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Total Annihilation and Parhelia

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  • Total Annihilation and Parhelia

    Yeah!

    Dug this old game out of the drawer. Whoops - there went yesterday evening... I had forgotton how good a game it is!

    Anyway, just thought you all ought to know that it runs great on a Parhelia.

    No idea on the FPS's I was getting I am afraid!

    And 1600x1200 makes it a whole new experience - I last played it when my max res. was 800x600. I do like a game that scales well with hardware - this game would let me go to whatever my monitor could handle. And with P's image quality, it remains excellently playable (better in fact).

    It is also extremely well behaved on Windows 2000. It was written for Win95 and dx5. I like a game that is as well coded as this clearly was, and scales up nicely with new hardware. Superb.

    I can thoroughly recommend you dig it out again folks, if you have it...

    //end of side-track

    gnep
    DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.net

  • #2
    Can you play it in Surround?
    <font size="-4">User error:
    Replace user and try again.
    System 1: P4 2.8@3.25, P4C800-E Deluxe, 1024MB 3200 CL2, 160+120 GB WD, XP Pro, Skystar 2, Matrox Parhelia 128R, Chieftec Dragon Full Tower (Silver).
    System 2: P4 2.0, Intel 845, 1024MB Generic RAM, 80GB WD, XP Pro, Promise Ultra133 TX2, GF3 Ti500. Resides in a neat Compaq case.
    </font>

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    • #3
      No idea. Only have one 19" monitor at the moment (and have been quite nomadic around London over the last few months, so at least for now no plans to get another).

      It would be quite cool though. I think that it picks up available desktop resolutions, so may well work in dual- or tripple-head, as long as you are in spanned mode.
      DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.net

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      • #4
        Right. Got 2 more monitors. Turns out that TA can work on dualhead stretch @ 2048x768 - basically it appears to pick up all resolutions available on the desktop "properties" menu.

        It is a DX 5 game, so yes, it probably can support 3x640x480 as well - same limitations as games up to DX7 I think - although I haven't tested it yet - got a bit carried away playing a game on 2 screens!

        So it is indeed a "surround game" - R0M could add it to his list (!)

        It should also work in dualhead stretch on any of the G400, 450 or 550 cards I guess.

        Great to come across a really old game like this that behaves so well under tech that wasn't even really thought of when it came out (win2k, parhelia...)
        DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.net

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        • #5
          YEs, great old game

          Except it doesn't run under Windows XP! I have 2000/XP dual boot just to run TA! OK, so it used to be a win98/XP dual boot, but no-one jumped on my win98 display drivers campaign, and so I upgraded it to W2K.

          MY God, can you imagine this in stretched mode!
          However,1600X1200 actually gives you a bigger view of the map then 2048 X 768, except I suppose a long thin map that runs East - West!

          I suppose this means that if I could get a display to run 3200 X 2400, then TA would still scale to that! Except your commander would be tricky to pick out!
          Life is a ride
          Like days on a train
          Cities rush by
          Like ghosts in the night

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          • #6
            Just tried actually. Even with the desktop set to 1920x480, it doesn't pick up the resolution. So DH only I am afraid!

            Problem I found with 1600x1200 was the same as you - that the units were so blimmin small (even on a 19") - so 2048x768 does seem to be a bit of a sweet spot.

            Wasn't aware of the WinXP thing - even with "compatability mode"? Odd, when it runs on Win2k - this usually means that XP can run it too...

            Gnep
            DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.net

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            • #7
              Originally posted by GNEP


              Wasn't aware of the WinXP thing - even with "compatability mode"? Odd, when it runs on Win2k - this usually means that XP can run it too...

              Gnep
              Nope, tried the compatibilty thing, didn't make a damn bit of difference (does it ever??). I agree it is odd, but whenever I try and run it, I get a DirectX error, something about a failure to initialise the environment or somesuch. In W2K you will note that it informs you that you don't have Directx5 installed, but lets you play anyway. The AppCompat tool indicates a number of outdated registry reads, as well as an attempt to locate Directtx files. However, I don't understand why running in other compatible modes doesn't work
              Life is a ride
              Like days on a train
              Cities rush by
              Like ghosts in the night

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Yxalitis


                Nope, tried the compatibilty thing, didn't make a damn bit of difference (does it ever??).
                Yes it does!

                If running win95-mode and playing Counter-Strike on a secure server running VAC (valves anti cheat) it thinks you cheat and you are banned...

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                • #9
                  Damn, someone borrowed my TA cds including extension packs, but i don't have a clue who did

                  i want my game back, it's the best rts game ever if you ask me...

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                  • #10
                    hehe the hours just disappear!
                    DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.net

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