American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I bought myself a birthday present of the AGEOD Blue & Gray game from NWS online wargames through Amazon. I selected it principally due to all the great discussion about the game and recommendations. It took two weeks to be delivered and it turns out that it requires a full Gigabyte of RAM to run it. It took 15 minutes after installation to load and then the game was unplayable.

Now first of all I never dreamed that my 2.5 gHZ computer with 512mb of ram would not be able to run it nor was any installation requirements stated in the listing by NWS on Amazon. Even if I wanted to pay a couple hundred dollars to replace my 512mb chip with a new Gig chip or buy a new VISTA computer instead as they are available for $500 and I will surely be needing a new one anyway soon....get this: AGEOD can't guarantee that it will run under VISTA.

I know it is my fault for not having the presence of mind to inquire about the installation requirements but it never entered my head as look at all the HPS games and every Matrix game I have bought. Nothing had ever required gig of ram so It never ever occurred to me.

I have written NWS and they offered a refund, however, as it turns out I needed the ram anyway and I will learn the game.

It is a lesson, however, in remembering to check installation requirments carefully...even when you think it should be a no-brainer. Thanks to Bill Peters for recommending a ram increase as a good thing anyway and to Rich H. for his testamonial as well.

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the info, I was thinking of getting it. But as in your case my computer has only 512mb of ram also, so I'd be in the same boat as you. Glad I got Chickamauga instead [:)]. Tomorrow is my last day of work until Thursday of next week and then it will be short "kind of like General Moose" SM-all [:D] Just have to make sure the schools are warm and the boilers are running so nothing freezes up. It was in the upper teens for lows last night. Kind of cold for down here near the coast, anyway have a Merry Christmas my little Italian buddy [:p]

Respectfully,
Maj. Gen. Gery Bastiani
II Corps, 3rd Div. Tarheel Division
AotM CSA

"If there is a shell or bullet over there destined for us, it will find us" - General James Longstreet

We had it tough here in Houston today weatherwise.....cold front has hit.....it was only 75 degrees......BRRRRRRRRRRRRR......Regards, Hank

BG Hank Smith
Army of Georgia
Smith's Texas Division
Smith's Corp

Gery..thanks for your reply. NWS actually called me right after I emailed them and a fellow named Chris talked to me at length. The game is very graphic intensive and they have their own reason for not advertising requirements and expect people to make inquiries when they are thinking of buying...which is fine if you are tuned into the necessity of doing that.

They will take the game back if I want but they also persuaded me to upgrade my RAM to at least a GIG as this is going to be a recurring problem as game requirements are going to be increasingly demanding AND VISTA is not a good answer for gamers even if you want, and can afford to buy a new machine. I don't think they were selling me a bill of goods and I can see the sense of considering adding RAM as my 2.45 Gig processor and my video board is quite capable of handling any game I am likely to buy. And it isn't all that expensive as long as I can find the ram for my board. Like I said, they will take the game back. They also said that it really is a great game but its graphics are so detailed that it is a problem for people like you and I with older machines that we are still happy with.

I have so many games to play and this game is getting such high marks AND I am so resisting a new VISTA machine until this one goes south on me that I am going to upgrade my ram asap and keep the game. Were I back two weeks and knew enough to ask about the requirements and found out, I probably would not have bought it either. But now that I have it I feel I might as well keep it as I would just buy itin the future when I either upgraded my old one or bought a new machine.

Also you should know that they told me that so many people have gotten so angry over VISTA that now you can get a "downgrade" to XP when going to buy a new computer from places that were ONLY offering platforms with VISTA. I don't know that that is as true as he stated but given what I have heard about VISTA re: gamers I don't doubt that it could be the case.

I may have gone off half-cocked on this but I was SO disappointed after a two week wait and then surprised that I couldn't run it that I just posted so others wouldn't fall into what I encountered. I certainly meant nothing negative about NWS as I have bought from them before and I should have expected that they would have offered me a return and a refund. The fact that I was called almost immediately shows their concern for customer problems and I really appreciated his call.

Merry Christmas to you and stay warm.



Brigadier General
Tom Ciampa

Commanding Officer
1st Cav Division
XIV Corps, AoC
Games: TS/BG: AN, BR, CH, GB, SH - HPS: AT, CTH, GB, OZK, SH, VK

If you're going to upgrade your ram and are considering ordering online make sure you get it from a company that states it will work in your machine and make sure you check their return policy. I recently upgraded my old war horse to 1 GB, the maximum it can handle. I bought what I thought was the best deal, $53 for two 512 MB sticks from what seemed to be a reputable vendor plus $19.97 shipping and handling. The sticks I bought had the correct description and matched the requirements on the DFI site for my motherboard, but my machine would only recognize it as 256 MB sticks. Company said they tested it and it worked fine on their machine when I sent it back and the only thing response I could get from DFI was that the vendor might be using memory chips that the board couldn't read right. The company I bought them from took them back but charged me a re-stocking fee plus the "postage and handling" fee was not refundable. When I shipped them back the post office charged me $5.50 including insurance to ship them, that handling fee seemed awful expensive after that. So my attempt to save $30 over the next bext price ended up costing me $28 and I had nothing to show for it.

So I went to another vendor that had a site where you entered your motherboard id and they gave me their part number and price. Cost me $56 each plus $4.95 shipping but my motherboard recognized the chips right away and my old war horse runs a good bit faster now.

