Hardware Issues: Tips/Tricks/Solutions

[Balschoiw 0]

Solution for all who have a 256 MB card but want to have access to higher detail settings in Arma video menu without editing arma config :

Enter BIOS at startup of computer, set AGP aperture size settings to 256 MB and that´s it. This will enable the Arma video options that are hidden if your AGP aperture size is set lower than 256 MB.

[-Puma- 2]

Actually I sat there for about 6.5 hours last night fiddling with this and that to try and gain FPS. I changed every setting one by one then evaluated the difference. The only I can discern is that when "all" the "eye candy" is on, the "dips" in fps go down further, and yet the highest FPS remains roughly the same. This including tweaking everything from the texture clamp "Optimizing for quick removal/performance" for my SATA drives. Nothing helped.

It didn't matter what resolution I was on, or how low the graphics were set "Very Low," the maximum FPS really didn't change a whole lot. Sure you get 60-70 FPS looking at the sky, but then again, who doesn't?

Finally, I changed to the newest Nvidia Forceware 94.24's and looked in the registry under the HKLM>Software>Nvidia Corporation>NVTweak>NvCplAppNamesStored and deleted the Nvidia Control Panel profile (deleted from the NV Control panel AND the registry) I had created (ARMA.exe) a while back while troubleshooting the shitty fps under recommendation from another thread here. Also, there was another key with a default profile loaded for arma, which even when deleted from the Nvidia control panel, was still in the registry and attached the same way, to ARMA.exe.

My FPS is a hell of a lot better now (not great tho). Dips rarely ever go into single digits and most times the FPS stay above 15.

My settings are: 1400x1050 Everything "Very High" including AA/AF except for Terrain Detail which is High. Blood: High View Distance is 4300ft. I'm a much happier man today.

Edit Typo in the screen res - it's 1280x1024 not 1400x1050.

U could lower the settings to high/normal and up the res abit.

I think only 8800's are able to handle very high settings. And What I've heard Nvidias cant really handle AA and HDR very well, so either change to that ATI card, or lower AA settings. And agree with the above, post processing is really a killer for FPS.

[-Puma- 2]

Actually I sat there for about 6.5 hours last night fiddling with this and that to try and gain FPS. I changed every setting one by one then evaluated the difference. The only I can discern is that when "all" the "eye candy" is on, the "dips" in fps go down further, and yet the highest FPS remains roughly the same. This including tweaking everything from the texture clamp "Optimizing for quick removal/performance" for my SATA drives. Nothing helped.

It didn't matter what resolution I was on, or how low the graphics were set "Very Low," the maximum FPS really didn't change a whole lot. Sure you get 60-70 FPS looking at the sky, but then again, who doesn't?

Finally, I changed to the newest Nvidia Forceware 94.24's and looked in the registry under the HKLM>Software>Nvidia Corporation>NVTweak>NvCplAppNamesStored and deleted the Nvidia Control Panel profile (deleted from the NV Control panel AND the registry) I had created (ARMA.exe) a while back while troubleshooting the shitty fps under recommendation from another thread here. Also, there was another key with a default profile loaded for arma, which even when deleted from the Nvidia control panel, was still in the registry and attached the same way, to ARMA.exe.

My FPS is a hell of a lot better now (not great tho). Dips rarely ever go into single digits and most times the FPS stay above 15.

My settings are: 1400x1050 Everything "Very High" including AA/AF except for Terrain Detail which is High. Blood: High View Distance is 4300ft. I'm a much happier man today.

Edit Typo in the screen res - it's 1280x1024 not 1400x1050.

U could lower the settings to high/normal and up the res abit.

I think only 8800's are able to handle very high settings. And What I've heard Nvidias cant really handle AA and HDR very well, so either change to that ATI card, or lower AA settings. And agree with the above, post processing is really a killer for FPS.

since 1.08 many ppl(including me) have experienced this, very annoying fps drops. Sometimes without no apparent reason FPS drops to 10 and jumps back up

[Jack-UK 0]

Solution for all who have a 256 MB card but want to have access to higher detail settings in Arma video menu without editing arma config :

Enter BIOS at startup of computer, set AGP aperture size settings to 256 MB and that´s it. This will enable the Arma video options that are hidden if your AGP aperture size is set lower than 256 MB.

Thanks for that tip mate i'll add it to the first post

[Dwarden 1124]

added section 3b) about microcode updates for CPUs ...

including link to latest Intel CPU reliability Windows update from Microsoft

[Dwarden 1124]

added info on X-Fi beta XP drivers in Vista package

added info on official WHQL 7.6 ATI Catalyst drivers

added info on ATT tool for ATI users

[Zorafins 0]

How do you know if Direct X is installed on your system and if so can you check the version?

I can't run the ARMA demo becuase i get the 'Can't find d3dx9_30.dll' error, yet I've downloaded the latest version of direct X (sort of).

I say sort of because after one installation it said something about downloading 'optional components' like the SDK October 2005 update but it fails to do so, then after another installation it said the components were working (after installing nothing) and ready to use, yet the game still won't run.

EDIT: Nevermind, I've got the DirectX bit sorted, but now its telling me I don't have a Pixel Shader or something. Forget it, I thought my (very) low spec PC would be able to just about cope, but I can't even get the game started

[Jack-UK 0]

Yes your PC MUST have a graphics card which supports Shader model 2.0 or GREATER. Otherwise it simply wont run

Upgrade your GFX card to something more modern then u should be good to go! But if you can afford to buy a whole new system then do so! its a great game ur missing out on, but remember the graphics card gives the most performance boost in ArmA.

