Graphics card memory detection causing problems

phoenixbbs

<div class="IPBDescription">(reposted from getsatisfaction because I think this is important)</div>The way the available memory in graphics card is being detected has some major flaws, in that the user can inadvertantly set the quality higher than their card can cope with.

I have a 512Mb card, but here are two examples of what the game thinks is available (bear in mind for release v1.0 the end user is unlikely to know the r_stats command to realise there's a problem)

First the low quality "ridiculously awful" - great, it'll work just fine, the memory usage is within the capabilities of the card;

<img src="https://d37wxxhohlp07s.cloudfront.net/s3_images/767164/mem1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

And now the "high" quality setting - you're in a world of pain even before you even leave the ready room;

<img src="https://d37wxxhohlp07s.cloudfront.net/s3_images/767165/mem2%20HQ_inline.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

If the game tries to buffer and cache textures to this non-existant memory, the user experience will not be a good one :-(

Dghelneshi

<!--quoteo(post=1952894:date=Jul 21 2012, 04:38 AM:name=phoenixbbs)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (phoenixbbs @ Jul 21 2012, 04:38 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1952894"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->in that the user can inadvertantly set the quality higher than their card can cope with.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You can do that anyway, no matter what the game "thinks".

Mine shows 4096MB total memory on a 2048MB VRAM card.
Windows automatically allocates extra memory from your main RAM to help out the graphics card. Textures not immediately needed will be cached in that part of your RAM instead of being reloaded from disk once they are needed again. This is totally normal and nothing you need to worry about.