The Secret World

What works

• Installer (2 Disc DVD)
• Launcher (with d3dcompiler_43)
• Patcher (almost 4 gig update)
• Sound (no problems noted)
• Character creation
  
• Game (...see comments...)
• Cut scenes/Videos (but with horrible flicker)
  

What does not

• Whenever menus/cut scenes/videos were displayed, there was horrible flickering to the point where it was extremely difficult to navigate the menu, or watch a video.
• Poor performance
  
• Some effects weren't rendered properly.  For instance, characters were rendered with half of the body darker then the other half and other oddities in facial shading/shadows.

Workarounds

What was not tested

• Extended gameplay (only about an hour so far, and mostly messing with settings)
  
• Grouping/interacting with other players
• Graphic settings above low
• Non-emulated desktop

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

Install ------- 1) Installed from disk (no problems) 2) winetricks d3dcompiler_43 (needed for launcher to start) 3) winetricks d3dx9 (needed for game to start, although I'm not sure which dll's were key in resolving the issue) 4) winecfg -> Libraries then set d3dx9_43 to builtin (needed to *not* get directx9 out of date error (thanks coomac). In open beta I got this error and proceeded with installing directx9. Afterwords, the game kept crashing on start so I gave up messing with it). 5) Received error about outdated drivers, I declined updates. Performance (Nvidia GTX 480 overclocked/AMD Phenom II X4 965) -------- By default, my video settings were set to low and performance was horribad. To make the game bearable (16 FPS in populated area) I had to: 1) In game, hit esc -> Video Options -> Advanced -> set everything to 0. 2) Restart game