DIRECTX 10/9 Workaround

[F1GHT3R™]

First off all, this is NOT a whine or rant post!
Im a huge MGS Fan since the PS2 Era, and im extremely grateful for a MGSV PC version!

So with that out of the way lets get on Topic:

I know Games featuring and recommending Directx11 are nothing new, but the fact that the game cant even run if you dont have a Directx11 Card really catched me off-guard.

I always thought theres some form of backwards compatibility, so that not owning a Directx11 card just causes certain features like Tesselation, enhanced Ambient Occlusion and TressFX etc. to be disabled.

- Has anyone some Ideas to get this game running on non Directx11 cards?

- Are there any Start-parameters or other Workarounds?

It can be clumsy and buggy as hell, i dont care, its mainly for killing time until new year (im waiting for the GTX 900 series to become a bit cheaper).


Do you remember Tomb Raider 2013? It did run on non directx11 cards, just not very good.
People then found a Tweak by editing the Registry to force the game to run on lower Directx versions, which resulted in a giant Framerate Boost without any serious graphical downgrade. Maybe something similar is possible for MGSGZ.

Another idea floating in my mind is forcing it to run on openGL like the PS3 version. But im anything else than an expert regarding openGL, so this may not be possible for various reasons.

I dont have any first-hand knowledge about the FOX engine (yet), all i heard and saw is that it looks and performs pretty good for a console oriented engine and that the Port seems to be pulled off quite well.

To gain more information i need to rely on you, the community and/or maybe even a DEV.

Feel free to speculate and discussing about the pros and cons of dropping Directx10 support.
Just dont flame... no one likes Internet Warriors.

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My Specs: (Obviously do not meet the Requirements)

Win7 64Bit
Intel i5 750 @ 2.67Ghz
4GB DDR3 Ram
XFX Geforce 250 GTS 1Gb*

* Laugh as much you want, this card is still a very trusty companion that runs most games above 40fps at medium-ish settings in 1080p ;)

[Zexton]

no workaround
time to upgrade your rig

[Kickfister]

Sorry to bump this, but SonicDK is right. Why not ebay an outdated DX11 card until you can get another one? If the problem isn't worth spending $100-ish on, it can't be much of a problem for you. Grab a 560 ti or a 660 ti from ebay and your problem is solved at a low cost.

EDIT: (only a valid link until 1/4/15) http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-N560GTX-Ti-Twin-Frozr-II-2GD5-OC-/141521649391?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item20f358feef

I used two of those cards in SLI for a while and they were fantastic (same brand, same cooler, same VRAM). I got sick of SLI so I upgraded to a 780, but one 560 ti would be a great card to hold you over until a price drop on the 900 series.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

I wouldn't waste my time with 500 series though; go get a GTX 660 Ti 2GB or GTX 750 Ti 2GB; not super expensive; can run most games on High @ 1080p fine and will run circles around any GTX 200 series GPU.

U really should move up to around 8GB RAM if u can too; cause 4GB is barely enough to run 64bit OS + most games effectively.

[Cuddle Bunny!]

Your pc is from the ps2 era but this game is not. Time to upgrade was years ago

[Kickfister]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

I wouldn't waste my time with 500 series though; go get a GTX 660 Ti 2GB or GTX 750 Ti 2GB; not super expensive; can run most games on High @ 1080p fine and will run circles around any GTX 200 series GPU.

U really should move up to around 8GB RAM if u can too; cause 4GB is barely enough to run 64bit OS + most games effectively.

A 560 ti is a hell of a card for sub-$100 though.

[InnR.G]

I'm having the same issue as OP, I have an outdated system but it plays most of my games well. I bought the game day 1 but have never been able to open it, I had the common issue of nothing happening when loading GZ, now with the new Beta update for GZ it finally shows a message that I need Directx11 to play. I was hoping someone can give me some advice or point me in the right direction, I don't want to spend too much money on a graphics card since my motherboard is not all that (i can't upgrade my RAM more than 4GB). These are my specs:

win 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600 2.40 GHZ
4.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240

apparently the 240 can't upgrade to DirectX11. Also my graphics card port is a PCI Express 16...will a PCI Express 3.0 fit my machine? I'm asking because I'm looking at the GTX 660 Ti 2GB Bad-Motha suggested. How do I know what are compatible with my machine?

[Epistolarius]

Is an investement in a new or used card in the $100 range really too much for your budgets? Even once in a few years? The 250 GTS is almost six years old. What are you going to do when games switch over to DirectX12 this year? Which should btw. also do away with the low framerate "problem".

Not trying to sound too negative here - I just don't get why there's no willingness to invest into your hobbies more.

[Epistolarius]

Originally posted by Rєcaro:

I'm having the same issue as OP, I have an outdated system but it plays most of my games well. I bought the game day 1 but have never been able to open it, I had the common issue of nothing happening when loading GZ, now with the new Beta update for GZ it finally shows a message that I need Directx11 to play. I was hoping someone can give me some advice or point me in the right direction, I don't want to spend too much money on a graphics card since my motherboard is not all that (i can't upgrade my RAM more than 4GB). These are my specs:

win 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600 2.40 GHZ
4.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240

apparently the 240 can't upgrade to DirectX11. Also my graphics card port is a PCI Express 16...will a PCI Express 3.0 fit my machine? I'm asking because I'm looking at the GTX 660 Ti 2GB Bad-Motha suggested. How do I know what are compatible with my machine?