Gen. Ken Miller



Army of the Shenandoah

Thanks. I trust in your advice...I am going to look into it locally as I have some "experts" who built the machine for me who may be able to upgrade and won't talk me out of it. I appreciate your response and testimonial. [:)]


<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bill Peters</i>
<br />Tom - dont blame you for waiting. Really, most games will run fine with 512 MB. I happen to have a newer machine, upgraded the RAM from 1 to 2 GB so I could load large map overlays for design work and it IS worth it. So once you do get up to 2GB you are going to wonder why you didnt do so some time back.

Remember: when you do get a new PC get 2GB. Dont let them sell you short.

The PC loads up faster, programs load faster. Etc. Its really nice. [:D]

Col. Bill Peters, The Boise Rifles, II Corps Artillery, AoA
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Brigadier General
Tom Ciampa

Commanding Officer
1st Cav Division
XIV Corps, AoC
Games: TS/BG: AN, BR, CH, GB, SH - HPS: AT, CTH, GB, OZK, SH, VK

Thanks for that...I appreciate the advice. Buying online can be dicey...a game is one thing, ram is another and your experience is not lost on me...but doesn't this stuff just p*** you off [:p] Thanks Ken.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by krmiller</i>
<br />If you're going to upgrade your ram and are considering ordering online make sure you get it from a company that states it will work in your machine and make sure you check their return policy. I recently upgraded my old war horse to 1 GB, the maximum it can handle. I bought what I thought was the best deal, $53 for two 512 MB sticks from what seemed to be a reputable vendor plus $19.97 shipping and handling. The sticks I bought had the correct description and matched the requirements on the DFI site for my motherboard, but my machine would only recognize it as 256 MB sticks. Company said they tested it and it worked fine on their machine when I sent it back and the only thing response I could get from DFI was that the vendor might be using memory chips that the board couldn't read right. The company I bought them from took them back but charged me a re-stocking fee plus the "postage and handling" fee was not refundable. When I shipped them back the post office charged me $5.50 including insurance to ship them, that handling fee seemed awful expensive after that. So my attempt to save $30 over the next bext price ended up costing me $28 and I had nothing to show for it.

So I went to another vendor that had a site where you entered your motherboard id and they gave me their part number and price. Cost me $56 each plus $4.95 shipping but my motherboard recognized the chips right away and my old war horse runs a good bit faster now.

Gen. Ken Miller



Army of the Shenandoah
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Brigadier General
Tom Ciampa

Commanding Officer
1st Cav Division
XIV Corps, AoC
Games: TS/BG: AN, BR, CH, GB, SH - HPS: AT, CTH, GB, OZK, SH, VK

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tciampa</i>
Also you should know that they told me that so many people have gotten so angry over VISTA that now you can get a "downgrade" to XP when going to buy a new computer from places that were ONLY offering platforms with VISTA. I don't know that that is as true as he stated but given what I have heard about VISTA re: gamers I don't doubt that it could be the case.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Tom - a memory upgrade is definitely the way to go, and not too difficult or expensive.

And you can get new machines with XP on them, or the downgrade - at least through the middle of next year. Every system I build still goes out the door with XP Pro on it which I won't change until I absolutely have to.




LGen. Hamilton
II Corps
ANV, CSA

Well 1Mb is a minimum nowdays. I got AGEOD but it turned out it would not run on my Machine (i Have 6 year's old 1.2GHz Athlon with 512 MB Ram) It worked painfouly slow but im lucky as my brother bought a new Computer in October and his machine ROCKS[:D][:D] Some Core DUO CPU , 2Gig Ram and a graphic card that costed around 800$ so now i can play AGEOD on his computer. I wanted to buy some RAM to have 1,5 Gig myself as i have 3 slots on my Motherboard. But i found it impossible... no one produces SDRAM no more and slots in my Motherboard are damaged and only one works[:(!] damn... now i need to save some money as i can get a decent MB , CPU 2Gig of Ram and Graphic card for 300-400$[:)]


Col. Przemek Niedzielski
4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corps
Army of the Missisipi

So if I was to be looking for a laptop for gameing as well as for some work what would some suggest it should have now.

Lt. Charles Babb
6th Brigade,3rd Division
XXIII Corps
Army of the Ohio

Col. Niedzielski means 1 Gigabyte not one megabyte...just in case you didn't notice the difference...and read a little further down where Bill Peters recommends 2 gig of RAM....if you are going to the trouble, treat yourself, I am...if you are gamer it is likely to be one of your principle, if not THE principle occupation of your hobby time...go for it. I suspect that the way the games push the envelope that 1 gig will be obsolete sooner than we would want.

And read below to Rich Hamilton...that is also important information and he also knows what he is talking about.

Thanks to all.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by babb35</i>
<br />So if I was to be looking for a laptop for gameing as well as for some work what would some suggest it should have now.

Lt. Charles Babb
6th Brigade,3rd Division
XXIII Corps
Army of the Ohio
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Brigadier General
Tom Ciampa

Commanding Officer
1st Cav Division
XIV Corps, AoC
Games: TS/BG: AN, BR, CH, GB, SH - HPS: AT, CTH, GB, OZK, SH, VK

The AGEOD demo will at least run on Vista but don't know about the full version. For those who ever consider Vista put it on a Dual Core machine with at least 2 GB of memory. It will run on less but its pretty sorry at it.

I hope Microsoft makes DirectX 10 available for XP but I suspect they plan to use it to force everyone to new machines and Vista. Eventually you will see new games that require ver 10 just like most now require 9c.

I guess Microsoft will need to change their slogan from "Windows an't done until DOS don't run" to something else.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
III Corps, AoM (CSA)

Yes sorry i ment 1Gigabayte of Ram of course i was in a hurry when writing this post...[:D]


Col. Przemek Niedzielski
4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corps
Army of the Missisipi