Age of Empires III

Inazuma · 11 Apr 2009 at 16:00

Use this mod for the user interface

http://www.geocities.com/ek4nt4/

AOE3 is a really great game online. Still 3000 players online regularly too. The single player campaign is poor though.

Overslop · 11 Apr 2009 at 17:17

Actually, you won't be able to run completely maxed out with constantly stable frame rates if you play AoE III at a high frame rate.

I've played it on all kinds of setups and even a GTX 260 and HD4870 can't manage it at 1920x1080 with a quad core at 3.3 Ghz.

I upgraded to a 4870X2 and finally it runs very fluidly at all times. Though still the tech is not quite god enough for this game, amd with ATi you can't run this game with any significant amount of AA (only in-game which is either 2x or 4x).

People often forget how graphically demanding RTS games can be. And the fact it is four years old is irrelevant.

kola · 11 Apr 2009 at 18:37

so AOE3 is more demanding than say world in conflict which i maxed out on my average machine ?

TNA · 11 Apr 2009 at 19:31

If anyone is interested, let me know and we can have a game online. Would be cool to gather a few of us. Could have a 2v2 or 3v3 :-)

Inazuma · 11 Apr 2009 at 19:37

kola said:
so AOE3 is more demanding than say world in conflict which i maxed out on my average machine ?

Don't worry, AOE3 will run fluidly maxed out on your machine. I can do it with my 8800GTX.

TNA said:
If anyone is interested, let me know and we can have a game online. Would be cool to gather a few of us. Could have a 2v2 or 3v3

Sure thing

My MSN address is in my profile.

Antelopethy · 12 Apr 2009 at 00:26

This is a good fun game, I regularly play it with up to 7 mates from college, although getting games sorted can be a somewhat stressfull experience with some people who aren't entirely computer literate. Having said that, I notice I can get some lag with maxed settings at 1920*1200 with big 8 player games with lots going on the screen at once, which I guess can be put down to lack of graphics RAM.

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 14:47

kola said:
so AOE3 is more demanding than say world in conflict which i maxed out on my average machine ?

Maxed out? What resolution? And just because you can max it out, does not mean much. I can play Crysis fully maxed out. But it runs like a hog...

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 14:48

Inazuma said:
Don't worry, AOE3 will run fluidly maxed out on your machine. I can do it with my 8800GTX.

Not in a 3v3 when everyone has large armies, fighting closely together. And especially not with large water fights, which dramatically decrease performance.

Cold_And_Miserable · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:03

At the moment only around 900 people play AoE3 online inlcuding War Chiefs and Asian Dynasties, not 3000 as written above. This figure is quoted by Aloysius who runs the servers.

Richdog said:
You will need a way higher spec than that to make a 4 year old game run smoothly.

Ironically this is actually true. In large battles AoE3 is very CPU limited since there is no multi-core support or optimizations for SSE3/4 etc. At 1920/1200 at maximum settings an old ATi 3850 does just fine.

I suspect that core i7 would enhance performance greatly.

TNA · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:30

So how many here are interested in getting together for a game? So far me and Inazuma are up for it. Would be good to get a few more aboard and arrange to meet and play

3v3 with OcUK members would be bril. But I would be happy with 2v2 also

I have the game and both the expansions.

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:36

I'd be happy to join you.

Inazuma · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:37

Overslop said:
Not in a 3v3 when everyone has large armies, fighting closely together. And especially not with large water fights, which dramatically decrease performance.

This is true, although those situations are quite rare and lag could be due to someone else's bad connection too.

PanMaster said:
At the moment only around 900 people play AoE3 online inlcuding War Chiefs and Asian Dynasties, not 3000 as written above. This figure is quoted by Aloysius who runs the servers.

It differs at different times of the day. At around this time, yes it's usually 900. But at around 8 oclock the figure goes to 3000. Who/what is Aloysius btw?

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:37

PanMaster said:
Ironically this is actually true. In large battles AoE3 is very CPU limited since there is no multi-core support or optimizations for SSE3/4 etc. At 1920/1200 at maximum settings an old ATi 3850 does just fine.

I suspect that core i7 would enhance performance greatly.

I assumed that the CPU was the limiting factor also. But overclocking further brought no improvements. I upgraded the graphics card, and noticed large gains. When there's a lot of action on screen, the graphics card goes into overdrive.

Inazuma · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:39

Overslop said:
I'd be happy to join you.

When are you guys free to play then?

And what are you usernames? Mine is Inazuma.

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:40

Inazuma said:
This is true, although those situations are quite rare and lag could be due to someone else's bad connection too.

Not very rare at all if you play lots of 3v3s, which I happen to do. In fact, 3v3 is the most common game type.

Lag can definitely be caused by a poor internet connection, and that indeed happens a lot in AoE III. But test your own setup in a massive single player skirmish and use FRAPS. It proves that frame rates can drop very low due to inadequate hardware.

Inazuma · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:45

Overslop said:
Not very rare at all if you play lots of 3v3s, which I happen to do. In fact, 3v3 is the most common game type.

Lag can definitely be caused by a poor internet connection, and that indeed happens a lot in AoE III. But test your own setup in a massive single player skirmish and use FRAPS. It proves that frame rates can drop very low due to inadequate hardware.

Ah ok fair enough. I haven't played too many 3v3s in my time.

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:54

Inazuma said:
When are you guys free to play then? And what are you usernames? Mine is Inazuma.

My PC is not yet assembled because I had to send back a faulty HDD (using crappy laptop atm) but I will be online this week some evenings.

I will add you Inazuma.

My account is _Flashman_

TNA · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:56

My username is robby1r

Let try and get as many people as possible. That way it will be easier to arrange a meeting. Anyone else interested?

Also in my experience its 4v4's that cause lag. But its usually down to 1 dude who is playing on his lappy, or has a old pc/ has settings too high and his pc cant take it. What we can all do is use fraps and see if what we get. I presume anything over 30 should be ok for this game? As long as it does not dip below 30fps.

I used to play maxed out at 1920x1200 without a problem. But now I that I have bigger monitor I want to try 2560x1600 :-)

Overslop · 12 Apr 2009 at 16:04

TNA said:
My username is robby1r

Let try and get as many people as possible. That way it will be easier to arrange a meeting. Anyone else interested?

Also in my experience its 4v4's that cause lag. But its usually down to 1 dude who is playing on his lappy, or has a old pc/ has settings too high and his pc cant take it. What we can all do is use fraps and see if what we get. I presume anything over 30 should be ok for this game? As long as it does not dip below 30fps.

I used to play maxed out at 1920x1200 without a problem. But now I that I have bigger monitor I want to try 2560x1600

I will add you also then.

What classifies as an acceptable frame rate is of course very subjective. For me, I like to keep to a solid 60PPS or as close I can get to it. A lot of people find 30FPS fine for RTS games, but I notice a big difference. I prefer to run at reduced settings and achieve higher frame rates. But with a 4870x2, I can run fully maxed at 1920x1080 and it is almost always 50-60FPS.

Inazuma · 12 Apr 2009 at 16:10

I think 25 is minimum really. I prefer at least 45 though so the camera glides more fluidly. The 30FPS lock in CNC3 was very noticeable to me even though it was a constant frame rate.