build 239 benchmarks, some performance tips

rockypockyteriyakirockypockyteriyaki Join Date: 2013-01-11 Member: 178937Members
edited February 2013 in Technical Support
Hi all.
There are few tweaks helped me to get some more performance from NS2 and I want to share them.These tweaks are clearly for ppl who still having bad performance with high end computers. Those with dual core systems are out of luck I guess. system specs:
i5 2500k cpu
HD 5850 1gb
8gb ram
hdd raid0 (280mb/s)
win7x64

GPU drivers used: latest catalyst 13.2 beta 4 guru3d.com/files_details/amd_catalyst_13_2_download.html

disabling system page file. This helped me reducing stuttering at my case. I used to play at medium texture settings only because of stuttering and now I can play at high textures without freezes in game.
09ab0c1457b1955f56d5baaf097f781b.png

game settings Ambient occlusion is massive fps killer for my old 1gb 5850 gpu so I leave it off. Rest is maxed out.
67ba4d41bdcec8a085ed5d30d9f32064.png

All benchmarks taken from mid game to late game (arc trains, onos-exo fights etc) on Mineshaft, 20 player server

Stock CPU and GPU speed, default d3dx9_42.dll
36fda95c164d09ff8004940a825b46cd.png
* average 60, looks good enough but see those drops at graph? those you don't want in combat.

Replacing D3DX9_42.dll with newer one: This used to be a common BC2 tweak and I thought why not so I gave it a try.
Backup original D3DX9_42.dll at Steam\steamapps\common\Natural Selection 2 folder
Copy d3dx9_43.dll from C:\Windows\System32 to NS2 folder and rename to D3DX9_42.dll

Result:
Stock CPU and GPU speed, updated d3dx9_42.dll
99a85e51b8be6662719bdeb5dc1ec760.png
* now with this dll replacement game performance gets a little better as you see here in this graph. +5 minimum and overall FPS improvement.

CPU@ 4.5ghz, GPU@ 940core/1300mem, updated d3dx9_42.dll
79b82c518592a08ad2f342cf684a401a.png
* Obviously, after overclocking cpu and gpu fps drops are much less. At last game is playable nearly solid 60fps BUT still FPS drops at intense situations (which shouldn't occur with this CPU clock speed)

thanks for reading. hope this dll replacement helps out some of you
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Comments

  • MigeMige Join Date: 2005-03-19 Member: 45796Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited February 2013
    Thanks for the tip, it worked here too (only that dxfile). Now I have about same performance that I had in 237/6 patch.. Pretty much did give 5-15fps on empty map (what 239 losted).. WIN 8 pro 64bit, 313.96, SSD 830 & look my signature
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  • deathmongerdeathmonger Join Date: 2012-07-06 Member: 153953Members
    I find it really odd that disabling the page file would have any effect on performance, let alone actually increasing it. Very strange. I'm going to give the .dll swap a try though, thanks!
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  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    dll file fix is interesting, if that's legit for many people, UWE should include it in the next steam update.
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  • deathmongerdeathmonger Join Date: 2012-07-06 Member: 153953Members
    Oh, the dll fix is definitely legit. I just got done trying it and wow! I agree, UWE should be including this!
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  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Haven't really checked average fps in b239 yet, I know I'm back over 60 though. I quickly jumped in the RR and checked fps before and after the dll fix, no change, course it wouldn't be that easy to verify :P Sigh guess I'll have to play some games later.
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  • SanCoSanCo Join Date: 2012-08-18 Member: 155744Members
    edited February 2013
    Don't disable the page file unless you got 4gb RAM or more, if you got less you risk crashing applications when your RAM runs out.
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  • YMICrazyYMICrazy Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165986Members
    Hm didn't do anything for me. Thanks for sharing though.
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  • shonanshonan Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182562Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    The only thing sounding legit is the dx.dll fix and overclocking. Of course if theres a newer version of dx9 it should perform better and should be included in the game, perhaps its an old version by accident.
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  • LandswimmerLandswimmer Join Date: 2012-07-25 Member: 154346Members
    Thanks for sharing. It helped a good bit on my fps ( + 20 or so )
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  • shonanshonan Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182562Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited February 2013
    Interesting, if I renamed d3dx9_43.dll to d3dx9_42.dll I just got an error "couldnt initialize render device" but if I remove d3dx9_42.dll and include in the NS2 folder only d3dx9_43.dll the game starts up fine.

    Cant say anything about framerates though.

