Performance issues with UT2004

[Synbios]

The centre of ONS-Torlan gives me a few performance problems. You go anywhere near it and the screen starts to jerk about. I've tried many combinations of game and graphics card settings, and it still jerks, even in 16-bit colour.

Here's my UT2004 settings:

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
WindowedViewportX=640
WindowedViewportY=480
FullscreenViewportX=1024
FullscreenViewportY=768
MenuViewportX=1024
MenuViewportY=768
Brightness=1.000000
Contrast=1.000000
Gamma=1.000000
UseJoystick=False
CaptureMouse=True
StartupFullscreen=True
ScreenFlashes=True
NoLighting=False
MinDesiredFrameRate=0.000000
AnimMeshDynamicLOD=0.000000
Decals=True
Coronas=True
DecoLayers=True
Projectors=True
NoDynamicLights=False
ReportDynamicUploads=False
TextureDetailInterface=Normal
TextureDetailTerrain=Normal
TextureDetailWeaponSkin=Normal
TextureDetailPlayerSkin=Normal
TextureDetailWorld=Normal
TextureDetailRenderMap=Normal
TextureDetailLightmap=Normal
TextureMaxLOD=0
TextureMinLOD=0
NoFractalAnim=False
ScaleHUDX=0.000000
MouseXMultiplier=1.000000
MouseYMultiplier=1.000000
UseSpeechRecognition=True
WeatherEffects=True
DrawDistanceLOD=1.000000

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
DetailTextures=True
HighDetailActors=True
SuperHighDetailActors=True
UsePrecaching=True
UseTrilinear=True
AdapterNumber=-1
ReduceMouseLag=False
UseTripleBuffering=True
UseHardwareTL=True
UseHardwareVS=True
UseCubemaps=True
DesiredRefreshRate=85
UseCompressedLightmaps=True
UseStencil=True
Use16bit=False
Use16bitTextures=False
MaxPixelShaderVersion=255
UseVSync=False
LevelOfAnisotropy=1
DetailTexMipBias=0.000000
DefaultTexMipBias=-0.500000
UseNPatches=False
TesselationFactor=1.000000
CheckForOverflow=False
AvoidHitches=False
OverrideDesktopRefreshRate=False
ReportUnusedTextures=True
DecompressTextures=False
TerrainLOD=0
SkyboxHack=False
LowQualityTerrain=False

Other people don't seem to be having any problems whatsoever, yet they tend to have inferior specs. Here's mine, plus the drivers, and settings for my graphics card:

XP2500+ Barton
A7N8X-X m/b - nForce v3.13 drivers
1GB PC2700 CAS2.5
Ti4200-8x 128MB at default 250/513 clock - ForceWare v53.03 drivers, DirectX 9.0b
(Vsync off (3 frames readahead), quality texturing, best quality mipmaps, no AA or AF, fast writes, sidebanding seems off though)

Could my Ti4200 be choking on this game? I have to admit, turning down the settings does help a little, but I shouldn't need to.

[Morba]

would of thought that the ti4200 would be ok considering the txtures arent as high as they will be in final game.

[Synbios]

The thing is, this is a problem with UT2003 as well. As it jerks, the sound stutters.

I thought it might have been down to the sound driver but I might be wrong.

The centre is fine if it's unpopulated, but when there's a powernode in there, it starts to have problems. AvoidHitches does sod all except drop my framerate by about 10 (so my average of about 50fps is ruined as a result).

[Morba]

then again it might be!
not good :<

[Impy]

NoDynamicLights=False

That to True

DetailTextures=True

That to false


And see how you get on

Impy
(I do those even though I've got a rad9700Pro to make sure my framerate stays high)

[Synbios]

Hmm... I think we have a common theme here.

In 3DMark2001 SE, no matter what read-ahead setting I use, it still jerks in an organised fashion. It's VERY severe under real stress.

What the HELL can be causing this? it might just be the problem behind everything.

[Munkee]

ive got a similar, but lower, spec (XP2G, 7n8x, 512M, ti4200 (64))and i cant say ive had any problems (tho Im fairly undemanding on games)

all in all id say 2k4 is smoother than 2k3

[Synbios]

Another example - Curse3 on UT2003 - running into the area with the watery effect on the walls.

In fact, ANYTHING that involves stress or proper multitexturing causes problems. Nothing crashes, but it's just jerky and unacceptable!

[SylverFyre]

uve got a faster cpu than me but I got a 4600 geforce

I dont have these problems - could it be something to do with ur memory settings or summat?

no matter what happens on framerate my sound is fine, so it points to a problem elsewhere than the GFX card

[deff]

Could be an overheating problem?

[phantom]

i doubt it, when a gfx card over heats you get corruption or at worse a hard lock

[Synbios]

Definitely not overheating methinks.

It's far less jerky in OpenGL but foliage and the sky have problems, and the general framerate is a little lower.

[GroovYF]

Have you got any anti-aliasing settings turned on?

