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Trimmed Elite Graphics


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I don't know if this is the right place for this but anyway, I downloaded the trimmed elite GFX pack, and need to know where to install it. There are no instructions with the file. Any assistance will be appreciated..

 

 

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Put them in the PAK directory on the Sacred 2 folder. Rename the original graphics20 to graphics24 prior to that in case you want to revert to the original form. Then on the in-game options menu choose elite textures.

The original Elite Textures was an ISO that installed those pak files, the trimmed version are just the files themselves, hence not having instructions.

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Original graphics20? There isn't one in the PAK directory; they go from 1-19 and 25.  If I rename the graphics20 from the trimmed gfx pack to 24, then I'd have two folders named graphics 24? 

Edited by CapnTucker
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3 hours ago, Androdion said:

Oh, sorry. I usually install the ISO first so that's why I have the files in the folder. You just need to put the graphics20-24 in the PAK directory then. Just that, then enable the elite textures in-game.

Ok thanks for the info. Changing the folder name had me confused. Dropped everything into the PAK directory and enabled the elite GFX. Played for about an hour, and so far everything is smooth as silk and no crashes (knock on wood). First time I've ever been able to play the game with the elite GFX, and it not be either a slideshow or crashing every few minutes..

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Glad to hear that! :)

If you happen to find micro-stutters the first time you are in Sloeford or Griffinborough don't stress, it happens as the textures are caching. Dmitry did a great job in downsizing the original graphics20-24 files into them being more fluid, but there are still things that are the way they are.

Have fun and drop us a line if you find any other issues.

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If I get an occasional slowdown that's fine. As long as it doesn't go into slow motion or crash on me, then I'm good with it. Will let you know if I discover any other issues. Right now I'm just crossing my fingers that disabling 3rd party support for Alien FX cured my crashing problem. Have played three short sessions without incident, and am planning on an all day torture test tomorrow. We'll see what happens..

 

 

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One thing you may have passed through CapnTucker, is that CM patch 0160 disables some PhysX effects (leaves flying, rocks,..). If you used to like them, you have to replace the new physxExt.zip file (still located in pak folder) with the original one. Back-it up first as it may cause instability for some users but honnestly, for me, it works flawlessly and what better than to see the leaves flying in the wind. I put it there if you want to: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LmLP41cfUhxPmcAM0K10Yl-eTV2trweu

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The swirling leaves were pretty, but if it means I can finally have physx enabled without crashes but no leaves, then I can live without them.  I did  go ahead and download the old file; I may try it after I have figured out what was causing my current CTD issues..

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm just going to chime in and confirm. The vanilla elite textures are almost unbearable in Griffinborough (Sloeford seemed fine though). The game is constantly loading the huge textures and it becomes a stuttery mess whenever you turn the camera. Using the graphics files from the Community Patch largely fixed the problem. It is still not completely smooth but 1000% better than it used to be. Great job.

But regarding the PhysX, I really don't understand the decision in the Community Patch to disable most of the effects. It is what gave this game such a WOW effect when I first played it and it makes the game world feel much more alive. I had no problem playing with them on, having elite textures and every graphical setting maxed and I have had like one crash to desktop in tens of hours of playtime. Modern PCs should be able to handle them easily. It should really be left up to to the final user whether or not he want to disable them. Maybe make it an option in the patch installer?

Edited by idbeholdME
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8 hours ago, Androdion said:

You can just make a backup of physxExt on the PAK folder prior to installing the patch, then replacing the patch version with the original one. I know that at least Desm plays like that.

Tried installing the original physx files, and so far it is working fine with no crashes. No reason not to have the swirling leaves  now..

 

 

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Yeah, Desm also can't play without them and according to his reports there isn't necessarily a decrease in stability with the original file.

Do bear in mind that when this was under development all was done to contain (read: end) CTD that had plagued the game for years, so you might say that it was probably made in excess. As it worked though people started experimenting backwards, so eventually some things could be trimmed down in other ways.

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11 hours ago, Androdion said:

You can just make a backup of physxExt on the PAK folder prior to installing the patch, then replacing the patch version with the original one. I know that at least Desm plays like that.

That is exactly what I did. But people not aware of this change in the CM Patch will be robbed of the experience. Many guides on the internet on how to get this game working smoothly just say "Install the CM Patch". And not everyone is willing to carefully study the change log and weigh the changes/see something has been cut out for a reason that is no longer relevant.

