Performance Tuning - Revision history

Lagger: /* Improving performance on video card limited systems */ - Added r_subdivisions and r_lodcurveerror

2006-08-27T04:43:15Z

‎Improving performance on video card limited systems: - Added r_subdivisions and r_lodcurveerror

Lagger: same broken link

2006-04-28T02:47:01Z

same broken link

WeblionX: /video card limited systems/ - Cleaned up - Still need curve settings

2006-03-28T03:23:30Z

‎video card limited systems: - Cleaned up - Still need curve settings

ReyalP: /* Benchmarking and Testing */

2006-03-27T01:46:14Z

‎Benchmarking and Testing

ReyalP: first rough draft

2006-03-26T01:34:51Z

first rough draft

New page

==Performance bottlenecks and workarounds==
The following describes general areas which can affect game performance, and possible workarounds. Network performance is not addressed here, except as it relates to CPU usage.

Hardware mentioned is meant only as a general example.

==CPU and system memory speed==
;As a general rule, ET likes lots of CPU and memory/cache/FSB bandwidth.
Anything less than an Athlon XP 2000 or Pentium 4 2GHZ. Systems with poor memory bandwidth (SDR or DDD266 RAM) or crippled cache (celeron, duron) will suffer.
===Improving performance on CPU limited systems===
*'''b_optimizeprediction 1'''
*Higher ping and packet loss put more load on the CPU
*Larger servers put more load on your system

==Video card==
Anything less than a geforce4 (not MX) or radeon 9600 will be a serious handicap. Beware of manufacturers deceptive naming conventions, a FooBar 1000XTS might be the best available card while the FooBar 1000LE is utter crap.
===Improving performance on video card limited systems===
*'''lower resolution'''
:lower values of r_mode, use /modelist to see available modes
*'''Lower texture quality'''
**Higher values of [[r_picmip]], up to 3
**set [[r_texturebits]] to 16
**set [[r_texturemode]] to GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST or GL_LINEAR or GL_NEAREST
**texture compression [[r_ext_compressed_textures]] to 1 (not this may have a positive or negative impact on performance, depending on system)
*'''lower color depth'''
:set [[r_colorbits]] to 16
*'''Other quality settings'''
:set r_fastsky 1
:curve settings (TODO)

==Available Physical RAM==
256 megabytes or less of system RAM will impact level load times and cause hitching (momentary drops in FPS) in game. If levels take a long time to load, or your hard disk is frequently active during gameplay, you are most likely need more RAM.
===Settings for systems without much system RAM===
*r_picmip and r_texturebits, as above
*lower sound quality
*set com_hunkmegs to 56, or the lowest value that works with all the maps you want to play.
*other [[memory cvars]] should not be set too high above the default.

==Integrated sound ==
Most integrated sound devices suck, and can cause noticeable FPS loss and stuttering.

==External Programs==
In general, the less you run when you play ET, the better. However, some programs are known to have disproportionate performance impacts.
*'''x-fire''' in game integration features.
*'''p2p''' bittorrent, kazaa etc.
*'''malware''' viruses, spyware and addware can all cause serious performance problems.
*'''scheduled tasks''' such as windows update or antivirus updates
*'''software firewalls and antivirus''' some of these products have been reported to cause problems. (TODO more details)

==Benchmarking and Testing==
*timedemos, and the difference between demo and online play

==TODO==
This page is a draft. The following need to be added or expanded:
*examples of FPS for various typical systems/settings, so people can know if they are getting expected performance out of their hardware.
*more complete list of useful cvars.
*links to config sites.
*links to more detailed descriptions of settings.
*benchmarking

[[Category:ETPro]]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Anything less than a geforce4 (not MX) or radeon 9600 will be a serious handicap. Beware of manufacturers deceptive naming conventions, a FooBar 1000XTS might be the best available card while the FooBar 1000LE is utter crap.
 ===Improving performance on video card limited systems===
-*'''lower resolution'''
+Note: you may experience that maps appear to load twice because of restrictions enforced on these cvars by server and league admins.
 :Choose a lower value for r_mode; use /modelist to see available modes
 *'''Lower texture quality'''
@@ Line 22: / Line 23: @@
 **Set [[r_texturemode]] to <tt>GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST</tt>, <tt>GL_LINEAR</tt> or <tt>GL_NEAREST</tt>
 **Set texture compression [[r_ext_compressed_textures]] to 1 (Note that this may have a positive or negative impact on performance, depending on your system)
-*'''lower color depth'''
+*'''Lower color depth'''
-:Set [[r_colorbits]] to 16
+**Set [[r_colorbits]] to 16
 *'''Other quality settings'''
-:Set r_fastsky to 1
+**Set r_fastsky to 1
-:Set curve settings (TODO)
 ==Available Physical RAM==

@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 To get the best performance out of your particular system, you should test each tweak to ensure it has the desired effect.
-You can use the '''timedemo''' cvar to benchmark demo playback. Do this by setting <tt>timedemo 1</tt> in the console, and then playing back a demo. When the demo playback completes, the console contains an average framerate. If you have problems playing back demos, see [[ETPro:Client_Configuration]]
+You can use the '''timedemo''' cvar to benchmark demo playback. Do this by setting <tt>timedemo 1</tt> in the console, and then playing back a demo. When the demo playback completes, the console contains an average framerate. If you have problems playing back demos, see [[Client_Configuration]]
 If you want to compare performance between mods, you can use an etmain (or any server only mod such as etpub or shrubet) demo and play it back both in etmain and etpro.