... can my PC handle the entire game?
P3, 384MB RAM, seemed to handle the demo fine.
Interesting that you can post in the news forum. 
384Mb RAM ...
I had the game running on a 512Mb laptop (XP Pro SP2) initially.
My guess is you are going to see a lot of disk thrashing when scrolling the map. Given your machine's generation, you might be prepared to tolerate lags as the map gets paged in. I don't think map scrolling outside the current local area already rendered will be very smooth for you. So, ultimately it is a matter of what your expectations are.
You didn't say what OS you are running. If you are running Win 98 SE that should reduce the memory demands of the OS compared to XP. However, I think XP is the only officially supported OS.
384Mb RAM ...
I had the game running on a 512Mb laptop (XP Pro SP2) initially.
My guess is you are going to see a lot of disk thrashing when scrolling the map. Given your machine's generation, you might be prepared to tolerate lags as the map gets paged in. I don't think map scrolling outside the current local area already rendered will be very smooth for you. So, ultimately it is a matter of what your expectations are.
You didn't say what OS you are running. If you are running Win 98 SE that should reduce the memory demands of the OS compared to XP. However, I think XP is the only officially supported OS.
Sorry, didn't mean to intrude on News BB. Thought I was posting in HQ. Pocus, or whoever is in charge, feel free to move this to a more appropriate spot.
I know my PC is old, and within limits, I'll tolerate some "disk thrashing," as you put it. The OS is WinME, not 98. The demo really did run fine, tho I recognize the map was limited. I had the same experience with "World at War," where the min system requirements are greater than my machine. Tried demo, found it worked and so does game, tho prbly not as fast as it could.
Would it work better to try BoA on CD rather than downloading it, or would it make any difference in performance? (At the very least, I could transfer it to a new PC if/when I get one!).
I know my PC is old, and within limits, I'll tolerate some "disk thrashing," as you put it. The OS is WinME, not 98. The demo really did run fine, tho I recognize the map was limited. I had the same experience with "World at War," where the min system requirements are greater than my machine. Tried demo, found it worked and so does game, tho prbly not as fast as it could.
Would it work better to try BoA on CD rather than downloading it, or would it make any difference in performance? (At the very least, I could transfer it to a new PC if/when I get one!).
I can't advise you officially to get the game, as you are both under the minimum RAM and you are using a OS that we don't supports. On the other hand, if the demo ran, then the game will run. You will have just to be prepared for some slowness when you scroll (although at 100% zoom level this will be ok I think).
Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."
There really is no reason to buy the CD as opposed to the download. Approximately, $30USD compared to $47USD. The printed manual included is only 27 pages.
The download is basically an installer and you get your personal serial number to use. Either way, you are going to have a personal serial number. So, you should have no problem installing the game on another system. Just make sure you keep a backup of the installer and your serial number.
Win 9x - I am sure you know this, but use some third party util to kill whatever you don't need running before you play. Use some third party util to recover every meg of memory before you play. While playing let the game manage memory, but do not select the caching option. Thus, there will be no map reading activity except when you explicitly scroll the map yourself. I would think that might be best, not sure if Pocus would agree on leaving it unchecked.
The download is basically an installer and you get your personal serial number to use. Either way, you are going to have a personal serial number. So, you should have no problem installing the game on another system. Just make sure you keep a backup of the installer and your serial number.
Win 9x - I am sure you know this, but use some third party util to kill whatever you don't need running before you play. Use some third party util to recover every meg of memory before you play. While playing let the game manage memory, but do not select the caching option. Thus, there will be no map reading activity except when you explicitly scroll the map yourself. I would think that might be best, not sure if Pocus would agree on leaving it unchecked.
This is extreme; not for the faint at heart.
I remember when Falcon 4 was released in 1998 one trick which was done by some players to get it more memory and resources was literaly to boot into it. There is way in some INI file to actually make some other program the shell that launches when the desktop starts. So, if you are a competent hacker and familiar with boot managers and scripting, you might manage that.
In that mode, you would only be able to run BoA and would have to reboot to get your desktop back. (Come to think of it - probably is a good idea for you to reboot before starting BoA, since you are on Win 9x.) Ah, this is enough to bring back memories of the good old days of DOS.
Like I said - it's extreme.
I remember when Falcon 4 was released in 1998 one trick which was done by some players to get it more memory and resources was literaly to boot into it. There is way in some INI file to actually make some other program the shell that launches when the desktop starts. So, if you are a competent hacker and familiar with boot managers and scripting, you might manage that.
In that mode, you would only be able to run BoA and would have to reboot to get your desktop back. (Come to think of it - probably is a good idea for you to reboot before starting BoA, since you are on Win 9x.) Ah, this is enough to bring back memories of the good old days of DOS.
Like I said - it's extreme.
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