PC 7D2D - Advice on when to buy new PC

M

Maguvas

New member
Hi guys!

I'm playing 7D2D since A16.4 where my Radeon 4GB 'old' card runs everything gracefully.

Since A17.x it seems that I may have some issues with the performance and considering that each year a new alpha is released and no one can say anything about performance otherwise the forum states: 'it's an alpha, so silence', I'm not expecting things go better. So, please, do we have an idea when the game eventually will go in gold? I'm asking because to buy a new pc or card now means that A18 will be playable but A21/A22 of the 2022 will be unplayable and you cannot even say it because: SILENCE it's an alpha. Ok fine :) Considering that 7D2D it's the only game for which my card is not efficient enough I thought that 7D2D may pilot the buying of my new card :)

2nd question: I can't remember where, maybe in this forum or directly in the main site, I've found the - I guess - original statement of the game where it was reported that 7D2D in the final version will be also a discovery of what happened with a dedicated plot - something I would have put there from A0.0. Now I'm seeing that the core reason behind each new alpha - definitely is not performance :p - is to add something to enrich already perfect mechanics in the A16.4 further and further polished but already there and without considering at all the plot. So, is it confirmed that the gold game will have a story or plot discovery quests for an immersive game world?

Thank you very much for any answers.

Kind regards.

 
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You wont get answers from TFP about when it goes gold at this time, but I think mid to end 2021 is possible. They assume that bandits will take about 9 months to get right. Only part of the team is involved with bandit implementation while others can plug other holes. This is why you can read about MM adding books. That won't slow down bandits or delay gold because MM isn't involved in bandit development at the moment.

The story that will be implemented for Navezgane will be rudimentary compared to most other games. It will probably include lots of findable hints about how the apocalypse came about and that should be easy to add. Part of it IS already in the game, at least one POI in Navezgane seems to be relevant to the story.

And it will include you handling the two factions, both of which are probably implemented as bandit/NPC camps on the map, with quests. And I assume that is part of the whole bandit package that is assumed to take 9 months (which means in reality 15 months)

They still haven't changed minimum specs for the game so whatever they do they still need to have options that allow very old machines to play the game. And unless they change those minimum specs in a really big way they always have to balance new graphics features with what typical customer machines can handle.

And if we assume 2021 for gold, 50% of their customers will still have machines we would call middle-class today, with something lower or similar to RX580/GTX1060 class GPU, 4-6G VRAM, Ryzen 2600. Look at the steam hardware stats, 54% of players there still have only 4G VRAM, 75% 4 CPU-cores or less.

Generally I would guess buying a good 8 core ryzen 3000 (or similar intel) CPU for example will not be outclassed by CPUs you can buy in 2021. Getting a current GPU with 8G VRAM will also be not be outclassed by GPUs in 2021 and will be able to run 7D2D gold without problems. Especially with GPUs there is the option to buy something cheap today and buy something better in 2 years.

 
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Thank you Meganoth: you got my point and your answer is very clear.

I've seen that the game has already something to support a plot in the future and even if it'll be not very rich it's also fine to explore and just looking for issues about what happened better if it was also in an organized way (i.e.: diary). As of now I'm not playing first of all because I can't :) A18 runs at 20fps maybe with everything at low or disabled - already applied the no anisotropic fix - and I don't want to spoiler anything of the game in this condition.

About the new hardware at this point I guess I'll wait for the end of the next year or the 2nd quarter of the 2021: Horizon Zero Dawn 2 will happen in the 2020 and maybe we'll be forced to buy the PS5 to play it so my money will go definitely there.

Thank you.

Kind regards.

 
Good plan. I won't play Navezgane as well until the game is gold because I want to see the full story.

Meanwhile a forum user reported that A18.3 (which just came out today as experimental) had big performance gains on a few low end machines. Maybe even your current machine might now or in a few iterations reach acceptable FPS in a lower resolution again, enough for RWG.

 
...you are so kind that now I feel guilty not trying it :)

Ok I'll give it a try to the RWG A18.3 let's see how it runs: I'll let you know... and meanwhile I guess I should think to another question to prevent this discussion going OT :)

 
Ok I've tried A18.3 b3. First of all thank you for everything: your answers and the invitation to try :)

So I've an I7 Hashwell (I7 1st gen) and an R9 290X 4GB, 16GB system RAM and the report is as follows ->

- 4x4 RWG depth 35%: now it's playable. In the previous A18 versions there weren't many differences between the standard 8x8 and the small 4x4 but now at least 4x4 is playable. Of course everything medium or off and no shadows at all, but anyway I've never considered shadows very important in games: I turn them off since the Voodoo3 time :)

- 8x8 RWG depth 35%: A18.3 is definitely a step forward but not yet, I guess, the game the devs want me (us) to play, performance speaking. Indeed now it is smooth but comparing it with 4x4 smoothness shows many differences. First of all the scrolling seems to stuck versus something for just a second and then restart and the smoothness speed is lower than the one with 4x4 maps. Apart from that there is a big performance drop whenever a single zombie appears: smoothness leaves space to stutter and everything returns as the standard A18... I suppose I can forget about a fair battle versus these thingie :) Worst of all the interior: I've enabled something which prevent the PC from generating not seeing objects thus granting boot in interiors, so states description. Indeed it works in 4x4 maps, in 8x8 maps, on my machine, before entering any building there is some sort of 2-3 seconds latency where everything goes sloppy then indeed it returns smoothness.

So the promised question is: is this game worth waiting or buying? To me is definitely a soundly YES. The devs are working very well and in each alphas they're improving something. I'm not complaining about performance - just reporting - because the graphic detail is far above the A16.4 and it cames with a cost of course. The game idea is good so... I guess I'll wait peacefully until my new PC and the 2021.

Good work to the devs :)

 
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