Big Mods - Slow Flashpoint

[Artak 0]

Hello,

I remember getting my computer almost four years ago. Oh boy did it rock or what. The fastest machine on the block and Flashpoint ran on it smoothly as a baby's butt.

I was just editing a mission on BAS Tonal island and running around to look for a good spot for the action. I got 5 fps.

The parts in my computer haven't gone bad like milk. There's still as much power in there as there was on the day I bought it. A conclusion can be made that Flashpoint with all it's new addons has become bigger and more demanding to run. I want it to be as smooth as it was when still back in version 1.0.

My friends tell me they've got higher fps with the same addons. They've got newer computers, those lucky bastards.

So I managed to save 250 euros and now I'm wondering on which part to spend them to get the most fps out of Flashpoint, which is the only reason for an upgrade. Other than Flashpoint my computer is quick and fast both at the same time. It's either a new gfx card or a new mobo+cpu. Can't have both.

I've read the community hardware specs thread a bit and see that many people have a better computer than I do. Maybe you've gone through the same as I'm experiencing right now.

What part does Flashpoint demand the most of? memory? processor? gfx card?

Please help me to decide which part to upgrade in my computer or give any pointers to tweak the performance. Which part would have the most effect on Flashpoint?

My specs are:

CPU: AMD Athlon 2000+ XP

MB: Abit KR7A

Chipset: VIA Apollo KT266A

RAM: 1024 MB 266Mhz DDR-SDRAM

GFX: NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB

Sound: Creative SB Extigy

HDD_0: Samsung 120GB 7200rpm U-ATA

HDD_1: Samsung 80GB 5400rpm U-ATA

OS: Win2k Prof. SP4

I'm running OFP with autodetected settings:

Quote[/b] ]Product="Resistance";

Language="English";

HW_Type="Direct3D HW T&L";

Adapter=0;

3D_Performance=4155;

CPU_Benchmark=4155;

Resolution_W=1024;

Resolution_H=768;

Resolution_Bpp=32;

LOD=7.500000;

Limit_LOD=0.019000;

Shadows_LOD=0.050000;

MaxObjects=256;

Cockpit_Textures=4096;

Landscape_Textures=4096;

Object_Textures=4096;

Animated_Textures=64;

Textures_Drop_Down=4;

Texture_Heap=16;

File_Heap=16;

Total_Memory=1024;

MaxLights=32;

Light_Explo=1;

Light_Missile=1;

Light_Static=1;

Frame_Rate_Pref=500;

Quality_Pref=500;

refresh=75;

Resolution is 1024x768x32 @75Hz

DXDLL is enabled, but that doesn't have an impact on performance.

Here's a dramatic pic of the cpu usage when I go run around on BAS Tonal.

CPU Usage (130KB)

Any preferences tweaking tips would also be usefull (incase my wife finds the hidden 250€ and takes it and goes spend it on something stupid like food.  ), not just for me, but for the whole community I think.

I want to enjoy the new mods like they're ment to be enjoyed. Please help.  

[mr burns 132]

at first you should set your 3d performance ("geometry performance" in ofp configurator) to something around 54000 to get better graphics and performance.

for the hardware i´d suggest a new cpu, especially as your dramatic pic was pretty obviously showing where the juice is missing.. i could be totally wrong though

[Artak 0]

Hey Mr Burns,

I set that thing to max (about 54000) and didn't notice any difference. What is it supposed to do exactly?

From the cpu picture I too came to think that it might be my good old 2000+ XP that needs to be changed.

But then I got to thinking that the 'lag' is always worse when I view a large area - if I just look at the ground at my feet the fps goes up. So with my limited brain I figured that maybe my gfx card's processor can't handle the lot at once and is pushing things to do for the main cpu.

I don't know how bits and bytes all work in there so..

[llauma 0]

Which gfx card drivers do you have? I know that the latest ones from nvidia are pretty poor with GF4 so I suggest that you try 56.72.. I think that's what the version. The difference is huge for me.

Nvidia driver archive

[mr burns 132]

Hey Mr Burns,

I set that thing to max (about 54000) and didn't notice any difference. What is it supposed to do exactly?

Geometry performance. This slider specifies how well your system performs at geometry calculations, i.e. transform & lighting. Those of you with Graphics cards with a T&L unit onboard should slide the to the far right, while those on slower CPUs might want to lower the sliders position. Those with fast CPUs (900Mhz +)  & non-T&L Graphics cards should similarly be able to position this to the far right as long as the Graphics card is fairly modern, e.g. Kyro 2.

[sanctuary 19]

Quote[/b] ]"The suggestion to run in 16-bit mode will cause more problems than it will solve; the explanation of how memory is allocated between OFP and Windows is wrong; moving the Geometry Performance slider position to the right will generally give you lower performance in the game; the explanation of Auto Drop-Down is backwards (i.e. suggesting that people with lower-end systems try lower settings); the information on the maximum number of lights is wrong; and the section on textures is a cut-and-paste job (compare the text for Cockpit textures and Special Effects textures).

reference : The Avon Lady's OFP FAQ

[MrZig 0]

Quote[/b] ]Cockpit_Textures=4096;

Landscape_Textures=4096;

Object_Textures=4096;

Geezes, there's your fricken problem!

Turn those down to like 512x512 man, 4096 is insane, it'll run alot smoother, trust me.

Oh and Flashpoint is mainly dependent on 2 things:

CPU & RAM

Just wanted to point that out.

