A Not-so Normal "help My Fps Question"

lazygamerlazygamer Join Date: 2002-01-28 Member: 126Members
in Tech Support
Ok currently I have 384mb ram, Windows XP, 433 celeron, and a Geforce 4 mx 440.

I get some great framerates sometime, even in areas that are large and long. The problems come from firefights, and NS seems worse than other mods. All those buildings and monsters, YOW!

Taking the moderness of my card into account, what advice would you recomened that would definitly have a signifcant effect on firefight FPS? I know there is alot of advice out there, but I get the feeling that advice is more for older cards and systems that are even SLOWER than mine!

Is a faster processor is the only way?

BTW, would Windows 98 give much of a performance bost over XP, for a game like Half-life? I was eventually gonna be going for a XP/W98/Linux combo.
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Comments

  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    ok, you confuzle me

    ok, few things:

    1) a celeron? Still? you really do need to up date that mate.
    2) that GeForce is probably WORSE then a Geforce3 (well the upper end ones)
    3) Why do you want Win98???

    Now:
    Have you tried those other guides (so what if they are for older cards try them anyway)
    are your drivers upto date?
    what FPS ARE you getting?


    and as a side note:
    If you want DOS there are better choices then installing a win98 partition.
    one such choice is <a href='http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1' target='_blank'>dosbox</a> an emulator designed for running Dos Games <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> (yes it actualy IS legal)
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  • CrouchingHamsterCrouchingHamster Join Date: 2002-08-17 Member: 1181Members
    You're right to say most of the tweak guides are designed for older hardware, but as I don't have XP I can't really suggest any options other than obvious stuff like minimal startup programs, regular cleanups etc.

    Perhaps someone more familiar with XP will be able to advise you on how best to tweak your settings, swap files and all that.

    I'd say it's definitely ( well, highly likely anyway ) your processor thats bottlenecking things here. You have a decent gfx card and plenty of RAM, but that's a way slow processor.

    It's the obvious weakest link here, and I'd say upgrading it should give you a decent performance jump, or at least a more stable framerate.

    /2p worth
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  • PaqPaq Join Date: 2002-12-15 Member: 10876Members
    edited July 2003
    Yup, the prosessor is way too weak.

    I had GeForce 2 MX400 64MB and 256 sdram. My fps was pretty well in empty rooms (almost 100), but in firefights it went under 15.

    Now I changed the graphic card to Geforce4 Ti4200 128MB and increased the memory to 512 DDR. Only difference which I see in firefights is that the fps wont go under 20. Anywhere else it is almost the same as it was with the Geforce 2. So new graphic card didn't increased my fps very much. (but it make other games run smoother)

    So I think that if I someday change my prosessor as well, then my fps will increase much more. (now I have 1000Mhz AMD Athlon)
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  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    well, here is a possible 'explenation' for why this is (ask some one with more know then me to confirm)

    basicaly HL is OLD!

    remember it is a 4 year old engine based off of an even older one (when DID quake I come out?, and yes it is quake 1 not 2)

    so, it flat out wasn't designed to take advantage of our rocken vid cards, instead it pull way to much on the CPU

    just a quick look at new egg. A CPU better then yours costs $18 (then again it is only like 100 mhz better) but $100 will get you over 2ghz

    hell $62 will get you a 2gig

    drop $36 and you got a 1.1 (what I run)

    oh, and all of these are just by pulling up AMD's page on newegg. If you actualy shop around you can find an amazing CPU/MoBo combo (you need a new mobo if you are running a celeron)

    <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
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  • BigMadSteveBigMadSteve Join Date: 2003-02-12 Member: 13472Members
    It's definately the processor. My specifications are almost the exact same except I run a 1.6Ghz Athlon.
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  • WashuuWashuu Join Date: 2003-07-02 Member: 17891Members, Constellation
    one way to raise fps is, goto OpenGl options on ur video card options, then turn vsync (Vertical Sync) to Off by Default
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  • ANeMANeM Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16267Members, Constellation
    Actually, HL is a quake 1 2 hybrid..
    Okay, more like Quake 1 plus a few fixes that ID found while making Quake 2 and gave to valve... but it does have some Quake 2 in it. Along with everything that valve obviously added to the engine =)

