ArmA2 / OA (low) performance issues

[domokun 515]

-AA is set to Very High ( I'm playing at 1024 x 1280 resolution and I hate jaggines), PP and World detail is set to normal ATOC is off and Memory is set to Default. Everything else is set to very high.

-Correct me If I'm wrong but VD is mostly dependent on cpu right?

You're right that VD is very dependant on your CPU's speed. Try decreasing Object Detail to High even Normal. Try also the noBlur mod, as well as CCleaner, defragging your HDD and Gamebooster.

[denco 16]

For defrag I have diskeeper 2011. I use gamebooster but I don't notice any diffrence since I don't have any stuttering in games ( in my old comp GB helped me by reducing stuttering )

I'll order a new psu then and I'll overcloak my cpu to 4.6 ( I read 2600k can do even more ).

[xx_fr0st-w0lf_xx 10]

I have a small question is this normal?

I have a intel 4 gbites of ram (quad) I got it around 2008

I play arma at everything set to very low except objects and textures to normal. If there is anything I can turn off in the video setting I already turned it off, and I am getting 14 fps on OA benchmark. No matter what I put in the lauch (-winxp -maxmem -cpucount=2 or 4) nothing improves.

I thought you know what maybe that what my comp can handle but before I called quits I checked my cpu usage during the benchmark.

My cpu usage was capped at 30-40% (cpucount=4) Why? Why cant it be 80 or 90 why only 40% It never surpassed 50%

If you can give any tips i would really apreciate it or of my computer is too old just let me know :(

Thanks in advance

(before you go about telling me to overclock and change hardware just want to let you know Im not good with computers, I didn't know what overclocking meant untill yesterday )

[Masterfragg 10]

I have a small question is this normal?

I have a intel 4 gbites of ram (quad) I got it around 2008

I play arma at everything set to very low except objects and textures to normal. If there is anything I can turn off in the video setting I already turned it off, and I am getting 14 fps on OA benchmark. No matter what I put in the lauch (-winxp -maxmem -cpucount=2 or 4) nothing improves.

I thought you know what maybe that what my comp can handle but before I called quits I checked my cpu usage during the benchmark.

My cpu usage was capped at 30-40% (cpucount=4) Why? Why cant it be 80 or 90 why only 40% It never surpassed 50%

If you can give any tips i would really apreciate it or of my computer is too old just let me know :(

Thanks in advance

(before you go about telling me to overclock and change hardware just want to let you know Im not good with computers, I didn't know what overclocking meant untill yesterday )

Arma2/OA has been dual core optimized not quad core optimized.

This basically means that when running on a quad core it'll use all four cores but to limited amounts. This has been an issue I've had since release and would be why everyone suggest over clocking as a solution.

A faster dual core cpu will out perform a quad core 90% of the time with dual core optimized games thus pure brute force ghz will win the race.

What I would suggest is if you cannot overclock lower the settings until you can get a solid 30FPS then get DXTORY (google it) and cap your fps on arma2/oa to 30.

This was the only way I could get a playable frame rate even with my rig. And also I disagree with what the developers/other players say about Arma2/oa being playable at 15FPS or greater.

30FPS will always be an absolute minimum and I rarely settle for anything other than 60FPS as smoothness is a major factor in accuracy especially in close quarters battles.

Hope this sheds some light on the situation and provides some help in some form.

Zedfragg

[MavericK96 0]

The thing about SP versus MP performance in this game is that in SP you have a TON more scripts and AI running around than in MP (usually). If you play the campaign in co-op you will see that performance is typically just as bad as the same mission in SP.

View Distance definitely has the most affect on framerate, and because it and AI/Script performance are so CPU-bound, you are able to increase it very far in MP where not much AI is running, but in SP it will slow to a crawl.

Terrain Detail is probably the second-most largest hit on framerate as well, which I think also couples with VD in that it seems to relate to grass detail at distance.

[Khangirey 1]

I recently bought Arma OA and I found out that I have a hard time running it. I have 8 gigabytes of ram and a quad2core cpu running at 2.4ghz. My video card is a gtx 570 2g. I can run games like crysis and bf3 on ultra settings at a 1920x1200 resolution fine at 60 fps. When I try to run arma I barely get 30. Whether on ultra settings or lowest possible I get the same fps. I have disabled vertical sync and all my drivers are updated.