[korax 4]

Cockpit_Textures=4096;

Landscape_Textures=4096;

Object_Textures=4096

Also, I find higher landscape textures have a huuge performance decrease (just because theres so much landscape) So if you turn that to 128x128, and turn on multitexturing, you wouldnt know the difference graphically but perfomance wise it would help ALOT.

For cockpit and object textures, like Mrzig said, 1024x1024 or 512x512 is your best bet.

[FireflyPL 0]

also lower your Shadows LOD cause now you have it set to maximum 0005

[Artak 0]

So many wonderful suggestions. Gonna try them out one by one. Thanks guys.

@Llauma

I have a Gainward's card with Nvidia's GeForce4 ti 4200 chip. I believe I have version 6.13.10.4230 of the drivers. I'll try downgrading them later.

Quote[/b] ]I set that thing to max (about 54000) and didn't notice any difference.

It seems that for some reason my FlashpointPreferences won't save the Geometry Performance value. It's bounced back to 4083 every time I run the preferences and take a look at it. Dunno what's up with that, but if one was to believe what it says in Sanctuary's quote, I'm better of with a low value.

I set the values of Cockpits to 512x512, Objects to 512x512 and Landscape to 128x128. Didn't notice any difference in game.

/edit

Ok, a really silly question. Which is lowering the shadow lod. Increasing or decreasing the value?

Is it just me or does the 'autodetect' feature seem totally useless to everyone else too?

[mr burns 132]

Quote[/b] ]"The suggestion to run in 16-bit mode will cause more problems than it will solve; the explanation of how memory is allocated between OFP and Windows is wrong; moving the Geometry Performance slider position to the right will generally give you lower performance in the game; the explanation of Auto Drop-Down is backwards (i.e. suggesting that people with lower-end systems try lower settings); the information on the maximum number of lights is wrong; and the section on textures is a cut-and-paste job (compare the text for Cockpit textures and Special Effects textures).

reference : The Avon Lady's OFP FAQ

strange.. never noticed a performance drop.

when i first set it higher the performance went up quite a bit and also the forrests seemed to look much better.

i also didn´t get any negative reports from people i sugested these settings to.

but as i trust the faq i will do some testing with this, maybe later this evening, and report what i´ve found into this thread.

[FireflyPL 0]

Ok, a really silly question. Which is lowering the shadow lod. Increasing or decreasing the value?  

Is it just me or does the 'autodetect' feature seem totally useless to everyone else too?

Increase the value 1 means (lowest quality - good performance) 00005 means best quality - lowest performance.

[Artak 0]

Thanks a lot FireflyPL. I'm learning plenty of new stuff here. Sadly though, I didn't notice any difference in fps when I turned the shadow lod detail to 1.

[MrZig 0]

Have you tried lowering your texture sizes yet?

[mr burns 132]

Have you tried lowering your texture sizes yet?

just keep in mind that dxdll reflective water needs landscape textures set to at least 512x512 in order to work

[mattxr 9]

get more ram

[MrZig 0]

Also keep in mind that having reflective water on lowers your fps

[Artak 0]

Yes MrZig. No effect.

Quote[/b] ]I set the values of Cockpits to 512x512, Objects to 512x512 and Landscape to 128x128. Didn't notice any difference in game.

There is not much water around where I'm testing it. In any case, I just keep getting the same fps still.

Quote[/b] ]get more ram

I thought 1GB would be enough as only about half of it is in use when I run OFP. My virtual memory settings are 1.5*1GB on an other HDD than my OS and OFP.

[MrZig 0]

If you have DXDLL on and the water reflections on then it doesn't matter how close are far away from water you are, it'll still drain FPS about 10. At least for me anyways.

[Artak 0]

Oh, that's odd.

Well, I just disabled the whole dxdll and once again, no difference in performance. (ok maybe 6 fps instead of 5).

Maybe this tells that my gfx card can handle it, but the cpu can't.

[Victor_S. 0]

Have you defraged your computer lately?

[Artak 0]

Yes, I do it frequently.

It's becoming clear to me that changing settings doesn't help. But which part to replace in my computer?

As said, I've got 250€ to spare. With that I can either get a new gfx card (PNY VERTO GF6600 GT 128M GDDR-3) or a new motherboard and a AMD 64 bit 3000+ bulk processor.

The picture in the first post shows that my processor is giving everything she's got, so maybe that new mobo+cpu would be the best option?

Can it stress cpu more if a gfx card can't is giving all she's got? Kind of like it would send the leftover calculations to the cpu?

[FireflyPL 0]

Thanks a lot FireflyPL. I'm learning plenty of new stuff here. Sadly though, I didn't notice any difference in fps when I turned the shadow lod detail to 1.

Well then try to set all the values to the lowest and see what will happen. Maybe there is something wrong with drivers or your OS?

[Artak 0]

Turned Objects LOD to 1 and Max. objects to 20 (the lowest). Now the game actually slowed down even more. I had about 4 fps instead of the earlier 6.  

I'm going to try degrading the gfx card drivers now as Llauma suggested.

[benu 1]

Artak, try to alt+tab out of the game and look at the process manager. I personally think 1gb of ram is enough, but it should be easy for you to make sure ;)

As ram and cpu are the most important factors for ofp i would try to get a faster cpu if just optimizing configs does not help you. But turning down texture sizes and reducing/turning off shadows should give you a performance boost that just may be enough. When i had a rig similar to yours i had some addons which would cause my computer to freeze for some seconds just looking at them (eg bas blackhawk) while all other addons worked fine. I think this was due to my high texture settings, but i am not sure about this, it's been a while. But i got solved problem with config editing and without upgrading.