Performance & sound problem

Redwine · 09-14-06, 07:36 AM

I have same problem... P IV 3.4, ATI X800 XT PE 256mb, 3GB RAM, specially when lot of propellers sounds are around, or when you put the camera around a tanker in fire, fire sound eats the FPS, somo similar when there is a naval battle, in example in bismarck mission.

You can try using the windows sound recorder utility and reduce the quality of some problematic sounds from 44khz down to 22 or 16 Khz.

Do you use an onboard sound card ?

I do, may be the onboard sound card takes too much resources from the CPU ?

stabiz · 09-14-06, 08:08 AM

The sounds you are after are included in the GW-mod, yes. Your system should have no problems with this game, unless you are running full antialiasing and other stuff you can force through within the graphics adapter itself.

If not, try some different drivers, like the omega ones. (Didn`t work for me, but I have nVidia)

Besides, I have a way slower system than you, and no choppiness unless I record at the same time.

Henry_pl · 09-14-06, 03:55 PM

Stabitz could you tell us about your specification ?

Do you have an integrated or PCI sound card ?

I looked at the game files- and now I see that each sond like a fire or shell explosion is represented by a single .wav file...
Could this be a problem ?
Many explosions = file opened many times (in the same time).

And still- is there any way to fix it ?

I find no option to change sound quality in SH3- only sound levels.

redleaf · 09-15-06, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Henry_pl

Stabitz could you tell us about your specification ?

Do you have an integrated or PCI sound card ?

I looked at the game files- and now I see that each sond like a fire or shell explosion is represented by a single .wav file...
Could this be a problem ?
Many explosions = file opened many times (in the same time).

And still- is there any way to fix it ?

I find no option to change sound quality in SH3- only sound levels.

Sounds like it could be a particle problem? I run gw1.1a on a P4 2.4, 1GB RAM creative Live! value soundcard at 80% particle (high res textures also). I have no pausing (I also run enditall before playing, and have reduced desktop to 1024*768 to match SH3).

Might be worth checking?

*edit*
d'oh

must read post properly before responding. Sorry, I didn't spot the graphics settings in the first post.
I have had problems with soundcard, it "screeched" at me when the particle density was set too high - game didn't pause, but a horrible screeching noise came out of my speakers. I put this down to pushing my system too hard, and the soundcard being the weak link gave up. I've not had any since reducing the load (i.e. particles to 80%).

I'll leave my original post as a "check this also", please ignore if not relevant
*end edit*

red

Finnbat · 09-15-06, 08:13 AM

I had this small few nanoseconds errors before I defrag my harddisk.
Try to run a cleanup and then ask windoes to go thru all files and place them in order.

That helped me.

stabiz · 09-16-06, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Henry_pl

Stabitz could you tell us about your specification ?

Do you have an integrated or PCI sound card ?

I looked at the game files- and now I see that each sond like a fire or shell explosion is represented by a single .wav file...
Could this be a problem ?
Many explosions = file opened many times (in the same time).

And still- is there any way to fix it ?

I find no option to change sound quality in SH3- only sound levels.

I have an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ , 1.5 gig RAM and an 6600GT 256 MB (AGP). I use the onboard sound card (Realtek 97?), and with GW I have 70-100 fps in open sea with external cam, and never below 18-20 when recording with fraps in harbours.

Have you updated your drivers? There are drivers for motherboards, graphic cards and cpu`s.

Henry_pl · 09-16-06, 12:41 PM

I installed latest soundmax drivers (which are supposed to use less CPU)- it helped a bit.

I enabled Asus AI NOS (program which automatically overclocks CPU when needed)- it also helped.

Now those 2 above work together- and freezes during explosions reduced to 1/3 or even 1/4 of their previous time (now they are hardly noticeable).

I'm not going to buy a sound card only to improve SH3 performance

The one on the motherboard is OK- works fine in other applications, the chopiness comes rather from not-too-smart sound system made for the game which makes a soundcard work hard (I guess that making all those sunds .wav files was not the best possible solution

)

I'd rather buy a faster CPU (or overclock the one I have).

And I'll still be looking for a software solution for this problem- i'll ask some geeks...

