d3doverrider performance tweak

[wobblydave 10]

i found this tweak that gives ARMA2 a few extra fps and makes the game run smoother,you need to download rivatuner from http://www.guru3d.com/category/rivatuner/ install and run,from the installation folder look in Rivatuners folder> Tools\D3DOverrider,Double click D3DOverrider.exe this will enable d3d triple buffering on all d3d games that support triple buffering,if you find one that doesn't work just set up a profile to exclude it in the program you can access this from your toolbar.I have found it works well with most games but not so well with others.To get the best from rivatuner i suggest you read this guide https://home.comcast.net/~boogie3/Riva%20guides%202.htm .The utility is not limited to any OS or any graphics hardware, so it can be used for forcing triple buffering on the NVIDIA as well as on ATI graphics cards.

[kklownboy 43]

i found this tweak that gives ARMA2 a few extra fps and makes the game run smoother,you need to download rivatuner from http://www.guru3d.com/category/rivatuner/ install and run,from the installation folder look in Rivatuners folder> Tools\D3DOverrider,Double click D3DOverrider.exe this will enable d3d triple buffering on all d3d games that support triple buffering,if you find one that doesn't work just set up a profile to exclude it in the program you can access this from your toolbar.I have found it works well with most games but not so well with others.To get the best from rivatuner i suggest you read this guide https://home.comcast.net/~boogie3/Riva%20guides%202.htm .The utility is not limited to any OS or any graphics hardware, so it can be used for forcing triple buffering on the NVIDIA as well as on ATI graphics cards.

A2 already has a tribuff... what you can do is turn Vsync off (no more tri_buff or dbl-buff) Which it will do(d3doverrider) and get "more" FPS.

[wobblydave 10]

A2 already has a tribuff... what you can do is turn Vsync off (no more tri_buff or dbl-buff) Which it will do(d3doverrider) and get "more" FPS.

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YEP i hear what you are saying but it does work,also i think you have missed the point of this tweak d3doverrider reduces lag and increases fps making games play better even at low fps. Arma 2 works in a ass about face way so things that shouldn't work do,my self and many others are suffering from low FPS on good rigs and like other people i have tried just about every tweak possible so when i find my fps go from 19fps max to 22-30 in harvest red and when i get smooth game play at 22 fps i would call that a success and a tip worth sharing, so please try it and give me some feedback because it more constructive than dismissing a suggestion without trying it first. :bounce3:

Edited December 10, 2009 by wobblydave
yep

[kklownboy 43]

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YEP i hear what you are saying but it does work,also i think you have missed the point of this tweak d3doverrider reduces lag and increases fps making games play better even at low fps. Arma 2 works in a ass about face way so things that shouldn't work do,my self and many others are suffering from low FPS on good rigs and like other people i have tried just about every tweak possible so when i find my fps go from 19fps max to 22-30 in harvest red and when i get smooth game play at 22 fps i would call that a success and a tip worth sharing, so please try it and give me some feedback because it more constructive than dismissing a suggestion without trying it first. :bounce3:

i know what D3D does, And tri buff will keep your fps closer to your Vsync/vertical refresh limit, at the cost of input lag if you get it. So what are your Computer specs, and your ingame settings?

[wobblydave 10]

i know what D3D does, And tri buff will keep your fps closer to your Vsync/vertical refresh limit, at the cost of input lag if you get it. So what are your Computer specs, and your ingame settings?

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i will get back to you on that one,just put 1.05 on and i am getting worse performance than before with or without D3D :eek:

[kklownboy 43]

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i will get back to you on that one,just put 1.05 on and i am getting worse performance than before with or without D3D :eek:

get back to me on what? do you know what your computer has for hardware? what size is your Display? Do you use AA?

[Mysteryman5150 10]

This is good for Vista users since Vista does not allow you to force disable of vsync through your graphics cards interface. For those who don't understand vsync (I had to do some research) this is a "brief" explanation from my little understanding but it may help. Vsync makes your Graphics card slow down the rate at which it sends images to your monitor (especially if you have a relatively good car), i.e. it syncronizes your card and your monitor and caps the FPS at the max refresh rate of your monitor. If your monitor makes your card hold up it could potentially cut your FPS by 50%. To understand this you need to look at how the card works. You have 2 buffers in your video card (primary and secondary), the primary sends the image to the monitor while the secondary loads the next image and the 2 buffers cycle back and forth. If your FPS drops below the refresh rate of the monitor at any point then the primary must wait for the next "refresh cyle" to send the image in its buffer, therefore holding up the cycle as the secondary buffer already has a processed image in it and can't move forward to send it, it basically stops the process briefly and drops FPS (which I understand causes lag/stutter). Therefore, by forcing triple buffering you are getting a "third buffer" being processed into the cycle to potentially reduce lag and stuttering effects since there would be an extra buffer in to fill and not have to wait to empty one to begin to fill it again. There are some possible negative effects of Triple buffering though- You can get potential visual anomalies with some games. You could potentially develope some mouse/control lag as there is more memory being used. That brings about the next potential problem- it uses more GPU memory as it is loading 3 images. If you are having problems anyway and especially if using Vista (since you can't force vsync disabled in Vista) it is worth a shot.

