Want more 'eyecandy'? Help for ATI users...

[Olham]

For ATI card users only (thanks for the tip, Cameljockey):

 

Since even some veterans here didn't seem to have the "graphics" settings right, I want to

encourage you to check the "overrides" and "texture info" settings, as I have chosen them.

 

Maybe they are much the same as the devs had already recommended, but many didn't see

that or didn't even know, these settings could be changed.

 

You may perhaps get a lot more eyecandy and better performance.

 

[OvS - edited title as I will be adding this thread to the Knowledge Database! Nice one Ohlam!!]

 

 

Edited September 15, 2009 by Olham

[themightysrc]

All very timely with, apparently, quite a few new players turning up on the forum.

 

Do you run Nvidia, or something else?

[Olham]

I run the ATI Radeon X1900

[Cameljockey]

I run the ATI Radeon X1900

[/quot

 

I thought those looked like settings for an ATI card. Almost exactly the ones I used in Phase 2 when I was running an X1950 and they worked really well. Just don't use them if you have an Nvidia card!

[Olham]

Thanks for the tip, Cameljockey! I'll add that above.

[Von Paulus]

Thanks Olham.

I'll look at them later.

[Rickitycrate]

Good information. Yes, much of what some of us take for granted is new and helpful information for our many new users. That is not to say that I know it all, I don't. It is very good to be helpful so we all get the most of out of our OFF experience. I learn much every day, thanks to you gentlemen.

[BirdDogICT]

Olham,

 

Not trying to hijack your thread, but thought that I'd point out that your Texture Info settings are very different from those suggested by the devs in the Installation & Graphics FAQ http://www.overfland...on_and_settings

 

Composite Terrain Texture Pool - set to Managed

Composite Terrain Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget

Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - set to Managed

Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget

Vertex Buffer Pool - set to Managed

Index Buffer Pool - leave as is - should be set to Default

Fullscreen Swap Effect - set to Flip

The above settings have been around for a long time and were useful for older ATI cards like yours...maybe the devs need to update their FAQ to your settings?!

 

ATI cards and drivers have come a long way in the last year. When I first installed BHaH in January, the recommended tweaks (especially the Overrides) made a BIG difference with my X1950XTX and HD4870 (using Catalyst 9.1 through 9.6). But with the latest 9.7 and 9.8 drivers, and Superpatch 1.32f I don't have to apply any tweaks at all (of course your mileage will vary).

Edited September 3, 2009 by BirdDogICT

[Olham]

You are right, BirdDog - I had to make a "reset CFS3" some days ago, and not really been flying

much since. Yours are the settings I used to have - the reset must have messed them up again.

I'll change the screenshots in the other post.

Thanks for posting!

[BirdDogICT]

You are right, BirdDog - I had to make a "reset CFS3" some days ago, and not really been flying

much since. Yours are the settings I used to have - the reset must have messed them up again.

I'll change the screenshots in the other post.

Thanks for posting!

Olham,

 

Okay, then, just keep your nose clean from now on. Don't forget, the ATI Police are watching you. That goes for the rest of you fliers, too!! LOL

 

Best regards,

BirdDogICT

[Von Paulus]

Could you share your settings BirdDog?

No disable vertex or index Write-Only Buffers?

 

[BirdDogICT]

Could you share your settings BirdDog?

No disable vertex or index Write-Only Buffers?

 

Actually, no, they are the same settings that have been recommended from the early days when CFS3 came out. Much of CFS3 was written in DirectX 7 and 8 (patching it to 3.1a brings it up to 8.12). ATI cards at that time were behind the curve, and had trouble with rendering vertex and index textures in DirectX 8 (based on my experience building AMD/ATI machines, for what it's worth).

