Perfomance Problems

[Bundy]

Sorry, if this isnt the first thread about perfomance problems, but i really dont get it tuned. I tried out the Settings from this Post: http://www.forums.alientrap.local/viewtopic.php?t=1628

My (slow) PC:
AMD Athlon XP3000+
512MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800pro (latest driver Catalsyst Software Suite 6.2)
DirectX10 installed
Operating System is Windows 2000
In the Advanced Settings of my Graphic driver I use "Maximum Perfomance".

I would like to make a Timedemo, but there is no "demo1" in my demo folder (which doesnt exist too )

Where the troubles are:
As long as i dont see any enemys, the game is smooth and nice, except for some big open maps, but i think that can be a problem of RAM or Graphiccard. But as soon as an enemy bounces into my face, my FPS drops from regardless what (300 or 100) down to 20-30.This also happens when i see a corpse! When i "destroy" a corpse, my FPS go up to where they was.
(One thing which might be fixed in a next release is that there aren´t corpses around with "nogib 0")

My Question:
Is there a way to reduce the quality of the Enemy models?

My settings:
cl_bobcycle 0
cl_bobmodel 0
cl_itembobheight 0
cl_rollangle 0
v_kicktime 0

cl_decals 0
cl_stainmaps 0

cl_nogibs 1
cl_noplayershadow 1

cl_particles_blood 0
cl_particles_bubbles 0
cl_particles_bulletimpacts 0
cl_particles_explosions_bubbles 0
cl_particles_explosions_shell 0
cl_particles_explosions_smokes 0
cl_particles_explosions_sparks 0
cl_particles_quality .5
cl_particles_rain 0
cl_particles_size .5
cl_particles_smoke 0
cl_particles_snow 0
cl_particles_sparks 0

gl_picmip 3
gl_texture_anisotropy 1
r_detailtextures 0
r_picmipworld 3

gl_flashblend 0
gl_polyblend 0

r_shadow_bumpscale_basetexture 0
r_shadow_bumpscale_bumpmap 0

r_sky 0

r_waterscroll 0
r_waterwarp 0

r_bloom 0
r_coronas 0
r_depthfirst 0
r_dynamic 0
r_glsl_deluxemapping 0
r_glsl_offsetmapping 0
r_glsl_offsetmapping_reliefmapping 0
r_hdr 0
r_shadow_gloss 0
r_shadow_glsl_offsetmapping 0
r_shadow_realtime_dlight 0
r_shadow_realtime_dlight_shadows 0
r_shadow_realtime_world 0
r_shadow_realtime_world_dlightshadows 0
r_shadow_realtime_world_shadows 0
r_shadow_usenormalmap 0

vid_height 600
vid_width 800

ambient_level 0
bgmvolume 0
snd_staticvolume 0

set gl_combine: 0
set gl_lockarrays: 0
set gl_mesh_drawrangeelements: 0
set r_batchmode: 0
set r_glsl 0

----------------------------------------------------
If you miss any informations just let me know. I try my best to write down what you need. Thx for replys.

Greetz Bundy

[esteel]

I would like to make a Timedemo, but there is no "demo1" in my demo folder (which doesnt exist too )

demo1,2,3,4 and 5 are included in the big data*.pk3 file, do not worry about your 'missing' demos directory, thats all alright. If you click on the demo menu you should also see them there. You can start a time demo with timedemo demos/demo1 in the console (or a shortcut is tdem demo1. Maybe a option to start a demo as normal demo or timedemo would be nice. I'l try to remember that.

(One thing which might be fixed in a next release is that there aren´t corpses around with "nogib 0")

Might be a nice idea but corpses do not stay alone for long and if they really are bad just gib them ;P

Where the troubles are:
As long as i dont see any enemys, the game is smooth and nice, except for some big open maps, but i think that can be a problem of RAM or Graphiccard. But as soon as an enemy bounces into my face, my FPS drops from regardless what (300 or 100) down to 20-30.This also happens when i see a corpse! When i "destroy" a corpse, my FPS go up to where they was.

gl_picmip 3
r_picmipworld 3

set gl_combine: 0
set gl_lockarrays: 0
set gl_mesh_drawrangeelements: 0
set r_batchmode: 0
set r_glsl 0

Well i'm not sure how to tell you.. but WITH THOSE settings i'd expect that much!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you had read the other thread i told people to really benchmark those five variables and MOST OF THE TIME the defaults are best. r_batchmode 1/2 are better then 0 on every sytems i know.. similar gl_mesh_drawrangeelements 1.. Or gl_combine, that settings only if effective if r_glsl is set to 0 and gl_combine 1 should be faster then 0 on all systems i know. Most of those variables control features that are in fact speedups, and you do not want to turn them off..
r_glsl 0/1 (opengl 2.0 shaders in the video menu) and gl_vbo 0/1 (vertex buffer objects in the video menu) are the most interesting variables for ati cards as some drivers seems to be bad and need those features to be disabled because other wise those bad driver will emulate them in software and are really slow then.. but it REALLY needs testing via timedemo as this can vary with driver versions and pc systems!

