anything that uses dx8.1 or less
directx 9 was released 2002
so as a rough guide you should be looking at games released no later than about 2002
Some fps examples
deus ex
half life
unreal tournament 1 and 2004
nolf 1 and 2
avp 1 and 2
half life 2
quake 3
serious sam 2
return to castle wolfenstein

Ask old hardware questions in Marvin Marvin, the Paranoid Android

Davros wrote:

anything that uses dx8.1 or less
directx 9 was released 2002
so as a rough guide you should be looking at games released no later than about 2002

It doesn't work that way.
The DirectX API is backward-compatible in terms of hardware (in fact, DX9 added support for certain features that were already in DX7 hardware, but never included in the API... even a GeForce2 can do some things in DX9 that it couldn't do in DX7 or DX8). Games using the DirectX9 API can run on a GeForce4 Ti4200 perfectly fine, some of them can even run on older hardware. Examples would be Half-Life 2 and Far Cry.
Doom 3 would also work fine (although that's using OpenGL rather than DX9, but it did support DX9-level graphics features).
You can probably run games from 2005-2006 easily, perhaps even some later games.

I should of said direct 3d 8.1 or less

Scali wrote:

Games using the DirectX9 API can run on a GeForce4 Ti4200 perfectly fine

you mean like
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Left 4 Dead
Bioshock
Conflict: Denied Ops
Far Cry 2
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Two Worlds

All games use directx 9.0 and all games will not run on a card that does not have pixel shader 2.0 or 3.0 (a direct 3d 9.0 feature)

Davros wrote:

All games use directx 9.0 and all games will not run on a card that does not have pixel shader 2.0 or 3.0 (a direct 3d 9.0 feature)

I don't think you understood me (or DirectX in general).
The DirectX 9 API can be used on older hardware.
There are many games that use the DX9 API, yet do not require PS2.0 or 3.0 (or even shaders at all).
How hard is that to understand? Very hard apparently, because I have explained this so many times over the years, yet still nobody seems to know.
Haven't you heard about feature levels in DX11 and DX12? That's not a new concept, older versions of D3D also supported various 'feature levels', just not as explicitly (they used 'capabilities', which could be queried by the application, to see what kind of things the hardware may or may not support).

Anyway, I've mentioned a number of DX9 games already, you could have just checked them out to see I'm right, and you don't understand it.

The games you mentioned are much newer (not pre-2002, and not even pre-2005/2006 or so, as I said, at first glance).

Sandi1987 wrote:

Which FPS, Action and Racing games can i play with this GPU?

It depends 🤣

"The DirectX 9 API can be used on older hardware."
no one is disputing that
I'm saying to be sure a game will run he should stick to dx 8.1 or earlier
As the examples ive provided show your statement "Games using the DirectX9 API can run on a GeForce4 Ti4200 perfectly fine"
is not true
obviously when we talk about games using dx9 we mean dx9 features like pixel shader 2.0 and vertex shader 2.0

Davros wrote:

I'm saying to be sure a game will run he should stick to dx 8.1 or earlier

I'm saying that's bad advice, since DX9 followed the introduction of the GF4 so quickly that the majority of games released for GF4Ti4200 will be using DX9. There aren't many games out there that use DX8.1 (DX8.1 has only been around for about a year).

Davros wrote:

As the examples ive provided show your statement "Games using the DirectX9 API can run on a GeForce4 Ti4200 perfectly fine"
is not true

Sure it is. I say they *can* run. I'm not saying they *must* run. There will be DX9-games that won't run, but by far the most DX9 games will (DX9 has been around for a LONG time, unlike DX8). The point is that it doesn't depend on the API the game uses, but on what it does with that API. What its minimum requirements are.
Many early DX9 games have a GeForce2 as minimum requirement. And as I said, most DX9 games up to say 2005-2006 would probably have a GeForce4 or less as minimum requirement, and will run.

Davros wrote:

Obviously when we talk about games using dx9 we mean dx9 features like pixel shader 2.0 and vertex shader 2.0

No we don't. That's retarded and confusing.

no its not he's talking about running games on a dx 8.1 graphics card
he's not interested if the games needs dx 9 because it uses some dx 9 feature of directsound 3d or direct music or direct input

Davros wrote:

anything that uses dx8.1 or less directx 9 was released 2002 so as a rough guide you should be looking at games released no late […]
Show full quote

anything that uses dx8.1 or less
directx 9 was released 2002
so as a rough guide you should be looking at games released no later than about 2002
Some fps examples
deus ex
half life
unreal tournament 1 and 2004
nolf 1 and 2
avp 1 and 2
half life 2
quake 3
serious sam 2
return to castle wolfenstein

I think this is actually a good rule of thumb.

