Frame rate issue....probably bad computer issue.

[ptc1800]

I was wondering if my framerate on this game is normal or should it be
faster. It runs fine at first but once combat begins things slow to around 9-15 fps. :(

I know I don't have the greatest computer but I just recently bought
a BFG Geforce 6800 GT OC and it has made other games like Splinter Cell CT and other games run really well. :yum:

However it seems as though most of my RTS games such as Act of War, Battle for Middle Earth, Warhammer, and Empires Dawn of the Modern World are slower now or not much improvement. Though I assume its because of my slower CPU. I was wondering too if adding more memory might help things out. Thanks for any info.

Here are my specs:

AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3200+, ~2.2GHz :confusedb
1024MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256mb
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz(tm) Sound Card

Also was wondering if getting an ATI card might change things or no, I have a feeling no but doesn't hurt to ask.

[atatride]

Hello !

I have exactly the same problem.
I previously had an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, and now I use a Nvidia 6800 GT.

The 6800 GT is supposed to be a lot faster.
That's not true with Act Of War.

The problem is even worse because this game doesn't appear to support triple buffering, which cause poor performance when vsync is ON.


Intel Pentium4, 3.2 GHz.
1024MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256mb
Forceware 71.89

[ptc1800]

Glad someone here has the same problem because I thought something was wrong with my computer. It seems it may be the video card. Now I wonder if they might patch the game to fix this or should I exchange the card for an ATI though probably won't because it has made other games run very nicely. :confused:

[sdack]

The CPU is AFAIK not a problem with Act of War. When you go to 800x600 and all settings on low and still do not see a change, then you have other problems than your GFX card. The 6800 GT is by far faster than i.e. an ATI 9800 PRO/XT.

The sound card could be a problem (do not know anything about it). Try disabling 3D sound, only use stereo and see how much it improves the game.

Sven

[Warspite]

I was about to say exactly the same thing - I suspect your high-end sound card. Try switch it off and use a basic sound card(built in nthe Mobo?) instead, just to see what happens :tup:

[atatride]

Hello,

Vsync is ON (if OFF, a lot of tearing occurs).
At 800x600, I get 12 frames/second when there a 15 units on screen,
and some explosions.
I get 28 frames/second when there is only 1 unit and 3 buildings.


I tried a LOT of things (on and off), without framerate improvement:
-Deactivate 3D sound.
-Deactivate my audio card.
-Deactivate hyper-threading
-AGP Aperture Size: I tried all settings
-Hardware acceleration set to Single-display mode
-Video: Maximum Hardware Acceleration
-Deactivate anti-aliasing
-Deactivate Anisotropic filtering
-I tried both outputs: DVI and analog
-I tried "forced refresh rate"
-changed LOD from clamp to allow
-I checked with RivaTuner, all my 16 pipelines seems to be active


Is there something I forgot ?

Thanks.



Intel Pentium4, 3.2 GHz.
1024MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256mb
Forceware 71.89
Creative SB Live

[atatride]

Oh and I almost forgot, I also tried this:

-Deactivate Anti-virus / Anti-spyware
-Deactivate Internet access.
-Set the Act Of War process to a high priority
-Upgraded my Chipset drivers
-Upgraded my motherboard's BIOS.
-hard disks defragmented
-I tried several Forceware versions

Still no results.......

[Warspite]

PM Screetch, and send him this thread- he is one of the game developers :tup:

[atatride]

>> PM Screetch, and send him this thread- he is one of the game developers

Ok, message sent.

[ptc1800]

Hi,
Thanks for all the replies. I've taken back the 6800 GT card and exchanged it for an ATI X800 XL. I haven't played Act of War very much yet. The 6800 just wasn't performing to what I think a $400 should and with the ATI being $50 bucks cheaper and running some games faster is a good deal. :D

And yeah I'm starting to suspect my sound card because the sound in some other games are acting funky so I will experiment with disabling it and seeing how things run later. Again thanks for the info. :tup:

[atatride]

I forgot to say that I have (of course) installed the latest Act Of War patch
(v1.04, April the 13th 2005).
And I did this as advised in the Readme:
-install Act Of War
-start Act Of War once.
-install patch 1.04.


My latest tests:
-Deactivate AGP fast write, using Rivatuner.
-Deactivate Digital Vibrance Control (DVC).
-Checked that my PNY 6800 GT has the latest BIOS.

I have no problems with Half-Life2 and FarCry, even with very high settings.

I checked my card performance using 3DMark2005, and got good results:
3DMark Score: 4868
CPU Score: 4593


Still searching a solution for Act Of War......

[atatride]

I have tried some advice given to me by Screetch:

Texture set to minimum: no change at all.
Shadow set to minimum: framerate increased by 20%.

Here is a funny discovery I made:
When the mouse pointer is in front of the main 3D action screen, or the mini-map, I get the slow speed I talked about earlier (the pointer is a rotating shape).

When the mouse pointer is in front of the lower panel (selected units info, etc...), the framerate increases by 30% ! (the pointer is a triangle).

So I set my pointer size to the minimum setting, and I get the speed increase
wherever the pointer is.


Still, it is still slow for such a fast graphics card.
And playing with no shadows, and with a pointer so small I can't see it,
is not understandable on such a fast GPU / CPU combination.


Thanks for your help.



Dell Dimension 8300
Intel Pentium4, 3.2 GHz.
1024MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256mb
Forceware 71.89
Creative SB Live
Windows XP SP2
3DMark2005 Score: 4868
CPU Score: 4593

[Kiev_Axe]

running a 2.6 p4, 800 fsb, 1 gig ddr 400, and 6800 card, i can testify to this.
The game goes to lag mode as soona s there are like 10 combat untis fighitng and **** blowing up. SHadows is the single biggest FPS factor, so i run it well on 1280 by 1024 wigh high texture medium shadows.
I suspect this game is simply how its coded, when explsosions and stuff start happening the shti this the fan.

If you notice, far cry, hl2, doom 3, etc ALSO get laggy poitns with lots of actions. i know expecialy turning evryitgn to max on hl2, and going on water with lots of explosions and stuff, the game goes to hell.

in AOW, its just some serious coding isue.
I get lag with one building when i zoom in on it to max and see the red light spinning indicating a unit is buiulding. Now at this zoom level texture is at max, u see decals, u see fog sort, u see lighting etc. BUT i shoudlt be getitng lag, as I dont get lag on far cry or doom 3 when i have MORE polyong son screen and MORE lights in doom 3, in such areas.

This is what dissapoints me the greatest, there is some very sloppy use of the direct x 9 render, and its simply to optimised very well.

But also keep in mind, that doom 3 and hl2, render only rooms so to speak, where as an RTS renders an entire map and has to be able to render in real time any action at any point on the map, any time you press the minimap or scroll to it.

So perhaps in RTS, unlike in FPS, its simply to be expected, that MAJOr FPS drop will occur on high settings in even the sloghtest of combat situations, where effects such as explosions and lighting and shadowing are plenty and rendered all at the same time at diff points on the map (although in reality the effects are rendered WHEN you go to them, not while your not viewing them...but nonethe less the CPU has to be read to reder them..unlike in fps where u gota be in a coridor and ony after u come out the cordidor does the NEXT bit haveto be rendeered).