rec.autos.simulators

I have the following system specs:

PIII 933
256 RAM PC133
Geforce II Ultra (Latest drivers from nVidia)
MS Sidewinder FF wheel
SB Live
Win98 (DirectX 7, maybe 8???)

Running N4 using OpenGL 1024x768x16
Most graphics options on, but not everything on.

Most of the time the frame rate is very acceptable (40-50 fps) even
when I have 10 to 15 cars in front of me.  However if I am at the back
of the field frame rate can drop to around 17-21 fps.  I figured it
was the graphics card obviously, which kinda of bothered me since the
Geforce II Ultra is a pretty high end card and I have gone through all
of the normal tweaking to get the best frame rate for the card.
However, if I record the same section where I get around 20 fps and
replay it (cockpit camera - same view as used in the race) I get 50-60
fps.  Does this mean my bottle neck is the CPU since it is has to do
more calculations during the race as opposed to replay?  Should this
be my next upgrade?  Are there other places I should look?

Brian Oster  Remove NOSPAM from my email to reply.

I use the same resolution but draw 35 cars ahead and 3 behind.  I get around
32-85fps depending on where I'm at and how much smoke and etc is being
drawn.  It seems to average around 48fps.

Are you turning world detail all the way up?

I think your CPU is the bottleneck.  My .... :) ... Athalon 1.3GHz, 256
DDR, Dx8a with a V5 at 800x600 2xFSAA gets 30-70fps with everything
maxed except mirrors at 25%.  I would like a GF2 however.

Jason.

--
Jason Monds
http://www.proracingclub.com - Pro Racing Club! (N4, GPL, Fun Run Sims)
http://www.racersdomain.com  - Race hosting.
(Please remove 'no extra spork' when replying)

That's the World Detail slider.  It'll have a definite impact on your
framerates.  Like the poster says, turn it down to a little over halfway
& check it out.  Then adjust to suit.

--

Fester

Try these hints from Tom Pabst before you look to upgrade.

******GeForce 2 (MX, GTS, ULTRA) Tweaks and Settings for N4******

Desktop Color:  Set to 16-bit color for N4 and all games.

DirectX: Make sure you are using a DX 8.0 compatible driver (Nvidia Ref
drivers versions 7.0 or higher)

For N4:  Run OpenGL (not D3D) in "XXXX"x16 (you must use a screen res
compatible with your CPU speed and ram).

Monitor:  Make sure you have downloaded the latest drivers for your
monitor...DO NOT USE "Plug and Play" Monitor drivers!  Set your refresh rate
at the highest setting you are allowed for your monitor at the specific
screen res you want to run N4 at.

Advanced Settings Tab For OpenGL:
           In The Scroll Down Box:
                 Enable Buffer Region Extension (checked)
                Allow the dual planes extension to us local video memory
(checked)
                Use fast linear-mipmap-linear filtering (checked)
                ****all others are unchecked****

            Default Color Depth for Textures:  Always Use 16 bpp
            Buffer Flipping Mode:  Use page flip
            Vertical sync: Always off
            Full Scene Antialiasing Method: Always off

            Use up to [62] MB of system memory for textures in PCI mode

Mother Board BIOS Settings:
            Video BIOS Shadow = "Disabled"
            Video BIOS Cache = "Disabled"
            Palette Snoop = "Disabled"
            AGP Turbo (or x4) = "Enabled" (if your mobo supports
it....disabled or 2x or 1x if it does not)
            PnP Aware OS = "Yes"
            AGP Aperture Size = 128 mb (only if you have 128 mb or
more...which you should)
            Resources Controlled by = "Auto"
            Assign IRQ to VGA = "Yes"

Sounds like a processor bottleneck.  If you're racing offline, the cpu has
to do the thinking for all of those cars ahead of and behind you.  The world
detail level is the first thing you should change.

Please, don't do that again.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- May the Downforce be with you...
-- http://www.ymenard.com/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimato Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

Does Graphics detail like world detail eat up cpu cycles?  The reason
I ask is the fact that I get great frame rates in replay when,
technically, the work that the Geforce is doing is the same as in the
race, but the load on the CPU is much less.  Right now, I have world
detail set at about 70% I believe.  I draw 60% ahead, show all cars
ahead and 4 behind.  I show some objects for world detail and have car
detail set on the highest.

I have all ready gone through the tweaks posted by Les Marton (very
excellent guide by the way).  I moved up from a TNT2 Ultra and was
hoping to get much better fps.  The only real advantage I have found
is that I can run OpenGL (which looks much better) and I can turn up
graphics options much higher, but at a certain point, turning down
graphic options yields very small fps increases.

I keep my system pretty clean so very little is running in the
background.  My wheel is a USB wheel.  I will try upgrading to DX 8a
if I dont have it and see if that makes a difference.

Brian Oster  Remove NOSPAM from my email to reply.

Well, I'll give you my specs, settings & observations in the hope you
can glean some help from it all.  :-)

First the specs:

256MB PC133
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS
7.68 drivers w/2x2 FSAA
DX8a
SBLive!
MSFF USB

Here's all my video settings:

Open GL-800x600 16bit
Car Detail=High
World Detail=~55-60% (perhaps closer to 55)
Draw Distance=40%, in mirrors=25%
Opponents drawn ahead=20 in mirror=3
(I only race online, don't need a lot drawn ahead.  Besides, if you run
near the top... :-p)
Mirror objects=medium, trackside obj=all
Animated pit crew ON
Steering Wheel OFF
Lightmaps, Reflections & Shadows all ON
Specular highlights OFF
Debris, Dirt, Dust, Smoke,Sparks & Skid marks all ON

What I generally notice is a frame rate of between 35-55, usually in the
45-50 range.  I really don't notice that much slowdown due to smoke from
wrecks ahead & I confirmed it when I checked my frame rates in replay
mode with an online race I was in last night at Daytona Night (Top THAT
sentence run-on, DH!).  TV1 cam was giving 50-55 fps, going to***pit
view sliced it to 45-50.  During a *** wreck that happened in front of
me, it never dropped below 30fps.  

So, for as similar (and different) as our systems are you should be
getting much better framerate than you are out of your existing
equipment.  The 2 big settings differences I've noted between us is the
# of cars drawn ahead & the World Detail slider.  Play with these &
maybe the Draw Ahead as well & you should notice a marked improvement.

Damn... this post reminds me of Tom Pabst...

--

Fester

  The quickest way to improve framerates in n4 no matter what cpu or vid
card you have is....to.....play online...
you should see a near 10 fps increase at most tracks.
dave henrie

I'd agree with you about your CPU being the bottle neck there, as the
CPU load will rise greatly with more cars in front. You're pretty much
right about the Geforce doing the same work in both cases, but CPU
load is much lower when you're viewing the replay, because there are
no AI and physics calculations to be done.

I can't really comment from my system, because it's very different,
but you could always try overclocking it a bit and see how you go. And
obviously try the graphics tweaks mentioned, see how they work out.

Rafe Mc

I meant to send to Brians email... you don't have to be such a terd. Learn
some people skills.

David

Gee "Please don't do that again." is such a harsh statement?   Cmon now,
don't be a terd yourself.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- May the Downforce be with you...
-- http://www.ymenard.com/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimato Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

Dave,

And that increased online fps is due primarily to the absence, in most
cases, of the AI, no?

Alan

  I would think you are correct.  Therefore the graphics are not the
slowdown but calculating the posisitons to place the graphcis etc may be
it...
always get as MUCH cpu as you can afford.
dave henrie