Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Leopard on March 27, 2001, 08:22:00 PM

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: Leopard on March 27, 2001, 08:22:00 PM

Guys, just wondering if you have any advice on tweaking my system.  I currently run AH in 800x600 and get an average of 30fps, 20fps around smoke.

My system is:

PIII 733MHz
192MB RAM
Nvidia TNT2 32MB AGP vid card
SB Live Audio
Win98 SE
Dx8.0

Also, I get some pretty poor connections with my 56k modem.  How do I use ping plotter to see where the holdup is?  What are the addresses for the MA and the alt route MA servers?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Leopard

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: BaneX on March 27, 2001, 08:32:00 PM

Well if you have a little money to spend.. I'd look into upgrading the video card. The one you have is decent, but you can get a MUCH better one for around $100 or so.. i.e. the GeForce MX card.

Also, your ram is PC100 or PC133? if PC100 consider upgrading since RAM is VERY cheap right now.

Those are just a couple.. as for actual tweaks without spending money I just don't know  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/frown.gif)

Bane
13th TAS

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: Raubvogel on March 27, 2001, 08:43:00 PM

Leopard, check out the stuff Bloom posted that I punted for you. Very good advice.

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: Staga on March 27, 2001, 08:50:00 PM

If CPU is 733 then his memory prolly are pc133  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)

Cheapest way is overclock your TNT2, My old TNT2Ultra gaved about 35fps 1024*768 32bit.

Propably best and rather cheap way is buying a GF2MX card like BaneX proposed. Look for Hercules ProphetII MX (Core175Mhz,Memory183Mhz) or Leadtek's similar cards.
These MX-cards have faster core/memory speeds than some other MX-cards thus giving better framerate with little more money (these are good and easy to overclock if needed too).
If you decide to buy MX-card stay away cards with DDR memory, Its actually slower than ordinary SDR-ram in MX-cards. MX-chip supports 128bit wide SDR-ram but only 64bit wide DDR.
Another good choice could be ATI's Radeon 64megs version but I don't know a watermelon about these, Just what others are telling.

If you wanna get all out of your cpu you need a GF GTS card but these costs lots more than MX or Radeon cards, Thought the speed is in its own class  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: Wardog on March 28, 2001, 04:49:00 AM

Something is holding you back.

Im runnin PIII 550 Katmai TNT2 Pro 128meg PC100. I average 45 to 55 inflight and have very little problems in smoke clouds or night. Ya might think about goin to an old Detonator driver. I had to do this and tweek my D3D settings to get her runnin smooth..


Dog out....

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: MrSiD on March 28, 2001, 05:12:00 AM

Also make sure you run Aces High on the same resolution and color depth with your Desktop. Usually that gives a few extra frames compared to differing setup.

If you get micro-freezes on screen during play, try playing with AGP aperture size. On some systems small size (32Mb) gets better results, some have to set it to 128 or higher..

Overclock that TNT as far as it goes.. If it breaks down, it's a good excuse to upgrade  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
Take into notice that there's a small chance of OTHER system damage if that happens, but I'd oc it anyway.

You can also look for hints at www.3dfiles.com (http://www.3dfiles.com)  / utilities / tweaking

If you have the cash, take the best display card you can get! Geforce2 non MX would be a good choice, albeit the prize is bound to drop due to the release of GF3.

ATI Radeon can be tweaked for good results, Geforce2 MX is no faster than old Geforce1, but still a valid budget option. I get 45-75fps 1024x768x32bit with my old GF1 SDR + celeron depending on the terrain I'm flying with.

New main in tower 67fps with w2k dx8a 11.01 drivers.

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: snafu on March 28, 2001, 11:37:00 AM

Hi,
 You might want to play with monitor refresh rates as well. (Costs you nothing). You might be suprised how badly your FPS can suffer if your monitor can't maintain it's refresh rate.

Just a thought

TTFN
snafu

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: SKurj on March 28, 2001, 12:48:00 PM

try running at 1024x768, some have found AH runs better at the higer res.

SKurj

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: Leopard on March 28, 2001, 07:59:00 PM

Thanks for your suggestions guys.

I neglected to mention that I get around 70 fps when I'm looking up into the clear blue sky, about 40 when I'm flying around and about 30 looking at a base.  This is with 16bit colours.

I have just found the benchmark site in the links so I'll benchmark my system using the method fradim uses and I'll post result here.

Again, thanks all.  (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: wlfsbane on March 29, 2001, 05:38:00 PM

ok, becnhmarked offline with B17, full fuel, 24x100 bombs, A1, ndisles terrain, clutteroff.  Engines off and sitting on runway N (should have been eng idle in hangar).

With 16 & 32 bit colour, 800x600 29fps
With 16 & 32 bit colour, 1024x768 20 fps

How do these fps figures sound?

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: MrLars on March 30, 2001, 02:41:00 PM

What version of Vid driver you using? I tried the Det 3x, 5x and 6x with my TNT1 and TNT2 Ultra but still got better FR from the 2.08 drivers.

Lars

------------------
Lars
***MOL***
Men Of Leisure

Title: System Tweaks Advice
Post by: Leopard on March 31, 2001, 03:58:00 PM

Lars,

Im using the ver  650 drivers.