Help With Graphics Please

[Nerazzurri]

Will doubling my current RAM from 1 to 2GB more or less guarantee me an improvement in frame rate?

At the moment I'm getting between 15 and 30 FPS, the 15 being maybe on the bridge leaving port (light harbour traffic enabled) and the 30 looking at a ship through the scope.

It's definately playable but you can tell it's struggling.

I can't up my video card anymore because I have an old PCI bus.

My system specs are in my signature, and anyone wants more technical info I can post that.

Thanks for any help.

[Mush Martin]

Well your basically screwed..............:rotfl:
Just kidding.

its pretty close to my set up
but I have a 2.4 chip and a
better card.

I dont have any trouble running
upper end graphics at all
try maybe shutting off what
background programs you can
when playing and set graphics
settings down to 75 or 50 %
and see if it smooths it out.

Im not any kind of hardware expert
so further help will have to come from
elsewhere but I hope it helps a bit.
M

[edit]Normally when I do develop those symptoms
my heat exchanger needs cleaning out.
also I do have 2gb ram so there may be an improvement
rams pretty cheap and it will help with it for sure
but my not solve all issues

[Nerazzurri]

Well your basically screwed..............:rotfl:
Just kidding.

its pretty close to my set up
but I have a 2.4 chip and a
better card.

I dont have any trouble running
upper end graphics at all
try maybe shutting off what
background programs you can
when playing and set graphics
settings down to 75 or 50 %
and see if it smooths it out.

Im not any kind of hardware expert
so further help will have to come from
elsewhere but I hope it helps a bit.
M

[edit]Normally when I do develop those symptoms
my heat exchanger needs cleaning out.

Don't joke :doh: my heart sank when I read the first line! LOL Although you are certainly correct to a degree anyway, because my computer is bit dated now.

I've tried shutting off my anti-virus stuff, dropping the graphic effects in the game menu and giving the game a higher priority in the task manager; none of that seems to make much difference.

EDIT - ah, OK. I priced 2gb at £50. I'm not sure about heat exchangers but I'll check it out. Thanks mate.

[Mush Martin]

I would take the time to look at the heat exchanger then
are there any smokers in your house?
M

[Mush Martin]

Stuff like reduced harbour traffic will help too as the game has less to render

[Nerazzurri]

No, no smokers; just me and the dog (maybe I should check his pockets, see if he's a secret smoker:hmm: )

[Mush Martin]

a word of caution on that one of the best tips I ever got in two and half
million kilometres in the taxi is

"Never Pet a burning dog"

:|\\

[Mush Martin]

One more thing. your computer was current when the
game engine was made. dont lose hope.

[Dutchie-one]

Hello Mate, I had the same problem 5200 videocart and 1 gig ram after updated to 2 gig every thing goes fine .
I hope this helped ?

Dutchie-one :up:

PS. no AGP bus ?

[Nerazzurri]

No, no AGP, just PCI. Thanks for the re-assurance on the RAM.

One thing I've just decided to try first is running Rivatuner to see if that makes any difference.

I'll let you know.

[Nerazzurri]

Riva tuner made no difference. Tried to unblock some pipelines but there wasn't any, forcing the driver, and over clocking by about 20% made no difference either. :hmm:

New RAM it is then.

[Jonathan]

I have your answer for you.

Upgrading to one gig of ram will help, but not dramatically solve your problem. Your problem is with the graphics card, both in the low bus of the PCI regular slot and of the GPU...graphics processing units. Game speed is dependent upon three factors, sometimes four: processor speed, RAM speed, hard drive speed (RPM), and FSB. If one of these is slow, it can pull down game performance. If one or two are slow, then game performance really suffers. The best thing that you could do would be to upgrade to a better GPU graphics card, but finding a newer one that will run in a regular PCI slot is going to be difficult. I suggest save up and go for the totally new upgrade of Motherboard, RAM, processor, and Graphics card, but this is not the answer for everyone...or their wallets. Mine included. If you want to look for a new graphics card, try www.newegg.com

[i_b_spectre]