Sorry this is so long and if anyone has anything more to add or if I am incorrect please feel free to correct me as I have learned this through my own extensive research from many sources. However, I may have mixed something up or misunderstood something. I hope this will help someone to better enjoy Arma2 and any other game for that matter. Best of luck.

[Leon86 13]

I copied this from wikipedia:

In triple buffering the program has two back buffers and can immediately start drawing in the other one. The third buffer, the front buffer, is read by the graphics card to display the image on the monitor. Once the monitor has been drawn, the front buffer is flipped with (or copied from) the back buffer holding the last complete screen. Since one of the back buffers is always complete, the graphics card must never wait for the software to complete. Consequently, the software and the graphics card are completely independent, and can run at their own pace. Finally, the displayed image was started without waiting for synchronization and thus with minimum lag.

This is what I make of various sources online:

I very much doubt arma2 uses triple buffering. When using triple buffering the monitor always displays the last complete image, so there is no tearing.

The monitor reads from (locked) front buffer, card can render to one of 2 backbuffers, when the front buffer needs a new image it reads the last completed image from the backbuffer)

If I put vsync off then the images start tearing (Try it in the control tower in utes, spin round fast then its very obvious).

What arma2 now does is double buffering with vsync. the monitor displays an image from one (locked) buffer. The game can make a new image in the second (unlocked) buffer. If the card is ready with that image the rendering is stopped until the buffers flip. disable vsync and the rendering doesnt stop but when the buffers flip the game may be halfway an image so you get tearing.

so triple buffering: minimum lag, no tearing, 3 images stored (consumes memory)

double buffering, vsync off: minimum lag, tearing, 2 images stored (less memory used)

double buffering, vsync on: bit of lag (1/60 sec max, lot less most of the time), no tearing, 2 images stored.

With the insane amounts of memory on current graphics cards it's a mystery why triple buffering isn't a standard d3d feature, 1920x1200x32 is under 10 MB.

d3d overrider doesn't seem to work on my rig, (win7x64, quite recent video driver) maybe I should try an older driver.

[Mysteryman5150 10]

My understanding is that you only want to use vsync if you r getting tearing as vsync can cut your FPS in half since it slows down the video card if it runs faster than the refresh rate, hence the tearing. When you have vsync running the triple buffering is supposed to help prevent the FPS from dropping to nearly 50% when there is a refresh delay by having the 3rd image processing therefore reducing stuttering and video lag. It can however give the problems I noted above therefore it is only recomended to use triple buffering when you have to use vsync and are getting stuttering due to refresh rate synchronization. I was only trying to offer some insight and here is a very good resource for info about vsync http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_9.html and the following page for triple buffering http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_10.html for anyone that is interested in understanding this with greater detail. :)

[Leon86 13]

so anyone got the d3d overrider working on a win7x64 machine? I get an error sound when starting arma while d3d overrider runs (arma2 starts though)

[Mysteryman5150 10]

D3Doverrider is supposed to make a beep noise when you start the game to verify that it is working. If it is in your systray in the bottom right corner and you have it set to force triple buffer on it will make a beeping noise when you atsrt the application, that is the only way to know it is working. I have Vista 64 bit so I can't really help you help with windows 7. I have run Arm2 both with D3doveride on and off and didn't see a noticable change in FPS but in some cases it does smooth out the lag/stutter when you move around the screen. I think alot of the problems with Arma2 are not related to graphics as much as it is related to the heavy AI scripting as well as many other scripts in the game. Therefore it appears to be that your processor and mother board are having a greater impact as compared to some other heavily taxing graphics games. Icould be wrong but that is what it sounding like to me. I have a good system (I7-920 processor, Gigabyte EX58-UD3R motherboard, and a GTX 260 video card-All running stock speed) and I average between 28-38 FPS during campaigns. My goal was not to increase FPS as much as it was to smooth out the stuttering (it was hurting my brain, LOL) which I think I have finally done. I wish you the best on getting this running good, but from what I am reading, I wouldn't expect to get much higher than the 30's in FPS during campaigns. It's just a matter of getting the game to be smooth at the 30fps, which that can be done. Good luck.:)

[Leon86 13]

The beep I get is the windows error sound, that means it is NOT working. I also tested it with the program occt (overclock checking tool). Running the gpu test:

d3d overrider can force vsync fine, 60 hz max (80 without).

vsync on: my graphics card heats up to 81 degrees in 7 minutes.

vsync off: gpu temp 85 degrees in 3 minutes

triple buffering has no effect on the temps and if I disable vsync with tribuff enabled the image starts tearing, it just has no effect on anything.

The advantage of triple buffering is that vsync doesnt constrain the gpu. 3d3 overrider doesnt work for me, too bad, my gpu has 768 MB of memory, I could miss the 10 MB for an extra buffer.

[kklownboy 43]

...

triple buffering has no effect on the temps and if I disable vsync with tribuff enabled the image starts tearing, it just has no effect on anything.

you cant have tribuff with out Vysnc... Its impossible to Tribuff with out Vysnc.

The advantage of triple buffering is that ....

Is that you limit the fall of your frames when you are below your Vysnc. Double Buffer is inherent in Vysnc; hit 59fps with a 60hz Refresh Vysnc you will be at 30fps, Tribuff will make it 57fps~.

[Leon86 13]

With triple buffering the videocard should be rendering at full power, clearly it is not in my case. 81 degrees after 7 minutes with tribuff, 85 after 3 minutes with vsync off.