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Minumum req for playing eqFollow
Hi, Im currently not playing EQ right now because of my old computer. I have not played eq since Janurary 2004 and im wondering, What are the minimum requirements for a computer to play eq. We currently have our house up for sale and my mom is thinking about buying a new computer for me. Could someone reccomend any computers that would be good for playing eq. Thanks alot =).
Minimum requirement are pretty low but i would say Minimum Effective requirements so you can have all skins loaded etc
512Ram
1.5+ P3 processor
56k modem
Gforce4 64 meg graphics
i run that and i am starting to see the effects in some of the newest zones but i can run everything and only have to turn spell effects off for raids.
512Ram
1.5+ P3 processor
56k modem
Gforce4 64 meg graphics
i run that and i am starting to see the effects in some of the newest zones but i can run everything and only have to turn spell effects off for raids.
I'd say the main thing you'll want is at least 512 ram and the best video card you can get.
I kinda have the same problem as the OP. Haven't played in way to %#$^%$^-ing long. I'll be getting a new PC soon, but I'll also be moving into a new house way out in the boonies. Bye, bye DSL. Cable looks way too expensive on top of all the new bills I'll already have buying the house. So it looks like I'm going back to dial-up <sob!>. Is EQ really playable over a dial-up? How many of you play via dial-up? Is lag as big an issue as it used to be?
Ive played eq for over 2 years on dial up =) i wouldnt know the comparison on the lag but i guess its not that bad. Expect going LD a few more times though and maybe a little spike here and there.
Say i were to buy a computer and it would not have the gforce4 in it or a decent video card, where would i buy/download one?
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Say i were to buy a computer and it would not have the gforce4 in it or a decent video card, where would i buy/download one?
Well, you can't download videocards. You can buy video cards at any electronics store probably, i.e. Best Buy, Circuit City, maybe Radio Shack.
(You can probably download small little programs that will tweak the configuration of your EQ video output. Eh, kinda of hard to put into words what it does, but I know there were programs like that for FFXI)
Any computer/electronics store can sell you a good video card. You could also buy one online and have it shipped but being a piece of hardware, d/l is not an option.
Installing the new card is a piece of cake. you just yank the old card and slap in the new one. Then plug the box back in and boot it up. Windows will ask you for any software it needs, which will have come on a CD ROM with the new card. Done and done!
Plenty of *good* cards can be had for under a hundred bucks. Shoot for something with 256MB of video RAM. This exceeds minimums but will pay off for you in the long run.
Installing the new card is a piece of cake. you just yank the old card and slap in the new one. Then plug the box back in and boot it up. Windows will ask you for any software it needs, which will have come on a CD ROM with the new card. Done and done!
Plenty of *good* cards can be had for under a hundred bucks. Shoot for something with 256MB of video RAM. This exceeds minimums but will pay off for you in the long run.
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I kinda have the same problem as the OP. Haven't played in way to %#$^%$^-ing long. I'll be getting a new PC soon, but I'll also be moving into a new house way out in the boonies. Bye, bye DSL. Cable looks way too expensive on top of all the new bills I'll already have buying the house. So it looks like I'm going back to dial-up <sob!>. Is EQ really playable over a dial-up? How many of you play via dial-up? Is lag as big an issue as it used to be?
Odd, my cable only costs me roughly 1/2 of what my DSL bill used to be. My cable (modem portion) bill is 24.95/month. Admittedly, that is discounted heavily because I've got a huge package. (I buy a lot of cable services, too.) But if I were just to get the cable internet service, the price is 44.95/month.
DSL (Bellsouth) ran me 49.95/month. And it was crappy. My cable connection has just a bit over 2gb bandwidth and excellent latency.
Maybe you should do some more checking...
I'm not saying that you can get it as cheap as I am. Not everyone is so fortunate. But check all of the companies that offer services in your area. You may find a good bargain. Be sure to ask them if they have any special offers.
Example: My cousin actually picked up a satelite dish at a flea market fro $25 so he could turn it in for a 3 year lock on discounted cable service.
Minumum req for playing eq: A working brain <shrug>
I run EQ on a P3 733, 512ram, GForce 2 64ram v-card, via dial-up.
I have spells and such turned down, but in general as long as I'm not in a zone like PoK or Bazaar, I don't realy notice lag. I'm able to do pretty much everything as normal. Raids can get laggy though, but I just turn everything down.
I run EQ on a P3 733, 512ram, GForce 2 64ram v-card, via dial-up.
