2 basic questions: resolution & gpu needed

[bachelorduke]

Is Silverfall locked at a specific res? If not, does it support widescreen resolutions? If res can be increased, does the UI also increase in size?

What sort of performance will I be looking at with a P8600, 4gb, 9800m GS/1gig vram notebook? I think that mobile gpu is about the strength of a 9600 GT. Native res is 1680x1050.

Let me add one more q: is Earth Awakening
worth picking up? I hear it adds general improvements. If I get that and install it, do those general improvements appear in the original Silverfall game as well? I think LoD did something like that didn't it?

[Brewmaster]

Hi!

Is Silverfall locked at a specific res?no (though I have not tested resolutions above 1680x1050 / 1600x1200; minimum res is 1024x768)

If not, does it support widescreen resolutions?yes

If res can be increased, does the UI also increase in size?No, unfortunately it does not scale according to the resolution; but that's not the problem ... the real prob is that the fonts are too small at higher resolutions so that the texts get hard to read (this can be adjusted manually, so if there's necessity I can give more detailed info on this matter).

What sort of performance will I be looking at with a P8600, 4gb, 9800m GS/1gig vram notebook? I think that mobile gpu is about the strength of a 9600 GT. Native res is 1680x1050.It's always a bit hard to tell how a game performs on a notebook, so all I can say is that your hardware components are in general potent enough to run the game. The game is very scalable, too, and resolutions like 1440x900 or even 1280x800 do not make it look much uglier. So while I cannot guarantee I wouldn't expect problems here ...

is Earth Awakening worth picking up?a big fat YES!

I hear it adds general improvements. If I get that and install it, do those general improvements appear in the original Silverfall game as well?yes (performance & camera improvements, craft items, better balance etc.)

[bachelorduke]

Appreciate the quick and thorough response! I might take you up on your offer to detail how to up font size, once I see what you mean.

I found Earth Awakening for $15 new so I'll order it. It's the uk import version though, and my silverfall version is us, is that a problem in any way?

[Brewmaster]

It's the uk import version though, and my silverfall version is us, is that a problem in any way?

No, not that I know of. EA should simply install over SF and that's it (EA is "stand-alone").

[Brewmaster]

SFEA's in-game font size can be changed with the following procedure (tested @ 1680x1050; use at your own risk):

#1. Open this directory:

...\[SILVERFALL]\Data\Localize\Lang_[YOUR LANGUAGE]\Data\Fonte

Here you will find five font files:

font.fnt
Times14.fnt
Times18.fnt
Times18b.fnt
Times27.fnt

#2. Make backup copies, i.e. take the first four files and rename them to

font.bak
Times14.bak
Times18.bak
Times18b.bak

#3. Now copy "Times27.fnt" to

font.fnt
Times14.fnt
Times18.fnt
Times18b.fnt

(e.g. copy & paste/rename them, so that in the end you have five files again that are labelled like the ones listed under #1; the only difference is that all of them correspond to the "Times27.fnt" actually).

#4. Now start the game. This procedure scales up (almost) every font inside the game (quest texts, item descriptions, enemy markers, options menu etc.).

Note that some parts of the UI are fixed (e.g. the area in your inventory which shows the amount of money you are carrying or the skills' attributes), so the scaled up letters might not exactly fit into these areas (imho it's only a minor disadvantage).

For a comparison (before/after) check this screenshot (http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7850/sffontcw8.jpg) (taken at a resolution of 1680x1050).

[bachelorduke]

Brew, that's awesome, thanks so much!

My only problem now is deciding which of these bargain titles to play first: ToEE, Sacred Gold, TQ Gold, Silverfall/EA, NWN2 Gold Icewind Dale Ultimate Collection. (Yeah I really like crpg/loot grinders...)

Really like the art style of Silverfall though.

[Brewmaster]

> My only problem now is deciding which of these bargain titles to play first: ToEE, Sacred Gold, TQ Gold, Silverfall/EA, NWN2 Gold Icewind Dale Ultimate Collection.

haha, I think I can't help you with that problem ;)

> Really like the art style of Silverfall though.

And you did not even see the sorceresses' dresses yet ... :D

[bachelorduke]

And you did not even see the sorceresses' dresses yet ... :D

Can't be better than Sacred's Seraphim...

[DaveO_MM]

I played Silverfall up to level 15-20 for my character and then got EA from a Steam download. The improvements are worth the investment, and depending on your area you may get EA pretty cheap. It also depends on how much free time you have. It took me a while to get done with the standard Silverfall campaign mainly due to not having much time to play. Once I started EA, I completed it after a few weeks. As far as Sacred Gold goes, if you have any questions feel free to ask(I'm sure there is an off-topic board here). The same holds true for the first Icewind Dale game.

[bachelorduke]

As far as Sacred Gold goes, if you have any questions feel free to ask

My burning question re Sacred Gold is, is there some sort of vault mod that allows you to transfer items between different characters by yourself?

I'm guessing Sacred is res locked and 4:3, hopefully it supports higher resolutions though.

[Brewmaster]

If I remember correctly Sacred's resolution is locked at 1024x768 and cannot be changed (but you can use your monitor or your graphic driver to increase the screen). I bought it when the add-on was released and it already looked a bit outdated. But I liked that female vampire char ...

[DaveO_MM]

There may be ways to change the resolution, but the best resource to answer both of your questions is: http://darkmatters.org/