*** The Official Tribes: Ascend Thread! ***

Hi fellow Tribers!

Looking for a little advice. My monitor is close to being up the duff and it is getting close to upgrade time! :)

Now I am currently on an old 19'' Viewsonic VX922 ( http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/guides/viewsonic_vx922.htm ) but fancy upgrading to a more future proof monitor.

I hear that 120Hz monitors is where it is at for gaming at the moment so I am interested in going in that direction with either a 24'' or 27''. The only problem is power, or lack thereof, to drive Tribes at a high enough FPS to utilise 120Hz.

The rig in my signature below gives me a fairly stable 70FPS, maximising at 80 and dropping as low as 60 on maps like arx depending on where I am looking.

So - it appears that I am going to need to upgrade my rig too. I understand that Tribes is CPU intensive, but my CPU is hardly a slouch, so am I going to get away with just upgrading my GPU?

So a few recommendations would be appreciated!

I'm looking into either of these two upgrade paths:

Path 1
24-27'' 120Hz monitor (preferably 27'')
New GPU (currently running AMD, but it seems to use any of the 3D vision stuff I will need Nvidia)
Off the back of a new GPU I might need to upgrade my PSU as well. I have been looking at the Seasonic 860W platinum as Seasonic made my Corsair PSU and it hasnt skipped a beat since 2006.

Path 2
Standard 60Hz monitor but add the money I would have used on upgrading GPU and PSU to the fund to buy a stonking monitor, maybe an IPS variant panel.
Wait and hope with fingers crossed that 120Hz IPS panels are released further down the line.

Any advice and recommendations would be appreciated :cool:

Cheers

Buff
 
A 120ghz monitor is both a blessing and a curse. Even with a monster rig its hard to run 120 hz with dynamic lights on. The majority of players have to run it off to get 120fps meaning that poorly optimised maps like arx and dry dock do not look that great. For comp players this is bad.

However when running 120hz at 120fps life is good - your chain will improve allot and everything feels better.

The issue is, even with my rig I can't get 120 GPS all the time. I would therefore advise you to wait for the next gen cards (780 gtx) and CPU ( haswell) before making a purchase.

If you don't want 120hz then just upgrade your monitor to 27 inch 60hz and get a 670. Don't get ATI as its **** with Tribes.
 
1kiwi said:
A 120ghz monitor is both a blessing and a curse. Even with a monster rig its hard to run 120 hz with dynamic lights on. The majority of players have to run it off to get 120fps meaning that poorly optimised maps like arx and dry dock do not look that great. For comp players this is bad.

However when running 120hz at 120fps life is good - your chain will improve allot and everything feels better.

The issue is, even with my rig I can't get 120 GPS all the time. I would therefore advise you to wait for the next gen cards (780 gtx) and CPU ( haswell) before making a purchase.

If you don't want 120hz then just upgrade your monitor to 27 inch 60hz and get a 670. Don't get ATI as its **** with Tribes.
Click to expand...

Wow, I didn't think a GTX 680 would struggle to run tribes at 120FPS :eek:

I'm running on toned down settings - not really bad, but about medium - on a HD 6870 and I'm getting a a fairly good 70 FPS, but to be fair it is only on low resolution (1280x1024) compared to 1080p. I was going to buy a more powerful IB CPU and bung a GTX 680 in. Glad I asked the question before dropping dollar on an upgrade!

Do you think the GTX 680 would run it at a solid 120 in SLi? What about 2 7970's in crossfire?

How come ATI are so bad with Tribes? My 6870 seems to be ok, but then it is only running a fairly low spec set up.

I have always had the view that if you need to upgrade, just upgrade, as there will always be something better just on the horizon that you could wait for, but when that gets released there is something even better just around the corner.......alas, you spend all your time waiting for the next big thing.

Is it possible to get Tribes to a stable 120 FPS on a 1080p 120hz monitor with todays tech? Looking at the stats of a crossfire 7970 setup, it appears to be comparable to a single GTX 690, but can be had for £600 instead of £900.

