Best Ways to Optimize Game

[gpellis 10]

I'm a Software & Information Systems major, but even the Armaholics thread is slightly confusing.

What are the absolute proven ways to optimize the game? I've read some of the shortcut commands, but which ones are proven to work? I'm just looking for proven ways of increasing FPS.

Thanks!

[datter 0]

You'll find a lot of my tips and suggestions <link removed by moderator> <at the link in my sig> though there is one unhappy thread in there, the rest should be helpful. ;)

Edited August 26, 2009 by datter

[BoxiouS 10]

The startup parameters are listed here. (From the thread in the suggestions forum) I think experimentation is the name of the game. i know some people want concrete answers but i think it varies so much from system to system that the simple answer is that none of them are proven to work on every given configuration. I've used a few of them myself and to be honest ditched most of them. I'm currently very happy with my performance using no command line parameters (that affect anything other than startup time and mods) with Vid memory set to default and the config file locked at my GPU's local ram setting (nonlocal left untouched) all settings medium high, 3d res at 1.1 and playing at 1280x1024 and 1920x1080 when i get chance:D (oddly with no performance difference whatsoever)

I don't bother with benchmarks but in anything other than the campaign it's (almost)silky smooth 80% of the time (still have issues when there's lots of smoke) I'm not bothering with the campaign until it's in a better state, but the little i played seemed to run much worse. Been using the last beta patch, not the very latest but xx834 i think.

I have Q6600, GTX 260 black and Win7. Nothing OC'd in any way but services butchered in Win7;)

You also have to consider that one person's 'no effect' whatsoever is another's 'fixed all my problems' Such is the nature of Arma 2.:)

Edited August 25, 2009 by BoxiouS

[W0lle 1051]

He asks for tips for optimizing his game and you send him to your site with BIS bashing. Link removed and welcome to my watchlist.

[gpellis 10]

Sorry to have posted in the wrong forum. New here. Like all the information I'm finding here though, very informative.

[walker 0]

Hi gpellis

As BoxiouS says there is no one size fits all solution to optimising ArmA II; it depends on your machine specification. In fact if you have a top end rig and use the optimization settings of a lower end rig you will not only loose quality you will reduce your rigs speed because you are hobbling it.

That said ArmA has an inbuilt set of standard settings. I would start with those.

There is a tool you can use to tune your settings on the fly, some report good results with it:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5864

But do not be an FPS navel gazer. All the FPS counting in the world does not mean you are getting a better game. It is what you are happy with that counts.

Generally too big a screen for your graphics card to cope costs FPS. So do not choose the highest resolution you monitor can put out. As with all games Anti Aliasing is a big resource hog. It is all about pixels when it comes to graphic cards. The more pixels your system has to push around the harder it has to work but as I said it depends on your Graphics card an ATI 4890 runs ArmA happily at very High, assuming the CPU, the memory and PSU are all of commensurate capability.

CPU is actually more important in ArmA than GPU. View distance is a serious user of CPU when there are lots of AI as well as GPU. If there are lots of AI on the map say 1000 consider dropping you view distance to between 1200 and 1800. If you are playing on a separate high powered MP server though ignore this the Servers CPU is taking the load.

You said you found the ArmAholic optimization post a little shall we say daunting. I suggest you start further into the thread say here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=73947&page=4

You might also consider reading it in reverse order as the latest tips may be the better ones ;)

Kind Regards walker

Edited August 26, 2009 by walker
spelling

[GunSlingerAUS 10]

You also have to consider that one person's 'no effect' whatsoever is another's 'fixed all my problems' Such is the nature of Arma 2.:)

You should also consider that some people find 20 frames per second to be very smooth and highly playable, while others can not tolerate such a low frame rate. I think this is a massive reason why there are so many conflicting reports about performance, with some folks saying its fine, while others think it's a slideshow. Unfortunately I'm in the latter camp :(

[sniper pilot 36]

...As with all games Anti Aliasing is a big resource hog....

Haha, the weird thing is that turning up AA in ArmA2 actually boosts performance for me. Needless to say, I was awe struck by that!

Great Info tho Walker....

[thaFunkster 0]

You should also consider that some people find 20 frames per second to be very smooth and highly playable, while others can not tolerate such a low frame rate. I think this is a massive reason why there are so many conflicting reports about performance, with some folks saying its fine, while others think it's a slideshow. Unfortunately I'm in the latter camp :(

Huh. Let me tell you a little story about slideshows.

Got Arma2 a few weeks back, then my videocard died and is off for reparis.

Got impatient last night, thought "Ill just give it a try with the backup 6600GT installed", well give it a try I did.

All settings to their lowest, res 1024x868, thought I could at least complete the MOUT in basic training.

Averaging 1-3 frames per second, dropping to 0-1 per second when I got into the village. It actually didnt look *that* bad, but when I got into the village I found I had no ammo - Forgot to pick it up. Needless to say I quit at that point, otherwise I would have thrown up from seasickness.

Not the smoothest gameplay experience I have had.....

[Relemar 10]

dude, the games not built for 5 year old computers... 6600gt was great, 3 years ago. why the hell are you moaning?

that card doesn't meet the reccomended specifications one bit..

sorry if you made a point, but sounds as if you're putting game down because you are trying to run it on an ancient PC.

[)Indy( 10]

dude, the games not built for 5 year old computers... 6600gt was great, 3 years ago. why the hell are you moaning?

that card doesn't meet the reccomended specifications one bit..

sorry if you made a point, but sounds as if you're putting game down because you are trying to run it on an ancient PC.

I think he is just trying to entertain us with a little story. I think you are overreacting.

[Alex72 1]

6600gt was great, 3 years ago.

Make that 5-6. :D

[maddogx 13]

6600gt was great, 3 years ago.

Make that 5-6. :D

Actually, it was more like mediocre 5 years ago. :p

[Master gamawa 0]

I'm a Software & Information Systems major, but even the Armaholics thread is slightly confusing.

What are the absolute proven ways to optimize the game?

Thanks!

Ok you asked for it.

The answer is:

Wait a couple of years.

It's proven that the Arma Series shows it's true potential, one or two years after the initial release.

Most serious bugs will be gone, the patching will be complete, the community will have created dozens of mods, addons, conversions, settings and maps and of course any computer you buy in two years will be able to run Arma 2 fine!

Proof: Have you tried porting the Armed Assault islands in Arma 2?

Man, they play soooooo fine! All settings on very high and around 8km of view distance. It's a dream. I could NEVER do that when Armed Assault came out. The technology didn't exist back then.

I am not even considering going back to chernarus for the time being.

It's the definition of future proof design... with a twist! :)

[S-M 10]

I found last night while experimenting, that if i turn my shadows down, i start to get loads of crashing to the desktop :confused:

So i turned them all the way right up and it was fine :rolleyes: :p

No idea why, i only wanted to see what the low shadows looked like as i have been running them on max since i started playing :)

[Path-x 10]

1) Switch from vista to win7.

2) Go to C:\Users\user\Documents\ArmA 2 (Other Profiles)\ and open <your name>.cfg. Find "sceneComplexity=;" and lower it.

3) A major drop of FPS is caused by a high view distance. Be sure you have it under 3000m.

Edited August 26, 2009 by Path-x

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Haha, the weird thing is that turning up AA in ArmA2 actually boosts performance for me. Needless to say, I was awe struck by that!

Great Info tho Walker....

Yeah inorite? Weird stuff.

[koroush47 10]

Turn off the damn shadows to low. Make the two filterings to Low... put postprocess to low then everything else to normal/high/Vhigh

Game runs great, even at 1080p, 4k view and 100 fillrate.