RejZoR's little secrets

Little technology secrets for big everyday problems...

Gaming on ACER Aspire One

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I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO UPDATE THIS LIST ANYMORE BECAUSE I HAVE REPLACED MY ASPIRE ONE WITH LENOVO S205 THAT'S USING MUCH MORE POWERFUL HARDWARE (AMD E-450 APU and Radeon HD6320). I CAN STILL TRY TO ADD USER REPORTED STUFF BUT IT WILL BE UNVERIFIED.

I've been playing with Aspire One for few days and this little kiddo is actually quite powerful.
So i've decided to test games on it and build a list of games that work fine.
Native resolution (1024x600) used when possible, otherwise the highest selectable lower resolution is used instead. The list applies to Acer Aspire One with Atom 1,6GHz, 1GB of RAM and Windows XP SP3!
The list will be updated when i try more games or when my great readers submit info about games that are not yet listed. If you've tested a game that is not yet listed, let me know and i'll add it. smile

LAST LIST UPDATE: 2011/10/03

GAMES PLAYABLE ON ACER ASPIRE ONE:
4x4 Evolution (all set to max)
Aliens vs Predator Gold (all set to max)
Aliens vs Predator 2 (all set to max)
And Yet it Moves (all set to max)
Bad Rats (disable Shadow stencil, 800x mode, runs in windowed mode)
Bejeweled 2 (all set to max)
C&C:Generals (all set to low)
C&C:Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge (all set to max)
C&C:Red Alert 2 (all set to max)
C&C:Renegade (all set to max)
C&C:Tiberian Sun (all set to max)
Call of Duty (all set to low)
Carmageddon 2 (all set to max)
Chains
Chaser (Shadows set to blob, Medium textures and Medium curves)
Crayon Physics Deluxe
Commandos 2:Men of Courage (all set to max)
Croc 2 (all set to max)
Dangerous Waters (all set to medium or high)
Dark Reign:The Future of War
Diablo
Diablo 2
Duke Nukem:Manhattan Project (all set to max, use DirectX mode)
Dungeon Siege (all set to max)
Dungeon Siege 2 (use default settings)
Dungeon Keeper Gold (works in normal mode, Direct3D doesn't work)
EARTH 2150 (all set to max)
EMPEROR:Battle for Dune (all set to max)
Eufloria (may get slightly slower at certain zoom levels, but otherwise very playable)
F-22 Raptor (all set to max)
Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy (all set to max)
FEAR Combat (all set to low, small levels with not many players)
Flatout (all set to low, slightly lower framerate)
Flight Control HD
Galcon Fusion
Grand Theft Auto 3 (all set to max, just disable frame sync, frame limit and trails)
Grand Theft Auto:Vice City (all set to max, just disable frame sync, frame limit)
Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas (all set to low)
Gun (all set to max except textures)
Half-Life (all set to max, use Direct3D)
Hidden & Dangerous Deluxe (all set to max)
Hitman:Codename 47 (all set to max)
Hitman 2:Silent Assassin (all set to max)
Hitman:Contracts (all set to max)
Killing Floor (all set to lowest + KillingFloor.ini tweaks, playble most of the time)
KISS - Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child (all set to max)
Lume
Machinarium (use Alt+F4 to exit the game, autosaving will still work)
Madballs in...Babo:Invasion (all set to max)
Max Payne (all set to max)
Max Payne 2 (all set to max, all medium recommended for fast performance)
MDK 2 (all set to max)
MechWarrior 3 (all set to max)
Midtown Madness (all set to max)
Midtown Madness 2 (all set to max)
Minecraft Alpha (depending on the map, use FAST graphics setting and TINY view distance)
Minecraft Beta (latest versions are again playable, adjust graphics a bit lower)
Moto Racer (all set to max, screen has to be set to 16bit)
Moto Racer 2 (all set to max, works only with this PATCH, music has to be muted)
Moto Racer 3 (all set to max)
Motocross Madness (all set to max)
Motocross Madness 2 (all set to max)
Multiwinia (all set to low, somewhat slow, probably worse with lots of units, but it works)
Nation Red (Disable Shadows, Particle to Low, disable blur and decrease number of bodies)
Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit 2 (all set to one level lower than max)
Need for Speed:Porsche 2000 (all set to max)
Need for Speed 2 (all set to max)
Need for Speed 2 SE (all set to max)
Need for Speed 3:Hot Pursuit (all set to max, works with my Vista patch)
Osmos
Peggle Nights
Plants vs Zombies
Project IGI (all set to max)
Quake 1 (all set to max)
Quake 2 (all set to max)
Quake 3 Arena (all set to max)
Rally Championship 2000 (all set to max, may crash with certain audio settings)
Re-Volt (all set to max)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein (all set to High)
Richard Burns Rally (800x600, 16bit, all set to lowest)
RUSH (slightly slower sometimes, but playable)
Serious Sam: The First Encounter (all set to normal/medium/standard)
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (all set to normal/medium/standard, use Direct3D)
Severance:Blade of Darkness (all set to max)
SimCity 4 Deluxe (all set to Low or Medium)
Soldier of Fortune (all set to max)
Soldier of Fortune 2:Double Helix (use auto detected settings and 800x600)
Superbikes 2001 (set compatibility mode to WIn98/Me, all set to max)
Starcraft
Starcraft:Brood Wars
Starsiege (all set to max, use OpenGL)
Star Trek:Armada (all set to max, problems with sound and music)
Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 - Jedi Outcast (all set to max, disable complex shadows)
Star Wars: Republic Commando (800x600, all set to lowest)
Swarm Arena (use Low graphics, may lag in mainmenu but works ok in-game)
SWAT 4 (all set to low, slightly lower framerate)
Swords and Soldiers HD (use Low texture quality to avoid corrupted textures)
System Shock 2 (all set to max, requires latest patch and -lgntforce switch)
The Sims (all set to max)
The Sims 2 (all set to low, expect longer loading times)
Thief 2: The Metal Age (all set to max)
Thief:The Dark Project (all set to max)
Tomb Raider 2 (all set to max)
Tomb Raider 3 (all set to max)
Tom Clancy's: Ghost Recon (all set to max, disable all shadows)
Torchlight (quite playable with all set to max, Netbook mode recommended for optimal performance)
Turba
Unreal 2:The Awakening (all set to high, disable detail actors to boost framerate in firefights)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (all set to Normal)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (all set to Normal)
Unreal Tournament 99 (all set to max)
V-Rally 2:Expert Edition (all set to max)
Warzone 2100 (all set to max)
Warcraft 3:Reign of Chaos (all set to max)
Warlords Battlecry 3 (all set to max)
Windosill (sometimes works slightly slower but still very playable)
World of Goo
Worms 3D (all set to max, not that there is much to set lol)
Worms Reloaded (lower settings prefered for smoother performance)
Zuma

