Help- PC games suggestions that will work on my PC

[sabre2922]

I know that there are some hardcore PC gamers on here and I really need some help on game recommendations that will work on my PC AS IS.

Please keep in mind that I cannot afford to buy any 3-D accellerators or anything like that.

These are the pitiful specs of my only ONE year old PC:
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brand: Emachine (yeah I know I know not the greatest for gaming)

2.80 GHz

80GB hardrive

512MB memory

It says that it has the INTEL extreme graphics 3-D whatever that means its not very impressive so far :roll:
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You see Ive never really gotten into PC gaming because everytime I bought a game it would not be compatible in the PC that I had at the time ( I previously had an older 800Mhz pc) or would look like complete a$$ when it was a 3D game and that frustrated me to no fucking end.

Dont get me wrong I would read all of the recommended systems specs and would only purchase the games where my PC met the recommended (not just required) specs and I would still end up wasting $10 there and $20 there so I gave up and just kept buying PS2 games while my new computer just became a hybrid pumped up emulator/porn machine LOL

Anyway I really think Ive wasted a good year on what was a new $800 machine just a little over a year ago.

What I need to know is what good/great games should run on this damn thing and still look decent.

The only games I currently have on it and actually play are Starcraft (still my fav) Serious Sam Gold and Red Alert 2 and Yuris revenge THATS IT.

I picked up GTA3 PC just becuase I wanted to mess with the Skins and mods well that didnt go so great I mean I could get the game to look faaar batter than my PS2 version but it would have slooowdown or I could set the resolution so low that it looked WORSE than anything else and it would run slightly faster than the PS2 version.

Anyway I really think Ive been missing out on a lot of great PC games because the last PC I had was a pentium 3 800 MHz windows 2000 computer that I couldnt get anything with good 3D to run on (just RTS and older PC games).

I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter with suggestions of games anything from RTS to FPS actually I would REALLY like to find some great FPS that would look good and run smoothly on my PC.

Feel free to PM or message me here on suggestions if need be.

Any game suggestions that would work on my windows XP 2.80 GHz machine would be very welcome.

I was also wondering if System Shock 2 would run on my computer without any major problems.

hell I cant even get DOSbox to work on this freaking thing I mean it launches up and runs and all but I cant seem to figure out how to tell it where to find the damn games hell I cant even get the thing to Load a freaking game :angry: be kool and dont flame me I never had a PC with Dos built in the oldest computer I had was a 2000model with windows 2000 pro installed (wich I liked very much so far XP has frustrated the hell out of me when trying to get games to run on it)

Thankx

[Flack]

To get drives to work in DosBox, you need to mount your real computer's drive to a virtual drive in DosBox. After launching DosBox, type "mount drive-letter where-your-games-are". So if you have your old dos games on your hard drive under c:\oldwarez, once you launch DosBox type "mount c c:\oldwarez". Then in DosBox, type "c:" and hit enter and it'll go to c:\oldwarez, where your games are. In Dos, cd "name" changes directories, so if you had say a directory called doom under c:\oldwarez, you would type "cd doom" to change into that directory. Then simply run the exe file. If you're not sure what the exe file is, you could type "dir *.exe" and that will show you all the exe files in that directory.

The biggest problem I had with games on my old eMachine was the videocard, since it's integrated and used shared memory. Eventually I added on another videocard which only cost another $50 or so but greatly improved performance.

As for games, there are tens of thousands to choose from. You should be able to get anything from 20 years ago to maybe 1-2 years ago working on the thing, and more recent stuff with a better video card.

[Oobgarm]

The thing that's holding you back is the video setup. If you're looking to buy some new games, I'd invest that money in a graphics card. I know you said you can't afford one, but if you're looking to play games with that PC, you should try to get one somehow. I had to do that same for mine back when it was capable of playing games.

I'd think you'd be fine going for titles that are at least a year or two old, but I wouldn't expect them to look that great.

EDIT: Looks like Flack beat me to it. :)

[sabre2922]

Thankx for the suggestions guys

Ill look into getting a new video card also Im sure that will help tons with newer games.

[calthaer]

System Shock 2 needs some finagling to work under Windows XP SP2. There is a thread on www.ttlg.com that details how to do it. It's an incredible game.

Thief, Thief 2, and the original Deus Ex should all work OK on your machine.

