UADD_Wolf

I could please use some help. Actually you will be helping a couple of people. There are two other guys in my clan having the same problem: our FPS rates are low.
When we play America's Army: around 50 going down to fuscia 20 and yellow 30's. I have read what I can and adjusted the file AA suggests in its forums to allow 256 mb instead of the standard 64mb
I have made sure my settings on the Asus board is 512 mb aperture instead of the standard 64 because I have an 8x video card (which hates me)
I have set and reset and tried everything, but since the guys are having trouble too, I can't help but wonder if there is something funny about the card...
When I play UT2K3 OR 4 I get 70's.
The one guy has already traded in his card for a new of the same ilk. Same stuff.
I have 2200 mgz chip, 600+ mb ram, creative sb live 5.1 sound card and a T1 line (my ping is usually around 50)
have the omega drivers...have tried the plain catalyst drivers, have a new 500 watt power supply
and I am ready to cry!! (can you tell I am female?? )
I bought this card to have fun with and play games
One guy in the clan told me this morning...oh I have a 64 mb card and I get in the 70s fps in AA...well that did it...
So here I am writing...
I realize I may not have quoted everything in technical terms..but if anyone can read in between the lines...and can figure out something to help...I will give it one more shot...Please don't call me an idiot...I can learn and truly appreciate any help or thoughts on the subject.

Logla

Hi, there - welcome to DriverHeaven.

What kind of video card do you have?
Do you have Anti Ailiasing or Anisotropic Filtering turned on, either in the Video control panel or in the game itself?
The AGP aperture is maybe set a little high. Knock it back down to 128MB. If you have it set to 512MB then your allocating that much of your system RAM for AGP use. Its not needed to be more than 128MB really.

No_Style

She's using a Radeon 9800 PRO 128 MB, according to her title...?
1) What's the AGP voltage?
2) Is VSYNC on when you play?
3) What's the FSAA and/or AF level when you play?
4) Did you try Drivercleaner to completely remove old driver remnants?
5) Did you install DX 9.0B?
6) Did you install latest chipset drivers for your motherboard?

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Judas

again welcome to DH...

I'm sure alot of people are going to attempt to help you... so no worries on being called an "idiot" ....

OK.... like the other mentioned before.... please. set your AGP Apature to 128mb or even 64mb....

But were a little lost on the settings... computer your using to play this..

a little more detailed information would greatly help....

We could use such things as:

a)What driver version for your video card.... is it from the cd or... has it recently been downloaded off the net?
b)Is your computer a prebuilt? (bought off the shelf at a store.... such as a DELL or Gateway/ibm/ other)
c)you mentioned that you have a 500 watt psu.... what brand? is it AMD Recommended?
d)You could have ineffient cooling for your computer.. resulting the 9800 getting to warm.... check to make sure you have nothing blocking the steady straigh airflow from the front to the back of the case....

As it's morning... i'm a bit out to lunch if i've made an errors or missed something.. (most likely).....

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No_Style

There's nothing wrong with getting help. Nobody's an idiot here.

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Logla

cept' me for not spotting the 9800 title

UADD_Wolf

I will try to answer all the questions in this reply.
Before I do I just want to say, that I did all that you suggested and I will list it all and each time I went back into the game and there is no improvement or dis-improvement.
1) have run the game with and without vsync
2) have run the game with and without FSAA, FAA
3) have run the game with catalyst most recent download and omega drivers most recent downloads
4) ran driver cleaner and ran the game just to see
the fps rates were the same 40 in the green going down to 30s yellow and fuscia (sometimes lower if i chuck a grenade: becomes red), the highest i get is standing still on a stairway 72. Any movement or shooting of course radically changes my fps.
These rates are not only in Americas Army, but also in Ghost Recon and UT2k3 or k4 with only about 10 fsp increase across the board in the latter two games.

All my drivers(via, sound blaster etc), and bios are current as of 2 days ago.
It is not a prebuilt computer.
I have an asus A7V8X-X MOBO with an amd chipset 2200+, and a fsb: 266
pc 2100> two sticks 256 and one stick 128 (yes we removed stick by stick and kept trying the game. The highest fps comes with all three sticks.
The power supply is 500watt AMD approved: it is an A power supply with 2 fans
i have a another two fans blowing thru the computer front to back with nothing blocking and of course there is a fan and heatsink on the ati card.
I have a sb 0220 live 5.1 sound card
I tried only using the motherboard sound ..no fps improvement, have now switched back to sound blaster
My radeon card is a 9800 pro 128 mb AGP 8x its clock rate was: core: 378.00 and the memory was 337.50 as stated by omega control panel
I reset the aperture to 128
my agp voltage is 1.5 (mobo manual said)
I have dx 9.0b

I is a big discouraging...at this point I would love to see a spike one way or the other of fps...just to know something makes a difference. I have a T1 line and an optical mouse logitech and i microsoft natural multimedia keyboard...I have a floppy drive, cd burner and dvd/cd player.

