Graphics optimization (and wierdness)

[frank lee]

Shortly before the game was released I burned out my graphics card, again, it's hot in the summer here. I returned it to the village computer shop who said they would sort it out for me. Well this is Spain, nothing happens that quickly here so it was two an a half months! before they acquired a replacement and in the meantime they loaned me a very basic 512 to run on.

 

So I tried to run FONV on a 512 and it wasn't happy so I;

 

installed the D3d9

turned off the shadows

the water effects

the screen bloom and HDR

textures to Low, Low

installed de-cluttering mods

installed remove lighting effects mod

installed remove muzzle flash mod

began each play with 'temo'

re-wrote the .ini to take out mouse acceleration

and some other stuff I don't even remember. You get the picture and so, just, did I. About 15 to 22 Fps :pinch:

 

So new card arrives and this is where it gets strange. Fitted new card and 35Fps, Okay lets try turning some s**t back on.

Water and shadows on - 35 to 40Fps.

Textures up, LOD up - 40 to 45Fps

HDR - Bang! 50 plus Fps and so on. In short with an adequate G-card the more work the game asks it to do the the happier it is. Removed the anti clutter and lighting filters, took out the D3d9 and I'm flying . . .

Antialiasing and ansi-filtering set high and glitches and staggering vanish and Fps doesn't drop below 45Fps.

 

I started a mob firefight in the lobby of the Tops (one of the most challenging lighting environments) and it's significantly better with everything maxed out. It feels as if the graphics management protocols were written by someone who was unfamiliar with the concept of Low-end. So I'm fine and I thought I'd share these 'findings' in case it was any help to anyone.

 

I'd be interested if anyone could explain this, it seems weird to me.

[secksegai]

It can be ironic, but yes, sometimes the lowest settings don't always result in the best performance. It's likely to be related to the coding in the drivers, something along the lines as scripting being more. efficient I believe. Also keep in mind things like new patches can affect performance (typically for the better) as code is optimized.