Recommended Nvidia GTX970 Graphics Settings For SF2 ?

[+Piecemeal]

I'm hoping some members here can give me some recommendations.

I've finally managed to install the SF2 series on my new desktop. I downloaded my Desert 4 terrain and some Dhimari Mirages, installed them and tried them out. Problem is I'm having some alarming graphics problems. I'll let the screenshots peak for themselves:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My graphics settings in the Options.INI:

 

DisplayDeviceID=0

DisplayWidth=1600

DisplayHeight=900

DisplayDepth=32

AspectRatio=1.777778

Antialiasing=0

ForceDX9=FALSE

ForceVSyncOff=FALSE

Use32BitZBuffer=TRUE

LensFlare=0

DetailLevel=4

ObjectDetail=2

ObjectTexture=3

CockpitTexture=3

CockpitMirrors=1

EffectsDetail=2

TerrainDetail=2

TerrainTexture=3

HorizonDistance=2

GroundObjectDensity=3

WaterDetail=2

CloudsDetail=2

Shadow=2

ObjectsFade=FALSE

 

 

screenshots of the current Nvidia GTX970 (v.355.98) 3D settings:

 

 

 

Any help in solving these conspicuous game glitches would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gunrunner]

Revert to 353 series drivers, it's the only way to entirely get rid of it, the only alternative is to get rid of custom shaders, custom environment.ini and the problem will happen slightly less, but there is no combination of settings that will make it go away entirely.

There is no interest from TK to correct it game-side and since it's specific to SF2 and SF2 is low profile, I doubt there's any interest from nVidia to solve it when it's probably game-side.

 

As it stands now, the only way to play Strike Fighters as we used to is to either use an AMD graphic card (and even then, the next generation might break things), or a nVidia one supporting 353 series drivers (meaning no card beyond the current generation and no GTX 950).

The bad news is that AMD cards still have their max FPS at 60 and offer a lower average FPS than similarly priced nVidia cards, the good news is that they offer better minimum FPS.

 

It is the end of the road for SF2, within two to 5 years it won't be playable except on legacy machines.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Gunrunner

[MigBuster]

Set max pre rendered frames = 1 for stutter removal.

[Nicholas Bell]

Revert to 353 series drivers, it's the only way to entirely get rid of it, the only alternative is to get rid of custom shaders, custom environment.ini and the problem will happen slightly less, but there is no combination of settings that will make it go away entirely.

There is no interest from TK to correct it game-side and since it's specific to SF2 and SF2 is low profile, I doubt there's any interest from nVidia to solve it when it's probably game-side.

 

As it stands now, the only way to play Strike Fighters as we used to is to either use an AMD graphic card (and even then, the next generation might break things), or a nVidia one supporting 353 series drivers (meaning no card beyond the current generation and no GTX 950).

 

Not 100% true.  I'm using a GTX 980 with a 360 series driver (at work so I don't know exactly) and am having no problems.

[+Piecemeal]

Revert to 353 series drivers, it's the only way to entirely get rid of it, the only alternative is to get rid of custom shaders, custom environment.ini and the problem will happen slightly less, but there is no combination of settings that will make it go away entirely.

There is no interest from TK to correct it game-side and since it's specific to SF2 and SF2 is low profile, I doubt there's any interest from nVidia to solve it when it's probably game-side.

 

As it stands now, the only way to play Strike Fighters as we used to is to either use an AMD graphic card (and even then, the next generation might break things), or a nVidia one supporting 353 series drivers (meaning no card beyond the current generation and no GTX 950).

The bad news is that AMD cards still have their max FPS at 60 and offer a lower average FPS than similarly priced nVidia cards, the good news is that they offer better minimum FPS.

 

It is the end of the road for SF2, within two to 5 years it won't be playable except on legacy machines.

 

I'd be willing to try anything right now in order to solve this issue. Will give it a try. Cheers.

 

Set max pre rendered frames = 1 for stutter removal.

 

Stutter (as in low framerates)? Wasn't having too much of an issue there but I'll change it to that anyway. Thanks.

[+Piecemeal]

GunRunner, I meant to ask you; do I have to uninstall the current driver before installing the 353 series?

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention in the first post that my new desktop runs on Windows 10

Edited March 15, 2016 by Piecemeal

[Gunrunner]

@Piecemeal, Yes, you have to uninstall the previous drivers first, sorry.

 

Windows 10 shouldn't be a huge issue, you will get a bit less FPS compared to Windows 7 but nothing too drastic (and that common to most DX9/DX10 games under Windows 10), and there has been reports of problems of a loss of quality with some shaders and when it comes to anti-aliasing but I've read nothing game breaking.

 

Personally I run a dual-boot with Windows 7 stuck at 353 level drivers and Windows 10 with up to date drivers for anything that absolutely requires it, but I've come to hate Windows 10 with a fiery passion (due to the broken networking when it comes to VLAN and LACP teaming on Intel network cards).

