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NeoGAF PC Gaming General Performance Tweaking Thread

If any AMD owners have ever wanted to force AA in Hot Pursuit, I wrote a little guide on how to do that a while back.

Can you PM that to me?

Durante's downsampling guide is awesome, but if you want an alternate method, try this:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1616639
Doing the manual tweaks worked for me.

Worked for me too. Downsampling rules. I'll put it in the OP.

Couldn't get it going with Splinter Cell, tried 4x and 8x adjusted the LOD as it says in the guide. I was having issues a few days ago when I'd try changing the in game AA, and would crash though.

Also, thanks for trying to help with my sound card issues the other day. Those drivers you gave me kind of worked, at least better than the ones I had...I was able to get DTS/DD encoding when I was in my desktop, and thought I had it figured out, but no sound in games.

Finally gave up and returned the card and bought a receiver that handles all of my gear through HDMI, which is great. The lossless (correct?) sound coming from my 580 sounds amazing...I recommend just caving and getting a new amp instead of trying to get digital 5.1 via spdif. I bought a low end Denon from Best Buy, and it sounds pretty amazing honestly.

Has anyone messed with AC:R any? I picked that up recently, but my back log is pretty bad after the Steam sale.

AC:R runs fine maxed @ 8x MSAA or 2x MSAA + 2x SGSSAA on my GTX 570. Try 4x MSAA + 4x SGSSAA and see how it runs.
 

Jtrizzy

Member
What about Crysis 2? I'm going with the 30 fps limiter and everything else maxed. Should I be doing anything AA wise in that game? I'm gonna give AC a go with SGSSAA since I couldn't get it with SC:C.
 

didamangi

Member
So MSI Afteburner just made frame limiting a lot more convenient.
MSI On-Screen Display server has been upgraded to version 4.3.0. New version gives you the following improvements:
1. Added new profile settings allowing to limit the framerate independently during gaming and during videocapture. Limiting the framerate during gaming can help to reduce the power consumption as well as it can improve gaming experience due to removing unwanted microstutteing effect caused by framerate fluctuations. Limiting the framerate during videocapture can improve resulting video smoothness

http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-10-download-2839.html

Only tested it on Skyrim so far but it works fine. Per application frame limiting people :)
 
What about Crysis 2? I'm going with the 30 fps limiter and everything else maxed. Should I be doing anything AA wise in that game? I'm gonna give AC a go with SGSSAA since I couldn't get it with SC:C.

Why are you framelimiting Crysis 2? It runs at 50-60 FPS.

So MSI Afteburner just made frame limiting a lot more convenient.


http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-10-download-2839.html

Only tested it on Skyrim so far but it works fine. Per application frame limiting people :)

Cool, good news. But that' mostly for AMD users now that Nvidia has a framerate limitdr built in to the drivers, accessed with Nvidia inspector.
 

Durante

Member
Edit: The mediafire link below is down, I made a blog post about this tool here.

This is a GAF exclusive release:

fullrgbv2k07.png


Basically, I recently had a problem where I simply couldn't get my NV GPU to supply full range RGB (0-255) over HDMI when the resolution was either 720p or 1080p at 59.94 Hz.
Apparently this has been a known problem for years, and the only reliable solution was to edit your driver .ini files before installation.

After some digging through obscure NV support posts I managed to find the registry keys that control this behaviour, and I implemented a small tool to switch all graphics modes between full range and limited range. It's not as convenient as a driver level toggle, but it fixed my problem and since NV hasn't acted on this for years I don't expect them to do so any time soon.

Here's the program in case anyone is interested:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d3wbqp231fov3aa
 
This is a GAF exclusive release:

fullrgbv2k07.png


Basically, I recently had a problem where I simply couldn't get my NV GPU to supply full range RGB (0-255) over HDMI when the resolution was either 720p or 1080p at 59.94 Hz.
Apparently this has been a known problem for years, and the only reliable solution was to edit your driver .ini files before installation.

