souvlakispacestation
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Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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Since coming back to AC about a month ago I tried playing w/o decal tonight to reduce my horrid system lag during live events and was simply amazed. The graphics for everything from just running around to combat and spellcasting in general were actually fluid, quick and pleasing in contrast to the slow, choppy slideshow, headache inducing crap AC turns into when Decal is loaded.
In short my framerate doubled, even in busy areas w/o decal.
Is there a lite version or alternative to Decal that's less memory intensive? As for the plugins I use, just Alinco. And that alone kills my framerate just opening the stupid panel.
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Krackcode
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Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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There is an alternative:
Get a decent computer.
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Yula_the_Mighty
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Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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Decal Development is aware that Decal is a resource hog. Eventually they will come out with a less intensive version that does not put so much stress on our PCs. I have no idea when that will be. It is a lot of work redoing the code that is inefficient.
Ar this point I can only think of three choices:
1) Optimal - Do as Krackcode suggested
2) Get rid of Decal
3) Make cost effective upgrades to your PC, clean up and tune the performance of your PC, carefully choose your plugins, configure your plugins to reduce the load on the PC, lower your graphics setting for AC.
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Chazcon
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Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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I do 1 & 2 as a matter of course.
Isn't a gamer by definition a poweruser?
What poweruser doesn't have a hotrod computer, tuned to perfection?
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Chazcon - Aluvian swordsman
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-- Good times.
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unbelievr
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the people who do this stuff for recreational fun and dont spend $$$ on computer
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Drakier
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I wouldn't call those types of people "power users" then.
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azraelthelost
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Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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AC is a fairly old game that runs on a slow computer by todays standards, I would think some low cost upgrades could help you.
You can get a 256 meg video card with a decent gpu for less than $100 now...
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Chazcon
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Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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Yes, AC will run on an older computer.
But if you're going to run Decal in order to completely enjoy the game, you do need some GPU horsepower right now.
Hopefully, the Decal devs will have the time in their busy lives to put Decal on a diet some day, but until then it does bring the hardware requirements for AC + Decal up a bit.
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Chazcon - Aluvian swordsman
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-Logan_Conrad-
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azraelthelost said:
"You can get a 256 meg video card with a decent gpu for less than $100 now..."
That's what I did about a month ago. 
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Logan Conrad -MT- 221st Level Combat Archer Kal'Aaron -MT- 183rd Level Deadeye Shadow of Logan -MT- 147th Level Combat Archer "I can't stand pain. It hurts me!" - Daffy Duck AC's Best Resource => http://ac.wikkii.net/wiki/ACC_Wiki_Home
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Krackcode
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I really didn't mean to be a jerk...so sorry if I came off that way. But in all seriousness, really the only way around it is to get a new pc or upgrade your current one. But honestly upgrading what you probably have now would be a total waste of money. Why spend 200+ dollars on upgrades that might keep you up and running for a year or so(by then you weill be forced to a new comp by software development) when you can get a new machine for as little as 400-500 bucks. And I'm talking about an A64 X2 based pc.
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Drakier
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why get an X2 when an Intel Core2 Duo is the same price but can severly out-perform?
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Krackcode
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Why get an nvidia when you could an ati?
Because I'll buy another ati for the rest of my life...same goes for Intel. 
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Drakier
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There are many distinct differences over each, and you can't completely rule any one brand out. That's very closed-minded.
Companies make changes, adapt, etc. I don't know a single company that hasn't made at least one bad product. Doesn't mean I won't try them again later. I know for personal experience that companies can come back with better products and redeem themselves.
I've used both NVidia cards and ATI cards. They both make decent cards. I personally prefer NVidia cards from what I've experienced because the cards seem to be made a little better, and the drivers are generally more light-weight. That isn't to say that I hate ATI and will never buy them again. I've had issues with both companies before.
Same with with AMD over Intel. I've had CPU's from both. I was just about ready to buy another AMD X2 chip until I saw the benchmarking and read more reviews. I'm now planning on purchasing an Intel Core2 Duo instead. It is the same price as the AMD I was looking at buying, it has a lower power consumption, it can be insanely overclocked, and it runs really cool. The AMD I was going to get uses more power, can't really be overclocked safely without worrying about overheating and frying my chip prematurely, and runs really hot.