I have spells and such turned down, but in general as long as I'm not in a zone like PoK or Bazaar, I don't realy notice lag. I'm able to do pretty much everything as normal. Raids can get laggy though, but I just turn everything down.
I have DSL through Verizon now and I love it. I've had no problems with it whatsoever over the past four years I've had it. As part of the package of phone services I have, it costs me about $30/month. Sadly, it isn't offered where we're going.
Here's the thing, though. The house is out a good way from any towns of any size. We're talking central Florida, by the way. A bit north of Sebring. There is only one cable provider for that area at all: Comcast. They do offer cable internet, but not as part of any package, apparently. If I have cable TV from them, the cost is $42.95/mo for the broadband (and $43.35/mo for the cheapest cable TV package for a little over $86/month.) If I don't get cable TV, the broadband alone is $57.95. Admittedly, that's not outrageous, but I'm gonna have more money going out every month than I do now as it is with the same income and I'm not sure I can justify the extra, even to play EverQuest. (Did I just speak that heresy? <gasp!>)
Which brings me back to dial-up. I don't like it, but I can live with it for a while, I suppose. I started out playing EQ on a dial-up and I remember it being awful laggy compared to when DSL finally came to town. And way out where I'm going to be, I'm sure line noise will be a factor. It just seems to me that with everything that's been added to the game since I was on dial-up before, there has to be a lot more info flowing back and forth between client and server. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but that's my gut. And more info would mean more lag, more linkdead episodes and so on, especially over a noisy connection and in crowded zones.
Either way, I suppose I'm gonna have to just live with it no matter what it may be like, since I really want to get back in the game. Just wanted to know what I could expect when I get there.
Here's the thing, though. The house is out a good way from any towns of any size. We're talking central Florida, by the way. A bit north of Sebring. There is only one cable provider for that area at all: Comcast. They do offer cable internet, but not as part of any package, apparently. If I have cable TV from them, the cost is $42.95/mo for the broadband (and $43.35/mo for the cheapest cable TV package for a little over $86/month.) If I don't get cable TV, the broadband alone is $57.95. Admittedly, that's not outrageous, but I'm gonna have more money going out every month than I do now as it is with the same income and I'm not sure I can justify the extra, even to play EverQuest. (Did I just speak that heresy? <gasp!>)
Which brings me back to dial-up. I don't like it, but I can live with it for a while, I suppose. I started out playing EQ on a dial-up and I remember it being awful laggy compared to when DSL finally came to town. And way out where I'm going to be, I'm sure line noise will be a factor. It just seems to me that with everything that's been added to the game since I was on dial-up before, there has to be a lot more info flowing back and forth between client and server. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but that's my gut. And more info would mean more lag, more linkdead episodes and so on, especially over a noisy connection and in crowded zones.
Either way, I suppose I'm gonna have to just live with it no matter what it may be like, since I really want to get back in the game. Just wanted to know what I could expect when I get there.
Scholar
48 posts
The bigest problem you are gonna have with Dial-up Vs Broadband is game Upgrades. These have become Huge and the new expansions even worse. On Dial-up these download WILL take hours, if not a day or so. On Broadband it will take minutes at worse.
As far as playing goes, I notice very little difference Broadband vs Dial-up. I have Comcast and play 4 puters via router. I also have a laptop which I can get a 5th account online (that is usually my bazaar vendor mule). The vendor connects via 56k modem (usually at 40k-44k) and I've noticed very little system generated lag when doing so.
I read on the Everquest site somewhere, where they have tweeked their connection/communications package to handle data more efficiently. Dont remember if they were talking about EQ or EQ2 though. From the way they talked, even connecting at 14.4 would provide a full game experience.
Most Lag is generated locally by you not having a fast puter, not enough machine RAM or video RAM, or having a poor video card. Latency is generated by a poor or slow connection. For instance, you press a gem to cast a spell. Latency is the time from when you press the button, till the spell actually starts casting, and you see it on the screen. Latency is why satellite internet is so bad for on line gaming. Two to five seconds latency on a sattelite connection is not uncommon. EQ is Very hard to play effectively with that much latency.
All that said and done, go with dial-up and see how if suits you. Expect to start your download Early on patch day, and then go to work. Hope you didn't get disconnected while gone. If dial-up just dont do it for you, Then you can check in to broadband and look to justify the cost.
