games for crappy hardware

[adolf hamster]

so for the next few months i'm going to need to try and get my gaming fix using the sheer brute horsepower a laptop ivybridge i5 and it's igp can muster (on a mech drive too )

so, any reccommendations of things i should check out? i was half contemplating maybe far cry 1, hl1 (and if i'm lucky 2) although i'll be honest i don't really do "there's scary **** and you dont have much ammo" kinds of games.

likely going to be pressed for time too, so nothing that really needs a good long stint to enjoy (like morrowind for example)

 

[adolf hamster]

don't have the greatest internet, so mainly single player.

few good suggestions there, although i dont have a gamepad. guess i might start on hl1 and see how i go. interesting playing on a laptop keyboard

 

[adolf hamster]

Maybe a turn based game like civ or endless legend if you can handle turning down some settings

civ is a fave of mine, but unfortunately network config the way it is here lan games are going to be impossible and internet is going to be capped so online is a no no.

suppose i could give civ6 another go, on single player. i'll admit i have up before the end of the early game and went back to 5

 

[adolf hamster]

So it can play Portal but not at a locked 60fps with the (*) recommended settings. So this got me wondering.

Has anyone out there made a website for PC gamers that tells you what settings you can reduce, once at a time to get a better framerate. (Ideally on a per basis.) So, for example, you look up your game, max everything out and then gradually reduce something like anti-aliasing or shadow quality until you get the framerate you want. Or do folks just pretty much get on with it themselves? It's been 12 years since I gamed on PC so I'm not sure what to alter!

normally i go anti-aliasing, shadows, draw distance, textures

 

[adolf hamster]

I was just looking for a thread in here where someone detailed everything quite well, sadly I can't find it anymore and it used to be pinned as important stuff .

i've been finding with being really limited that it's easier to start the other way, turn everything off then turn on in order the effects you'd like and if one kills your framerate then off it goes again