Thanks to Galox from the DMC for posting this.
Hi there people, its Deza here to tell you how to get the most out of your spore game graphics wise. This guide is intended for people who have medium to good computers, and a little bit of time to get everything working.
I’ll start of by saying that you need to make sure your graphics drivers are up to date. By doing this you will probably increase the graphical compatibility throughout your computer, and decrease the amount of graphical bugs that your computer inflicts on games such as spore. This isn’t such an easy task as some might assume so to help you here are a few links google pulled up; Link 1 Link 2 Link
Once your Graphics drivers are up to date, it is time to load spore up. For those who have the Galactic Adventures Expansion Pack, its in your interests to start on a blank planet with a few buildings and (non – aggressive) creatures and vehicles. If you lack GA, then go to one of your saved games on the creature stage (the reason you did this is so you could see the effects of your Graphics tweaking). Now click the start button in the bottom left hand corner and click on settings. Start of by putting everything on low, if there is no lag, no problems, then you are all good to continue. Below I have made a list out of all the graphics options in order of importance, meaning you would put them on high before anything else.
WARNING: PUTTING EVERYTHING ON HIGH MIGHT CAUSE GAME SLOWDOWN
- Player Model Quality – Increases the quality of everything player made, a must.
- Texture Detail – This improves the quality of texture on buildings and vehicles, type in “high res texture level” in the cheat menu (pull it up by pressing CTR-ALT-C in game) and its takes it a little step further.
- Lighting Quality – Adds a nice finish on everything, introducing some pretty good lighting effects, keep in mind though that there isn’t much difference between high and medium.
- Planet Quality – Adds grass to planets on medium and makes the water more realistic.
- Depth of Field - Increases the distance at which you can see objects, its quite good, but it takes a little processing power from your computer.
- Graphic Effects – Doesn’t add much, just some ripples in the water and moving parts on buildings, doesn’t take that much processing power.
- Shadows – Adds shadows to objects and creatures. On the lowest setting its a fuzzy circle, which is good enough for most, but as you put it higher it takes a lot of effort from your computer.
You also need to take into consideration the fact that shadows and lighting quality are the most demanding of the Graphics settings, putting these both on low will allow you to put others on high and medium without causing you to lose to that many FPS.
You also want to combine the settings so you get the best Graphics to Speed ratio possible, If your eye isn’t good enough to tell you what the speed is your games running at you can download this, a free tool that can show you how many fps your getting.
The last thing I’m going to recommend to you is this, free software that shuts down all background processes while you are playing your game. This allows your computer to be able to focus 101% on your game your playing and nothing else. Although it makes the biggest difference on older computers, it does do some changes on average and high spec computers, so its worth a try if you’ve exhausted everything else.
Now this guide is drawing to a close its time to draw your attention to one crucial factor, don’t forget to have fun. Spend some time sorting out your graphics, but then forget about them, and enjoy the best spore has to offer. I learnt this from a friend, when he pointed out I spent more time fiddling with the graphics than actually playing the game. Keeping everything I’ve said here in mind, its time for you to maximize the graphical potential of your spore game. Good luck!
Hey, Its Deza here, just letting you know that I’ve joined the sporedum team. I look forward to posting on this site, and helping it reach its full potential.
After just two weeks, Sporedum has managed to reach the goal of $130 by October 31st!
I am extremely grateful for the community support we have here, and we’ll work on implementing the rewards for meeting the goal over the next couple days or so.
I’ve seen some questions on the forum regarding the new forum, so here’s some answers:
When will the upgrade take place?
This all depends on when Vbulletin 4 is released, it’s slated for Q4 2009, though.
How long will the upgrade take?
This really depends on a lot of factors. I’ll need to create a testing environment to make sure the upgrade will be smooth, but it shouldn’t take nearly as long as it did last time.
And since we’re getting new features with the upgrade, will the donator status be upgraded as well?
This is certainly possible, but I won’t know until I have a look at the product first hand.
We only have a couple days left in the donation drive! So far you have raised $104, and we only need $4 more by the 30th of October to meet our goal!
Click here to donate
As an inventive for you to donate, however small the amount, we have discounted the amount needed for Contributor by 80%, from $5 to $1.
To view the benefits of donating, click here
Why do we want to upgrade? It’s not only a question of why should we, but that we will have to upgrade before our license expires. The good news is that once we upgrade, we won’t have to renew anymore, the license is permanent !