    EDIT:

    About the framerate, cant say any numbers but if this did something I think it only made it worse.
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  • XariusXarius Join Date: 2003-12-21 Member: 24630Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Gonna try the dll fix

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  • NeokenNeoken Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
    Renamed the dll. NS2 started up fine. Seems to give a small fps boost, although I've yet to try it on 18+ servers.
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  • deathmongerdeathmonger Join Date: 2012-07-06 Member: 153953Members
    Just played 19 minutes on Veil with ambient occlusion off and everything else on max except infestation and here is what I got:

    Min: 43 FPS
    Avg: 86 FPS
    Max: 128 FPS

    This is with an i5-2500k @ 4.5GHz and a GTX 570.
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  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    The dll switch is interesting and I plan to test it out when I have time (as I can always use extra fps when FRAPsing or streaming). Can anyone else confirm that it does lead to an fps boost (e.g. do something like 5, 20min benchmarks during a match with and without the switch)?
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  • AurexAurex Join Date: 2013-01-18 Member: 180477Members
    I just tried both tweaks. Disabling paging file didn't help - and switching dll gave me 1-2 fps boost early in a match, while worsening performance in late game.
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  • ExoskelettExoskelett Join Date: 2012-12-18 Member: 175509Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    tried the dll also, looks like it boosts up for me about 5-10% fps
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  • MaxMax Technical Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment Join Date: 2002-03-15 Member: 318Super Administrators, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
    I'll take a look into whether or not a newer D3DX version provides improved performance. I'm surprised that works at all, since D3DX is supposed to check that the DLL matches the version the game is compiled against, but if people are seeing improvements it's certainly worth investigating.
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  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Sounds good, would be nice to feed the masses some fps.
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  • dushandushan Breaker of Games Join Date: 2011-10-30 Member: 130202Members, NS2 Developer, Squad Five Blue, Pistachionauts
    Woah dude, Max's post is all gold and stuff!
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  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Fuck, really?
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  • CLARK_KENTCLARK_KENT Vancouver, Canada Join Date: 2002-11-21 Member: 9508Members, Reinforced - Silver
    edited February 2013
    Hmm...I tried to do the swap but I get an error popup when I try to start NS2 that says, "Couldn't initialize the render device." Just a black blank screen with the pop-up.

    I know someone above was successful and has the same OS as me -- Windows 8 64-bit. Any ideas why I might be getting this error?
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  • shonanshonan Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182562Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Furious_Gorge wrote: »
    Hmm...I tried to do the swap but I get an error popup when I try to start NS2 that says, "Couldn't initialize the render device." Just a black blank screen with the pop-up.

    I know someone above was successful and has the same OS as me -- Windows 8 64-bit. Any ideas why I might be getting this error?

    Read my post above. However I had the same issue and I have a feeling this "fix" only made it a lot worse.
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  • ApocalipsusApocalipsus Join Date: 2003-10-21 Member: 21838Members
    Interesting tests tbh.
    Altough I have a laptop i cannot get the same performace you got on your analysis even tough my hardware performance is similar to yours. (at least thats what I see on the passmark site)
    (According to that site a i5-2500k has a 6,411 score and my i72820qm has 6,846
    On the same site the hd5850 has 2250 score and mine hd6990m has 2583)

    I need to upgrade my amd drivers first. I didn't notice the 13.x where already out.

    Then i'll try the .dll tip.

    I would really like to play at 1080p, but seems so slugish with me.
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  • rockypockyteriyakirockypockyteriyaki Join Date: 2013-01-11 Member: 178937Members
    Thanks for trying this out people. First I thought its only improved my perf. because of my gpu or particular driver version etc. but I decided to share anyway. I wasn't sure but few of you see performance improvements as well it seems. thats great. Also thanks to developers for looking into this.
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  • omaoma Join Date: 2003-06-04 Member: 17001Members
    AMD Phenom™ II X4 940 Processor @ 3400MHz (ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3N-HD/HDMI mainboard) (RAM) 5GB, 2.66GB free (HDDs) 2.11TB, 1.29TB free
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (896MB), 1920x1080x32, 119Hz (OS) Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, 8h 15m 6s uptime, 1w 18h 7m 49s uptime record

    With the .dll 'fix' i got a huge performance and smoothing the game boost of about ~7 fps, which is a lot when i had about 45-50 fps in early game :).
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  • MaxMax Technical Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment Join Date: 2002-03-15 Member: 318Super Administrators, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
    edited February 2013
    I've looked into this and as I suspected, you should not be able to run the game with the version 43 DLL (you will get the error message Furious_Gorge reported). However, if you were using a modified DLL that reported itself as version 42 it may work. For the people who have shown an improvement, where did you obtain the DLL from?

    Regardless I will update NS2 to version 43 for the next patch and run a benchmark to see if it makes any significant difference.
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  • MiniH0wieMiniH0wie Join Date: 2007-11-25 Member: 63013Members
    I was able to run NS2 using the 43 DLL (renamed to 42). I got the DLL from C:\Windows\System32 (Windows 7 64bit).

    I ran some benchmarks and didn't see any huge improvements, maybe a few FPS at best.
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  • HamletHamlet Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited February 2013
    NS2 won't start with a copied over and renamed dll :(
    "Couldn't initialize the render device"

    If the gains are true, pleeease include the 43.dll in your next patch.
    Until then: Stay awesome, UWE! :)
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  • deathmongerdeathmonger Join Date: 2012-07-06 Member: 153953Members
    That's weird how some people could use the .dll mod and others couldn't. I got that error once but I just closed out of it and went on my way.
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  • omaoma Join Date: 2003-06-04 Member: 17001Members
    I've uploaded the D3DX9_42.dll (which is actually _43) file, you are free to investigate it's been taken from C:\Windows\System32 (Windows 7 64bit)
    www.ns2fi.net/omasalainen/D3DX9_42.dll
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