For what it's worth, I have occasional "slide shows" while playing SH3. I'm running an AMD XP2800, 1.5GB of DDR, and an ATI 9800 Pro AIW card, so I'm falling steadily off the capability end of the scale. Still, most of time, SH3 is quite playable with reasonably smooth frame rates. For awhile I was getting an occasional crash-computer-reboot thing, so I tried the usual memtest diagnostic and the only thing that turned up was an acknowledged anomoly related to AMD processors (according to the memtest forum). I was at a loss as to anything to be done until my daughter mentioned an idea. When frame rates get choppy, I hit the Windows key (same effect as Alt-Tab) to drop SH3 to the task bar. I let it set maybe 5-10 seconds, then click on the SH3/GWX to re-expand it, and it seems to settle out and run smoothly. Since I've been doing this, I haven't had a single crash-to-forced-reboot event. I'd thought about buying a more powerful video card like the XP1950 Pro, but I think I'd be better off waiting until I can do a full system upgrade rather than trying a band aid approach that will leave me bottlenecked by the CPU. Oh, in case you haven't tried it yet, run dxdiag and set the Sound Acceleration slider down to either the lowest (unaccelerated) or the one just above it (Basic acceleration). It's surprising that sound settings can have such a profound effect on video performance, but it's true.

[Nerazzurri]

I have your answer for you.

Upgrading to one gig of ram will help, but not dramatically solve your problem. Your problem is with the graphics card, both in the low bus of the PCI regular slot and of the GPU...graphics processing units. Game speed is dependent upon three factors, sometimes four: processor speed, RAM speed, hard drive speed (RPM), and FSB. If one of these is slow, it can pull down game performance. If one or two are slow, then game performance really suffers. The best thing that you could do would be to upgrade to a better GPU graphics card, but finding a newer one that will run in a regular PCI slot is going to be difficult. I suggest save up and go for the totally new upgrade of Motherboard, RAM, processor, and Graphics card, but this is not the answer for everyone...or their wallets. Mine included. If you want to look for a new graphics card, try www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com)

My system is in my signature. I think the Pentium 4 is ok, so is the 2.8ghz, definately need to up the RAM to 2gb. The card - I'm afraid I'm stuck with it. I'd rather get a new system than spend serious money on this one. I've only had the card a few months; it was the best compromise I could make. I needed Directx 9c; in addition I have only a PCI fit on the board. So that was the best I could do.

That's why I was trying to get something extra out the card before buying RAM. But it looks like I'll need to.

Thanks for your reply mate.

[Nerazzurri]

For what it's worth, I have occasional "slide shows" while playing SH3. I'm running an AMD XP2800, 1.5GB of DDR, and an ATI 9800 Pro AIW card, so I'm falling steadily off the capability end of the scale. Still, most of time, SH3 is quite playable with reasonably smooth frame rates. For awhile I was getting an occasional crash-computer-reboot thing, so I tried the usual memtest diagnostic and the only thing that turned up was an acknowledged anomoly related to AMD processors (according to the memtest forum). I was at a loss as to anything to be done until my daughter mentioned an idea. When frame rates get choppy, I hit the Windows key (same effect as Alt-Tab) to drop SH3 to the task bar. I let it set maybe 5-10 seconds, then click on the SH3/GWX to re-expand it, and it seems to settle out and run smoothly. Since I've been doing this, I haven't had a single crash-to-forced-reboot event. I'd thought about buying a more powerful video card like the XP1950 Pro, but I think I'd be better off waiting until I can do a full system upgrade rather than trying a band aid approach that will leave me bottlenecked by the CPU. Oh, in case you haven't tried it yet, run dxdiag and set the Sound Acceleration slider down to either the lowest (unaccelerated) or the one just above it (Basic acceleration). It's surprising that sound settings can have such a profound effect on video performance, but it's true.

I will definately try the dxdiag and let you know how I get on. Thanks mate.

[maddysad]

First things First :D

I have 2.4
I have 6200Turbo
I have just taken my rig from 1GB up to 3GB :cool:

The effect is amazing/confusing at same time (depends on game)

I play IL 2 which is now running on "Perfect" :cool: :cool: :cool:
I play SH3 GWX which is now running extremely well with a little tearing here and there, but overall the performance with Mods like Racerboys SH4 for SH3 running are excellent.

I believe I have a gaphics driver problem.Its set on latest driver 163.?? and according to past posts in here 94.?? to 97.?? are SH3's peak

Hope this helps

maddysad

[sasquatch]

First things First :D

I have 2.4
I have 6200Turbo
I have just taken my rig from 1GB up to 3GB :cool:

The effect is amazing/confusing at same time (depends on game)

I play IL 2 which is now running on "Perfect" :cool: :cool: :cool:
I play SH3 GWX which is now running extremely well with a little tearing here and there, but overall the performance with Mods like Racerboys SH4 for SH3 running are excellent.

