ArmaHolic ArmA 2 Optimization

[tankkiller01 0]

The multiplayer cap thing is the same for me as you can see in my own thread .. Many people are having this . mine seems to be capped at about 33 fps .. it is playable though! hope bi fix it if they know about the problem that is

[Stiler 0]

Is there something wrong for me? I can only run at a mix between low and medium and I only get average fps of around 40 when there's nothing happening. (for me games are really hard to play when fps is less than 30). I got a 9800GX2, 4gb RAM and Q9450 2.66GHz. Surely that system should be able to run this game alot better.

I have a 9800GX2 (newest drivers) as well; and I'm getting terrible performance at "Normal" settings. Pulling in the high 20'ish fps range on avg and dipping to teens in heavily shadowed/populted area's.

E8400

2gb ram

running on xp

Tried going through this thread a bit doing tweaks and none realy helped me.

I think the game doesn't use the 9800gx2 fully, like it just uses it as one 8800GT card and that's it.

[Stauff 10]

Hi all,

Ok i will just tell you what i did and the results. I have 2 rigs at home. One i use for work the other i use to surf and play arma.

Rig 1:

I7@3,64

Gigabyte X58

4GB DDR 3 1066

GTX280

Windows 7 RC

Dedicated HDD for ArmAII

======================

Settings

Fillrate 100%

Post processing is low

Terrain is normal

All of the rest is on Very High as i have not seen a huge fps drop.

======================

Rig 2:

E8600 @4,5 GHz

4 GB DDR 2 800MHz

GTX260 192 Core

Windows 7 RC

Dedicated HDD for ArmAII

======================

Same settings as on rig 1.

FPS:

On Rig1 i have Fps drops to ~20 max is 60 (Vsync)

Rig 2 FPS never droped below 35 fps no matter what i did.

Btw monitor is 22" res: 1680X1050

Cheers all

[redmotion 10]

I've been using Windows 7 RC with ARMA2 and while my rig isn't the beefiest I'm able to get a reasonable 25+ FPS (which to me looks pretty smooth and feels responsive). With Very High settings on most things and 125% fillrate/ Very High AA. If you look directly at the ground the FPS can jump up as high as 100 FPS. I believe that some cards actually have better 3d performance with AA switched on an at high resolutions, which is why increasing the fillrate above the screen res can improve performance.

My rig:

Q6600 2.4 ghz (stock speed)

Maximus Formula Motherboard - latest BIOS

nvidia GTX 260 (896mb - I think its the older version of the 260)

4 GB ram

Windows 7 RC

Windows XP 32

In Windows 7 RC I have nvidia drivers 186.16 (for Windows 7 64 not vista 64), I have the -maxmem=2047 and -winxp switches in the Arma2 shortcut.

EDIT: Also got Arma2.exe renamed to crysis64.exe - this does make things better if fillrate is 100%.

For me, pretty much all issues such as no textures on buildings and trees, less than 10 FPS and jerkiness seem to have improved.

I'm sure some people here do this anyway, but if you're having problems, first thing to try is check you installed the drivers properly - below is the only way I know to guarantee a decent GPU driver install:

1. Download and install Driver Sweeper 1.5.5, then uninstall ATI/nvidia drivers in normal mode in the normal way.

2. Reboot to SAFE mode. Use Driver Sweeper 1.5.5 and wipe all remaining ATI/nvidia dlls. (Make sure you get the "all files removed" message at the end of the cleaning process or the drivers may still install badly. If in doubt run it a second time.)

3. Reboot into SAFE mode again. Install the new drivers. (I installed 186.16)

4. Finally, reboot to normal mode and try out the game.

5. Use FRAPs to gauge the FPS performance while you tweak. ArmaII-MArk is NOT a good gauge of performance.

I also follow process this for XP (my XP installation is 6 months+ old and crammed full of rubbish and a bad driver installation will cause half the games to be very unstable, crash a lot or not run at all - but installing like this has everything running pretty well regardless of how much rubbish is on there.)

If you DO NOT install the drivers in SAFE MODE, it is likely that your driver installation will be screwed. Also the auto-hardware detection and driver installation in Windows normal mode may cause conflicts with the real drivers.

Edited June 27, 2009 by redmotion

[aphex187 10]

Guys can any of you give me any pointers on better performance, my specs are:

Vista 64bit SP2

Nvidia 8800GT 512MB 185.5 drivers

Core Duo 2 E6400@2.13(2CPU's),~2.4GHz

Asus PB5 Deluxe Motherboard

4gig Corsair XMS2 DDR2 5400

Antec Nine Hundred gaming case with fans set at high, no other cooling.

