ArmA2 / OA (low) performance issues

[kklownboy 43]

buy nvidia ..

his 285 has the issue:confused:

[Physikz 10]

Does anyone have any more low-cost solutions to getting the FPS up a bit more?

Overclock your Cpu and Gpu... i use EVGA Precision to oc my 9500gt card.

[Greg 0]

Does anyone have any more low-cost solutions to getting the FPS up a bit more?

Drop the resolution as low as you can. Try it and see how many fps you gain.

[charon productions 10]

Now that would make a cool Arma2 machine: :D

[disobey 10]

I've found the game to be very CPU limited at times -- my system specs:

HD4870 X2 @ 800mhz / 2gb

6gb DDR 3 ram

Core i7 920 @ 3.4ghz (HT on, 4 cores / 8 threads)

Running the game on very high @ 1920x1080 (no AA), view distance 2300 metres.

I get up to 80fps but it can dip down to as little as 15fps in a few choice areas, it seems to average 40-60, quite an amazing variance. View distance seems to be the killer for me, and AA simply cripples my frame rate completely (even 4x).

But the CPU is the bottleneck always it seems, one multiplayer game I tried with lots of AI and vehicles I dropped to < 5fps. Insane.

[Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz 10]

Hey guys and gals,

Thanks in advance for reading this. Sorry if this has already been posted; I searched through most of the posts and couldn't find a definite resolution.

I bought a new PC recently, specifically to prepare for ArmA II. I have an intel i7 920 at 2.66 GHz, an NVIDIA GTX 285, 12 GB of DDR3 tri-channel RAM.

So, here's the problem. With all settings maxed, I seem to get very decent frame rates (~30+ most of the time). The problem? Stuttering. The game runs beautifully for about 5-7 seconds, then stutters, then runs for 5-7 seconds, then stutters, etc. (I'm sure most of you are familiar with the problem). It just becomes very troublesome when trying to gun for a helicopter or something, because I'm constantly freezing up when I should be blasting whatever is infront of me into oblivion.

I asked a few guys in the game I was in, and they were very helpful; they suggested turning off Hyperthreading, which is apparently in my BIOS.

Is there anything else I can do to minimize/prevent stuttering?

If hyperthread disabling is my only option, would someone be kind enough to tell me how to do it?

I'm still basically completely clueless when it comes to the inner workings of PCs. I don't know how to access or modify my BIOS/hyperthreading... I don't even know where or what it is!

Any help anyone could give me would be sincerely appreciated, please and thank you.

[-=seany=- 5]

Hi Hugo, welcome to the Forums and Arma2 :)

yes, the stuttering is bad and will hopefully be optimized, but until then....Textures on very High will not really effect FPS but it will cause what you are describing. Turn them to normal to see if that helps, image quality diff is not that big.

Another thing that will make the stuttering worse is high View distance. Over 3000 things will get choppy unless you are in the editor with nothing else around.

Finally, Object detail on very high will effect stuttering because it seems as though the LOD models are streamed from the harddisk.

-----edit----------

I see you have 12 gb of ram, that may also cause issues, ironically. Search the troubleshooting forum for keywords like -maxmem=, 8gb and the like to find posts relating to probs with large amounts of memory.

Edited September 5, 2009 by -=seany=-

[Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz 10]

Thank you -=seany=-!

That's very interesting. I tried tweaking my settings (i.e. having them all at very low, etc), but stuttering still seemed to occur, maybe at a lesser rate.

I had come across a couple of posts about RAM issues; I'll look into them again, maybe there is another solution.

I have my view distance set to 1600, so maybe that's not the issue, but I will tweak the settings you mentioned, ignore the hyperthreading, and look for solutions regarding RAM issues.

Thank you again! Anyone else who has any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[randir14 10]

Hi I was on the server with you last night, and yeah the 12 gigs of ram could be the problem. I've seen other people complain about it. An easy way to change it is to use Alpinestar's ArmA 2 launcher

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=6649

Go to the start parameters tab and check "Max memory" and start experimenting with the values (mine is at 2048). You could also try checking the WinXP parameter.