[griffz 1]

unfortunatly, a core²quad at 2.4 is quite underpowered for this simulation. you can't compare bohemia product to any action fps game.

but if you have opportunity to overclock it , it can do the job. my Q6600 (stock@2.4Ghz) , the same than you , ran for 2 years and half at 3.2ghz . you need a BIG cpu cooler for this old mule

[Khangirey 1]

unfortunatly, a core²quad at 2.4 is quite underpowered for this simulation. you can't compare bohemia product to any action fps game.

but if you have opportunity to overclock it , it can do the job. my Q6600 (stock@2.4Ghz) , the same than you , ran for 2 years and half at 3.2ghz . you need a BIG cpu cooler for this old mule

Really? I did not think that was the problem. When I go to the task manager and check the performance, only 25 percent of the CPU is being used and 50 percent of the ram. Maybe Arma 2 isn't utilizing all the cores properly?

[Atkins 10]

That is pretty much how Arma2 uses the cpu cores. Nothing we can do about it basically except to accept it. OC the cpu and u might get few extra frames.

[colinm9991 20]

Is it at any way possible to make arma use more cores, a force or something, similar to APB's 32 bit crash fix by utilizing the ram?

My specs are as follows

Mobo: ASUS Crosshair V Formula

CPU: AMD FX-8150

RAM: 16 GB RAM

GPU: Sapphire 7970

PSU: 1250Watts

The CPU doesn't go above 10 degrees Celsius as it's being cooled via Corsair H100.

Even with the 3GB of VRAM, the 8 core processor and 16GB Ram, I lag on this game using even Normal/Medium settings.

[MavericK96 0]

Doesn't go above 10C? That doesn't really make sense. That's colder than room temp.

Anyway, you could try forcing the number of cores with cpuCount=n, where n is the number of cores. It should auto-detect but you can try that.

The game is notorious for not fully utilizing your CPU and GPU, though, but still having low FPS. Turning down VD and Terrain Detail can help.

[Atkins 10]

2500k@4.0Ghz runs the game pretty smoothly FPS-wise but now that I moved to s1155 I had to get rid of my old IDE HDDs so i was forced to put my pagefile to either c: or to steam's hdd and either way the game starts stuttering and freeze occasionally for 1s when windows is writing to pagefile, especially when I zoom the game tends to freeze for a tiny time. Any tips how to prevent the stuttering/freezing? I only have 4 gigs of ram atm, but I am going to get 4 more and SSD as well but in the mean time I would sure appreciate if the stuttering would go away. Win7 is the OS.

[Atkins 10]

2500k@4.0Ghz runs the game pretty smoothly FPS-wise but now that I moved to s1155 I had to get rid of my old IDE HDDs so i was forced to put my pagefile to either c: or to steam's hdd and either way the game starts stuttering and freeze occasionally for 1s when windows is writing to pagefile, especially when I zoom the game tends to freeze for a tiny time. Any tips how to prevent the stuttering/freezing? I only have 4 gigs of ram atm, but I am going to get 4 more and SSD as well but in the mean time I would sure appreciate if the stuttering would go away. Win7 is the OS.

Hmm... This might have been caused by the Nvidia 295 drivers. Just installed 296 and I haven't experienced such freezing or stuttering anymore.

Edit. I was able to repro some slight stutter/jerkiness. But now it might be just the lack of SSD... Needs more testing still...

Edit2. Still freezes inside cities or close by. :( Time for ssd i suppose

Edited March 22, 2012 by Atkins

[vonsteimel 1]

Arma2 is very laggy on my PC but I found a solution. Every time after starting the game, minimize it (alt+TAB) and then bring up the task manager (alt+ctrl+del) and right-click on the arma2 process (arma2OA.exe or something like that) and then go to "set priority" and change it to "above normal"....

This fixes it for me everytime... If I do not do this, it's so laggy I can hardly play it.

Hope it helps,

Thanks.

VS

[denco 16]

OK now this is strange.

