FarCry 2 - Some Help, Please

[Dyre Straits]

EDIT: Ahhh... never mind. I found the blue smoke.

I just picked up FC-2 last night for $20 and am enjoying the wide open spaces and ability to kind of play it "my way".

But, due to my near-deafness, I'm having an issue that you can help me with. Hopefully, without it being a spoiler.

Anyway, I do have the Sub-titles enabled and my character is presently located at the Private Property that is reached early in the game. This property has one large 'hacienda' with 2 garages next to it, an empty swimming pool in back and a medic building nearby.

I've cleared the dock below, cleared out all the enemies in the area but....

There's a voice that keeps crying out for "Help me!" "Damn you...You have to do something!" "Please...don't leave me here...." "If they find me alive...."

What I cannot determine is if this is a 'live person' in the area needing help OR is it some voice coming over one of the radios in the buildings?

I'm going nuts trying to find someone in the buildings or in the surrounding areas that simply seems to not be there. So, that makes me think it's just a voice over the radio.

So far, though, this is really a game down my alley. I love exploration and taking time to soak it all in.

BUT, yes, as others have mentioned, that 'malaria' ordeal is a bit of a nuisance. Although, so far, it hasn't been a show stopper for me.

Oh, yeah, in case it helps, this is the area where you can climb up on the buildings to get a diamond.

[John C Flett]

Mayby not too much help but it sounds like you've found another Merc who you can enlist as a friend. It is optional though so if you can't figure out where they're hidden just move on. Like the diamond caches they're a bonus but not essential to you're progress.

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by John C Flett

Mayby not too much help but it sounds like you've found another Merc who you can enlist as a friend. It is optional though so if you can't figure out where they're hidden just move on. Like the diamond caches they're a bonus but not essential to you're progress.

Actually, I'm finding the optional mission quests to be quite interesting.

[Ego]

There most likely is a buddy you can rescue. Usually they're located in small building with regular metal doors which you need to open, and they're inside.
There's also the possibility you have chosen to do one of the sidemissions which grant you malaria medicine, and in that case the solution is about the same

Still, weird you can't find the dude, usually they're pretty straightforward to locate.

[Obiwanquinnobi]

Is this game any less buggy/rubbish than it was when it initially released?

I bought it - but just couldn't get away with it due to the bugs and terrible spawning ememies.

If any of these issues have been addressed then I might give it a go once more

[theshadowcult]

not really... there has not been a patch for a while... the spawn rate is the same, and the crash some people get when opening the game menu is still there.

[Bateman]

why don't they release a singple player map editor, ugh it would be great.......

[KickAssCop]

A very good game; glad that you are enjoying it...

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by KickAssCop

A very good game; glad that you are enjoying it...

I AM having a blast with the game.

BUT, being almost totally deaf does create some disadvantages.

Example: When mounting the gun on the vehicles, I can't detect the other vehicles coming up from behind me until I'm already half dead.

If the game was totally "sub-titled" as movies are, there would be some kind of indication in parentheses or brackets which would say something like [vehicle approaches....guns fire.....] At least something like that.

I'm sure you guys with good hearing are getting all of this through the audio, but, as it is, I get none of the atmospheric sounds at all.

This isn't really a complaint, just a statement of how things are for those of us with little to no hearing to work with.

[theshadowcult]

You are not missing anything, it is not one of the most atmospheric games when it comes to sound, its all rather pathetically average. I would not suggest playing stalker though, you would miss half the game.

As for you saying mostly deaf, i think i read somewhere about vibrating head phones that sit behind the ear on the bone and work like a hearing aid... though i could be wrong and it could have actually just been a hearing aid :/

http://www.tecear.com/Music_Link.htm Don't know if it could help you as i have no idea what kind of hearing loss you have. As for the ones i was thinking of, they are about 6000 dollars each and require surgery

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by theshadowcult

You are not missing anything, it is not one of the most atmospheric games when it comes to sound, its all rather pathetically average. I would not suggest playing stalker though, you would miss half the game.