Samsung Syncmaster 1680x1050 LCD

In the 3D Global settings for the Nvidia panel i have everything set to application controlled with v-sync on max pre-rendered frames at 8.

Anything else i need to do??

[Hamo 10]

Hi all.

I'm trying to get my game (at the moment just the demo) running as smooth as possible. I want to try the -winxp solution, but I am confused as to where to type this in.

I'm not sure if it will help me. I'm running Vista 32 bit, AMD 64 3800 CPU, ATI 4770 HD 512 MB and 4gig ram. (New cpu is on the way).

I've searched through this thread (with the search function and manually) but couldn't find where to actually add the "-winxp" .

Also, if anyone has similar computer to mine and found a nice config, feel free to post it so I can give it a try.

(As you may have realised, I'm not too good with the technical side of things when it comes to computers!)

Any help much Appreciated

-H

[pauliesss 2]

I have 4GB RAM, Windows XP 32-bit(I know, it can handle only around 3,25-3,5GB), but I would like to ask, what should my page file look like to get best performance and more FPS ? Thanks.

[Heatseeker 0]

Hi all.

I'm trying to get my game (at the moment just the demo) running as smooth as possible. I want to try the -winxp solution, but I am confused as to where to type this in.

I'm not sure if it will help me. I'm running Vista 32 bit, AMD 64 3800 CPU, ATI 4770 HD 512 MB and 4gig ram. (New cpu is on the way).

I've searched through this thread (with the search function and manually) but couldn't find where to actually add the "-winxp" .

Also, if anyone has similar computer to mine and found a nice config, feel free to post it so I can give it a try.

(As you may have realised, I'm not too good with the technical side of things when it comes to computers!)

Any help much Appreciated

-H

Right click the Arma II shortcut and click properties, in the shortcut tab you have the target line, something like this:

"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -nosplash

After the last " leave a space and paste -winxp then apply, you might notice im using -nosplash to get rid of the splash screens and stuff.

I dont think -winxp does a damn thing though..

Edited June 27, 2009 by Heatseeker

[Hamo 10]

Thankyou!

I'll see if it makes a difference.

[Masterfragg 10]

Hi guys

I've decided as I'm getting such poor performance on Arma 2 I'd post a message, I'm currently doing some tests with all different settings and what not whilst using a seperate computer to connect to my gaming machine.

This 2nd machine will be monitoring Perfmon.

My main rig specs are

Athlon X2 6000 @ 3.1ghz

2GB Corsair Dominator @ 1066

500GB SATA Maxtor @ 7200RPMS

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB (XFX)

Realtek HD Audio Device outputting 5.1

So far I've only managed 19 to 26 FPS average being 23 FPS.

This is with all settings on normal expect

Post Processing = Low

Shadows = High/Normal/Off (Has no effect on FPS it seems)

AA = off

AF = off (Normal or > = 5 FPS drop

Screen resolution 1280x720 with rendering at the same (I can run rendering 1920x1080 with barely a performance drop but for testing purposes we'll leave it at 1280x720.

It seems in the menus the FPS suddenly cranks up to 40's 50's and at some points 58 FPS however in game it never goes above 29 FPS no matter what I do.

This includes looking at the ground or looking straight up.

Terrain Details on low (no grass) seems to help with FPS until I exit the menu then it's pretty much the same.

I've tried 1024x768 resolution with same rendering and 200% rendering and the performance sticks the same. If anything this game is hugely confused within itself and doesn't know what it wants.

I've overclocked my CPU to 3.3ghz with no increase in performance.

Any higher and my motherboard starts having a fit and BSOD gets me.

I'll log performance and report back to you guys I'll also reinstall Arma so we get a clear value. Also I may try my old XP Pro SP2 disc see what the difference is.

Hopefully we'll figure out this beast of a game...Although I feel like this is a bit of a White Elephant situation and I'm chasing a dream...I doubt it'll run properly for me ever.

Still I am considering buying a Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU if anyone is using that could you PM me your thoughts?

Thanks guys back soon

[adom23 10]

Applied the new patch as I didnt notice it was out! (as stated in previous post)

So far am running on the 182 Geforce drivers and seems to be a very slight improvement.

What are you guys using to see FPS in game?