Also, I'm not good enough to be playing comp, so comp play isn't anything I need to worry about :D I thought my chain was getting better until Jim came in last night and dominated the server. I was even resorting to crafty kill steals, but he was still like 30 kills in front :p Damn you Jim!! *shakes fist* :D

PS - I didnt Rage Quit, my PC crashed..... :(

Talking of which, is anyone else getting Kb/mouse lock ups since the new patch? Several times in the last few days my KB/mouse has cut out. Unplug/plug them back in and it has fixed it once, but all other times there is no power to the keyboard at all and the mouse is powered up but unresponsive.

I have to reset my PC to get everything working again.....:(

Cheers

Buff
 
Last edited:
BuffetSlayer said:
Do you think the GTX 680 would run it at a solid 120 in SLi? What about 2 7970's in crossfire?
Click to expand...

The community is undecided on this one. Some say that since nvidia updated their SLI drivers for Tribes performance is better, however some say that when crossfire or SLI is enabled performance can be worse.

I have had both SLI and crossfire and to be honest I reverted back to a single card because the issues you get with both setup's are not really worth it.


If I was in your position I would:
  1. Buy the best 60Hz 27" monitor you can afford. Make sure it is gaming grade.
  2. If you want to run 60FPS maxed out, then either wait for the next gen nvidia cards to come out or buy a GTX670. As Jim and I have mentioned to you many times, the performance with AMD in tribes is simply worse than nvidia. I can't really see this changing.
If you really want to buy a 120Hz monitor, I would wait for the 780GTX to come out so that you can run @ 120FPS constant with dynamic lights on. Otherwise it's not worth it from my perspective. That will cost you allot I'm afraid. Somewhere around £750, assuming the 780 is priced around the same mark as the 680GTX at launch, which is a big assumption given the titan prices.
 
Last edited:
1kiwi said:
The community is undecided on this one. Some say that since nvidia updated their SLI drivers for Tribes performance is better, however some say that when crossfire or SLI is enabled performance can be worse.

I have had both SLI and crossfire and to be honest I reverted back to a single card because the issues you get with both setup's are not really worth it.


If I was in your position I would:
  1. Buy the best 60Hz 27" monitor you can afford. Make sure it is gaming grade.
  2. If you want to run 60FPS maxed out, then either wait for the next gen nvidia cards to come out or buy a GTX670. As Jim and I have mentioned to you many times, the performance with AMD in tribes is simply worse than nvidia. I can't really see this changing.
If you really want to buy a 120Hz monitor, I would wait for the 780GTX to come out so that you can run @ 120FPS constant with dynamic lights on. Otherwise it's not worth it from my perspective. That will cost you allot I'm afraid. Somewhere around £750, assuming the 780 is priced around the same mark as the 680GTX at launch, which is a big assumption given the titan prices.
Click to expand...

Whilst I like the idea of 120Hz/120FPS I have lived without it just fine for long enough. Also, I dont think I am prepared to drop £750 on a GPU in order to achieve it. I suppose there is nothing stopping me buying a future proof 120Hz monitor (they are not that much more than 60Hz gaming grade monitors) and waiting till 120 FPS cards for tribes fall into the realms of a reasonable price. Until then, I could just roll with a GTX 670/680.

I noticed you recommended the 670 above, not the 680 or 690? Any real reason?

Also, I got to the bottom of the crashes i was having. My G400 is suffering from premature cable break where the cable enters the mouse (known problem).

Anyways, when the connection breaks it seems to totally freak out my Pc and basically kills the USB port cluster that it is connected to and crashes my KB as well. Generally they are both connected side by side in the same USB section. Its not that my PC crashes as such, but I have no way of controlling it, so have to reset.

Sometimes transferring the USB plugs to a different USB cluster works, other times it does not. It is a very strange phenomenon, but I know £25 will fix it (new mouse!).

I thought initially it was a tribes problem, but today it happened in Q3 as well. So a bit of cable wiggling managed to reproduce the occurence.