After some digging through obscure NV support posts I managed to find the registry keys that control this behaviour, and I implemented a small tool to switch all graphics modes between full range and limited range. It's not as convenient as a driver level toggle, but it fixed my problem and since NV hasn't acted on this for years I don't expect them to do so any time soon.

Here's the program in case anyone is interested:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d3wbqp231fov3aa

Wow dude, that's huge. Full RGB 0-255 is the same as YBCR4:4:4 (chroma subsampling)? Or is it different? Because that's what I'm using on my HDTV over HDMI, looks so much better than stock RGB.
 

Durante

Member
I don't think it's all that huge -- though it fixes a huge annoyance, I'd guess only less than 1% of NV users are affected by it. Basically everyone that uses a full RGB display (like a monitor or some projectors) on an HDMI port.

The previous workaround was to create a custom resolution at the same size but with slightly different refresh rate than the desired "HD" resolution, but that didn't fit my requirements (I wanted exactly 59.94 Hz)
 

Wonko_C

Member
Did I hear right? Need For Speed Hot Pursuit actually running at a constant 60 fps? I always get fps-crippling stuttering in certain spots on every track, I assumed the stuttering was due to the game streaming data. Does this happen to me only or is it just how the game is? Burnout Paradise is rock solid and that's completely open world. Any ideas?
 

scitek

Member
Did I hear right? Need For Speed Hot Pursuit actually running at a constant 60 fps? I always get fps-crippling stuttering in certain spots on every track, I assumed the stuttering was due to the game streaming data. Does this happen to me only or is it just how the game is? Burnout Paradise is rock solid and that's completely open world. Any ideas?

No clue, but the game drops frames for me all over the place. I always just assumed it's an unoptimized piece of shit.
 
Ah. I'd still limit it if it weren't a constant 60. Can't stand dips.

On Extreme DX11 (one step below ultra), Crysis 2 should run at 60+.

Did I hear right? Need For Speed Hot Pursuit actually running at a constant 60 fps? I always get fps-crippling stuttering in certain spots on every track, I assumed the stuttering was due to the game streaming data. Does this happen to me only or is it just how the game is? Burnout Paradise is rock solid and that's completely open world. Any ideas?

Post your hardware specs.

No clue, but the game drops frames for me all over the place. I always just assumed it's an unoptimized piece of shit.

I run it at 60 locked with 4x MSAA + 4x SGSSAA @ 1080p, but 8x MSAA + 8x SGSSAA drop me down to 40 FPS or so. The game isn't perfectly 3ptimised but I may be brute-forcing the game to run well.

Is SGSSAA suppose to work with OpenGL games?

For the life of me, I can't get it to work with Quake 4.

I don't think SGSSAA works on Quake 4. Use this compatibility bit (0x0000F0C1) and use transparency supersampling instead and see how it runs.
 

Wonko_C

Member
Post your hardware specs.

Motherboard: Asus P5QL/EPU, Intel P43 ChipSet.
CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0 ghz
Memory: 4GB DDR2, PC2-6400 (800Mhz)
Video: Geforce GTX 285
O.S.: Windows 7 64 bit.
HDD: Seagate 500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA II

My aging PC easily exceeds the recommended requirements, for reference:

OS: Windows® XP SP 3 (32-64 bits) / Windows Vista® (32-64 bits) / Windows 7® (32-64 bits)
Processor: Intel Core® 2 Duo E6700 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or better
Memory: 1.5 GB Windows® XP / 2 GB Windows Vista® - Windows 7®
Graphics: GeForce 8800 GT or ATI Radeon HD 4700 or better
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0
Hard Drive: 8 GB free space
Sound: 5.1 sound card
Supported Peripherals: Keyboard, joystick optional (Xbox 360® Controller for Windows recommended)

Supported Video Cards at Time of Release: ATI® RADEON® X1950, hd 2000/3000/4000/5000 series NVIDIA GeForce ® 7 (7600 or better)/8/9/100/200 series.
 

