Crysis is a game which is also a demo of the latest 3D hardware features.
It has several quality settings which define which features are turned on
or off.

  The program will not let you choose the highest quality setting
("very high") unless you are running the program in Vista with a DX10
compatible graphics card. It only lets you choose the second-highest
quality setting ("high"). Clearly it's trying to tell that the highest
quality setting turns on DX10-only (and thus Vista-only) features, so
they are not available in XP and DX9.

  It seems that this is a hoax. Just a marketing campaign. Yes, the
"very high" quality setting does indeed turn on several additional
rendering features, but the hoax is that these rendering features *do*
work in XP with a DX9 graphics card, and they do so at perfectly acceptable
speeds. Not allowing to choose this highest quality option unless you are
running Vista and a DX10 graphics card has nothing to do with lacking
hardware/OS support, but it's just an artificial limitation.

  The thing is, at least in the demo version of the program, you can
tweak its settings file manually and make all the "high quality" settings
to be turned on in the "high" settings, which the game allows you to choose,
and the features will work even if you are just running XP with DX9.

  So much for "Vista-only" features...

http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=11837.0

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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>   Crysis is a game which is also a demo of the latest 3D hardware features.
> It has several quality settings which define which features are turned on
> or off.
> 
>   The program will not let you choose the highest quality setting
> ("very high") unless you are running the program in Vista with a DX10
> compatible graphics card. It only lets you choose the second-highest
> quality setting ("high"). Clearly it's trying to tell that the highest
> quality setting turns on DX10-only (and thus Vista-only) features, so
> they are not available in XP and DX9.
> 
>   It seems that this is a hoax. Just a marketing campaign. Yes, the
> "very high" quality setting does indeed turn on several additional
> rendering features, but the hoax is that these rendering features *do*
> work in XP with a DX9 graphics card, and they do so at perfectly acceptable
> speeds. Not allowing to choose this highest quality option unless you are
> running Vista and a DX10 graphics card has nothing to do with lacking
> hardware/OS support, but it's just an artificial limitation.
> 
>   The thing is, at least in the demo version of the program, you can
> tweak its settings file manually and make all the "high quality" settings
> to be turned on in the "high" settings, which the game allows you to choose,
> and the features will work even if you are just running XP with DX9.
> 
>   So much for "Vista-only" features...
> 
> http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=11837.0
> 
Some people on that forum were saying that if you don't have DX10, those 
features would run on the CPU instead of the GPU. Sounds like BS as 
well: If it was done by the CPU, the framerates would be a lot lower. 
People who edited the config were getting framerates *even better than 
on Vista*.

Also, it would use the CPU if your GPU doesn't support the features and 
you force them enabled anyway; but if you don't have the interface to do 
such effects (DX10), there would be no way for the game to get those 
effects.

So it's definitely as you say and as most people said on the forum: DX9 
can do all those effects.

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And lo on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:13:11 -0000, Nicolas Alvarez  
<nic### [at] gmailisthebestcom> did spake, saying:

>>    It seems that this is a hoax. Just a marketing campaign. Yes, the
>> "very high" quality setting does indeed turn on several additional
>> rendering features, but the hoax is that these rendering features *do*
>> work in XP with a DX9 graphics card, and they do so at perfectly  
>> acceptable
>> speeds. Not allowing to choose this highest quality option unless you  
>> are
>> running Vista and a DX10 graphics card has nothing to do with lacking
>> hardware/OS support, but it's just an artificial limitation.

> Some people on that forum were saying that if you don't have DX10, those  
> features would run on the CPU instead of the GPU. Sounds like BS as  
> well: If it was done by the CPU, the framerates would be a lot lower.  
> People who edited the config were getting framerates *even better than  
> on Vista*.
>
> Also, it would use the CPU if your GPU doesn't support the features and  
> you force them enabled anyway; but if you don't have the interface to do  
> such effects (DX10), there would be no way for the game to get those  
> effects.
>
> So it's definitely as you say and as most people said on the forum: DX9  
> can do all those effects.

Wasn't this one of the original points of DX? 'The program says do this DX  
action. The card drivers says it can handle it - give it to the card; The  
card drivers says it can't handle it - can I emulate it?

Sometimes it was yes, sometimes no; depended on what was being asked for.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote

>   It seems that this is a hoax. Just a marketing campaign. Yes, the
> "very high" quality setting does indeed turn on several additional

Maybe. Maybe they didn't test those features on DX9. There are a good many
applications that won't install in W2K, for instance, even though if you
trick them into doing that, they will run fine. The developer just didn't
want to be bothered by testing and supporting an older platform. Not
necessarily a MS conspiracy.

