Noob with questions! =)

As I say, I'm new around here! I couldn't find a more appropriate section to post this, so hopefully I'm not in the wrong place.

I've been eyeing Space Engineers for a couple months, reading different reviews, and have a couple questions before I pull the trigger on buying the game.

First off, will my older machine run into serious issues?

Win7 64-bit
AMD Phenom II x4 925 2.8 GHz
16G RAM
GeForce GTX650 1GB

As I say, it's an older rig. I've read a few posts that warn of unplayability on older machines, so I'm a bit concerned for my spud.

My other question is very dependent on the first, but I'm still curious.

I'm a fledgling streamer and would like to know how well it would go to stream Space Engineers. I use OBS/Twitch for my shows (no details, not advertising. lol) and wonder if other people here have run into any issues streaming the game.

For the record, I'm well aware that the title is in Beta state and recognize the implications of such. I'm not skilled or educated in game development, but have deep insight into the time and effort involved. I also really enjoy finding bugs in games.

Anywho, thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

I used to have a similar system, except it was a 945 phenom. I struggled to get 30fps. It was playable, but a source of constant frustration.

I would say you can play, but streaming while you play is probably not going to happen with OBS. You could try the new streaming app from Nvidia Experience..if it's anything like Shadowplay it may work.

 

I figured the streaming idea may be pushing this thing too much, there are other games this rig will run... but not while streaming. lol

Thank you for the details, I appreciate it!

 

NP! This was actually the game that made me whip out the credit card on Amazon, well this and Arma 3.

 

Hey!

Welcome to Space Engineers!
In my experience SE should be at least playable with your specs.
As said before using OBS will probably have noticeable performance hit.
PS! "Playable" of course is highly subjective term.
For some anything below 60FPS at ultra settings is not an option and
for others 20FPS at lowest settings @720p is fine.

I'm running SE with Phenom II X4 945@3.2GHz, 8GB DDR2, GTX 950 2GB, SSD.
It is not always super smooth, but i can play and build both in creative and survival.

Just for reference (medium textures, shadows, voxels, foliage @1080 in single player):
* On mostly empty earth-like planet i get around 40-60 FPS
* With few large complex grids (2 mil KG dropship & 900 000KG vehicle with scripts running and some smaller fliers/vehicles)
FPS hovers around 30-40 depending where i'm looking and what i'm doing. Simulation speed stays at 1.0
* With large base, landing-pads, industrial facilities and several complex ships and vehicles on the base FPS drops as low as 20 - 30 and sim speed starts to fluctuate.
* In space you can expect better performance. Same on barren planets/moons.

Your CPU is only marginally slower and 16GB of RAM should be fine in normal circumstances.
I'd say you probably have to lower graphics settings and if you can stand it, resolution too.
(AFAIK GTX650 is somewhat slower than GTX950, which is by no means high end card).

In general SE performance in highly dependent what you do in game. Large builds with complex
physics calculations will beat even the last gen i7 CPU-s. Lots of fast voxel changes (mining, explosions) will impact simulation speed etc.
So to maximize SE experience fast intel i5/i7 is recommended, but you can play it on aging machines as well

 

Thank you sacksquatch and SileniusFF, the information you gave was very helpful!

SE made me think of X3, Trove, and Kerbal all rolled into a single title. I've logged a ton of hours across those three, and I'm sure I'm about to do the same with this one. lol I felt prepared enough to make my choice after watching a couple streamers, reading a bunch of stuff, and preparing myself to crank settings down to low. I'm accustomed to doing this and have always been willing to give up good visuals so long as it afforded smoother gameplay. In this case, it worked out that way! I don't think streaming it is going to happen on this PC, but I can live with that for now.

I still have my resolution set to max with all the other graphics settings on low, and the game runs well/looks good enough for my tastes so far. I've always owned low-end machines, so I'm quite used to this. Anyone with a rig like mine should take heed that you're likely not going to get more than 20-30FPS. If you're like me and can live with this, pull the trigger.

I dabbled with several of the different game starts (Planetary System, Red ship crash, Earth, Moon, and Alien, as well as a bit of First Jump) and only noticed a little bumpyness with the larger, prebuilt bases. Still totally playable for me! I'm actually pretty impressed with the overall handling, considering the age of my rig and the beta state of the game. I'm sure that's only going to get better, and at the very least, justify my desire to upgrade. lol

Even though I only have a couple hours of messing around with it so far, I've discovered that SE is far more complex than I'd expected. This is awesome. I was aware of mining and building, but not refining. I love this! Now I just have to find out how to transfer that ore from a ship to a base without having to pull it into my character inventory first. I'm sure a method exists, because the way I did it was tedious and I don't see people doing that with giant ships full of ore. lol Also, the other side of that... Being able to build something using a stations inventory. I could swear I saw something like that, but couldn't find it while trying to construct the land vehicle in Earth Easy. The constant trips back and forth to a storage container were a little bothersome, but I'm betting there's an easier way.