Also you misundstodd r_picmipworld.. if not set to 0 it will picmip the world (with the same value gl_picmip) so a setting r_picmipworld 1 is more logical as its just a on/off switch.

[Bundy]

demo1,2,3,4 and 5 are included in the big data*.pk3 file, do not worry about your 'missing' demos directory, thats all alright. If you click on the demo menu you should also see them there. You can start a time demo with timedemo demos/demo1 in the console (or a shortcut is tdem demo1. Maybe a option to start a demo as normal demo or timedemo would be nice. I'l try to remember that.

Allright, i tried "timedemo demo1" and it doesnt work .. but with "timedemo demos/demo1" it does

Well i'm not sure how to tell you.. but WITH THOSE settings i'd expect that much!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you had read the other thread i told people to really benchmark those five variables and MOST OF THE TIME the defaults are best. r_batchmode 1/2 are better then 0 on every sytems i know.. similar gl_mesh_drawrangeelements 1.. Or gl_combine, that settings only if effective if r_glsl is set to 0 and gl_combine 1 should be faster then 0 on all systems i know. Most of those variables control features that are in fact speedups, and you do not want to turn them off..
r_glsl 0/1 (opengl 2.0 shaders in the video menu) and gl_vbo 0/1 (vertex buffer objects in the video menu) are the most interesting variables for ati cards as some drivers seems to be bad and need those features to be disabled because other wise those bad driver will emulate them in software and are really slow then.. but it REALLY needs testing via timedemo as this can vary with driver versions and pc systems!

Ok, I am very sorry for asking before testing it good enough.I thought i really changed all variables once. But for anyone out there with the same PC specs here my Timedemo results:

"r_glsl 1"+ " gl_vbo 1" = demo1 FPS MIN/AVG/MAX: 15/26/58
"r_glsl 1"+ " gl_vbo 0" = demo1 FPS MIN/AVG/MAX: 78/95/122
"r_glsl 0"+ " gl_vbo 1" = demo1 FPS MIN/AVG/MAX: 4/8/33
"r_glsl 0"+ " gl_vbo 0" = demo1 FPS MIN/AVG/MAX: 77/97/126

"r_batchmode 1" seems to be 2FPS better than "r_batchmode 2"

Also you misundstodd r_picmipworld.. if not set to 0 it will picmip the world (with the same value gl_picmip) so a setting r_picmipworld 1 is more logical as its just a on/off switch.

Allright, fixed it too.

thx alot for helping out there. And sorry again there, but i was sure that i changed all variables. As my avatar says, shoot me

[esteel]

I updated the other thread and also added gl_vbo and an other variable.. maybe you can prove read it to see if its more clear now. Hmm maybe i'll add a line about doing a timedemo too.

[Bundy]

It is all clear i guess. I was just to dumb to read it correctly AND test out all variables
With timedemo i had the problem that i tried "tdemo demo1" and "timedemo demo1" instead of what you written there ("tdem demo1" or "timedemo demos/demo1").

Reading is just > me

[esteel]

Does happen, no problem.. The forum is here to provide help..
BTW:

"r_glsl 0"+ " gl_vbo 0" = demo1 FPS MAX/AVG/MIN: 77/97/126
"r_batchmode 1" seems to be 2FPS better than "r_batchmode 2"

Your 9800pro is about as powerful as my nv6600gt.. I also had a 9800pro but the ati linux drivers were SO miserable back then (and they did not get much better from what i read) that i got the nv6600gt instead. Nvidia drivers DO work with r_glsl 1 / gl_vbo 1 and i get around 117 140 182 from those two features and i guess if ati would produce good drivers your fps should be around that too
And 2 fps are not like much and could also be caused by fluctuations during measuring.. So basicly that settings does not matter much.

And take a new look at the thread, the lightmaps merging could be raised to like 5 with your amount of graphics memory and might help some more on bigger maps..

[Altobe]

ATI Strikes again...