Not sure why the cable has broken so soon. My last MX518 lasted years, as did the one before. This one is only about 6 months old :( Grrr.

Anyways, thanks for the advice, I will think on it some more before dropping dollar on parts. I am also looking to upgrade my KB. I am still on a G15 V1!! Looking at a Corsair K90. Any recommendations?

Cheers

Buff
 
670 because the price performance ratio is allot better than the 680. The 690 uses SLI and has all the issues associated with SLI. Getting a 120hz and running it at 60 is not a bad idea!

My G5 recently failed and I got the epic medusa after trying the G9. Fantastic mouse. Best way though is to order a few and then DSR the ones you don't want - that's what I did anyway.
 
1kiwi said:
670 because the price performance ratio is allot better than the 680. The 690 uses SLI and has all the issues associated with SLI. Getting a 120hz and running it at 60 is not a bad idea!

My G5 recently failed and I got the epic medusa after trying the G9. Fantastic mouse. Best way though is to order a few and then DSR the ones you don't want - that's what I did anyway.
Click to expand...

I have been reading up on the 670/680 cards. From what I gather the 670's are just 680's that didn't make the grade (IE faulty dye) and Nvidia found a way to make them work and flogged them at a reduced price point. Not sure how true all of that is but I think the 670 is the way to go, even though technically the 680 is a better card.

Any recommendations on brands? It appears like most branded cards come in vanilla and OC flavours with some versions having higher core speeds - over a 1000mhz in one instance from the standard core! Also KFA do a 4GB version of this card - worth it?

As for mice - I am a low sens player so need optical really. Lasers are just too fast for my play style, and they tend to be unreliable in lower DPI settings. I have been trying to find an optical that has the same button layout as the G400, but cant seem to see anything that works. There are a couple but when you read up on them they have certain buttons that cannot be re-assigned :( I may have to resign myself to the fact I will have to rework my entire cfg file for tribes and Q3 in order to get a different Optical mouse. The mouse I always liked was an old microsoft intelli mouse. Felt so smooth! I Reckon Zowie mice are the closest thing to that :)

So far - this is top of the pile, but I'm a bit unsure of the sensor. Cant see how an optical is reaching 4000 DPI without some kind of built in acceleration/firmware interpolation.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-010-CM&groupid=702&catid=23&subcat=1257

I am also considering:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GS-003-MI&groupid=702&catid=23&subcat=1257

Anyhoo, I'm looking and reading up on stuff and am hoping to get started on upgrading soon.

Thanks for the help :cool:

Oh - and I decided CTF is just a load of crap recently since they let every low ranked player and his dog into the public servers (the Rank 30+ are always empty), so I had a go on TDM.

ROFL - not had that much fun in Tribes for a long time. I even came top in one map too! TDM is mental :D That said - I'm finding it real good practice for my auto. Managed to kill shadz a couple of times too - but to be fair he was already nearly dead :p

Cheers

Buff
 
Patch Time!

HiRezStew said:
An update to Tribes Ascend is expected to be released on Tuesday, March 12. Expect some server downtime while the patch is deployed.

Major Highlights

New Synthrall skin for the Soldier class.

Two new voice packs:
  • TotalBiscuit
    Stowaway
Settings for custom servers are persisted across logins.

Weapon/Balance Items
  • Fixed an issue where the Shocklance would affect energy usage of packs.
  • When players upgrade a base turret, the turret will now properly upgrade it’s rate of fire.
  • Fixed an issue where fractal grenades could timeout before they finished fractalling, resulting in a non-damaging explosion.
Additional Items
  • Shocklance now has a small weapons model.
  • Fixed positioning of Shocklance on the main menu.
  • Shocklance is now bannable from a custom server.
  • Rock bouncing custom physics preset has been changed to be index based. RockBounceIndex is the property 0=full rock bounce, 1=standard rock bounce, 2=no rock bounce
  • Fixed an issue where returning a flag could prevent grabbing an enemy flag or grabbing an enemy flag could prevent returning your team's flag.
  • Laser targeter no longer can deploy call-ins during the warmup phase of a match.
  • Fixed an issue where the passenger from a gravcycle could get launched off at a high speed when exiting.
  • Fixed an issue where certain types of fog could be disabled in custom .ini settings.
Click to expand...
 
