Topic: Wolfenstein: The New Order

[kat]

IMPORTANT: Steam, and an associated account, is required and will be logged in to at the start of the 2+ hour installation process (duration may vary depending upon system power/specs), during which time the update for Wolfenstein: The New Order is downloaded, which currently stands at 40.7 GB (yes, that's Gigabytes) so may take several hours to acquire as a result (average ADSL broadband may take between 4 and 6 hours off-peek).

Why is the Wolfenstein: The New Order update so big (40GB)?
The update to Wolfenstein: The New Order is 40+GB because its basically re-downloading the entire contents of the game. There are a number of technical reasons for this but essentially, with idtech5 using Virtual Textures (commonly known as "Megatexture") to colour the world, minor updates and corrections to content become slightly problematic because it's not generally possible to perform a simple file overwrite as has been done traditionally - assets have to be recompiled which then means there are potential file validation issues if replacing just the actual amended area of a Megatexture. In other words, change something and the entire Megatexture has to be re-compiled and re-distributed, largely in its entirety. Additionally, content is not DVD compressed (original content is compressed to 4 DVD's) so the assets are relatively large by comparison.

FATAL ERROR: wglCreateContextAttribsARB Failed
The "wglCreateContextAttribsARB" error seems to be common on systems with Intel based embedded graphics chips, in particular the HD 3000 (+/-) series. The culprit appears to be due to the lack of support for version 3.2 (or above) of OpenGL (the Intel HD 3000 series currently runs OpenGL 3.1.0). At present there doesn't appear to be a work around.


A new Wolfenstein? Yep. Announcement trailer and initial info can be found here (GameSpot). Possibly being built on idTech 5. No release date or other info available as of yet.

[EDITS (as they become available)]
http://uk.gamespot.com/wolfenstein-the-new-order/videos/fierce-combat-and-nasty-villains-in-wolfenstein-the-new-order-6408067/

Screens (these should really be on their website not Facebook, so that's slightly puzzling as to why) - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151575626394166.1073741826.56833114165&type=1

Concept Art - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151575850589166.1073741827.56833114165&type=1

Lengthy article on The New Order (interesting read [contains possible spoilers]) - http://www.gamefront.com/wolfensteins-new-order-is-to-combine-old-school-with-new/

[ratty redemption]

cool, looks interesting.

[kat]

Recommended(?) System Requirements for Wolfenstein: the New Order are;

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• 64-bit Windows 7/Windows 8
• Intel Core i7 or equivalent AMD
• 4 GB System RAM
• 50 GB free HDD space
• GeForce 460, ATI Radeon HD 6850
• High Speed Internet Connection
• Steam account and activation required

Note: these appear to be recommended, NOT minimum requirements so the game will likely play on lower spec'd machines, just not on higher quality settings. Still a Core i7 is a pretty still steep requirement at release.

http://www.bethblog.com/2014/05/01/system-requirements-for-wolfenstein/

[ratty redemption]

kat, did you intend to say "pretty steep"?

and why steam? is this going to be digital download only?

[kat]

Pretty steep? Oh hah yes. */me fixed.

Steam is probably being used for its DRM and authorising the game. Not sure if it's to be available via download as the game needs 50GB of space on a hard-drive, that's got to be at least a 10GB (compressed) download.

[ratty redemption]

understood and not that our laptop here could run the new wolf game, but regardless our internet speed is far too slow and unstable to download any files that large. so hopefully steam is just used for drm.

also when did pc games become 50 gig? is that mainly textures do you think?

[kat]

They've been creeping that way for years.. the old Wolfenstein needed 8GB, Rage needed 25GB, Call of Duty: Ghosts needs 40GB, so yes, the demands for 'HD' definition is the cause. It'll get even 'worse' if 4k screens ever really take off - at that point developers really are going to have to take a seriously look into procedural textures and materials (it could be argued we're already at a point where that needs to be happening).

[ratty redemption]

interesting and do you realistically think games will render at 4k res in the future? personally i don't have very good eyesight, however i can't tell much difference between 720p and 1080p videos, but then i'm also only watching them on a 15" laptop monitor.

[kat]

Got the game... still download the update after connection reset several times (due to the 40GB download no doubt). See amended first post for info. Basically yes the update is massive, it basically downloads the entire game again. And it appears that buying from Steam as opposed to DVD's doesn't avoid the update either as you have to install the original content beforehand. Go MegaTexture

[ratty redemption]

i'm pretty sure your going to enjoy the game kat, it's been one of my favorite this year to watch on youtube, and for the most part it's very polished and high production values. also has one of the best weapons i've ever seen in a fps. although we can discuss that after you've tried it yourself.

re the megatexture, that's disappointing the assets can't be patched the way previous games could. so i guess that's why modding idtech 5 is difficult?

[kat]

Got to see if the game will even run on the machine its installed to, it's under-spec'd to say the least!. The trouble with a patch of that size is that it assumes people are able to download that much data for a single game without consequence (writing something up on this topic actually for later posting). And yes, idtech5 is/was pretty much the death-knoll for modding.

[kat]

Yup, doesn't run on my system because the Intel HD 3000 onboard graphic chip doesn't support OpenGL 3.2 or above (which is needed by the game). Unlikely Intel will update the drives as that chipset is relatively old these days. It was a bit of a longshot which didn't pan out, and given the excessively (unacceptably) huge 40GB update which I was trying to avoid in the first place buying the DVD, the whole experience has been soured somewhat. Can't win um all I suppose