 

Keep in mind that some people have reported having luck with newer drivers, mostly the 358 series, none with a GTX 970 though. For me only the 353 works 100%.

 

@Nicholas Bell, you are, partially, correct, if you are running the game stock or near-stock, but I did not mention it as it wasn't Piecemeal's purpose nor what most of us do. Note however that even in pure stock, if you run in Unlimited in some extreme situations, like SAM heavy action, or B-52 bomb runs over Vietnam, you WILL have the same problem with any driver beyond 353, but it will be temporary (and might be less prone to happen at certain resolutions) and going to map view an back usually solves it.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Gunrunner

[+Piecemeal]

@Piecemeal, Yes, you have to uninstall the previous drivers first, sorry.

 

@Nicholas Bell, you are, partially, correct, if you are running the game stock or near-stock, but I did not mention it as it wasn't Piecemeal's purpose nor what most of us do. Note however that even in pure stock, if you run in Unlimited in some extreme situations, like SAM heavy action, or B-52 bomb runs over Vietnam, you WILL have the same problem with any driver beyond 353, but it will be temporary (and might be less prone to happen at certain resolutions) and going to map view an back usually solves it.

 

Another question (I know, sorry!); I've done a little googling on 353 series and have seen on one discussion that certain 353 drivers have caused problems. Can you recommend which one would be most suited to my rig? (bearing in mind that I'm running on W10)

Example: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/3l5v49/which_driver_should_i_rollback_to_in_windows_10/

Edited March 15, 2016 by Piecemeal

[Gunrunner]

Unfortunately I can't help you there, I've been running 353.62 on Windows 7 for as long as they were out (on more than one machine), except when I tried updating, without any of the problems reported. I can't even guarantee they're the best for W10 as I am still under W7 when it comes to gaming.

 

One thing I notice with the stuttering reported is that it happens with games I don't even own, so I can't tell you if it's just bad luck or game-related. However that might be the reason for Crusader's comment. All I can tell you is that crashes are not an issue in my experience (nor is stuttering with SF2).

If you have time to spare you can try 358 drivers, or the latest ones to see if you have more luck than me, if you don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time testing though, from what I've been reading up since you asked, it seems the safest bet might be 353.30 (but that might be a problem if you intend to play some really recent games I guess).

Edited March 15, 2016 by Gunrunner

[+Piecemeal]

Alrighty then. I Installed the Nvidia 353.62 drivers and the problems seem to have disappeared. Having a problem with "jaggies" on objects and hills on the terrain though. Made sure that anti-aliasing was switched off on the Nvidia control panel and on the Options.ini file - no improvement unfortunately.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Piecemeal

[+streakeagle]

Since when are AMD cards limited to 60 fps in SF2? I have been flying SFP1 with Radeon cards ever since I decided to replace my Voodoo 5. I do prefer using Vsync and I don't have any monitors that support more than 60 fps, but I used to run unlocked just to see how many fps I could get... quite a bit more than 60. Now you have piqued my interest and I need to unlock vsync to see what my current hardward can do.

[Nicholas Bell]

@Nicholas Bell, you are, partially, correct, if you are running the game stock or near-stock, but I did not mention it as it wasn't Piecemeal's purpose nor what most of us do. Note however that even in pure stock, if you run in Unlimited in some extreme situations, like SAM heavy action, or B-52 bomb runs over Vietnam, you WILL have the same problem with any driver beyond 353, but it will be temporary (and might be less prone to happen at certain resolutions) and going to map view an back usually solves it.

 

Nope, nothing near stock with scores of aircraft and SAMS, nukes, additional flak, Stary's effects further modded with increased time length, particles, etc.  I've quadrupled the cloud counts. Running unlimited with Mue's mods.   And I am using 361.43,  albeit with a 980 not a 970.  My point is no one should blanket statements about this or that video card or driver working or not working.  Everyone's situation is going to be dependent on their system and setup.  And while I don't have a specific answer for the OP's problem, falling back to an old driver may not be the solution on his system.

 

Your comment regarding mods, however brings up the question as to how SF2 runs for Piecemeal in just stock mod.  Could be a specific mod making things worse for his system.  He could go back to stock and add in mods one at a time to see if one creates the problems.

[+streakeagle]

To just derail this thread a bit more... I definitely am capped to 60 fps. I don't know when that happened. I don't fly SF2 that often any more and when I do it is with VSYNC pretty much locking my fps at exactly 60 fps.

 

On the darker side... I see some small texture glitches. Nothing like the scale of the pics above. Just a small rectangular bar that flickers off to the left or right... not always there depending on zoom/view angle etc.

I wonder with AMD driver added that?

[+JonathanRL]

Question: Have any of us tried to get this to NVIDIAs attention?

