unofficial sp3 I don't recommend for starters.
its full of bugs.
Autopatcher '97 is by far the best it also has tweaks for yourAGP arpeture, memory and disk DMA.
Also the most stable option.
Its something I would do a fresh install of 98se about its just that bad. unofficial sp3 is notorious on youtube it is bad.
R. Loew's memory patch can allow you to use the pentium III max of 2gb in windows 98se allowing the system to be more responsive
Dungeon Seige does run well on NT if your willing to try 2000 i dunno about voodoo though. Quote: The thing about voodoo, It's carma!

Oh man... and this is recently installed system as a few months ago I replaced a 20GB HDD with a 256GB SSD just for that quality of life, and speed, it saturates the ATA bus at about 80MB/sec. I forgot to mention I also have an Intel Pro1000 GT NIC, but I don't think it matters, I only use the network to send/receive stuff to my FTP server. (Edited original post)

I also applied some tweaks to Windows' memory management, I can't remember exactly where I found the tweaks (it may have been here, I've checked Vogons quite a bit for help), but makes Windows free up RAM much faster, when idling I always have about 400MB of RAM free, and the page file is never used.

I even tried to downclock the GPU to as low as it gets (133MHz IIRC) and the game still runs exactly the same, unfortunately I don't have any other GPU that is capable of TnL or a faster CPU to troubleshoot, I have tried using process explorer to check the CPU usage while the game is running and it is always pegged at 100%.

Wonder if anyone here has a similar system or one with either a faster CPU or a TnL capable GPU to try out DS1.

if its a gigabit lan card i recommend limiting it to 100mbit to keep bandwidth for the i/o to cope with AGP and comms with your SSD.
or even 10mbit when not using ftp.
A 3COM nic has its own cpu so it doesn't use as much cpu to run through drivers.
autopatcher tweaks your system.ini file to optimise the agp arpeture cache alongside conservative swapfile useage and a few other things automatically according to memory bank size. Reduces paging of gpu which is probably whats slowing you down. I cannot confirm that.
512mb is a decent memory size however windows 2000 does a better job through its kernel on systems beyond 256mb whereas games like dungeon seige take to like ducks to water.
Windows xp in classic desktop mode may be better.

I think I had the below when I was playing the game on 5-26-2002 (last save)
Re: DosFreak All System Specs 1-6-2020

I built this after the game was released but not for that game heh:
Re: DosFreak All System Specs 1-6-2020

Due to how Dungeon Siege was designed I'd look at CPU (Wasn't Dungeon Siege multi-threaded?), Video, HD, Audio and OS but I haven't played it since 2002. heh.

DosFreak wrote on 2021-11-15, 17:07:

I either had Re: DosFreak All System Specs 1-6-2020 or Re: DosFreak All System Specs 1-6-2020 When I was playing the game on 5-2 […]
Show full quote

I either had
Re: DosFreak All System Specs 1-6-2020
or
Re: DosFreak All System Specs 1-6-2020
When I was playing the game on 5-26-2002.

I've got a VP6 but its running XP with 2 X 1GHZ CPU's a bit far ahead in this case.
well, excluding the SiS 315 128mb agp THATS because i choose something barely used everything else is so useful 😀
digital music forever

A Pentium III 733 is tooooooo sloooowww for Dungeon Siege, not to mention the Voodoo3. I played it on a AMD A64 paired with a ATI Radeon 9700 back then and it didn't had optimal performance in multiplayer. DS is extremely CPU dependent, at least I would recommend an Intel P4 (Northwood) or AMD Athlon XP (Barton) with ATI Radeon 8500 or nVidia GeForce 4200.

While you have Dungeon Siege fully updated (patch v1.11.1462 I guess), do you also have the Bonus Pack "Yesterhaven" installed? You can download it from my website -> https://soggi.org/misc/game-patches.htm.

kind regards
soggi

on a lighter note i found it on steam thats a surprise and the rest of them can buy whole series of them for less than half the original cost of just 1 version https://store.steampowered.com/sub/12086/
its always good to see classics survive to modern platforms like rise of nations

Thank you all for your replies.

Just for fun, I tried to run the game at 1920x1080, on a very specific area with object detail on max and I got 16FPS. Reduced the resolution to 640x480... I got the exact same frame rate.

It seems that the Voodoo 3 can handle DS1, but the CPU like soggi said, it's waaaaay too slow, and I can't even try overclocking the CPU, this mobo has as many features as a toaster. I didn't know about that bonus pack, but I visited your website a few times to get some Glide patches!

I wonder how GasPoweredGames/Microsoft came to the conclusion that a 333MHz CPU was enough to run the game, unless they paired one with a GF4 Ti4800.

I thought about getting the game on steam and what not, heck, even the original release of the game works on windows 10 but I'd like to play these games on hardware of the time, guess DS1 is beyond the reach for a "late 1999 win98" build... Guess I got to stick to older games... Can't really justify spending money on a P3 1266S and a Radeon 8500 or similar for one game, and also I'm trying to keep it pre windows XP era, of late 2001.

Thank you once again for your feedback.
Kind regards

Dungeon Siege is definitely a WinXP (maybe Win2k) game, you'll get more fps with the same hardware - forget the PIII and the Voodoo3 if you want to play it with pleasure.

GearCross wrote on 2021-11-15, 21:10:

I didn't know about that bonus pack, but I visited your website a few times to get some Glide patches!

Hehe, nice - I try to add some more patches soon, but how soon is now...time flies... 😒

kind regards
soggi

Yeah, being a game from 2002 and from Microsoft of course they'd target XP for optimization.