GAMES THAT DO NOT WORK:
Age of Mythology (doesn't work, though some say it worked for them)
Alien Swarm (the game just closes without any errors after loading screen)
Alpha Protocol (GPU doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 error)
Area 51 (Midway free full version, framerate too low)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (GPU doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 error)
Blood 2: The Chosen (main menu screen flickers and is hard to use)
BloodRayne (GMA950 doesn't support hardware Vertex Shaders, OpenGL crashes)
Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box (GPU doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 error)
Clive Barker's Jericho (crashes on start)
CounterStrike:Source (too slow even on lowest settings)
Crashday (DirectX 9 device fails to initiate)
Crysis (too slow even on lowest settings)
Crysis Warhead (too slow even on lowest settings)
Dead Space (cannot initialize display hardware)
Defense Grid:The Awakening (too slow even on lowest settings)
DogFighter (doesn't start, just churns out massive error log and freezes)
Doom 3 (too slow even on lowest settings)
Exodus from the Earth (Graphic card not supported)
Far Cry (too slow even on lowest settings)
Greed Corp (GMA950 is not supported)
Half-Life 2 series (too slow even on lowest settings)
Hydrophobia: The Prophecy (GPU doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 error)
i-Fluid (too slow even on lowest settings)
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (GPU doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 error)
Need for Speed:Underground 1 (too slow even on lowest settings)
Need for Speed:Underground 2 (too slow even on lowest settings)
Need for Speed:Most Wanted (too slow even on lowest settings)
Need for Speed:Carbon (too slow even on lowest settings)
Need for Speed:Shift (crashes on startup)
Need for Speed:World (too slow even on lowest settings)
Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit 2010 (Unsupported GPU)
Painkiller (doesn't start, DirectX 9 errors)
Painkiller:Battle from Hell (doesn't start, DirectX 9 errors)
Project:Snowblind (too slow even on lowest settings)
C&C:Red Alert 3 (too slow even on lowest settings)
C&C:Red Alert 3:Uprising (too slow even on lowest settings)
Shatter (unsupported graphic card)
Section 8 (game crashes on startup)
Serious Sam 2 (doesn't start, black screen)
Sol Survivor (doesn't work at all)
Split/Second:Velocity (crashes on start)
STALKER:Shadow of Chernobyl (all set to low, too slow for me, but it works)
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebbel without a pulse (crashes on start)
SWAT3 (crashes, patch 1.6+ results in wrong CD inserted error)
Test Drive Unlimited (doesn't start, no error messages)
The Ball (Steam version, crashes soon after execution)
The Settlers 2:10th Anniversary (nothing happens when you start the game, no error messages)
The Suffering (Midway free full version, display device fails to initialize)
Tomb Raider and the Guardian of Light (GPU doesn't support Shader Model 3.0 error)
Trine (Steam version, nothing happens when executed)
Trackmania Nations Forever (too slow even on lowest settings)
Unreal Tournament 3 (kernel32.dll error on UT3 start)
Quake 1 GLQuake (screen corrupted, console overlapping 3D stuff)
Zen Bound 2 (graphics error, probably becase GMA950 doesn't fully support OpenGL 2.0)