Im going to put the Geforce 186 drivers back on and try also followed by the beta 190 drivers. THEN if all else fails I will give up because even if I set the fill rate to summat stupid like 25% in 800 res mode i still get poor performance.

Now im proabably gonna put it down to my Q6600 quad core 2.4ghz not being up to the task or, im praying, that its just the general optimisation of the game and things will get better with later patches.

[Masterfragg 10]

Didn't notice there was a patch out either guess I should pay more attention to the arma2.com site.

Ok well I'm downloading the patch now, I can't connect remotely to my main rig with perfmon because of a network (sharing) issue which I can't be bothered to fix.

However, CPU usage did not max 100% much in "Trial by fire" and the ram usage was 1.4gb out of 2gb and Arma2 had only used 780mb of it.

I'll edit this post with more information shortly

[Väinämöinen 0]

I get 60fps at starting menu. When I join MP game it drops to 40-50. After a while its 20-25fps and without any AI's on my squad. I thought server calculates other AIs and units on player squads get calculated by the PC the squad is on.

So why my performance keeps dropping?

On campaign my performance is same 20-25fps but this I understand; computer is taking care all of the AIs.

Wierd shit going on here...

[adom23 10]

Right just did a clean install of the 190 Beta drivers (Geforce) and then ran the ArmaMark 2 .. 182 geforce drivers scored 2508.9 with the 186 drivers scoring the least at 2476... the newer beta 190 drivers got 2927.

Ah well im gonna leave it now altho I think it will crash after 20 mins on the 190 drivers, altho last time I tried them it wasnt a clean install of them!

[Fox '09 14]

Hi guys

I've decided as I'm getting such poor performance on Arma 2 I'd post a message, I'm currently doing some tests with all different settings and what not whilst using a seperate computer to connect to my gaming machine.

This 2nd machine will be monitoring Perfmon.

My main rig specs are

Athlon X2 6000 @ 3.1ghz

2GB Corsair Dominator @ 1066

500GB SATA Maxtor @ 7200RPMS

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB (XFX)

Realtek HD Audio Device outputting 5.1

So far I've only managed 19 to 26 FPS average being 23 FPS.

This is with all settings on normal expect

Post Processing = Low

Shadows = High/Normal/Off (Has no effect on FPS it seems)

AA = off

AF = off (Normal or > = 5 FPS drop

Screen resolution 1280x720 with rendering at the same (I can run rendering 1920x1080 with barely a performance drop but for testing purposes we'll leave it at 1280x720.

It seems in the menus the FPS suddenly cranks up to 40's 50's and at some points 58 FPS however in game it never goes above 29 FPS no matter what I do.

This includes looking at the ground or looking straight up.

Terrain Details on low (no grass) seems to help with FPS until I exit the menu then it's pretty much the same.

I've tried 1024x768 resolution with same rendering and 200% rendering and the performance sticks the same. If anything this game is hugely confused within itself and doesn't know what it wants.

I've overclocked my CPU to 3.3ghz with no increase in performance.

Any higher and my motherboard starts having a fit and BSOD gets me.

I'll log performance and report back to you guys I'll also reinstall Arma so we get a clear value. Also I may try my old XP Pro SP2 disc see what the difference is.

Hopefully we'll figure out this beast of a game...Although I feel like this is a bit of a White Elephant situation and I'm chasing a dream...I doubt it'll run properly for me ever.

Still I am considering buying a Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU if anyone is using that could you PM me your thoughts?

Thanks guys back soon

A phenom II would greatly increase your performance, but, instead buy the GTX 280 from EVGA, re certified. It's only 220 dollars for something 4x your 9800 GTX+s performance.

Make sure you did the config changes, and made it READ-ME ONLY.

cheers

[adom23 10]

A phenom II would greatly increase your performance, but, instead buy the GTX 280 from EVGA, re certified. It's only 220 dollars for something 4x your 9800 GTX+s performance.

Make sure you did the config changes, and made it READ-ME ONLY.

cheers

What config changes? I wouldnt mind trying them

[Masterfragg 10]

A phenom II would greatly increase your performance, but, instead buy the GTX 280 from EVGA, re certified. It's only 220 dollars for something 4x your 9800 GTX+s performance.

Make sure you did the config changes, and made it READ-ME ONLY.

cheers

Cheers for the advice mate, currently looking into the 280.

