Frames are making game unplayable

[X2Lee]

My frame rate is usally mid 40s to 50s. Last week while in flight my frame rates dropped to the lower 20s. in smoke its down in the lower teens sometimes
I reinstalled vid drivers, DirectX8, the game, to no avail.

Installed directx9 and it seemed to work for a few hours then boom! Right back in half my frame rates.
My system checks well on benchmark and pc health programs and I am running out of things to do.

I loaded Rage3d tweaks but I dont know the best settings for AH

I am now on the edge of putting money into a new pc or card and its probably just a setting

heres my specs and settings,
thanks in advance for your input,
Tommy


running windows 98 SE latest drivers for vids and directx9 (now)
in game settings mitmappin on, palette textures off, 800x600, 32 colors
display settings are the same. mitmapping does not seem to effect FRs at all...   
 soundcard is on half speed (now) and graphic speed is 3/4 speed (as always)
open GL  antialiasing disabled, fast write off,  4x agp speed   

System Board    ECS K7S5A 1.0   

Processor AMD Athlon    
Nominal Clock Speed    1000 MHz   
Measured Clock Speed    1000 MHz   
External Clock Speed    66 MHz   
   
CPU Load    2%   
Level 1 Cache    128 KB   
Level 2 Cache    256 KB   
   
RAM installed   384 MB   
Windows RAM   384 MB   
Total RAM slots   4   
Max RAM module size   128 MB   
Memory Type   256+128+00+00;|DIMM|SDRAM|;T5   
Level 1 Cache   128 KB   
Level 2 Cache   256 KB   

Description   Drive C   
Partition format   FAT32    
Cluster size   32 KB   
Size   38921 MB   
Free space   32702 MB (84%)   
Data fragmentation   11%   
File fragmentation   1%   
Cached speed   145.05 MB/s    
Uncached speed   3.47 MB/s    

disk
Brand/Model   SAMSUNG SV4084H_   
IDE details   Master, DMA   
_(Standard hard disk drivers)   Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)_
(Standard hard disk drivers)   Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)_Silicon Integrated Systems  SiS 5513 Dual PCI IDE Controller_   

Video Board
RADEON 7200 SERIES   
Resolution   800x600 pixels   
Colors   16 million   
DirectX version   4.09.00.0900   
OpenGL version   4.00   
   
_   
Monitor   IBM 6558 P202   
Max. Horizontal Resolution   1600 pixels   
Max. Vertical Resolution   1200 pixels   
Horizontal Size   40 cm   
Vertical Size   30 cm   
Viewable Diagonal Size   19.69 inch   

thanks again

[snafu]

Hi X2Lee,
 My system specs are similar to yours (W98SE, Radeon 7200, Athlon 1GHZ, DX9). Although I've got a bit more RAM (512mb). I get 40 - 50fps, sometimes higher, a lot lower in smoke (20 - 25). All this at 1280*1024 32bit colour. Sound and hardware acceleration are both maxed. The only comment looking at your system specs is the External clock of the processer looks wrong. I thought Athlons were either 200 or 266FSB. I did not think they made a 66mhz one, but I could be wrong.

Comparing to my current resolution my FPS do suffer badly if I drop to 800*600. I get a slight increase over my preferred at 1024*768  but the image quality is so much better at 1280*1024. The old Radeons generally give no advantage as far as I know by using 16 bit colour. Are you running your desktop at the same resolution & colour depth as the game?

A really good Radeon tweaking guide written for use with the Rage3d tweaker can be found here http://atiguide.ionichost.com/

You could also try turning vsync off. I know I will get jumped on by the "Rubber Bullets" brigade for saying that but personally I find no difference (Can't land hits on or off) and I don't understand how an output device such as a monitor can cause this anyway. (Hits might not be displayed but they still happen IMO). But other evidence indicates differently. (You makes your choice).

Another area to look at is your monitor refresh rate. Sometimes capping the refresh rate can help considerably. Sometimes choosing a refresh rate you monitor cannot maintain makes the FPS drop by a half or more as the monitor will be constantly jumping between the rate you have set and whatever it can actually display.

TTFN
snafu

[X2Lee]

Originally posted by snafu
Hi X2Lee,
 My system specs are similar to yours (W98SE, Radeon 7200, Athlon 1GHZ, DX9). Although I've got a bit more RAM (512mb). I get 40 - 50fps, sometimes higher, a lot lower in smoke (20 - 25). All TTFN
snafu

TY snafu, I turned off vsync and my mon refresh is at 60
no diff.....

ty tho.

[X2Lee]

I emailed you guys at HTC and posted this to the board.
Whats up with support?

[Furious]

Originally posted by X2Lee
I emailed you guys at HTC and posted this to the board.
Whats up with support?

HTC is responsible for tweaking your system?

[X2Lee]

Originally posted by Furious
HTC is responsible for tweaking your system?

bite me rat bastage. yeah tech support is included in the package
Now stfu

[Skuzzy]

No need to get nasty X2.

Here is my best guess.  If the frame rate is doing a variable thing on you in the same graphic situations, I would suspect something robbing some CPU cycles from you,...or...something is getting ready to go out and is acting up due to heat.

Those are guesses.  Something is changing in your system to cause these effects to appear.  You may not be doing it, but something else may be doing it.

The heat thing is easiest to check.  Open the computer case and get a lot of air moving in it.  Make sure that all the fans are indeed running as well.  See what happens.
If the same ole thing happens, then heat is elminated.

The next step is a bit more bothersome.  Any number of things can cause the effects you are stating.  Hardware interrupt flooding.  This happens when a device may be going bad and it causes massive amounts of interrupts to flood the system which sucks CPU cycles like no ones business.
Another possibility, it could be some software is running in intervals causing it.  Hard to catch these little buggers as they come and go from the task manager.
Shared interrupts with a USB bus can cause this.  USB likes to issue interrupts.

Anomolous problems such as these are very difficult to diagnose without having the computer in front of you.  I may be way off in what I am guessing.  It could be something as simple as a driver installation done incorrectly or in the wrong order.

[X2Lee]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
No need to get nasty X2.

Here is my best guess.  

Thanks skuzzy, I have already checked the heat its ok. Ill check the other things now.

Please excuse the mean streak, I am frustrated about the damned PC.

[DamnedRen]

Lee,

I don't remember seeing what refresh rate you have yer monitor set at.

If I'm not mistaken the default refresh rate may be set at 60 HZ. WHen you check it you may find "optimal and default" aint "it".

If you can adjust your refresh rate you should turn it up to 75 hz and try it. Then go on up one increment at a time. If you monitor supports 100 HZ refresh rate then you FR will start around 90-100 depending on resolution you've set the game at.
 
Just a note top be careful. If you over crank your mnitor to a refresh rate its not rated for you might cook the monitor so check the specs before you up it.

It's also interesting to note that the FR seems to be cut in half when you get into a high pixel environment. As in a base in flames and smoke with alot of planes and gv's around. If you were carrying a FR of 50 and it drops it will go to 25.

Ren

[WhiteHawk]

X2.  Some things that helped me.
  Turn off antialiasing
  My card runs better at highr resolutions.
  Make sure you dont have a bunch of crap gobblin up yer RAm running in the background .  (XP is notoriius for eating up all your system resources for insignificant sht).  Even if you installed stuff on puter puter over the years, it could be draining your sht when the goin gets ruff.
  Get a hi speed connect.
  Check for IRQ conflicts.  When I installed my new gf 4ti4200 it conflicted with my modem.  Created rediculously lo FR.