This just in from EIDOS on the official system specs for Thief: Deadly Shadows…
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
WINDOWS 2000/XP (ADMIN RIGHTS REQUIRED)(95/98/ME/NT NOT SUPPORTED!)
INTEL PENTIUM® IV 1.5GHZ (AMD ATHLON XP™ EQUIVALENT)
256MB SYSTEM MEMORY
100% DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE SOUND CARD
3GB FREE HARD DISC SPACE
MOUSE AND KEYBOARD
CD-ROM DRIVE REQUIRED
EAX Advanced HD Supported - requires SoundBlaster Audigy range of soundcards. LAPTOPS ARE NOT SUPPORTED!
SUPPORTED GRAPHICS CHIPSETS:
ATI RADEON 8500
ATI RADEON 9 SERIES
(9000,9200,9500,9600,9700,9800)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 3TI SERIES
NVIDIA GEFORCE 4TI SERIES
NVIDIA GEFORCE FX SERIES
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6 SERIES (is this an old card serie or a hint of things to come…)
GRAPHICS CARD MUST SUPPORT PIXEL
SHADER 1.1!
UNSUPPORTED GRAPHICS CHIPSETS:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 4MX (460, 440 & 420)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 4 GO
NVIDIA QUADRO FX GO
NVIDIA GEFORCE NFORCE2 & NFORCE3
Note that although it is not specifically stated for the specs, the game will not run on any current on-board video chips, such as ‘Intel Extreme Graphics’ and whatnot. Just so you know.
Just so you know, I’m swinging a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 and a 1.7GHz Athlon with 640MB of RAM and it runs pretty good, but I’m definitely thinking about upgrading.
My system meets or exceeds all of the other specs but it’s only a PIII 900mhz. I played the first mission last night and there was no noticeable lag at all.
As for the game, itself, I’m enjoying it immensely. The last time I’d played one of these stealth games was the original Metal Gear Solid and I’d forgotten how much tension they can build.
FYI, if they specifically list ‘unsupported’ specs, that doesn’t mean it won’t work while using them - because it might. It just means they will not offer tech support, as they are possibly aware of some problems some users have experienced with said hardware that is beyond their scope to fix.
Having said that, upgrading is never a wasted exercise when it comes to games.
I’d just like to point out that, for half the Ion Storm team (about 25 people, I hear), the reward for shipping the game was that they’re now looking for new jobs. Even Warren Spector, reportedly.
Man, I hate that- ship a good game, then get laid off, which means that the ones who laid you off make a bigger profit from your contribution. I love the Thief series- why must I have this moral quandary?
Thanks for the feedback on what specs you guys are running the game on. I might just give it a shot. If it doesn’t work I’ll probably wait untill fall to upgrade. I really want to get rid of my ugly carpet and put in laminate flooring so that’s where my current cash will be going.
Gut, does this mean you’re going to upgrade to WinXP, then? Remember, Win98 is not supported (the reason why I’m going to have to wait a few weeks before I’ll be able to play it).
If it doesn’t run well enough on Win98se and my current hardware I’ll be upgrading my motherboard, processor,RAM and OS. I’m going to take a chance that GuanoLad is correct about unsupported meaning that it might work just that I won’t get any tech support if it doesn’t.
Yep, just reading through the Eidos forum now and sure enough it will run but with a lot of bugs/crashing.
Here’s an interesting stat that Eidos quotes though:
Industry research indicates that 97% of those that have gaming systems in the target market do not still use Windows 98/ME.
We considered that gain of potenitally 3% of users did not justify the delay that would result in trying fix the stability that is experienced on Windows 9x systems and came to the conclusion that the benefit did not warrant the contined developement time involved.
Buy the game. If it’s a big hit, it’ll make it that much easier for the folks who got fired after making it to find a new job. Whatever profit Eidos makes off of you will be swallowed when their next game tanks because they laid off all their talented employees.
So, I’ve made it to the free-form City area…I’ve been waiting for something like this ever since the first time I played the Assassins level in Thief 1. I could spend hours here just looking at stuff and sight-seeing.
Is it just me or is money pretty easy to come by? I’ve only done one mission and already have 20 grand. I hope there’s something better to spend it on than the usual elemental arrows–I hardly seem to use 'em and you can find them lying around anyway. Besides those, all the shop guy had were broadheads, healing potions and flashboms, none of which I actually need.
Can’t believe those bastards at Eidos. They have what looks like a hit on their hands and they can half the team?! Is it just some sort of grudge against Looking Glass people?!..jesus…
Tweaks are already popping up for it, mostly dealing with getting the interface smaller. Here’s Where lots is happening, and I think I’ll be using this one as soon as I get the game.
Now I really am not coming back to this thread until I’ve played the game!
I have to revise this statement. Playing the city level over the weekend I noticed I was getting crummy framerates, probably due to the level of detail in the cobblestones, bushes & trees, etc. My vidcard, an ATI 9600XP should be more than adequate for the job so I wonder if my processor is straining a little under the weight.
This may just be the justification I need to upgrade the mobo/processor.
Sorry to bump an old thread but I didn’t want to start a new one (all my threads die early deaths anyway)
I finally managed to upgrade my comp to the point where I can play this game. It already has me hooked I’ve played through the first mission about 4 times already looking for different solutions I have a few questions though
Stealth vs Speed I’m only playing on normal but it’s so easy to run up behind someone and bash them compared to sneaking silently like you should have to. Makes me feel like I’m a hit and run artist not a deadly shadow (sorry couldn’t resist) Should I up the difficulty level? I don’t want to have to make it so hard I have to resort to murder however.
Lockpicking is too easy. So far every lock’s sweet spot has been one of the four cardinal directions on the outer circle. Does it get more complicated then this or just extra tumblers?
Definately bump the difficulty – AFTER you apply the patch. The game ships with a bug that resets the difficulty levels to normal every time you load a saved game. Also, go here and appy as many texure patches as you can download. This guy has improved the games’ look outtasite.
If you want to make the game really fun and stealthy play it on expert and ghost the levels – that is, try to get through the game without alerting anyone (ignore trying to do this in the city parts). It really lets you experiance the AI and makes the whole game longer and more fun. It never gets so hard that ghosting isn’t an option. It’s quite a bit easier than in the earlier Thief games because if you crouch you still go as fast as if you’re walking but make no sound whatsoever.
Lockpicking. In some of the later levels you have to use eight sweetspots instead of four but it doesn’t really make much difference to gameplay at that point. Honestly, it’s a section of the game that they could have kept the same as in earlier Thief games where it was time based instead of annoying minigame based and not lost a thing.
Actually, there’s more then one. But it doesn’t matter, as all of them are pretty easily avoided(there’s no more then 2 in any particular level, those that have them at all).
My Son and I just finished the game on Xbox yesterday . Here is my good and bad list.
Good,
For one thing it is very easy to pick locks because you get force feedback on the tumblers in your controller.
Also, switching items is a breeze with the baclk and white buttons, movement of course is very easy with 2 thumbsticks.
The haunted mansion is the bomb, the audio had us climbing the walls!
Bad,
I got tired of “sneaking” all the time, and boy howdy there are quite a few levels to find out who the big meany is.
there are some physics bugs with movement and detection, but it certainly playable, we recommend inch-saving to avoid repeating pain in the but sequences.
. Here is my good and bad list.