PCI Express 1.0-4.0 are intercompatible with each other and the performance difference (for gaming) is negligible, don't worry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#History_and_revisions

Your CPU will play a much bigger role as bottleneck though as more and more games utilise at least four cores.

[InnR.G]

Originally posted by Epistolarius:

Originally posted by Rєcaro:

I'm having the same issue as OP, I have an outdated system but it plays most of my games well. I bought the game day 1 but have never been able to open it, I had the common issue of nothing happening when loading GZ, now with the new Beta update for GZ it finally shows a message that I need Directx11 to play. I was hoping someone can give me some advice or point me in the right direction, I don't want to spend too much money on a graphics card since my motherboard is not all that (i can't upgrade my RAM more than 4GB). These are my specs:

win 7 64 bit
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600 2.40 GHZ
4.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240

apparently the 240 can't upgrade to DirectX11. Also my graphics card port is a PCI Express 16...will a PCI Express 3.0 fit my machine? I'm asking because I'm looking at the GTX 660 Ti 2GB Bad-Motha suggested. How do I know what are compatible with my machine?

PCI Express 1.0-4.0 are intercompatible with each other and the performance difference (for gaming) is negligible, don't worry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#History_and_revisions

Your CPU will play a much bigger role as bottleneck though as more and more games utilise at least four cores.

Thanks for the reply, and yes I know that I won't be able to keep on adding more stuff the to the pc before it just overloads I will be upgrading PC in the future, but for now would a N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5 be a process of just plug and playing and running GZ smoothly? Would I need to upgrade anything else as far as supply power and what not? Comparing the N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5 to my NVIDIA GeForce GT 240, my 240 is significantly smaller as far a length, the 240 is 6.6" x 4.37 x single slot but for the N560GTX its 9.37" x 4.37" x 1.4", would that be an issue or is it just a matter of clearance in the computer itself? Sorry for the nub questions but I'm not sure.

[Sergeanur]

There is no possibility to make the game work on DX9/10. The game only features DX11 shaders. However at some point there WAS a Win32 build with DX9 shaders. So maybe developers will implement this in the future updates.

[Epistolarius]

Well, the game was released on Xbox 360, FOX Engine has to have support for its DirectX 9 based API. If that code is still in the PC version at all and if it's possible to get it to run, I have no idea.

[shadowbroker]

Originally posted by F1GHT3R™:

Feel free to speculate and discussing about the pros and cons of dropping Directx10 support.

Really OP, directx 11 is harder better faster stronger than directx 10. I can't even think dx 10 have a pros against dx 11.

Originally posted by Sergeanur:

There is no possibility to make the game work on DX9/10. The game only features DX11 shaders. However at some point there WAS a Win32 build with DX9 shaders. So maybe developers will implement this in the future updates.

Well, they might tried run the game on dx 9 and it didn't go well, even on dx 10. Maybe ground zeroes can run on dx 10 but phantom pain not and they didn't want split system requirement.

Some people already upgrade their system because that dx 11 stuff, it will be like ♥♥♥♥ yourselves if they implement this in the future updates. If they can they would implement this already.

[F1GHT3R™]

Hi all

Nice to see my Thread has been resurrected, i almost forgot about it.

Well its funny that this quickly went off-topic regarding upgrading PCs, however i dont have a problem with that, i like discussing about Technical Aspects of gaming so i gonna use this opportunity.

OFF-TOPIC:

Originally posted by Die in a fire!:

Your pc is from the ps2 era but this game is not. Time to upgrade was years ago

Yes and No. Youre right with the Fact that i came straight from the PS2 to PC Gaming. That was around the Time where Full HD TVs became affordable and i had the choice to hook up either a PS3 or a PC. I choosed the PC and never felt a single regret.

But regarding the upgrade, it wasnt really necessary cause my PC blows the XBOX360 and PS3 out of the water. Aslong as i could play @ 1080p with higher graphical settings at a playable framerate (40fps+), i was satisfied, hence no reason to upgrade. Sure this Point comes now to an end, so if youre interested what i plan to upgrade keep reading.

Originally posted by Epistolarius:

Is an investement in a new or used card in the $100 range really too much for your budgets? Even once in a few years? The 250 GTS is almost six years old. What are you going to do when games switch over to DirectX12 this year? Which should btw. also do away with the low framerate "problem".

Not trying to sound too negative here - I just don't get why there's no willingness to invest into your hobbies more.

Haha you kind of got me there and dont worry, no offense taken. The nice thing about gaming is that there is room for every one: from the casuals with their console/mid-range PCs to the Hardcore Fans with a 3000$ custom build. I would consider myself somewhere in the middle since im a little bit of a hypocrite when it comes to the financial aspect. Meaning i always want the Best Hardware possible for the lowest Price possible. Not a bad thing in general but it often requires some patience.

