ArmA 3 Alpha Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide

[hannibal636 11]

i have an older i7-980x (intel six core processsor)... what should i set for the -exThreads and -cpuCount parameter?

i am guessing -cpuCount=6 -exThreads=11

Edited April 5, 2013 by hannibal636

[Tr51 1]

Hi,

I set: -CPUCount = 2. -exThreads=7

with an i7 \ 950 .... and I must say that runs better, but do not ask me why.

[hannibal636 11]

Hi,

I set: -CPUCount = 2. -exThreads=7

with an i7 \ 950 .... and I must say that runs better, but do not ask me why.

your settings are SORT of correct because you have a 4 core processor. i am asking community forum what is the settings for a six core processor

[Tr51 1]

@ Hannibal636

for your CPU is correct -cpuCount=6 -exThreads=11

[rok 0]

11 is not a valid option for -exThreads (http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma2:_Startup_Parameters#exThreads)

In most cases there's no need to define -cpuCount or -exThreads at all.

[incontrovertible 13]

i have an older i7-980x (intel six core processsor)... what should i set for the -exThreads and -cpuCount parameter?

i am guessing -cpuCount=6 -exThreads=11

yep that would be the correct setting, the wiki doesn't say so but yes with hyperthreading exThreads is your (physical cores x 2) - 1. So for instance 6-cores no hyperthreading is just -cpuCount=6

Edited April 6, 2013 by incontrovertible

[Tr51 1]

hi

The information is exhaustive :

-cpuCount=

The best way to simulate dual core on quad core is to use -cpuCount=2 when you run the game and then change the affinity to 2 cores to make sure additional cores can never be used when some over-scheduling happens. It might be also possible to set the affinity in the OS before you launch the process, that would work as well.

-exThreads= is option to define extra threads.

All file operations go through a dedicated thread. This offloads some processing from the main thread, however it adds some overhead at the same time. The reason why threaded file ops were implemented was to serve as a basement for other threads ops. When multiple threads are running at the same time, OS is scheduling them on different cores. Geometry and Texture loading (both done by the same thread) are scheduled on different cores outside the main rendering loop at the same time with the main rendering loop.

source: bistudio.com/wiki/ Docet

[Sneakson 1]

Nice guide, gonna try it out now.

Edit: didn't do much but may have substantially affected load times for the better, I think.

Anyone knows what difference putting the game on an SSD makes? Does it only affect load times or also in-game loading?

Edited April 6, 2013 by Sneakson

[Tr51 1]

Nice guide, gonna try it out now.

Edit: didn't do much but may have substantially affected load times for the better, I think.

Anyone knows what difference putting the game on an SSD makes? Does it only affect load times or also in-game loading?

hi;

I would say that it cannot hurt, but don't expect too much

[mighteemouse 1]

Nice guide, gonna try it out now.

Edit: didn't do much but may have substantially affected load times for the better, I think.

Anyone knows what difference putting the game on an SSD makes? Does it only affect load times or also in-game loading?

night and day difference. game loads quicker and less stutter due to hdd reads in game.

[killerwhale 1]

i've been watching Red Orchestra CPU usage compared to ArmA 3, I wonder why cant Bohemia do the same because Red Orchestra uses 63% of the CPU and all 8 cores to maximize performance.

[incontrovertible 13]

yep that would be the correct setting, the wiki doesn't say so but yes with hyperthreading exThreads is your (physical cores x 2) - 1. So for instance 6-cores no hyperthreading is just -cpuCount=6

correction, -cpuCount=6 -exThreads=7, the exThreads represent a decimal value of a binary setting used to offload various file operation processes from the main arma thread to separate threads on different cores.

We will test this on intel/amd quad/dual cores and get back to you on what we find in the guide.

[kklownboy 43]

i've been watching Red Orchestra CPU usage compared to ArmA 3, I wonder why cant Bohemia do the same because Red Orchestra uses 63% of the CPU and all 8 cores to maximize performance.

You would be incorrect. RO doesnt use Eight Cores, Windows uses Eight Cores. As a matter of fact, you have more performance if you only used Four Cores. It seems to be the biggest issue with AMD users...Win's core balancing and too many cores. Then the Parking of Cores at the wrong time.( opening the Map etc...).

[killerwhale 1]

You would be incorrect. RO doesnt use Eight Cores, Windows uses Eight Cores. As a matter of fact, you have more performance if you only used Four Cores. It seems to be the biggest issue with AMD users...Win's core balancing and too many cores. Then the Parking of Cores at the wrong time.( opening the Map etc...).

then what is using all 8 cores when RO2 is up? by the way, my cpu is intel i7

[axclaw 1]

Just figured I would add something I just tried and worked well for my system.

I am using your command line (-cpuCount=4 -exThreads=7 -high -maxMem=8192 -noPause -noSplash -world=empty)

When in game open the Windows Task Manager and use the set affinity option(Right Click Arma3.exe). I uncheck cpu 0 and 1.

I noticed a pretty good gain overall. I also noticed way more usage between the 3 other cores. Oddly enough the game stopped using the virtual cores.

The reasoning behind this for me is that Windows like's to put all of my stuff on CPU 0 and 1 for some reason.

