690 replies to this topic

[Droid on Roids]

Never saw a Dev post like that in WoT
Nice to feel important isn't it fellas?

[Paralax]

Russ Bullock, on 15 June 2012 - 01:10 PM, said:

Hey MechWarrior fans,

Through conversations internally (as well as by the suggestion of some of our great Beta testers) we felt we needed to give everyone an update on the state of the game, especially as we head towards the Founders Program. It is important that everyone understand what exactly they are buying and what they should expect. Now there will be a new press release and email that will go out on June 19^th to launch the program, but for extra clarity I’ll go over some critical points here on the forums with you. Here is a roughly described timeline to help set your expectations:

MechWarrior Online is currently in Closed Beta and to be more specific, what we have dubbed internally as ‘Closed Beta 1.’ For Closed Beta 1 we had a goal of sending out 10,000 beta keys in total, and we should achieve that in the next week or so. Our next step will be to start selling the Founders Packages starting Tuesday June 19^th - and for clarity this is a limited time offer, which also guarantees Closed Beta access on the Injection date. Our next step comes on July 10^th where we are scheduled to move to our production hardware, and thus will have the capability of hosting many thousands of simultaneous players. Then we’ll be at the point where we move to Closed Beta 2. Once we have achieved Closed Beta 2 we continue to ramp up the beta testers to the point where we can handle the injection of the founders program. I should say that it is logical that this next round of beta testers will likely be drawn from those early purchasers of the founders program; it only makes sense since they have shown such dedication and are quite likely to be excellent beta testers.

Now the next date of course is the injection of the founders purchasers, and let me be the first to break the news, this date has shifted from July 17^th to Aug 7^th. There is a very simple explanation as to the new date - some of the key production hardware was delayed in arriving to the data center. We simply need to make sure we have a minimum amount of time to work with the production hardware and be confident that we can handle the loads of the Founders Program. Of course the next date to come along after that will be Open Beta. I cannot announce a date at this time but I can say we are still going to ship this summer as promised, so if you look at the Founders access date of Aug 7^th and when summer ends, one can probably make an accurate enough guess as to our currently planned open beta date.

Okay, back to managing expectations of the content of the game once you get access, the same logic applies to both those that are and will be lucky enough to get a beta key and those gaining access to the game on Aug 7^th through the founders program. Come Aug 7^th when the customers of the Founders Program gain access to the game we are still going to be in Closed Beta - therefore not every feature we have discussed on the web site will be playable. Currently in the beta we have been introducing a patch every 2 weeks where more features are included and that process will likely continue up until Open Beta and beyond. The end result is that we expect to have each of the features we have announced and discussed on the web site in the game by the Open Beta date with one unfortunate exception. That exception is the Community Warfare pillar; it’s a big system and extremely important to us however we did not want to delay the game especially when it is something that can so logically be added onto the product post launch. That way we can get everyone playing this summer as planned having a great time working on their Mech and pilot trees, then the depth of Community Warfare will be added into the game. I don’t have an exact projected release of the Community Warfare feature set but we fully expect to have the core of the community experience in the game within 90 days of open beta.

A note of clarification on the BattleMech’s – We have a system for announcing the Mech’s to the community on the web site but one should not assume this means that all of those Mech’s are currently present in the beta or that they are all available come Open Beta. We essentially add them into the game one at a time in very near the same way they are announced on the web site. Our expectation is that there will be 10 unique model types along with all their variants making for a total of around 40 different chassis come Open Beta. From that point forward they will continue to be added at a very regular pace.

So as it pertains to the Founders Program, they aren’t meant represent the value you receive immediately upon gaining access to the game. The value of the Founders Package is that it is a lifetime reward and recognition opportunity. All of the hard currency you get in the product will be yours to spend over the entire lifetime of the product, the Founders tag which will be available on the forums immediately after purchasing your Founders Package will mark you uniquely for the entire lifetime of the product. The same can be said for the Founder’s ’Mech’s, they will be unique on the battlefield marking you as an original founder of MWO as well as providing a boost to C-bill earning for the lifetime of the product.