1080p HD Video playback on any netbookMicrosoft Security Essentials problems and what has to be fixed

Comments

Unregistered user Thursday, February 10, 2011 4:54:23 AM

the_evil_one writes: what you said about emulators is not true they work great on both my aspire one's even a ps2 emulator work but the problem with playing with ps2 emulator is that the screen starts to shake,any way ps1,n64 and most of the other emulators will work to 100%(for some reason the dreamcast emulator doesn't work)

Unregistered user Thursday, February 10, 2011 4:56:31 AM

Anonymous writes: sorry i saw that someone had already complained about the emulator part, anyway have a nice day

Unregistered user Saturday, February 12, 2011 3:02:53 PM

fionn writes: am what video settings were used for severence cause its confusing me

RejZoRrejzor Saturday, February 12, 2011 4:15:26 PM

Mot sure what's confusing. Just crank everything to the max in settings.

Unregistered user Friday, February 18, 2011 6:43:47 PM

Kenjirus writes: How the hell are you getting torchlight running well, even on low for me its running at 3FPS at the lowest res, and my specs are the same as yours

RejZoRrejzor Friday, February 18, 2011 7:25:04 PM

You have too enable Netbook mode in settings. That will help a lot.

Unregistered user Friday, February 18, 2011 9:50:41 PM

Anonymous writes: Star Wars Battlefront runs really well but on lowest graphics Battlefield 1942 runs well on medium graphics Pearl harbor: strike at dawn runs very well on max graphics

Unregistered user Saturday, February 19, 2011 9:53:52 PM

Anonymous writes: The first fable runs really badly! even on low resolution and graphics it lags.

Unregistered user Saturday, February 19, 2011 9:55:42 PM

Anonymous writes: how do you enable netbook mode?

Unregistered user Monday, February 21, 2011 12:10:49 AM

Anonymous writes: counter strike plays fine(not source) i got kotor to work but i duno, i got dawn of war 40k, dawn of war winter assault should play but never tried it, and i got dark crusade to work, soulstorm takes ages to load the campaign but is playable, also could you test lotr return of the king?

Unregistered user Monday, February 21, 2011 12:12:05 AM

Anonymous writes: for severnce, the cursor dosent appear and the words are realy hard to read, and alot of the controlls dont work

Unregistered user Friday, February 25, 2011 8:54:33 PM

Alexis writes: PS1, N64, GBA and 16-bit console emulators runs great on my aspire one, even dolphin and pcsx2 runs pretty good with 2D games.

