aeroripperJoin Date: 2005-02-25Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
Agreed with Nordic, but in the meantime you can try setting the NS2.exe process to 'high' priority in the task manager. I created a (.bat) batch script shortcut for NS2 to elevate the process automatically so I don't have to do it everytime. You might get a few extra fps out of this:
steam.exe -applaunch 4920
timeout /t 10
wmic process where name="ns2.exe" CALL setpriority 128
Recommend keeping the timeout at 10s or more so the game has time to open up.
It might help you, it might not. Usually if you're not bottlenecked you won't see any increase in performance.
in console type r_sync 1
Setting it to 1 will give you the same amount of FPS boost you would get as if you were setting it to the higher ones but with less input lag, there's litterly not difference in FPS boost when setting it higher.
WARNING YOU'LL GET INPUT LAG at the gain of some FPS, default is r_sync 0 not r_sync (which sets it to unlimited)
side effects:increased input lag (but not that much)
dePARAJoin Date: 2011-04-29Member: 96321Members, Squad Five Blue
@wooza
Even you ignoring the fact that you lose fps on client side on your server cause the extra high entity ammount?
Its just a simple fact.
He was asking how to get more fps and didnt tell us on what servers he is playing normally.
So he would gain more fps by playing on smaller servers.
woozaSwitzerlandJoin Date: 2013-11-21Member: 189496Members, Squad Five Blue
Of course you have a bigger FPS drop when you play on my server, I never said that this is wrong.
But you can't just assume that everyone who has FPS problems is playing on my servers.
Maybe he is, maybe not.
Your answer is not helping his problems at all.
@EachBurrito It looks like it's a combination of your AMD 8350 being a little slow & your 970 being bottle-necked by your CPU.
NS2 relies heavily on single-threaded programming with lua, so a powerful CPU with faster speed is better than a CPU with slower but multiple cores.
For instance, the Core i5 4460 (lower-end i5 from a couple years ago) vs FX 8350
Even though the FX 8350 is 4Ghz and has 8 real cores, the 4x core i5 4460 @ 3.2Ghz is actually faster by quite a significant margin due to it's architecture efficiency.
Some ways to improve fps:
Lower your game resolution
Lower your graphics settings (including infestation) to reduce any possible CPU calculations
Close all non-essential programs while you are gaming (Web browsers like Google Chrome, Anti-Virus etc)
Play on servers with less than 24 players (less burden on your CPU due to move calculations)
Upgrade your system to an Intel i5 4XXX, 5XXX or 6XXX series (this will require a motherboard & possibly RAM change as well)
Of course you have a bigger FPS drop when you play on my server, I never said that this is wrong.
In that case recommending to not play on a server like this is perfectly legitimate. After all, he wants to maximize fps. Whether he plays on your server or not is irrelevant, if he wants to maximize fps, he shouldn't.
dePARAJoin Date: 2011-04-29Member: 96321Members, Squad Five Blue
So you say you have bigger FPS drops on your server but im not alloewd to answer the question "Any other ways to improve fps?" with the simple tip: "Dont play there"?
On top of that i gave him a link with singlethread comparisons of different CPUs.
"Your answer is not helping his problems at all. "
Not playing on your server and/or a bettter CPU are the only things that helping here.
Agreed with Nordic, but in the meantime you can try setting the NS2.exe process to 'high' priority in the task manager. I created a (.bat) batch script shortcut for NS2 to elevate the process automatically so I don't have to do it everytime. You might get a few extra fps out of this:
steam.exe -applaunch 4920
timeout /t 10
wmic process where name="ns2.exe" CALL setpriority 128
Recommend keeping the timeout at 10s or more so the game has time to open up.
In case anyone wants to place the script directly on the desktop:
start steam://rungameid/4920
timeout /t 10
wmic process where name="ns2.exe" CALL setpriority 128
@Archie I have tried that command a while ago and it didn't notice any difference with fps, but the input lag did increase a lot.
Then you're CPU bottlenecked, i've already tried it with pretty much the same hardware, i've oc'd my 8350 to 4.6ghz, *disabled 2 cores* and increased ram to 1600mhz from 1333, massive boost in performance.
@Archie could you give me a link to a good overclock software. I have been trying to find one that I could use, and none have been easy to use that ive found
One addition that I would suggest, although some people seem to disagree or outright deny that this helps: Put an fps cap on. The console command is "maxfps xxx".
@Nominous does setting ns2 in high priority help enough to make a difference? I have done this with other games and cannot see a difference in fps.
I haven't even done it yet, but I plan to for peace of mind. I doubt I'll see much difference in-game since I use G-Sync, which gets rid of stutters. I also make sure to close programs like web browsers before starting NS2. I haven't been able to find benchmarks for normal and high priority games.
Like Nordic mentioned, overclocking the CPU is really only done via the BIOS. It's not really a difficult process, but you need to follow instructions closely if you don't want to risk damaging your PC components. If you're interested in overclocking, you'll want to find a detailed guide that is specifically for your motherboard brand and CPU family. If there's any ambiguity or you have questions, you need to Google it or search knowledge-rich forums like overclock.net. The vast majority of questions related to overclocking have likely been answered already, no matter how specific they are. Don't risk changing any BIOS setting without knowing what it does or, at the very least, what the recommended setting is.
Speaking of recommended settings, you take a risk when following any guide, whether it was written by the motherboard manufacturer or a forum user. You must make an educated decision on whether the creator of the guide seems knowledgeable and credible enough in his/her recommendations. In my case, the overclock.net user who wrote the guide I followed wrote very detailed instructions, terminology, and explanations, so I took the plunge and hardly ran into problems.
This is just my advice. I am not responsible for anything that happens to your computer.