[Gunrunner]

@JonathanRL, not that I'm aware of, the trouble being reproducibility, the problem being mostly absent on stock installs.

 

@streakeagle, I'd say it came back about a year ago, I remember it didn't happen when I first tested a R9 270X, but at some point it came back and it's present with every newer AMD card and drivers.

[Gunrunner]

@Nicholas Bell, Well, I was about to angrily describe the dozens of hours and test procedures I used (using two different machines, 4 GPU and 5 sets of drivers) to reach my opinion on the matter, while I bet you have no idea how much VRAM a typical mission on your install consumes and whether or not swapping occurs... then I decided testing 364 drivers was a better use of both our time...

 

Ok, after few tests, I have a good news and a bad news.

 

Good news, under Windows 7 x64, drivers 364.51 seem to work great in modded conditions, I haven't pushed things to the limit yet, but it's encouraging.

Bad news, under Windows 10, the game crashes to desktop after loading the mission even in lightly modded conditions.

 

Anyone care to test it ?

Edited March 16, 2016 by Gunrunner

[+Piecemeal]

I've been adjusting the in-game and Nvidia graphics settings in order to try and eliminate the jaggies but to no avail. ALL the other graphics problems that I've been having have disappeared since installing the Nvidia 353.62 drivers.

Before heading to bed last night I downloaded the TMF F-4K and ran it. No problems that I noticed for a high-spec mod (apart from the jaggies). Then for the hell of it I decided to try out SF2 on Unlimited settings - not bad at all, the framerates were good but I haven't yet tried it out in an AI-heavy situation such as a campaign mission, where you'd have friendly flights, SAMs, AAA and enemy aircraft all operating simultaneously in your specific AO.

 

Johnathan: I've thought of bringing this to Nvidia's attention but the reason I brought it up here was cause everybody on this forum is more than familiar with the "intricacies" of the SF2 series.

 

As regards the "jaggies", here's an example of the ones I've been mentioning:

 

 

I'll be visiting my Father later today so further attempts at solving this issue will have to wait til this evening after dinner.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Piecemeal

[Gunrunner]

The trick apparently is to deactivate anti-aliasing in OPTIONS.INI and then only force it for the game through nVidia Control Panel, that seemed to work for others, I can't test it myself at the moment but there's been a thread by FalconC45 on that topic a few days ago.

[+baffmeister]

The trick apparently is to deactivate anti-aliasing in OPTIONS.INI and then only force it for the game through nVidia Control Panel, that seemed to work for others, I can't test it myself at the moment but there's been a thread by FalconC45 on that topic a few days ago.

 

I still haven't had any success trying to force anti aliasing from the Nvidia control panel [Win7]. Piecemeal, why don't you try Anti Aliasing=4 in the SF options ini and see what you get?

Edited March 16, 2016 by baffmeister

[+Piecemeal]

The trick apparently is to deactivate anti-aliasing in OPTIONS.INI and then only force it for the game through nVidia Control Panel, that seemed to work for others, I can't test it myself at the moment but there's been a thread by FalconC45 on that topic a few days ago.

 

 

I still haven't had any success trying to force anti aliasing from the Nvidia control panel [Win7]. Piecemeal, why don't you try Anti Aliasing=4 in the SF options ini and see what you get?

 

Just to let you guys know that I've taken on both your suggestions and after a little trial-and-error I've now completely eliminated the jaggies.

 

First I set the anti-aliasing to ​4. I then applied the following anti-aliasing settings in the Nvidia control panel:

[+Piecemeal]

After these changes there's no more 'steps' on surrounding hills and mountains; no glaringly obvious jaggies on low-poly ground objects; and most importantly, no jaggies on stock or third party aircraft:

 

[+baffmeister]

If you have a strong card, setting Anti Aliasing=8 in the options ini may be worth a try as well. It did seem to work when I gave it a shot but I just run at 4 on my mediocre rig.

[+Piecemeal]

If you have a strong card, setting Anti Aliasing=8 in the options ini may be worth a try as well. It did seem to work when I gave it a shot but I just run at 4 on my mediocre rig.

 

It seems pretty much OK at 4. What I'm more interested in is seeing if any of the other 3D settings on the Control Panel can be tweaked to increase framerates a little more and to get the most out of the card without overclocking it. I've already got the game settings to unlimited with a minimum 50FPS/max 120FPS and a 55 to 65-odd FPS average. It is after all a gaming rig.

 

EDIT: I made sure my rig was fitted with a hi-spec card. Check the signature of my post for my specs.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Piecemeal

[+baffmeister]

Here's a link to a Nvidia tweaks guide that I found quite helpful. Seemed to be good for optimizing the graphics while avoiding some potentially counter productive filtering. It's quite in depth, best read from start to finish! http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_6.html

[Fubar512]

Piecemeal, judging from the image, yo may want to bump up your anisotropic filtering setting up to at least 8x or so.