12 months of trying to resolve SLI - time to turn to square enix

[Raist]

If I remember right, it will always be a shoddy implementation even if you manage to get it to work somewhat with a hack---a large part of the problem is that it's built around DirectX9c. And not a very good implementation at that. The game is still VERY CPU bound, on many rigs moreso than the GPU. The only way DX9 functions normal in this game (well as normal as it can) is in Windows XP, because you aren't dealing with the emulation fiasco that is used in Vista and newer Windows versions. From DX10 forward, all pre-DX10 is run through an emulation layer. So, by design, the game will be weighted heavily towards CPU horsepower and it doesn't really play nice in general with the newer multiple GPU setups

So, in a way, it's the fault of multiple entities. Microsoft for punting DX9 into oblivion, Nvidia/AMD for also not doing thorough regression testing in their new designs/drivers for DX9 or older calls, and SE for sticking to DX9 with the 2.0 rebuild.

On the upside though, it also means the game can run quite well on older hardware. Can get 50FPS out of 5 year old hardware... a dual core running DDR2 and an old ATI 5870. It plays almost flawlessly on my laptop as well (ASUS ROG G75VX, i7-3630Q, 8GB DDR3, NV GTX 670MX... think it's a 2012 design). Because of the older API's and such, it doesn't really take monster hardware to make it run decent.

If they ever get off their duffs and put out the promised DX11 client though, we should see a LOT of people's headaches disappear.