Jtrizzy

Member
So you think I should be running Crysis 2 on extreme instead of ultra for the fps boost? I saw some nice looking mods for this earlier tonight as well, although I don't know shit about modding.
 

JVIDICAN

Member
is it just me or does that battlefield tweak make the game look worse?

The one in the OP?
Using "GstRender.GameTime.MaxVariableFps 59" dropped my fps from 53-60fps w/ vsync to something like 33-45 fps when I tried it. I never noticed any graphical compromises though.
 
Motherboard: Asus P5QL/EPU, Intel P43 ChipSet.
CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0 ghz
Memory: 4GB DDR2, PC2-6400 (800Mhz)
Video: Geforce GTX 285
O.S.: Windows 7 64 bit.
HDD: Seagate 500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA II

My aging PC easily exceeds the recommended requirements, for reference:

The game possibly is just unoptimized.

So you think I should be running Crysis 2 on extreme instead of ultra for the fps boost? I saw some nice looking mods for this earlier tonight as well, although I don't know shit about modding.

Turn everything tobExtreme but leave Shaders on Ultra. Everything will look the same but you'll get a big FPS boost. I highly recommend Maldo's HD retexture 3.0b mod, he adds a lot of awesome textures/effects, makes the game so much better.

is it just me or does that battlefield tweak make the game look worse?

It's all in your head, as the tweak doesn't touch anything that affects image quality.

I just realized I forgot to include the renderahead limit tweak for BF3! Ugh.
 

Jtrizzy

Member
Yeah wtf was I thinking. I've had all kinds of issues with my pc, game crashing etc, but it's finally running as it should. I was just playing C2 everything on extreme with blur off, probably average 47 or so, but I was able to get it to drop to 32 during a crazy gun fight.

Extreme w/ blur on high runs basically at 60 the whole time. I will try your suggestion later though for sure. Game is pretty damn impressive though...I hadn't really tried it much as it was crashing all the time. I just played for quite a while with no problems though. [email protected] and a 580 slightly oc'd.

Still need to try using sgssa with a game though, I could never get it going with AC Revelations or SC Conviction.

Also if I add the mods you suggested and leave it on the same settings, what is the performance hit?
 

JJBro One

Member
The one in the OP?
Using "GstRender.GameTime.MaxVariableFps 59" dropped my fps from 53-60fps w/ vsync to something like 33-45 fps when I tried it. I never noticed any graphical compromises though.
so wait your fps got worse? I went from high 50's low 60's to 70's and 80's.
 

Izayoi

Banned
Anyone have the compatibilty bits for SWTOR (going to try SGSSAA)?

Someone in the Beyond3D thread mentioned the Starcraft II profile working, but I can't test it until the servers come up and I was curious if someone knew for sure.

Going off the Google translate for that German thread, the guy said to only use CSAA and down-sampling, so I'll try that after I guess.

Edit: Yuck, SGSSAA turns the game into a horrible, blurry mess. No amount of tweaking negative LOD bias fixes it.

I'll stick with boring old MSAA I guess. :(
 

Tattooth

Member
I don't know if this is the right place for this type of question, but maybe some tweaks could help.

On Battlefield 3 my pc has a hard time keeping 60fps, even on low, the only time it will be smooth is when I am looking at the ground or up in the air.

My specs are:
i5 2500k @ 4.3ghz
GTX 460 1GB
8GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM

I don't know if it's my graphics card that's slowing it down, but I feel like I should get a solid 60 on low settings.
 

Deadly

Member
I don't know if this is the right place for this type of question, but maybe some tweaks could help.

On Battlefield 3 my pc has a hard time keeping 60fps, even on low, the only time it will be smooth is when I am looking at the ground or up in the air.

My specs are:
i5 2500k @ 4.3ghz
GTX 460 1GB
8GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM

I don't know if it's my graphics card that's slowing it down, but I feel like I should get a solid 60 on low settings.
With those specs you should be getting constant 60fps on low. My friend has the same specs and he told me he was getting 70-100 (he has a 120hz monitor).
 