In the end this new frontier of online free to play titles really is a shift in thinking for all of us. So many of us are so trained to think about retail products that barely change after they are sold to us in the store and it’s hard to grasp the concept of a game like MWO. Yes we still have lots of work to do between here and Open Beta but our work won’t stop there, we will immediately work to put in the Community Warfare features and from there it will be a sprint to the invasion of the clans and so on. While I am at it here are a few other key pieces of information people need in order to make their purchase decisions.

Okay European players, here is the answer you have been looking for: Yes you can buy the Founders Package and you will never be blocked from continuing to play on the North American servers. Also if we are able to set up servers in your region you will be given a onetime opportunity to transfer to those regions servers taking everything you own with you.

And of course the elusive System requirements:

MechWarrior Online Minimum System Spec:

CPU:
Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz
Athlon II X2 245e

GPU:
GeForce 8800GT
Radeon HD 5600/5700

RAM:
4 GB

OS:
Windows XP 32-bit SP3

DirectX:
DX9

HDD Space:
4 GB


MechWarrior Online Recommended System Spec:

CPU:
Core i3-2500
AMD Athlon II X4 650

GPU:
GeForce GTX 285
Radeon HD 5830

RAM:
8 GB

OS:
Windows 7 SP-1 64-Bit

DirectX:
DX9

HDD Space:
4 GB

A few notes on the system requirements for absolute clarity. Right now a duo core system is our minimum spec machine but it is also our main focus of concern. It is playable on those specifications and I have tested it myself but it is currently very much a minimum spec type of experience running on low detail settings. Currently it’s obvious that a Quad core system is the key as even the earliest Core 2 Quad systems run the game very well. However at this point in time we have only been able to spend a very minor amount of time working on optimizations and it is our goal since there are still so many out there to get the Core 2 Duo systems running much faster.

Okay, hopefully that gives you guys all the information you could possibly want to be the best beta tester, potential Founders Program customer or simply consumer of MechWarrior Online. Sorry if one or more items isn’t exactly as you would hope it to be, but were working hard and we truly feel that all signs thus far say that the core experience of MWO is everything we could have hoped for. Now we just need to keep adding layers of features. Thanks for reading and remember you guys are the best community in all of gaming, keep treating each other with respect and together we will bring MechWarrior back to glory.

Russ Bullock
President
Piranha Games Inc.

Russ where does the Intel HD graphic Chipset fall in line with this? my home PC is a beast with Nvidia 6xx cards... my work PC boasts the intel HD graphics 2000, and the pc has 8 gigs of ram, is this PC going to work without a deticated graphics card? I assume that this intell Hd graphics 2000 is rated better then a almost 10 year old GT8800.. but then again I am not a programmer and i dont know if its something to do with shaders or something crazy

[under cover]

Any idea what kind of frame rates we can expect with a GTX680?

[lpmagic]

sigh, now I know why I did not get a key (at least partially) apparently my PC is not up to snuff. While I would happily be first in line for this founders bussiness I have a hard time paying for early access when I'm not sure I will be able to afford a new pc in time to take advantage of it. I have now gone form very excited to very sad.........on the bright side, I will enjoy hunting for a new pc.......just not paying for it....LOL we'll see

[RaNDoMPReCiSioN]

Paralax, on 21 June 2012 - 05:49 AM, said:

Russ where does the Intel HD graphic Chipset fall in line with this? my home PC is a beast with Nvidia 6xx cards... my work PC boasts the intel HD graphics 2000, and the pc has 8 gigs of ram, is this PC going to work without a deticated graphics card? I assume that this intell Hd graphics 2000 is rated better then a almost 10 year old GT8800.. but then again I am not a programmer and i dont know if its something to do with shaders or something crazy

Paralax, I'm no expert on the MWO system specs but I'm betting the Intel HD, no matter how new it is, will not "cut the mustard" so to speak. For starters its core clock will not be fast enough to produce decent a framerate even on lowest settings.The game will be relying heavily on advanced aspects of the video output such as shaders and lighting, as well as HDR effects and all the other nice things you get from dedicated gaming cards. An 8800GT may be 10 years old but is still quite a formidable card for most games and will most likely still knock the socks off onboard Intel fx.