I really have to say that the vendor that guided me back then while buying my PC did a very good job. I told him i want a PC that is futureproof regarding upgrades. And here i am 5 years later, already having a 64bit system, DDR3 RAM, USB 3.0 (one of the first) and intel i5 quad core processor thats still more then suitable for gaming and other tasks.

But of course i was thinking of upgrading over the past couple of years. But i dont like doing things by halves, upgrading every year with a 100$ graphics card to stay up to date in the mediocre area isnt my cup of tea. Meanwhile i rather buy a good card all 4 years with the advantage to be in the higher-end area for a year or two and then middle range until i upgrade again.

The first time i considered upgrading i almost bought a 660gtx when they became cheaper, but then the 700 series was announced and i started keeping an Eye on the 770. But something was odd: The 750 already featured the new Maxwell Architecture while the others were still Kepler. Many Experts on the Web were already speculating about High-end Maxwell Cards coming soon. And as we know now they were right, the 900 Series came out only short time after the 700. And im glad i didnt bought a 700 card, because multiple Reasons:

The 900 are the first Cards featuring DirectX12 (as you mentionend above this is important for 2015), they have a better power efficiency and many of the Series have a good Price-Performance Ratio. Especially the DirectX12 support and the Power efficiency got me hooked cause with that i dont even need to upgrade my 600 Watt PSU.

I set my budget around 500-600€ in the past and this is what ive planned in present:

-Replace 250GTS with a 970gtx 4GB (300-400€)

-Replace 2x2GB DDR3 Ram with 2x 8GB DDR3 (~100€)

-Add Samsung SSD 250GB (~150€) and installing my OS(Win7 64bit) on it.

That should give my PC quite a boost.

Originally posted by Epistolarius:

PCI Express 1.0-4.0 are intercompatible with each other and the performance difference (for gaming) is negligible, don't worry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#History_and_revisions

Yeah this made me quite unsure when i first heard of it, but after some research i saw that Nvidia Cards are backwards compatible up to PCI-E 2.0 and that there are no games or Graphic cards yet that make use of the additional bandwidth of PCI-E 3.0.

So after this Wall of Text about upgrading my PC including the If, When and How, i hope youre all satisfied enough so we can return on Topic :)

ON TOPIC:

Originally posted by Epistolarius:

Well, the game was released on Xbox 360, FOX Engine has to have support for its DirectX 9 based API. If that code is still in the PC version at all and if it's possible to get it to run, I have no idea.

Thats actually a constructive way to contribute to this Topic, i had similar thoughts crossing my mind while posting this Thread. If its possible the main question would be how?

Originally posted by Naroiden:

Originally posted by F1GHT3R™:

Feel free to speculate and discussing about the pros and cons of dropping Directx10 support.

Really OP, directx 11 is harder better faster stronger than directx 10. I can't even think dx 10 have a pros against dx 11.

Im afraid you slightly misread my post, i fully agree that DirectX11 is superior in every way, but i was referring to the Pros and Cons of Backwards compatibility. Examples:

Pro: Being able to change the DirectX Level for a FPS Boost.
Con: More Time, Testing and Effort required from Developers

Originally posted by Naroiden:

Originally posted by Sergeanur:

There is no possibility to make the game work on DX9/10. The game only features DX11 shaders. However at some point there WAS a Win32 build with DX9 shaders. So maybe developers will implement this in the future updates.

Well, they might tried run the game on dx 9 and it didn't go well, even on dx 10. Maybe ground zeroes can run on dx 10 but phantom pain not and they didn't want split system requirement.

Pretty informative Posts, thats what i was looking for. Im not sure if the reason for incompatibility is, that the PC version runs only on DirectX11 Shaders or that they may added some custom DX11 features that resulted in complete backwards incompatibility.

Originally posted by Naroiden:

Some people already upgrade their system because that dx 11 stuff, it will be like ♥♥♥♥ yourselves if they implement this in the future updates. If they can they would implement this already.

In my Opinion the Art of the Technical Aspect from a PC Game is to allow it to run on a as big as possible variety of Systems, but i also agree that Backwards Compatibility should not be implemented if it holds back the Technical potential of a Game. Which seems to be the Case with MGSV.

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To All: Feel free to further discuss, but keep in mind before you post that this Thread is mainly for Technical interests and not to demand DirectX10 compatibility from Devs and also this is not one of those "Can i run it with my Toaster" Threads.

[Kquz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45RmVAUNGGs
to try

[F1GHT3R™]

Originally posted by Kquz:

to try

Thanks for your suggestion, i actually came across this "Fix" a while ago and tried it out once.

It seems to work with certain Games that artificially prevent you from launching because "you do not meet the minimum requirements" despite the Game Engine being DX10/9 compatible.

Unfortunately this wont work for Games that are entirely developed for native DX11 only.

However, for me this Problem will vanish soon anyway, because i finally discovered a nice Gaming Rig with a 980 GTX and an i7 4790k for a decent price :)