I believe I have a gaphics driver problem.Its set on latest driver 163.?? and according to past posts in here 94.?? to 97.?? are SH3's peak

Hope this helps

maddysad

I've seen a number of people mention IL 2. Is it any good?

[Nerazzurri]

For what it's worth, I have occasional "slide shows" while playing SH3. I'm running an AMD XP2800, 1.5GB of DDR, and an ATI 9800 Pro AIW card, so I'm falling steadily off the capability end of the scale. Still, most of time, SH3 is quite playable with reasonably smooth frame rates. For awhile I was getting an occasional crash-computer-reboot thing, so I tried the usual memtest diagnostic and the only thing that turned up was an acknowledged anomoly related to AMD processors (according to the memtest forum). I was at a loss as to anything to be done until my daughter mentioned an idea. When frame rates get choppy, I hit the Windows key (same effect as Alt-Tab) to drop SH3 to the task bar. I let it set maybe 5-10 seconds, then click on the SH3/GWX to re-expand it, and it seems to settle out and run smoothly. Since I've been doing this, I haven't had a single crash-to-forced-reboot event. I'd thought about buying a more powerful video card like the XP1950 Pro, but I think I'd be better off waiting until I can do a full system upgrade rather than trying a band aid approach that will leave me bottlenecked by the CPU. Oh, in case you haven't tried it yet, run dxdiag and set the Sound Acceleration slider down to either the lowest (unaccelerated) or the one just above it (Basic acceleration). It's surprising that sound settings can have such a profound effect on video performance, but it's true.

It think that did make a slight difference - I say 'think' because if it did it was negligible. Worth a try though.

[Jonathan]

You and I have similar GPU, but I have mine on a PCI-X16 interface, which increases the badnwith. Your processor is more than fine.

[Nerazzurri]

I'm very dissappointed today. Got my 2GB upgrade fitted and there's no improvement at all on the frame rate. I know it's an entry level graphic card but it's the best available with a PCI fit and surely to god it should be doing better.

Leaving harbour, on the bridge looking aft it's achieving 12 fps!?!?! (light harbour traffic enabled) The rest of the rates around 20-30 except explosions/fires in the periscope view which is very laggy, the same as leaving harbour.

I've experimented with the v-sync and turned particles down to 40%. As well as that I've individually selected the 3D settings in the NVidia control panel to performance levels, as opposed to just setting performance priority or accepting the default NVidia settings for SH3 (I had tried those previously anyway). I've also tried things mentioned above like adjusting the sound accelerater, checking for locked pipes, giving the game priority in the task manager. I even checked the PC was showing all the memory installed properly in case it wasn't fitted correctly.

Where do I go from here? I'm tearing my hair out! I'd hoped to get a big enough improvement to try GWX 2.0 but I just don't see any point now :cry:

Looking for help please people :ping:

P.S. someone mentioned older drivers being at the 'peak' for running SH3 - could anybody shed more light on that and point me in the right direction finding them? Had a little look but no joy.

[sasquatch]

Your pc isn't in the middle of an update right now is it? It takes place in the background but slows everything way down. Also, if anything "pops-up" on the desktop "behind" the game it can really screw things up. Try using the task manager to see what USER processes are taking up the most system memory. Have you defragged recently? Done scans for adware/spyware?

Hope something here helps

[Nerazzurri]

Your pc isn't in the middle of an update right now is it? It takes place in the background but slows everything way down. Also, if anything "pops-up" on the desktop "behind" the game it can really screw things up. Try using the task manager to see what USER processes are taking up the most system memory. Have you defragged recently? Done scans for adware/spyware?

Hope something here helps

No, nothing of note running mate. The system idle is between 94 and 99%.

Yeah, I do scans, as well as having real time protection (including pop-up protection), every 7-14 days.

I've spent £69 (about $140) on memory, with no improvement - I'm gutted LOL ( I have to laugh, really) :damn:

[Cohaagen]

Nez-

I wish I'd seen this thread earlier - the RAM was never going to help.

I'm guessing you have a Dell Dimension, aye? Your setup is near identical to mine: 2.8g P4, 1.5g RAM, PCI 6200, etc. I paid nothing for it, so I can hardly complain if it's a dog when it comes to high-end gaming.

