FPS Issue: Anyone Help Diagnose?

[teambpr]

Hi :)

 

My FPS in FO3 is generally very good indeed. Vanilla game it eats it up on highest settings, etc. My question is not about general performance but is about a big drop in performance in certain places/buildings, etc. Can anybody help me figure out why it might be?

 

Below are two screenshots, in one, my FPS is fine, gameplay is so smooth, but in the other it slows down a lot, very noticeable. But I can't figure out why or what the main difference is.

 

I have installed a few FPS affecting mods such as NMC Textures, some ambient sound, weather, Director's Chair, etc. But it's annoying because the big drop is only in certain situations. I also have Project Beauty/NPC improvements - could it be that? Can anybody help please? Maybe it's the fire or something, I can't figure it out???

 

So, in this situation - the FPS is brilliant, very very smooth. No problem:

http://www.teambpr.com/Pics/ScreenShot49.jpg

 

But in this one, it drops massively...!

http://www.teambpr.com/Pics/ScreenShot48.jpg

 

Sorry I haven't included much info about mods or system spec, but because it's not affecting everything and this seems more about performance in a certain situation/cell, etc. I didn't think it was as important.

 

Grateful for any help!! Thanks a lot!! :)

[nenina]

With the info you give me I can only venture two guesses:

 

1. Lights

I don't know if there is a mod that stops lights from flickering, but if one exists then you should jump on it. If you use Wrye Flash / Wrye Bash then there is an option to turn off flickering lights in the Assorted Tweaks section when you build your bashed patch.

 

2. You are suffering the FaceGen engine hardware communication bug. You need a special d3d9.dll in your Fallout 3 directory where the .exe is located or else humanoid actors will hurt your experience by being themselves.

 

These links are from the New Vegas Nexus, but the files will work for FO3:

 

If you have Nvidia

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/34778

 

If you have ATI / AMD

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/34970

 

Best I can do. Btw, you are using the Fallout 3 Stutter Remover and have Fallout Script Extender to use it, and you have bReplaceHeap set to 1 in the .ini for it, right? And you're using the 4GB LAA patch if applicable, and this fix http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/7529 if applicable?

 

My honest opinion: Ditch NMC textures asap unless they are the optimized low res versions the same size as vanilla. Not worth it.