Spellforce 2: Gold - Graphics Adjustment

[zychrias]

*REVISED* Got this to work 100%! For those that need to get Spellforce 2: Gold working again, delete "config.xml" and restart the game. Everyone else read through this! *REVISED*

Problem: The game auto configures itself based on a scoring system. The problem with this system is newer processors and graphics cards are not scoring properly in the test, thereby rendering a lower graphics quality than your hardware supports.

Fix: It's in depth and takes a few minutes, but makes a difference in your visuals.

* Find your "config.xml" (Win7 is under Documents\Spellforce2)
* Make a backup copy of "config.xml"
* Right click and edit "config.xml"
* Look for

<debugmain optionfileaccesslogfile="" optionlogfileaccess="0" />

* Adjust it to

<debugmain optionfileaccesslogfile="zychrias.txt" optionlogfileaccess="1" />

* Save (ensure you saved it as with the ".xml" extension!)
* Run Spellfoce 2: Gold
* The game will not load, expect it not to (You will not get to the great fancy advertisement videos)
* Goto where your "config.xml" was stored.
* Open the folder "Diag"
* Open the file "zychrias.txt" (or whatever you named your debug file to be)
* You should see two listed files that were opened. Very similar to this:

c:\users\family\documents\spellforce2\config.xml
base\data\hwdb.xml

* Open the file "log.txt"
* This is what mine looked like:

[INFO][app]: SpellForce2 Final Build: 125055
[INFO][app]: CPU AuthenticAMD family 7 detected.
[INFO][app]: CPU clock speed is ~3201 MHz.
[INFO][app]: CPU rating is 20 points.
[INFO][app]: GFX rating is 2 points.

* For reference, 1 is a horrible rating, 20 is the best rating
* My CPU is a AMD 6400+, and the graphics card is an ATI 4850 (yeah right 2 points eh? )
* Find your "hwdb.xml" (Look under Steam\steamapps\common\spellforce 2 gold edition\base\data)
* Make a backup copy of "hwdb.xml"
* Right click and edit "hwdb.xml"
* Under general browsing of the file you can learn how your system gets rated and, most notably, one minor issue that can't grade your graphics card appropriately. My assumption is the CPU is graded off the single core speed; meaning for you quads with low Mhz, it will grade you lower. (Remember this game's requirements listed P4's...)
* To fix my "GFX rating" I did the following.
* Locate the following text:

  <gfx>
    <vendor ID="0x1002" name="ATI" homepage="http://www.ati.com">
      <adapters>
        <adapter points="20" pattern=".*Radeon .*X19...*" />
        <adapter points="18" pattern=".*Radeon .*X18...*" />
        <adapter points="16" pattern=".*Radeon .*X1[6-7]...*" />
        <adapter points="14" pattern=".*Radeon .*X[8-9]...*" />
        <adapter points="12" pattern=".*Radeon .*X7...*" />
        <adapter points="10" pattern=".*Radeon .*9[7-8]...*" />
        <adapter points="8" pattern=".*Radeon .*X1[0-5]...*" />
        <adapter points="6" pattern=".*Radeon .*X6...*" />
        <adapter points="6" pattern=".*Radeon .*9[5-6]...*" />
        <adapter points="4" pattern=".*Radeon .*X[0-5]...*" />
        <adapter points="2" pattern=".*Radeon .*8....*" />
        <adapter points="1" pattern=".*Radeon .*9[0-4]...*" />
      </adapters>

* I added one line to the top:

  <gfx>
    <vendor ID="0x1002" name="ATI" homepage="http://www.ati.com">
      <adapters>
	<adapter points="20" pattern=".*Radeon .*48...*" />
        <adapter points="18" pattern=".*Radeon .*X18...*" />
        <adapter points="16" pattern=".*Radeon .*X1[6-7]...*" />
        <adapter points="14" pattern=".*Radeon .*X[8-9]...*" />
        <adapter points="12" pattern=".*Radeon .*X7...*" />
        <adapter points="10" pattern=".*Radeon .*9[7-8]...*" />
        <adapter points="8" pattern=".*Radeon .*X1[0-5]...*" />
        <adapter points="6" pattern=".*Radeon .*X6...*" />
        <adapter points="6" pattern=".*Radeon .*9[5-6]...*" />
        <adapter points="4" pattern=".*Radeon .*X[0-5]...*" />
        <adapter points="2" pattern=".*Radeon .*8....*" />
        <adapter points="1" pattern=".*Radeon .*9[0-4]...*" />
      </adapters>

* Save the file (ensure a ".xml" extension again!)
* Run Spellforce 2: Gold
* Check your "log.txt" and see what you get. I recieved:

[INFO][app]: SpellForce2 Final Build: 125055
[INFO][app]: CPU AuthenticAMD family 7 detected.
[INFO][app]: CPU clock speed is ~3201 MHz.
[INFO][app]: CPU rating is 20 points.
[INFO][app]: GFX rating is 20 points.

* Yeah!!! got my 20 points
* Goto "config.xml"
* Delete the "config.xml" file
* Run Spellforce 2: Gold and see what you get. (You will be asked the dialog "The application will now identify the optimal settings.")

