Use Dell's official Nvidia drivers for max compatibility... I've tried the LaptopVideo2Go - LV2G - drivers (latest beta ForceWare with modded infs), and MobileForce (tweaked desktop ForceWare) and they both gave me problems... MobileForce was somehow slower then the stock Dell drivers in FEAR and the LV2G drivers (most of them anyway, as there are tonnes of them) breaks HDR and possibly Pixel Shader 3 (at least in 3DMark06); AND makes FEAR completely un-runnable...

At least on Vista... But then again, what runs well on Vista?

And yeah, some of my media buttons are also hard to press... I guess that's normal...

And finally, welcome to the club, hi54ever!


*MEANINGLESS RAMBLING*
On a side note, I'm back to my old habits of playing ancient games on new computers, just to run them on max settings (and saving me the exasperation of trying to run new games like that)... Specifically, the 2003 vintage Freelancer (a really fine game if you're into spacey action/adventure games)...

But Freelancer can only run fine on 1024x768, so everything looks stretched...

Tried editing some .ini files to make it run at 1280x800 (which I might add, looks gorgeous)... Everything went fine until I restarted it and tried to load a saved game... That was when I lost the game's entire top menu... It clipped the view and the top and the bottom of the game screen was missing entirely...

When I started a new game, everything was normal again... Go figure...

Ah... The cursed world of the 12 inch WXGA screen... Thank god Half-Life 2, Homeworld 2 and STALKER supports 1280x800...

Tried to set "application specific" settings to the game as well, as it did not provide options for Anti-Aliasing or Anistropic Filtering (set the former to 4x and the latter to 8x... Something I could never do to any current generation games I own... Muahahahaha)... But the Nvidia Control Panel mysteriously set this so called "application specific" settings as Global settings after I played the game...

I wonder why... Jered?
*END MEANINGLESS RAMBLING*

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 20 2007, 01:52 AM

Jered ?! that sounds like me so i think i shud come-in haha.. Freelancer huh never played that game b4 so.. currently playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R and the graphics is superb.. love it.. however the 'stalker' difficulty is already so hard for me.. hmm i think its bcoz of too much on CSing.. but that games is fun.. for now..

Another one for the list!

sorry guys, a wee bit late reporting in. Just found this thread this morning.
mine is the 1.86 Ghz, DVD burner, 2 Gb RAM and 120Gb HDD, no webcam. running WinXP Pro.

emmmm... guys, do you know where can get a replacement LCD for the M1210? or is it covered under dell warranty? cos mine just met with an 'accident'

This post has been edited by alqa: May 20 2007, 02:41 PM

1st u hv to tell us ur warranty...
then tell us wat happen with ur lcd...
then, we decide can be replace or not...

or

u call dell n xplain ur situation..they might b able to help u....

hmmm...as far as i know...the button is ok and easy to press...
evendo i press it sometimes...but the button is ok...

wah!...Starcraft 2 in coming out...
anyone watched its launching...the graphics looks cool...
can't wait for its arrival...

welcome to the club...another proud owner of XPS...
nice specs?...when did you purchased your XPS?
don't worry...this kind of incident should be covered by warranty...
unless your warranty is finish or a non-complete cover...
better call Dell and explain everything about the incident...they should come and fixed it for you...
all the best...do report your XPS progress with us here...

erksss...are you working with Dell?...
better call Dell...

yeah i cant wait too.. demn i think i need to finish this STALKER fast.. Another game that need to be fit in my tight schedule.. Everyone knows study shud come first but all these games really have intolerable attractions.. shud i sacrifice the studies or the games ?!

I'll say balance it out bebeh..

heh heh heh... maybe I'm the first XPS casualty here

actually my 2 yr old daughter used the lappie as a ladder trying to climb onto our bed this morning... the lappie was sitting half closed on the floor next to my bed (was working alte last night) and there's an earphone (the culprit) on the keyboard.

checked service tag for the warranty on dell website, it comes with the usual one year coverage including the CompleteCover and still have 301 days left.

however i cant seem to find the no for the much touted 'XPS 24x7' phone support. have emailed them tho. so which no shud i call and when can i call them?