GF FX 5900u followed the GF4 and that FX was terrible at running FEAR. GF6800 ran it infinitely better. I don't expect a GF4 to run all DX9 games better than FX5900 so I think your list is a pretty good start.

It does depend on the CPU as well, but even a much more recent CPU won't save GF4 from newer games.

Staying at DX8.1 is a good rule of thumb I think.

Davros wrote:

I should of said direct 3d 8.1 or less […]
Show full quote

I should of said direct 3d 8.1 or less

Scali wrote:

Games using the DirectX9 API can run on a GeForce4 Ti4200 perfectly fine

you mean like
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Left 4 Dead
Bioshock
Conflict: Denied Ops
Far Cry 2
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Two Worlds

All games use directx 9.0 and all games will not run on a card that does not have pixel shader 2.0 or 3.0 (a direct 3d 9.0 feature)

You forgot FEAR. FEAR trashed my FX5900 so on GF4 it should run silky smooth 🤣
Games like BF2 with mods and tons of bots on a GF4 might also be nice 😎

Tetrium wrote:

I think this is actually a good rule of thumb.

It's not. Already explained it. DX8.1 has only been around for about a year, and you can probably count the games using the DX8.1 API/runtime on one hand. Most games aimed at GF4 will be using the DX9 API.

Davros wrote:

no its not he's talking about running games on a dx 8.1 graphics card

DX8.1 featurelevel. Not DX8.1 API.
That's the thing. Games aren't advertised as "We use DX8.1 featurelevel".
They are advertised as "Needs DX9 runtime" and "minimum hardware GeForce3/4 or Radeon 8500 / SM1.x" or such.
So your 'advice' is pretty useless, as you can't get that kind of information from most games.

You cant ?
From 2k's support page for Oblivion

Minimum System Requirements:

Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-bit
512MB System RAM
2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
128MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver;
8x DVD-ROM drive
4.6 GB free hard disk space
DirectX 9.0c (included)
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Keyboard, Mouse

Recommended:

3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
1 GB System RAM
ATI X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card

Supported Video Card Chipsets:

ATI X1900 series
ATI X1800 series
ATI X1600 series
ATI X1300 series
ATI X850 series
ATI x800 series
ATI x700 series
ATI x600 series
ATI Radeon 9800 series
ATI Radeon 9700 series
ATI Radeon 9600 series
ATI Radeon 9500 series

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6200 series
NVIDIA GeForce FX series

When he buys a game like bioshock or any game that requires a dx 9 feature and says "scali this doesnt work with my graphics card you said i could play dx 9.0 games" are you going to refund his money ???

Okay, you're an idiot. That is a strawman. Not worth my time.
Everyone else understands I mean games like this: http://gamesystemrequirements.com/game/far-cry
Clearly says it requires DirectX 9.
Yet it also says it's compatible with GeForce4. In fact, that's even recommended.
No mention of DirectX 8.x anywhere in there, exactly as I said.

requiring dx9 is not the point requiring a dx9 graphics card is the point

SDK version, PS/VS/unified shader version requirements, hardware specific features (I'm looking at you, Splinter Cell). These can all play a big role in game compatibility.

Davros wrote:

requiring dx9 is not the point requiring a dx9 graphics card is the point

What makes you an idiot is that you either can't admit you're wrong, or you don't even understand that you're wrong.
What is a "DX9 graphics card"?
That isn't a standardized definition (is it a card supported by the DX9 runtime? Is it a card that supports some of the features introduced in DX9? If so, which features? Is it a card that supports all of the features introduced in DX9? And if so, which revision of DX9? 9.0, 9.0a, 9.0b, 9.0c? etc). Hence games don't list their requirements as such.
See also gdjacobs' post. Games tend to list the version of DX9 they are built against, and either the minimum shader level required, or a direct list of GPUs that are supported.
They don't usually list "DX8.1" when it's a game built against the DX9 API, yet requires only vs1.1/ps1.x.
It's very simple (and very easy to verify by just looking at system requirements of such games). Unless you're as obtuse as you are.

Because even if we take your definition of a GF4 being 'DX8.1' (is it really? DX8.1 also supports ps1.4, which the GF4 does not support. It also supports up to 8 texture stages, which the GF4 does not support. And a slew of other features, such as N-patches and whatnot), we run into the problem that we cannot search game requirements for 'DX8.1' in practice.

I really wish you two would take this to PM. Scali, your technical knowledge would have so much more impact if you could just hold your tongue with the insults. It's usually the people without the technical knowledge that have to resort to insults.

When you have been explaining the same thing for over 20 years, and people still don't listen (and keep arguing against you), you don't have a lot of patience left.