Below, please post your CPU/GFX and what you scored at! Much thanks for the reading!

[zychrias]

AMD X2 6400+ Scored 20 (Originally)
ATI 4850 Scored 2 (Originally)

[Wuzzzy]

AMD x2 5000+ 2.6ghz scored 18
ATI HD4670 scored 0

--

[INFO][app]: SpellForce2 Final Build: 125055
[INFO][app]: CPU AuthenticAMD family 7 detected.
[INFO][app]: CPU clock speed is ~2607 MHz.
[INFO][app]: CPU rating is 20 points.
[INFO][app]: GFX rating is 20 points.

I tweaked both lines in the hwdb.xml file and now have both cpu and GPU scoring 20

[zychrias]

Did you notice any significant differences?

[Wuzzzy]

I think so, the cut scenes looked better, although I didn't really notice a whole lot, but the cut scenes do look kick butt. the game is running great for me, always has. Except every now and then I have to keep editing my screen res in the config, it seems to take it back to 1024x768

Did you notice any differences yourself?

Hey I tried this, followed the directions word for word, got a 20 in the gfx section, went to start the game up after deleting the config.xml file, and now when the game starts i get a black screen, then it minimizes. When I try and maximize it again, I hear sound from the first ad stutter, then it minimizes again. It does this on repeat until I alt f4 or end task. I've tried replacing the files again with the backup files, verifying the local content, etc. Nothing works.
I'm running Win Vista 64.

[zychrias]

Originally Posted by Wuzzzy

I think so, the cut scenes looked better, although I didn't really notice a whole lot, but the cut scenes do look kick butt. the game is running great for me, always has. Except every now and then I have to keep editing my screen res in the config, it seems to take it back to 1024x768

Did you notice any differences yourself?

Yeah my cut scenes looked nicer also. There was a better texture being done on the buildings for me. It is of course possible that when I first manually edited the config.xml I missed something. But at least I learned a lot about how this game auto-charges the config.xml file.

Originally Posted by CKHavoc

Hey I tried this, followed the directions word for word, got a 20 in the gfx section, went to start the game up after deleting the config.xml file, and now when the game starts i get a black screen, then it minimizes. When I try and maximize it again, I hear sound from the first ad stutter, then it minimizes again. It does this on repeat until I alt f4 or end task. I've tried replacing the files again with the backup files, verifying the local content, etc. Nothing works.
I'm running Win Vista 64.

Try deleting all files you played with. Then run the Steam "Verify Integrity of Game Cache".

[Blackvenom01]

Thank you alote Zychrias, I tried this out to fix my own issue, it always seemed to give me low res building textures, now that it has 20 points instead of 2, I have the proper textures!

My initial threat http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1164296


btw, would you know why I dont hear any yes or no sir stuff when I click the npcs to a point?

[zychrias]

You are more than welcome!

As for the sound issue, I will play with my system while at work tomorrow and see what I come up with.

[zychrias]

So far I'm the same way. "Unit Acknowledement" is set to "ON" but doesn't do anything. I have even removed and messed with the Miles Audio files to no avail...something to be worked on!

[Blackvenom01]

learning to read is nice =(

Hey this works good... my Phenom proccessor nor my Readon 5870 were detected... I got a 0 for my CPU... and 2 for GFX... now both at 20 MAKES a world of a difference... thought the game just didn't have good textures... Awesome fix...

[zychrias]

Originally Posted by locojay

Hey this works good... my Phenom proccessor nor my Readon 5870 were detected... I got a 0 for my CPU... and 2 for GFX... now both at 20 MAKES a world of a difference... thought the game just didn't have good textures... Awesome fix...

I'm glad this fix assisted you well.

I wanted to bump this up near the top as some people may have purchased or recieved this game over the holidays and are missing out of some enjoyable changes to their visual experience.

Game on!

First of all, thanks for the tip. Here is my question. How am I suppose to change the CPU when I don't know what to edit. I have an Athlon II 2X 260.

[mithras]

Originally Posted by LaughingManiac

First of all, thanks for the tip. Here is my question. How am I suppose to change the CPU when I don't know what to edit. I have an Athlon II 2X 260.

It's all about how it looks in the "zychrias.txt" file that was created in steps above. Read to the point where you see (for example my CPU)

zychrias.txt

[INFO][app]: CPU GenuineIntel family 6 detected.
[INFO][app]: CPU clock speed is ~2400 MHz.

Then add the following line to the hwdb.xml file (same file as the one for GFX) under the section for the proper vendor ID (GenuineIntel), family ID (6), and record clock (2400) with the highest points (20).

<vendor ID="GenuineIntel" name="Intel" homepage="">
<family ID="6" name="Pentium 3/Pentium M">
<record clock="2400" points="20" />

NOTE - There was a line under "family ID=6" with a "record clock=2400" with a lesser score that needed to be removed (so no duplicate entries under the same heading). My quad core CPU can handle this game, no worries.

The key to all of this though is looking at zychrias.txt file and seeing how the game identifies what you have. The solution is changing it's list of GFX and CPU so that what the game thinks you have is a 20 for both.