While having my settings at their lowest, I'm still finding myself repeating a word over and over... "Wow." The visual aspects of SE are stunning, to say the least. I'm very impressed with it so far, and I know I'm not even scratching the surface.

I'm very happy I picked it up! Thanks again for the responses, I'm sure I'll be giving you plenty of opportunity to answer more questions in the near future. haha

 

With games likes this its almost better to drop 150 on a cheap office desktop pc. Put a new psu, and capture card youll beable to stream flawless (thats what i done anyway). As for your current pc, you should beable to get 30-45 fps no problem on its own no stream.

OBS studio would be the best option for software. If you have anymore q's let me know. Always happy to help.

 

Your lower end rig will just limit what you can do before a threshold of frustration makes the game unplayable.

If you play in a world with planets, your game will probably slow to a crawl. If you have too many grids, it will crawl. If you have more grids than your memory will support, it will crash.

I would play without pressurization and moving sun. Keep your graphics settings as low as you can tolerate.

You should be able to build any reasonable grid in free space. I would first get a better graphics card once budget permits. Then go for a faster processor in the high 3.x or low 4.x gHz.

 

If I had the money and the space to do such a thing, I would in a heartbeat. My gaming budget consists of my son's hand-me-downs. haha I can't wait until he upgrades again... his current rig is a bit of a beast!

Thankfully, my tolerance to such things is very high when a game has its hooks in me like this one does. I've always owned PC's on the older side, at least three years behind "current tech".

I have 50 hours into it so far, and with everything but resolution set to low, I'm not having much of a problem. Streaming it with this setup is likely out of the question, I'd have to follow the advice of others here to try it.

The game is a little bumpy here and there in a Solar System map with two landers on earth-type planet. My son and I have built a little bit, including an ugly-huge wheeled vehicle. haha I've only had it crash on me once, and that was the day I bought it. Since, no problems there so far. It's in Beta, I'm expecting them.

Thanks for the replies! I'm having a blast with this thing, and I still barely understand what I'm doing. haha

 

Hahahaha... well it takes a minute to get used to the different types of blocks, how they work together, etc. I'd stay away from planets in the beginning. Just play in space until you get a better feel for everything. Make small block, simple ships with just ion thrusters. Learn how the cargo system works, pipe up some oxygen generators/tanks to the cockpit. Learn how to put uranium in the reactors, etc.

Look for some Youtube videos for new players. There's lots of great information.

Also, down the road. It's possible for you and your son to play in the same world at the same time IF you have two computers. So perhaps your son can inherit your current computer and dad can get a new one? Just buy a second copy of the game and that will work too.

Good luck! How the both of you are having fun.

 

Oh, indeed! I spent the better part of yesterday messing around with the conveyor system and seeing what interactions between blocks it took to not suffocate in a cockpit! lol I still haven't quite figured out what the performance improvement assets do, but that will be next on my list.

We have been playing together a bit, his rig is much more capable than mine, but he doesn't have the time to commit like I do just yet. He and I co-founded a well-known clubworld in Trove, so I know he'll come around once he's learned the game a bit better. haha

So far, I've done everything on your list other than starting the game in space! I know it will only run better there, so I'm getting a good baseline running around in a Star System map. It certainly has a long learning curve, but I'm enjoying the heck out of it so far. =)

 

If you have a third machine that's decent, you can create a server and access it via your LAN.

It has to be a Windows machine. There's dedicated server software in the Space Engineers directory. The plus to a dedicated server is that it handles all of the physics number crunching while the client machines basically handle the graphics and UI. Also you can leave the world up persistently rather than host on someone's machine.

Good luck!

 

My Ancient PC is:
Intel Core2 Extreme Q6850
8GB Ram
GTX950
GTX650 TI
Windows 10 Pro
Its playable but not the best Experience. My limitaion is CPU and RAM.

 

Well, what really comes into play is your motherboard. If the motherboard isn't too old, you can upgrade to 16GB of ram and an i5 processor. You'll be out $400.

 

[QUOTE="Market, post: 1287032462, member: 3978536]
Now I just have to find out how to transfer that ore from a ship to a base without having to pull it into my character inventory first.
[/QUOTE]
Connectors are what you want. Either that or ejectors on the miner and collectors on the refinery ship.