Need Better FR

[bagrat]

so i got have this ATI Radeon X1600 pro runnin, on my windows xp.
My suggested resolution is 1366X720 and 65Hz

the video card gives me options of adjusting and forcing these settings. aside from setting everything to max performance how should i change the settings and force settings so i can get my crap FR above 45 -30 frames... and still freezes for split seconds at a time...WTF!!

Let me know if more information is required. i set all the settings to what the monitor suggests. but FR still sux.......what do i do?

[cattb]

should put up your system specs, then people might be able to give suggestions. Like cpu etc etc
You may need to turn some of the garphics(eye candy) off to get better frame rates.

[bagrat]

dam this is gonna look ignorant but uh.....specs.
hope this wut ur lookin for

3200+AMD Athlon XP Processor
512mb DDR SDRAM PC2700
160GB 7200rpm
Processor speed 2.20Ghz 512Kb
400Mhz front side bus

read this off modem

  i jus like to fly de airplane

[cattb]

my opinion is that your going to have to turn off some of the graphics if you want faster frame rate.
you dont have enough computer to run the game with all the graphics on.
turn off the extra graphics and extra background processes, see if you can stop the stuttering.

[batch]

as a side not what type of monitor are you  using............ thats a really weird resolution

[The Fugitive]

These are Skuzzy suggestions for the settings of a weak computer....

In the game's "Video Settings".

1)  Set the "Maximum Texture Size" to 256, or less.  DO NOT SET IT ANY HIGHER THAN 256!
2)  Do not use an anti-aliasing (slider all the way to the left).

In the game, under "Options->Graphic Detail"

The ONLY options you should have checked are "Bump Mapping" and "Detailed Water".  All other options should NOT be checked.




If it runs smooth there you can start adding "candy" back in until you hit that spot where it causes trouble.

You should also be sure to get your process that are running down as much as possible. Hit cntrl, atl, delete and click on the processes tab. On the bottom it will tell you how many you have running, lower is better, in the "teens for XP systems, in the 20's for Vista is excellent.  

[gyrene81]

You don't have enough RAM and your video card is bottom end at best...and I'm wondering how you're getting that unusual video resolution/refresh rate.

Try doing this:

click on start > run > dxdiag > enter

a gray box should pop up on your screen with several tabs...bottom right corner should be an option for "save this information"...click on that and where prompted save it to your desktop and give it a name. when that's done close the gray box and open the text file you just saved.

The first 3 sections are what you want to post in this thread...system, video, sound information.

[DREDIOCK]

IMO you need to turn the eye candy way down. Or consider a new build with a better CPU and more memory.
From what I've read here.  The game is more CPU intensive then graphics card intensive. Based on the way the game runs. Those are your largest bottlenecks

Skuzzy. Correct me if Im wrong please

also. Dump any of the custom sounds you have and just use the stock sounds

[bagrat]

ok system, video, & sound....grneye i believe thats the info u require.

also im now doing the the things everyone has posted.
texture... 254
anti aliasing... off
dumped custom sounds.
candy... off



System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 11/26/2009, 12:54:21
       Machine name: FAMILYROOM
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
       System Model: PP163AA-ABA A800N
               BIOS: Rev. 3.11
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3200+,  MMX,  3DNow, ~2.2GHz
             Memory: 1024MB RAM
          Page File: 679MB used, 1784MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Sound Devices
-------------
            Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
 Default Sound Playback: Yes
 Default Voice Playback: Yes
            Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_810A1043&REV_60
        Manufacturer ID: 65535
             Product ID: 65535
                   Type: WDM
            Driver Name: ALCXWDM.SYS
         Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5730 (English)
      Driver Attributes: Final Retail
            WHQL Logo'd: Yes
          Date and Size: 10/1/2004 18:24:02, 2279424 bytes
            Other Files:
        Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
         HW Accel Level: Full
              Cap Flags: 0xF5F
    Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 192000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 33, 32
 Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 33, 32
              HW Memory: 0
       Voice Management: No
 EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
   I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
               Registry: OK
      Sound Test Result: Not run

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
            Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
  Default Sound Capture: Yes
  Default Voice Capture: Yes
            Driver Name: ALCXWDM.SYS
         Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5730 (English)
      Driver Attributes: Final Retail
          Date and Size: 10/1/2004 18:24:02, 2279424 bytes
              Cap Flags: 0x41
           Format Flags: 0xFFF

Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: RADEON X1600 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI display adapter AGP (0x71C2)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C2&SUBSYS_030B1002&REV_00
   Display Memory: 512.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (16 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: HP w1858 Wide LCD Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1366,768
      Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6599 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 1/24/2006 21:52:48, 255488 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: Yes
  WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
              VDD: n/a
         Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 1/24/2006 21:52:31, 1478656 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-3282-11CF-756A-0123A1C2CB35}
        Vendor ID: 0x1002
        Device ID: 0x71C2
        SubSys ID: 0x030B1002
      Revision ID: 0x0000
      Revision ID: 0x0000
      Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D ModeWMV8_B ModeWMV8_A ModeWMV9_B ModeWMV9_A
 Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
                   {3C5323C1-6FB7-44F5-9081-056BF2EE449D}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
         Registry: OK
     DDraw Status: Enabled
       D3D Status: Enabled
       AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
 D3D7 Test Result: Not run
 D3D8 Test Result: Not run
 D3D9 Test Result: Not run


DxDiag Notes
------------
  DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
          Music Tab: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.
        Network Tab: No problems found.