Anyone have any recommended mods/tweaks for the original Unreal? I've never played it and think I'm gonna give it a go. I was able to set custom resolution [1920x1080] but am having no luck eith fov using the guide here: http://widescreengamingforum.com/dr/unreal



Any input would be appreciated.

Unreal 1 may not even have FOV support because it's the very first iteration of the engine, even older than Deus Ex's UE1. Did you try pasting those lines into it?


I don't know if this is the right place for this type of question, but maybe some tweaks could help.

On Battlefield 3 my pc has a hard time keeping 60fps, even on low, the only time it will be smooth is when I am looking at the ground or up in the air.

My specs are:
i5 2500k @ 4.3ghz
GTX 460 1GB
8GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM

I don't know if it's my graphics card that's slowing it down, but I feel like I should get a solid 60 on low settings.

You should be getting a solid 60 FPS on a mix of high + medium.

First, have you updated to the 290.53 drivers?
 
Unreal 1 may not even have FOV support because it's the very first iteration of the engine, even older than Deus Ex's UE1. Did you try pasting those lines into it?

Yeah, I tried. Guess I'll just play it in 4:3. Should I use the texture mod mentioned here (found in google search) http://www.overclock.net/t/390642/unreal-s3tc-texture-highres-pack

Have you tried the DX10 renderer? It auto-adjusts the FoV and allows for much more flexibility when tweaking the visuals.

Ok... haven't tried it. I'll give it a look. Thanks
 

dr_rus

Member
Unreal D3D10 renderer is good stuff. It's the first renderer I know of which is able to emulate Glide-like rendering which is what I remember Unreal to look like back from my Voodoo 2 days.
 
Adding a Rochard AA compatibility bit to enable SGSSAA because that seems to be the #1 request when it comes to Rochard.

Rochard AA bit for SGSSAA: 0x004000C1
 

Tattooth

Member
Unreal 1 may not even have FOV support because it's the very first iteration of the engine, even older than Deus Ex's UE1. Did you try pasting those lines into it?




You should be getting a solid 60 FPS on a mix of high + medium.

First, have you updated to the 290.53 drivers?

Yeah, and I also did a driver sweep before doing so.

EDIT: Ok, so I did a more formal test with fraps just to make sure I'm not going crazy and that there is in fact an issue here. The max fps was around 45 and lowest was below 30, still all low settings at 1080p. Any suggestions on any settings I could have on which make a difference. I will also try other games to see if it is just Battlefield, but I do remember my performance not being all that great on Saints Row 3.
 
Yeah, and I also did a driver sweep before doing so.

EDIT: Ok, so I did a more formal test with fraps just to make sure I'm not going crazy and that there is in fact an issue here. The max fps was around 45 and lowest was below 30, still all low settings at 1080p. Any suggestions on any settings I could have on which make a difference. I will also try other games to see if it is just Battlefield, but I do remember my performance not being all that great on Saints Row 3.

That's so weird. Low settings are nothing for a 460 GTX. Do you have the 6 pin connectors plugged in and it's getting enough power?
 

SpidermanJones

Neo Member
Hey everyone!
I recently bought Batsy: AA; are there any guides to max out IG?

Specs: i5750@3,80Ghz / GTX460

It would be great if you could share some knowledge about tuning-guides in general. I have no idea where to look. :)
 

SLV

Member
This is a GAF exclusive release:

fullrgbv2k07.png


Basically, I recently had a problem where I simply couldn't get my NV GPU to supply full range RGB (0-255) over HDMI when the resolution was either 720p or 1080p at 59.94 Hz.
Apparently this has been a known problem for years, and the only reliable solution was to edit your driver .ini files before installation.

