I need greens. Vibrant, lush greens. Greens that make me feel enmeshed
in a world of life and luster. And there's only one game that can
provide me with this sort of green.
Far Cry.
Not Far Cry 2 (although that one had some kick-ass gunplay), or Far
Cry 3 (that one had nice water), or Far Cry Primal (actually, that one
had some wonderful greens too), or Far Cry 4 or 5 or 6.
I want the original. The first one. The one that made our jaws drop
and say, "wait, our computers can do this?!?" That's the game I want.
That's the game with the best greens.
And I want it on original hardware. A proper WindowsXP-era computer
with a WindowsXP operating system and a proper old-school GeForce GPU
(in this case, a GeForce 7). Because it's not really "Far Cry" without
all those accoutrements. If your computer isn't glowing from an
overabundance of LEDs and blowing with an overabundance of fans, it's
not really running "Far Cry" ... not the way it's supposed to.
Luckily I have the hardware. Years of scrounging and hoarding have
blessed me with enough components so I can make this dream come true.
And I have a shameful number of Windows XP CD-keys. So we're all good
there.
But is it really that easy? Of course not. It should be. Insert the
disks, install the game, press play. Do we have game? No, we have
crash. We have big-time crash, of the sort I haven't seen in a dog's
age, with a blue screen and everything. Time to fiddle with configs.
Mess around with settings. OpenGL to the rescue! No more crash.
Time to embrace the green? Of course not. We have game, but not
/working/ game. Was "Far Cry" so hard to get running back in the day?
I'm spoiled by modern games; they mostly 'just work'. I haven't mucked
around this long trying to getting a program to run in a while.
Regardless, we don't have textures. For a 3D game not to show textures
is a concern; it's sort of hard to tell where you going when the whole
world is a mess of invisible walls. More Internet research, more
fiddling with config files. Oho! There's a patch... several of them.
v1.1 installed, v1.3, v1.4... so many updates! But I dutifully install
them all.
It works. Sort of. I have textures now, but they're all tinged with
blue. I want to bathe in verdancy, not azure! Back to the grindstone.
More research, more setting tweaks; the problem goes away if I use
lowest quality textures... but damned if I'm going to settle for that. >Low-res textures are grungy; they aren't the wild shades of emerald I
demand. I download the entirety of the TweakGuides website (no longer
online but the owner graciously made a local copy freely available).
It has thousands of hints, describes every setting... but still,
nothing works.
Then... a clue. A random YouTube comment to the rescue. "It works for
me with nvidia driver version v175.16". That's quite a downgrade; I'm >currently on v370.83. But I need my green! I wipe the newer drivers
and install the old ones. Anything for "Far Cry"!
Reboot. Log-in. Double-click the game's icon with greatest
trepidation. No crash; that's a good start. Crank up the settings to
max (it's one of those games you have to restart every time you tweak
its setting. I've seen the intro logo so often it's burnt into my
brain). Start the game.
No crash. I see textures. I see... green! Vivacious verdancy in great
volume! Everywhere I look, trees and grass and bushes and moss and >everything... green (well, except the stuff that's not supposed to be
green. But I ignore that). Oh, hello "Far Cry". I missed you.
Then I die. Turns out that hidden amongst all that underbrush some bad
men with guns were lurking. They took no pity on my open-mouthed
admiration of the wilderness and cheerfully put a bullet in my brain.
That's okay. I reload and walk in the other direction. I'll deal with
them later.
Right now, I have what I wanted. Oh, green!
I need greens. Vibrant, lush greens. Greens that make me feel enmeshed
in a world of life and luster. And there's only one game that can
provide me with this sort of green.
Far Cry.
Not Far Cry 2 (although that one had some kick-ass gunplay), or Far
Cry 3 (that one had nice water), or Far Cry Primal (actually, that one
had some wonderful greens too), or Far Cry 4 or 5 or 6.
I want the original. The first one. The one that made our jaws drop
and say, "wait, our computers can do this?!?" That's the game I want.
That's the game with the best greens.
And I want it on original hardware. A proper WindowsXP-era computer
with a WindowsXP operating system and a proper old-school GeForce GPU
(in this case, a GeForce 7). Because it's not really "Far Cry" without
all those accoutrements. If your computer isn't glowing from an
overabundance of LEDs and blowing with an overabundance of fans, it's
not really running "Far Cry" ... not the way it's supposed to.
