Shader Model 5 required

[LennieL47]

I just purchased Naval Action and looked forward to joining in the fun but when I try to start the program it says that Shader Model 5 is required for Naval Action and that I have Shader Model 4.
I've tried to download Shader Model 5 a couple of different ways and ran the application only to have it blocked as malicious by my Trend Micro anti-virus software.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Thanks.

[Powderhorn]

A good start to this is always, "What sort of hardware do you have?"

So, more specifically, what sort of video card do you have, and do you know if the drivers are up to date?

[LennieL47]

Thanks for the quick reply, Powderhorn.

I have an i7 CPU, 2.67 GHz  9.00 GB RAM  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 video card and it does have DirectX 11, but I'm not sure I have the latest driver (how would I do that?).  For what it's worth, I was able to try out the demo or early access mode last year some time and it worked okay.

Edited December 24, 2017 by LennieL47

[Powderhorn]

Hrmmm... wasn't there a shift to Unity 5 lately?  I suspect that could be the reason behind the difference.  

GTX 260 seems like the weak link though.  Isn't that card 10 years old?  Any chance you can get a cheap 760 online or something?

(Keep in mind, I'm just a volunteer spitballing.  The pros I suspect are on holiday.)

[EdWatchmaker]

Yes LennieL47. I have an Nvidia 760 in my 7 yo AMD machine it runs the game well. They should be cheap now and you'll like the result.

Happy Christmas.

 

[Jean Ribault]

Did you happen to run dxdiag to see if there are any errors?

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Shader model 5 is hardware related. The software does need the hardware to be capable of it.

This is GTX 260 capabilities.

[Jim Beamreach]

Graphiccard is the key i woud say i changed a few years ago to a gtx 750 cause of DX11.

[LennieL47]

Thanks everyone.  There were no errors detected when I ran dxdiag, Jean.

Where did you find those numbers, Hethwell?  Like I said, my card says it has DirectX 11.

I would rather not get a new card just to get by for now since I hope to upgrade to a new pc soon, but I guess I might have to if Shader Model 5 is out of reach for this one.

Here is my driver info for my GTX 260:

Main Driver: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2
Driver version: 9.18.13.4195
Date: 1/29/16 6:08:42

 

[Powderhorn]

So, this seems to be why you are running "DirectX 11" even though on paper your card does not support it:

Quote

DirectX 11 and 12 have what is known as "feature levels" where they indicate that the driver supports being spoken to using the DirectX 11/12 API, but then can specify what DirectX version "hardware" features are fully supported by the card.

In your case the card supports DirectX 11 Feature Level 10.0, meaning that the card will only function if the game uses only DirectX 10.0 and lower features.

To be clear: that card supports DirectX 10 hardware features only.

Source

Specs for the GTX 260 can be found here, among other places.  (Also showing Shader Model 4.)

In regards to holding off on a video card until you get a new PC, it is entirely up to you when to upgrade your PC / Video Card.  I would say this much:  If you were to upgrade your GPU, you could always take that out of the old computer, and put it into the new one when you upgrade.  (But you'd need to ensure your old computer & new computer could power it appropriately.  Looks like with 2 6 pin power connectors, you should be fine with most cards.  But again, I'm just an amateur, not a pro.)

[Ink]

22 hours ago, LennieL47 said:

I just purchased Naval Action and looked forward to joining in the fun but when I try to start the program it says that Shader Model 5 is required for Naval Action and that I have Shader Model 4.
I've tried to download Shader Model 5 a couple of different ways and ran the application only to have it blocked as malicious by my Trend Micro anti-virus software.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Thanks.

Captain, Naval Action required inbuilt directx 11 features and shader model 5 support right from the start. Unfortunately your GPU GTX 260 does only support directx 10 and shader model 4.

In this case the only way to play the game is to upgrade the GPU

[LennieL47]

Thanks Powderhorn and Ink.

I wasn't aware of the Feature Levels.  For that matter, until a couple of days ago I wasn't aware of Shader Models either.  

It does make me wonder why I was able to run the demo version of Naval Action though.

I may have to do some after Christmas shopping.  Thanks to all for the help and Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays!

[Ink]

13 minutes ago, LennieL47 said:

Thanks Powderhorn and Ink.

I wasn't aware of the Feature Levels.  For that matter, until a couple of days ago I wasn't aware of Shader Models either.  

It does make me wonder why I was able to run the demo version of Naval Action though.

I may have to do some after Christmas shopping.  Thanks to all for the help and Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays!

Captain, what do you mean by demo version? There was not demo version for Naval Action.

If you were able to play the game earlier, you sure you used the same PC (GPU)?

[LennieL47]

Ink, It might have been the early access version?  Seems to me that I shot off a few broadsides but then didn't really get into it too much.