SH4 Slow Performance and Low Frame Rate FPS

[OrlandoM3]

I was only getting 7 FPS in the game and I tried EVERYTHING. Come to find out after talking with the Ubisoft tech support people SH4 Patches ARE NOT CUMULATIVE! They told me you have to install Patch 1.1 and then Patch 1.2.

Here's the copy and paste directly from Ubisoft and not a thing anywhere in the 1.2 area telling you to INSTALL 1.1 FIRST:

Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific v1.2 Patch [147.0 MB] (http://www.ubi.com/US/Downloads/DownloadFile.aspx?dfId=4404)


Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific v1.1 Patch [116 MB] (http://www.ubi.com/US/Downloads/DownloadFile.aspx?dfId=4370)

Description

Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific v1.2

Please note that this patch can be used on both the RETAIL (CD/DVD) version & the DOWNLOADABLE (D2D) version of the game.
Installation
1. Before installing Silent Hunter 4 - Wolves of the Pacific Patch v1.2 please close all other programs.
2. Run patch installation file.
3. Follow the instructions.
Upon installation you can run the game either from windows start menu ('Start' -> 'All Programs' -> 'Ubisoft' -> 'Silent Hunter 4 - Wolves of the Pacific' -> or use 'Silent Hunter4.exe' file from the game installation directory (By default, the game will be installed into "C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4").

Note 1: The save games and replays that were made with older versions of Silent Hunter 4 will be incompatible with the new patch version.
Note 2: In Base autosaving are compatible between original version and Patch
Note 3: Multiplayer (LAN or Online) connection between the original version of Silent Hunter 4 and the new patch version is not possible.
HARD DRIVE SPACE
Windows will require additional free hard drive space for its operating system
(virtual memory). If you encounter the following message in an error dialog:
"Ran out of virtual memory", free up some more hard drive space.
To install Silent Hunter 4 - Wolves of the Pacific - Patch V 1.2 you will need approximately 200 MB free hard disk space for the full patch.


Here's the test on a P4 3.2Ghz, 2GB RAM, ATI Radeon 1300, 200GB SATA Drive

I used the same senerio and the same game settings for all of the comparisons with Medium Graphics Quality (1024 X 768). I think the left column was unchecked and most of the ones on the right are checked.

Clean SH4 install out of the box. All options installed from Retail CD, updated ATI drivers, all Windows XP updates are current, updated sound drives, updated motherboard drives, defrag., etc.

FPS = 15 solid or better in external camera F11

Clean SH4 install out of the box. All options installed from Retail CD, updated ATI drivers, all Windows XP updates are current, updated sound drives, updated motherboard drives, defrag., etc. WITH 1.1 PATCH APPLIED!

FPS = 12 in external camera F11

Clean SH4 install out of the box. All options installed from Retail CD, updated ATI drivers, all Windows XP updates are current, updated sound drives, updated motherboard drives, defrag., etc. WITH 1.1 and 1.2 PATCH APPLIED!

FPS = 13 in external camera F11

Clean SH4 install out of the box. All options installed from Retail CD, updated ATI drivers, all Windows XP updates are current, updated sound drives, updated motherboard drives, defrag., etc. WITH 1.2 PATCH ONLY!

FPS = 7 in external camera F11

7 FPS even after a diag. msconfig reboot with no other programs running

Any suggestion for better FPS without lowering the graphics quality?

Thanks

[SteamWake]

wOW pUrdy colors !

Uhhh tech support lied to you. 1.2 can be applied to either version. It even said so in their patch notes.

However most people have had better results applying it to a fresh un modded version (1.0)

[AVGWarhawk]

Bro, I have a AMD 3200+, 1 gig RAM and X1300. I get 18 FPS or better with just the 1.2 patch. You do not need to install 1.1 and then 1.2 over it. Go get the ATI Tool Tray at 3DGuru. Turn down your AA to X2. If you have AA maxed your FPS will suffer with the X1300. Keep resolution at 1024x768

[switch.dota]

Just get rid of AA. It's a killer on anything less than high-end video. Try lower video settings overall - I never go above 28FPS with nearly minimal setting and I still enjoy this game.

[minsc_tdp]

Ok, this is a lesser-known trick that is easy to do.

Download something called NVTweak (http://nvtweak.laptopvideo2go.com/) which is a tray icon application. It can set hidden variables and it is very safe to use.

1. One setting is Image Settings, which is a general graphic quality option, like High/Med/Low. Set it at the main menu screen, but also check to see if you also need to set it on both the DirectX and OpenGL specific areas.

2. There's an Optimizations section with a dropdown called Presets. In here there are four options, from High Performance to Max Quality or something similar. Choose the highest performance one of course, and again check this in both OpenGL and DirectX.

3. Force Vertical Sync to Off, again in both OpenGL and DirectX to be sure.

4. Anti-Aliasing of course can slow things down, and you can force it off with this app. Anisotropic Filtering should not be underestimated as an FPS killer as well, especially when set to 8x or 16x, so set it to Off or 1x or the lowest setting as well.

If you compare identical screenshots you will see a noticable difference, especially with far-off texture detail. But the degradation isn't really that bad, especially since low FPS kills the "experience" way more than this ever will.

I believe this is NV-specific but it might have ATI support, I don't know. I don't care about ATI cards, though I know most of these options are also present on ATI though setting them might require you use the builtin driver dialogs or a different tool.

[kv29]

All the above.

And go to you SH4 folder in "my documents", open (edit) the file main.cfg and look for these lines:

[DEVELOPING]
DevDebugEnable=Yes
DevEditEnable=Yes
MiniDump=Yes

Set all to "No" and save.

You are all set

[Major Johnson]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=116070

You might want to try some of the tips in this thread as well. I think patch 1.3 iis going to try to address some of the performance issues as well. Good luck!

[OrlandoM3]

Thanks everyone for all of the info.

Dam..it, I broke Rule #1, Never listen to LEVEL 1 Support!

I did everything the thread suggested. I used ATI Tool Tray at 3DGuru and tweaking tools and changed AA down to 2X and all of the other settings to max performance.

Up to 17 FPS W00T!

Placing No on all of the Developing section in the Main.cfg +1 FPS

Up to 18 FPS in External Camera View Now

I'll try the tips Major linked as well soon.

Thanks again!