Besides that, the upgrade offers:
- An integrated community blogging system, allowing for better integration between the blog and the forums, and even user created blogs!
- A far better and faster forum!
- A new content management system to allow us to control website content such as tutorials better.
- Improved design and functionality!
And much more!
Don’t forget about the community reward if we reach our goal!
- No ads of any kind
- No upload or download limits
- Increases signature size limit
- Increased max avatar size
- A completely upgraded website with many new features!
Thanks to everyone who has donated, and anyone who will donate!
We were planning on delaying this a bit, but I just received a notice from the company that makes Vbulletin(that’s the forum software we use), that Vbulletin 4 is only $130 if you order it before October 30th.
Being the jobless hobo I am, I am asking all of you to help me reach this goal. It’s either $130 this month, or $285 in a few months after that. As usual, contributing $5 will get you contributor status on the forum.
The reason the amount of donations needed on the front page is lower than $130 is because I already have money from previous donations still.
If we reach this goal, the community as a whole will recieve the following:
-No download/upload limits for anyone(within reason, you don’t have 1GB worth of mods to upload)
-Increased signature size limit
-No ads for anyone.
-Increased avatar max size
-A complete upgrade to the website once Vbulletin 4 is released in the coming months.
Comment on this article with more suggestions and they may be added to the list!
On 10.12.09, In News, by Ball Lightning
Here you can find the full list of all Spore Hero reviews! So keep checking back for the latest and feel free to link around to others!
Spore Hero Reviews
EA’s new Wii spin-off of the franchise, Spore Hero, has a decidedly scaled-back scope. Instead of melding several different genres into a galaxy-wide journey to the top of the food chain, Spore Hero sticks to a single planet and the well-tested 3D platforming and questing normally found in Mario or Zelda games.
There’s something undeniably impressive going on at the heart of Spore Hero; some kind of alien technology that means if you stick a third leg on the creature you create and put its eyes on its belly, it will walk around looking as pitiful as it sounds.
The first thing we did was give it a mouth so it didn’t starve to death. See how the sorry thing uses its bellyeyes to look for food. Horrible. And when we put a pair of useless flappy hands at the end of giant spindly arms coming out of its arse, it used those to pick up the oranges and berries it stuffed into its lamprey’s maw.
It’s been just over a year since Sporewas released for PC and Mac; now the ultimate creature creation game is out for the Wii. But Spore Hero isn’t a carbon copy of the original – instead it’s been retooled to appeal to the Wii’s more casual audience. This means cuter DIY beasts, a platform approach to action and simplified combat – all of which make this feel like a kiddy-friendly, Spore-lite. While it’s nice to broaden the reach of the Spore universe, it’s a shame that Will Wright’s vision has been made more anodyne.
There’s something undeniably impressive going on at the heart of Spore Hero; some kind of alien technology that means if you stick a third leg on the creature you create and put its eyes on its belly, it will walk around looking as pitiful as it sounds. The first thing we did was give it a mouth so it didn’t starve to death. See how the sorry thing uses its bellyeyes to look for food. Horrible. And when we put a pair of useless flappy hands at the end of giant spindly arms coming out of its arse, it used those to pick up the oranges and berries it stuffed into its lamprey’s maw.
Spore Hero is a Wii-exclusive spin-off of last year’s innovative PC game Spore, taking that game’s complexities and refining them with the Wii in mind. The result is a fun and accessible creature adventure that rewards creativity.
Spore Hero feels like it was inspired by the design in last year’s Spore Creatures because its theme is very, very similar: instead of creating a race of creatures as in the original Spore design, you’re one creature in a foreign world, forced to evolve in order to complete tasks and quests. And in this case, you’re an alien critter that’s crash-landed on a planet filled with Spore tribes, set out to right the wrongs after your arch nemesis also landed on the planet. Your enemy brought with him red rocks that are poisoning the native inhabitants with pure evil, and you’ll have to search out these shards and destroy them to bring balance to the world.
Spore Hero Soundtrack Reviews
Opening with “Spore Hero Main Theme”, the mood is set with a playful, inquisitive but fully fleshed piece which is instantly listenable and ever evolving whilst not really having a big hook to keep you held. It’s the comical bumbling bass line that does it for me. “Home World” is rich with strings and tuned percussion. The way how it sways from warmth to potential troubled waters and then back again.