Looks like you'll have to organise your gaming life around your home PC mate. What you doing playing games at work anyway you slacker?

GrilledSlug, on 21 June 2012 - 07:32 AM, said:

Any idea what kind of frame rates we can expect with a GTX680?

I'm using a GTX560ti 2Gb and expect less than zero problems I'm gonna say the framerates on a 680 will likely be through the roof. Anything above 45fps is a waste anyway but I'm confident your's will surpass that by a wide margin.

Edited by RaNDoMPReCiSioN, 21 June 2012 - 08:23 AM.

[Dvojche]

Oh great!!! Now I really MUST upgrade the machine...., but thanks for info anyway

[DarthMolen]

Those are actually pretty respectable low end specs for a mech simulator.... can't wait! so excited!

[Ufans]

Cool glad to see you all like 64 bit W7 looks like we might be going to W8 64bit here soon so hopefully the support is there

[Paralax]

RaNDoMPReCiSioN, on 21 June 2012 - 08:14 AM, said:

Paralax, I'm no expert on the MWO system specs but I'm betting the Intel HD, no matter how new it is, will not "cut the mustard" so to speak. For starters its core clock will not be fast enough to produce decent a framerate even on lowest settings.The game will be relying heavily on advanced aspects of the video output such as shaders and lighting, as well as HDR effects and all the other nice things you get from dedicated gaming cards. An 8800GT may be 10 years old but is still quite a formidable card for most games and will most likely still knock the socks off onboard Intel fx.

Looks like you'll have to organise your gaming life around your home PC mate. What you doing playing games at work anyway you slacker?




I'm using a GTX560ti 2Gb and expect less than zero problems I'm gonna say the framerates on a 680 will likely be through the roof. Anything above 45fps is a waste anyway but I'm confident your's will surpass that by a wide margin.

(Please do some research before posting)

I KNOW you are Wrong.

I know what the awnser is already I was just trying to get an offical awnser. Reguarding the technical aspects of Open GL and shader Models.


Gt8800
Coreclock 600 mzh
Shader Clock 1500mzh
Memory Clock 900mzh
Memory 512MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Bandwidth 57.6 GB/sec
DX9 (DXmaybe Dx10 with newer ones)
Open Gl past 2.1


INTEL HD2000
Coreclock 650–1250mzh
MemClock * System speed
ShaderClock * System speed -
Memory Up to 1720MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Bandwidth 21.3GB/sec
DX10.1
OpenGl 3.1


And most important the intel has 6 Execution units compaired to the nvidia


The Newer Intel HD (Intell 4000) Specs out with 16 execution threads, Shader 5.0, Dx11 Open GL 4.0, and this is FAR beoynd most of the 2xx Series of the Nvidia stand alone cards.

(removed)

RaNDoMPReCiSioN I now wait for the change to crush you in combat, on my "poor" work machine.

Edited by Mason Grimm, 22 June 2012 - 01:06 PM.
Let's tone down the insulting nature of the post shall we?

[Boardumb]

The recommended specs say i3-2500, but that processor doesn't exist.

[Boardumb]

Paralax, on 21 June 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

(Please do some research before posting)

I KNOW you are Wrong.

I know what the awnser is already I was just trying to get an offical awnser. Reguarding the technical aspects of Open GL and shader Models.



Gt8800
Coreclock 600 mzh
Shader Clock 1500mzh
Memory Clock 900mzh
Memory 512MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Bandwidth 57.6 GB/sec
DX9 (DXmaybe Dx10 with newer ones)
Open Gl past 2.1


INTEL HD2000
Coreclock 650–1250mzh
MemClock * System speed
ShaderClock * System speed -
Memory Up to 1720MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Bandwidth 21.3GB/sec
DX10.1
OpenGl 3.1


And most important the intel has 6 Execution units compaired to the nvidia


The Newer Intel HD (Intell 4000) Specs out with 16 execution threads, Shader 5.0, Dx11 Open GL 4.0, and this is FAR beoynd most of the 2xx Series of the Nvidia stand alone cards.

But I am so glad the boys in MWO know how to do thier research, and tell us girls that don't know anything about their computers.

