Poor Framerate

Cujo6

======================Update==========================

Problem Solved!

Thank you everyone who tried to help me with this ordeal, an end to this problem has finally come! Hopefully this will be helpful to others who run into this situation.

Here's what I've figured out:

While back, updated motherboard bios, noticed my gameplay had become worse, but never really used net_graph or cl_showfps 1 before. So I had no idea why I was doing so poorly until it dawned on me that the game felt more 'laggy' than it should.

Tried everything in the posts below, and still didn't help. Tried threads from other forums, including removing the SoundBlaster Live! card, which did help, or setting the ATI settings to Performance which didn't help, AGP to 4x didn't help. Played with BIOS settings and rebooted, tested, with no luck.

It wasn't until I was sick of testing BIOS settings that I tried 'Load High Performance Settings' in my BIOS that my machine, and gameplay, are back to what they used to be. The only time I can notice it go below 99 FPS now is when I hold TAB to check the score. I can live with that!

So thanks once again everyone for your help, didn't admit myself into a nuthouse, and my computer is now officially FIXED.

Time to go take care of some unfinished business <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif' /><!--endemo-->

---------------------------------------Original Post-----------------------------------------
I currently have installed a Radeon 9800 Pro 128 gfx card, and a 2.4ghz processor, 512mb ram. No the 9800 isn't tweaked any.

I'm saying this because, when I join a server with a low ping of 30, my fps using 'cl_showfps 1' is 71 in the ready room.

However, when I go to different areas on the map with for example lights or moving turrets <!--emo&::sentry::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/turret.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='turret.gif' /><!--endemo--> , my framerate drops dramatically. Typically it will hover around 40-50fps. But please note that certain areas, it will max out, and if look at different things and pause, it will remain at a certain fps (for example, 60fps stairing at a marine RT).

And while it does this my screen resolution is 800x600, in the ATI Catalyst Program i have it set to Performance not quality. My monitor refresh rate is 75hz.

Can anyone here crack the code? I'm frustrated by this and having thoughts of formatting.

Oh and for that information, I have installed the latest Catalyst drivers, have ran antivir(us) program, spybot search & destory, and defrag'd my harddrive. Killed a lot of processes in taskmanager which were unnecessary. I had tried setting up different variables in the config.cfg, but have since reverted to the config.bak.


Think i've written what I needed to mention for a diagnosis, any feedback would be appreciated!

Cujo6

Update:
Formatted my computer, installed fresh Catalyst drivers, and I am still having framerate issues viewing certain areas of a map (rts, hive, certain lights). If anyone else has or had this problem with a similar setup, please let me know. Thanks

Yash

You do realize that TV has 24 fps, and you're dissappointed with 40?

Cujo6

<!--QuoteBegin-Yash+Apr 30 2005, 02:56 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Yash @ Apr 30 2005, 02:56 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->You do realize that TV has 24 fps, and you're dissappointed with 40?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, but read this first.

<a href='http://www.daniele.ch/school/30vs60/30vs60_3.html' target='_blank'>http://www.daniele.ch/school/30vs60/30vs60_3.html</a>

Another correction to your previous post:

NTSC = 29.97 fps
PAL = 25 fps
TV != 24 fps

Point in case, the framerate in-game should sustain the maximum that it is set at. I'm trying to find a solution to the problem, and not be told 'live with it'. I play competitively, and when I'm building an RT I'd rather not have my framerate drop between 20-40 fps as a skulk chews on my toes <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->.

DaJMasta

yes, though 20 or even 30 is acceptable, people can see well above that. And besides, i run a 9600 pro and have a hard time finding situations that drop me below 60 fps, in 1280x1024 resolution.

First off make sure your default graphics card is set to run off your AGP slot in bios, sometimes it will identify your card as a secondary despite being the only one, which affects performance.

Since you've killed most of the processes its probably not due to the OS, though I would try other HL games and see the result, also make sure that your direct X version is running properly. If necissairy change between openGL and D3D rendering and see if it makes a noticable difference.

I would also reccomend an available memory counting program to see if a process other than one you have turned off is hogging all your system's resources.

