How to Double Your FPS in the Alpha

DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
in NS2 General Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">with an nVidia card</div>Hey everyone, these tweaks have doubled my average FPS in the alpha from 10 to 20 FPS. It may not sound like much, but it has made the game playable for me now.

I apologize if this is super "common sense" but here's what I did:

Right-mouse click on the desktop > Display Properties / Personalize > Display Settings > Advanced >

then open the nVidia control panel > Manage 3D Settings

Click "Add" and select NS2.exe. Now, adjust your settings by turning everything off or down and setting those which have the option to prefer PERFORMANCE over "OOOH SHINY".

Lastly, run NS2 "Windowed". (I'm also running "ridiculously awful settings - feel free to experiment)

Let me know how this works for you all. It has really helped me a lot.

Cheers,
Cody
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Comments

  • derWalterderWalter Join Date: 2008-10-29 Member: 65323Members
    edited November 2010
    what rig and software you are using
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  • StakhanovStakhanov Join Date: 2003-03-12 Member: 14448Members
    Seems to work. NS2 is much more playable that way.
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804596:date=Nov 5 2010, 09:29 AM:name=derWalter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (derWalter @ Nov 5 2010, 09:29 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804596"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->what rig and software you are using<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Everything is stock. No overclocks.

    Computer Specs:
    AMD Athlon Dual Core 2.6 Ghz
    2 GB of RAM
    Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
    PNY nVidia Geforce 9800 GT 1 GB XLR8 Special Edition

    Cheers,
    Cody
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  • remiremi remedy [blu.knight] Join Date: 2003-11-18 Member: 23112Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester
    I know it's not nVidia, but with my ATI Radeon 5800 I see absolutely no difference between 640x480 ridiculously awful and 1680x1050 super pretty. Both sit around 18 FPS. From that, it seems texture quality and screen resolution are not really the issues with the FPS.
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  • aeroripperaeroripper Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    This actually helped significantly. Running at 1024x768 awful settings. Turned off all the fancy stuff and changed the one option to 'high performance'. Just read through each option when you're doing it to get the one best for performance.

    getting 20fps most of the time now.
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited November 2010
    <!--quoteo(post=1804640:date=Nov 5 2010, 07:58 PM:name=aeroripper)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aeroripper @ Nov 5 2010, 07:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804640"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This actually helped significantly. Running at 1024x768 awful settings. Turned off all the fancy stuff and changed the one option to 'high performance'. Just read through each option when you're doing it to get the one best for performance.

    getting 20fps most of the time now.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    <b>EDIT: I take back what is said below. I actually get a few FPS MORE when I am playing FULLSCREEN.</b>

    I'm glad this is helping other people, rather than simply myself.

    I am playing around with other settings now.

    Don't forget to run the game windowed, either! I get 2-3 FPS more when the game is windowed, rather than full-screen.

    Cheers,
    Cody
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  • HughHugh Cameraman San Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    This is interesting, in the 'B152 Benchmarking' thread it seemed like GPU was having almost no effect on framerates. It's great you've found a way to make in playable, the more in the servers the merrier!
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  • 1stToast1stToast Join Date: 2007-12-02 Member: 63067Members
    I get about 2/3 more FPS running full screen (13 to 20). everything else is about the same. I run everything on high as sort of an acid test. I know that going for performance will help FPS but I want to put my box to the test.
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  • WheeeeWheeee Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    maybe it's those legendary nvidia benchmark "optimizations"? lol.
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  • ItharusItharus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72460Members
    I changed from Quality to Performance in Nvidia with Phenom II 955 @ 4ghz/ GTX 470 went from 20-30 fps to 30-50 fps... Wondering what the heck happened lol
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804659:date=Nov 5 2010, 10:45 PM:name=Itharus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Itharus @ Nov 5 2010, 10:45 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804659"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I changed from Quality to Performance in Nvidia with Phenom II 955 @ 4ghz/ GTX 470 went from 20-30 fps to 30-50 fps... Wondering what the heck happened lol<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Everything did what it was supposed to do.

    When you select "Quality", you are telling nVidia to make things look pretty, and when you select "Performance", you are telling nVidia to give you better FPS. Essentially.