Luckily I have the hardware. Years of scrounging and hoarding have
blessed me with enough components so I can make this dream come true.
And I have a shameful number of Windows XP CD-keys. So we're all good
there.
But is it really that easy? Of course not. It should be. Insert the
disks, install the game, press play. Do we have game? No, we have
crash. We have big-time crash, of the sort I haven't seen in a dog's
age, with a blue screen and everything. Time to fiddle with configs.
Mess around with settings. OpenGL to the rescue! No more crash.
Time to embrace the green? Of course not. We have game, but not
/working/ game. Was "Far Cry" so hard to get running back in the day?
I'm spoiled by modern games; they mostly 'just work'. I haven't mucked
around this long trying to getting a program to run in a while.
Regardless, we don't have textures. For a 3D game not to show textures
is a concern; it's sort of hard to tell where you going when the whole
world is a mess of invisible walls. More Internet research, more
fiddling with config files. Oho! There's a patch... several of them.
v1.1 installed, v1.3, v1.4... so many updates! But I dutifully install
them all.
It works. Sort of. I have textures now, but they're all tinged with
blue. I want to bathe in verdancy, not azure! Back to the grindstone.
More research, more setting tweaks; the problem goes away if I use
lowest quality textures... but damned if I'm going to settle for that. Low-res textures are grungy; they aren't the wild shades of emerald I
demand. I download the entirety of the TweakGuides website (no longer
online but the owner graciously made a local copy freely available).
It has thousands of hints, describes every setting... but still,
nothing works.
Then... a clue. A random YouTube comment to the rescue. "It works for
me with nvidia driver version v175.16". That's quite a downgrade; I'm currently on v370.83. But I need my green! I wipe the newer drivers
and install the old ones. Anything for "Far Cry"!
Reboot. Log-in. Double-click the game's icon with greatest
trepidation. No crash; that's a good start. Crank up the settings to
max (it's one of those games you have to restart every time you tweak
its setting. I've seen the intro logo so often it's burnt into my
brain). Start the game.
No crash. I see textures. I see... green! Vivacious verdancy in great
volume! Everywhere I look, trees and grass and bushes and moss and everything... green (well, except the stuff that's not supposed to be
green. But I ignore that). Oh, hello "Far Cry". I missed you.
Then I die. Turns out that hidden amongst all that underbrush some bad
men with guns were lurking. They took no pity on my open-mouthed
admiration of the wilderness and cheerfully put a bullet in my brain.
That's okay. I reload and walk in the other direction. I'll deal with
them later.
Right now, I have what I wanted. Oh, green!
On Thu, 11 Aug 2022 23:25:25 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Far Cry.
Right now, I have what I wanted. Oh, green!
I remember all the green and blue!
Good going Spalls!
$10 at GOG!
And I want it on original hardware. A proper WindowsXP-era computer
with a WindowsXP operating system and a proper old-school GeForce GPU
(in this case, a GeForce 7). Because it's not really "Far Cry" without
all those accoutrements. If your computer isn't glowing from an
overabundance of LEDs and blowing with an overabundance of fans, it's
not really running "Far Cry" ... not the way it's supposed to.
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
And I want it on original hardware. A proper WindowsXP-era computer
with a WindowsXP operating system and a proper old-school GeForce GPU
(in this case, a GeForce 7). Because it's not really "Far Cry" without
all those accoutrements. If your computer isn't glowing from an >>overabundance of LEDs and blowing with an overabundance of fans, it's
not really running "Far Cry" ... not the way it's supposed to.
Uh... don't you have that backwards? My Windows XP era PC had 3 fans,
one for the power supply, CPU and case, and the only LEDs it had are
for telling you something. PCs these days can have half a dozen case
fans all lit with LEDs plus dozens of other LEDs that don't actually
serve any purpose. These days you have to pay extra if you don't want
an overabundance of LEDs and the glass side-panel to see them all.
Either way, to remind myself of the visuals you're talking about all I
had to do was select Far Cry in my Steam library and press play.
