Hardware Issues: Tips/Tricks/Solutions

[Dwarden 1124]

ADDED info about Summer 2007 update of OpenAl

[D007 0]

I'm not sure if this is added in the tips section.. I read through it and applied quite a bit of those to my system and they did indeed seem to improve my stability and texture load times..

I have 2 small things that have seemingly helped me alot with freezing though..

seems alot of the time you get visual defects before the actual crash..

this in specific applies to the editor, sometimes everything turns into square color blotches so you can't tell whats what..

first off hitting the shift and minus key is supposed to purge your vram, i recommend using it from time to time..

next and this has helped me tremendously, it's simple... just hit alt tab from time to time and for some reason it refreshes the game.. It has saved me from having to reboot every 30 minutes in the editor on alot of occasions..

FYI: Sniping is still impossible in this game.. I really hope they fix that, I love sniping from time to time.. It's a very large factor for me in deciding playability and replayability of a game.

well I Hope my info helps someone...lol.. good luck..

my system specs..

e6400 oc'd to 3.2 ghz on thermo electric cooling..

2 8800 gts 320's in sli.

2gb ddr2 800 ram 5-5-5-15

ocz 700 watt game xtreme power supply

evga 680i sli mobo

running windows xp

and more airflow than a wind tunnel.

[Jack-UK 0]

Alt tabbing acheives the same effect as FLUSH =) thats why it was implemented, i shall add the flush command to the tips list.

Cheers

[D007 0]

Flush is the shift and minus key? i always heard the word Purge.. cool, yay I helped...lol..

[Balschoiw 0]

This is meant to test and debate.

I came across the feature for WinXP to run a game in high priority mode which I applied to Arma and from my "impression" it really boosts it a bit.

High priority mode directs most of the CPU capacity to the application or program, in this case Arma.

There´s also a "realtime" function that assigns almost 100 percent of the CPU capacity to the application but this will most likely freeze your comp very fast.

Therefore I decided to try the "high" option that also can be applied temporarely in the task-manager, or via Registry-edit, but I think my way is the easiest and most practicable one as it doesn´t mess with the registry and creates a permanent link

while the task-manager setting is only temporarely.

This is what I did in Windows XP SP 2:

Right-click on desktop

Create a new shortcut

In the pop-up window I entered this command/path:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start "" /high "F:\ArmA\arma.exe

Note that you have to adjust the F:\ArmA\arma.exe part to fit your local path to the game-exe.

I didn´t manage to attach the

-nosplash -maxmem 512 -world=empty

extension yet, but I guess it´s just a matter of syntax.

Would be nice if you could test aswell if it raises performance at your comp or if it is simply bollocks.

Edit:

Update

I use this in the shortcut now:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start "" /high "F:\ArmA\arma.exe" -nosplash -maxmem=512 -world=empty

I tested with my regular Test-missions, Sanitize and a mission I have made in northern Sahrani.

The performance imo definately increases. I don´t know why the tweak that only affects the CPU as far as I know allowed me to raise my gfx settings, but I can´t complain. The missions played more fluent and there was hardly a delay for texture loading at start of missions.

This took me to raise my settings to:

Textures : High

Object detail: High

Terrain: High

Shading: High

Post: Low (I don´t like the effect )

AF: Disabled

Shadows: Disabled

AA: Low

View Distance : 2500

Refresh Rate: 75 Hz

Resolution: 1024x768

It plays very smooth.

Keep in mind that I´m running these settings on a AGP 7600 GT 256 MB RAM & Athlon XP 3000+

It would be nice to get some feedback on the tweak from other users with different hardware

[Jack-UK 0]

Nice work looking into this feature I'll definately give it a try!

I think i may just use the task manager tho, cause i use ArmA launcher to start ArmA and i'd rather not go back to using shortcuts.

Thanks again, i'll try it and update my post later on today

[-Puma- 2]

nice ill give this a try

BTW isn't the maxmem command -maxmem=512

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]BTW isn't the maxmem command -maxmem=512

Yes, sorry for the typo. Fixed.

[Jack-UK 0]

Hmm i tried it, and it made my performance WORSE :S and when i pressed a movement button it would keep moving for about 5 seconds after i pressed the button :S So it didnt work for me :S

Spec:

AMD 3700+ @ 2.4Ghz

X1950 PRO 512mb AGP

1GB RAM

SB Live sound

[Balschoiw 0]

Are you using a regular plugged in keyboard or a wireless one, or some other controller ?

[Jack-UK 0]

Yes a regular keyboard plugged into a USB->Serial converter plugged into my Keyboard serial port.

