ArmA2 / OA (low) performance issues

[domokun 515]

Stierlitz: welcome to the forums. I'm surprised that you're experiencing such issues. I have a very similar system (E8400@3.8+7850) and it runs great. In fact it ran great even when I had just a E8400@3.8+4890.

What made you delete those dlls ?

I think that you're better of trying these tweaks:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?85124-ArmA2-OA-%28low%29-performance-issues&p=2081466#post2081466

[Stierlitz 1]

Stierlitz: welcome to the forums. I'm surprised that you're experiencing such issues. I have a very similar system (E8400@3.8+7850) and it runs great. In fact it ran great even when I had just a E8400@3.8+4890.

Hey, thanks for answering my post.

Well, it runs reeeaaaallly choppy on my system. I'm quite surprised, I mean, my hardware isn't that bad.

What made you delete those dlls ?

I found this tweak on some ArmA related forum. It definitely helped to reduce the crashes. Yet, it only "reduced" them, the game is still unstable as hell and usually crashes after a maximum of 10-15 minutes of gameplay.

I think that you're better of trying these tweaks:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?85124-ArmA2-OA-%28low%29-performance-issues&p=2081466#post2081466

I already gave them a go, but they didn't do much.

As I said, the performance is bad, like, ultra-bad. I also experience a lot of hard drive accessing which seems to cause FPS drops (or the FPS drops are causing it).

[domokun 515]

I'd be fairly wary of advice about Arma outside of these forums, particularly advice that suggests deleting dlls.

Have you really tried ALL the advice outlined in that post?

Including the housekeeping of your PC?

Have you tried the latest beta patch?

Personally it sounds like something is badly run with either your PC or your install.

Are you low on disk space?

[gunso 10]

Usually experiencing lag even on the main menu is caused by using resolution higher than what is capable of your gpu. Just because you are using a big monitor doesn't mean your gpu can handle it on the monitor native resolution. You need to reduce it to get a stable framerate and later tweak it to get more from it. The only solution to play seamlessly on higher resolution is a much more powerful gpu.

Lag while in game, especially when zooming weapons in towns area is usually caused by hard drive rpm loading speed. Others solve this by using ssd, you can also reduce it easily by reducing the resolution too, sacrificing looks for smooth gameplay.

[Stierlitz 1]

I'd be fairly wary of advice about Arma outside of these forums, particularly advice that suggests deleting dlls.

I got it off the Armaholic forums. Well, it definitely did help with the CTDs which were making the game even more unplayable than it is now.

Including the housekeeping of your PC?

Yeah, I always do that.

Have you tried the latest beta patch?

Nope, haven't tried this one yet. Will the beta patches run with the Steam version?

Personally it sounds like something is badly run with either your PC or your install.

All my other games (and I have a lot, most of them on Steam) run just fine. It's only ArmA I have so many problems with.

Are you low on disk space?

Nope, I still have a couple hundreds of GB left. Also, before you ask, the disk is defragmented and the Windows installation is relatively fresh (one moth old).

Usually experiencing lag even on the main menu is caused by using resolution higher than what is capable of your gpu.

I get at least 60 FPS in the main menu.

Just because you are using a big monitor doesn't mean your gpu can handle it on the monitor native resolution. You need to reduce it to get a stable framerate and later tweak it to get more from it. The only solution to play seamlessly on higher resolution is a much more powerful gpu.

Come on, I won't lower my resolution past my native one. My system should pull this game in 1680x1050 on its low settings without much of a problem, which it doesn't. I blame a crappy optimization, not a crappy system.

I had both Operation Flashpoint and ArmA, both of which were neither stable nor well optimized games...

Lag while in game, especially when zooming weapons in towns area is usually caused by hard drive rpm loading speed. Others solve this by using ssd, you can also reduce it easily by reducing the resolution too, sacrificing looks for smooth gameplay.

So, even though my system specs are exceeding the recommended ones, I should make the game look like crap just in order to get more than 30 FPS? There's something pretty wrong here...

