It’s with a certain amount of trepidation that I try to support people over the Internet. Usually, I try to make sure that it’s a problem that’s straightforward and will have some soft of simple answer. At least in theory.
Of course, sometimes, sometimes I get sucked into something which I instantly regret as I start to work on the problem.
This happened today. And not because someone wanted me to fix their computer! Instead, I was just trying to play Generals online. Of course, introducing new players to your forum is always going to be grief. In this case the grief was caused by a 2 year old Packard Bell.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m no fan of ‘off-the-shelf’ computers. That includes Dells, HPs and so forth.
So, the grief (and the beef) is in fact trying to manage with getting these games to work using outdated graphics chipsets. S3 is not exactly known for the high-performance compared to the affordable and excellence of the ATI and GeForce cards.
In the end though, my advice was to go down to PC World, buy the cheapest graphics card they have in stock. This will be vastly superior to the one being used.
Let’s just hope his Packard Bell has an AGP slot… And the next time someone is joining my online gaming, I’ll insist that they get it online before making me wait!