But yeah, I mainly built this computer for games I couldn't play at the time, to experience earlier 3D games and the mythical 3dfx cards with their Glide API and while I could build a VM or even play said games on modern hardware, it's not really the same thing. Same reason I also got an Amiga 1200 a couple of years ago, to have hardware I couldn't get at the time due to prohibitive prices (I was a wee lad with a hand-me-down A500 back when it was out) and to enjoy the games on the original systems to experience them as they were back then.

I had a 166 MMX, 64MB of RAM with no 3D acceleration from 97 until about 2002, when I got an AthlonXP 2000+ and a GeForce 2 MX400, so between that time period I missed out on quite a few great 3D games.

I think DS1 came out roughly at the same time as ES Morrowind maybe it sets the demands into perspective... Less cliff racers though..

I seem to recall Dungeon Siege running silky smooth on an Athlon 1400 with a GeForce 2 back in the day, but perhaps my rose-tinted glasses are adding a big dose of the soap opera effect.

Joakim wrote on 2021-11-16, 18:20:

I think DS1 came out roughly at the same time as ES Morrowind maybe it sets the demands into perspective... Less cliff racers though..

DS1 did come out just shy of a month before TES3, but I think the latter is quite a bit more demanding... makes sense as it has quite a bit better graphics imho.

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2021-11-16, 19:28:

I seem to recall Dungeon Siege running silky smooth on an Athlon 1400 with a GeForce 2 back in the day, but perhaps my rose-tinted glasses are adding a big dose of the soap opera effect.

I think I only played DS1 a couple years after it was out, and I recall it not running that well, but I can't remember if I still had my GF2 MX400, or if I already had upgraded to an FX 5700 LE. Can't say it's a decision I'm proud of...

GearCross wrote on 2021-11-16, 13:48:

But yeah, I mainly built this computer for games I couldn't play at the time, to experience earlier 3D games and the mythical 3dfx cards with their Glide API and while I could build a VM or even play said games on modern hardware, it's not really the same thing.

I know and I also won't choose or recommend the latter, but Dungeon Siege is a later generation's game. So you have to accept the low performance or get a second PC for later games.

kind regards
soggi

DS1 according to steam:

Minimum
OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP SP1 or newer
Processor: 333 MHz or faster processor
Memory: 128 MB of system RAM
Graphics: 8MB video card
Hard Drive: 1.5 GB available hard disk space
Note on Windows 7: Driver version 270.51 or greater is required for Nvidia-based graphics cards. AMD graphics card owners may need to run in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode.

I guess xp does more enhanced handling of gpu?

But i got a SiS 315 though 🤣 have to test 🤣

Yeah surely Morrowind is a whole different ballpark, but those min specs are very low. 8MB video card, were people running this shit in 320x200? 😁

These minimum specs - and I think minimum specs in general - are pure BS!

OK, it will run, but in 640*480 / everything at very low with 5 fps - that's not what I understand under "playing a game".

kind regards
soggi

2002's when emphasized HWT&L dependency really started to kick in for big commercial games (Geforce2MX being very available at this time) and the general polygon count and texture sizes sharply went up (due to mutually wide S3TC support with HWT&L hardware). Your V3 won't run BF1942 and NOLF2 either.

soggi wrote on 2021-11-17, 01:42:

I know and I also won't choose or recommend the latter, but Dungeon Siege is a later generation's game. So you have to accept th […]
Show full quote

GearCross wrote on 2021-11-16, 13:48:

But yeah, I mainly built this computer for games I couldn't play at the time, to experience earlier 3D games and the mythical 3dfx cards with their Glide API and while I could build a VM or even play said games on modern hardware, it's not really the same thing.

I know and I also won't choose or recommend the latter, but Dungeon Siege is a later generation's game. So you have to accept the low performance or get a second PC for later games.

kind regards
soggi

Yeah, I'll just forget the idea of play DS1 on this rig. I'll stick to 2001 or earlier games.

zapbuzz wrote on 2021-11-17, 02:25:

DS1 according to steam: […]
Show full quote

DS1 according to steam:

Minimum
OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP SP1 or newer
Processor: 333 MHz or faster processor
Memory: 128 MB of system RAM
Graphics: 8MB video card
Hard Drive: 1.5 GB available hard disk space
Note on Windows 7: Driver version 270.51 or greater is required for Nvidia-based graphics cards. AMD graphics card owners may need to run in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode.

I guess xp does more enhanced handling of gpu?

But i got a SiS 315 though 🤣 have to test 🤣

That was exactly what I based my decision on, not just on the steam page but I did try to look on websites of the era and it was pretty much the same.
Morrowind would be unable to run on the V3 due to the lack of 32bit support. But I'm pretty sure if it worked, it would run 100% in the single digits with my specs even at that resolution 🤣

soggi wrote on 2021-11-17, 06:47:

These minimum specs - and I think minimum specs in general - are pure BS! […]
Show full quote

These minimum specs - and I think minimum specs in general - are pure BS!

OK, it will run, but in 640*480 / everything at very low with 5 fps - that's not what I understand under "playing a game".

kind regards
soggi

No idea what GPG/Microsoft were thinking... With those specs it would indeed be like playing a slideshow

leileilol wrote on 2021-11-17, 07:09:

2002's when emphasized HWT&L dependency really started to kick in for big commercial games (Geforce2MX being very available at this time) and the general polygon count and texture sizes sharply went up (due to mutually wide S3TC support with HWT&L hardware). Your V3 won't run BF1942 and NOLF2 either.

That's my suspicion if the game does indeed require the use of TnL, even GF2 MX200 would massively increase performance, as even in the title screen I only get about 35FPS and the CPU already pinned to 100% usage. Shame that I have no idea where I have my MX400 is, I'm pretty sure I kept it somewhere when I upgraded to the 5700LE...