Low-end computer performance thread

[Kulin_ban]

As I've understood, cmp is trying to optimize beta client that only uses "dx9" setting, so that it would be playable for all(most) people who use "dx7" in non-beta client. I am one of those people for who the dx9 option is unplayable.

In this thread I will try to write my observations on how new beta releases affect my performance.
Graphics card is: Ati Mobility Radeon x1400 (dual core intel cpu laptop with 2.5gb ddr2 ram)

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All settings lowest possible, textures on 30%
Version 26.07.12

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All settings lowest possible, textures on normal

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- unplayable
- fps is significantly lower than "dx7"
- fps drops result in frame/player animation stuttering/spectator camera jittering
- visually it looks identical except that map props and ground still use some kind of advanced shader

Version 27.07.13

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- added graphics setting to enable/disable sun flare
- added input setting to enable/disable quitting via Alt+F4
- fixed shield being invisible in first person
- fixed overlapping UI slider handle
- fixed depth effects not working when HDR, FXAA and post processing disabled
- fixed server list rows having a wrong background color when filtered
- fixed cyrillic input not working
- additional shader optimizations

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All settings lowest possible, textures on normal

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMOXWONONiM

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- unplayable
- fps is significantly lower than "dx7"
- fps drops result in frame/player animation stuttering/spectator camera jittering
- ground shaders are gone, 3d prop shaders remain, player shading is back

[Leshma]

- unplayable

What does this mean?

[Leshma]

I have between 10 (at spawn), 35 (while I'm running in huge group) and 30-100 fps most of the time. Frame drops are between 20-30 sometimes. I wouldn't call that unplayable because I can block fine.

I do have a slight headache however but that has something to do with a fact that I'm playing/looking at screen a lot during last few days. Even with stable 100 fps my head would hurt because of monitor backlight.

[Leshma]

I know what you're talking about. It's just that I'm used to all that stuff. I can understand that someone doesn't want to play like that but it's not unplayable and you certainly can block decently.

I did play cRPG under a lot worse conditions for six months and during that time I was being top on scoreboard more than I wasn't.

Currently playing on that Pirate Fortress map, having between 20-40 fps but blocking just fine. Sometimes frame skips and get hit but many things in cRPG are random so idc.

It's not pleasant and not for everyone but playing with low fps doesn't mean you're gimped.

[Lech]

Turn shaders off ? (abysmal ?) Play with config ?

[Thomek]

I'm getting similar FPS to dx7 in dx9 (in lowest settings), only that there seems to be a DELAY when i look around. As if the screen is always many frames behind input.

Nvidia 9800m GT here. Max pre-rendered frames is set to 1. Win7 ultimate 32-bit. This also happens in native cRPG and normal native.. Nothing new with the launcher here.

Anyone have an idea what causes this? It basically makes the game unplayable in DX9, something which would fuck me up bad if DX9 gets forced.

[cmp]

I'm getting similar FPS to dx7 in dx9 (in lowest settings), only that there seems to be a DELAY when i look around. As if the screen is always many frames behind input.

Nvidia 9800m GT here. Max pre-rendered frames is set to 1. Win7 ultimate 32-bit. This also happens in native cRPG and normal native.. Nothing new with the launcher here.

Anyone have an idea what causes this? It basically makes the game unplayable in DX9, something which would fuck me up bad if DX9 gets forced.

It sounds like an issue with your laptop/drivers, tbh. I have a laptop with the same graphics card, and I can play in medium/high DX9 without any problems.
I mean, it makes sense with Kulin's x1400 (I have an x1600 laptop and it's similarly unplayable), but a 9800m gt should be more then able to handle DX9.

[Thomek]

Yeah, its weird.. I played Fallout 3 without much problems ffs

Did some more testing today, and by fiddling with the nvidia settings I got rid of the screen panning/input lag. Still got highly unstable fps though..

Maybe I will try some new drivers for my 9800m gt..

Just to add smth.. I've been playing with and resizing the textures in cRPG (and warband). some of them are absurdly huge compared to the others. (4000x4000)

Would it be an idea to standardize texture sizes? Would it help performance?

[cmp]

Because it doesn't really make a difference. In fact, I used some performance measuring tools and the GPU seems to do quite fine - it's actually faster in my DX9 mode (70k µs) than in DX7 mode (76k µs).
The problem has to be somewhere else (CPU? RAM? VRAM?), it makes sense because the whole "alt-tabbing to firefox takes 20 minutes" doesn't really sound like something caused by the GPU.
Since both our laptops have a ridiculously low amount of VRAM (258MB and 128MB) I'm gonna start by trying to see what happens if I reduce memory usage drastically.

[Thomek]

I've got 512mb vram..

Play Fallout 3 and X3 fine.. Just warband/crpg act up. I did at some point install some non-apple (bootcamp) approved video drivers, but they only increased performance. I also did tons of research on that.. hmm I'll test further, maybe revert to standard drivers and check my settings. Could also be my pirated win7 for all i know.

[Lech]

As you can see in the video all the settings are to lowest, except textures which are on low.

Try turning load texture on demand off. Also, turn off normals and speculars (put 0 instead of 2 in config). Done it for me. (on client with .13 in name, 2 days ago if i remember correctly).

[cmp]

Also, turn off normals and speculars (put 0 instead of 2 in config).

That doesn't turn off normals and specular, it changes filtering (0 = no filtering, 1 = point filtering, 2 = linear filtering, 3 = anisotropic filtering, only if enabled). It doesn't really make a difference on Abysmal (and probably Low as well), because the shaders there don't use normals and speculars already.

[Lech]

Any chance skin shaders can cause the stuttering ? Because when i am near (lod 1 or lod 2 distance, or transition, dunno) the game stutter way more near people who use no helmet or open helmet (one with show face, even some closed helmets show face through visors). Is there option to turn off faces at all other than changing every helmet ?