I bet OFP runs great now

[NIKO MY CUZIN 10]

Look at all the videos of epic battles on ARMA2, the lush graphics and such. Think of all the people that can run ARMA2 nice, and all the people who can barely run it nice.

But go back to OFP, everyone can run that.

How epic can the battles be with our specs we have today? I remember it being quite laggy, now with my specs I bet I could max it out and have a stupidly epic battle.

Anyone played around with OFP these days?

Infact I got ARMA..but am tempted to install OFP...weird huh

[Zipper5 74]

I still play OFP quite often, and it runs like a dream on my system. I get over 800 FPS at times. It rocks, and is still as great of a game as ever.

[dvolk 10]

I retried OFP with ECP recently and it doesn't work well at all. Setting the view distance beyond 2000m kills it completely.

[killerbambam 0]

I retried OFP with ECP recently and it doesn't work well at all. Setting the view distance beyond 2000m kills it completely.

Yeah you need to have updated your computer since it first came out though :D

[Blake 0]

Well go ahead and try the same amount of AI in OFP and try setting bigger view distance. Frame rates will drop like flies. Why?

Simply because ArmA/ArmA2 engine is optimized to support more AI units and longer viewdistance on the field than OFP ever did.

[Baff1 0]

OpF still lags.

[Majormauser 0]

There is no doubt it probably has problems.... they delayed release. But the truth is they had to scale back the graphics to 1k draw distance because the new engine could not handle it. Monkeys also invaded their development studio. Oh the horror.

Come on this is an ArmA board.

[the unknown 0]

I can run it on higher settings then I used to do but it still drops massively afther a certain viewdistance

[flake 10]

I remember it being quite laggy, now with my specs I bet I could max it out and have a stupidly epic battle.

my current system runs arma2 as badly as my old system ran ofp back in the day. nothing changes lol

[echo1 0]

Due it's age, OFP is incapable of taking advantage of newer hardware. A 2-3 year old PC will probably run it just as well as the latest Core i7 penis extender.

[arma2mods 10]

I could hardly get satisfied frames in normal setting in OFP when I can run A2 well in normal settings . I still have in my HD the install from 2001 but in same folder 80 Gb of mods that I still play throught when ever I got change. OFP doesnt seems to play any better with HW from 2009 than 2005 so it seems that its all about the code which could not utilize and use all multi core CPUs and SLI systems at all.

The best way to count the FPS have been to me my self made Omaha beach invasion map. I have test the mission almost montly over 6 years period, it include 400 German defending and 1000 Allies offending coming on crafts and planes. The stuttering always begin when the combat begin and never have managed in this pediod have over 10 FPS no matter what settings the AI take too much calculations.

I dont know how ppl have managed to put 500 AI battle with reasonable FPS in OFP in real time I have played certainly thousands time trying to get it work but not yet managed so I guess it wont work for me till the time of the end.

[-martin- 10]

OFP is still the best game and I play it every day :) But dont worry, in 10 years we will be able to play ArmA 2 without any lags :)

[sanctuary 19]

Certainly OFP is more CPU than GPU dependant, and is not specifically designed to take advantage of multiple cores, but you can have big scale battles with better computer than the one you used to have in the OFP years.

Of course if you stay very reasonnable with the view distance (remember OFP campaigns were made with only 900 in mind) and do not go over "normal" or "low" terrain (high or worse, very high, will eat too much of your CPU cycles to allow large scale AI combat), you would save a lot of CPU calculations for the AI, allowing you to use more AI by battles.

Be carefull with mods or addons that are not really optimised for the OFP engine and then could waste a lot of CPU that you would maybe have prefered to be used by the AI too.

With 1000 VD and normal terrain i was able to setup with the WW4 modpack a 240 vs 240 AI battle around Lamentin and have it staying very playable on my system.

Something impossible with the computer i had when OFP was at its peak of frequentation, as the amount of AI in such a relatively small area was turning OFP into slideshow in those times.

So yes, better computer can help in OFP, but you need to tweak the game to allow more CPU to be used by the AI.

And more importantly the amount of AI and performance can be very dependant on smart mission design : why put 200 AI in your side or 200 AI in the other side when you will most likely never see them all in your field of view.

Better use some intelligent spawn/delete scripts that would allow waves of thousand of AI without having really that much of an impact, as they would only exist when the mission would need them and be removed when they were not needed, DAC was a great example of that.

