Advice Please

[Pandemonia]

Looking for some advice on suitable games for myself.

My problem is that I can't handle 3D (yeah, I know I'm a wuss), so that pretty much eliminates most games. I've always been a huge Diablo fan and also like Divine Divinity (when it's not busy locking my system up).

Can I get some recommendations for 2D games similar to the above?

Thanks!
Pandemonia

[Aku]

Looking for some advice on suitable games for myself.

My problem is that I can't handle 3D (yeah, I know I'm a wuss), so that pretty much eliminates most games. I've always been a huge Diablo fan and also like Divine Divinity (when it's not busy locking my system up).

Can I get some recommendations for 2D games similar to the above?

Thanks!
Pandemonia

What do you mean you can't handle 3D games? You mean your computer? Is it an old computer? Lots of 2D games that will work on an old computer, they were made for it. You like RPGs, so put Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 at the top of your list. Get the "Collection" edition for each, which come with the expansions. Also try Fallout, Fallout 2, and Arcanum. And Jagged Alliance 2 - a combination of RPG and tactical team-based combat. There's also the Icewind Dale Collection. From the Baldur's Gate people. That's the only one I haven't played. BG 2 and IWD Collections can be found in the stores, the rest you'll probably have to buy online.

Other great 2D games for me include city building games, like Sim City 3000 Unlimited. Then there are the Sierra City Building games - Caesar 3, Pharaoh, Cleopatra, Zeus, and Poseidon. Great Empires Collection 2 includes the whole lot of them That's only a thousand hours or so of gameplay right there. You'll pobably have to find this online as well. Then of course there is The Sims and all its expansions, if you are into that sort of thing.

All those games should keep you going through 2005.

[Pandemonia]

Thanks for your suggestions!

I should have been more specific in my first post.
I can't handle 3D because it weirds me out - makes me queasy.
My computer specs are:

1 gig AMD
256 ram
16 mg Nvidia Riva TNT

I've written down all your suggestions and am going off to Google them & see what looks good. I've tried the Sims, but not really into it. I prefer RPG's.

Thanks again!
Pan

P.S. Does anyone know if there's ever going to be a Diablo III or is that game history?

[Aku]

1 gig AMD
256 ram
16 mg Nvidia Riva

Time to get a new video card. Even some of the 2D games I mentioned are a bit strong for an old TNT. For what you're interesed in playing, a GeForce 2 is sufficient. You can get one of those really cheap (probably find one on Ebay for twenty bucks or less, I'd guess.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

I would look into getting Neverwinter Nights or Sacred. Both those games (Sacred especially) has elements of both Diablo and Divine Divinity (my current favourite).

[Nissian X]

Thanks for your suggestions!

I should have been more specific in my first post.
I can't handle 3D because it weirds me out - makes me queasy.
My computer specs are:

1 gig AMD
256 ram
16 mg Nvidia Riva TNT

I've written down all your suggestions and am going off to Google them & see what looks good. I've tried the Sims, but not really into it. I prefer RPG's.

Thanks again!
Pan

P.S. Does anyone know if there's ever going to be a Diablo III or is that game history?

Can't handle 3D eh? in that case, you shouldn't even own a PC, my advice for you, is to toughen up. Start working up from a NES or Super NES, and then go to 64, then PS2, then Xbox, and just get used to 3D, you'll thank me later. ;)

[Pandemonia]

You guys are the best. I have been deliberating a new vid card - it must be time.
Have noted both those games - they sound like something I'd like.

As far as:

Can't handle 3D eh? in that case, you shouldn't even own a PC, my advice for you, is to toughen up. Start working up from a NES or Super NES, and then go to 64, then PS2, then Xbox, and just get used to 3D, you'll thank me later.

Well, I use my PC primarily for surfing porn - gaming is just a diversion.
;)

[Pandemonia]

Okay, I went out & bought a Radeon ATI 9600 128 card and installed it. Then I downloaded some demos to see which games I might want to buy. I tried Arcanum and dove in, expecting wonderful game play.

Well..........my stupid computer is freezing every few minutes - just like when I played Divine Divinity. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!! I feel like jumping off a bridge!

Suggestions? (Other than to go ahead & jump...)

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Just make sure you get all updated drivers for your system- these include mouse, soundcard, and graphic drivers. If you're running your comp off a VIA chipset for instance, there are 4-in-1 drivers for the mobo as well. You may have bad RAM, too little RAM, or RAM that is not plugged in properly. Overclocking results in instability, as does excess heat. As you can see, there is a myriad of problems that could be plaguing the system. Try updating ALL the drivers you can possibly find, and then get back to us.

[Aku]

Okay, I went out & bought a Radeon ATI 9600 128 card and installed it. Then I downloaded some demos to see which games I might want to buy. I tried Arcanum and dove in, expecting wonderful game play.