 

These settings can be found in the Installation & Graphics FAQ: http://www.overfland...tm#ATI_GRAPHICS Many of these settings were tested in early Phase 3 by LeBlaque, RedDog, and others, and have been modified since:

 

OVERRIDES:

Clear the tick in the 'Dual Pass Render' box

Tick 'High Resolution Z-buffer' box immediately below it. Also tick the following:

Disable Write-Only Vertex Buffers

Disable Write-Only Index Buffers

Disable Terrain Texture Ring Blend (possibly/test) I can't tell a difference with newer ATI card..ring blend was important for earlier cards

Disable Vertex Buffers

Disable Index Buffers

Disable Chat

Disable Advisor Messages

Disable Simulation Warnings.

 

TEXTURE INFO:

Composite Terrain Texture Pool - set to Managed

Composite Terrain Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget

Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - set to Managed

Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget

Vertex Buffer Pool - set to Managed

Index Buffer Pool - leave as is - should be set to Default

Fullscreen Swap Effect - set to Flip

 

ATI CATALYST SETTINGS:

OpenGL Setting Triple Buffering - ON (check mark)

Wait for Vertical Refresh (Vsync) - Always On (try set to off too if you have issues still)

Mipmap Detail Level - Performance

Anti-Aliasing & Anisotropic Filtering - Application Managed (AA off in OFF)

 

The only difference between the FAQ and my settings is that I use ATI Catalyst to set AA and AF. To do this, i set AA to 8X in CFS3Config, then set AA to 4X (12 Samples - Edge Detect) and AF to 8x in Catalyst. I also disable Catalyst A.I. and Adaptive AA.

From my experience, the most important settings for ATI cards (old and new) are in the Overrrides.

 

Your mileage may (maybe I should say WILL) vary.

Edited September 3, 2009 by BirdDogICT

[Von Paulus]

Thanks BirdDog.

I use the same settings.

[sitting_duck]

BirdDog...was wondering if you have tried rabus settins for texture,,,and if you have found yours better for your particular system

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php/topic/44430-suggested-graphics-settings/

[BirdDogICT]

BirdDog...was wondering if you have tried rabus settins for texture,,,and if you have found yours better for your particular system

 

http://forum.combata...phics-settings/

 

Duck,

 

I hadn't thought of applying those particular tweaks, since nVidia cards handle DirectX vertex textures very differently than ATI cards. But I'll try it and let you know. With sliders at 53353, medium workshop settings, 8XAA, 8XAF @1600X1280, I'm hitting 60 FPS in the air, dropping down to 20-25 in big furrballs over the front. Smooth as silk, too. I'm still using a 512MB HD4870.

 

I'll try them and let you know.

[BirdDogICT]

Duck,

 

I hadn't thought of applying those particular tweaks, since nVidia cards handle DirectX vertex textures very differently than ATI cards. But I'll try it and let you know. With sliders at 53353, medium workshop settings, 8XAA, 8XAF @1600X1280, I'm hitting 60 FPS in the air, dropping down to 20-25 in big furrballs over the front. Smooth as silk, too. I'm still using a 512MB HD4870.

 

I'll try them and let you know.

Duck,

 

I tried Rabu's tweaks, and did increase FPS from 18 sitting on the runway to 23. FPS was 25-35 in a two plane dogfight over the airfield. TrackIR worked flawlessly, and great looking graphics.

 

But I noticed some microstutters..something I never experience with the recommended ATI tweaks...can only speculate as to why. The big differences in the ATI tweaks (versus Rabu's) are

 

Disabled Dual pass render

Disabled Vertex and Index buffers

Disabled Write Only Vertex and Index buffers

[Von Paulus]

But I noticed some microstutters..something I never experience with the recommended ATI tweaks...can only speculate as to why.

With Rabu settings I too noticed the same microstutters as BirdDog. So the "recommended" ATI tweaks in terms of smoothing are still the best for me. As for performance I really didn't notice any real difference.