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> And lo on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:13:11 -0000, Nicolas Alvarez 
> <nic### [at] gmailisthebestcom> did spake, saying:
> 
>>>    It seems that this is a hoax. Just a marketing campaign. Yes, the
>>> "very high" quality setting does indeed turn on several additional
>>> rendering features, but the hoax is that these rendering features *do*
>>> work in XP with a DX9 graphics card, and they do so at perfectly 
>>> acceptable
>>> speeds. Not allowing to choose this highest quality option unless you 
>>> are
>>> running Vista and a DX10 graphics card has nothing to do with lacking
>>> hardware/OS support, but it's just an artificial limitation.
> 
>> Some people on that forum were saying that if you don't have DX10, 
>> those features would run on the CPU instead of the GPU. Sounds like BS 
>> as well: If it was done by the CPU, the framerates would be a lot 
>> lower. People who edited the config were getting framerates *even 
>> better than on Vista*.
>>
>> Also, it would use the CPU if your GPU doesn't support the features 
>> and you force them enabled anyway; but if you don't have the interface 
>> to do such effects (DX10), there would be no way for the game to get 
>> those effects.
>>
>> So it's definitely as you say and as most people said on the forum: 
>> DX9 can do all those effects.
> 
> Wasn't this one of the original points of DX? 'The program says do this 
> DX action. The card drivers says it can handle it - give it to the card; 
> The card drivers says it can't handle it - can I emulate it?
> 
> Sometimes it was yes, sometimes no; depended on what was being asked for.
> 
Exactly. The program can't say "do this DX action" if that action is 
defined in DX10 and the computer has DX9, so it wouldn't run neither 
emulated nor native on card.

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And lo on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:11:42 -0000, Nicolas Alvarez  
<nic### [at] gmailisthebestcom> did spake, saying:


>> And lo on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:13:11 -0000, Nicolas Alvarez  
>> <nic### [at] gmailisthebestcom> did spake, saying:
>>> Some people on that forum were saying that if you don't have DX10,  
>>> those features would run on the CPU instead of the GPU. Sounds like BS  
>>> as well: If it was done by the CPU, the framerates would be a lot  
>>> lower. People who edited the config were getting framerates *even  
>>> better than on Vista*.
>>>
>>> Also, it would use the CPU if your GPU doesn't support the features  
>>> and you force them enabled anyway; but if you don't have the interface  
>>> to do such effects (DX10), there would be no way for the game to get  
>>> those effects.
>>>
>>> So it's definitely as you say and as most people said on the forum:  
>>> DX9 can do all those effects.
>>  Wasn't this one of the original points of DX? 'The program says do  
>> this DX action. The card drivers says it can handle it - give it to the  
>> card; The card drivers says it can't handle it - can I emulate it?
>>  Sometimes it was yes, sometimes no; depended on what was being asked  
>> for.
>>
> Exactly. The program can't say "do this DX action" if that action is  
> defined in DX10 and the computer has DX9, so it wouldn't run neither  
> emulated nor native on card.

Yes. If you try to run a DX10 program on DX9 software plus hardware, then  
it won't know what to do. However what if you run a DX10 program on DX10  
software with DX9 hardware, which may be what the forum people are talking  
about or simply that this game doesn't actualy use any new actions that  
can't be emulated in DX9, but they don't want to take the performance hit  
so they're disabled.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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Phil Cook <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote:
> However what if you run a DX10 program on DX10  
> software with DX9 hardware

  XP doesn't have DX10 support at all in software. Only DX9.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
>   So much for "Vista-only" features...

Quote from the link:
"Yeah amazing getting the sunshafts and other stuff in XP it just shows 
that vista is useless xp is just as good when it comes to graphics in 
games."

If xp is 'just as good' than vista isn't useless, it's merely 'not 
better than xp'.  Unless xp is useless, too.  :3

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

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Post a reply to this message

Tim Cook <z99### [at] bellsouthnet> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> >   So much for "Vista-only" features...

> Quote from the link:
> "Yeah amazing getting the sunshafts and other stuff in XP it just shows 
> that vista is useless xp is just as good when it comes to graphics in 
> games."

> If xp is 'just as good' than vista isn't useless, it's merely 'not 
> better than xp'.  Unless xp is useless, too.  :3

  I suppose "it's useless" means "there's no advantage"... :P

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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So I downloaded all the updates NVidia thought I needed (didn't need two 
of 'em), downloaded the demo (over a GB?  for a demo?), installed it, 
ran it...kinda.  Couldn't select the 'very high' settings (and I have 
Vista and a quad-core system with 3 GB RAM here), got really choppy when 
I tried actually going into the game...so I ran the GPU benchmark it 
had.  Max fps of 4.41.  :P

I thinks my video card sucks.  XD

*uninstalls*

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

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PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
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