Akte Europa optimisation

[Lugger]

Hello. I'm trying to run Akte Europa under Windows 95 in PCem, which in turn is running under Windows 10. I installed Voodoo driver as well.

Akte Europa has the following recommended specs as per its manual:

Pentium 100 MHz (P133 recommended)
16 MB RAM (up to 32 MB supported)
Windows 95
S-VGA GPU
100 MB free drive space
4x CD-ROM drive
SoundBaster or 100% compatible sound card

I set up PCem using these specifications, giving the game even the specific CPU that the manual recommended. However, the game only runs smoothly in 640x480. All other supported resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, 1600x1200) run increasingly poor. I increase the CPU speed to 200 MHz and played around with GPUs (starting with a Shuttle HOT-557), but nothing seems to affect the game's performance. The frame rate is supposedly high, but it's not reflected in game. There's only so many things I tinkered with (CPU, GPU, RAM), and nothing seems to change. Contemporary reviews of the game remark that it runs in 1600x1200 and make no comment on the performance, leading me to believe that the game runs well on original hardware.

Any advice? The game is playable in 640x480, but I'd like at least a smooth 800x600, and I'm worried that even with 640x480, later, more busy levels won't run well.

[unreal9010]

What emulated graphics card are you using? I would recommend Virge here since it's fast and known for having a good compatibility.
Back in the day, minimum requirements usually meant that the game would be at least runnable or barely playable on such configuration (we usually considered recommended specs as the minimum). Pentium 200 should handle such game just fine provided that you don't set the resolution too high. 1600x1200 isn't exactly for Pentium or Pentium 2 processors. I'd recommend to stick with 800x600 or 1024x768.

[tk421]

I am not familiar with this program, but the system requirements are similar to games like TIE Fighter and Jedi Knight. I recommend using an older video card like the Virge/DX or the S3 Trio 64. Try to make sure you max out the video RAM for the video card you are using, or performance in-game might drop. I had to use 4mb of video RAM to run JK properly on an older P90 or P133.

Most of my games from back then were run in 640x480. A few programs needed 800x600.

Using the Voodoo 3 for older games tended to produce poor results. The only way to fix that was to use older video cards. Star Wars Rebellion was like that. I had to use an older 2D accelerated card for that game.

Using PCem I try to make sure I had just restarted my PC. I also do my best to limit the number of open programs so that my PC's resources can focus on running PCem at full performance.

I recommend using a relatively fast CD-ROM drive. A 4x drive is too slow. Try the 16x or 32x CD-ROM drive.

When it comes to RAM, 32mb should be ok, but I would try 64mb in this case. You can try 128mb of RAM if your PC is fast enough.

Unless you are using a budget PC, try the P233 MMX or even the Mobile P300 MMX. If you need more speed and your PC is fast enough, you can try the faster Pentium 2 CPUs in PCem.

unreal9010's advice concerning system requirements is correct. The minimum specs were usually ignored in favor of the recommended specs.

I hope this helps,

tk421

[leilei]

There's a few games where a Trio64 can render faster than a ViRGE DX at DirectDraw 2D

[Lugger]

What emulated graphics card are you using? I would recommend Virge here since it's fast and known for having a good compatibility.
Back in the day, minimum requirements usually meant that the game would be at least runnable or barely playable on such configuration (we usually considered recommended specs as the minimum). Pentium 200 should handle such game just fine provided that you don't set the resolution too high. 1600x1200 isn't exactly for Pentium or Pentium 2 processors. I'd recommend to stick with 800x600 or 1024x768.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't have any recommended specs - it just has that one list. I forgot which graphics card I used; I'll get back to you on that.

Using the Voodoo 3 for older games tended to produce poor results. The only way to fix that was to use older video cards. Star Wars Rebellion was like that. I had to use an older 2D accelerated card for that game.

Thank you for the recommendation. What non-Voodoo card did you use?

There's a few games where a Trio64 can render faster than a ViRGE DX at DirectDraw 2D

I'll try that.

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I'll try some stuff an report back.

[tk421]

Hi,

My PCem VM for Star Wars Rebellion uses the Virge DX. I did not include the Voodoo 2 at all.

I use the S3 Trio 64 for Jazz Jackrabbit. Sometimes the S3 Trio 64 is the best way to go. It all depends on what works best with your program or game.

My last Star Wars Rebellion test went really well. I ran the entire game from start to finish without a single game crash or system crash. I recently started a larger, longer game at full difficulty settings to see if the game will still run well under the most demanding conditions. It is such a long game that I will not be done that for some time.

PCem is a great program. I hope your program or game works well in PCem.

tk421

[Lugger]

Update: I previously used Virge DX, but after switching to the S3 Trio64, the game now runs smoothly in 640x480 and 800x600, and almost smoothly in 1024x768. I didn't test 1240x1024 or 1600x1200, as the card doesn't seem to support those resolutions (they are greyed out). I also switched to the Mobile P300 MMX, though I'm not sure how much that helped, as I didn't notice additional improvements.

Also, I read a couple of reviews, though almost none discuss the game's performance. This one from PC Games does, however, and notes that even at 800x600, the performance already drops. Considering that this comes from a review outlet i.e. people who probably had up-to-date hardware at the time to run all the latest games, it's possible that the game just isn't optimised, and will never run smoothly in high resolutions, no matter what hardware you throw at is.