I made a mistake with this graphics card but I'm thinking CPU first then Graphics card because of overall in games the 9800 runs everything fluidly at high settings in DX10 (On DX10 games)

It's really a pain this game. I would like to see 30> FPS I've been advised elsewhere as well that this game is all CPU grunt and been told my CPU is the one thing holding it back, a friend of mine has a Quad Core Intel (unsure of model) OC'ed to 2.9ghz paired with a 8800GTX 768MB and he said soon as he overclocked his CPU he was running everything in High/Very High at always +30 FPS.

Theres so much conflicting information on this game that I'm starting to think I should just do these last tests then give up until BI sort it out. Arma 1 done the same thing for me.

Disappointed that it's this harsh on hardware I mean I knew it was going to be a killer game but I thought BI had heard of "Scaling" rather than "Bastardized Optimization"

Thanks again dude looking at GTX series now

[Yapab 10]

Would just like to point out that a GTX280 is NOT 4x faster than a 9800GTX+.

At best it is 90 to 100% faster, but mostly 80% faster.... 4x faster where did that come from :)

[thr0tt 12]

If it was just CPU then my Phenom II x4 955BE would be rocking, its not <20 fps. It is a combination of drives, CPU and GPU I am afraid, not a single device.

[Fox '09 14]

Would just like to point out that a GTX280 is NOT 4x faster than a 9800GTX+.

At best it is 90 to 100% faster, but mostly 80% faster.... 4x faster where did that come from :)

sush! I'm trying to get him to buy it :(

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

What config changes? I wouldnt mind trying them

language="English";
adapter=-1;
3D_Performance=-180000;
Resolution_Bpp=32;
Resolution_W=1680;
Resolution_H=1050;
refresh=60;
Render_W=1680;
Render_H=1050;
FSAA=4;
postFX=2;
HDRPrecision=8;
lastDeviceId="";
localVRAM=924581888;
nonlocalVRAM=1475895296;
sceneComplexity=160000;

This is mine.

Try it.

[Masterfragg 10]

If it was just CPU then my Phenom II x4 955BE would be rocking, its not <20 fps. It is a combination of drives, CPU and GPU I am afraid, not a single device.

Hi Thr0tt, what are your other specs please mate?

[Fox '09 14]

Cheers for the advice mate, currently looking into the 280.

I made a mistake with this graphics card but I'm thinking CPU first then Graphics card because of overall in games the 9800 runs everything fluidly at high settings in DX10 (On DX10 games)

It's really a pain this game. I would like to see 30> FPS I've been advised elsewhere as well that this game is all CPU grunt and been told my CPU is the one thing holding it back, a friend of mine has a Quad Core Intel (unsure of model) OC'ed to 2.9ghz paired with a 8800GTX 768MB and he said soon as he overclocked his CPU he was running everything in High/Very High at always +30 FPS.

Theres so much conflicting information on this game that I'm starting to think I should just do these last tests then give up until BI sort it out. Arma 1 done the same thing for me.

Disappointed that it's this harsh on hardware I mean I knew it was going to be a killer game but I thought BI had heard of "Scaling" rather than "Bastardized Optimization"

Thanks again dude looking at GTX series now

Heh i was trying to get you to buy it hehe.

But honestly, it's much faster than the 9800 GTX+, and that's because i have both cards.

Your CPU is holding you back, so a phenom x4 would be great, any of them.

Personally, i'd start with the Graphics card.

[adom23 10]

sush! I'm trying to get him to buy it :(

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

language="English";
adapter=-1;
3D_Performance=-180000;
Resolution_Bpp=32;
Resolution_W=1680;
Resolution_H=1050;
refresh=60;
Render_W=1680;
Render_H=1050;
FSAA=4;
postFX=2;
HDRPrecision=8;
lastDeviceId="";
localVRAM=924581888;
nonlocalVRAM=1475895296;
sceneComplexity=160000;

This is mine.

Try it.

Cheers ill give it ago... since update and a clean install of the 190 beta drivers ... huge improvement to be fair! a lot smoother gameplay online for sure!

[Fox '09 14]

Cheers ill give it ago... since update and a clean install of the 190 beta drivers ... huge improvement to be fair! a lot smoother gameplay online for sure!

glad to hear that!

Cheers

[adom23 10]

glad to hear that!

Cheers

Hmm i have no idea why, as your settings are identicle to mine bar one! sceneComplexity=160000; ... other than that its pretty much the same and minor differences in the ram but it plays so much better and thats with higher settings!

Well done sir!