).
I stated that in the mail though.
Just sent an email with my two setups. Forgot to mention that I run dual monitors on my gaming computer (as you seem interested in it), even though I'm more interested in seeing improvements on my work laptop as that's where all the issues are.
Good work Beamdog, this beta could be quickly ended if you're really that fast now
Great work on getting 500 saves in record time.
However, copying the game folder from virtual Windows machine (after installed with the standalone installer) and than running with Wine worked for me before.
First up, the patch fixed the one major porblem I had, which was the video sequences playing back badly with flickering outer frames. Its not doing that anymore and running at my full resolution (1920x1080) without a problem.
The interface improvements in particular are very nice. I couldn't believe how slick it looked when I turned off the UI scaling options. I never thought anything would make me want to turn that off. I was wrong. The font looks great too. Very crisp and easy to read. Nice improvement there.
The Custom color default color palletes for each class/kit I'm loving. Stalker, Assassin and Shadowdancer look particularly sexy. Makes me want to play them now. Swashbuckler shares one with default Thief. But that's a minor complaint at best.
Something about the overall graphics looks greatly improved too but I'm not sure what that could be, since it seems to be the same assets.
No crashes thus far and all my saves seem to work fine. Going to hammer on it a bit more and see if I find any troubles deeper in. But a great patch and actually worth the wait for me.
Everything looks nice, crisp and dandy. Colors seems improved, an overall improvement of rendering. Speed and UI looks great!
Great improvement with Alt+Tab during dual monitors. Behaves as expected now.
Found a few minor bugs. First of all, trying to take screenshots doesn't always work, and when they work they still don't display as they did on screen.
Example screenshot:
Two bugs in one screenshot here:
1. The name doesn't fit the popup
2. When doing a screenshot, the popup moves and doesn't show up where I had my cursor (on top of the creature/npc) but some distance away.
Do note that I'm running dual displays.
What I would like to point out, even though it is not hardware related, the transparent dialogue window makes white text a bit hard to read on some backgrounds. Also some of the colours on the npc spirets seem to be a bit too sharp.
No response so far but i guess i'm not on the priority list, because BGEE worked great so far on my system.
Also i realized my account address ( for the game) and my forum linked address are not the same. Not sure if it's ok for you to pass the info (maybe you send messages to betatesters through PM on this forum ?)