Best PC laptop for modding?

Started by Kit Fisto, December 19, 2017, 10:06:47 AM

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I'm looking to purchase an older PC laptop so I can mod SWBF.
I've learned that Macs are moving away from 32 bit support, something that all the games I play use, thus I've decided to purchase a dedicated PC laptop to play my games (and so I can play SWBFII online through the GOG servers).
That being said I would love your help in figuring out the best one for my purposes.

The things I want to use this gaming laptop for are as follows:
1) Playing SWBFI and II at maximum graphics with no frame drop.
2) Modding SWBFI and II (mostly SWBFI though).
3) I'd like enough power to play games from about 5 years ago, like The Force Unleashed 1 and 2, Skyrim and Mad Max.

Now I don't have enough money to buy an alienware $1000 computer, I'm more looking for something ideally under $500 from a few years back. eBay will be my friend I expect.

Any help is appreciated! The most important thing is playing and modding SWBFI and II of course.

I think any computer will work, but the catch is that you won't know that ZeroEdit will work ahead of time.
Quote from: Abraham Lincoln. on November 04, 1971, 12:34:40 PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet

There is another catch if your going deep into modding like importing custom stuff in the game. You won't know whether ZETools would work. Some computers reject python.

Quote from: LitFam on December 19, 2017, 01:15:43 PM
Some computers reject python.

I honestly find that hard to believe, but I understand that ZEtools can be finicky.
Quote from: Abraham Lincoln. on November 04, 1971, 12:34:40 PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet

December 19, 2017, 03:10:39 PM #4 Last Edit: December 19, 2017, 06:33:26 PM by SleepKiller
The playing and modding SWBF is a very low requirement. They're old and not very GPU intensive. I would imagine pretty much any integrated or dedicated GPU from the past few years to do both with flying colours. The requirement of running the other games sets your bar a bit higher.

Intel's recent integrated GPUs can probably do it but go back too far and they definitely won't be able to, at least not while giving a reasonable frame rate in some of them. I'm defining reasonable here as "stays steady at somewhere above 30FPS". So you'll preferably want to get a laptop with a mid-high level dedicated GPU.

Keep an eye out on what memory type the GPU has, if it's DDR3 it's possibly a low-level one and you should keep looking. If it's GDDR5 it may be worth investigating further.

As a starting point nvidia say's the GTX 760M from a few years back can play Skyrim at 1080p/30+FPS at Med/High settings. If that sounds acceptable it could serve as a starting point for your search.

Obviously once you've found a laptop in your price range that seems to fit your requirements I would suggest doing some research to see if you can find benchmarks for it playing one of the games you like.

Quote from: Led on December 19, 2017, 01:39:38 PM
I honestly find that hard to believe, but I understand that ZEtools can be finicky.

Really I thought some windows computers reject python no  :confused:

December 19, 2017, 10:59:27 PM #6 Last Edit: December 19, 2017, 11:01:05 PM by Anthony_b
I've used SWBF 1 & 2 mod tools on a Dell laptop with a 64mb video card. You'll be fine for specifically modding.
Never let a person named AnthonyBF2 touch your BF2.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
Quote from: Led on December 19, 2017, 01:03:27 PM
I think any computer will work, but the catch is that you won't know that ZeroEdit will work ahead of time.
Anything specific I should watch out for that we know the mod tools won't work on?

You will probably have issues with Nvidia mobile graphics cards, just like the ones in desktops.
The BOBclan:  A Rich History


Quote from: Unit 33 on November 29, 2014, 03:44:44 AM
'Please, tell me more about the logistics of the design of laser swords being wielded by space wizards' - Some guy on the internet.

I've used a Nvidia card (one of these with a custom vendor cooler for those curious) for the past three years and never had a GPU related issue (that I can remember) when running Zero Editor . So I would be inclined to instead say that with you might have issues rather than probably having them.

Although a disclaimer about possible Survivorship bias is needed from me here.

Mine had the issue - I'm able to run ZE in a Virtual Box VM though, so that is a possible route, and I know there are a few solutions too here and at GT.
The BOBclan:  A Rich History


Quote from: Unit 33 on November 29, 2014, 03:44:44 AM
'Please, tell me more about the logistics of the design of laser swords being wielded by space wizards' - Some guy on the internet.