Henry_pl · 09-17-06, 07:06 PM

I have just found a fix for our integrated-sound-card problem !

Basically you've got to modify some sound files (ex. explosions) with a program which allows you to change them- lower their quality

I'll write a new thread (dedicated for anyone with integrated sound card problem in the future) in ~8hours (im sooooooo sleepy, it wasn't easy to find an appropriate program)

I've just finished testing and it works really fantastic- Bismarck mission on external camera with not even one freeze (100% details and all IQ options ON)

Also- all explosions without freezeng- yeaaaaaaah now I see they look really fantastic

And sound quality difference is hardly noticeable- after few minutes you forget that these are low-quality sounds.

09-14-06, 07:36 AM	#1
Redwine Sea Lord Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: San Martin de los Andes, Neuquen, , Argentina. Posts: 1,962 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	I have same problem... P IV 3.4, ATI X800 XT PE 256mb, 3GB RAM, specially when lot of propellers sounds are around, or when you put the camera around a tanker in fire, fire sound eats the FPS, somo similar when there is a naval battle, in example in bismarck mission. You can try using the windows sound recorder utility and reduce the quality of some problematic sounds from 44khz down to 22 or 16 Khz. Do you use an onboard sound card ? I do, may be the onboard sound card takes too much resources from the CPU ? __________________ . "SH III and SH IV Mods" "Manual TDC Tutorial" "SH2 Downloads Selection"

09-14-06, 08:08 AM	#2
stabiz Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Norway Posts: 4,224 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	The sounds you are after are included in the GW-mod, yes. Your system should have no problems with this game, unless you are running full antialiasing and other stuff you can force through within the graphics adapter itself. If not, try some different drivers, like the omega ones. (Didn`t work for me, but I have nVidia) Besides, I have a way slower system than you, and no choppiness unless I record at the same time. __________________

09-14-06, 03:55 PM	#3
Henry_pl Seaman Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Cracow, Poland Posts: 33 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Stabitz could you tell us about your specification ? Do you have an integrated or PCI sound card ? I looked at the game files- and now I see that each sond like a fire or shell explosion is represented by a single .wav file... Could this be a problem ? Many explosions = file opened many times (in the same time). And still- is there any way to fix it ? I find no option to change sound quality in SH3- only sound levels. Last edited by Henry_pl; 09-14-06 at 04:32 PM.

09-15-06, 08:13 AM	#5
Finnbat A-ganger Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Finland Posts: 78 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 0	Try also this I had this small few nanoseconds errors before I defrag my harddisk. Try to run a cleanup and then ask windoes to go thru all files and place them in order. That helped me. __________________

09-16-06, 12:41 PM	#7
Henry_pl Seaman Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Cracow, Poland Posts: 33 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I installed latest soundmax drivers (which are supposed to use less CPU)- it helped a bit. I enabled Asus AI NOS (program which automatically overclocks CPU when needed)- it also helped. Now those 2 above work together- and freezes during explosions reduced to 1/3 or even 1/4 of their previous time (now they are hardly noticeable). I'm not going to buy a sound card only to improve SH3 performance The one on the motherboard is OK- works fine in other applications, the chopiness comes rather from not-too-smart sound system made for the game which makes a soundcard work hard (I guess that making all those sunds .wav files was not the best possible solution ) I'd rather buy a faster CPU (or overclock the one I have). And I'll still be looking for a software solution for this problem- i'll ask some geeks...

09-17-06, 07:06 PM	#8
Henry_pl Seaman Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Cracow, Poland Posts: 33 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I have just found a fix for our integrated-sound-card problem ! Basically you've got to modify some sound files (ex. explosions) with a program which allows you to change them- lower their quality I'll write a new thread (dedicated for anyone with integrated sound card problem in the future) in ~8hours (im sooooooo sleepy, it wasn't easy to find an appropriate program) I've just finished testing and it works really fantastic- Bismarck mission on external camera with not even one freeze (100% details and all IQ options ON) Also- all explosions without freezeng- yeaaaaaaah now I see they look really fantastic And sound quality difference is hardly noticeable- after few minutes you forget that these are low-quality sounds.