BuffetSlayer said:
I have been reading up on the 670/680 cards. From what I gather the 670's are just 680's that didn't make the grade (IE faulty dye) and Nvidia found a way to make them work and flogged them at a reduced price point. Not sure how true all of that is but I think the 670 is the way to go, even though technically the 680 is a better card.

Any recommendations on brands? It appears like most branded cards come in vanilla and OC flavours with some versions having higher core speeds - over a 1000mhz in one instance from the standard core! Also KFA do a 4GB version of this card - worth it?
Click to expand...

I brought my 680 on launch, however I belive that you can now get 1Ghz additions which overclock allot further, up to 1300Mhz. So it's probably worth getting one of those as it will make a difference in Tribes and any other game you choose to buy. I wouldn't bother with the 4GB cards unless you are planning on playing with a high res setup.

Regarding the mice, I would just purchase a couple and then DSR the one you don't like. It's such a personal decision that it's best to just try a few out. The ones you linked look very similar to the G400 so I'm assuming will be ok.
 
Well, after becoming a fairly competent soldier, I have been trying to learn some PTH routes and I am doing OK. One thing I have realised is how intricate the ski/jetpack system is and how finely it needs to be jusged to get the right speed at take off so as to reach the next mark without killing my energy pool. So far, I have to say PTH is the hardest class I have played. Probably because I have done it all backwards - but we live and learn :p

But PTH has to be the single most infuriating and annoying class I have ever played!! I have shouted expletives at my monitor so much in the last week or so the air in my computer room is literally blue :D

Seriously - pubs are so annoying!! Nice 300+ route ruined by a fatty llama. AAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!! :D

Some things I feel shouldnt be allowed though (mostly because it keeps owning me :D )....

Lights body blocking a 250+ PTH.
More than 1-2 TCN turrets near the stand
DMB should not be able to deploy a shield right in your path as they see you coming. I feel they should take time to charge up.
Superheavy perk - like the stand isn't stacked enough already!!
Failure to cap when you have clearly flown straight through your own flag - Its not cool.

I have also been getting a glitch lately and I'm not sure if it is my mouse or the game. Very often, after using exp nitron then fusor at the start of a run, my jetpack fails and I have to let go of the button and re-apply it. By which time I have lost valuable speed and have to suicide. Has anyone else had this?

All good fun though, and I'm still enjoying myself. :cool:

Buff
 
Good to hear it Buff! I've actually taken a step back from Tribes and have not managed to get any play time from a while now.

Did they resolve the lag issues?
 
1kiwi said:
Good to hear it Buff! I've actually taken a step back from Tribes and have not managed to get any play time from a while now.

Did they resolve the lag issues?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. How long ago did you leave? I personally have not been suffering lag for some time now, although I do have sporadic hikes in ping - as high as 150 the other evening. But I will say that has probably happened only twice in the last month, and the second time it was only for one map.

Just out of interest, why have you taken a step back?

There seems to be an influx of obsidian players in pubs at the moment - many of which I have never seen before. I'm not sure why that is. I don't keep up with the comp scene, but I hear a lot of talk - a lot of which says the comp scene is a joke and dead already. Not sure how true that is though. I also hear the devs have only a couple of people supporting Tribes at the moment.

Pubs are now getting to the stage where it is very hard to actually play CTF because of incessant D stacks. Unfortunately - the less glamourous roles are set aside for the race to the top of the scoreboard. On Blueshift the other night I was path and counted 6 (yes thats 6!) turrets around the flag, along with mines and 2 forcefields. Oh and a friendly inf was dropping prism mines all over as well, plus there were 2 sents, at least one of which was using claymores. Unfortunately we had no jug and I would have been one myself but I was the only path with a chance of capping (the other was a lvl12 and didn't have a clue). I suppose I could have gone jug and relied on team mates llama capping but that really defeats the object of CTF.

