Better FPS

[themightysrc 5]

HI all,

 

I've had to reinstall OFF recently (grr!), and my FPS is lurking in the mid/high teens - not unplayable, but I'm sure it could be better. How can I improve this?

 

I've followed the OFF ATI setup settings - you know, disable this, set X to managed, etc - my screen resolution is about the highest I can set it to and my sliders are set to 42241 (ignoring the useless top slider).

 

My system spec is as follows - I think these are all the relevant settings, if I've missed any let me know:

 

Mainboard : Asus P5VDC-MX

Processor : Intel Pentium D 820 @ 2800 MHz

Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM )

Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO AGP

 

What can I do to get those dratted FPS up to the 30 mark? I love the game and it's so frustrating to be limited in gameplay by either the hardware or setup.

 

TIA,

Si

[abyss 1]

I'm a Nvidia guy, but I'm also somewhat limited by my MoBo to my 8600 GT, not having the ability to run PCIE-1

 

At the risk of one angry Polovski, have you tried aircraft on 3

 

Disable SHADOWS in overrides

 

Detail LOW in Workshop

 

I picked-up 8 FPS by getting a 27" Monitor allowing me to run 1920X1050

[themightysrc 5]

Hi abyss,

 

I've got shadows off already, but I'll try low detail in workshop and see how I go. A more hi-tech monitor is, sadly, not an option at the mo.

 

Cheers,

Si

[abyss 1]

Hi abyss,

 

I've got shadows off already, but I'll try low detail in workshop and see how I go. A more hi-tech monitor is, sadly, not an option at the mo.

 

Cheers,

Si

 

Upon Double Checking it's "Ground Object Density" which I run on "LOW" with my XP Quad@2.4

But it's on HIGH" with my Windows 7 64bit . . .i5 @3.6

 

Now I'm not gonna try to Lie . . . it looks a lot better on HIGH

 

But you do whatever works

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'll give you something that'll really drive you crazy

 

When I run the i5 my Trackir 4 center is on my joystick

 

BUT

 

When I run in XP, my Trackir 4 refuses to center on my joystick. And since I never liked F12, I center on the Spacebar

 

Whenever my Trackir is energized, my Spacebar won't function as a Spacebar

Edited December 7, 2011 by abyss

[33LIMA 972]

You could try disabling Vsync (think it would have to be in the ATI drivers) if you don't mind the 'tearing' effect you may notice when panning rapidly. Vsync is usually on by default and that levels your FPS down to the next lowest multiple of your monitor's refresh rate eg if refresh rate = 60 Hz you'll get 60, 30, 15, 12, 10 etc (different figures seen with the Z key or FRAPS being due to being in between stepping up or down, as it were). Will enable your FPS to operate at max without the 'refresh rate cap'. Personally I prefer the limit to the tearing.

 

Suggest you drop your 'effects' - at 4, is it? In my experience, being near the Lines, especially low, when there's a bombardment going on, which is often, is an FPS killer, worse than airfields at low level which is another big hitter. Another poss I have not tried is to use CFS3config/Custom settings/Texture limits to reduce the number of particles (top slider IIRC, scale is such that it's not easy to use). Even if you're not near the lines or low near airfields there's all that exhaust smoke to be rendered.

 

In workshop, set Ground Object Density to 'Low', less trees etc but I dislike the visible object draw-in and that is less visible at 'Low', plus FPS is better.

 

I would try planes at 5, even use hi-res skins (Workshop) and concentrate on other things like effects and ground objects. Some things seem to have a pretty dramatic effect, others can be ramped up without much of a problem. You already have the big hitters turned down (scenery and terrain textures) so I'd lower ground object density and effects, but stick with or even bump up clouds and aircraft.

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Lima,

 

Great set of suggestions - I'll fire up the PC and see what happens when I try them. TBH, a flat constant 20 FPS would be OK at the moment. I was chasing a Fokker Triplane around yesterday evening, and it was painful losing him even 2-3 seconds because of the inability of my rig to keep up (I was at about 600 feet which reinforces much of what you've written).

 

Thanks,

Si

[33LIMA 972]

Hi Lima,

 

Great set of suggestions - I'll fire up the PC and see what happens when I try them. TBH, a flat constant 20 FPS would be OK at the moment. I was chasing a Fokker Triplane around yesterday evening, and it was painful losing him even 2-3 seconds because of the inability of my rig to keep up (I was at about 600 feet which reinforces much of what you've written).

 

Thanks,

Si

 

Good luck with that. I really think the effects slider setting is important. I've an early Quad Core 2.33, 6Gb RAM and recently replaced a budget 256Mb 9300GS with a significantly better 512Mb 8800GT, which got me past the slowdowns I had in grey and cloudy weather. But I still needed to turn the effects down from 5, then to 4, then to 3, to get consistently above 20 FPS near the lines with any shooting going on.

 

Another thing maybe worth checking out if you use anti-aliasing, is to see whether you get better results using the card's driver to set them, or using CFS3config. I had been using 4x AA set in the card's driver, but found this still left the rigging wires a bit jagged or indistinct. I found that if I set the AA in CFS3config, I could go to 8x, with no drop in FPS, giving better-looking rigging wires (I fly pre- and post-combat in external view). I had to up the AF setting a bit to reduce ground texture shimmer. Point is, that I seemed to get a better performance-quality tradeoff, setting my AA in-game (CFS3config retains the AA setting even tho it looks as it it's reset to 0, apparently). Mileage may vary of course.

[+Polovski 460]

The system is lowish and probably struggling there, but the main effect on fps will be terrain and scenery settings, plus CPU and video AA/Aniso filtering etc.

 

Check your AA settings, set in cfs3config- try different settings. Try using cfsconfig AA settings and lowering AA or even increasing has been known to help!, and try off in the ATi panel (turn off for CFS3.exe?) or vice versa.

 

Or try other Anisotropic settings lower, off.

 

Try Vsync on/off

 

Try Overclocking your CPU a little, and disable the Intel thermal and green throttling options of the CPU in the BIOS.

See FAQ there are various other tips under troublshooting etc.

 

Check regional air activity is set to low, and flight density low in workshops.

[themightysrc 5]

Thanks Pol - it's always good to hear from someone who probably knows this stuff like the back of their hand. Oh well, new PC for P4 then!