Eee PC + FFXI

[Blackbrock]

Hey I've been looking at Eee PC's from Asus and was wondering how they might run ff so I thought I'd just ask if anyone has one and has tried. Thanks~

[Kurgan]

I highly doubt it.

For one, it comes with a Linux operating system. So you would have to reload it with Windows.

Also, they come with small solid-state disk drives. The largest is 8GB. Last I checked, that's not enough space for FFXI, let alone Windows OS + FFXI.

And I think on top of all of that, the hardware in the system probably isn't very capable of running the game well, if at all.

[Isiolia]

The one Arstechnica reviewed had a 900Mhz Celeron and Intel GMA 900 GPU, which lacks hardware TnL, a requirement of FFXI.

If it ran - and that'd be a big if - it'd run like a huge steaming pile of monkey crap, and that's being generous.

[The Stig]

I understand the desire to play FFXI on such a small thing, but it's near impossible, and probably is.

If you really want to get a small machine, I highly recommend The Dell XPS m1210 (they stopped doing them now I believe) or m1310/m1330. They are very small and decently sized/weighted machines.

Even if it did ran, as stated in the post above, please take the following into consideration:

(I haven't been too up to date but I have read about them a lot initially):

1. The storage capacity. The Eee is 8gb, with a 16gb version available. FFXI is 8gb~ alone.
2. Processor. Celeron is extremely weak now. If you got it running I can bet you that going anywhere near a party will be insta-lag.
3. Graphics. (see the posts above me).

If you tried to get the new improved Eee or the higher spec ones, you'll go borderline of what a cheap laptop will cost. So save yourself some time and don't try it. But it's your call. If you can get it running, do let us know! :D

[Darus Grey]

ffxi is capable of running on as little as a 600mhz P3, the only issue is the T&L requirement which will keep it from running on anything that otherwise meets the requirements.

When I first got the game ages ago I ran it on an old 800mhz AMD with a Geforce3 and that ran it perfectly fine at minimum settings.

[Shuemue]

Have to agree with the anonymous racing driver. It's unlikely to run FFXI and it'd be slow as shit even if it did. Wait a year or two and they'll probably have P4 technology in stuff that size and it'll actually play games.

[Zosi]

There's a huge difference between a 600mhz Pentium 3 with a dedicated video card and a 900mhz Celeron-M (permanently downclocked to 630mhz) with onboard video and practically no cache. Even if it did have hardware T&L, it'd crawl (single digit FPSs) at the very lowest resolutions. You're not just dealing with a lack of features on the card, low clock speed or no dedicated video memory, any of which could be compensated for if the rest of the PC was stronger, you're dealing with all three at once, which together remove any chance of FFXI running smoothly on such a device.

I'm not bashing the eee, it's a great little subnotebook, but it's *NOT* designed for any kind of computation-intensive work.

[Shuemue]

I'm not bashing the eee, it's a great little subnotebook, but it's *NOT* designed for any kind of computation-intensive work.

Ditto, if cash were no object, I'd go and buy one today.

[Zosi]

I missed your other reply somehow, but the eee actually uses Celerons based on the Pentium-M/Centrino architecture. They're newer and more powerful clock-for-clock than P4s, it's more a question of battery power, which is why they're made at a very low clock speed and factory underclocked even lower.

[Shuemue]

Interesting, I didn't realise they'd done it that way.

[Isiolia]

It's still basically using Intel chipsets (to include graphics) from what, 4-5 years ago?

Works perfectly well for what the thing is designed to do. I could see maybe fitting one to run some emulators or something like that, just not 3D gaming.

[Blackbrock]

Thanks for the informative replies folks, you just saved me some disappointment.

[XNihili]

It can be done :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmCl7e0MNsY

You have to install it on an external harddrive.
I've tried on a basic EEE PC 701. It's unplayable. With all the setup set to the lowest, you can run through an almost empty city but you won't be able to do more than that.

[The Stig]

It's still basically using Intel chipsets (to include graphics) from what, 4-5 years ago?

Works perfectly well for what the thing is designed to do. I could see maybe fitting one to run some emulators or something like that, just not 3D gaming.

That's what I planned to get one for. And for some reading/light document typing, but that's pretty much it. I'll use a dedicated machine for anything else. Besides, the machine is designed for travel/mobile. I'd hate to see someone use this as their "main machine".

Interesting note about the Celeron being based on the P4/P-M design. It's nice, nonetheless, but still ... crap for everything else

It's a very nice machine though, don't get me wrong. Maybe if/when external graphics cards come out?

Of course it can be done, no doubt, but to play it?

[Alphavision]

http://alpha.harusame.net/eee-ffxi.jpg

I managed to get it working. I installed FFXI to an 8 GB SDHC card. Frame rates drop with many characters on the screen, so don't expect to camp HNM or attend Dynamis on this. For most other things it seems to perform decently. Campaign battles are barely playable. The keyboard is very cramped and takes some time to get used to. I have the CPU "overclocked" to 900 MHz as opposed to the stock 630 MHz speed using eeectl and replaced the 512 MB memory with 1 GB.

It actually runs better than my old laptop, which was a budget laptop in 2002 -- Toshiba Satellite 1115, 1.5 GHz Celeron, ATI Mobility Radeon LY (16mb).

Visit the eeeuser forums for tips on how to get the most out of the eeepc. There's guides on resolution scaling, game support, Windows installation with USB sticks, etc.

[The Stig]

http://alpha.harusame.net/eee-ffxi.jpg

I managed to get it working. I installed FFXI to an 8 GB SDHC card. Frame rates drop with many characters on the screen, so don't expect to camp HNM or attend Dynamis on this. For most other things it seems to perform decently. Campaign battles are barely playable. The keyboard is very cramped and takes some time to get used to. I have the CPU "overclocked" to 900 MHz as opposed to the stock 630 MHz speed using eeectl and replaced the 512 MB memory with 1 GB.

It actually runs better than my old laptop, which was a budget laptop in 2002 -- Toshiba Satellite 1115, 1.5 GHz Celeron, ATI Mobility Radeon LY (16mb).

Visit the eeeuser forums for tips on how to get the most out of the eeepc. There's guides on resolution scaling, game support, Windows installation with USB sticks, etc.

*Cue the Quake 3 voice: "Impressive"
I'll have to reconsider...

[Alphavision]

I just wanted to show that it's possible, but I don't recommend it. Only get the Eee PC if you want a conveniently small laptop for simple computing tasks. Being able to play FFXI and other old games is just a minor positive.

Here's some videos of how choppy it can get. If I look at too many characters, the frame rate drops to around 5-8 fps. Annoying, but playable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfixiQdDrlY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hZwrwolOb8

[orinthia]

Just like ps2!

[Naash]

It's been discussed in the JP community when it came out, the result doesn't seem spectacular, but playable to an extent.

More videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myo6eORieJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NT4iEEXrcE