Some tips that have made a real difference to me:
You can overclock the card's RAM to about 650mhz. Any higher will produce on-screen artifacts and flaws. The core generally won't stand for any OCing and likes to lock up if you try to do so. Depending on your drivers you may get it up to 320mhz.
Download PowerStrip and reduce your card's PCI latency from 248 to 32. It'll get rid of any stuttering.
Download DXtweaker and enable the "Force Shader PP" module. There's a good chance this'll make a big difference to yr. framerates and it won't affect the quality of the visuals. I got about a 10fps jump with this tweak.I originally used these to turn Half Life 2: Episode One from a slideshow into a thoroughly playable experience. It helped a great deal, and I'd definately recommend that you try them before spending any more money :up:

EDIT: If the worst comes to the worst, there's PCI versions of the X1550 and Nvidia 8xxx series (!) being released...big boom for PCI cards on account of Vista. They're import-only, try Ebay.

[Blacklight]

My computer has the same specs as yours except I run with 1 gig of ram. With Lite Harbor Traffic on, mine doesn't struggle that much when near a port.

The only noticable thing that isn't too bad is I get a little bit of a stutter in external camera or when I'm up on the conning tower view. The waves and vessel movements will go for like 5 secconds, then stop for half a seccond, then go for another 5 secconds, stop for half a seccond. I've been trying to combat this with little success but it's not a game killer. Only if I really pay attention to it does it drive me mad.

[Nerazzurri]

Nez-

I wish I'd seen this thread earlier - the RAM was never going to help.

I'm guessing you have a Dell Dimension, aye? Your setup is near identical to mine: 2.8g P4, 1.5g RAM, PCI 6200, etc. I paid nothing for it, so I can hardly complain if it's a dog when it comes to high-end gaming.

Some tips that have made a real difference to me:

You can overclock the card's RAM to about 650mhz. Any higher will produce on-screen artifacts and flaws. The core generally won't stand for any OCing and likes to lock up if you try to do so. Depending on your drivers you may get it up to 320mhz.
Download PowerStrip and reduce your card's PCI latency from 248 to 32. It'll get rid of any stuttering.
Download DXtweaker and enable the "Force Shader PP" module. There's a good chance this'll make a big difference to yr. framerates and it won't affect the quality of the visuals. I got about a 10fps jump with this tweak.I originally used these to turn Half Life 2: Episode One from a slideshow into a thoroughly playable experience. It helped a great deal, and I'd definately recommend that you try them before spending any more money :up:

EDIT: If the worst comes to the worst, there's PCI versions of the X1550 and Nvidia 8xxx series (!) being released...big boom for PCI cards on account of Vista. They're import-only, try Ebay.

Dell Dimension 3000 yes, just over two years old - that was a good guess; or do you have me under surveillance :|\\

I'm going to give those suggestions a try tonight, they sound interesting. I did try clocking it a couple of weeks ago but with no success; I really can't remember what I tried though so I'll give it another go with the amounts you suggest.

I really can't see me getting another GPU as I only got this one a few months ago; if I get a little improvement out of this I'll sit out until I can get a new system. Thanks for the info on them all the same.

Here's hoping it makes a difference - I might even be able to go back to 1GB and cut my losses on Ebay with the RAM I just got!! Aye, RIGHT! :rotfl:

[Nerazzurri]

I've tried just the DXtweaker - with no joy whatsoever :cry:

Powerstrip isn't letting me change the PCI latency at all???

[Dutchie-one]

Hello Mate, is the second 1 Gig ram the same as the one who was in your computer ?
Look here Configuration Hardware Ram
If yes do not take it out Wp use a lot of programs by start up loaded in your internal memory.
I wonder why you have no result by puting the 1 Gig ?
I look in the book and when I find something you hear from me.

Dutchie-one :up:

[Nerazzurri]

Hello Mate, is the second 1 Gig ram the same as the one who was in your computer ?
Look here Configuration Hardware Ram
If yes do not take it out Wp use a lot of programs by start up loaded in your internal memory.
I wonder why you have no result by puting the 1 Gig ?
I look in the book and when I find something you hear from me.

Dutchie-one :up:

I put in 2 new RAM pieces, 1GB each, and they seem to be ok - computer is recognising them and everything is running OK.

I've just trawled through UBIs help pages and tried lowering to 16bit colour and lowering the DirectX acceleration, both making no difference at all :damn:

[Cohaagen]

I've tried just the DXtweaker - with no joy whatsoever :cry:

Powerstrip isn't letting me change the PCI latency at all???
Go to:

>>Options...

>>Adapter Information...

>>Uncheck "Read Only" and change latency to "32"

I'm surprised DXtweaker hasn't helped - if you use Ctrl-F8 it'll show if there's been any improvement.

