New to A3, new gaming rig, low frame rates.

[Bad_Karma 12]

System specs.

Core Components

Processor: Intel Core i7 5930K 3.5GHz (Six-Core) (Unlocked CPU)

Motherboard: ASUS X99 RAMPAGE V (Intel X99 Chipset)

System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2800MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX (High-Performance)

Power Supply: 1200W Corsair AX1200i (Digitally Controlled Power)

Storage / Connectivity

Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)

Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (256GB Samsung 850 PRO)

Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)

Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Graphics / Multimedia

Graphics Card(s): 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB (ASUS Strix Edition)

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Zx

I played through half of the default campaign with no mods or add ons with no issues. I decided to get my feet wet and took the plunge and I'm running a few mods. About 20 or so mods. I'm away from the house and don't have the full list. TPW, Dragonfyre, Laxemanns mods, Blood Mist, Move While Reloading, SSPM, Massi's Vehicles and Troops, TF Apache(TFA), TYRK's skins, Beards... Just to name a few.

I'm currently trying to play Hunter Six campaign. About an hour into gameplay I start getting horrible frame rates. We're talking slide show, sounds cutting out. From my experience in other games it seems like a memory leak. I don't have enough playtime with A3 to know what's normal and the most common issues. In addition I have a new PC and perhaps the issue is with my system.

Any thoughts? Any suggestions on where to start troubleshooting? I've tried some basics, turning down some settings from Ultra to Very High. I wouldn't think my system would have any problems running A3.

..

[teilx 4]

I wouldn't think my system would have any problems running A3.

There is no system out there who can run Alpha 3 without probs. the whole troubleshooting section & Feedback/Bugtracker is the best evidence.....game itself has so many flaws + mod's and costum missions etc it gets even more unstable

[kelvar55 10]

The thing with mods is, some of them are really poorly optimized, if at all, for Arma 3 specifically, so especially if the mod's content is ported from Arma 2, expect the more issues with performance and stability the more "custom" mods you load in. If you're playing multiplayer, quite a lot is based on the server's performance as well, fps-wise.

[Richie 330]

The server you play on can have a huge impact on client side FPS, more Ai = less frames unless wrote properly with cleanup scripts and optimized.

One thing that did work for me was GeForce Experience, Arma 3 is a supported game and letting it choose the settings gave me an extra 10-15 frames, worth a try and 1 click will revert the settings back :)

[Bad_Karma 12]

I found the tweaks suggestion sticky. I should have gone through those tweaks prior to posting. I'm worried though because I'm only playing SP right now and having issues. Major lag issues. Hopefully it's mostly my settings. When I get home this evening I'll find out.

I'm wondering if there are any unwritten do's and dont's as far as the type of mods and number of mods you can run without destroying game play/frame rates.

[das attorney 857]

If I were you I would ditch all the mods and play vanilla. Find some nice settings (view distance and "object view distance" in particular have a big impact on performance).

Then add the mods back in one by one and see how they are impacting the game.

That way you can actually measure what you are doing and know what's good (and not so good) for the game.

[Bad_Karma 12]

If I were you I would ditch all the mods and play vanilla. Find some nice settings (view distance and "object view distance" in particular have a big impact on performance).

Then add the mods back in one by one and see how they are impacting the game.

That way you can actually measure what you are doing and know what's good (and not so good) for the game.

It appears it was mostly my settings. I used the tweaks suggested in the sticky at the top of this forum section. I only did the system tweaks, I'm a bit leery about messing with cfg settings. I'm not sure how to open those cfg files. I had a bad experience opening another game file last week with notepad. All my game files of the same type were set to open with notepad there after and I couldn't revert those files back to their default setting without a full system restore.

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

All my game files of the same type were set to open with notepad there after and I couldn't revert those files back to their default setting without a full system restore.

All you need to do is just open a new file by right clicking it, then where it says open with, then go down to open with default program, and choose from the list, or browse.