I wish I could say that was unusual, but the amount of stand D is getting silly now. I was playing Raindance the other day and there were two DMB's on the stand, 4 turrets + base turret and 4 sents.

I don't really know what the answer is, other than to turn pubs into maximum of 7v7 and just have more of them. Failing that the only viable option I can see is to have a completely different rule set and game balancing between pubs and comp.

I am still enjoying it at the moment, but D stacking is getting tiresome I admit. It is more tiresome now I am playing as PTH a lot more. I play jug just to spam the enemy stand and the ironic thing is, I am the one then getting haters calling me X Y and Z! lol :rolleyes:

I have taken a leaf out of Kwaunt's book though and I troll hard in servers sometimes. Especially when Obsidians come in with an attitude. Funny how people think you are hating when you are just winding someone up. One sniper the other night thought I was actually raging. Fool :D He didn't realise that because I was running diversion on him, our team was winning because he was spending more time talking to me and fighting me than doing his job. It makes I larf!! :D

I know I really shouldn't, and I reckon I might already have a reputation, but it really is too much fun sometimes. As I said to a player last night - I respect any player that kills me as it is an opportunity to learn - but I sometimes pretend to rage because it is fun - especially when they are an Obsidian pugger asking for a raider duel (shield / NJ5 yawns ;) ). I called the guy an auto nub cos he wouldn't duel me as soldier with duel fusors! He didn't like that :D Nowt more than banter really, but some players take themselves a little too seriously I think.

If little else, it helps to inject some fun into a D stacked game! Lol ;)

Hope you get back into it, it is still a cracking skill based game and I have barely touched Q3 since I started with Tribes.

Take it easy
 
Buffet have you considered making the step to playing pugs. It sounds as if your ready to make the jump into the comp side of things. Atleast pugging you will get a taste for it and see if you wanna try maybe get picked up by a team.


Kiwi hows it going?
 
.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Buffet have you considered making the step to playing pugs. It sounds as if your ready to make the jump into the comp side of things. Atleast pugging you will get a taste for it and see if you wanna try maybe get picked up by a team.


Kiwi hows it going?
Click to expand...

Hi mate - yeah I have considered it. But unfortunately I cannot commit to being on a team as my work/home life means I often won't be available. I don't like to let people down so unless I know I can commit fully for practices and matches I won't bother. I suppose I could be on the bench as a sub though. But I reckon it is a bit of a moot point really as I'm still not good enough for comp play :p

On a good day I can do alright as soldier. My Sent skills have taken a nose dive since I have started playing different classes though. Really really annoyed at how bad my sniping is at the moment! But the servers are not helping to be fair.

The broken public servers are not making practice easy. Not sure what PUGS are looking like at the moment but EU pubs are getting unplayable - and they have been like it for a few weeks now :(

Maybe it is time to move on, if only for the benefit of being able to play lag free. I would need to learn the rules though! :p

I think I still have mumble installed - I'm guessing that is what pugs use?

Cheers
 
Hey guys - I wanted to follow up regarding SLI performance for tribes ascend. Well I upgraded to a second 680 and tested out the performance on Dry Dock and Arx and it was 120FPS all the way. No drops whatsoever.

Have any of you been running Tribes in SLI/Crossfire?
 
Had a few games the other night and the servers seem very empty.

I also noticed that the EU ladder seems devoid of any major teams. I'm guess the EU scene has moved somewhere else?
 
Love this game...

I played it a bit when it first came out and thought it was really awesome, clocked about 50 hours in all and after about 30 hours I was having such a good time I even bought the "starter pack" which they had on a Steam deal to get VIP status and give a bit of cash to the developers, but then after a while the group I play with online sort of lost interest...

I booted it back up again today to see what had changed and I'm really impressed! Mostly that (contrary to the post above) there are actually still a decent number of people playing (I counted about 20 EU servers tonight which were close to capacity, and at least another 10 - 15 which had fewer players but at least weren't empty...)

I completely suck now though having not played for probably over a year :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom