Re: F12K graphics optimization for low-end machines (WAS: GP3 is a very good sim!!)

In article <kbWq5.81915$Kw2.767067@flipper>, "HJ Ventura" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > JB, I do not like to run hot laps. Here's why: > > Anybody can run a fast lap: (I.E. Tom Cruise when he filmed DAYS OF > > THUNDER). The real question is, how fast can you RACE? > > So, keeping that in mind, with your settings. How does F12Krun with > > the full 22 car field? (Still too much stuff "off" or on "low" formy > > tastes though) > > I think your conclusion is a little too simple. Run fast laps issimple, i > agree. Run the best hotlaps is very difficult. Actually, onbhmotorsports, i > am on the 3rd place at Spa/Belgium. I can assure you that it wont beeasy > for you to beat that time. I have to admit, i spend pretty much timeon it.. > > I agree on your other question, about how does it run with 22 cars... Pretty much the same, since I'm only displaying 7 cars at a time with these graphics settings. Starts are slower, but that just makes it more GPL-like. <G> -- JB Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

Okay, on my wimpy, mid-range AMD K6-2 400 system (oc'ed from 350) with 64 MB of RAM and an aging 16 MB Voodoo Banshee card (not overclocked), I get pretty decent frame rates in F12000 (in Quick Race mode, I see no less than 15 around the pit areas, up to 30 elsewhere, and averages in the low-to-mid 20s -- very playable and surprisingly smooth). I use FRAPS (http://www.fraps.com/) to check the frame rate, FYI. Here are the settings I'm using in F12000 -- if you have a 500+ MHz system and a Voodoo 3/5, TNT2, or GeForce video card, you should be getting MUCH better performance than I am seeing using these same settings. Give them a try, and you might be surprised: DISPLAY SETTINGS Cockpit: Cockpit detail - High Moving steering wheel - off Mirrors - off Miscellaneous (mirrors) - off Trees (mirrors) - off Billboards (mirrors) - off Buildings (mirrors) - off Bridges (mirrors) - off Grandstands (mirrors) - off Pit lane objects (mirrors) - off Special Effects: Bilinear Filtering - Off Specular Highlighting - Off Environment Mapping - Off Race Groove - On Skybox - Off Everything else Off Miscellaneous: Movies - Off Tooltips - 1.5 Measurement Units - Imperial Page Transitions - Off Placement Map - Off Message Center Detail - High Default View - Cockpit World: Resolution - 800x600 Viewing Distance - Maximum Level of Detail Distance - Maximum Fog Distance - Low Texture Mapping Detail - Low Player Vehicle Detail - Low Other Driver Vehicle Detail - Low Max. No. Visible Vehicles - 7 Miscellaneous - On Trees - On Billboards - Off (this setting not endorsed by Games-Advertising) Bridges - On Grandstands - On Pit Lane Objects - Off Unsupported Features: MIP Mapping -- Off Using these settings, F12000 feels MUCH better, and it looks decent. All in all, the overall experience with F12000 now reminds me of when I first started playing GPL on my old AMD K6-200 system with 16 MB of RAM and a first-generation Voodoo card. On that system, I had to play at 640x480 resolution, with mirrors turned off and world details cut back, but it was great. If it hadn't been for GPL, I would probably still have that system, in fact -- the upgrades were more than worth it for GPL, but not really necessary for any other reason. Ah, well -- that's progress! <G> Enjoy! -- JB (Sorry for the double-post; Deja buried this as a reply in another long thread even though I re-titled it -- doh!) In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (EldredP) wrote:

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> In article <8o9gri$ioq$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] writes: > > >"Inside knowledge," Kieran? Those "specs" sound more like potential > >sour grapes from a Crammondite to me -- I'm running F12K with great > >frame rates on an AMD K6-2 400 system with 64 MB of RAM and a 16 MB > >Voodoo Banshee card (frame rates in the low 20s consistently -- > > versus, what, a max of 24 fps in GP3?). I had to scale back the > >graphics a bit to achieve that, but F12K still looks VERY good even > >at that -- and it drives GREAT! > > What are your settings, and do you loose some reference points > (braking, turn-in)? > > Eldred > -- > Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999 > Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > GPL hcp. +51.31 > > Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then

beats you > with experience... > Remove SPAM-OFF to reply. > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

JB, I do not like to run hot laps. Here's why: Anybody can run a fast lap: (I.E. Tom Cruise when he filmed DAYS OF THUNDER). The real question is, how fast can you RACE? So, keeping that in mind, with your settings. How does F12K run with the full 22 car field? (Still too much stuff "off" or on "low" for my tastes though) -Cheers <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:8ofnhg$ck5$[email hidden]...

