GTR and ATI Vidcards

I have an AMD XP2600, Radeon 9700 Pro, I gig Ram running WinXP Pro. I've been spending a lot of time testing various resolutions, AA settings, etc at race settings for GTR in hopes of maximizing my system's framerate. Here's what I found: No matter what I set the AA, resolution and color depth to (using GTR's 3DConfig utility), there is no appreciable change in framerate. The change is only 1 or 2 frames at most. I tried every combination from 800x600, 16 bit, Zero AA to 1024x768, 32 bit, 4X AA and the framerate hasn't budged. The image quality (ie - jaggies) is better with 4X AA, but that's about it. Are any of you with ATI cards experiencing the same thing with GTR? My framerate is about 37 in traffic under race conditions (16 cars, 9 visible), and that's with most in-game graphic settings set to LOW or OFF. I feel that my system should get significantly higher frame rate than that. Presently I'm using an old-ish video driver (4.7 I think) so I'll probably try the newest video driver tomorrow. But I'm also thinking that perhaps there's something amiss in a BIOS setting. Can anyone with a similar system to mine comment on whether these framerates are all that I can expect? If not, does anyone have any ideas on what I need to tweak? (ie - new video driver; BIOS settings, etc) Thanks!

I haven't tried a ton of different resolutions, so I don't know if you have a problem or not. I get around 40ish+ FPS in races, running 1152x864 32bit, 2xAA 4xAF. I'm also using the latest 5.1 cats, and have slightly overclocked my 9700Pro (350core/340mem). I've got a mobile Barton AMD overclocked to 3400+ speed, and 1gb of RAM@400mhz(fast RAM, like 5-2-2-2 or something). There are a couple of bugs w/the 9700 - you get around a 10FPS drop with the Motec dash on - I get over 80FPS in TV views. GTR has me waiting for a price drop on the X800's. I've also tweaked my PLR file to turn off all Motec recording, and to turn off the mirror perspective changes (I don't like running w/o the mirrors - kills the immersion for me). I've also read that enabling "alternate pixel center" in the D3D compat settings is supposed to make it smoother. I think GTR is just really system hungry - though I'm surprised your system seems so CPU bound. You could trying turning off the super-high-rate physics and see if you get a jump in FPS. What are your other system specs? Are you using m/b-based sound? A FFB wheel with high CPU util? I've got an Audigy2 and ActLabs, both of which are pretty good on CPU util. Google SiSoft Sandra and get a copy - you can see if something with your CPU or memory performance is off. You've made me want to hook up the wheel again - I'll gather some framerate figures and post again soon. HTH, Kendt

Ok I spoke too soon - Monza w/above settings, 23AI 16vis, gfx on global high (+full player), high res cockpit+cars, swaying trees off, mirrors+motec disp on. In a Qual session I average a pretty steady 42-48FPS. Starting a race from 9th on the grid I had 22FPS, which went up to an avg of 38 as the cars spread out. TV view in-race shows high-30s to 70+. I'm going to tweak a little more and see what I get. Pretty hard to watch the FPS meter and drive (could let the AI handle it, but it may affect the FPS by turning off FF or something). Kendt

PS - you try getting on the little bit of old Monza banking yet ;)?

Usually if the fps doesn't change that would point to the system being CPU limited, but since you have a good CPU - are you sure that Vertical Sync is off? Achim

BRH schrieb:

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> I have an AMD XP2600, Radeon 9700 Pro, I gig Ram running WinXP Pro. > > I've been spending a lot of time testing various resolutions, AA > settings, etc at race settings for GTR in hopes of maximizing my > system's framerate. Here's what I found: > > No matter what I set the AA, resolution and color depth to (using GTR's > 3DConfig utility), there is no appreciable change in framerate. The > change is only 1 or 2 frames at most. I tried every combination from > 800x600, 16 bit, Zero AA to 1024x768, 32 bit, 4X AA and the framerate > hasn't budged. The image quality (ie - jaggies) is better with 4X AA, > but that's about it. > > Are any of you with ATI cards experiencing the same thing with GTR? My > framerate is about 37 in traffic under race conditions (16 cars, 9 > visible), and that's with most in-game graphic settings set to LOW or > OFF. I feel that my system should get significantly higher frame rate > than that. > > Presently I'm using an old-ish video driver (4.7 I think) so I'll > probably try the newest video driver tomorrow. But I'm also thinking > that perhaps there's something amiss in a BIOS setting. > > Can anyone with a similar system to mine comment on whether these > framerates are all that I can expect? If not, does anyone have any > ideas on what I need to tweak? (ie - new video driver; BIOS settings, etc) > > Thanks!