I bought a new monitor yesterday and saw a decrease in fps a lot. Playing at res 1920x1080 I get lower fps than I had when I used 1280x1024 which is expected but the funny thing is if I decrease my res on my new monitor to 1280x1024 fps stay the same and If I go lower lets say 640x480 my fps are extactly the same. I wouldnt complain but my fps go bellow 30 alot and thats on 3500VD???. If I change my 3D res I get no change in fps If I change any other setting I still get the same fucking fps. On my old monitor I got nice frames in multiplayer with VD set to 8000 or 5000 ( 40-60 fps ) and in SP I got 40+ with VD set to 3500 with the same settings as I have now lets just say it was playable and enjoyable. I only tested my new setup in SP ( 20-30 fps in campaign and 60 when there aren't a lot of objects around ) and will test it in MP tomorrow when we have an op but I think the diffrence will be noticable :(

My settings:

-VD= 3500

-Res= 1920x1080

-3D Res= 1920x1080

-Texture Detail= Very High

-Memory Detail= Default

-AF= Very High

-AA= Medium

-World Detail= Medium

-Object Detail= Very High

-Shadow Detail= Very High

-HDR Detail= Very High

-PP= Low

VSync= Enabled

Intel i7 2600k overcloaked to 4,5GHz

Asus Maximus IV Gene-z

Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1866Mhz

Sapphire HD 7970 1125 / 1575

Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 - 80+ Bronze

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

In other games the fps diffrence is none or barely noticeable and are all on 60 fps with myb an occasional fps drop now and then. Any Ideas or suggestions.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Denco

[Kommiekat 11]

Anybody know how to squeeze the best out of 4G Ram with a 32 bit system GT Force 560?

Please don't suggest that I upgrade my hardware. Maybe some tweeks will work?

[stk2008 14]

kommiekat you could make a ram drive as Win 32bit wont see more than 3gb any way so put some files for arma on a ram dive.

There is a thread here some where on what files are accessed most so start there.

[Kommiekat 11]

kommiekat you could make a ram drive as Win 32bit wont see more than 3gb any way so put some files for arma on a ram dive.

There is a thread here some where on what files are accessed most so start there.

Thanks, man, I'll look into that!

EDIT:

OK, downloaded an app called RAMDisk.

If you have any idea what Arma folders and files go in there, please let me know.

Thanks!

Edited April 1, 2012 by Kommiekat

[MavericK96 0]

I would highly recommend against making a RAMDrive on only 4 GB. At most you could only do like maybe 1 GB and that's not going to net you any major improvement.

[Kommiekat 11]

I would highly recommend against making a RAMDrive on only 4 GB. At most you could only do like maybe 1 GB and that's not going to net you any major improvement.

You were right. I got only one PBO file and it did nothing.

I think I'll go for an investment. I'll go for a 120G SSD and install the PBO files there.

When I'm ready for X64, I'll get more RAM and install the Win7 OS on the SSD as well and keep the HDD for storage only.

[MavericK96 0]

With a 120g SSD you should be able to keep ArmA2 and Win7 on the drive just fine. Probably more games/apps as well.

[Kommiekat 11]

I got a 60GB SSD today. Will install Arma on it tonight and give a full report here later.

[Atkins 10]

Hmm... This might have been caused by the Nvidia 295 drivers. Just installed 296 and I haven't experienced such freezing or stuttering anymore.

Edit. I was able to repro some slight stutter/jerkiness. But now it might be just the lack of SSD... Needs more testing still...

Edit2. Still freezes inside cities or close by. :( Time for ssd i suppose

Got a SSD while ago. No more stuttering or freezing. Perfect.

[Kommiekat 11]

Got a SSD while ago. No more stuttering or freezing. Perfect.

Hey man, I can't get it to show up on 'Computer' with an assigned letter drive. You know, like my HDD is C and my DVD is D.

I can get it so show up in BIOS but I don't know how to format it nor initialize it. BIOS sees it but it doesn't show up as a drive.

BTW, my HDD is IDE not the achi or what ever it was. I tried that and could not get the pc to boot up on the ACHI or whatever.

I'm sure I hooked up the SATA red cable and the ribbon properly.

Any help is appreciated.

I'm hoping I don't have to take the pc to the local pc shop for help on this.

cheers

[NeuroFunker 11]

Hey man, I can't get it to show up on 'Computer' with an assigned letter drive. You know, like my HDD is C and my DVD is D.

I can get it so show up in BIOS but I don't know how to format it nor initialize it. BIOS sees it but it doesn't show up as a drive.

BTW, my HDD is IDE not the achi or what ever it was. I tried that and could not get the pc to boot up on the ACHI or whatever.

I'm sure I hooked up the SATA red cable and the ribbon properly.

Any help is appreciated.

I'm hoping I don't have to take the pc to the local pc shop for help on this.

cheers

you have to setup a RAID, open you motherboard handbook, and see how to do this.