Edited July 17, 2012 by Stierlitz

[domokun 515]

Stierlitz: don't blame crappy optimisation, the game runs fine on my system which was worse than yours.

It also runs fine for many others.

I agree though that your system should comfortably be able to handle the game @ 1680x1050.

However try dis-activating AA and lowering your View Distance (both described in that post I quoted).

OA is definitely not the type of game where you can jump in, push all the sliders to max and expect smooth gameplay simply because it was released 3 years ago and your PC is fast.

Try the betas, they are completely compatible with Steam, however I'd suggest you go no further than 94700.

The reason is that the later betas irrevocably modify your install, whereas 94700 install in parallel, i.e. if you're not happy with the beta you can always use your default patch.

[Stierlitz 1]

Stierlitz: don't blame crappy optimisation, the game runs fine on my system which was worse than yours.

It also runs fine for many others.

If other titles ran crappy too, I wouldn't say a word. Yet, it's only ArmA that's causing problems.

However try dis-activating AA and lowering your View Distance (both described in that post I quoted).

Did that, but it didn't help much. Got FPS as low as 10 in some places.

OA is definitely not the type of game where you can jump in, push all the sliders to max and expect smooth gameplay simply because it was released 3 years ago and your PC is fast.

I would never expect that from a Bohemia Interactive game, would I? ;)

As for now, I uninstalled both games since their instability made them totally unplayable. I'll try to reinstall them sometime and see if there is any progress.

Too bad I bought them through Steam since I can't even get a refund...

[mr burns 131]

I had both Operation Flashpoint and ArmA, both of which were neither stable nor well optimized games...

Have you tried the final patch 1.16 for ArmA1?

It runs awesome, all gfx options set to very high, 10k viewdistance, 50+ frames.

I go back to ArmA1 once in a while just to start crying about how enormously bad ArmA2 is optimized ..... seeing what they accomplished in ArmA1 at the end of the product lifecycle really puts "bad ArmA2 performance" into a new perspective. You always wonder how great it could run if only they did the same ammount of magic to it :(

Stierlitz: don't blame crappy optimisation, the game runs fine on my system which was worse than yours.

It also runs fine for many others.

Sorry to say, but this is bullshit and comments like those help nobody!

Time & time again it was proven that RV engine games like to perform differently on peoples hardware, it´s not always the users fault.

[domokun 515]

If other titles ran crappy too, I wouldn't say a word. Yet, it's only ArmA that's causing problems.

Don't say a word then because you're comparing apples with pears.

Did that, but it didn't help much. Got FPS as low as 10 in some places.

That's not right. Not with your hardware

What settings did you set in the Advanced Video options? Did you try those recommended earlier?

I would never expect that from a Bohemia Interactive game, would I? ;)

Lol. You're right there. BI games have always been over-ambitious. But just as well. I don't have any other games that I'm still playing 3 years after their release

As for now, I uninstalled both games since their instability made them totally unplayable. I'll try to reinstall them sometime and see if there is any progress.

Too bad I bought them through Steam since I can't even get a refund...

There's been lots of progress in the past 3 years. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out for you.

Maybe you can try installing it on another machine to test.

Failing that you could always try and gift it to someone.

Seriously mate, nothing's wrong with game. Otherwise it wouldn't have been #1 seller in Steam for the past 3 months, outselling AAA titles Max Payne 2

[Stierlitz 1]

Don't say a word then because you're comparing apples with pears.

Twenty games running just fine out of the box and two totally going haywire?

.

That's not right. Not with your hardware

What settings did you set in the Advanced Video options? Did you try those recommended earlier?

Yeah, I basically tried all more or less sensible combinations of options. Also tried some of the extensions. Aside from the graphics starting to resemble Operation Flashpoint, not much happened. :D

Lol. You're right there. BI games have always been over-ambitious. But just as well. I don't have any other games that I'm still playing 3 years after their release

Sure, the games are a blast. I had tons of fun with Flashpoint, back in the days. Yet, they've never been decent software and always caused truckloads of problems.