As far as playing goes, I notice very little difference Broadband vs Dial-up. I have Comcast and play 4 puters via router. I also have a laptop which I can get a 5th account online (that is usually my bazaar vendor mule). The vendor connects via 56k modem (usually at 40k-44k) and I've noticed very little system generated lag when doing so.
I read on the Everquest site somewhere, where they have tweeked their connection/communications package to handle data more efficiently. Dont remember if they were talking about EQ or EQ2 though. From the way they talked, even connecting at 14.4 would provide a full game experience.
Most Lag is generated locally by you not having a fast puter, not enough machine RAM or video RAM, or having a poor video card. Latency is generated by a poor or slow connection. For instance, you press a gem to cast a spell. Latency is the time from when you press the button, till the spell actually starts casting, and you see it on the screen. Latency is why satellite internet is so bad for on line gaming. Two to five seconds latency on a sattelite connection is not uncommon. EQ is Very hard to play effectively with that much latency.
All that said and done, go with dial-up and see how if suits you. Expect to start your download Early on patch day, and then go to work. Hope you didn't get disconnected while gone. If dial-up just dont do it for you, Then you can check in to broadband and look to justify the cost.
Here in Orlando, I went to roadrunner since we had cable anyway - combined package is $79. I noticed a big difference when I switched to RR from dial up - less LDs, no lag, and no comparison on downloads over a year ago.
The last major patch took less than 4 minutues and last night's was almost instant. I think the POP patch on dial up took over 2 hours.
Also, dial up ties up a phone line, so compared to getting a second line, think rr is good trade off.
The last major patch took less than 4 minutues and last night's was almost instant. I think the POP patch on dial up took over 2 hours.
Also, dial up ties up a phone line, so compared to getting a second line, think rr is good trade off.
Damn, I had gotten so used to fast downloads that I completely forgot about patching. That will be a pain.
And there are other, non-EQ issues with going to dial-up.
Maybe I just won't move so that I can keep the DSL. Of course, I won't be able to afford DSL or the apartment I'm living in or my car or much of anything else after the divorce if I do that...
Oh, well, guess I'm just going to have to deal with it as best I can. Some EQ, even over a dial-up, is better than the nothing I've been living with the past few months.
Thanks for the info!
Edited, Thu Aug 12 15:06:14 2004 by daffymantis
And there are other, non-EQ issues with going to dial-up.
Maybe I just won't move so that I can keep the DSL. Of course, I won't be able to afford DSL or the apartment I'm living in or my car or much of anything else after the divorce if I do that...
Oh, well, guess I'm just going to have to deal with it as best I can. Some EQ, even over a dial-up, is better than the nothing I've been living with the past few months.
Thanks for the info!
Edited, Thu Aug 12 15:06:14 2004 by daffymantis
i have done EQ with a 126MB comp with a intel chip (most comps have one) and dial up .... worked fine just took about 6 mins to zone ... is why i stayed in 1 zone for a while =) went linkdead once every 4 hours, none more
I agree with the above min requirements listed, and I'd like to echo the low processor speed comment above. I play with a 1.1 GHz Athelon as my desktop (or Duron? I forget but its an AMD and its 1.1 or 1.15 GHz) and I do just fine relative to my far, far faster laptop probably because the desktop has a nicer video card (128 vs. 64 MB video ram).
When I started Eq my wife and I shared a dialup connection and had 200Mhz CPU's and video cards with 4 and 8 MB of video ram. We ran just fine but with long zone loading times. Obviously this was way back in the day (summer, 2000) and I wouldn't recommend anything like this now, if it would even run, but amazingly, parts of the game are identical.
When I started Eq my wife and I shared a dialup connection and had 200Mhz CPU's and video cards with 4 and 8 MB of video ram. We ran just fine but with long zone loading times. Obviously this was way back in the day (summer, 2000) and I wouldn't recommend anything like this now, if it would even run, but amazingly, parts of the game are identical.
Quote:
The bigest problem you are gonna have with Dial-up Vs Broadband is game Upgrades. These have become Huge and the new expansions even worse. On Dial-up these download WILL take hours, if not a day or so. On Broadband it will take minutes at worse.
Just reformatted my computer so had to reload EQ. I had my current EQ files on my other HD so was able to copy them across, but before I did, I ran the patcher to see how long it was going to take to patch all exp up to GoD, with dial-up.
39 Hours...
After I copied my EQ files from other HD, it took 3 hours to catch up on 4 months worth of EQ.
Does anyone have one of those new dell/gateway computers that are like 500$? If so could you tell me if you had to buy like a new video/sound card or if they work perfect with eq?
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