Aside that, about your performance issue, yes settings do make a difference as your finding out, but as Das Attorney has suggested play vanilla

and then add each mod 1 by 1, also run the campaign your playing if thats possible in the vanilla game, prob requires mods, so just use the mods

that the campaign requires and watch your performance.

Consider that AI mods will impact the game to a certain degree, poorly optimized missions, and or missions with a ton of AI in it.

As a bit of advice and this comes from a close friend of mine whom kept me on it over the years as hes a computer tech, is keep your computer clean, your HD defragged, optimized,

check for registry errors, the whole works, ect,. Not saying your computer is the culprit, but Arma3 like the other previous versions are demanding games, it is more cpu/GPU

heavy then anything else, but alot of factors effect how the game plays computer performance among others.

Settings, mods and number of Ai in a mission is a good place to start if your getting framerate drops.

If you apt to build any mission when and if you get to it in the editor, if you plan on adding a ton of AI then you will def want whats called a caching script,

or a script that spawns/despawns the AI as you enter in a predefined area or trigger, this will help maintain performance of the missions,

especially important to consider if you ever are looking to release it too.

[nikiforos 450]

Günter Severloh GPU heavy? Are you representing a GPU company and advice people to buy new GPUs for Arma? Sorry but that is leading a person the wrong way.

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

Im saying its cpu and gpu demanding, heavy aka another word for demanding, and no, although i prefer nvidia but to each their own.

[nikiforos 450]

We have people with great cards and they can't get more than 40 FPS when big AI fights occur. So enjoy the nice graphics on empty map because when you get heavy AI moments you will hit the floor regardless of your powerful card.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Nikiforos

[kridian 33]

We have people with great cards and they can't get more than 40 FPS when big AI fights occur. So enjoy the nice graphics on empty map because when you get heave AI moments you will hit floor regardless of your powerful card.

Yep. I just updated my computer to 32gb of ram & a GTX 980Ti and couldn't believe that I saw my frames dip down into the teens (16fps) the other day online (no mods).

Definitely a downer! Sorry BIS, I hate to keep bashing you but your engine code needs an enema. *hugs 'n kisses*

[mamasan8 11]

Im saying its cpu and gpu demanding, heavy aka another word for demanding, and no, although i prefer nvidia but to each their own.

But it isn't.

It's only CPU dependant. If you have a gfx card with 2 gigs of VRAM, thats all you need. Doesn't matter what brand or model.

I went from GTX760 to R9 290X. Zero difference in Arma 3.

Doubled my fps in all my other games.

[domokun 515]

Guys, guys. You're both right.

Gunter: you're right to point out that A3's performance is heavily dictacted by GPU and CP

Niki: you're right to insist that the main factor is infact CPU performance.

So rather than talk about it, give people the figures and let them decide for themselves.

http://www.techspot.com/review/712-arma-3-benchmarks/page5.html

Essentially, you need to:

a. get the fastest CPU possible

b. Intel offers better performance than AMD, for the same clock speed

c. hyperthreading is pretty much useless

So my advice is to grab an Intel Core i5-4690K (stock speed 3.5Ghz) and a good-quality motherboard, e.g. Asus Z97-A/PRO overclock her to 4.2 (easy), 4.4 (trciky, prolly need after-market HSF) or higher (water-cooling mandatory, e.g. ).

To avoid bottle-necking such a fast CPU, a mid-range or enthusiast card is sufficient, e.g. GTX 970 or R9 290X

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-970-maxwell,3941-9.html

Another good upgrade is an SSD. ALthough it won't increase fps per se, it will reduce significantly load times & texture thrashing.

Bear in mind that these recommendations are based on gaming at 1080p and/or 1200p. 4k and tripe-screen monitors are a different story.

P.S. 8GB (2x4) of RAM is sufficient and be aware that faster RAM (e.g. DDR3-1866, better DDR3-2133 or DDR3-2400 best) can also offer a fairly big (5-10%) increase on A3 framerates.

Edited July 5, 2015 by domokun