There's been lots of progress in the past 3 years. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out for you.

Oh, well, since I can't give it back, I'm kinda stuck with it anyway. ;)

Seriously mate, nothing's wrong with game. Otherwise it wouldn't have been #1 seller in Steam for the past 3 months, outselling AAA titles Max Payne 2

It outsells other games because it's unique, not because it's such a fine example of coding craftsmanship. :D

It's the same situation as with the Test Drive Unlimited series. The games are one of their kind, but they're bitches to run.

[DGamer 1]

I got ARMA off of Steam for DayZ, but ironically I've gotten so engrossed into the actual game itself that I haven't done it yet.

However, one problem has kept coming to me: the game, every once and awhile, will just freeze. Sometimes I'm able to ctrl-alt-deldte out of it, but other times I have to restart it. This usually happens in campaign missions, but sometimes it happens when I'm fooling around in the editor (partly because I'm apt to build gigantic battles, I figure).

I'll get my specs up later (I'm not at my PC that I use to play games right now), but just was wondering if anybody has any initial thoughts/suggestions.

[Streaks 0]

So um, anyone know why I'd be getting the problems I posted at page 170? I tried OA yesterday just for shits and grins and had a few friends rotate in and out over the course of a 24 player takistan CTI map. ZERO problems, everything cranked as high as it would go, playing at max monitor rez....fluid graphics

I get on ArmAII and try the same on a big map (this is hosting mind you), and it's sluggish.

I can connect TO a server and get amazing performance all game long. But when I HOST a game it just starts chugging.

[gunso 10]

So um, anyone know why I'd be getting the problems I posted at page 170? I tried OA yesterday just for shits and grins and had a few friends rotate in and out over the course of a 24 player takistan CTI map. ZERO problems, everything cranked as high as it would go, playing at max monitor rez....fluid graphics

I get on ArmAII and try the same on a big map (this is hosting mind you), and it's sluggish.

I can connect TO a server and get amazing performance all game long. But when I HOST a game it just starts chugging.

When you play on a server, all the enemy AI processing power is done by the server. That's why you get a smooth experience playing online. You pc only need to handle your own AI, that's all. It's a different story when you host the game. It shows that your pc is lacking the cpu power.

That's why people with older rigs prefer to play arma 2 online instead of single player.

[jiltedjock 10]

If you have a quad core you should consider running a dedicated server on your PC using the ArmaOAserver.exe, then connect to it from your client. This way you get smooth client gameplay while much of the AI processing is being done by the server executable. I ahve a 2500k overclocked to 4.7GHz, Last night on MSO I was getting 60FPS viewdistance 5500 terraingrid 3.125 on the client while the server was doing all the crunching. Server set to 5500 viewdistance and 3.125 terrain too.

Anyone else trying this? AFAIK - many of the threads are old - the server exe will only use one core so you have three left over for your client which is more than enough.

JJ

[DrFire 10]

I just upgraded from a 955 Quad Core to an i5 2500. How much better will my game run (I used to be having 15 FPS)

8 GB DDR3 1600 mhz

6950 2 GB Unlocked

[Snake Man 401]

If you have a quad core you should consider running a dedicated server on your PC using the ArmaOAserver.exe, then connect to it from your client. This way you get smooth client gameplay while much of the AI processing is being done by the server executable.

Anyone else trying this?

Yes, when I first time saw this I was blown away and could not believe my eyes, I was sure my computer crawls to a 5FPS halt but no, client gets high FPS almost like running one soldier in mission editor. Excellent stuff :)

[Atkins 10]

I just upgraded from a 955 Quad Core to an i5 2500. How much better will my game run (I used to be having 15 FPS)

8 GB DDR3 1600 mhz

6950 2 GB Unlocked

You should get quite a lot better performance. Stock 2500 beats OCed 955 any day. And if your 2500 is actually 2500k, then OC it to about 4+ Ghz and u are good to go.