Unregistered user Sunday, February 27, 2011 1:55:23 PM

sScip writes: Need For Speed Underground & Need For Speed Underground 2 Strange - minimum requirements for these games are more or less - 800MHz, 128Mb Ram, 32Mb Video. I've changed my 1Gb RAM to 2Gb, installed Win XP Pro SP3 and - still same crap, on lowest settings NFS U2 is faster than NFS U.. xD but still when you see opponents or city it goes "slow mo".. In Aspire One I have - actual video memory is 64Mb, but it takes from RAM up to 256Mb, so Win XP shows me straight 256Mb.. xD My netbook: Acer Aspire One HAPPY-D2Qpp Intel(R) Arom (1.6GHz) RAM - 800MHz 2Gb Video Intel(R) GMA 3150, 64Mb (Takes RAM Mb up to 256Mb) I even set up my Graphics Card for best performance, so it uses quite a lot energy, than all settings like Vertical Sync, and others - straight on OFF.. still games not running properly.. Any ideas how to upgrade / improve my netbook? Maybe some programmes for graphics card optimisation.. P.S. Or may be it's damn Atom Proc. which is not designed for games at all? :)

Unregistered user Saturday, March 5, 2011 12:13:16 PM

Anonymous writes: Digimon Battle Online (all set to max) Need For Speed Most Wanted (a bit slow but works) :D Hitman: Contracts (won't even start for me, black screen) D:

Unregistered user Monday, March 7, 2011 12:55:53 AM

Anonymous writes: Medevil total war and shogun total war work great just turn down hardware acceleration if graphics corruption. Rome total war runs smooth on low settings even with large battles. Blitzgrieg 2 runs well max. Great Blog OP, keep it up...

Unregistered user Monday, March 7, 2011 1:13:47 AM

Anonymous writes: For the guys wanting a pretty smooth online frag fest give qauke live a run, its free doesnt need an install and you always get a game, win win.....

Unregistered user Tuesday, March 8, 2011 9:48:07 PM

Barney writes: Just tried Warhammer 2000 dawn of war, works fine with all the graphics turned down

Unregistered user Tuesday, March 15, 2011 7:44:20 PM

Anonymous writes: Does Tribes:Vengeance Work?

Unregistered user Friday, March 18, 2011 3:38:55 PM

willy writes: i got the same problems as many anonymous people said: HITMAN CONTRACT didn't want to start. it was appeared as a black screen on a second and then nothing's happened. do you have any idea about this Rejzor?

Unregistered user Sunday, March 20, 2011 5:51:30 AM

Flowers writes: To make hitman contracts work u have to open up the hitmancontracts.ini or whatever and at the top u will see "RESOLUTION". Change it to 640x480. Now it will work. Also get the latest patch here------http://www.gamershell.com/download_5695.shtml

Unregistered user Sunday, March 20, 2011 5:54:47 AM

Flowers writes: Tribes 1 and 2 dont work.

Unregistered user Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:05:47 AM

willy writes: Thanks a lot Flowers. now it works perfectly. :)

RejZoRrejzor Sunday, March 20, 2011 1:39:15 PM

I assume 800x600 should work as well considering netbook screens usually do 1024x600...

Unregistered user Wednesday, March 23, 2011 12:24:08 AM

UNDEAD21 writes: thnx i have had an acer aspire one d255 for a while... and it runs halo ce fine... even online.... (custom edition i think combat evovled will be the same)and crossfire does okay... not to bad... but not to good either

Unregistered user Sunday, March 27, 2011 5:34:57 PM

Flowers writes: Rainbow Six:Raven Shield works (ALL SET TO MAX).

Unregistered user Wednesday, March 30, 2011 2:25:19 AM

Anonymous writes: Halo 1 works all settings on medium :)

Unregistered user Tuesday, April 5, 2011 10:44:14 AM

Anonymous writes: the sims 2 works even on high but if on high in the streets to many buildings resolve in slow gameplay but when in your house it works madly and no sorry to dissapoint u all sims 3 dosnt work resolves in faliure cause of either cd error or bad graphics

Unregistered user Wednesday, April 13, 2011 12:22:40 PM

Anonymous writes: Halo is only playable online. If you try single player your in for major disappointment.

Unregistered user Saturday, April 16, 2011 12:35:49 AM

Anonymous writes: i got the resident evil 4, is playable in 90 percent. a i have the rainbow six 3 raven shield is also playable, call of duty 1 runs in very nice way with high details

Unregistered user Saturday, April 16, 2011 11:40:36 AM

maRky writes: does max payne2 works smoothly on acer apire one?