I have a amd 8350 and a geforce 680 and i get not much less than 110 fps on 24 player servers in the late game. At the start of a game it is usually around the 150 mark. I overclocked my cpu to 4.8GHZ though, Would this be an option for you?
Seems weird to be dropping all the way down to 50 though? You must be playing on shiitzers- oops, i mean woozas to get it that low???
I've been using a costum process manager like Process Lasso with mixed success (Placebo?). It not only sets priority of NS2 higher, it also throttles down other unnecessary processes when playing. Also try to shift as much work to the GPU, like Physix in Nvidia settings.
Actually I think you can install AMD Overdrive to automically overclock easily inside windows. It's like Intel XTU but for AMD.
I would never trust software overclocking. Doing it strait from the bios is the only real way for long term stability.
If you wanted, I think you would be ok to use AMD overdrive to see if overclocking gives you the needed performance boost. Test with it. Just don't stick with it. If overclocking with AMD overdrive gives you the performance you need, then uninstall AMD overdrive and overclock with the bios.
I would never trust software overclocking. Doing it strait from the bios is the only real way for long term stability.
I recently started overclocking over the asus tool and I am surprised it works as it should. I can dynamically change all settings while I had(!) two full servers. Only RAM latencies are not possible, but that makes sense.
Negative side about OC software: It doesn't save the setting when you restart or the computer freezes.
Comments
Recommend keeping the timeout at 10s or more so the game has time to open up.
in console type r_sync 1
Setting it to 1 will give you the same amount of FPS boost you would get as if you were setting it to the higher ones but with less input lag, there's litterly not difference in FPS boost when setting it higher.
WARNING YOU'LL GET INPUT LAG at the gain of some FPS, default is r_sync 0 not r_sync (which sets it to unlimited)
side effects:increased input lag (but not that much)
Dont play on NS2large servers.
You lose 30% of your fps and more there (depend on situation)
And cause the nature of NS2 it need a CPU wich is fast at single-threaded oprations.
Intel CPU have nearly the doubled performance here at lower clockspeeds.
http://www.cpu-world.com/benchmarks/AMD/FX-8350_single.html
@EachBurrito Nordic is right. Your CPU is the bottleneck and your GPU is basically bored most of the times
Even you ignoring the fact that you lose fps on client side on your server cause the extra high entity ammount?
Its just a simple fact.
He was asking how to get more fps and didnt tell us on what servers he is playing normally.
So he would gain more fps by playing on smaller servers.
But you can't just assume that everyone who has FPS problems is playing on my servers.
Maybe he is, maybe not.
Your answer is not helping his problems at all.
NS2 relies heavily on single-threaded programming with lua, so a powerful CPU with faster speed is better than a CPU with slower but multiple cores.
For instance, the Core i5 4460 (lower-end i5 from a couple years ago) vs FX 8350
Even though the FX 8350 is 4Ghz and has 8 real cores, the 4x core i5 4460 @ 3.2Ghz is actually faster by quite a significant margin due to it's architecture efficiency.
Some ways to improve fps:
Good luck
In that case recommending to not play on a server like this is perfectly legitimate. After all, he wants to maximize fps. Whether he plays on your server or not is irrelevant, if he wants to maximize fps, he shouldn't.
On top of that i gave him a link with singlethread comparisons of different CPUs.
"Your answer is not helping his problems at all. "
Not playing on your server and/or a bettter CPU are the only things that helping here.
Then you're CPU bottlenecked, i've already tried it with pretty much the same hardware, i've oc'd my 8350 to 4.6ghz, *disabled 2 cores* and increased ram to 1600mhz from 1333, massive boost in performance.
This probably is not your motherboard, but it is 1 of 1000 overclocking guides that can get you started. http://rog.asus.com/216552013/crosshair-motherboards/guide-overclocking-fx-8350-to-4-8ghz-on-crosshair-v-formula-z/
One addition that I would suggest, although some people seem to disagree or outright deny that this helps: Put an fps cap on. The console command is "maxfps xxx".
Like Nordic mentioned, overclocking the CPU is really only done via the BIOS. It's not really a difficult process, but you need to follow instructions closely if you don't want to risk damaging your PC components. If you're interested in overclocking, you'll want to find a detailed guide that is specifically for your motherboard brand and CPU family. If there's any ambiguity or you have questions, you need to Google it or search knowledge-rich forums like overclock.net. The vast majority of questions related to overclocking have likely been answered already, no matter how specific they are. Don't risk changing any BIOS setting without knowing what it does or, at the very least, what the recommended setting is.
Speaking of recommended settings, you take a risk when following any guide, whether it was written by the motherboard manufacturer or a forum user. You must make an educated decision on whether the creator of the guide seems knowledgeable and credible enough in his/her recommendations. In my case, the overclock.net user who wrote the guide I followed wrote very detailed instructions, terminology, and explanations, so I took the plunge and hardly ran into problems.
This is just my advice. I am not responsible for anything that happens to your computer.
Seems weird to be dropping all the way down to 50 though? You must be playing on shiitzers- oops, i mean woozas to get it that low???
I would never trust software overclocking. Doing it strait from the bios is the only real way for long term stability.
If you wanted, I think you would be ok to use AMD overdrive to see if overclocking gives you the needed performance boost. Test with it. Just don't stick with it. If overclocking with AMD overdrive gives you the performance you need, then uninstall AMD overdrive and overclock with the bios.
I recently started overclocking over the asus tool and I am surprised it works as it should. I can dynamically change all settings while I had(!) two full servers. Only RAM latencies are not possible, but that makes sense.
Negative side about OC software: It doesn't save the setting when you restart or the computer freezes.
@Nordic I agree but it can also be more confusing/risky due to having more advanced options like voltage ram timing etc.