I did the same upgrade about 5 months ago. Next you'll notice that the 6950 is now holding u back and u might wanna consider running Crossfire :)

[justinakachoppa 1]

I recently purchased Arma 2 combined operations on steam to play both the Arma games and Day Z, everything installed perfectly fine, no issues whatsoever.

Now before I patched the game for Day Z I tested it to see if it was running smooth, now my system specs are as follows.

MSI GX740

Intel core i5-450M dual core at 2.40GHz

8GB of ram

HD5870 1GB DDR5

320gb hdd 7200rpm

I also run the games I play at 1690x1050

Now I can run most on the highest settings maybe having to tone down the AA or certain other features on a few, but for the most part I run 60 fps on most modern day games.

Now getting to the point...I have tried every single tweak recommend online for Arma 2 that I can find, have tried the lowest possible settings imaginable, I have defragged my pc, I have minimized as many windows services as possible, I do this regularly anyway because I use this laptop only for gaming and still I get massive framerate drops on arma and day z both singleplayer and online.

Let me explain what happens, first of all I get into a game, it starts out 60 fps, after about 15-30 seconds even stood still in the same spot, it will drops to slideshow framerate, literally between 3-8 fps, it will stay that way for another 10 seconds or so then boom, speeds right back up again, I have monitored my cpu its running fine, no issues there, monitored my gpu fine no issues there either and still even after uninstalling both games and redownloading, pre patch and after patch I am STILL getting these issues.

Can anybody please give me any recommendations to fix this? I have also tried uninstalling my graphics drivers (im running 12.6 mobility at the moment) and reinstalling them and still no improvement.

Like I say this happens in no other games that I have whatsoever, can anybody help me, I am at breaking point with this now.

Many thanks.

[domokun 515]

@justinakachoppa: welcome. Have you tried the tweaks listed here?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?85124-ArmA2-OA-%28low%29-performance-issues&p=2081466#post2081466

To be honest, your CPU is on the slow side (only dual core and only 2.4 Ghz) so don't be surprised that you need to make some concessions.

As outlined above, the first steps are:

1. run the latest beta (I don't recommend any later than 94700) but NOT RC1

2. disable AToC

3. disable AA

4. lower VD to 1600m

5. lower PP to Low or Very Low

These 5 steps are the low-hanging fruit (easier to implement than other tweaks, yielding the highest returns)

And let us know how you get on...

[justinakachoppa 1]

@justinakachoppa: welcome. Have you tried the tweaks listed here?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?85124-ArmA2-OA-%28low%29-performance-issues&p=2081466#post2081466

To be honest, your CPU is on the slow side (only dual core and only 2.4 Ghz) so don't be surprised that you need to make some concessions.

As outlined above, the first steps are:

1. run the latest beta (I don't recommend any later than 94700) but NOT RC1

2. disable AToC

3. disable AA

4. lower VD to 1600m

5. lower PP to Low or Very Low

These 5 steps are the low-hanging fruit (easier to implement than other tweaks, yielding the highest returns)

And let us know how you get on...

Hi Domokun thanks for the reply,

Yes I have tried all the tweaks listed, and I realize that my cpu is on the slow side, however I also realize that running on the lowest settings should provide me with a playable experience at least and not running at 5-10 fps and the suddenly jumping up 60 fps and then dropping back down again, that seems rather odd to me.

I have tried all the things you have recommended and I am still getting the issue unfortunately :-(, I have contacted support also so with any luck we can get to the bottom of it by looking at my msinfo etc.

I am seriously stumped as to what is causing this behavior, the best way I can describe what is happening is, its as if I am pressing a button on recording software, like fraps and the framerate is dropping low and stuttering and then when I stop the recording it goes smooth again, thats what it is like, even though I am not using recording software but I have experience of doing so, thats the only real comparison I can make.