[-martin- 10]

Also in your OFP prefrences you could set your "maximum lights" lower, this hels decrease lag especialy in the night or dusk/dawn :)

[daraofp 10]

This is an old game, but it can still lagg because the game engine isn't optimised good,it doesn't mater if you have a great PC, remember when we first played Ofp version 1.0 it run smooth with all options on high, but when resistance was installed the game engine was a little changed and it started lagging...but there is a little trick how to make the game run faster and it will stil look the same, here is what you need to do...

--->go to "flashpoint preferences"(many of you just klick to autodetect, dont do this) go to /advanced/in the Preformance box set everything to low

-total memory 128mb

-texture heap 2mb

-file heap 2mb

-geometry performance 408

now go to effect, turn everything on

-max lights 32

-explosions on

-missle on

-static on

go to texture and set

-cockpit 1024x1024

-object 512x512

-landscape 512x512

-special effect 32x32

-auto drop-down 4x

go to detail and set all to max

-max object 256

-object LOD 0.005

-shadow lod 0.005

now exit and start the game.

the game will run faster and now you can increase "Visual detail" and "FPS in the game option, the objects will look good in large distances and the game fps will not drop so easy...

now i play the game on 1600x1024 and visual detail amost to max and visibility from 1k to 5k and the game runs like a piece of cake, but it also depends on what mods you use, like ECP and FFUR mods have a lot of scripts running in the missions so they can make the game lagg, if you want to make a high scale battles it would be best to use better optimised mods that have good unit models like WW4 mod...

---------- Post added at 11:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 PM ----------

This is an old game, but it can still lagg because the game engine isn't optimised good,it doesn't mater if you have a great PC, remember when we first played Ofp version 1.0 it run smooth with all options on high, but when resistance was installed the game engine was a little changed and it started lagging...but there is a little trick how to make the game run faster and it will stil look the same, here is what you need to do...

--->go to "flashpoint preferences"(many of you just klick to autodetect, dont do this) go to /advanced/in the Preformance box set everything to low

-total memory 128mb

-texture heap 2mb

-file heap 2mb

-geometry performance 408

now go to effect, turn everything on

-max lights 32

-explosions on

-missle on

-static on

go to texture and set

-cockpit 1024x1024

-object 512x512

-landscape 512x512

-special effect 32x32

-auto drop-down 4x

go to detail and set all to max

-max object 256

-object LOD 0.005

-shadow lod 0.005

now exit and start the game.

the game will run faster and now you can increase "Visual detail" and "FPS in the game option, the objects will look good in large distances and the game fps will not drop so easy...

now i play the game on 1600x1024 and visual detail amost to max and visibility from 1k to 5k and the game runs like a piece of cake, but it also depends on what mods you use, like ECP and FFUR mods have a lot of scripts running in the missions so they can make the game lagg, if you want to make a high scale battles it would be best to use better optimised mods that have good unit models like WW4 mod...

[sanctuary 19]

total memory 128mb

Doesn't this would then force the game to use more of the hard drive swap file instead of the memory ?

As unless there is a real lack of memory optimisation in OFP, having more hard drive swap file used than memory, wouldn't it be counter-productive in term of performance ?

[domokun 515]

I also still play OFP and recently built a new PC. So I'm curious to as to which settings offer the best visuals vs. decent framerate (30-60 fps?).

total memory

I second Sanctuary's question about the swap file. Surely 900MB would offer smoother gameplay right?

Texture heap

same as above? Shouldn't this be increased to it's maximum? i.e. 16 MB

File heap

same as above? Shouldn't this be increased to it's maximum? i.e. 16 MB

geometry performance

why only 408? shouldn't it be much higher? e.g. 3000 or even 6000?

textures

why only 1024x1024? i.e. why not 2048x2048?

I'm so glad to see fellow OPFers trying to get the very best out of OFP on today's hardware.

Who knows maybe somebody can somehow mod the engine to take advantage of today's technology? (dual core, GPU, etc.) :)

[-martin- 10]

-total memory 128mb

I just tested this and when I put it to 128 and ran the game it lagged.

You have to set it to the highest number you can so the game can use as much RAM as it can otherwise it will use your hard disk as RAM (swap file) and make the game very slow.

I'm not sure about the Texture and File Heap, I didnt notice any change in performance when changing these.

EDIT:

-landscape 512x512

If you have an island that uses 1024x1024 or larger textures then setting this option to 512x512 or lower will make the textures look very very bad, I just tested that too.

Edited July 6, 2009 by -Martin-

[daraofp 10]

I was always disappointed that game lagged, thats why i experimented whit this and i made a test on my old PC and my new PC...