    Anyways, with improving HL speed...
    First of all, you are gonna want more ram than what you have now. XP loves to hog ram. Take off any visual effects XP has running, this includes that bubbly window thing, animations, shadows, anything. Windows XP loads all of this stuff in to your ram, not good, especially with that small ammount. You want XP to look as ugly as 95 and have corners sharp enough to impale a gorge on <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
    Second of all.. You want a new processor. Even a faster Celeron would do, just get one.
    (I was doing horrible on a Celeron 744mhz with 512mb.. on Win ME which takes less ram than XP)
    Also, a fast hard drive, since its XP.. XP has a wonderful little feature called virtual memory, which makes a small file on your hd and pretty much uses it as if it were ram. Faster HD means faster preformance.
    Also, don't leave things like net_graph or CL_showfps 1 running. they do take quite a bit to render and HL will run better if you just turn them off.

    any of these things will work, to a degree.. The best thing to do is with specs like those to just get a new computer...
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  • TuplisTuplis Join Date: 2003-02-24 Member: 13925Members, Constellation
    ok, low fps on firefights... i know a temporary solution... and considered cheating by many as it gives you "an unfair advantage".
    bind one of your buttons to have r_drawviewmodel "0", that'll remove your gun model from the screen and instantly boost your framerate by ~10. by removing your model you also remove your minimap as a marine and your res meter as an alien and other stuff i forgot already. so you should bind a key for r_drawviewmodel "1".
    this bind is a lot of help in firefights, tho considered cheating by many, and thats why i use it no longer(i dont have THAT bad fps.
    And about the part where i said a temporary fix... the command will be blocked in 2.0, so you have about.... 13 days to use it. i think its a bad idea to block it, because it really eats up a lot of frames, but hey, what can i do?
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  • ElvenThiefElvenThief aka Elven Thief (ex. NS Programmer) Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8754Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    edited July 2003
    As to your question about 98, it probably won't be more stable, but will definitely run better than XP will on your processor. XP is quite a resource hog, especially on a celeron of that speed and your amount of ram.

    [EDIT]
    In the long run, though, your hardware is arse for gaming, as video card is nice, but res is ancient. The effort you put into installing 98 probably isn't worth the effort to working towards a newer computer.
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  • Jabba_The_HuntJabba_The_Hunt Join Date: 2003-01-05 Member: 11850Members
    get a better processor, half life is an old game and requires more processing power than graphics card power.

    Also a geforce 4 mx is less powerful than the upper end geforce 3's.
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  • lazygamerlazygamer Join Date: 2002-01-28 Member: 126Members
    edited July 2003
    Well I suppose my FPS isn't THAT bad, it's not like firefights are totally unplayable, NS and HL is alot better than before, but I think I can understand the "HL is friggin old" explanation. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Yes I know my comp is useless for modern gaming, I will be getting something much better in the hopefully near future

    I do have Windows XP somewhat tweaked, just the basic stuff(no services). XP is not exactly a step forward from W98, it is and it isn't. You got extra stability(but W98 doesn't have to be a crashfest either, it depends), but the bloatware aspect means systems like mine are slightly underpowered for it, although still decent. And of course, Windows XP is not stable for everyone, but maybe that's because people don't tweak it. Windows 2000, now that I'd respect alot more than XP.

    I got the GF4 because the GF3 was unavailable. GF4 seemed decent and was quite a lowcost, only $100 canadian(maybe a little less even, not sure). Yes, it's probably not as good as a GF3(mainly due to lack of DX8 support or something, one of those DX versions anyway), but definitly superior to a GF2(it's a turbocharged GF2 probably). A proper GF4 is over $200 canadian... and of course I didn't feel like doing the internet ordering thing.

    It really does make a noticable difference over a Voodoo 3 2000, even on Half-life.

    I've wanted to have a new processor for awhile, but the ones that my 1999 motherboard could handle(even with BIOS update), have not been for sale for a long time. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
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