As for you saying mostly deaf, i think i read somewhere about vibrating head phones that sit behind the ear on the bone and work like a hearing aid... though i could be wrong and it could have actually just been a hearing aid :/

http://www.tecear.com/Music_Link.htm Don't know if it could help you as i have no idea what kind of hearing loss you have. As for the ones i was thinking of, they are about 6000 dollars each and require surgery

You may be thinking of Cochlear Implants. My hearing loss is due to inner ear nerve damage and it is genetic. I do use hearing aids...some of the most powerful ones available. The problem, though, is that by the time the hearing aids amplify the sound to the point that it does me any good, the sound is so overly amplified, it's distorted. So, I have very, very little discernment in what is being said, or what sound is being generated. When I asked, not too long ago, about the possibility of the implants for me, I was told that, due to the fact that I do still have some sense of hearing, although very limited, I do not qualify for consideration.

For me to communicate with people, I must be able to see their lips as I depend a lot on lip-reading.

I could let it become very depressing, but I don't. I do miss listening to the radio, and, of course, I miss MUSIC a LOT. I played several instruments including piano, organ, and some brass instruments. But, those days are long gone now. Anytime I sit down to a keyboard and try to play, I had just as well be tapping the wood on my desk.

So, I encourage you ... all of you ... to appreciate your hearing and definitely enjoy the music you can hear. Also, the birds and crickets chirping, the wind rustling through the leaves....

[Sundance Kid V2]

A friend of mine has the same hearing problem. But he had a disease when he was a baby, and that made him death (or hard of hearing).

[abtomat74]

If it is a buddy you have "found" but not actually spoken to yet, then he/she is behind a door inside a room. I believe there was only 1 buddy found in the outside map area, the rest were always behind a door.

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by abtomat74

If it is a buddy you have "found" but not actually spoken to yet, then he/she is behind a door inside a room. I believe there was only 1 buddy found in the outside map area, the rest were always behind a door.

Yes, I got that original problem resolved. (Which is why I placed an EDIT at the beginning of the first post.)

I presently have 3 buddies in my status. 2 of them have been rather active -- a gal and a guy. A third one is some guy I think I only met but haven't chatted it up with him yet.

I love the driving mechanics in this game! Much, MUCH better than was in Crysis and even the original Far Cry.

I've also discovered the Bus Stops and that makes moving around the map a lot better. (Although, I'm learning the map pretty well. )

There are a few things that do get under my skin, though:

1. It seems that no matter where I try to hide, some dude has x-ray vision and penetrating bullets that can go through anything! However, I AM playing on Hardened and that may account for the enemies being able to detect me exceptionally well.

2. Another thing is: It seems when the enemies are using their weapons, they NEVER, EVER JAM!! But, let me pick one up and use it and it jams instantly.

3. There was one performance problem I originally encountered when driving the vehicles: Namely, the game would become extremely choppy. It appeared that the map couldn't load fast enough as I was driving too fast for the map to load. But, I found a remedy for that --

Open the game's console [Use the tilde key] and type: gfx_maxfps 30
Some people have reported that they can use a higher number than 30 without issue, too. But, that really smooths out the game for me.

EDIT: Oh, yeah! There was one other thing that was bothering me about the game. Although I'm setting the resolution to 1920x1080, the game was not running at full screen. I had followed some advice that involved editing the .xml file but that didn't work. What has worked is hitting ALT-ENTER twice. The first time it forces the game into Windowed Mode. The second time forces it to Full Screen.

I'm playing the game in DX 10 with some pretty high settings. Screenshots added below....

I had a very exhilarating gaming experience the other night:

SPOILER ALERT (For anyone who hasn't played the game!)

On the mission to assassinate the king at the fort, I made my way up to the fort. I already had a sniper rifle and took out a sniper up on the nearer tower. Then, I made my way up and took out a couple other guards at the entrance.