Hi my system: XP2400, 1 GB ram, Radeon 9700np, SB Audigy. My video settings: 4x AA, 8x AF. 10 cars vis, 26 in race, ingame graphic setting to medium. I get about 27 fps at the start and 40- 50 fps while in race. I disabled the mirrors, enabled the virtual mirror with a key from my TM Enzo FF wheel, FF settings to low, with more I have stuttering in corners. I have set a key to disable MOTEC, it gives 10 fps more. In 2 weeks I will upgrade to a AMD64 3500, NForce4 board and an ATI X800XL. A better CPU will give more fps, 1 GB ram is needed. Michael

[email hidden] wrote:

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> I haven't tried a ton of different resolutions, so I don't know if you > have a problem or not. I get around 40ish+ FPS in races, running > 1152x864 32bit, 2xAA 4xAF. I'm also using the latest 5.1 cats, and > have slightly overclocked my 9700Pro (350core/340mem). I've got a > mobile Barton AMD overclocked to 3400+ speed, and 1gb of > RAM@400mhz(fast RAM, like 5-2-2-2 or something). > There are a couple of bugs w/the 9700 - you get around a 10FPS drop > with the Motec dash on - I get over 80FPS in TV views. GTR has me > waiting for a price drop on the X800's. > I've also tweaked my PLR file to turn off all Motec recording, and to > turn off the mirror perspective changes (I don't like running w/o the > mirrors - kills the immersion for me). I've also read that enabling > "alternate pixel center" in the D3D compat settings is supposed to make > it smoother. > I think GTR is just really system hungry - though I'm surprised your > system seems so CPU bound. You could trying turning off the > super-high-rate physics and see if you get a jump in FPS. What are > your other system specs? Are you using m/b-based sound? A FFB wheel > with high CPU util? I've got an Audigy2 and ActLabs, both of which are > pretty good on CPU util. > Google SiSoft Sandra and get a copy - you can see if something with > your CPU or memory performance is off. > > You've made me want to hook up the wheel again - I'll gather some > framerate figures and post again soon. > > HTH, > Kendt >

Thanks for the reply. To answer your questions -- I use a TB Santa Cruz for sound, Logi MOMO Force Wheel (red case, black wheel) along with TSW peds and Act Labs Shifter. Now questions for you -- I THINK that I've already turned off all MoTec recording, but maybe not. Nothing shows in the little gray screen in the center of the dash, so I assume that it's already off. (I use the HUD). Is this correct, or could it still be on withour being visible. How did you turn it off? (I also get much better framerates in external replay views....) How do you turn off "Mirror Perspective Changes"? and turn on "alternate pixel center"? Finally, I already have SiSoft Sandra. Exactly what tests should I run to test the CPU and memory? Thanks!

Michael Ziegler wrote:

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> BRH schrieb: > > I have an AMD XP2600, Radeon 9700 Pro, I gig Ram running WinXP Pro. > > > > I've been spending a lot of time testing various resolutions, AA > > settings, etc at race settings for GTR in hopes of maximizing my > > system's framerate. Here's what I found: > > > > No matter what I set the AA, resolution and color depth to (using

GTR's > > 3DConfig utility), there is no appreciable change in framerate.The > > change is only 1 or 2 frames at most. I tried every combinationfrom > > 800x600, 16 bit, Zero AA to 1024x768, 32 bit, 4X AA and theframerate > > hasn't budged. The image quality (ie - jaggies) is better with 4XAA, > > but that's about it. > > > > Are any of you with ATI cards experiencing the same thing with GTR?My > > framerate is about 37 in traffic under race conditions (16 cars, 9 > > visible), and that's with most in-game graphic settings set to LOWor > > OFF. I feel that my system should get significantly higher framerate > > than that. > > > > Presently I'm using an old-ish video driver (4.7 I think) so I'll > > probably try the newest video driver tomorrow. But I'm alsothinking > > that perhaps there's something amiss in a BIOS setting. > > > > Can anyone with a similar system to mine comment on whether these > > framerates are all that I can expect? If not, does anyone have any > > ideas on what I need to tweak? (ie - new video driver; BIOSsettings, etc)

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> > > > Thanks! > > Hi > > my system: XP2400, 1 GB ram, Radeon 9700np, SB Audigy. > > My video settings: 4x AA, 8x AF. > > 10 cars vis, 26 in race, ingame graphic setting to medium. > > I get about 27 fps at the start and 40- 50 fps while in race. > I disabled the mirrors, enabled the virtual mirror with a key from my

