NS2 Performance Problems
Lux
Join Date: 2002-11-17 Member: 9078Members
Join Date: 2002-11-17 Member: 9078Members
NS remains one of my favorite games of all time, I played it for years, and while I was hoping to get into NS2, the performance problems make the game unplayable. I am open to ideas. Here is what I have tried:
1. <i>Turn every setting except resolution to lowest possible</i>. This was the first thing I usually do. Everything described here is running with every option in the video settings UI disabled.
2. <i>Turn off undocumented settings</i>. <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=117259" target="_blank">This thread</a> suggests turning off r_atmospherics, r_bloom, r_shadows, r_fog, r_aa and enabling r_instancing will improve performance. That advice is outdated, as most of those are in the video settings UI, the others had no notable impact.
3. <i>Turn down resolution</i>. I have tried various resolutions, as low as 1280x720, but it made no difference, in any kind of combat it stutters constantly. I used r_stats in console to see my FPS.
4. <i>Update Drivers</i>. Graphics and Motherboard drivers can obviously make a difference. Everything was updated for me, so no help there.
5. <i>Run NS2.exe in high thread priority</i>. The method <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=117259&st=20&p=2015435&#entry2015435" target="_blank">described here</a> has helped a number of people who were CPU constrained. It did not do much for me.
6. <i>Is my computer good enough?</i>. According to the <a href="http://www.naturalselection2.com" target="_blank">minimum system requirement</a>, it should be. My system is ATI Radeon HD 4800 1gb / Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 cpu / 4gb ram (<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/zeekmarketing/DxDiag.txt" target="_blank">DXDiag.txt</a>) this is by no means a remarkable system, but it runs excellently on other modern-day FPS games on medium settings such as battlefield 3, ARMA 2 and firefall to name a few. 1gb graphics card and 4gb ram should be more than enough to run with every setting to the lowest possible.
That's about it, I don't know what else to try.
In NS Combat and at the start of normal games I will be running fine at around 45 FPS, but once the effects start coming in it just dies horribly and there are really no more settings for me to toy with. I tend to hover around 30 FPS, but the following factors tend to tank FPS to 20 or lower: infestation, flames, explosions, gas/healing spray, muzzle flash (turrets/marines firing, exo especially), med packs being used, bile bomb impact, more than two players visible. It is easily reproducible. From watching others play in a variety of situations I am certain the lag is client side.
It is the wild variation in FPS that kills me. If your FPS is 60 and then suddenly drops to 20 while you are fighting, that is actually worse than playing at a consistent 20 FPS, especially given the individual skill in NS was largely based on tracking (as opposed to say bursting, or getting a headshot). I believe the same is true in NS2, and if nothing else, I would love to know if there was a max_fps command like there was in half-life - that would at least allow me to play with some consistency.
If there are any other suggestions please let me know and I will add them here and update the thread. Thanks!
1. <i>Turn every setting except resolution to lowest possible</i>. This was the first thing I usually do. Everything described here is running with every option in the video settings UI disabled.
2. <i>Turn off undocumented settings</i>. <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=117259" target="_blank">This thread</a> suggests turning off r_atmospherics, r_bloom, r_shadows, r_fog, r_aa and enabling r_instancing will improve performance. That advice is outdated, as most of those are in the video settings UI, the others had no notable impact.
3. <i>Turn down resolution</i>. I have tried various resolutions, as low as 1280x720, but it made no difference, in any kind of combat it stutters constantly. I used r_stats in console to see my FPS.
4. <i>Update Drivers</i>. Graphics and Motherboard drivers can obviously make a difference. Everything was updated for me, so no help there.
5. <i>Run NS2.exe in high thread priority</i>. The method <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=117259&st=20&p=2015435&#entry2015435" target="_blank">described here</a> has helped a number of people who were CPU constrained. It did not do much for me.
6. <i>Is my computer good enough?</i>. According to the <a href="http://www.naturalselection2.com" target="_blank">minimum system requirement</a>, it should be. My system is ATI Radeon HD 4800 1gb / Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 cpu / 4gb ram (<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/zeekmarketing/DxDiag.txt" target="_blank">DXDiag.txt</a>) this is by no means a remarkable system, but it runs excellently on other modern-day FPS games on medium settings such as battlefield 3, ARMA 2 and firefall to name a few. 1gb graphics card and 4gb ram should be more than enough to run with every setting to the lowest possible.
That's about it, I don't know what else to try.
In NS Combat and at the start of normal games I will be running fine at around 45 FPS, but once the effects start coming in it just dies horribly and there are really no more settings for me to toy with. I tend to hover around 30 FPS, but the following factors tend to tank FPS to 20 or lower: infestation, flames, explosions, gas/healing spray, muzzle flash (turrets/marines firing, exo especially), med packs being used, bile bomb impact, more than two players visible. It is easily reproducible. From watching others play in a variety of situations I am certain the lag is client side.
It is the wild variation in FPS that kills me. If your FPS is 60 and then suddenly drops to 20 while you are fighting, that is actually worse than playing at a consistent 20 FPS, especially given the individual skill in NS was largely based on tracking (as opposed to say bursting, or getting a headshot). I believe the same is true in NS2, and if nothing else, I would love to know if there was a max_fps command like there was in half-life - that would at least allow me to play with some consistency.
If there are any other suggestions please let me know and I will add them here and update the thread. Thanks!
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