[phantom]

i was gonna ask that, but according to the first post thats a negative...

[Synbios]

No AA or AF.

[~Rebel~UK~]

Ah well youve got an excuse to get a new gcard, think of it that way, can get a cheap 9600XT/9880pro , so then u can slap AA and that on and it will be better then your gefroce 4

[Synbios]

I just spent £350 on new kit. I can't very well go out and buy something else for it :(

[SylverFyre]

tbh u shouldnt have to - i seriously doubt its the gfx card thats causing the bottleneck

[Matt]

I had a similar problem with Half Life 2. Look in certain directions (whee they put a lens effect) and it slowed to hell. I am guessing they were using some feature that my card didn't support (some DX9 feature - ps2 prob)

However, ut2k4 runs fine here on my gf3, although I am running at 800x600@32 also without aa and af. I've not poked the settings much so far but it seems fine. Maybe there is a switch to stick it into a lower DX version or something? Have you googled?

[phantom]

if the card you are running on doesnt support PS2.0 it wont use PS2.0, simple as that (same applies to your HL2 issue, the game simple wont try to use something you've not got, it will fall back to whats fastest on your card), same applies to other DX9.0 features, they just wont be present.

[milou]

A wild and potentially inaccurate guess, but could it be your 53.03 drivers? Personally I can't get on with 'em so I'm running the 45.23s - with the 5x.xx drivers I had stuttering in places in 2k3 and even UT1.

(I'm running P4 2.5, 512 ram & Ti4600).

As I said, just a guess really :)

[phantom]

its probably a fair guess, and cant hurt to revert back to see

[Matt]

if the card you are running on doesnt support PS2.0 it wont use PS2.0, simple as that (same applies to your HL2 issue, the game simple wont try to use something you've not got, it will fall back to whats fastest on your card), same applies to other DX9.0 features, they just wont be present.

I was pretty sure the CPU will attempt to emulate them unless the programmer says otherwise (e.g. programmer says go to DX8 path or something), hence the utter utter slowdown. E.g. if the game insists on using Feature X, but you card does nothing like Feature X the CPU takes over and does it in software.

Guess I am thinking about openGL or something.

[Matt]

I've decided never to try and "upgrade" to drivers that were made after my card was not the top card if you know what I mean. When I had a gf2 any drivers made when the gf3 was king were shit for my gf2. Likewise now I have a gf3, any drivers madea fter gf4 was available were also shit.

My advice is find a decent driver and stick to it. Upgrades usually only bring trouble and very very little to no speed increases if its not designed specifically for that hardware (which nvidia stuff is not - unified driver crap usually optimised for the latest generation)

Just my experience ofcourse but its not failed me yet.

[qui`]

How do i show fps? Seems a bit sluggish sometimes, not sure if its lag (im on broadband) or my computer. p4 2 gig, 9800 pro 512 ddr :E

[Cpt_Fluffy]

console.

"stat fps"

[Synbios]

45.23s?

I'll grab hold of them tonight. Maybe it'll sort things.

[Reece]

u tried closing all yer background apps? WinXP (Im assuming thats wot yer using) gets a bit narky if u play some games and have programs running in teh bg..... I used to have to close mirc before i went in to a game cos it jerked :(

[phantom]

I was pretty sure the CPU will attempt to emulate them unless the programmer says otherwise (e.g. programmer says go to DX8 path or something), hence the utter utter slowdown. E.g. if the game insists on using Feature X, but you card does nothing like Feature X the CPU takes over and does it in software.

Guess I am thinking about openGL or something.

In OpenGL you can try and force a render path, however generaly speaking you dont have access to things which dont work in hardware and cant be sanely software rendered (vertex programs are about the only think you'll get in software on older cards), in DX you do the same kinda thing, check the device caps and set the render path accordingly.
If it tried to run a PS2.0 thing in Software mode, even at 800*600*32 you wouldnt get it slowed to hell when you looked in certain directions, you'd be doing about 5fps ALL as to use PS2.0 in software EVERYTHING has to be in software.

[Matt]

Well whatever it was that was doing it, it was bloody slow only when you looked at the "lenses". Perhaps they used some sort of voodoo trickery to get it to work on their demo.

[phantom]

without knowing how they was doing the effect i couldnt explain why you experianced the problem, its possible they used something which caused a stall in the rendering pipeline and for some reason your system didnt like it, or it could be because the code wasnt finished :P

[milou]

I like the phrase "voodoo trickery" and I'll use it in my next management meeting...

[Synbios]

Damn, just realised - pre-52.xx series Dets had graphical problems with Desert Combat.

I can't go back :( only forward.

[SylverFyre]

Stephs fixed it by enabling ReduceMouseLag in the UT2004.ini

lower overall framerate but much smoother play \o/

[Synbios]

Yeah, it probably hurts UT2003 more than it does UT2004, but a stable framerate certainly beats having a jerky one.

And anyway, if I get 85fps at times, that's the refresh rate, so I can't be too bothered about tearing can I? :)