To enter your bios there should be a screen when you start your computer that says something like "press F2 to enter bios" or "press F2 to enter setup". When you get in the bios look around for hyperthreading, it will probably be under advanced CPU settings.

Edited September 6, 2009 by randir14

[unsobill 10]

On the same PC structure as mine

I get shit fps (artifacts, 20-22fps) with my ATI4890 in 1920~1200

people with gtx285 get 56fps in 1920~1200

Can u include this card in your next 1.4 update please - i payed 400 buks for a card that work like shit ONLY with arma

every other game is FLAWLESS in MAX on 1920~1200 with my ATI4890

thank you devs!

once more: HAVING ISSUES RUNNING HIGH RESOLUTIONS AND ENABLING HIGH SHADOWS - highest shadows bring game completely to it's knees

p.s

cpu is i7 clocked at 3.6

once again same structure - same os - same 3 channel 6gig ram - 2 different cards - ati gives shit fps - nvidia 65fps - WTTFF!!!???

Edited September 6, 2009 by unsobill

[Simon C 0]

Maybe your CPU is your bottleneck? ArmA is a very CPU-intensive game too, with all the AI and whatnot. Graphical Artifacts usually indicate that you have your Video Memory set too high, if it's set to 'Default' then try changing down to 'Very High'. I get this too on my 4850 1024MB, changing to Very High fixes it.

[Drew 10]

I have a 4850, but i usually run any where between 30 - low 40's with all settings on Normal/Object Deatil Very High, Post processining & Anti Aliasing off. http://www.youtube.com/user/Demon575 you be the judge.

[unsobill 10]

Run it 1920~1200 and report back with fps cap

LET ME EDIT MY MAIN POST AGAIN - I'M ONLY HAVING ISSUES RUNNING HIGH RESOLUTIONS AND ENABLING HIGH SHADOWS

OFCOURSE PLAYING IN 1280 RESOLUTION IS FLAWLESS WITH HIGH FPS

SRY CAPS

[purgi 10]

On the same PC structure as mine

I get shit fps (artifacts, 20-22fps) with my ATI4890 in 1920~1200

people with gtx285 get 56fps in 1920~1200

Can u include this card in your next 1.4 update please - i payed 400 buks for a card that work like shit ONLY with arma

every other game is FLAWLESS in MAX on 1920~1200 with my ATI4890

thank you devs!

p.s

cpu is i7 clocked at 3.6

once again same structure - same os - same 3 channel 6gig ram - 2 different cards - ati gives shit fps - nvidia 65fps - WTTFF!!!???

Have you tried disabling HT in BIOS?

I can make my GTX295 run at 20fps with huge stuttering by enabling that feature. :(

[unsobill 10]

brb - i try it right now - i saw it somewhere on i7 in bios i think...

[Drew 10]

ah sorry didnt see the 1920~1200 part my fault :D, but just out of curiosity can you go into you ATI catylist control center and post your 3d specs for me? all of them, I might be able to tell you why your only getting 22 FPS in a high resolution such as that.

Edited September 6, 2009 by Drew

[unsobill 10]

ah sorry didnt see the 1920~1200 part my fault :D, but just out of curiosity can you go into you ATI catylist control center and post your 3d specs for me? all of them, I might be able to tell you why your only getting 22 FPS in a high resolution such as that.

all settings on high perfomance

its 09.8 v

2Purgi

Great find with HT

i gained big number of fps after disabling it- now its ok and i'm tweaking it between high and super high how it suppost to be :))

p.s

strange i had to disable thing that suppost to give MORE fps instead of droping perfomance

oh well maybe after 1.5 patch we'll be safe to enable it bak ;)

Edited September 6, 2009 by unsobill

[W0lle 1050]

unsobill

I merged your thread with this one, which is for exactly your problem.

Also, please refrain from typing in all capital letters (aka screaming).

[Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz 10]

Sorry about the inconvenience, W0lle.

I've been told that disabling hyperthreading may be a possible solution to my stuttering/video problems.

Would someone be able to tell me how to go about doing that? Or direct me to a step-by-step guide?

[unsobill 10]

boot in bios - reboot your pc and hit numerously "delete" while booting

once you in Bios do not change anything but look for CPU section somewhere -

it should have option with phrase:

INTEL HT in it. Once you find it - disable it and save then reboot.

It could also be called Intel HyperThreading in case you wont see Intel HT

[Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz 10]

Hmmm. I've looked a couple of times now,

I've got a Gateway FX6800 with an intel i7 920 @ 2.67 GHz, NVIDIA GTX 285, 12GB DDR3 RAM.

When I press F2 at startup and go to the BIOS menu, I can see:

Product Information

Standard CMOS Information

Advanced BIOS Features

Advanced Chipset Features

Integrated Peripherals

Power Management Setup

PC Health Status

Frequency/Voltage Control

BIOS Security Features

Load Default Settings

Save & Exit Setup

Exit Without Saving

I've tried going to each individual sub-set, but I haven't found anything that looks like an option to enable/disable hyperthreading.

Did I miss it? Is it somewhere else entirely?

Thank you in advance.

[unsobill 10]

Hmmm. I've looked a couple of times now,

I've got a Gateway FX6800 with an intel i7 920 @ 2.67 GHz, NVIDIA GTX 285, 12GB DDR3 RAM.

When I press F2 at startup and go to the BIOS menu, I can see:

Product Information

Standard CMOS Information

Advanced BIOS Features

Advanced Chipset Features

Integrated Peripherals

Power Management Setup

PC Health Status

Frequency/Voltage Control

BIOS Security Features

Load Default Settings

Save & Exit Setup

Exit Without Saving

I've tried going to each individual sub-set, but I haven't found anything that looks like an option to enable/disable hyperthreading.

Did I miss it? Is it somewhere else entirely?

Thank you in advance.

try going Frequency/Voltage Control - tell me whats in there

it's there,

you just not seeing it because gtateway put a locked custom bios on your computer before he sold it to you -

to enable/disable HT along with many other things gateway locked from you, you need either

:a) unlock/crack bios/upload custom bios - not recommended if you not too savvy

:b) get on the phone and DEMAND gateway all features in your BIOS to be available to you - escalate it to super if can to get better results.

if asked upon reason - mention about your hardware not being compatible with 3rd party software unless you fully disable Hyperthreading. Loook at it like this, you've been sold a car with a lock on your brake fluid box etc so force them to help you.

Edited September 6, 2009 by unsobill

[Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz 10]

"Spread Spectrum Control" is the one and only option under Frequency/Voltage

[hotel 10]

Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz

I had major stuttering issues when i first installed this game. Over time I have come to realize the game is super Hard Drive intensive. I am actually backing everything i have up on another drive because im scared this game is going to kill my HDD before a year.

The solution I found for my stuttering was simply using a good defrag program to consolidate my arma data to the outer edge of the disk where read times are at there highest. A good tool is Ultimate defrag run in admin mode on vista or win7.

I broke down and bought Diskeepers software which IMHO is the best defrag software money can buy. You can get the home edition for 30 bucks I think with a trial period for the professional.

Try the defrag before messing around with your BIOS especially if your not experienced with editing that part of your system. Also note that this game is far from optimized and you may have to wait for that miracle patch the BIS has been working on for several years ;).

Best Regards,

Brad

[Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz 10]

Ohhh, wow. That's very interesting, Hotel.

Hmmm. I have a 1 TB hard drive, so it has plenty of space, but at the same time I guess that also means that it has a long way for data to travel.

If it's as simple as entering the BIOS menu to enable/disable hyperthreading, I might give that a try first before buying a defrag program.

Still don't know how to disable it though... is it risky to do so? Last thing I want to do is wreck an expensive, day-old PC.