RejZoRrejzor Saturday, April 16, 2011 5:50:54 PM

It does. Though not on max settings in every level. On some levels you have to slightly decrease the settings for really smooth gaming but in others you can max out and it's still perfectly smooth.

Unregistered user Monday, April 18, 2011 4:13:04 AM

Anonymous writes: does age of empires 3 work on aspire one?

RejZoRrejzor Monday, April 18, 2011 4:47:48 PM

I doubt it. It requires SM2.0 which Aspire One doesn't have. Well, as far as i know, i haven't tried it myself as i never really liked the 3rd edition of AoE series.

Unregistered user Tuesday, April 19, 2011 7:50:07 AM

Anonymous writes: half life 2, half life 1, track mania, and cs 1.6 work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unregistered user Tuesday, April 19, 2011 2:03:38 PM

Anonymous writes: how about earth empire 1 and 2 does it work?

Unregistered user Thursday, April 21, 2011 6:05:11 AM

Anonymous writes: What about manhunt 1 with the windows vista/7 patch.. you can get the game and patch free here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPVM1z4vsqc

Unregistered user Monday, April 25, 2011 5:37:41 PM

MoWeed writes: Hey man!Good job with this list,it really helped me:D You should add Mafia I it works really really well and you can use medium settings and maximum screen resolution(if you are lucky and not running any program in background you should go fot 1 level above medium video settings)!Hope I helped!Good bye!

Unregistered user Sunday, May 1, 2011 9:47:48 AM

Anonymous writes: die hard nakatomi plaza works great

Unregistered user Monday, May 9, 2011 10:11:41 PM

Anonymous writes: thanks for this its brill :)

Unregistered user Monday, May 9, 2011 10:59:06 PM

Anonymous writes: Serious Sam 2 (doesn't start, black screen) Serious Sam: The Second Encounter

Unregistered user Tuesday, May 10, 2011 12:45:16 AM

Anonymous writes: you have made my day mate thanks

Unregistered user Tuesday, May 10, 2011 1:00:33 AM

Anonymous writes: is the aspire one much different than aspire 5335?

Unregistered user Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:31:39 AM

DVP writes: Great blog, you have the patience of a saint. I'm trying to find some games for my mum's AA1, could anyone tell me which if any of the Settlers series would work, I would be downloading them through Steam. Thanks in advance.

RejZoRrejzor Wednesday, May 11, 2011 1:56:45 PM

I'd say first 4 games. Any later that have 3D, i doubt it.

Unregistered user Monday, June 6, 2011 3:17:54 PM

Anonymous writes: Counter-Strike Source works pretty well if you use game booster. You should always start off on a small map that is easy for the game to load. I have Counter-Strike Source on my Acer Aspire one and it is pretty fast with Game booster

Unregistered user Thursday, June 30, 2011 7:44:11 PM

RGW writes: What about need for speed carbon???

Unregistered user Friday, July 1, 2011 12:10:03 AM

fionn writes: g mod?

Unregistered user Sunday, July 3, 2011 9:21:25 PM

AnotherGamer writes: tested and play on my acer d255(1gigs ram,64 vga,1.5gighertz atom,250gigs hdd) HOMEWORLD HOMEWORLD 2 X-MEN LEGENDS 2 SW BATTLEFRONT 2 (laggy on big battle) WORLD IN CONFLICT (Lowest setting) BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL CHAOS LEGION WARHAMMER DAWN OF WAR (WINTER,CRUSADE,SOULSTORM) FREEDOM FIGHTERS GUILTY GEAR XX GROUND CONTROL 2 SIMS 2 BATTLE REALMS .....

Unregistered user Monday, July 4, 2011 5:42:16 AM

Anonymous writes: Thank u for the list.....

Unregistered user Monday, July 4, 2011 6:40:13 AM

Anonymous writes: RejZoR, please add to ur list, Games playable on aspire (Atom 1,6GHz, 1GB of RAM and Windows XP SP3): Coffee Break, Supple episode 1 and 2, 7Sins (using 3d analyze), Singles 1 and 2, Space Station Sim 2, Playboy the mansion. Game not playable: Desperate Housewives the game.

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