BTW here's a pic of the wounded beauty:

I would suggest to call their support and talk to them.. i like ur zebra mice there.. good luck with the solution.. let us know if Dell dont cover that.. I know there's a company that cover lappies screen but it is impractical for now..

This post has been edited by derred: May 20 2007, 05:42 PM

well...since u got complete cover...go ahead! call dell...they will replace new lcd screen 4 u.... dats the beauty of complete cover...it cover accidental damage...if no cc...say bubye to ur money!

no. phone eh..i am not sure...hehe...steven85 might noe the no...hahaha...owh wait..its xps thread...i guess the no should b similar....

@unknowndevices
me not workng with dell larr...haiyoh...it just dat me noe how the warranty works...n got xperience how to claim it...but i guess steven85 n calvin_gsc got more experience laa...

erksss...your daughter used XPS as ladder...
nice zebra mouse...whats that at the back of XPS...anyway...if its stated still under warranty...
do call Dell and ask for replacement...don't wait till tomorrow...

here is the XPS 24x7 number:

Technical Support (XPS) : Toll-free: 1800 885 784

this number,you can even call during weekends and night...caused its 24-7...

Customer Care : Toll-free: 1800 881 306 (option 6)

all the best...do report it here with us the progress...
send my smile to your two years old daughter...

ooo...thought you worked with Dell...then can help us also...
yeah!...guess...steven and calvin got lots of experienced sending and got fixed by Dell technician...

This post has been edited by unknowndevices: May 20 2007, 06:51 PM

Haha... Sorry for that... All I remembered is that ur name ended in -red...

So, have u tried playing with the "app specific" options? Do they stick in XP, course the sure as heck don't seem to under Vista...

And yeah, STALKER is fun... The only problem is, no motorized vehicles... Have to run all around... I think I've drank enough energy drinks in the game to give "the Marked One" type one diabetes... The mods available out there add tremendously to the flexibility of the game though... Repairing armour, adding silencers to rifles manually... Sad I can't run it with full dynamic lighting without going down to 5 FPS...

But I'm currently stuck with Freelancer... I wonder why...

Yep it's covered... As long as your little daughter didn't have any intention to break the LCD ( ), then it should be accepted as an accident, even by Dell... But just tell them you dropped the thing... It should smooth things up coz I think any damage caused by animals are NOT COVERED...

Thinking along the same lines, I wonder if damage caused by little girls would fall under the NOT COVERED catagory... I hope not...

If they do cover it, keep in mind though that in the paperwork it's stated that damage to the LCD would lead only to a repair/replacement of the LCD rather then a complete unit replacement (replacing the entire lappy)...

Check the Brochure ( http://www.dell.com/downloads/ap/services/brochureccmycn.pdf ) and the Service Agreement ( http://www.dell.com/downloads/ap/services/...Agreement/2.pdf ) for the CompleteCover program for more details...

And, welcome to the club!

Games FTW...

And I just got to seeing StarCraft 2 in action... It looks remarkably like just StarCraft in 3D, although the 3D part made it really sweet looking... Rumours online have it that SC2 is immensely scalable as well, which means it should be really playable on our XPSs...

Hopefully... Need a good speedy new RTS after C&C3 to make up for the ultra power hungry Supreme Commander...

POWER OVERWHELMING!

EDIT: I thought everyone else here had a webcam with their XPS... Anyone else other then me and alqa opted out of the webcam?

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 20 2007, 07:57 PM

haha dont worry about it.. so far all i use is app specific options and my games run smoothly with that.. So far i never really check specific options like 2x antialiasing effects on my games etc.. My games differ in terms of working on SLi, so i just let the games decide what bests.. like some games such as Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike:Source have not take advantages on dual-gpus..yet ( i hope), so ill just enable one gpu and enable a 2nd monitor..

but when i do Company of Heroes or STALKER for example ill just apply apps specific and it works like charm. I do notice differences on CoH if ill set the settings manually, it will have blinking terrains on the map. So far I have not seen THAT MUCH difference between apps controlled or apps that been set manually.So I would say it works uniquely according to ur graphic card drivers and specific games that ur running.