[Nastrond 1]

Yes I have tried all the tweaks listed, and I realize that my cpu is on the slow side, however I also realize that running on the lowest settings should provide me with a playable experience at least and not running at 5-10 fps

I am in the same/similar boat as you. I get below 15 FPS in ARMA2OA and <1FPS in DayZ (unplayable slideshow) with all settings as low as it can go, video memory set to default, all the -nosplash, -winxp, etc.. recommended commands, everything is up to date with patches and drivers. I did the nvidia control pannel stuff, and I can't get anywhere. I've spent 2 days now looking online for answers. The game's menu's work fine. If I push escapse I can navigate the options lag free. If I alt-tab, I can open google, or other smaller programs, and there is no slow down, but this game is barely running. It's like it isn't even trying to use the resources available to it.

My system is currently:

AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core 2.3Ghz

4GB ram

Nvidia GTX 550ti 1gb

the OPTIMAL specs for arma2 are:

CPU: Intel Core 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster

RAM: 2 GB

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT / ATI Radeon 4850 with Shader Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM or faster

My specs are twice the Ram, 2 more cores and 100mhz faster processor, and a video card that has almost twice the rating on Tom's Hardware. That is just optimal, it is even more beyond the minimum.

How can this game barely work on the lowest of low settings when I more then meet all of the Optimal requirements? I feel like there is some "silver-bullet" I'm missing that will fix this and make the game playable. I'm going to try a few more things and look some more, but I might have to try the refund route and just skip this game, which is a shame because I've heard good things from lots of places. :\

I'm not looking for 45+ frames, but ~25 on normal settings would be good enough for me.

[BasileyOne 10]

Nastrond peaked by CPU, sadly :[

i had AMD Deneb CPU 4x at 3.4 Ghz and AMD 5850 GPU and 32Gb Ram and still dreaming about exactly same "~25 FPS at least!!!" thing on some maps/scenarios/servers.

basically, its way better on iNtel chips, sadly[cauze BIS co-operation/partnership with iNtel].

you CPU also famous for TLB-bug, fixing which cost considerable amount of performance.

Edited July 26, 2012 by BasileyOne

[domokun 515]

Don't believe the game requirements (written before the game was released 3+ years). Instead believe me when I say:

- CPU should be at least dual, preferably quad core. Above all, at least 2.5, better 3Ghz. In fact better to have a fast (3+ Ghz) dual than a "slow" 2.4 GHz quad core.

- GPU seems to run more stably (less issues) on Nvidia than AMD. Attention: I'm no NVidia fanboi, as I have R7850, previously R4890, before that R4850. Also I said "more stably" not "faster". I also believe AMD offers better value for money than NVidia. So basically if you can get your Radeon running with no issues, feel proud, even smug

- Multi-GPU cards and Multi-card setups aren't worth the time nor effort. Yes it is possible but you're better off simply getting a more powerful card

- SSD offer significant improvements over HDD, even if your HDD is 7200rpm drive

FYI I run an E8400 (3Ghz) OC'ed to 3.9 with R7850 with 8GB DDR2 and 128GB SSD which allows me to run 1920x1200 @ 25-40 fps with 2200m VD, full AF and High SMAA.

If you really want to run this game smoothly get yourself a i5-3570K and overclock the nuts of her (4? 4.2? even 4.4?)

[Nastrond 1]

Thanks for that info Domokun.

I'll try overclocking my processor tonight and try and get 2.5 - 2.8 out of it. Its a black edition so it shouldn't be too hard. I'll probably need to look into new hardware for the long term, but just to see if it helps. Unfortunately AM2 processors are hard to come by and generally more expensive then an AM3 of better quality.

Anyways, thanks again for responding Domokun. If I eventually get something playable, I'll post my setup and work around so others can try it out.

[domokun 515]

Nastron: defo go the overclocking route. There are lots of good guides on the Net but try and find one from a reputable site, preferably an article specific to your CPU. I've done it for 15+ and never had any serious problems. My only advice is take is slow, note every change (I use a spreadsheet) and stress test it. Once it's stable, you can even overclock your GPU or even RAM (RAM OC offer a lot less benefit these days and RAM is very unforgiving).

Overclocks and optimisations (see my earlier URL) can make OA a really pretty game that is awesome (firefights with 50+ fighters is something to behold).