@Dwarden: Cheers for those tips/updates

[-Puma- 2]

can u add this to the mainpage??

no pagefile tweak

[Jack-UK 0]

Done Added to the list of tips!

[Maddmatt 1]

added info on X-Fi beta XP drivers in Vista package

And where would I get this? Do I just download the Vista drivers here?

Edit: I manually extracted the file with IZArc and found an installer for XP drivers in the 'drivers' subfolder. Is this what you were talking about? Would save some confusion if you were more specific

[(FPC) Bacon 0]

getting this error message when starting game

AppName: arma.exe AppVer: 1.8.0.5163 ModName: kernel32.dll

ModVer: 5.1.2600.3119 Offset: 00012a5b

any ideas

[Locky 0]

Hey, been having some problems with 1.08 since I installed it getting the error message:

     

           - CreateIndexBuffer Failed(8876017c) -

Not sure if anyone else has encounterd this problem or knows how to fix it?

---My system---

2800 XP

X800 Pro

1024 Ram

Pre-1.08 was running 1024 with everything on low/med. Now it just crashes with that error 30seconds in everytime reguardless on the grahpics settings(even in main game menu). Anyhelp or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 Thanks,

       Locky

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

This is from the 1st post,

Quote[/b] ]For SLI-users:

Current Forceware drivers do not enable SLI in Arma.

The current drivers do infact enable SLI under the ArmA.exe profile. The prob I found...once you set it to single gpu...it will not give you the option to go back to SLI. I have to reinstall the drivers to get it back

Using 158.24 whql

[Locky 0]

Found the answer.. Just needed to do abit more searching, ta:)

[EVIL-SCOTSMAN 0]

Just to add, it says on the very first post that XFi users must set the sound card to Game Mode or Arma will refuse to start ? that is wrong as it has always worked for me in Entertainment and Game modes, I havent tried it in Audio Creation Mode, but I know for a fact that it works in Entertainment mode as I usually forget to switch from Entertainment mode to Game mode before starting the game, I then have to exit the game and then switch to Game mode so that I get EAX, I have seen myself playing missions and saying to myself that it doesnt sound right, only to remember that I am still in Entertainment mode

So XFi users can definetly play in other modes, its just a case of, why would they want to

[diveplane 0]

i have a x-fi creative music extreme

card refuses to work in game...,sim does not even load..

have to use my realtek onboard card for the now, this works flawless...

[Maddmatt 1]

Just to add, it says on the very first post that XFi users must set the sound card to Game Mode or Arma will refuse to start ? that is wrong as it has always worked for me in Entertainment and Game modes, I havent tried it in Audio Creation Mode, but I know for a fact that it works in Entertainment mode as I usually forget to switch from Entertainment mode to Game mode before starting the game, I then have to exit the game and then switch to Game mode so that I get EAX, I have seen myself playing missions and saying to myself that it doesnt sound right, only to remember that I am still in Entertainment mode

So XFi users can definetly play in other modes, its just a case of, why would they want to

It was a bug that was fixed ages ago, along with many other things on that list

[diveplane 0]

i to can confirm that windows page file is a utter bottle neck for gaming, i to did this trick by reducing the size of it to 500mb

and boy what a difference in game play a lot smoother...

i play the game maxed out graphics

only gripe is i cant get the creative card running for me..

also future patches should start to help more on performance..for lower end users..

also more fps tweaks wont hurt..

[EVIL-SCOTSMAN 0]

It was a bug that was fixed ages ago, along with many other things on that list

Well then the List needs to be amended to reflect that that particular bug has been fixed and the many others, dontcha think.

[Jack-UK 0]

Yeah i apologise guys, i did not think to remove those tips which are no longer required due to bugs.. i'll take a look at the list again and get rid of some stuff to avoid confusion

[Majorp52 0]

maybe someone can help... i have been playing arma since it first came out. i have had no problems until just a few days ago. i orginally download from morphicon because us version was not out. i now have load the us version patched it and played it for several weeks. i went to build a mission and now all of sudden the game stops running. it gives me a microsoft screen that reports it can load the game. it loads all the way up through the briefing, i reloaded the game clean several times. i have ran reg. mechanic several times and it continues to crash at the same spot every time. my system ran the game great.... amd 3200 ati 800 pro 1 gig of ram... i am puzzled and hope some one has an answer. the game goes to the microsoft error right after the screen that gives the briefing and map.

[-Puma- 2]

any ATI users experience this image deformation?? When ever I change some setting in tray tools, and load up arma, the loading screen image looks very blurry and ugly, and some items in-game suffers from this like the fonts, and cursor etc. It's really annyoing and can't figure out what might cause this

[Jack-UK 0]

Puma: You would probably have changed the Mipmap quality details, i too had this problem in the demo, i lowered all my settings to get better performance.. it made all the images blurry, text blurry etc...

So make sure you leave the Mipmap detail on high

[-Puma- 2]

Puma: You would probably have changed the Mipmap quality details, i too had this problem in the demo, i lowered all my settings to get better performance.. it made all the images blurry, text blurry etc...

So make sure you leave the Mipmap detail on high

I think its an mimap prob too. I changed mipmap thingy with tray tools to performance, and the blurring began, So I changed it to medium and the blur was gone. Thnx anyways jack