The game worked for me even without the CM Patch with full elite textures, enabled PhysX and everything else maxed with no crashes. The only problem I encountered was stuttering in dense areas due to texture loading.

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According to Dmitriy there is still a bug in CM 1.60 where there are 2-3x the intended amount of leaves and debris swirling around.  If this hasn't caused instability or performance hit by going back to the old PhysX file you are fortunate.

BTW, all that's removed is the leaves and rocks.  Every other instance of PhysX is still present.  All PhysX used in spells, attacks, monster fx, all of it is still present in 1.60.

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7 minutes ago, Flix said:

BTW, all that's removed is the leaves and rocks.  Every other instance of PhysX is still present.  All PhysX used in spells, attacks, monster fx, all of it is still present in 1.60.

Yes, this is the really really important part!

People who don't want to go through a changelog shouldn't really install something because they have no idea how it'll change their game. That's why there's a changelog, which documents what was actually changed. It's all there, so if people don't want to go through that bit of reading what else can we do to help out? Spell it out each and every time when it's all written there?! :blush:

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6 hours ago, Androdion said:

Yeah, Desm also can't play without them and according to his reports there isn't necessarily a decrease in stability with the original file.

Yes I confirm, I love too much the swirling leaves in the wind and when you cast some spells or buffs too and no crashes at all.

4 hours ago, Flix said:

According to Dmitriy there is still a bug in CM 1.60 where there are 2-3x the intended amount of leaves and debris swirling around.  If this hasn't caused instability or performance hit by going back to the old PhysX file you are fortunate.

You can see some little "rocks bugs" sometimes, for example under the Seraphim Island, where they're swirling in all ways but it's not dramatical. And sometimes yes, there are a lot of leaves indeed but no instability at all for me.

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8 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

That is exactly what I did. But people not aware of this change in the CM Patch will be robbed of the experience. Many guides on the internet on how to get this game working smoothly just say "Install the CM Patch". And not everyone is willing to carefully study the change log and weigh the changes/see something has been cut out for a reason that is no longer relevant.

The game worked for me even without the CM Patch with full elite textures, enabled PhysX and everything else maxed with no crashes. The only problem I encountered was stuttering in dense areas due to texture loading.

You were very lucky then. Was this back in the days of Windows Vista, or more recently? When I played Sacred 2 years ago with my old Vista PC, I could not play more than a few minutes with everything enabled. The elite GFX turned the game into a slideshow, so I had to abandon that idea. With physX enabled, I would get a crash within 10-20 minutes. Without it, I could play from 30 minutes to an hour or two without a crash. I suffered through long enough to finish the main quest a couple of times, and the game was then shelved for several years. 

I'm down to the odd random crash now and then, but I can live with that..

 

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It was recently (when I started playing again). I have by no means state of the art GPU. GTX 780, i7 7700 CPU and 16GB RAM with relatively fast timings.

Yet the PhysX cause 0 issues to me. Yes, if you stand in one area for too long, sometimes more and more leaves spawn. My screen was once covered completely with leaves, flying and on the ground after I went AFK and every gust of wind or movement of my character caused tons of them to go flying again. It was still running completely smooth.

Important thing to note though is that I'm playing in windowed mode (to have normal loadings and transitions instead of just freezing until the loading is done). It seems like the game is much smoother in windowed mode in general.

 

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My system is similar, only difference from those specs is a GTX 1070. I still get occasional crashes. I'm averaging about one per session now. I was doing pretty good, without any crashes for over a week, but then they started cropping up again. They seem to happen the most often just after entering a cave or dungeon, but can happen at any time. I've eliminated everything I can think of that was running in the background, but it doesn't make any difference. Original or modified physX makes no difference either.

I think I'll try running in windowed mode to see if that makes any difference. If not then oh well. At least it is better than the bad old days, when I couldn't play more than 20 or 30 minutes without problems..

 

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I only sometimes crash if I play for a very long time without stopping (read like 5+ hours). I also didn't experience any problems with crashing on loadings.

But yesterday, I found an area in the Orcish lands where I crash very often. I marked the area with a red circle in the screenshot. It took a lot of tries to finally be able to get through without crashing. Once I am away from this area, everything is okay. No idea what's causing it but there is usually a big battle going on between the orcs.

 

Area.png

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Weird, I never get crashes there. It's an intensive area though.

Try going south of Entruag where you kill the ten trolls for the Light Path main quest and head on for Fields of Blades. It's an area where you'll find even more fighting, see if it crashes there.

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