TM > Enzo FF wheel, FF settings to low, with more I have stuttering in > corners. I have set a key to disable MOTEC, it gives 10 fps more. > In 2 weeks I will upgrade to a AMD64 3500, NForce4 board and an ATI > X800XL. A better CPU will give more fps, 1 GB ram is needed. > > Michael Hi, just a quick obervation: I always surprised at how many people use anisotropic filtering at 4x or 8x. This is a frame rate _killer_, and it is has nothing to do with the game, but is 100% video card dependent. Turn this off, and your frame rate could easily double. joe image space

Scoob Droolins schrieb:

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>>Hi >> >>my system: XP2400, 1 GB ram, Radeon 9700np, SB Audigy. >> >>My video settings: 4x AA, 8x AF. >> >>10 cars vis, 26 in race, ingame graphic setting to medium. >> >>I get about 27 fps at the start and 40- 50 fps while in race. >>I disabled the mirrors, enabled the virtual mirror with a key from my > > TM > >>Enzo FF wheel, FF settings to low, with more I have stuttering in >>corners. I have set a key to disable MOTEC, it gives 10 fps more. >>In 2 weeks I will upgrade to a AMD64 3500, NForce4 board and an ATI >>X800XL. A better CPU will give more fps, 1 GB ram is needed. >> >>Michael > > > Hi, just a quick obervation: I always surprised at how many people use > anisotropic filtering at 4x or 8x. This is a frame rate _killer_, and > it is has nothing to do with the game, but is 100% video card > dependent. Turn this off, and your frame rate could easily double. > joe > image space >

Hi not with GTR, it needs a fast CPU more than a fast GPU. I tested it with AF 4x, 8x and Performance and Quality setting! Almost no difference! Michael

I think you only have the dash off - I set "Data Acquisition in Race" to 0,. The mirror setting is "Moving Rearview" - I figured it takes less processing to not adjust the mirror view based on head position. Alternate Pixel Center is one of the D3D compatibility settings on the advanced display control panel. I'd check the CPU arithmetic benchmark and the memory bandwidth benchmark. I'm going to try turning off AF - I doubt it'll make a huge difference, and I'm worried the texture aliasing will bo horrible. Kendt

[email hidden] wrote:

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> I think you only have the dash off - I set "Data Acquisition in Race" > to 0,. > The mirror setting is "Moving Rearview" - I figured it takes less > processing to not adjust the mirror view based on head position. > Alternate Pixel Center is one of the D3D compatibility settings on the > advanced display control panel. > I'd check the CPU arithmetic benchmark and the memory bandwidth > benchmark. > I'm going to try turning off AF - I doubt it'll make a huge difference, > and I'm worried the texture aliasing will bo horrible. > > Kendt >

kendt, Thanks for the info. I made the above adjustments to my .plr file and it helped a little. However, I still don't see where the Alternate Pixel Center adjustment is. Is it in the Game settings somewhere or in ATI's control panel? Either way, I can't find it. Thanks! Bert

> kendt, > > Thanks for the info. I made the above adjustments to my .plr fileand > it helped a little. However, I still don't see where the Alternate > Pixel Center adjustment is. Is it in the Game settings somewhere orin > ATI's control panel? Either way, I can't find it. > > Thanks! > > Bert No problem - I think it depends on the version of drivers, and I don't use the Catalyst Control Center. On my 5.1s, I go to the 3D tab of the advanced display settings, and near the bottom is a button labelled "compatibility" - the second option on the page that comes up is the alternate pixel center. I've tried both, and I don't think it improves framerate, just seems to make it look a little smoother when vsync is off. I tried turning off AF completely - 1-2fps improvement max, and the texture shimmering is as annoying as that "Racing on the Edge" song Speedvision keeps playing with the bobsledding coverage ;). Sorry - I had a Voodoo5 once and AA/AF is a must for me. Kendt

[email hidden] wrote:

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>>kendt, >> >>Thanks for the info. I made the above adjustments to my .plr file > > and > >>it helped a little. However, I still don't see where the Alternate >>Pixel Center adjustment is. Is it in the Game settings somewhere or > > in > >>ATI's control panel? Either way, I can't find it. >> >>Thanks! >> >>Bert > > > No problem - I think it depends on the version of drivers, and I don't > use the Catalyst Control Center. On my 5.1s, I go to the 3D tab of the > advanced display settings, and near the bottom is a button labelled > "compatibility" - the second option on the page that comes up is the > alternate pixel center. > I've tried both, and I don't think it improves framerate, just seems to > make it look a little smoother when vsync is off. > I tried turning off AF completely - 1-2fps improvement max, and the > texture shimmering is as annoying as that "Racing on the Edge" song > Speedvision keeps playing with the bobsledding coverage ;). Sorry - I > had a Voodoo5 once and AA/AF is a must for me. > > Kendt >

Thanks -- I found it now. I'm not sure if it makes any difference though....