I then ran quickly into a large building near the center of the fort. I didn't know where the king would be at this time. But, I ran up the stairs and some guy yelled, "What are you doing here?" (Or something along that line anyway.) Well, it took me about a second and a half to determine that he was the KING. So, I pulled out the pistol and put a bullet right between the eyes from about 4 feet away.

Took the ring and then hightailed it up to one of the high towers. From there, using the sniper rifle, I cleared out the fort and had full run of the place in about ten minutes.

That was FUN!!

END SPOILER

[theshadowcult]

Nice, the game can be fun... until you leave that area turn around and go back and its entire population has been reborn... you don't even really have to leave the area, just out of sight range. I had the same x-ray problem some times, and the enemy weapons don't jam ever. I played it on hardest as well, and i have just one warning for you... if you see yellow smoke anywhere... run... away... FAST. The enemy mortars are deadly accurate and will hit you EVERY TIME from across the map. You won't even be close enough to see the enemy without a scope and they can still shoot at you.

As Luck would have it, there are not to many of then

As for the hearing, it was implants i was reading about, and that seriously sucks you don't qualify. As much as i love my hearing, its pretty average in movies and games, which is lucky

Have you tried placing headphones or your aids on the bone behind your ear? I have some friends who have had some success getting better understandable sound through the vibrations behind the ear then the sound going directly into the ear. Both of them are only partially deaf though.

If and when you ever do research on it though, its the vibrations not the sound quality or volume that matters most. Did you look at that tecear site? Don't underestimate the power of the people, most new tech we get publicly is about ten years behind the forefront of research, so you may find things you have not heard about from doctors on the web.. of course you would already know this as i'm sure you have already looked so i'll shut up

I would be interested to know what music, specifically live instruments, sounds like to you though, if you don't mind talking about it

[BababooeyHTJ]

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who had to cap the framerate on this game via the console. I had that odd "stutter" that wasn't really stuttering. I don't know it was odd and happened at even the lowest possible settings.

[GanjaStar]

i heard that dx10 stuttering is fixed in win 7 rtm so im reinstalling. i hope they didn't lie

[GanjaStar]

I am happy to confirm. the sx10 driving stutter is fixed in win 7 rtm, 186.39 drivers.

now the dx10 version is superios to dx9 in every way

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by GanjaStar

I am happy to confirm. the sx10 driving stutter is fixed in win 7 rtm, 186.39 drivers.

now the dx10 version is superios to dx9 in every way

I'm glad to hear this and hope it does fix problems in other games as well.

What I'm noticing....after several hours of constant play in FC2 is that the game performance gets worse the longer the session lasts. It makes me wonder if the game unloads unneeded areas of the map once those areas are left??? I'm probably totally off base, but, it just seems that the 'lag' and 'choppiness' -- especially during driving sequences -- just gets worse and worse like there's just too much data to process. It kind of reminds me of the early release of Oblivion. That game created a HUGE amount of lag just after a new map was loaded. But, if the player would stand still...and rotate 360 degrees, it allowed that section of the map to load and it was smooth from there until the next map loaded. That's the distinct impression I get with FC2.... EXCEPT that, standing still doesn't seem to fix the problem but only for a very few seconds until I start driving again.

Also, over the past few nights that I've played...and I HAVE played a LOT!...I've had two instances where the game completely CTD without any warning or error message produced. I've read that this is/was a common problem. But, I had hoped that, with Patch 1.03 that would have been fixed by now. At least I'm in the habit of saving very often and am glad the PC version allows for saves on demand.

At any rate, I'm definitely getting my 20 bucks worth out of this game.

____________________________________
EDIT/UPDATE:

Here are the results of the first run Benchmark for FC2:

[Silent-Runner]

Well, i'm running the game at ultra-settings, haven't had a single problem, no stuttering, no slowdowns. Only thing it ain't seems to like is the Windows-Sidebar.