Ive not had any problems before upping the priority

[Balschoiw 0]

Ok I´ve tried it with a USB keyboard aswell. Didn´t get the effect you describe.

[-Puma- 2]

tried this with the shortcut, and the game just kept crashing(crash after 5 mins) I have like 38 processes running in backround, so that might be the prob...

[Radnik 18]

Bals, game runs better without crashes or any problem for shure but I have same issue as Jack-UK with pressing keys and movement.

I`ve tried mp session and key-movement lag is present...dunno what causes it .

[Balschoiw 0]

I don´t know the reason why this happens but my guess is that with some comps the input cycles are put on lower priority because of the high priority setting for Arma.

After playing a long time with the shortcut I experienced some sound glitches eventually.

I guess as a summary I can say that the shortcut with high priority setting does improve Arma performance but also poses a risk for malfunctions with other components or controller input. I guess it´s best if you try and see if it works on your machine. If it does you will get better performance, if not, nothing´s lost

[ADO_Lesicilien 0]

Hello,

Me I tested, but I have bugs of keyboards and deceleration.

Level FPS, that does not change large thing.

PC:

AMD4000+ 2.4

2024 mo

7800GTX 256mo

Game :

all low.

1200m

1280*

FPS :

30-80

[Dannyllnl69 0]

before we begin ...this is my computer stuff:

P4 2.8

Nvidia Fx 128 mb

512 mb memory

is that good for arma ? this is what i might up grade it to:

P4 3.4

PNY Verto GeForce 8500GT, VCG85512GXPB, 512MB, HDCP, PCI Express Video Card =or= XFX GeForce 8600GT 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI TV PCI-E

1 gb memory

what do you guys think please i cant wait to play ARMA im going nuts !!!!

[-Puma- 2]

dont touch the 8500 as a matter of fact dont even touch the 8600. If u dont care about dx10 just yet, go for something like 7900gs 512mb or 1950pro 256 or 512 mb.

if money is not a prob get 8800gts ot 7950/1950xtx

[Jack-UK 0]

8800 GTX is bloody expensive, but it will last u the longest out of any other card out there.. so expect to play games like Crysis well on it.

Otherwise i'd get the 7950GT or 8800 GTS as suggested above, 7950GT runs ArmA sweetly tho =) (but not a Dx10 card)

[Smitty71 0]

Quote[/b] ]%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start "" /high "F:\ArmA\arma.exe" -nosplash -maxmem=512 -world=empty

This deffinately helped my performance by about 10%. Im running a P4 3.2 with a 8800gts 640mb. I always knew that I was bottlenecked by my cpu but this helps! My arma marks went up by about 250 points and my fps in evolution with all settings on high (accept objects) are a stable 27fps in the city and 40-70 everywhere else with a 2500 view distance.

I have not played online for a very long time with these settings so I can't verify that they are stable for me yet but I will report back. Nice find!

Maybe I don't have to go buy that dual core e6800 just yet...

[Dannyllnl69 0]

whats the difference between intel p4 3.6 ans intel p4 3.06?

[kinismo 0]

Hi, what would be best DX9 card for Arma?

Im not too keen buyin buggy 8800 so i think i wait for next gen dx10 cards.

My current card is 7600gt so is there any sense updating it?

[Jack-UK 0]

The best card for arma IMO would be the Geforce 7950 GT 512mb if u can stretch to it

Otherwise get a 8800GTS or GTX if ur going to buy a DX10 card.. the cheaper 8600 versions are not as good as people think they will be.

[-Puma- 2]

The best card for arma IMO would be the Geforce 7950 GT 512mb if u can stretch to it

Otherwise get a 8800GTS or GTX if ur going to buy a DX10 card.. the cheaper 8600 versions are not as good as people think they will be.

1950pro, cheap ATM and I play with it settings very high, with 1280x1024. fps ranging from 25 to 60

[Jack-UK 0]

The best card for arma IMO would be the Geforce 7950 GT 512mb if u can stretch to it

Otherwise get a 8800GTS or GTX if ur going to buy a DX10 card.. the cheaper 8600 versions are not as good as people think they will be.

1950pro, cheap ATM and I play with it settings very high, with 1280x1024. fps ranging from 25 to 60

i have the same card X1950 PRO but the performance really does vary playing a game last night in Corazol, and i had to put all settings on LOWEST and the performance was so poor it was actually unbelievable, i actually felt like snapping my ArmA disc in half and having a huge ass rant on the forums about the poor performance.

Sometimes i can get a steady 60 FPS tho :| What drivers are you using?