[WMLute]

two things to start out.

the first thing I noticed was how large you page file is.
Page File: 679MB used, 1784MB available

that is a lot of "junk" going on in the background using up your system recources.

I run a pretty "clean" system and my page file is @ 1/3 what yours is.

the 2nd thing, that would be a cheap and easy thing to do, would be to up your system ram.

you want at least 2 gigs.  ram is cheap so that should not cast much $ at all.

as far as the page file we need to turn off most all of the things running in the background that you do not need.

a good place to start is your Windows Services.

goto www.blackviper.com and use their recommendations.  (front page under Popular Content)  I tend to use either the "tweaked" or "bare bones" settings, but you should take the time and read, read, read before you decide which way to go.  blackviper lists all the services as clickable links and you can read what they are and decide if you need them running or not.

another option would be to use a program to do this for you so you don't have to mess with it.  a most excellent program that does exactly this is AlacrityPC.  (formerly known as FSAutoStart)

it was designed FOR flight sims and is perfect for what you want done.

AlacrityPC will turn off all the garbage, launch AH, and when you exit AH turn it all back on again.

the 32 bit version can be found HERE

lets start with those two things and go from there.

[TequilaChaser]

Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: RADEON X1600 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI display adapter AGP (0x71C2)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C2&SUBSYS_030B1002&REV_00
   Display Memory: 512.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (16 bit) (60Hz)

This throwed up another red flag to me,  you should be in either 24 bit True Color or 32 bit True color........not 16 Bit

*someone correct me if I am wrong on this please*


also, using Windows XP Home Edition, you would want your processes to be anywhere from say 25 processes running down to 19  or 18 processes running at the time you Start up the PC and you are sitting idle at the desktop... to check to see how many you have running currently

hit the CTRL-ALT-DEL keys ( at same time ) to bring up the Windows Task Manager, click on the check box in lower left corner that says "show processes from all users"

at the very bottom it will show you how many processes are running( 1 of them is the Task Manager itself since it is open) and also your current page file used & page file allocated

example of my WinXP:
right now on my Windows XP pro OS partition, I am showing 20 processes running with a pagefile used: 297MB / pagefile allocated: 8154MB  ( Commit Charge: 297M/8154M )

Lute is right, you got way too much stuff running in the background, I bet you have 50 to 70 processes running......... most which are not needed, and are draining your Processor and hurting your gameplay FPS and details....


HOMEBOY has wrote a Guide to setting up AlacrityPC, which will help you tweak your PC before installing AlacrityPC then will help you set AlacrityPC up, if you do decide to install and use it:  can find his guide here:
http://snomhf.exofire.net/alacrityPC.html

AlacrityPC  Website is here: http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/



it says your videodriver is  Driver Date/Size: 1/24/2006 ...........You might want to download and install the current newest Video Driver...........if it does not work properly for you....... revert back to the ATI CAT 4.12 drivers .....( you probably would want to use the ATI CAT 4.12 drivers  if my memory is correct, for this particular video card ).......


Always be sure to uninstall all of your Video Drivers and other ATI software ( Catalyst Control Manager, etc.) and reboot your PC before installing new Video Drivers....



edit: also while in DXDIAG, turn your Sound Hardware Acceleration down to 3/4's or lower......... you currently have it at:

HW Accel Level: Full

  and this is using up your CPU as well, since you are using onboard sound........

hope this helps

[ColTomb]

Something else that may help is to back off the hardware acceleration ..Start>Control Panel>Sound and Audio Devices>Advanced>Performance..Slide it back A couple notches.
Be sure to click Apply..

[guncrasher]

bringing your processed to less than 20 its kindda of extreme and if you dont know what you are doing you are gonna mess up your computer big time.  I had mine down to the mid 30's and it played fine.

semp

[WMLute]

bringing your processed to less than 20 its kindda of extreme and if you dont know what you are doing you are gonna mess up your computer big time.  I had mine down to the mid 30's and it played fine.

semp

not hard to do at all actually.

there is VERY little that you NEED running in the background.

the trick is to take the time and learn what you need and what you do not (bearing in mind that there is very little you NEED)

18-24 processes is "ideal".
25-30 you gonna have some junk you don't need.
31+ there is a lot of junk running that is not needed at all and you should take the time to streamline.

my opinion only, but I have always run a pretty "clean" system and took the time to learn what is needed and what isn't.

I currently (hits ctrl/alt/delete) have 21 running processes and that includes my mouse, firewall, firefox, and a torrent downloading.

take some time at www.blackviper.com and learn how to use HiJackThis (use google for HJT and be CAREFULL) and it is quite easy to trim down all the junk.

[Ghastly]

To expand on WMLutes suggestions, for the less expert, iobit's Game Booster is a pretty good tool to both help determine what's absolutely necessary and what's not - and to even get most of the benefit of being "expert" automatically.  It will close everything that's not vital, after which you start the game.  If the problem goes away, then you know to focus your attention on running processes/software contention.  If it doesn't, then you know that your performance woes are not related to software contention, and need to work on increasing hardware performance or adjusting settings to match the performance of the existing hardware as suggested by others.

<S>