Phillips’ music has always done a wonderful job of matching the vibe of a game whether the character is walking carefree through lush fields of vegetation or dealing a decisive blow to the final boss. With a game such as Spore Heroand the audience it caters to, you would imagine the soundtrack would consist of quirky or blatantly jolly songs, butSpore Hero’s soundtrack totally outdoes those expectations. The entire soundtrack is orchestral in nature and drips of complexity and style. It’s entirely possible to view Spore Hero’s music as that of a feature animated film and not that of a video game.
The Spore Hero soundtrack is a surprisingly broad selection of differently-styled pieces, all maintaining the science-fiction theme of the Spore franchise and the jauntiness of the Wii. While the tracks are better when accompanying the specific play portions they were designed for, they range from the aggressive and staccato “Monster Mayhem,” to “Spore War” with its aggressive rock edge, to the more languid “Haven” and “SporeZone.”
The theme that everyone should be familiar with – it’s the title theme you’ll hear during the game’s opening sequence! The tune isn’t meant to be an attention grabber, it stays calm with a nice drum beat and (like I mentioned above, not a musical expert) what I believe to be a flute or clarinet… It does its job which is to fill the background with peaceful music until you select the appropriate choices in the game.
On 10.12.09, In News, by Ball Lightning
Here is the press release from IGN about Will Wrights upcoming keynote at the Engage toy fair next year.. who knows what he’ll announce there!
San Jose, CA – New York, NY - Will Wright, Founder and Chief Executive of Stupid Fun Club, Creator of Spore and The Sims, will deliver the opening keynote at Engage! Expo taking place February 16-17, 2010, at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.
Engage!®, operated by Engage Digital Media, runs concurrently with American International Toy Fair (February 14-17, 2010) and provides companies the critical information they need to engage and monetize kids and youth online. The two events will bring together more than 25,000 attendees and 1,000 members of the media.
Will’s presentation, “The Evolution of Entertainment, A Toy’s Place,” will look at toys, play, and the product development process from a new perspective. “I’m really excited to be at Engage! Expo and Toy Fair this year. I mean come on, who doesn’t love toys?” said Wright, who will be attending his first Toy Fair.
Through his SimCity, The Sims, and Spore game franchises created at Electronic Arts, Will Wright generated over $1 billion dollars of value. At Stupid Fun Club, a design studio Will maintained throughout his career as chief designer at Maxis Studios and Electronic Arts, advanced toy designs are among Will’s primary focus.
In March 2009, Rolling Stone named Will Wright one of the “100 People Who Are Changing America.” His new approach to toys could have as big an impact on the toy industry as his work did in computer games. “In some sense, what I’m really looking at is the evolution of the entertainment industry,” he has said.
“Will Wright is an interpreter of social landscapes and human nature, toy enthusiast, promoter of play, and renowned creator of the world’s top-selling computer game of all time,” said Christopher Sherman, Founder and CEO of Engage Digital Media. “We are extremely pleased to have him kick off Engage! by sharing his wisdom and insight.”
Kid, tween and teen entertainment play patterns are changing as they become more digital and move away from traditional toys and media. It’s imperative that toy companies and youth entertainment companies learn how to integrate digital technologies into their product lines. Engage! offers both a full conference program and an exhibit hall, providing an environment that offers critical education on the evolution of this marketplace and networking opportunities between technology companies and owners of youth-oriented brands.
About the Engage! Conference
The Engage! conference of panels, presentations, and interviews provides unparalleled exposure to best practices, current trends, and effective strategies behind engaging kids and youth online. The program delivers key insight into new monetization strategies, proven ways to strengthen customer relationships, and essential marketing solutions to maximize reach. The conference includes three major tracks: Monetization and Revenue, Strategy and Implementation and Creative and Development and provides excellent peer networking opportunities.
About the Engage! Expo
The Engage! Expo exhibit hall places leading technology solution providers in front of the biggest names in the toy industry and children’s entertainment business, who need to evolve and establish “digital play” and engaging development and product expertise. The Engage! Expo exhibit hall provides key demonstrations of the latest tools, technologies and services being used to build and monetize social games, virtual worlds, web-connected and wireless-connected toys, mobile applications, youth web sites, and interactive entertainment. Engage! allows companies to test drive new technologies in an efficient way — rather than spending weeks and months on conference calls and meeting with vendors. Through a partnership between Engage! and Toy Fair, the full 25,000 attendees registered for either show will have full access to both show expo floors.