Cujo6

Thanks DaJMasta I shall try that stat and report back <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

:Update:
DX is 9.0c
D3D had 10-14fps =(
Bios was set to AGP, set it to share 256 mem didn't help.
I'll try turning Vsync off now and see how that goes.

Kerotan its not getting it to a certain framerate which is the problem, its sustaining it. It'll be around what its max'd to (72) most of the time, but fluxuates below that. I will try removing the fps cap and turning Vsync off, couldn't hurt at this point.

Oh and I tried playing ordinary old Half-Life deathmatch, and it does the same exact thing. Bothersome!

Kerotan

i had the same problem and got it fixed <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Try turning off vsync it stops your fps at certain point...
Also try fps_max 100 or somthing like that...
What i did to fix my was to turn my montier hz too 100, this fixed the problem and now i get 70-99 fps... woot
Also could jus be a bad computer.. my mum has a better computer than this one but it cant run ns with an fps above 10 0.0
Also consider it could be the map... if your playing on custom maps that is

Cujo6

Turned vsync off, fps max is 100, still does it.

What i'm noticing though is that I can go to the ReadyRoom, and watch it actually fluxuate. It stays 99fps for a short while, then has a random drop in framerate (last i saw was around 60fps) for 2-7 seconds, then jumps back up to 99fps.

So I joined marines, and looking at the equiptment in base got around 30fps <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->.

ppears there was another forum with similar problems, tried some of the solutions they came up with to no avail.

<a href='http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33724539&page=1&pp=30' target='_blank'>http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php...39&page=1&pp=30</a>

Getting ready to call off the trouble hunt, spent all day working on this and haven't gotten anywhere yet. All this troubleshooting is making my head numb <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Fatal_Error

Seems like you just need low poly models... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

DaJMasta

though it may help, the root of the problem is some kind of hardware or software conflict, by making the game look worse, you may be able to fix it, but its still not the way it should be <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

a couple ideas i just got, check the system section of the control panels and check the hardware profiles and virtual memory settings. Make sure virtual memory is adequate (if you have to set it manually, pick like a gig or 2) and make sure there isnt any device conflicts (the exclamation points) or any components that show up in the profile as things they arent.

If you have another AGP card, see if that one works.

Try different combinations of AGP fast read and write, as well as AGP 4x instead of 8x.

Basically try looking over your system to try and find anything that dosent match up, cause it could be the source of the problem. If you are experienced with assesembling/dissasembling computers try swapping components (it you have any) or reducing memory to 1 stick, one drive, ect to try and minimize the things that could be wrong.

And remember to disable onboard video if your motherboard has it.

And good luck, it sounds like your going to need it <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Cujo6

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but tonight I removed my ol SB Live! from my machine, and fired up NS w/o audio. It seemed to me that 99 fps was nearly flawless <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->. Had an old Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, plugged that in, it does the same darn thing as the Soundblaster. It's in a different PCI slot than the SB was in, and I did a 'Clear NV' in the bios (I believe that resets the IRQ and what-nots in the cache?), but didn't help.

So...It appears that the soundcard is probably the culprit, just figuring out what exactly I can do to make it so that I can have sound, and have a smooth game is going to be tricky. Going to try and change the sound quality in HL from High to low, and see if that does anything differently.

But yeah it was great, usually takes me a few days to pistol a skulk with this issue, tonight I nailed 3 in one game <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> . Just didn't have audio at the time hehehe.

If it helps the mobo is a MSI I think....6758, its the Intel 875p chip anyhow, Neo FISR, with 512 megs 3200.

Tried disabling PCI IDE controller, didn't help. Oh well, one foot in the right direction anyway <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

The_Ranger

Not that it will help your problem any, but set your fps to fpx_max 300

coris

<!--QuoteBegin-Yash+Apr 30 2005, 08:56 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Yash @ Apr 30 2005, 08:56 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> You do realize that TV has 24 fps, and you're dissappointed with 40? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's two different things.

TV frames are "smudged" because of a longer exposuretime which make the final image when played a lot smoother than if all frames are very sharp (graphics engine).