I would imagine that Warcraft III would work OK on it, too.

Like Flack said, anything from 20 years ago to 1-2 years ago would work on it - many of them are available on Abandonware sites like http://www.the-underdogs.org. My personal favorites from the glory days of PC gaming are X-Com: UFO Defence, Ultima VII, Ultima Underworld + System Shock, and Celtic Tales: Balor of the Evil Eye.

EDIT: The original Unreal is a work of genius, too.

[RockyRaccoon]

I'll reiterate what people have said.

Intel built in Graphics chip //sucks//. I mean this. Some newer Games even won't RUN on that chip.

Get a newer card. a Cheaper lower grade one will cost you 50 bucks. Thats how much I payed for my GeForceFX 5200+ with 128 megs of Ram. It runs Doom III well enough for my tastes...

~Rocky

[thegreatescape]

Freedom Force, Ground Control and Aliens vs Predator 1/2 should all run pretty good and are excellent games.

Then upgrade the vid-card (anything is better than intel) and get Enemy Territory.

[hu6800]

If your looking to play the newer games like Doom 3 or Quake 4, your gonna need one of these.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2494

[Arkaign]

Lol holy crap hu6800, a 7800GTX is a bit overkill, not to mention that Emachine almost certainly lacks a PCI-Express slot. Hell, it probably doesn't have an AGP slot :(

That leaves just a PCI slot, I'd say look for a Geforce FX5500 or 5700, 128MB version. 256mb will not help, as you won't be running the resolutions or texture detail settings to utilize 256mb of video memory. If you *do* select something like 1600x1200 @ 4XFSAA+AF, your PC will die a horrible flaming death. Sorry, that's overstating, but 1fps is not pretty.

Seriously, P4 2.8ghz, 512mb ddr (probably ddr333/pc2700, single channel), 128MB GFFX-5500 .. should get playable frame-rate, 800x600 or 1024x768, medium detail, NO FSAA, NO AF.

EDIT : You can also try getting newer Intel video drivers from the website, might get a 5-10% boost, the default drivers are probably 1+ years old by now.

[Joker T]

Those specs are quite decent for many games but yes the intergrated graphics will be a problem in recent games. The fact is the rest of the PC is good and with a reasonable graphics card you will be able to play games like Doom 3 at decent resolution with medium settings.

Check out Half-Life,Quake,Age of Empires,Crimson Skies

Those should all run quite well with your current setup :)

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Get a better graphics card and virtually everything will work on your PC. Get Diablo 2 though; it's one of the best PC-exclusive RPGs ever made.

[Flack]

The Underdogs site should keep you busy for months, if not years. Another good site is Retro Remakes (remakes.org), whch specializes in newer versions of old games. I would almost guarantee everything on those two sites will run on your machine.

[Arkaign]

Get a better graphics card and virtually everything will work on your PC. Get Diablo 2 though; it's one of the best PC-exclusive RPGs ever made.

I second this guy .. Diablo (especially part 2) is just annoyingly addictive!

[Rabid Peanut-Butter]

Two words...

Grim... Fandango.

One of the BEST games ever. I'm sure you can find it really cheap.

[Trebuken]

Some suggestions:

Baldur's Gate 1+2
The Temple Of Elemental Evil
Battle for Middle-Earth (may work well)
Icewind Dale
Might and Magic Games espeacially Heroes 2+3
Unreal II (maybe)
Etherlords II
Battlefield 1942
Everquest?
War of the Ring
Unreal Tournament 2003
Total Annihilation
Disciples : Sacred Lands
Deus Ex
Fallout 2
Mechwarrior 3
The Wheel of Time (may be too old)

Of course you should at least try to get Morrowind to work...it might...may be a patch for it by now...

Got Brood Wars for Starcraft?

Trebuken

[calthaer]

Morrowind is a real long shot with that setup - but the rest of your list is = teh r0><0r, Trebuken. It lacks only Neverwinter Nights to complete the Black Isle canon of RPGs...not sure how NWN would run, though.

Except I sort of disagree with Unreal II - I thought that game blowed compared to the original. That, and it will most likely chug with the vid card he has in there now. UT2k3 is a stretch, too.

The original Freedom Force that thegreatescape mentioned might work, though. Maybe even FF vs. the Third Reich, also an excellent game.