Also my specs:

i7 2600k @ 4.6GHz

16 GB DDR3 1600MHz

GTX580SC

Hope's this helps some people! Also I think you have to do it every time.

EDIT: Forgot to mention this is on the current Dev Build. Will test on current public build.

EDIT 2:

Run 1

Public Build No Affinity Change
nTest One - 42.237
nTest Two - 30.6387
nTest Three - 33.0383
nTest Four - 29.1971
nTest Five - 53.3964
nScoggs's OFPMark is 3770.15



Public Build Affinity Change
nTest One - 51.9878
nTest Two - 36.5458
nTest Three - 38.004
nTest Four - 36.4299
nTest Five - 56.3672
nScoggs's OFPMark is 4386.69



Development Build No Affinity Change
nTest One - 42.6261
nTest Two - 33.0228
nTest Three - 33.6573
nTest Four - 30.4646
nTest Five - 54.1586
nScoggs's OFPMark is 3878.59



Public Build Affinity Change
nTest One - 53.3266
nTest Two - 38.2214
nTest Three - 37.2911
nTest Four - 38.2531
nTest Five - 56.897
nScoggs's OFPMark is 4479.78


Tested with ArmA3mark0.7.Stratis.pbo

Run 2 (This time restarting Arma3.exe after every run)

Public Build No Affinity Change
nTest One - 41.8149
nTest Two - 31.4658
nTest Three - 31.8796
nTest Four - 30.1432
nTest Five - 52.1855
nScoggs's OFPMark is 3749.78


Public Build Affinity Change
nTest One - 52.1574
nTest Two - 36.8886
nTest Three - 37.7067
nTest Four - 34.9854
nTest Five - 55.6148
nScoggs's OFPMark is 4347.06


Development Build No Affinity Change
nTest One - 41.9304
nTest Two - 32.2809
nTest Three - 32.8107
nTest Four - 29.8954
nTest Five - 53.7728
nScoggs's OFPMark is 3813.8


Public Build Affinity Change
nTest One - 52.8827
nTest Two - 38.4797
nTest Three - 39.3654
nTest Four - 37.5704
nTest Five - 57.1333
nScoggs's OFPMark is 4508.63


Tested with ArmA3mark0.7.Stratis.pbo

nice

gonna test this out

so far the cpucount helped a tad bit, i know because forests make my screen go very laggy and ive been playing alpha since time

so i should know if this helps or not, there are doubters on the forum and someone even said maybe its a placebo!

its definitely not

my forest lag went up like 5 fps

from 15 to 21

it feels less choppy now ;D

heres my system specs btw

3770k stock voltage

8800 gt 512 ram stock

32gb corsair 1333mhz

running off 520 intel ssd

nzxt switch 810 chassis for ubber cooling

also, it is outside the forests, away from large # of vegetation where i my fps average is 25-60

sometimes higher when near the beach of course

Edited April 16, 2013 by axclaw

[SneakyDuck 1]

heres my system specs btw

3770k stock voltage

8800 gt 512 ram stock

32gb corsair 1333mhz

running off 520 intel ssd

nzxt switch 810 chassis for ubber cooling

also, it is outside the forests, away from large # of vegetation where i my fps average is 25-60

sometimes higher when near the beach of course

Why do you have such beefy components and then bottleneck the crap out of it with a 6 year old GPU? That's insane.

[Zorg_DK 10]

For me the most important performance tweak is that I have to alt-tab to desktop and back to the game when it has loaded. Otherwise fps is stuck to 30 fps or 60fps. When I alt-tab back to the game fps changes properly. Using vsync.

[incontrovertible 13]

I've updated the guide with new general system optimizations and revised basic settings.

[coffeeshock 20]

For me the most important performance tweak is that I have to alt-tab to desktop and back to the game when it has loaded. Otherwise fps is stuck to 30 fps or 60fps. When I alt-tab back to the game fps changes properly. Using vsync.

I can confirm this.

[antoineflemming 14]

For me the most important performance tweak is that I have to alt-tab to desktop and back to the game when it has loaded. Otherwise fps is stuck to 30 fps or 60fps. When I alt-tab back to the game fps changes properly. Using vsync.

Well that's what vsync does. It locks the FPS to no more than your screen's refresh rate, which for most is 60FPS. Why would you expect any different?

[adeno1 10]

Helped me alot , thanks for this ! Getting not really high framerates with my machine but its much better than before. There is only 1 thing i would add: Clean ur pc fans (case,gpu,cpu) and get some high quality thermal compound.

[coffeeshock 20]

Well that's what vsync does. It locks the FPS to no more than your screen's refresh rate, which for most is 60FPS. Why would you expect any different?

No it's not. I play every single game with VSYNC on and never experienced this... I start A3, load a mission and have very low fps and everything feels just slow/laggy... then I Alt+Tab to desktop and back to the game, et voilla full 60 fps...

[Simas 12]

I can confirm that alt-tab trick. It's like the game is trying to limit you to 30fps for some reason until you do the alt-tab thingy.

[xendance 3]

Well that's what vsync does. It locks the FPS to no more than your screen's refresh rate, which for most is 60FPS. Why would you expect any different?

It limits your FPS to the multiples of your screen's refresh rate, not just max it at that. ;)

[dfour 10]

Adaptive vsync and fps cap at 60 works great!