My old PC was AMD 64bit 3.0 gh 1GB ram and ATI Saphire 8600 xt 256...and i always assumed that if i set in my OFP preference all at autodetect or high levels that game will run better, but it didnt...it always run's the same so i decited to use the low values and the game run smots in big citys and detailed maps and lots of AI...

Than i tested the same thing on my new PC (Core2Quad 6600 2,4 gh, 2GB ram and 9600 Gt 1 GB video memory), when playing on high values game lagged in big battles and better maps and when set on low game run faster and it looks better because now i can max the visual detail and fps, it also worked the same for my friends and some guys on internet that i told...Bis did some thing with the resistance expansion pack that fucks up the game, i noticed that old flashpoint(with no resistance)in preference options it only detects max memory of 256 and geometry performance max 2900 and old OFP alwys run like piece of cake of full graphic even on an old PC like 1.8 gh and 256 ram and 32mb card...as sanctuary said probably lack of memory optimisation in OFP, the game does not impact GPU that much...Now i play the game on 1600x1020 with terrain "normal" , "visual detail to 5.17" , "FPS to max" and "visual distance to 1k", and i set my Graphic card in control panel to best quality and i have 60 Fps even ithere are lots of AI in firefight( fps does not drop down or go up, it is always the same when the vid card is set to best quality, if i set the Video card in control panel to "let the aplication decide" than i have over 300 fps but then the game doesnt look tha good...

make some testing with the flashpoint preferences you can set File heap and texture heap to 6 or 8 mb but decrese the memory and geometry...i wish if someon can contact the bis and ask abot this so we realy now how this effects the game, but im happy so far because my Ofp runs frikin awesome on my detailed island and using sanctuary ww4 mod, i used also CSLA mod an manny more and all run good now...

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:52 PM ----------

you can go to OFPR INFO site and take look at some of the screnshoots i posted there and see how the game looks on my PC, it looks exactly as in the screenshots, also there is a link to some videos and you can see it for your self.

[-martin- 10]

you can go to OFPR INFO site and take look at some of the screnshoots i posted there and see how the game looks on my PC, it looks exactly as in the screenshots, also there is a link to some videos and you can see it for your self.

Looks exactely the same as on my PC but on your video I can see some small lag when the camera is moving :D Could be the program that your using to record thats doing it, when I start fraps my game goes down to 6fps and gamecam dosent support OFP when playing a mod =(

Edited July 6, 2009 by -Martin-

[mattxr 9]

This was even before my current Specs lol!!

[daraofp 10]

yes the fraps has a big impact on a game when recording, but video comes a little blurry, have you tried my island GALA?im working on a new one, les modern, it will look a bit like normandy france and some modern locations, also will have a desert part like previus version.I was just testing some new locations with sanctuarys ww4 mod, he did a great job, love the anims...I send some new screnshoots of how the hedgrows and bocage are going to look like to rellikki at OFPR INFO, dont know when he will post them, looks great...long live OFP hehehe...

[sanctuary 19]

For some tests of values, you can use OFP Mark 2.0 , it is a mission that is used as a benchmark, so you can see how much some changes of setting can impact it. It is available from there :

http://ofp.toadlife.net/downloads/missions/

By example, setting the terrain to LOW instead of NORMAL makes a big difference (not only in the score, but visually in the smoothness of the test), for card that can use Direct3D HW&TL , setting OFP to it instead of only Direct3D gives a little boost.

But for fine tuning, OFP Mark is not always very reliable (i ran a test, got a specific score, changed a setting got a better score, rechanged the setting to what it was and got an even better score !?) and you should better test in your own mission.

[-martin- 10]

have you tried my island GALA

I tryed it but I found it a little too empty but I wanted to ask you, how did you make the roads so that when I drive with my car on them on maximum I can still fully turn and my stearing wheel dosent lock like on other roads?

By example, setting the terrain to LOW instead of NORMAL makes a big difference (not only in the score, but visually in the smoothness of the test)

Yeah I always keep it at Low becaouse then the islands get too bumpy and I dont like that, it dosent look realistic :(

[daraofp 10]

Dont know about roads, maby because i used BAS roads so maby thay are different...As for the part of being a little empty, i wanted an island that looks good and runs good so people with slower PC can play also...But now im working on a new version of Gala island and will have more objects, In my previous version i mostly used original OFP buildings, but now i will use more objects like Farmland Objects, CAF_KKK_BUILDINGS, bas_O objects and Baraken addon ect...