Having blast so far, the fast respawn isn't that bad and you can also run em over with a car ^^ I don't even stop there anymore. Finding all diamonds is a bit of pain in the *ss, but at the same time fun. I just ran about 10 minutes around a hut looking for the diamond just to see from far distance, that it is actually ON THE HUT. *sigh*

As for the crying on that stage, i'd been stumped too till i figured it out. The buddy was shot down and waited for my help.... or a mercy-bullet...

So far it's a fun game, the wide areas are awesome.

[Dyre Straits]

I've completed over 20% of the game according to the Stats page.

But, like others, I'm still having problems after playing for an hour or so at a time. This has been discussed endlessly and they call it a "memory leak." If I save, close the game, and come right back things play great for another hour or so. I've tried what others have suggested by ALT-TAB-bing out of the game but all that does is reduce the game to Windowed mode for me.

One thing I'm noticing, too, is that both cores on my E6700 are being pushed to an average of 98% during gameplay. I upped my RAM earlier today from 6 to 8 GB. [Windows 7 RC x64] Does this look normal?

Other than this annoyance, I'm really enjoying the game. Lots and lots of things to do and learning ways to do things my own way.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

One thing I'm noticing, too, is that both cores on my E6700 are being pushed to an average of 98% during gameplay. I upped my RAM earlier today from 6 to 8 GB. [Windows 7 RC x64] Does this look normal?

Other than this annoyance, I'm really enjoying the game. Lots and lots of things to do and learning ways to do things my own way.

far cry likes quad yes. i upgraded from e6600 to a nice quad and its a very noticeable difference in min fps and smoothness.

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by GanjaStar

far cry likes quad yes. i upgraded from e6600 to a nice quad and its a very noticeable difference in min fps and smoothness.

Your Quad is what I'm looking at to upgrade. Almost bought one this week but needed tires for my car more.

[Dyre Straits]

Updating this a bit.....

Like many others who posted, FC2 was starting to get pretty choppy after about an hour or so of gaming. It was getting really annoying to have to save, close out the game, and restart. (ALT-TAB did not work well at all for this.)

I got to thinking about the way I have W7 x64 configured and one thing I was testing/trying is having a 1 GB USB stick installed and using it for ReadyBoost. I had put this stick in a few months ago and simply forgot about it.

Well, tonight, I removed that USB stick, restarted the PC, started up FC2 and... I had absolutely no slowdown or choppiness for 3 hours straight!

However, the only reason I'm actually posting this now instead of still playing is that the game finally CTD without any error message.

But, I did want to post this just in case anyone else is using ReadyBoost on their system and to see if disabling it/removing the USB stick results in a similar fashion as to what I found.

Cheers!

[KickAssCop]

CTD have been a farcry 2 issue since day one. It happens randomly after 2-3 hours of play. Hence, its always wise to use quicksaves in this game.

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by KickAssCop

CTD have been a farcry 2 issue since day one. It happens randomly after 2-3 hours of play. Hence, its always wise to use quicksaves in this game.

Yes, I use a save after every 'important' accomplishment.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by KickAssCop

CTD have been a farcry 2 issue since day one. It happens randomly after 2-3 hours of play. Hence, its always wise to use quicksaves in this game.

its a 4870 hidden feature. i had it too until i got a gtx 260

[Dyre Straits]

Is there an occasional Safe House location that can't be unlocked?

I'm not sure just why, but, maybe one of my grenades pushed an additional mercenary off the cliff behind the shack but didn't kill him or something. Anyway, I've got 2 dead guys out front, no one else shooting at me but I have not unlocked this safe house location yet.

It's near a bus station way up a long walk path above the river. Shown on the image and map below...

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Is there an occasional Safe House location that can't be unlocked?
[/IMG][/url]

its hilarious. i epxerienced the same bugs. its cause the ai can sometimes either crouch and wait forever. or they are wounded lying in the grass somewhere, or they just wander of. Go a few saves back is the safest bet.

[jima13]

Just leave the area and come back and the missing Merc should reappear. If he was wounded you might have to beat the bush to find him

This happens to me on both the 360 & PC at the safe house just north of the Outpost...