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> Okay, on my wimpy, mid-range AMD K6-2 400 system (oc'ed from 350) with > 64 MB of RAM and an aging 16 MB Voodoo Banshee card (not overclocked), > I get pretty decent frame rates in F12000 (in Quick Race mode, I see no > less than 15 around the pit areas, up to 30 elsewhere, and averages in > the low-to-mid 20s -- very playable and surprisingly smooth). I use > FRAPS (http://www.fraps.com/) to check the frame rate, FYI. > > Here are the settings I'm using in F12000 -- if you have a 500+ MHz > system and a Voodoo 3/5, TNT2, or GeForce video card, you should be > getting MUCH better performance than I am seeing using these same > settings. Give them a try, and you might be surprised: > > DISPLAY SETTINGS > > Cockpit: > > Cockpit detail - High > Moving steering wheel - off > Mirrors - off > Miscellaneous (mirrors) - off > Trees (mirrors) - off > Billboards (mirrors) - off > Buildings (mirrors) - off > Bridges (mirrors) - off > Grandstands (mirrors) - off > Pit lane objects (mirrors) - off > > Special Effects: > > Bilinear Filtering - Off > Specular Highlighting - Off > Environment Mapping - Off > Race Groove - On > Skybox - Off > Everything else Off > > Miscellaneous: > > Movies - Off > Tooltips - 1.5 > Measurement Units - Imperial > Page Transitions - Off > Placement Map - Off > Message Center Detail - High > Default View - Cockpit > > World: > > Resolution - 800x600 > Viewing Distance - Maximum > Level of Detail Distance - Maximum > Fog Distance - Low > Texture Mapping Detail - Low > Player Vehicle Detail - Low > Other Driver Vehicle Detail - Low > Max. No. Visible Vehicles - 7 > Miscellaneous - On > Trees - On > Billboards - Off (this setting not endorsed by Games-Advertising) > Bridges - On > Grandstands - On > Pit Lane Objects - Off > > Unsupported Features: > > MIP Mapping -- Off > > Using these settings, F12000 feels MUCH better, and it looks decent. > All in all, the overall experience with F12000 now reminds me of when I > first started playing GPL on my old AMD K6-200 system with 16 MB of RAM > and a first-generation Voodoo card. On that system, I had to play at > 640x480 resolution, with mirrors turned off and world details cut back, > but it was great. If it hadn't been for GPL, I would probably still > have that system, in fact -- the upgrades were more than worth it for > GPL, but not really necessary for any other reason. Ah, well -- that's > progress! <G> > > Enjoy! > > -- JB > > (Sorry for the double-post; Deja buried this as a reply in another long > thread even though I re-titled it -- doh!) > > In article <[email hidden]>, > [email hidden] (EldredP) wrote: > > In article <8o9gri$ioq$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] writes: > > > > >"Inside knowledge," Kieran? Those "specs" sound more like potential > > >sour grapes from a Crammondite to me -- I'm running F12K with great > > >frame rates on an AMD K6-2 400 system with 64 MB of RAM and a 16 MB > > >Voodoo Banshee card (frame rates in the low 20s consistently -- > > > versus, what, a max of 24 fps in GP3?). I had to scale back the > > >graphics a bit to achieve that, but F12K still looks VERY good even > > >at that -- and it drives GREAT! > > > > What are your settings, and do you loose some reference points > > (braking, turn-in)? > > > > Eldred > > -- > > Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999 > > Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > > GPL hcp. +51.31 > > > > Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then > beats you > > with experience... > > Remove SPAM-OFF to reply. > > > > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

> JB, I do not like to run hot laps. Here's why: > Anybody can run a fast lap: (I.E. Tom Cruise when he filmed DAYS OF > THUNDER). The real question is, how fast can you RACE? > So, keeping that in mind, with your settings. How does F12K run with > the full 22 car field? (Still too much stuff "off" or on "low" for my > tastes though) I think your conclusion is a little too simple. Run fast laps is simple, i agree. Run the best hotlaps is very difficult. Actually, on bhmotorsports, i am on the 3rd place at Spa/Belgium. I can assure you that it wont be easy for you to beat that time. I have to admit, i spend pretty much time on it.. I agree on your other question, about how does it run with 22 cars...

I've never understood why this works, since the parade lap is viewed from outside your car. You would think that it would be loading images that were completely irrelevant to the cockpit view inside your car. Just curious. Dave Ewing [email hidden] wrote:

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> There IS a fix for this of sorts -- you MUST make sure that you have > the "parade lap" (or is it "formation lap"?) option selected. This > forces you to sit through a LONG-ish computer-controlled session as all > the AI cars (and yours as well, under computer control) make one lap of > the track. You get a lot of different camera views, which is nice, but > it is slow and it gets old. This give the graphics and textures a > chance to load, though, I believe, so they don't have to do so during > your first lap, which makes EVERYTHING smoother for you and the AI. > Give it a try and see if it helps. > >