    Cheers,
    Cody
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  • MilitarizedMilitarized Join Date: 2005-05-08 Member: 51216Members
    Should we really turn this off if we're supposed to be testing the games performance?
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  • ZekZek Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 7962Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804684:date=Nov 6 2010, 02:29 AM:name=Militarized)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Militarized @ Nov 6 2010, 02:29 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804684"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Should we really turn this off if we're supposed to be testing the games performance?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Fiddling with these settings helps to show the areas that are slowing the engine down. Ideally there should be in-game options for all this though.
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804687:date=Nov 6 2010, 01:40 AM:name=Zek)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zek @ Nov 6 2010, 01:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804687"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Fiddling with these settings helps to show the areas that are slowing the engine down. Ideally there should be in-game options for all this though.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Exactly. Until UWE has time to implement these options in the game itself, we can use this little workaround to at least make the game playable for testing other features.

    I'm not saying to leave these settings on all the time. You can always turn them on / off depending upon what exactly you want to test.

    Cheers,
    Cody
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  • SnougarSnougar Join Date: 2007-12-31 Member: 63301Members
    It's a shame that ATI cards don't get this sort of increase doing the same in the CCC. Only thing I noticed on my HD5850 by reducing all of the quality settings was that all text ingame got fuzzy haha. FPS stayed the same :(
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  • SgtBarlowSgtBarlow Level Designer Join Date: 2003-11-13 Member: 22749Members, NS2 Developer
    Made no difference on my 460 GTX, Only setting that did anything was setting Pre-rendered frames to Zero, Gave me an extra 2 fps.
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804834:date=Nov 7 2010, 04:17 PM:name=SgtBarlow)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SgtBarlow @ Nov 7 2010, 04:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804834"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Made no difference on my 460 GTX, Only setting that did anything was setting Pre-rendered frames to Zero, Gave me an extra 2 fps.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Hmm...

    Did you set Antialiasing, Trilinear and Anisotropic Filtering to (Off)?

    Also, did you turn (On) threaded optimization? (assuming you have multiple processors)

    What resolution are you playing at? Are you playing on "Ridiculously awful"?

    Cheers,
    Cody
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  • SgtBarlowSgtBarlow Level Designer Join Date: 2003-11-13 Member: 22749Members, NS2 Developer
    yes

    yes

    medium 1650x1080

    Infact, Threaded optimaisation was always on, never had it off
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804903:date=Nov 8 2010, 01:15 PM:name=SgtBarlow)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SgtBarlow @ Nov 8 2010, 01:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804903"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->yes

    yes

    medium 1650x1080

    Infact, Threaded optimaisation was always on, never had it off<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Well, since we know that resolution pretty much has no effect on FPS right now in the alpha, the only thing I can think of is that your "Medium" setting is enabling something which the nVidia cpanel has no control over. What sort of FPS do you get when playing on ridiculously awful settings? (just out of curiosity)

    Cheers,
    Cody
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  • Mkk_BitestuffMkk_Bitestuff Join Date: 2003-01-17 Member: 12407Members
    Changing those settings will only make a difference if you had previously set them higher then default I think. By default those settings should be to use the application's specific defaults, and I dont think NS2 has AA / AF settings itself.
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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Ridiculously awful ain't that awful anyways. But when I play on medium all things go to hell and usually crash. ATI though...
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  • CXZmanCXZman Join Date: 2010-02-26 Member: 70730Members
    edited November 2010
    There's no big news with all that. What most 3d apps do with video settings is letting you pilot yourself those gpu params. NVidia's bonus is a homemade video configuration tool that can override the 3d apps' settings. But that's the same things. It handy in our case because UWE didn't put those tweakings in the game (yet).

    It works both ways though. Did you ever played NS1 with fsaa 16x and anisotropy 8 ? Check it out. Nice and clean :)

    The incredible fps increase is simply due to the fact you're actually asking NS2 "ok now stop doing that, and that, and that, and also that, caue my machine just can't handle them, so go for it and hell with it, even if it looks like crap". I can't think of a 3d engine that can't handle few thousand polygons, pair of lights and moving objects. What cost you the most are fine special effects and all those advanced shader things. Those are the things UWE had developped, so those are the things they have to work harder on.

    So yeah, if you cut those out, you won't be anything useful for crashtesting purpose.

    anyway... whatever floats your boat...
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  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1804905:date=Nov 8 2010, 12:29 PM:name=Mkk_Bitestuff)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mkk_Bitestuff @ Nov 8 2010, 12:29 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1804905"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Changing those settings will only make a difference if you had previously set them higher then default I think. By default those settings should be to use the application's specific defaults, and I dont think NS2 has AA / AF settings itself.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    This is not always true.

    I never touched the nVidia control panel before now, and it made a huge difference for me.

    Cheers,
    Cody
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