Lowering the quality of graphics even more than possible with a game itself

rex4

Honorable
Sep 17, 2013
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10,510
Hello, I'm someone that doesn't care at all about the quality of graphics in video games, all I care about is the gameplay itself, so I don't like being forced to buy a better graphic card for some games just because the game is not fluid enough even with the minimal options of the game because there is still already some quite advanced shaders things etc, likely because they don't want people to post screenshots of this on internet so no one may thinks that the game have ugly graphics.

So, I know that using ati/nvidia software you can increase the quality even more than a game allow, is there instead something that can lower even more than a game allow ? I don't mind getting something like this http://tcrf.net/images/thumb/6/6d/OoTTwinsPot2.png/480px-OoTTwinsPot2.png or even just wireframe. Plus, a tool like this can be useful for anyone for some user made mods/levels that feature a lot of models etc.

In the same idea, with older graphic cards, it's not possible at all to launch some games because it's not able to manage some new things, is there a way to force the game to be launched anyway just without those being rendered ? I had this for starcraft 2 despite some user made maps use only 2d images so don't require this.

Thank you in advance.
 
Solution
There are only a handful of games that give you the freedom to modify the game to a certain degree to run the game on a low spec PC or graphics card.

Games that falls into this category are basically those published by Bethesda. Bethesda provides a tool to the community which allows them to created mods (modifications) to the game. Most mods are for improving gameplay be making combat harder, adds new weapons, powers / spells, improved graphics, and in generally just make the game better. However, there are also mods that help improve performance for low spec computers and laptops.

"Oldblivion" was a project for the 4th game in the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion. It was the first game to drop support for DirectX 8. You needed a DX9...

tjcoops

Distinguished
Apr 15, 2010
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18,810
I don't think there's any one way to force games to run without rendering most visuals however a lot of games have mods available specifically for removing textures and unnecessary visuals to make the game run faster. So check mods for the games you want to run. However bear in mind that these mods are also used by people who want to cheat on multiplayer games by not rendering things like smoke and other things that obscure vision, therefore you could end up getting banned if you do this kind of thing online.

 
There are only a handful of games that give you the freedom to modify the game to a certain degree to run the game on a low spec PC or graphics card.

Games that falls into this category are basically those published by Bethesda. Bethesda provides a tool to the community which allows them to created mods (modifications) to the game. Most mods are for improving gameplay be making combat harder, adds new weapons, powers / spells, improved graphics, and in generally just make the game better. However, there are also mods that help improve performance for low spec computers and laptops.

"Oldblivion" was a project for the 4th game in the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion. It was the first game to drop support for DirectX 8. You needed a DX9 card and Windows XP to play the game. The Oldblivion project also made it possible to play Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas to be playable on low spec systems as well since all three games basically used the same game engine. The Oldblivion website no longer exists.

Skyrim (2011) is Bethesda's most recent game in the Elder Scroll series. It is also very mod-able, and I have played it on my laptop since I just wanted to test out well (or poorly) the game runs with the Intel HD 3000 graphics core for some one.

The game runs decently well at 1280x720 resolution, lowering graphics and installing lots of mods to help lower graphics effects. It is playable as long as you do not have very high expectations and can live with frame rated dropping to 9 FPS from time to time, but mostly stay between 25 FPS and 45 FPS.

You will not be able to play Skyrim with anything less than a DX9 card. It uses a different game engine from Oblivion and Fallout 3 / New Vegas. Morrowind predates Oblivion and it will play on an old laptop with a DX7 graphics chip. I was able to play it on my IBM ThinkPad T40 with a Radeon 7500 graphics chip back in 2003. Morrowind is also a very mod-able game as well.

Speaking of Morrowind, I am looking forward to Skywind which is is a remake of the original Morrowind game using Skyrim's game engine. It's a community developed mod free for anyone who already owns Skyrim. Not sure if the project uses any original (and copyrighted) Morrowind material so Skywind may or may not require resource files from that game's CD. It is scheduled to be release in 2014, or whenever the project is considered complete.
 
Solution