I mention this depending on my experience and self-reference, so correct me if im wrong.. i really cant wait for StarCraft2 but still have got alot lot of STALKER to do.. would u link me legit STALKER updates or patches that is free, i seems not to find one. I hate cheating but I wouldnt mind to have silencer on rifles or longer energy bar to run faster n longer.. running every 5 secs and have to wait like 3 secs to gain full energy and repeat everything all over again is absolutely pissing me off and wasting my precious time..

but again no cheat, im not one of those nasty cheaters u know

p/s: Ur question makes me wanting to test my settings specifically on each game to see what works best.. ill try to make it happen but dont hope on it too much ok, i dont want to disappoint anyone.. btw i think i run STALKER on max settings; full-dynamic lighting. That game really pushes my system to its' limit.

This post has been edited by derred: May 21 2007, 05:33 AM

@ alqa

ur problems is covered under complete cover ~

juz phone them and it will be solved soon

already gave them a call, upon confirming the service tag no and ownership, they have asked me to email them a photo of the subject matter.

keeping my fingers crossed!

do update us wif ur problem

juz gav dell a call regarding my hdd .... guide me to hav a diagnosis test and do ask me to giv them a call if the test has any error msg ....

~ btw , he still remember me as my problems alwaz handle by him

just received a call from Vivian Amel Xavier of Dell... she'll be issuing the service order now and will have he technical people call meup by tomorow latest, to set the time for service.

phewwwwwwwwwww

So far mine do stick if i set anything from in-game like CS:S. I started it out with apps controlled and change to anything I want on in-game menu. I think this is the best way to do. I'll mess around more with it and i'll let u know whats up.

Thanks man...

I was kinda wondering though... Where didcha get your Aurora? I'm thinking UK or Aussie... Are you there currently or are you here back in the Motherland? If your here, how bout the warranty? Do they cover stuff here too?

About the STALKER stuff, check MODDB... I dunno if they count as cheats though, as it's sure as hell not easier for me even though I can mod my guns and repair my armour (repairing a SEVA suit sure as heck costs a bomb)...

Running without drinking? Well, I do think that there's a mod for that... But I just haven't found it yet...

You're running a legit copy of STALKER I take? Just grab the patches from anywhere, they're all legit... It's currently up to 1.003 International now...

As for me, I'm still going down memory lane... Downloading hi-def patches and stuff for Freespace 2, a space combat sim... I sure hope it's gonna look darn sweet at 1280x800 with hi-res textures (it already looks sweet plain vanilla at 1024x768)... Take into consideration the fact that it's 8 years old people (released in 1999) and downloading a full copy of it is already semi-legit, and you sure understand when I think that they sure don't make games like they used to...

It only needed 32MB of RAM too... The age of sweet games everyone can play on any kinda rig has ended it seems... There's only Starcraft 2, Sins of a Solar Empire and Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to look forward to (as they both seem to be playable on almost anything)...

That's good to hear... Keep us posted, okay?

This post has been edited by Eiraku: May 21 2007, 03:56 PM

Check ur pm about the warranty. Anyone that interested to know how it works (yes im not an AW representative or retailer;in fact theres no official AW HQ/retailers here in Malaysia. The nearest is AW Aussie.)
Here's the link: Alienware order,shipping and handling process from Malaysia (Search for my post)

This is not an official claim. Things could change over time. By this date, i believe it still works this way.

yes legit STALKER. can u gimme the link to the newest patches coz when i update on options it says theres no update available. What difficulty r u running? I used to play stalker but it consumed too much of my time so i changed it. So far doing good. I only complain about the running bar runs out too fast. Other than that i believe its the way it mean to be played. I was thinking there will be like motorcycle or stuff demn. That would be nice. About the armor i think im not up to that yet but somehow i do understand as i play alot of action-RPG. So does it cost ridiculously expensive to repair ? I think i need the mod then. I dont have problem dealing with enemies or weapons so far. Somehow i manage to have the skills to overcome that.

This post has been edited by derred: May 21 2007, 04:17 PM

Stalker diff, I think... The repair armour stuff comes in a mod actually, or else you just have to buy new ones (or carry 2x armour in your inventory = more weight = breathless Stalker)... Try Ausgamers.com for the patches, they have the fastest dl rates around...

I'm up to the Army Warehouse, a few levels away form Chernobyl NPP proper... But, I have a short attention/focus span, so sad to say I'm neglecting Stalker at the moment...