i just got a new laptop and its very nice. it does everything very well except for play FFXI (runing vista btw). i get 4 FPS at WG AH.. when i log in my 6 year old desktop i get 15 fps in the same exact spot. ive tried new drivers that didnt help, i tried adjusting the power settings, that didnt help. so.. basically im gonna send it back and build something with XP. here are my options:


Dell XPS
Alienware

both can get setup the same, for about the same price... 2.0/2.2 duo core, 2gigs ram, 120 7,200 HDD, Nvidia 8700M GT. (i can get dual 7950 gtx on the alienware tho)

also, this is gonna be a desktop replacement. i want a 17" screen.

before u send it back, which gfx card do you have?

if its nvidia i have a solution for you



basically there is this problem when you combine vista / ffxi / and nvidia cards which causes a tempral black hole to appear inside your computer,
the other problem was that most manufacturer's werent gonna be updating their drivers for laptop distribution because they're lazy, and because of certain standby / hibernation features on laptops, nvidia sorta locked out being able to download and update drivers directly from their site (their answer is to get the driver from your manufacturer)

anyways ,there is a way to 'trick' your laptop to let you install the drivers directly from nvidia's site... its not really a trick , basically the drivers come with an .inf file telling it which computers are allowed to install this driver, the site offers modified .inf files telling it "its ok to install it into this machine"

there is no third party software involved as all the drivers are from nvidia themselves...

if your problem is related to this, i'll link you to the site, and tell you how to update your drivers



on a side note.. that xps system is very nice, a bit pricy, but since ur saying you want this as a total desktop replacement i guess it can be worth the investment
(mine is core2duo T7300 4mb cache 2.0 ghz / 2gb ram / 120 sata HD / nvidia 8400 GS / 15.4"inch screen -- paid about 1600 totally after taxes)

my laptop is a dell.. i like them... plus i got the 3 year full coverage warrenty, so i get to break it in 3 years, and get a new one ^^b

Nvidia 8600M GT

yeah, please hook me up. this will save me a ton of hassle and about $1,000

k heres the info

mind you, since i updated my drivers, they have released newer ones, i havnt had time to test them yet, so i'll link both for you and u can see which one works best ( i'll actually update today and test out the new drivers, and see if ffxi still runs well)

this is the driver released initially to fix the FFXI low FPS issue on vista
Vista 32bit -(You prolly have this version)
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16428

Vista 64bit - (jus in case your vista is 64bit)
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16429

(i'll add the link for XP users too)

XP 32bit
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16430

XP 64bit
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16431


Steps:
when you click on the links, it'll take you to a page with 2 files for download
1st is the driver
2nd is the modded inf file

1- download the driver and extract it anywhere on your computer
2- download the modded inf file and copy it to the folder where you extracted the drivers
3- it will now ask if you want to replace an existing file, click YES
4- run the driver setup located in that folder
5- reboot


This is the page for the newer drivers (169.28) -- From briefly reading the comments , i think these further driver updates were in response to issues with Crysis, so its prolly not that important to keep updating the drivers as soon as they are released (ie why fix something thats not broken)
Vista 32bit
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16679
Vista 64bit
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16680

this should help your problem



off to class now, i'll check back with you later today to see how it works out

Is this the same thing that I seen on bg that I didnt understand about a month ago?

Anyway, does anyone know if the torrent will work for vista, because of you needing a special playonline? I wanna get vista running on my laptop really badly, if it works well I plan to take up rock as a second char again and level brd for awesome dual boxing!

Edit: also, if anyone knows of a safe/working torrent, could you link me to it please?

what are you lookin for exactly?

a torrent of the vista pol viewer? you can d/l it directly from Playonline site

no, torrent for ffxi and all the expansions.

Neeeeeeeeeeeeecro bump

Safer HALP.

When I go to install the vista 32 bit driver, after downloading and replacing the modded INF file like you said, it gets to 50% and crashes my laptop, which will not work again until I restore it, I've tried it twice now and still doesn't work, any idea why?