Well..........my stupid computer is freezing every few minutes - just like when I played Divine Divinity. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!! I feel like jumping off a bridge!

Suggestions? (Other than to go ahead & jump...)

Going from an Nvidia card to a Radeon, you need to make sure you clean out the old Nvidia drivers first. But, I think in your case you really need to start from scratch. Reformat your hard drive, and reinstall Windows. Then do what SBS said - get all the current drivers for your system: motherboard, video, sound, etc. When you've got everything running, run msconfig and turn off anything you don't need to launch at startup. Run services.msc and turn off all extraneous services (check blackviper.com for all the services you can safely turn off). Install a fully patched game (not some demo) and play it to test the system.

Other things to check....how old is your hard drive? An old drive could cause problems. Is your computer properly ventillated? Do you have an extra fan or two inside? Check the temperature inside the case. Is your power supply adequate (generally 250w or better)? Turn sound and video hardware acceleration down a couple of notches in the Windows settings. Check your system information to see how much memory your system thinks it has, and if that matches with what you have in there.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Well, I have swapped vid cards before with no adverse effects... Cleaning out the old Nvidia files IS a must however- but I wouldn't go so far as a re-format- especially if you have a lot of info on your computer that you can't back-up... I would save that as a last resort.

[Aku]

Well, I have swapped vid cards before with no adverse effects... Cleaning out the old Nvidia files IS a must however- but I wouldn't go so far as a re-format- especially if you have a lot of info on your computer that you can't back-up... I would save that as a last resort.

It helps if you partition your drive, and just keep your OS on its own drive. Sometimes things get mucked up to where you just have to start fresh. :)

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Hell, you're talking to the Partition master. I even have a seperate partition just for my Swap Files...

[Pandemonia]

Ack! You guys are killin' me!!
; )
Could you please just come & fix it for me??

Well, I just had a reformat - unfortunately prior to this video card install. I am partitioned, but I installed the latest game (Neverwinter Nights - a purchase, rather than a demo) onto the Windows partition.

ANYhoo, I'm downloading drivers, etc. and will work on all the suggestions you gave. I will clean out the old drivers although this problem has been ongoing when attempting to play games long before the upgrade.

The drive is fairly new, so I'm hoping that's not the problem. As far as memory, it's all adjusted to the lowest setting and supposedly all's well with it.

I'm not sure about the overheating factor. If I do everything else & it's still a mess, what about this half-assed temporary solution: removing the cover & using a common house fan to cool things down? (I know I had to do that long ago when I had a motherboard overheating issue with a computer.) I don't have enough expertise (ahem...I don't have ANY expertise) to figure out how to put a proper additional fan in. I suppose I can con someone into helping with that situation.

Anyway, I truly appreciate all your suggestions. I will work on them bit by bit and if I'm still locking, will come back for further help. I have this dismal feeling I will be back!

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Ahhh, if I were you, I would remove all games and such from the same partition that the OS is installed on (like Aku said). It's bad enough that it has to share the Swap File with the OS, let alone other games and apps. If it's not too much trouble, a reformat may be your single-best way to troubleshoot from the ground up- before you start installing mass amount of programs- etc...

Then you can start ripping the computer apart and seeing what the problem may be! LOL Simply removing the case (while it's running- ground yourself!), will let you know if all the fans are operating (you'll maybe need a penlight).

Then, turn the machine off, and again ground yourself, and physically push each and every card or chip in a slot tightly in place. Double check the power cables as well, and make sure they are plugged in soundly.

If the wires are not cluttering up the insides, and the fans are working (and you never overclocked the CPU or graphic card), heat shouldn't be a problem (you can check that in the BIOS)... RAM is fairly important to new games as well, so an extra (at least) 128 MB may be called for and will stop a lot of stuttering naturally.

Turn off background Apps in the Taskbar, and ensure you don't multi-task while playing games... I'll check back later and see if you've had any luck...

BTW- check your Swap File (you can find out how to do this here from another or online)... Let us know what it's set to- that could be another major issue as well when it comes to games.

[Aku]

Ack! You guys are killin' me!!
; )
Could you please just come & fix it for me??

How pervasive is your game lockup problem? So far you've mentioned Divine Divinity and a demo of Arcanum. I can see why Arcanum would be problematic, because the game has a memory leak that leads to slowdowns and lockups unless you have a lot of memory (like a gig), or you are running a memory management program in the background (which I did when running the game on my old pc that had 384 mb of RAM). You should get a shareware memory manager like Cacheman, and run it while you play one of these games. Every once in awhile alt+tab out of the game and look to see if your available memory is constant or shrinking. When games tend to lock up after playing them for a period of time (like a half hour), it can be a symptom of a memory problem that may be game related.