Performance Tweaks: Difference between revisions
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This article relates to the pre-releases [[Thief's Den]] and [[Saint Lucia]]: | |||
== Show FPS == | |||
First, you can check how many {{abbr|FPS|frames per second}} are achieved by opening the console with {{key|Ctrl}}+{{key|Alt}}+{{key|~}} (tilde, {{key|^}} on German keyboards) and type: | |||
== | com_showFPS 1 | ||
== Optimizing the performance == | |||
=== Stop running programms in the background === | |||
Programs running in the background might either eat up memory that is needed for Doom3, and thus cause swapping to the hard disk, or they might consume CPU time or other resources. This can cause either general slowdowns or ''hickups'' during game play. | |||
=== Run Doom3 in fullscreen === | |||
Running Doom3 in windowed mode might be quite a bit slower than fullscreen mode. | |||
=== Reduce your resolution! === | |||
On older cards, Doom3's render engine is very expensive for every per pixel drawn, and reducing the resolution will help the most. For instance, at 1600x1200 the game needs to draw '''four times''' as many pixels as when running 800x600. The result with 800x600 will not look as bad as one might think – but the frame rate improvements might make it much more playable. | |||
=== Set the ambient shading to "Faster" === | |||
Only valid for '''Saint Lucia''': | |||
Inside the settings, change the ambient rendering method to "Faster". | |||
=== Remove the custom interaction.vfp === | |||
Only valid for '''Saint Lucia''': | |||
Rename <code>/darkmod/glprogs/interaction.vfp</code> (e.g., to <code>interaction.bak.vfp</code>) so that it is not used; ambient lighting will not look as good, but you may gain a few frames per second. | |||
=== Image downsizing === | |||
As a last resort, you may enable image downsizing: at the console, set '''image_downSize''' to '''1''' and then set a limit with '''image_downSizeLimit''', e.g., '''"image_downSizeLimit" "256"'''. This reduces texture memory requirements and may completely alleviate hard drive thrashing. There are similar cvars for bump and specular maps as well. '''Note: This may result in very blurry briefing and menu screens.''' | |||
== Last resort: Upgrade your hardware == | |||
Modern games need a lot of computing power, and while you don't need the absolutely newest hardware to play them, upgrading single components of your machine can help tremendously. | |||
* If you get less than 2Gbyte memory, consider upgrading your memory. This really helps to reduce swapping, which introduces quite noticable slowdowns. | |||
* If you got a graphic card from NVidia older than the GF 7x00 series, consider upgrading it. | |||
Upgrading your CPU will be quite complicated and the cost might be so sadly high that you could rather buy a new complete computer. Upgrading the hard disk will usually not help much with gaming, unless you are running out of free space. | |||
== See also == | |||
See also the [[FAQ]]. | |||
{{installation}} | {{installation}} | ||
Revision as of 11:51, 25 October 2008
This article relates to the pre-releases Thief's Den and Saint Lucia:
Show FPS
First, you can check how many FPS are achieved by opening the console with Ctrl+Alt+~ (tilde, ^ on German keyboards) and type:
com_showFPS 1
Optimizing the performance
Stop running programms in the background
Programs running in the background might either eat up memory that is needed for Doom3, and thus cause swapping to the hard disk, or they might consume CPU time or other resources. This can cause either general slowdowns or hickups during game play.
Run Doom3 in fullscreen
Running Doom3 in windowed mode might be quite a bit slower than fullscreen mode.
Reduce your resolution!
On older cards, Doom3's render engine is very expensive for every per pixel drawn, and reducing the resolution will help the most. For instance, at 1600x1200 the game needs to draw four times as many pixels as when running 800x600. The result with 800x600 will not look as bad as one might think – but the frame rate improvements might make it much more playable.
Set the ambient shading to "Faster"
Only valid for Saint Lucia:
Inside the settings, change the ambient rendering method to "Faster".
Remove the custom interaction.vfp
Only valid for Saint Lucia:
Rename /darkmod/glprogs/interaction.vfp (e.g., to interaction.bak.vfp) so that it is not used; ambient lighting will not look as good, but you may gain a few frames per second.
Image downsizing
As a last resort, you may enable image downsizing: at the console, set image_downSize to 1 and then set a limit with image_downSizeLimit, e.g., "image_downSizeLimit" "256". This reduces texture memory requirements and may completely alleviate hard drive thrashing. There are similar cvars for bump and specular maps as well. Note: This may result in very blurry briefing and menu screens.
Last resort: Upgrade your hardware
Modern games need a lot of computing power, and while you don't need the absolutely newest hardware to play them, upgrading single components of your machine can help tremendously.
- If you get less than 2Gbyte memory, consider upgrading your memory. This really helps to reduce swapping, which introduces quite noticable slowdowns.
- If you got a graphic card from NVidia older than the GF 7x00 series, consider upgrading it.
Upgrading your CPU will be quite complicated and the cost might be so sadly high that you could rather buy a new complete computer. Upgrading the hard disk will usually not help much with gaming, unless you are running out of free space.
See also
See also the FAQ.
