Anti-Aliasing break and FPS Drops

[ecksile]

I was fooling around with the graphic settings today because i was getting MASSIVE FPS drops recently, randomly and quite quickly sometimes 30 secs into the game it wasn't heat because i

 

never go above 53C, but i noticed my GPU would jump to 99.99% and just sit there when i got the FPS drops. Compared to when i wasn't experiencing the drops my GPU would bounce

 

around in between 40% to 99% but it was never a consistent number it would bounce around. I would go from 60-40 average to 11 and just sit at 11, if i stayed in game for longer id drop to

 

about 3 and then sit there until i reset the game. I found out that alt tabbing fixes this issue temporarily. But this game hates ALT-TAB about as much as me so it crashed more then it fixed

 

when i alt tabbed. I thought it might be a memory leak but once i turned quality to minimum i stopped getting the FPS drops. Anyways I've been trying to pin point the source for the FPS

 

drops and since i reset the GFX I haven't noticed any problems. but i haven't really played for very long because of the next topic. So while i was doing this I figured hey why not try to see

 

what causes the AA bug too while I'm at it. I have suffered from the AA bug for quite a long time. So i messed around enabling things 1 by 1 trying to break the AA i was able to put

 

everything up and when I got to the water settings is when i started to see results. once i tweaked the water i was able to break AA but its completely random in the way it breaks. It seemed

 

any option i tweaked from Low settings in the water tab broke AA. Ever since i enabled it now it will break no matter what. But it chooses randomly when it wants to (i can enter vats 1 time

 

and it will break Or i can enter vats 10 times and blow up a couple cars before it breaks sometimes even longer). Even if i set the graphics in the water back to default low it still breaks now.

 

So i was just curious if anyone knows the source. I have heard of multiple fixes and none have worked for me. Forcing AA through CCC nor Tray tool works the game wont even start with

 

AA using this method. The only way i can get AA to work for me is if i enable it through the launcher options and even here it doesn't always apply itself at start up. Ive tried all fixes and

 

none work for me. Ive had these problems on multiple drivers and i am up to date. I do know that my GFX card has a bad memory module. Buts that's not the source as i have had the

 

problem since i got the card and Ive had it for a good while. Also i don't get the drops IN ANY OTHER GAMES. Including Oblivion with QTP3, AEVWD, Multiple instances of OBGE, Full HDR and

 

4xAA with Temporal AA and Adaptive AA enable and 16xAS. I also have some High quality sky and LOD textures installed and Unique Landscapes the only thing can really kill my card is with

 

Better Cities installed ill get around 14-20 fps in cities But lately Ive noticed looking in certain directions with BC while inside certain cities i will drop to about 2-5 fps and sit there till i look

 

away. There is one place that i seem to get the same FPS drops as FO3

 

and that is in the waterfront district there's a place that when i go to a certain spot no matter what direction I'm looking it will drop to 1 FPS and i will sit there till i restart. But the same

 

problem was happening in FO3 just about anywhere. There are also like 3-4 places in FO3 that used to always drop me no matter what as well but now its just about anywhere in the

 

wasteland. Except Interiors (DC ruins, sewers, towns, etc). So far it hasn't happened since the GFX reset and its not a save problem because it happens on any saves old or new. I'm just

 

curious about what your thoughts might be on both these subjects so Post away. I also suffer from FPS drops randomly from some lighting. Sometimes in interiors I will get certain lights that

 

kill my card. but its random. Sometimes they will kill my card but if i reset the game they wont anymore. Its completely random always had this one too.

 

P.S. I FAIL AT DOUBLE SPACING xD

 

System Specs.

 

XP Pro 32bit SP2 (no i will not update to SP3 because its fails as bad as vista i have tried it)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 2.67 (Stock Clocks)

4GB Corsair Dominator Dual Channel DDR2 @ 1066 (Stock Clocks)

ATi Diamond 3870X2 (Stock Clocks)

[Alastair91]

Are you also having the same issue with other PC games? Try updating your video card and sound card drivers.

[CommanderCrazy]

Problem found!

ATi Diamond 3870X2

 

Nah, just messing with ya.

[ecksile]

Its not drivers, as i stated above I'm fully up to date. Although i actually have yet to see driver updates actually improve performance or fix game related problems in any game =/. Fallout3 is the only game that has ever given me any problems and truth be told i think its just Bethesda's fail engine. Actually since this post i think i completely broke AA in all games i guess its just a dying card... I know its not instability's with the other hardware i ran prime 95 for 16+ hours first try with no crashes hardest test. as well as memtest...so it is card or engine related. @ Commander Crazy i actually agree with you. I bought the card when it was fresh and new. but had to mail in the rebate almost immediately for various reasons. Only to find out that the card fails but too late to take it back for my money back. And i still have yet to actually see the rebate.. Didn't see much of an improvement over my old 1950 pro its a shame ATI doesn't manufacture their own cards anymore...