Registration Information
Super Early Registration at www.EngageExpo.com is now open. The conference registration price is only $595 until October 31st. After that time online registration is $695. Onsite registration at the event is $1,295. Expo-Only passes, good for both Engage! Expo and Toy Fair, are available for $100.
About Will Wright
Will Wright, widely acknowledged for creating the simulation video game realm, unveiled the highly anticipated Spore™ in September 2008. Spore is a “universe in a box” that allows players to create a species and guide it to sentience, helping it build a society, develop its culture, and explore an infinite cosmos of worlds created by other players. Fans eagerly embraced the creation tools in Spore and have created more than 90 million pieces of user-created content as of March 2009.
Spore, has been distinguished with such honors as Popular Science’s ” Best of What’s New Award”, Popular Mechanics’ “Breakthrough Award”, PC Magazine’s “Technical Excellence Award”, TIME Magazine’s “50 Best Inventions of 2008″ and the Jim Henson Technology Honor.
A true gaming industry legend as a result of his pioneering contributions to video games, Wright has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors. Rolling Stone named Will Wright one of the “100 People Who Are Changing America” in March 2009, which placed him among artists, leaders, scientists and policymakers who are “fighting every day to show us what is possible.” In 2008, Will received the first ever Gamer God Award at the Spike Video Game Awards as a testament to his revolutionary work. In 2007, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized an individual in the video game industry for the first time when it named Wright a fellow. He also received the Producers Guild of America Vanguard Award that same year.
Wright first rose to prominence when he developed SimCity, the acclaimed, nonviolent, open-ended sim game. Wright then followed up the success of SimCity with a string of popular simulation games throughout the 1990s. Titles such as SimEarth: The Living Planet (1990), SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony (1991), SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCopter (1996) and SimCity 3000 (1999) introduced simulation games to hundreds of thousands of new fans, demonstrating the genre’s true potential.
Wright’s next ground-breaking game came in the form of The Sims™ (2000), which has gone on to become the best-selling PC game franchise of all time, being available in 22 languages in 60 countries. Wright, who studied architecture in college, originally conceived of the game as an architectural design simulator. To “score” the quality of the design, he added tiny people who would inhabit the buildings. These simulated people quickly stole the spotlight, and Will realized that watching the lives of the Sims unfold was the real entertainment. The Sims franchise has now sold more than 100 million units sold around the world!
About Engage Digital Media
Engage! Expo is owned and operated by Engage Digital Media, a leading producer of trade events and media that focus on user engagement, virtual worlds and games. Events include Engage! Expo, Digital Law Conference, Virtual Goods Conference, and 3D Training Learning and Collaboration (3DTLC) Conference. The company also publishes timely market research and leading industry news blogs www.VirtualWorldsNews.com and www.VirtualGoodsNews.com. Engage! and Engage! Expo are trademarks of Engage Digital Media. More information can be found at www.EngageDigitalMedia.com.
On 10.12.09, In Spore Hero, by Ball Lightning
Here are 4 excellent gameplay videos for Spore Hero.
On 10.02.09, In News, by Ball Lightning
Now this is a shock. EA have given the rights to 20th Century Fox to create a movie based on Spore. Not much information has come out yet, but keep watching here for more info. What we do know is that plans have been set to have Chris Wedge to direct it (the guy behind “Ice Age” and “Robots”). Also Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, who penned Disney’s upcoming ”The Princess and the Frog” and Ben Stiller pic “The Return of King Doug” at Paramount, will write the script for the “Spore” movie. It will be produced as a CG-animated toon by EA and Blue Sky Studios. EA Entertainment’s Patrick O’Brien will exec produce the “Spore” pic with Lucy Bradshaw, VP of Maxis Studio.
“I’m always looking for unique worlds to go to in animation,” Wedge said. “From every perspective — visually, thematically and comedically — the world of ‘Spore’ provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen.”
A movie is seen as a way to not only boost interest among current gamers and newbies to the property, especially as sequels and expansion packs are released, but also to create a new source of revenue for EA.
“with more than 100 million unique creatures uploaded to our website, it’s clear that people are passionate about the game, and it will be exciting to offer a powerful medium like film in order to expand their experience with ‘Spore,’ ” Bradshaw said.
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