RaNDoMPReCiSioN I now wait for the change to crush you in combat, on my "poor" work machine.

Wow, would you calm down? His definition of playable probably is different from your definition of playable. My best guess on the closest thing that will play similarly to MWO is Crysis 2 seeing as they are both running the same engine. The miminum specs are slightly different in the CPU category, but an 8800GT are considered the minimum graphics card. Now this isn't the best way to gauge a game, but without being able to beta test it with such hardware, this is the best I could think of. An Intel HD3000 plays Crysis 2 on low settings with fps of 20-30. Considering the HD3000 is an upgrade from the HD2000, I PERSONALLY, would not consider playing any game running around 20 fps (and dipping into the teens) on the lowest possible setting. That to me is unplayable, but for you it might.

Edit:
Also, a little googling and I always hear that the 8800GT still outdoes the HD2000. Could be how refined the drivers are if it isn't all hardware.

Edited by Helmer, 27 June 2012 - 12:14 PM.

[Dirty Old Man]

We will support you til the very end.....give it all you got and we will take care of our end.

[Suska]

Is there a way to change the computer specs on my profile? I have upgraded my video card, and installed Windows 7 64bit since I submitted my profile for beta tester.

Thanks,
Ash

[Ravenshield]

Sweet! My rig can more than handle the machine specs. The game already looks unbelievable. Once the dev's put the finished gloss on the game it will look amazing! I can't wait for Aug. 7th. I'll get my founder package next week and I'll be playing in 5 weeks... Maybe I can just sleep until then, it'll go faster.

[Jaime Elam]

Close so close to the recommended, guess I'll be saving and working on the puter for the next month or so.....

YAY!!!!!! So worth it.........Thanks to the Devs.

[EchoMike]

Sweet. Sounds terrfiic!

[takashi]

Boardumb, on 21 June 2012 - 04:55 PM, said:

Edit:
Also, a little googling and I always hear that the 8800GT still outdoes the HD2000. Could be how refined the drivers are if it isn't all hardware.

Ahh, graphics cards always get people going, and create a lot of confusion

Like my friend just got a new computer with a 2GB geforce GT 540M graphics card, which is giving him framerates of 25 to 30 fps playing diablo 3 at 1366x786 res... and hes quite upset that my 2 year old 1GB geforce GTX 260 M is playing the same game, at higher res (1920x1080) and higher graphics setting (well, max) and getting double the frame rate...

...and the answer is, of course, its just not that simple.

...in fact its not simple at all, you can have 2 cards with the same model number, that produce different performnce...

Many companies will make a GT 640 for you for example...
in no particular order...

• gainward,
  
• zotac
  
• sparkle
  
• afox
  
• pny
  
• computex
  
• galaxy...

In fact the list goes on and on and on and... well you get it, indeed some of these manufactureres produce several different GT 640's...
...it _IS_ possible to purchase two different 1GB geforce GT 640 from the same manufacturer, with different specs and performance.

...and all that aside, it does of course make a difference what computer you plug it into...

most people
including the vast majority of sale staff in stores that sell computers
do not know that it is possible to slow your computer down, by adding more ram
even if you have for example a 4GB 1333MHz dual channel DDR3 sim, and you add another 4GB 1333MHz dual channel DDR3 sim... sounds crazy right? but its true...

...if you want to test this, walk into PC World look confused at the momory for a while, and when someone asks if they can help, try to find out from them what the CLS latency of a randomly selected sim is... i would be surprised if they know what you mean, let alone what the value is for that sim, or even where to look

----
do I have a point?
----

well yeah, drivers help, but more often than not, it really is down to hardware, and people through no fault of their own not knowing what they've really got.



(oh, and im not poking that at anyone here, just thought I'd have a rant )

[Lorien Benirus]

yay

[BDThumper]

Great info.

[Creased]

Glad to see you keeping us in the loop, too bad about the delay, if it doesnt start until the end of summer the servers might be a lil lonely.

then again... we cant expect too many people still in school to be into this series, since it hasn't had a proper PC game since they would have been in grade school, so maybe server population wont suffer