Need to set-up a laptop

[johnlewismcleod]

I will be going out of town again soon, and it really sucks peanuts to be lounging about in a motel room watching commercial television when I could be IG. I'm going to try and acquire a laptop capable of gaming on:

1) Any suggestions as to minimum capabilities for it to function well?

2) What do I need to have/do to be able to access and play on ALFA from both a desktop and a laptop?

[Riotnrrd]

1) any modern 800$ or more laptop should be capable of running NWN2 at medium / low settings.

2) nothing special is required... just dont forget to install and patch before you leave, and bring your NWN2 play disc when you go out of town!

[hollyfant]

Point 1.
* Check your computer at Can You Run It?
* Test if you can actually fit everything you want to see on the screen at your laptop's resolution. Preferably the "native" one.
* Start thinking of scenarios where you won't have to mouse too much.

Point 2.
* You'll need the original disk, or a crack for the game.

Those were the first considerations on my mind, there may be more (or more relevant) ones. Oh, and passwords. You need all the passwords: forum, ftp, DM... the works.

[johnlewismcleod]

I'm not sure what a "crack for the game" is...but are you saying I can use my same SoZ disk on both my desktop and laptop?

You have to bare with me, Vincent...I'm about as far as one can get from hacker-savvy...I'm not sure I'm even hardware savvy...software is like Faerun magic as far as I'm concerned, heh

The "can you run it" link is really helpful...thanks, mate

[hollyfant]

You can install the game on any computer you like, using the same disks as always. However, NWN2 is copy-protected. It checks your CD drive for the presence of your Storms of Zehir CD, and refuses to run if it can't find the disk. So if you installed the game on your laptop but forgot to bring the CD with you... you have a problem.

A "crack" is a program that removes the copy-protection. You have to go to potentially unsavoury websites to get them, and as a rule you can't update after applying a crack. But at least you can run the game without that CD check.

It's a bit like jacking your own car because the dealer won't give you an ignition key.

[johnlewismcleod]

OK...after wisely (if I do say so myself ) heeding hollyfant's advice, I decided to throw together a mobile desktop rather than attempt to "do my thing" on a 17" screen.

My question now is this...the desktop I have meets and exceeds the recommended requirement on hollyfant's helpful "Can you run it" link, except for the graphics card (which barely exceeds minimum requirements). It's an NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS and seems to function, but at min. IG settings I still notice some jerkiness.

I've got a 22" screen and a 700 watts power supply and a PCIe - 16 slot: any recommendations on a card to look for that will work well and deosn't cost too much?

I guess what I'm looking for here is a "bang for the buck" reccomendation, or possibly a "don't get anything with less than x,y,z spec's.

This mobile desktop will only be used for road trips, so I don't want to go all out (although if someone has a "dream card" suggestion, I suppose it could put it in my mobile desktop, then swap it out with the one in my home desktop when I get back home.

[Riotnrrd]

110$ Radeon HD 4850 512MB http://techreport.com/articles.x/14967
or what I have,
163$ Radeon HD 4870 1GB http://techreport.com/articles.x/15651

The catalyst drivers allow easy software overclocking if you want to push your card a little... but the 4870 works fine at ALMOST the highest graphics settings at 1920x1200 resolution (what I play at) out of the box.

[johnlewismcleod]

Thanks, Riot...I picked up a 4670 by mistake (I forgot to write down the numbers from your post ). I was in Fry's Electronics in Austin and had been string at a 6 tier shelving unit with at least 50 different cards stacked on it ...and absolutely wouldn't have had a clue if not for your advice. I thought myself somewhat competent on hardware, but realized I was clueless in the face of where this industry has gone...it's a complete quagmire of deceptive spec. stats and marketing-speak. I wonder that anyone can come away from that shelving with what they need unless they go in knowing what they are looking for.

I'll take the 4670 back today and hopefully have my card issue sorted this evening.