Still in 1st Beta release.
Comment
Noticeable screen stutters occur as new sections of graphics (item 20) are encountered for the first time such as changing terrain tiles or approaching the drown a/c, strat targets or cv group. Interestingly, after passing over the cv group, frame rates doubled but after a/c auger, the tower frame rates were half what they were originally.
19) Using F1 or F3 view, you can make the drown Icons disappear by changing hat view at d = 400-900.
20) Using F3 view and looking back at the pilot, you can make him disappear by changing the distance from the a/c. There may be other anomalies but that is the most noticeable.
21) Transitions between sections of the map (new tile group?) cause noticeable stutter in both 1024 x 768 and 800 x 600 resolutions.
22) When in 800 x 600 resolution, when approaching a drown for the first time at d = 400-800, the screen freezes for around 2 seconds while in 1024 x 768 resolution the stutters happened at around 900 and 400 for a moment each.
23) At 800 x 600 resolution, the roofs on the hangers and farm buildings are drawn repeatedly so slowly it’s as if a curtin is being opened and closed very quickly. This is not a problem at 1024 x 768.
Frame rate comparison – 1st Beta at 1024 x 763, 32 bit color vs 800 x 600, 16 bit color. The 1024 resolution was used as base and then the comparisons were looked for in the 800 x 600 resolution with N/A meaning not applicable or no change where appropriate. As I finished I noticed that changing the order of the tests changed the load on the system and some of the results. I didn’t see anything get too far out of range but the lack up universal improvement at 800 x 600 was disappointing.
At the 1024 settings
22 fps Tower
14-15 Hanger with 4 min reported but noticeable 2 second stutter.
From the cockpit
8-11 Initial flight
12-25 average flight over land after takeoff
13-15 approaching 1K of single drown in view
4-11 with noticeable stutter at around 400
4-11 when all four drowns appear in view for the first time
13-14 with two drowns in view
12 with one drown and the field in view together
13-17 flying over and parallel with the shore
17 over water at 200 ft alt. when clipboard comes up.
14-16 while buzzing the CV group but then recovers to 36-38fps
At the 800 settings
28 fps Tower However after buzzing the cv and auger, dropped to 12-14
13-14 Hanger with usual 2 second stutter.
From the cockpit
12-13 Initial flight
20-22 average flight over land after takeoff
N/A approaching 1K of single drown in view
! Extended stutter (4 seconds?) at around 400-500
N/A when all four drowns appear in view for the first time
N/A with two drowns in view
12 with one drown and the field in view together
14-16 flying over and parallel with the shore at 3000ft
26-27 over water at 200 ft alt. when clipboard comes up.
13-16 while buzzing the CV group but then recovers to 36-38fps
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Platform:
Intel P3 800 over clocked at 824
ASUS CUSL2-C MoBo Award Medallion BIOS v6.0
256MB Ram
WindowsXP Pro
DirectX 9.0b
ASUS AGP-V7700 Pure/deluxe v31.40G, 32MB
1024 x 768 / 32bit / 75Hz
SB Live! at 25% acceleration. Microsoft driver
In-game Video settings:
1024 x 768, 32-bit color
Unlimited frame rates"
check "Disable Palletized Textures"
check “Mip Mapping”
Un-check all others
Displayed Object Size slider to “More performance”
More detail slider just left of the center
