hi people, im really a amateuristic noob at the whole programming concept. BUT im planning to get in deep:). the reason why is as follows: i have got quite a decent machine i think: Dual Pm xeon 2.0 1 G mem. Nvid GF FX 5500 256 mb seagate 72 10000 rpm etc. it might not be the newest but thats exactly my point. hardware/software development is so fast paced nowadays they can hardly match -up in terms of compatibility with eachother. now im not a person who feels like running to the stores to get for instance a new high end vid card , just because a shader package is not supported on my almost equally power-full old one. onto the topic: why is it that game developer's , other then just complying certain laws/guidelines give solid info on the engine , system requirements and compatibility and leave it at that. what i mean is why does a game like call of duty 4 pop up a message saying i cannot play my game because i dont have the minimum requirements (to be specific- supposedly my vid-card wont support separate alpha blending) as i am no idiot i read the minimum requirements and was convinced i could tweak the game enough to fulfill my pleasures. but it does not even run. heres the deal. so now i need to go from amateur-tweaker to semi-professional programmer lol. maybe someone can lead me into the light by telling me where i need to go to overwrite the checking system pre-launch. or better where do i find out if i can tweak /recode my shader-compatibility well interesting stuff here anyway.if no one replies ill figure out slooooooooowly:) greetings from an enthusiastic gamer (very attached to his "old" system)

There is no standard mechanism for that. For all we know, the program contains a hard-coded condition like:

if (shaderModel < 3){  exit("fail");}

If you're lucky, the requirements are placed in a separate human readable file you can edit. But that's very unlikely and you would have to reverse engineer the software which is not only very difficult and tedious to do, but probably illegal too. There's a reason why the game refuses to run: because, you know, it can't.

Alright. So sometimes I need to go places. I don't have a car, but I do have a cardboard box. Why is it that I can't just get into the box and drive where I need to go? I'm no idiot, and I understand that I won't get there at 60 MPH. But I'm convinced I could tune it up well enough to fulfill my pleasures. But it doesn't even start up! How can I fix that so I can just drive somewhere?

wel thanks for the trouble of answering anyway:)
this does sound a little complicated: reverse engineering.
don't particularly want to go there.
but there are more options then just deleting or changing such a simple rule as you described.
legal of course since its a bought product and im just not obligated to fulfill certain sytem requirements,for legally minimum system requirements is just a minimum at which the developer can guarantee the game running as intended and if i want to rewrite a piece of code interacting between my system and the product to skip certain procedures, as long as i do it on my own pc and refrain from selling it as if it was my own product/code etc there should be no issues.

i'd like to find out more on the other possibilities (advanced tweaking or recoding the drivers ) or maybe start thinking on developing a tool to upgrade shader packages on older vidcards, should be possible, only question is would it be worth the hassle?
as i am now i'd say yes, but thats only because im not even comprehending the skillset needed to even participate in such a project.so i need to figure that out first:)

still annoying that i do not even have the option to run the game to my likings as long as the core and the memory are able to, and the graphics could be displayed..
bit too commercial to my taste: of course from social-economical
viewpoint its obvious that 80 % just wants to insert disc and play and gullibly
upgrade hardware accordingly, or take no for an answer.
what about the other 20%?

greetings

Quote: Original post by dirk1
i'd like to find out more on the other possibilities (advanced tweaking or recoding the drivers ) or maybe start thinking on developing a tool to upgrade shader packages on older vidcards, should be possible, only question is would it be worth the hassle?

No, and no. Look, old video cards aren't just slower versions of new video cards. There is circuitry they do not have. Asking them to do modern graphics techniques would be futile. They do not have the capability of doing them. You mistake pragmatism for gullibility.

Quote: Original post by Sneftel
Alright. So sometimes I need to go places. I don't have a car, but I do have a cardboard box. Why is it that I can't just get into the box and drive where I need to go? I'm no idiot, and I understand that I won't get there at 60 MPH. But I'm convinced I could tune it up well enough to fulfill my pleasures. But it doesn't even start up! How can I fix that so I can just drive somewhere?

why dont you put some wheels on your cardboard box?
then built in a little processor with a large fan and try sitting in it with a generator , connect to and go at windspeed @.@
what is that your trying to say im foolish?
very narrow minded for a moderator
better give me a hint or some up building criticism

Usually the minimum specification is just that, it's the minimum spec that the software supports, tweaks or no tweaks.

It's possible that you might be able to force on the software rasteriser device, of course then you won't be running at frames-per-second, you'll be running at seconds-per-frame.

Quote: Original post by dirk1
why dont you put some wheels on your cardboard box?

Good idea. Why don't you put a video card in yours. [smile]

well that sounds a lot better then the first reply sneftel, im of course attending a viewpoint of the "knowledgeless"
im implying that my videocard HAS the needed circuitry but the game code is specified to read from more advanced circuitry and a lot of code would be needed
to imply to the game that the circuits are able to comprehend and supply as needed
but youre saying thats impossible?
or...?

Quote: Original post by dmatter
Usually the minimum specification is just that, it's the minimum spec that the software supports, tweaks or no tweaks.

It's possible that you might be able to force on the software rasteriser device, of course then you won't be running at frames-per-second, you'll be running at seconds-per-frame.

lol i wouldnt mind that from there i could at least try to get back to frames per second:)
where do i find matter on forcing software rasterizer devices except google?
thx