After some digging through obscure NV support posts I managed to find the registry keys that control this behaviour, and I implemented a small tool to switch all graphics modes between full range and limited range. It's not as convenient as a driver level toggle, but it fixed my problem and since NV hasn't acted on this for years I don't expect them to do so any time soon.

Here's the program in case anyone is interested:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d3wbqp231fov3aa

HOOOLY SHIT !
I could never for the life of me get the colors right on this AOC P.O.S. monitor i got recently, i had a awesome Philips before. Even enabling full range in Nvidia drivers the colors were kinda lame, now it is like a whole new monitor ! Thanks a lot Durante !
 

Ledsen

Member
This is a GAF exclusive release:

fullrgbv2k07.png


Basically, I recently had a problem where I simply couldn't get my NV GPU to supply full range RGB (0-255) over HDMI when the resolution was either 720p or 1080p at 59.94 Hz.
Apparently this has been a known problem for years, and the only reliable solution was to edit your driver .ini files before installation.

After some digging through obscure NV support posts I managed to find the registry keys that control this behaviour, and I implemented a small tool to switch all graphics modes between full range and limited range. It's not as convenient as a driver level toggle, but it fixed my problem and since NV hasn't acted on this for years I don't expect them to do so any time soon.

Here's the program in case anyone is interested:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d3wbqp231fov3aa

Would i need this for my panasonic g20 (i use it as my monitor?
 

Tattooth

Member
Sorry for all the posts, but I'm not really sure where else to post this. If there is a better thread for these kinds of issues I will post there also.

I downloaded gpu z and took a screenshot
Are these speeds right, they look a little slow.
 
Sorry for all the posts, but I'm not really sure where else to post this. If there is a better thread for these kinds of issues I will post there also.

I downloaded gpu z and took a screenshot

Are these speeds right, they look a little slow.

Those are downclocked 'idle' settings. Take a look at 'GPU Load %' and note that it's only 2%. At 50+% your 460 will clock up to full speed.


I think so, both the connectors are plugged in and I have a 750w psu.

Do me a favor. Go to NVidia Control Panel, make sure Ambient Occlusion is off, VSync is off, set Power Management Mode to Max Performance (turn it back to Adaptive when done), Maximum Pre-rendered frames to 0, Multi-display/Mixed GPU mode to Single Display performance mode, turn off all antialiasing, and then tell me if your performance is better?
 
Sorry for all the posts, but I'm not really sure where else to post this. If there is a better thread for these kinds of issues I will post there also.

I downloaded gpu z and took a screenshot

Are these speeds right, they look a little slow.

Are you sure that the card doesn't automatically downclock when idle?
 

Bebpo

Banned
This is cool and that Hot Pursuit pic with AA looks mighty impressive.

Any chance you have some tweaks for Saints Row 3 or RAGE?
 

Tattooth

Member
Do me a favor. Go to NVidia Control Panel, make sure Ambient Occlusion is off, VSync is off, set Power Management Mode to Max Performance (turn it back to Adaptive when done), Maximum Pre-rendered frames to 0, Multi-display/Mixed GPU mode to Single Display performance mode, turn off all antialiasing, and then tell me if your performance is better?

Thank you so much, that has made such a difference! Fraps is still throwing low numbers around and everything is just smoother. Thanks again and sorry for being such a hassle with such a dumb problem.
 
Thank you so much, that has made such a difference! Fraps is still throwing low numbers around and everything is just smoother. Thanks again and sorry for being such a hassle with such a dumb problem.

So it solved it? Or are your FPS still low?


This is cool and that Hot Pursuit pic with AA looks mighty impressive.

Any chance you have some tweaks for Saints Row 3 or RAGE?

SR3 has very limited config tweaks. Try setting Ambient Occlusion to a lower setting, that improves performance a LOT.

As for RAGE... haven't played it yet. I can dig up some tweaks though, the game benefits hugely from loading more textures into VRAM.
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
I really wish Radeon Pro didn't crash before it even loads. Yes, I have completely wiped all drivers before. There is no explanation for it.
 
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