Over the past year, we've been keeping a rather large secret. We have been working on a complete graphical rework of RuneScape, which is looking truly spectacular. There's no need to take our word for it: look at the images below and see for yourself.

As you know, we currently offer 'High Detail' and 'Low Detail' modes. We plan on adding a new and optional detail mode, bringing you accelerated higher quality graphics. This will be in addition to the existing detail modes, as they will remain unchanged.

As if the improvements below weren't enough, an optional fullscreen version of RuneScape is due at the same time. This will let you play at a resolution of your choice, and it also supports widescreen monitors. We think you'll agree, the future of RuneScape is looking very good indeed....

Before:


After (click for full screen RS image)

Expect more to be revealed in a Development Diary, later this month.

When planning future projects or attempting to really push the technology of the RuneScape game, we often come across the same problem: we have no information about everyone's computer hardware. With this kind of information, we could release more RuneScape improvements that make the best use of your system's capabilities.

We have come up with a solution that we'd like you to help us with. We have developed a program that, once downloaded, will tell us the following things about your computer:

• Your operating system
• Your graphics card
• Your CPU
• Your Java version
• Relevant graphical and audio drivers

Once we've gathered together all of this information, we can begin planning our future projects and RuneScape improvements to work within these specifications. This means that very few people will miss out on some awesome updates that we have planned!

To begin downloading the program, visit this link and log in. It will guide you through an agreement page to make sure that you understand what is required. The process does not take long, so you should be back to RuneScape in no time.

The applet is completely secure and official (you can verify this by checking that your address bar states http://www.runescape.com). We can guarantee that your information will only be used by Jagex to develop future games and improve RuneScape. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

Note: Please only download the program from RuneScape. This is the only legitimate source.

Click here to download the program.