I do research. I don't let a biased opinion overwhelm the facts. I have nothing against AMD now either. One of my computers is still using an AMD. It is the 2nd or 3rd AMD I've had, or have made for someone else. I'm going to use the Intel because for what I'm doing, it seems like a LOT better choice. Currently Intel seems to have a leg up in the market. Doesn't mean AMD can't come back and make a better product for cheaper. If that is the case, then next time I'm looking to get another CPU, I might get an AMD instead.
But as to my original point, why get an AMD X2 when an Intel Core2 Duo runs better, cooler, and faster for the exact same price? As far as I can see, there are no unbiased reasons not to.
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Arch_Magi
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Subject:
Decal llite or an alternative plugin program available please?
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Krackcode posted:
There is an alternative:
Get a decent computer.
It ain't the computer, it's Decal.
I have a system that is WAY more than anything AC or Decal should ever need, and I have tried running it on 4 GHz, Dual Core systems with 4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM and an nVidia 9750 SLi card, and it still drives like a fat, bloated, sloth.
I mainly point that out for the OP's benefit, so he doesn't go out and drop $6500 for a new state of the art system and still see AC/Decal crawl. It's just the nature of the beast, until the Decal Devs can come up with something better. But to answer the OP's question, no, there really isn't another program alternative to Decal.
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Chazcon
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I'm very brand-loyal. I'll only uses Asus motherboards, AMD processors, and nVidia grapics cards (for starters).
I became that way the the hard way - after years of dealing with crap hardware, and then discovering which compnies put out a consistently superior product.
Computer hardware will always advance, and each company will have momentary advantages in performance over the other.
But I'll stick with my brands that have served me well, even if there is a few percent of performance hit (which is rarely the case with the brands I use anyway).
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Chazcon - Aluvian swordsman
You say, "FOR THE VITAE!"
Ru tells you, "CHAZ!"
Simply Red tells you, "I am SO not recovering your body!"
-- Good times.
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azraelthelost
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I have found that brand loyalty might not be the best idea when building systems, AMD for example makes some really low quality CPUs.
I just ordered this system:
core 2 duo 2.4 Ghz 4mb cache
2 Gigs of 677mhz ram
raid 0 250x2 storage
geforce 7300, yes its sub par for the system, I plan to update to a 1gig ram card soon as they go below $350.
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Chazcon
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Intel ftl
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Chazcon - Aluvian swordsman
You say, "FOR THE VITAE!"
Ru tells you, "CHAZ!"
Simply Red tells you, "I am SO not recovering your body!"
-- Good times.
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Krackcode
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nothing wrong with that 7300, just get another for like what 50 bucks? And then your close to a single 7600gs which will run almost any game really well.
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-paradoxlost-
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Just a heads up all, dual core won't make ac/decal run *any* better. The entire system is single threaded and will only ever be on one core at a time. The best you'll get out of a dual core system with ac is that winamp will run a lot more smoothly in the background...
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-lino-
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Oh paradox, stop killing entire marketing campaigns with simple facts. People need to buy that stuff right when it comes out (and is still expensive) to keep the machinery running
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Vilost
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k maybe this is a dumb question, but in regards to the dual core - if the OS is on a different core from say AC wouldn't *that* effectively make AC run better? (I realize I dunno if that can be done... no I don't have a dual core system yet so it's a bit new to me).
I find *AC* is a resource hog. I do not see significant less lag/chunking with or without decal on my system. On the older systems, yeah I do, so I choose not to run decal on them. Also, I'm running the high res graphics on my main machine which I suspect tends to make decal being a hog or no, kinda moot. <shrugs>
Sorry for kinda dragging this more o.t. it took an interesting direction.
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Drakier
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Intersting is what I'm all about
As for your question...
Dual Cores allow simultaneous execution of 2 different threads. This is differnt than Hyperthreadding which is actually NOT dual core (contrary to popular belief by some people).
This basically allows 2 processes to do their own thing without really impacting eachother. I'm grossly oversimplifying it, and still haven't answered your question so..
there's no such thing as putting the "OS" on one core and AC on another. Dual Cores generally run side-by-side and have their own algorithm for determining which thread runs on which core. You CAN set an affinity (meaning which core you'd LIKE to run on) but there are way too many OS processes to do it to all of them (and you'll most likely missed newly spawned ones).
overall, I believe it would improve overall performance, which can help with AC's performance. Would it make a dramatic difference for AC over a single core of the same speed/power? I don't really think so.
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-Logan_Conrad-
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I was wondering why I was having problems with Winamp while playing AC.
