Problems with the smoothness of graphics

[JacksonM 74]

Hi there!

I have problems with graphic. When I make medium or higher graphics detail level I have terrible lags with video smoothness. Is it possible to fix them in my case?

My videocard: Intel(R) HD Graphics

My OS: Windows 10 x64

[Wrench 9,801]

if that's the onboard graphics chip, you're going to need a real video card. Is there room in you computer case for one?

[+VonS 1,424]

Hi Jackson,

Wrench is right - nothing beats a dedicated video card.

Having said that, if you want to tinker to get the most out of your integrated card, try setting shadows to "low" in your FE menu, also the horizon should be set to "near." Other things to do...dig into the general ini file for your different plane types (not the data ini files), and set shadows to "False" - also, dig into your user folder for FE and open the options.ini file, scroll to the setting for antialiasing, and set that either to 0 or 2 (higher values slow down frame rates). Also worth tinkering with is the particlesystem.ini file, located in the Flight folder of your user directory for FE. Reducing particle sizes helps to keep integrated cards from slowing down too much. As well, check over the following posts:

While those posts are for FE2, much of the advice may apply to FE/FEgold.

Von S

P.S. FE2 makes a user directory separate from the actual sim folder (I'm assuming that FE/FEgold does something similar...if not, disregard my comments about "user folder" or "user directory" in this post - what I've said about the individual files should still be relevant). Also, you might want to max. out the RAM on your computer if possible - the more system RAM you have, the more your integrated video card can use.

Edited November 3, 2017 by VonS
Fixed typos.

[JacksonM 74]

11 hours ago, Wrench said:

if that's the onboard graphics chip, you're going to need a real video card. Is there room in you computer case for one?

I'm glad to do that but, you see, I can't change or add any video cards because I don't have computer system unit but I have a laptop.

[JacksonM 74]

Thx VonS for advices, I'll put them into service but there is another hitch:

I have only .dll "particlesystem" file in "C:/FirstEagles/System" folder.

btw there is not any "user" folder at FE1.

[+VonS 1,424]

Hi Jackson, the .dll of the particlesystem ini is a part of the game itself, as I can see from the folder structure "c/firsteagles/system" - then it's likely the case, as in my post above, that FE/FEgold does not create a user folder under "c/users/documents/thirdwire/firsteagles" as is present in FE2. While this does complicate tweaking somewhat, toggling of the settings in the game menu itself should help to increase framerates (the main culprits are usually shadows set too high, and the horizon set to medium or far). Keep us posted, hopefully some of these tips will help.

Von S

[Wrench 9,801]

 none of the 1stGen games (SF/Wo* or FE/FEG)  create the separate "mods folder" like the "2" series. Everything is located within the main game install; all the exes, dlls, cats, etc.

try turning down all the graphic options. Turn shadows and mirrors off, horizon to NEAR, basically all graphics down to minimum, then start bringing them up, one at at time playtesting each change.

With a on-board card, in a laptop (probably not originally designed for gaming), internal memory will be lacking in both RAM and video. Unfortunately, the only way to improve them -even with a 1stGen- is a better machine (sorry, had to state the fact!).

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

You can also try changing the graphic settings in the options in the game. See if you can change the display resolution to a lower setting. I've noticed over the years that different graphics cards give you different options. You will need to experiment because some settings may be distorted. You will have a rougher looking screen, but the frame rate should improve. In games, it's always a trade off between quality and speed anyway.

Do you know that pressing Alt+D while the game is playing will display the frame rate at the top of the screen? 

[Crawford 570]

You're using a 64-bit version of the Windows 10. It's no wonder that FE feels unwell with this OS...

Edited November 5, 2017 by Crawford

[JacksonM 74]

18 hours ago, Stephen1918 said:

You can also try changing the graphic settings in the options in the game. See if you can change the display resolution to a lower setting. I've noticed over the years that different graphics cards give you different options. You will need to experiment because some settings may be distorted. You will have a rougher looking screen, but the frame rate should improve. In games, it's always a trade off between quality and speed anyway.

Do you know that pressing Alt+D while the game is playing will display the frame rate at the top of the screen? 

Oh, this is useless. I think, Wrench is right: my videocard could be not designed for gaming... Maybe, it'll be better to play on low graphics?.. In this case frame rate is smooth, only sometimes it starts lagging.

Edited November 5, 2017 by JacksonM

[JacksonM 74]

Gents, do you know "Blender 3D" program? I have the same problems there: image rendering is too slow...

[JacksonM 74]

2 hours ago, Crawford said:

You're using a 64-bit version of the Windows 10. It's no wonder that FE feels unwell with this OS...

Sad, but true At least, sim is working. I'm glad about it.

Edited November 5, 2017 by JacksonM

[+Geezer 3,569]

On 11/5/2017 at 4:58 AM, JacksonM said:

Gents, do you know "Blender 3D" program? I have the same problems there: image rendering is too slow...

I fooled around a bit with Blender years ago when designing user interfaces for Northrop UAVs.  Blender and 3dsMax both use a lot of graphic processing horsepower when rendering an image.  While there are probably some tweaks to slightly improve efficiency, there is no avoiding the real problem - old computers lack the horsepower needed for good graphics.

[JacksonM 74]

17 hours ago, Geezer said:

I fooled around a bit with Blender years ago when designing user interfaces for Northrop UAVs.  Blender and 3dsMax both use a lot of graphic processing horsepower when rendering an image.  While there are probably some tweaks to slightly improve efficiency, there is no avoiding the real problem - old computers lack the horsepower needed for good graphics.

Thanks. Recently I was making there an animation and I know that you're PERFECTLY right. I already found that what don't I do, but anyway I can't make rendering faster. But I have already reconciled myself with this.

     You see, image like this one renders about one hour(in my case). But this is my own work, I made this minecraft art by myself and I hope nobody will cause me any copyright problems.(I'm not speaking about well-known people who are making TW games better and better, such as you, I'm speaking about "anonyms"). I know that this is not the ideal of all desires but I'm really afraid of them(not of anonyms, but copyright issues).

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by JacksonM

[+Geezer 3,569]

Nice shadows and atmospheric effects.  It was worth the wait!