On Sat, 13 Aug 2022 16:08:20 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:
Oh no. Early 'noughties' PCs were special a special time for PC
builders. It was the start of the blinged-out PC era, and there were
no rules on what was considered aesthetically acceptable. LEDs,
flourescent tubes, ridiculous styling... it was an era of excess for
PC cases. Arguably modern gaming PCs have more LEDs, but they're comparatively tasteful in design. This was a time when fixing a
side-panel with a water-filled aquarium (complete with fake plastic
fish) was considered novel and exciting! Even the wildest modern PCs
seem tame compared to what was done in the past.
Sadly, "Far Cry" is no longer available for sale on Steam (thanks
Ubisoft). I have it on GOG though... but as mentioned, I wanted the
'pure' experience so as to best match the feel of what it would be
like to install and play the game back in 2004.
Well, I guess I got it. ;-)
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote in news:m01gfhhl8n7ocjj8phtjqdsh9ts19ole5l@4ax.com:
On Sat, 13 Aug 2022 16:08:20 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:
Oh no. Early 'noughties' PCs were special a special time for PC
builders. It was the start of the blinged-out PC era, and there were
no rules on what was considered aesthetically acceptable. LEDs,
flourescent tubes, ridiculous styling... it was an era of excess for
PC cases. Arguably modern gaming PCs have more LEDs, but they're
comparatively tasteful in design. This was a time when fixing a
side-panel with a water-filled aquarium (complete with fake plastic
fish) was considered novel and exciting! Even the wildest modern PCs
seem tame compared to what was done in the past.
FAKE fish? Whyever use fake fish when you can use the real thing.? ;-)
Actually you *can* still get FarCry on Steam, you just have to dig a
little. If you go to any of the FarCry offerings and scroll down to the >bundle options and look inside the bundle, you can just select out the
first game and buy it.
Sadly, "Far Cry" is no longer available for sale on Steam (thanksActually you*can* still get FarCry on Steam, you just have to dig a
Ubisoft). I have it on GOG though... but as mentioned, I wanted the
'pure' experience so as to best match the feel of what it would be
like to install and play the game back in 2004.
Well, I guess I got it.;-)
little. If you go to any of the FarCry offerings and scroll down to the bundle options and look inside the bundle, you can just select out the
first game and buy it.
On 8/14/2022 11:51 AM, Mark P. Nelson wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote inCan't make sushi out of cooked fish.
news:m01gfhhl8n7ocjj8phtjqdsh9ts19ole5l@4ax.com:
On Sat, 13 Aug 2022 16:08:20 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:
Oh no. Early 'noughties' PCs were special a special time for PC
builders. It was the start of the blinged-out PC era, and there were
no rules on what was considered aesthetically acceptable. LEDs,
flourescent tubes, ridiculous styling... it was an era of excess for
PC cases. Arguably modern gaming PCs have more LEDs, but they're
comparatively tasteful in design. This was a time when fixing a
side-panel with a water-filled aquarium (complete with fake plastic
fish) was considered novel and exciting! Even the wildest modern PCs
seem tame compared to what was done in the past.
FAKE fish? Whyever use fake fish when you can use the real thing.? ;-)
On Sun, 14 Aug 2022 18:51:56 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson" <markpnelson@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Actually you *can* still get FarCry on Steam, you just have to dig a
little. If you go to any of the FarCry offerings and scroll down to the
bundle options and look inside the bundle, you can just select out the
first game and buy it.
Oh, good catch.
Wow, they're asking $10 USD for it. I love "Far Cry" - I just spent
several days trying to get it to run on period-authentic hardware -
but even I think that's a bit steep for a 20-year old game.
It makes me almost wish for the 'bad old days' of brick-n-mortar
stores. For all the problems of traditional retail, you'd rarely see a
game that old being sold for more than a few dollars... and more
likely you'd get it for pennies. With limited floorspace, room on the
shelves was a premium, and older games were frequently sold at bargain
rates to make way for the newer titles. With digital storefronts,
shelf-space is essentially infinite and prices have little reason to
drop.
TL;DR: I miss the days of leaving the game's shoppe with a bagful of
old games and only a few dollars lighter in the wallet.
FAKE fish? Whyever use fake fish when you can use the real thing.? ;-)
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