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Logan Conrad -MT- 221st Level Combat Archer Kal'Aaron -MT- 183rd Level Deadeye Shadow of Logan -MT- 147th Level Combat Archer "I can't stand pain. It hurts me!" - Daffy Duck AC's Best Resource => http://ac.wikkii.net/wiki/ACC_Wiki_Home
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Cykaos_MT
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If you don't ctrl-shift-escape and end every process running except ac and decal then you are doing something wrong.
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Lil-Blub
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Arch_Magi posted:
Krackcode posted:
There is an alternative:
Get a decent computer.
It ain't the computer, it's Decal.
I have a system that is WAY more than anything AC or Decal should ever need, and I have tried running it on 4 GHz, Dual Core systems with 4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM and an nVidia 9750 SLi card, and it still drives like a fat, bloated, sloth.
I mainly point that out for the OP's benefit, so he doesn't go out and drop $6500 for a new state of the art system and still see AC/Decal crawl. It's just the nature of the beast, until the Decal Devs can come up with something better. But to answer the OP's question, no, there really isn't another program alternative to Decal.
I also think that Decal is a resource hog. It actually never used to be so bad untilToD. Now it's just a sad piece of work.
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Chazcon
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Lil-Blub posted:
I also think that Decal is a resource hog. It actually never used to be so bad untilToD. Now it's just a sad piece of work.
Baiting - no surprise, considering the sad piece of work the author is.
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Chazcon - Aluvian swordsman
You say, "FOR THE VITAE!"
Ru tells you, "CHAZ!"
Simply Red tells you, "I am SO not recovering your body!"
-- Good times.
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Maddy_ACEDL
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<< I also think that Decal is a resource hog. It actually never usedToD. Now it's just a sad piece of work. >>
I don't think the Decal Devs would be upset if you stopped using it.
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ElgarL
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I don't believe it's Decal's fault for being a resource hog. It's the mentality of todays programmer and developer. Microsoft are pushing people to create things with no regard for how resource intensive they are.
Just look at the design of the .Net architechure (I hate .Net btw). Masses of unused code that gets loaded at launch, which simply takes up space in memory and never gets used. If this design was put forward 15-20 years ago the designers would have been sacked on the spot.
These days because of the advancement in PC and memory technology it seems to be an accepted design to be wastefull with resources.
So far I've totally boycotted .Net, and will continue to do so, so long as I can achieve the things I need to do without it.
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Drakier
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I'll agree with you that .NET is a lot of loaded code with no use.. but it's a shame you are boycotting it considering the speed, power, and developer efficiency of it.
I think that is the tradeoff now. RAD. Web and Applications can be designed and fully coded in a fraction of the time it would take a non-.NET language to do. It's a completely web-based and managed language which makes it powerful in a lot of ways.
I've personally fallen in love with C# and will continue to use it hoping that Microsoft will continue to make improvements to it.
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ElgarL
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Oh I agree that the benefits of .Net do sound appealing, but I'm totally against the way they have done it. I believe wastefullness is a sackable offence when it comes to programming and development.
I'm 100% certain that the same end result could have been achieved without the huge overheads and wasted resources of the current design.
In todays world the only way to influence a companies model and design is to affect them through their pocket. If enough object then they will rethink their design. I'm one of those refusing to adopt the lazy design of .Net in protest over it's wastefullness.
When I began programming it was good practice to save a few bytes here and there. It was common practice to trim every single byte of space you could.
These days when we have gigabytes of memory instead of killobytes, programmers and designers have become wastefull and the end products performance is the one to suffer. Not only the performance suffers, but the lazy mindset of programming these days produces inferior bug ridden products.
We the customers have been tricked into thinking it's ok for companies to produce bug ridden systems simply because the programs have become larger. It's far from the truth. We have bug ridden programs these days because of the mindset thats become the norm in programming.
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Drakier
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agreed.
I'll still use it because even though it is .NET that makes me more aware of "trimming the fat" to to speak and eliminating anything when possible. .NET makes it difficult to reduce certain things, but good programmers can still be semi-efficient over the new "lazy design" that is being taught now.
besides that, I completely agree. "back in the day" there wasn't a whole lot to work with. Had to make every bit count. These days, there is a general abundance of resources and people just don't think about it anymore like they used to. I don't completely agree with it, but I understand it.
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squaredoz
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Ahmen! 
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