These threads might help. Just make sure you only launch the game through DXtweaker with "Force Shader PP" enabled.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=60591
http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?p=28023


Dell Dimension 3000 yes, just over two years old - that was a good guess; or do you have me under surveillance :|\\
Pizza van over the street, mate :lol:

[Schwuppes]

Damn it Cohaagen, give them the air!

[Fenris_Wolf]

Can't upgrade? :( Two choices come to mind.

1) Reduce video resolution for the game. If you're using 1024x768, make it 800x600.
2) Overclock the graphics card and memory.

[Cohaagen]

Damn it Cohaagen, give them the air!
http://www.movievillains.com/images/cohaagen.jpg

**** 'em. It'll be an example to the others.

[jimmie]

Does your extra 1GM of RAM not give you shorter loading time than before?

As for frame rate, you may already be at the edge of your card. If it can't be pushed more (often the case), you may just have to sacrifice quality for the peformance. Try to reduce FSAA setting (of even off) and see how it goes... might also try to reduce audio setting in directX...

[Nerazzurri]

Does your extra 1GM of RAM not give you shorter loading time than before?

As for frame rate, you may already be at the edge of your card. If it can't be pushed more (often the case), you may just have to sacrifice quality for the peformance. Try to reduce FSAA setting (of even off) and see how it goes... might also try to reduce audio setting in directX...

The extra RAM does give slightly shorter loading times mate, but those are of no consequence to me, I'd much rather have a smoother/faster running game - I'm sure you'd agree :up:

Performance - I've tried setting individual factors in the NVidia control panel to prioritise these, including the factors you suggest, but it made no improvement I'm afraid.

As for the card being maxed - as well as trying things suggested here I'm going to email NVidia with my results whilst using their default settings for SH3 and see what they've got to say; worth a try anyway.

Regards, Gavin.

[Nerazzurri]

Go to:

>>Options...

>>Adapter Information...

>>Uncheck "Read Only" and change latency to "32"

I'm surprised DXtweaker hasn't helped - if you use Ctrl-F8 it'll show if there's been any improvement.

These threads might help. Just make sure you only launch the game through DXtweaker with "Force Shader PP" enabled.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=60591
http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?p=28023

Ok mate I did that. I didn't realise about unchecking the read only box. No joy again. It's really strange out of all the things I've tried (and there's been many! LOL) that I've not really noticed any difference one way or the other; maybe just a slight reduction with some things. This would suggest another poster is correct in saying the card is already maxed but I refuse to believe 12 FPS is the best it can do.

I'll have a look at those links later today.

Yeah, I'm always starting it through DXtweaker. A question regarding that - can you start the game through SH3 Commander using tweaker??


Dell Dimension 3000 yes, just over two years old - that was a good guess; or do you have me under surveillance :|\\
Pizza van over the street, mate :lol:

I'm calling the Feds :nope:

[Nerazzurri]

1) Reduce video resolution for the game. If you're using 1024x768, make it 800x600.

Do you mean control panel/display/settings? Tried it that way - no good. Don't recall in-game settings for resolution?

2) Overclock the graphics card and memory.

On the list, mate :up:

EDIT - just tried emory 630mhz no difference

[Nerazzurri]

Apparently NVidia do not handle customer support - you have to contact the 3rd party manufacturer of the card.

I can't remember the manufacturer - does anyone know if I can find it somewhere on the system?? I tried the Windows and the Nvidia control panels, dxdiag and control panel>system with no joy.

[Dutchie-one]

Hello Mate I see you have a Dell Dimension 300go to the Dell website www.Dell.com and ask them is your memory a Kingston 1 Gb 184 pins 400 Mhz / PC 2700 CL 2.5 2,5 voltnot buffered and not ECC ?Dell has an helpdesk Dutchie-one

[Nerazzurri]

Hello Mate I see you have a Dell Dimension 300go to the Dell website www.Dell.com (http://www.Dell.com) and ask them is your memory a Kingston 1 Gb 184 pins 400 Mhz / PC 2700 CL 2.5 2,5 voltnot buffered and not ECC ?Dell has an helpdesk Dutchie-one

Hi mate.

memory out - nanya 512mb x2, 184 pin, 333mhz, PC2700, CL2.5, unbuffered, non ECC

memory in - ATA/LD? 1gb x2, 184 pin, 400mhz, PC3200, CL2.5, unbuffered, non ECC

low density and I'm not sure of voltage in both instances.

[Dutchie-one]

Hello Mate, as I told you go to the Dell website and ask the Helpdesk.I visit the site 4 hours ago.They recommand the Kingston memory for e Dell Dimension 300Regards, Dutchie-one