How to get the best Stable SP/MP FPS in ARMA.

[dirtylarrygb 0]

After 12 hours testing today, I have found some results.

I aimed to get a minium 60 fps, with almost never ANY slow down in forests or urban areas under any condition for extreme single player and multiplayer performance.

* This post has tips from many threads that have been tried and destruction tested today!

Aiming for a stable 60 FPS or better with Anti Alias x2 and Supersample AA on, allows me to complete the single player missions in realistic mode and gives me an advantage for MP as everything is pin sharp,( To me your the huge 3D man sitting in a bush, to you I'm that pixel 300 meters away

Test Rig: XPSP2,AMD 64 4000 (Single Core), 2 GIG DDR 400, EVGA KO 8800 ACS3 (underclocked to emulate a stock 8800), XIFI, 32" widescreen LCD 60hz refresh. All stock settings no Over Clock on RAM/CPU.

I want to run ARMA at 1600x1024 16:9 and get 60 FPS and no slow down ever, if you run at any screen res less then that, these results may be a good guide to help you get stable FPS.

Before I started:

1/ I set my "pageswap" (XP Virtual memory) windows file to be, min' and max' 2x my RAM size, then I Defraged my hard disk and reset my PC.

2/ I turned off "tripple buffer" and "verticle sync" in my nvidia control planel.

3/ I set "application controlled" Texture filtering and Anti Alias in Nvidia control panel.

4/ I set gamma correct AA and Transparency sampling to "SUPERSAMPLE" not "multi" in nvidia control panel. (Anyone not using an 8800 leave them set to off).

5/ I set HDR to 8 in arma.cfg.

Then I loaded ARMA.

I set everything to VERY HIGH and VIS 10 KM, then loaded the editor, I set an infantry unit in a forest, town and city, and a chopper in the center of the map. Weather and time default.

At best I get 30+ fps, much of the time much less while testing for 10 mins. Looks amazing, great for taking screenies but pretty unplayable with my current kit for SP/MP, as mouse lag and FPS drops are to constant.

Now I save the map, drop TERRAIN to VERY LOW (bye bye grass and smooth terrain) leave everything else VERY HIGH (or high like post process). Set VIS range to 3km (which is sensible for any SP mission)

I reboot ARMA, load same test, walking round and swapping units for 10 mins or so, I can get 60fps, but still get drops and FPS stutter outdoors in forests etc or when Aiming with a gun. This is playable, but slow down can appear and some mouse lag. Still looks fab though.

Next I drop Post Process HIGH to LOW (bye bye depth of field effect).

Reboot ARMA retry my mission. Occasional stutter in the forest when shooting and aiming but this mode keeps the most eye candy on and makes ARMA as playable in general as FEAR/HL2/BF2 etc on my PC, If I'm happy with the fact there will be some lag when aiming a gun, or flying etc. Also ARMA still looks very good.

Final Test is what else can I do to make ARMA never stutter, it was a simple as then dropping shadows from very high to off.

So Everything "Very High" but Terrain (very low) Shadows (OFF) Post Process LOW will deliver MAX FPS no stutter at 1600x 1024 , x2 AA and SSAA enabled. By OBJECT etc being "very high" LOD issues are none exsistant. This on a 8800 GTX in patch 1.05.

Now, I can go back to nvidia Control panal and eleminate any "screen tear" by turning VSYNC back on. Stable 60 FPS means VSYNC won't eat my FPS. i don't need to enable triple buffer as ARMA has its own method.

Now I have a super smooth stable ARMA in HD thats super playable and every advantage possible for winning SP/MP. I contiued to test by playing a ton fo Sp mission on realistic and just could not slow down my FPS under any circumstance.

Recommendations for a range of kit for stable 60 FPS.

8800 786 GTX users follow the above.

8800 640/320 GTS users follow the above drop "Texture" to MED

7800, 7950, 7900 Ati 1950 128-512 users same as above, but MED textures and you may have to drop AAx2 or SSAA unless you run at a lower screen res.

7600 / 6800 users, drop texture to LOW, try for 1024x768 you may also want to drop texture filter down then try OBJECT DETAIL drops. Less LOD issues lead to the game being more playable. Dont use AA or SSAA at all.

Shader value, Med or LOW may also help. I suspect only the high end GPU's (7800+) can cope with High.

So worst offenders in ARMA for FPS drops appear to be:

1/ Supersample Transparency ON, Gamma Correct AA, with AAx2.

2/ Triple Buffer and VSYNC on (for many PC's). if you have not ried to get a stable FPS first with settings that match your monitors refresh rate.

3/ Terrain Detail above VERY LOW. (grass and curves eat a GPU)

4/ Shadows above OFF.

5/ Post Process HIGH not LOW. (the DOF effect on aiming a gun can stutter even the fastest current video card).

I don't know how "Object detail" Low to very high is either, I can leave that on very high no issue on my GPU, is it dependent on the CPU RAM or GPU or combo?. I do know with my mid Spec CPU and High Spec GPU, Object Detail Very high has no effect on the FPS for me.

Shader HIGH has NO FPS issue for an 8800, it may be for anything below a 7800.

All GFX settings are personal pref' the above is a guide to a pin sharp, anti-aliased, widescreen version of Arma to give you every advantge in SP and MP games.

I hope the above is of help, if anyone want's, I'm happy to explain how to "defrag" a hard disk, sets a pagefile in XP, set your settings in Nvida CP for SSAA GCAA and Application controlled vsync, Trip' buffer etc.

TBH though, just do a search on these forums as other post already have that info.

I suspect but have not tested that below 1 gig ram, or a CPU below 2GHZ, or incorrect Virtual memory Settings and Triple Buffer and Vsync issues are some of the main cuases of very bad FPS in ARMA. Even on correctly set up PC's with no virus'es adware etc.

If you running Vista, the above may not work for you as the 8800 drivers for vista and drivers for hardware in vista are quite different to my XP SP2 versions.