[Olham]

Here is the link to the Over Flanders Fields Graphics Tips:

 

http://www.overflandersfields.com/Tips.htm

[gaw]

does anybody remember how to type in the numbers on the texture panel? The sliders are wildly unprecise.....there was a thread on this waaaay back but I couldn't dig it up.......thanks! gaw

[sitting_duck]

Duck,

 

I tried Rabu's tweaks, and did increase FPS from 18 sitting on the runway to 23. FPS was 25-35 in a two plane dogfight over the airfield. TrackIR worked flawlessly, and great looking graphics.

 

But I noticed some microstutters..something I never experience with the recommended ATI tweaks...can only speculate as to why. The big differences in the ATI tweaks (versus Rabu's) are

 

Disabled Dual pass render

Disabled Vertex and Index buffers

Disabled Write Only Vertex and Index buffers

 

lol..thanks, but i was referering to the texture info settings in rabus..,,not overrides...

 

onna these days,,gotta get someone to put in laymans terms...what we are changeing when we chose "default' instead of "rendertarget" etc etc.....

 

but just fyi...i have the 4870 and use rabu's settings and never get any microstuttering,,,,i do get some "shimmering" in the scenery as i fly

[Dutch_P47M]

Man, I hate this graphic adjustments in OFF3 and no decent manual can be found, but some explenation can be read at  adjustments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Deyrick]

Bird Dog can you list your specs.

 

I am having problems getting it to run without pauses and stutters.

 

Have tried the graphics tweaks with no major improvement, set to use only one core of my Quad core, otherwise its exceedingly slow slideshow.

 

ASUS P5K mobo

Q6600 Quad CPU

4Gb ram

ATI HD 4890 1 Gb

Creative X-Fi soundcard

Two 500Gb SATA HD

 

Guess its a problem using such old software on modern kit, it is not optimised very well (CFS3) and hogs resources even when exited (at least 2.5Gb memory in a tmp file).

My system runs other stuff very well.

 

Hope you may be able to help with advice, seems to run fine on other modern systems.

 

May have to give up and stick to First Eagles and Rise of Flight, they should have that engine for the next OFF, would be awesome.

 

Del

 

 

[Cavaliere57]

Bird Dog can you list your specs.

 

I am having problems getting it to run without pauses and stutters.

 

Have tried the graphics tweaks with no major improvement, set to use only one core of my Quad core, otherwise its exceedingly slow slideshow.

 

ASUS P5K mobo

Q6600 Quad CPU

4Gb ram

ATI HD 4890 1 Gb

Creative X-Fi soundcard

Two 500Gb SATA HD

 

Guess its a problem using such old software on modern kit, it is not optimised very well (CFS3) and hogs resources even when exited (at least 2.5Gb memory in a tmp file).

My system runs other stuff very well.

 

Hope you may be able to help with advice, seems to run fine on other modern systems.

 

May have to give up and stick to First Eagles and Rise of Flight, they should have that engine for the next OFF, would be awesome.

 

Del

 

 

 

 

I'm afraid your problem lieas somewhere else,for instance,since you own a multicore CPU,you should run OFF on a single core only,all the stutters and pauses run away!!

Don't know if there is something for the Intel CPUs,I use AMD, and they released a little patch,wich solved the problem.....

[Venator]

I'm afraid your problem lieas somewhere else,for instance,since you own a multicore CPU,you should run OFF on a single core only,all the stutters and pauses run away!!

 

Assigning OFF to a cpu 1, TIR4 and my joystick profiler to cpu 2, and ALL other system and background processes to cpu 3 & 4 does help improve fps BUT does NOT help stutter (a very different problem). BTW I do NOT have antivirus/malware running.

 

Clean Win7 x64 install on 4 x 2.66 GHz Xeons, 11 GB RAM, XFX 4870 1 GB.

Barring a wacking great solid state drive to speed texture loading, I'm not sure how else my hardware can be improved without building a whole new machine (and I ain't doing that anytime soon! Too much invested already).

 

My attempts at tweaking seem endless and frustrating. (Apologies for the self-indulgent windeging...). Although it would be much worse if I was alone in this...

[Von Paulus]

Besides what uncleal wrote I would add "and set Ground Object Density to low in WS".