-- ***************************************************** David A. Ewing Xilinx Boulder [email hidden] *****************************************************

On Tue, 29 Aug 2000 06:40:07 -0700, "Regular Racer" <[email hidden]> wrote: >JB, I do not like to run hot laps. Here's why: >Anybody can run a fast lap: (I.E. Tom Cruise when he filmed DAYS OF >THUNDER). The real question is, how fast can you RACE? > So, keeping that in mind, with your settings. How does F12K run with >the full 22 car field? (Still too much stuff "off" or on "low" for my >tastes though) All race-starts seem very slow with F12k. A note about F12k; (off topic), the first 30-60 seconds of any race is pretty much "madness". The A/I cars are -super- aggressive, and must be avoided; I must "stay away" from them. Then, from out of "the blue", after that first 60 seconds, all A/I drivers become civil, almost outright "formal", and very easy to drive with. They take almost any precaution to -not- hit you, after those first 30/60 seconds. Very strange why this sim behaves like this during the first minute. If anything, I hope the next f12k patch deals with those race-starts first. Matt

There IS a fix for this of sorts -- you MUST make sure that you have the "parade lap" (or is it "formation lap"?) option selected. This forces you to sit through a LONG-ish computer-controlled session as all the AI cars (and yours as well, under computer control) make one lap of the track. You get a lot of different camera views, which is nice, but it is slow and it gets old. This give the graphics and textures a chance to load, though, I believe, so they don't have to do so during your first lap, which makes EVERYTHING smoother for you and the AI. Give it a try and see if it helps. -- JB

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> All race-starts seem very slow with F12k. > > A note about F12k; (off topic), the first 30-60 seconds of any race > is pretty much "madness". The A/I cars are -super- aggressive, and > must be avoided; I must "stay away" from them. > > Then, from out of "the blue", after that first 60 seconds, all A/I > drivers become civil, almost outright "formal", and very easy to drive > with. They take almost any precaution to -not- hit you, after those > first 30/60 seconds. > > Very strange why this sim behaves like this during the first minute. > > If anything, I hope the next f12k patch deals with those race-starts > first. > > Matt >

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

On Wed, 30 Aug 2000 06:27:11 GMT, [email hidden] wrote: Hehe, you got that right, the parade-lap is longish! But it's true, the parade-lap does help. It's "getting" through a single parade-lap that causes frustration, and lots of time. At Monza, a parade-lap consists of a "decent" start, followed by some "unknown event", that causes an A/I car to slow-down to about 18-20mph. Then, a string of other cars will follow the slow car, and it becomes a very long wait until they get into race-position (if they arrive at all). While waiting, an A/I pole-sitter may "drift" down the track several hundred yards, while waiting for the race-start. Again, while waiting, other cars will drift out of start-posistion (seems like they'd keep on rolling but are stopped by the car in front of them). Then after the long wait, and as if by magic, -all- cars are suddenly in proper position, pole-sitter is back to his #1 spot (reverse gear??<g>), all cars are lined-up "picture-perfect". So it usually takes a long time to do a parade-lap, at least 3-5 minutes sitting at the start, waiting for all A/I cars attempting to arrive. It does help frame-rate though, and no problem if done only 1 time per race, but (I'm sure you know) the first 30/60 seconds of -any- F12000 race-start can be "chaos". I'll want to start over if I crash (or usually am hit) within the first 30/60 seconds of a start (usually the first chicane or tight corner, and it happens a lot). Someone suggested I "try" and stay in formation during race-starts, as to avoid crashes, etc., but I tend to try and get ahead at the start, and even if staying in formation, it's still very tricky at best. So I skip the parade-lap, because it just takes too long, and longer when having to re-start races even 2-3 times. Matt

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>There IS a fix for this of sorts -- you MUST make sure that you have >the "parade lap" (or is it "formation lap"?) option selected. This >forces you to sit through a LONG-ish computer-controlled session as all >the AI cars (and yours as well, under computer control) make one lap of >the track. You get a lot of different camera views, which is nice, but >it is slow and it gets old. This give the graphics and textures a >chance to load, though, I believe, so they don't have to do so during >your first lap, which makes EVERYTHING smoother for you and the AI. >Give it a try and see if it helps. > >-- JB > >> All race-starts seem very slow with F12k. >> >> A note about F12k; (off topic), the first 30-60 seconds of any race >> is pretty much "madness". The A/I cars are -super- aggressive, and >> must be avoided; I must "stay away" from them. >> >> Then, from out of "the blue", after that first 60 seconds, all A/I >> drivers become civil, almost outright "formal", and very easy to drive >> with. They take almost any precaution to -not- hit you, after those >> first 30/60 seconds. >> >> Very strange why this sim behaves like this during the first minute. >> >> If anything, I hope the next f12k patch deals with those race-starts >> first. >> >> Matt >> > > >Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ >Before you buy.