Logla

Hmmm. this is wierd. I know this is going to sound drastic but have you tried a fresh install of the OS? Its usually a last resort but if that doesn't fix it you can almost be certain its a hardware problem.

Hang on in there - someone somewhere on here is bound to be able to help.

No_Style

Silly question, but.. I didn't see you mention resolution. What resolution are you running that game with?

BTW, here are the latest VIA drivers HERE

I didn't see you mentioning chipset drivers either~

I hope this helps

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UADD_Wolf

Ok i downloaded the latest via drivers..i had searched but didn't find those...so i was hoping...
I run AA at ultra low resolution...
on the omega section: chould DDC be checked off or not?

I tried the aperture at 64mb but then i lost about 10 frame rates..so I put it back to 128mb...
its consistent...i have the map memorized in certain areas now...where the 30 fps will appear and when it will go up to 50

When I first open the game...I have not gone online or chosen a server even...i will be at 100 fps...When I chose a server even with a ping of 50 the fps drop to 35-40 yellow/green. When I double-click to go into a game...there is a screen that comes up and holds until the computers are linked...that frozen frame is always 250-350 fps...It looks so nice.
As soon as I get in the game I am at 30-40 fps.

If I have to do an OS reinstall, It will have to wait until school is out. I have all my college stuff in there and I graduate in May. I ain't touching nothin for now.

Judas

ok.. this is rather strange indeed... if play the game normally without playing on a server.... you have good gameplay.. but playing on a server results in terrible loss in FPS... (is the throughout all game... because if it is... it doesn't appear to be your computers fault... but possibly the t1 line itself... it could be limiting your bandwidth even though your getting a good ping... sound strange? yep.... does it actually work that way... sorry to say yes)....

If you could.... try adjusting your Network settings in the games's options ... to something such as ISDN or even try dail up.. try them all. .... you'll have to set it.... then exit the game completely.. .and enter again for the settings to take full effect for sure

I've encounter problems when setting my current connection (t1-t2 equivelent) to the highest.. (LAN) ....... i would get serious drops in fps and lag.. although my ping was 20-30ms..... however... setting it to a notch lower or even a notch below would give me a solid good preforming game.... my ms would hit around 90-110ms most of the time though...but it actually felt more responcive....

I suggest you give that a try..... t1 line may be lacking the nessary bandwidth though.... some cable companies are now providing well over the speeds faster then t1... such as my ISP...

Give that a go.....

BTW.... if you load up AA or any of the UT's.... go into a game... (onto a server)... and hit the ~ key.... then type:

stat net

This will bring up more detailed information about your internet connection to the server..... and will tell you about packetloss and whatnot.... check the packet loss... if you get packet loss.. this can really sometimes hose your FPS

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UADD_Wolf

I was getting packet loss. 1-9 packets. I did change to the dsl and went out and came back in and now i am getting zero packet loss
Thanks for that tip

Ah but I know: what happened to the fps rate? Nada.
I went into everywhere and checked all the settings...the CP on the omega drivers.
A friend of mine has been trying out some testing and driver cleaned and reinstalled...so everything was default...I put EVERYTHING ON LOWEST SETTINGS..FOR performance everywhere...I got an increase of 10 fps in the game..which means I don't see too much of the yellow and hardly ever the fuscia which is better.

I may not have explained myself very well..only until one gets a reply does one realize..clarity may be cloudy.
When I try the fps in UT2K3,4 I no longer go online. I just do instant action, with about 7 bots. And the fps is usually around 70-90.
The Americas Army I always go online with. When I see 300 fps it is the freeze frame that shows up as I am waiting for the game to load into its connection. the fps freezes at that too until all is loaded.

Will the DDC make any difference on or disabled?

I just feel bad because this video card and then the power pack came to some serious change...I just feel like I have a RIGHT (lol) to good gaming...
I do really appreciate your help and ideas...I am at a point of cluelessness...The Package idea was a wonder to me... Good info and help!!

Judas

have you tried IDSN?.... packet loss kinda bites... if your getting packet loss at the top speed.. then there most likely is an issue with the server... or the connection to it.... Have you tried joining the DH Community UT2004 server and see how it fairs?... i am really trying to get same results with my card....

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UADD_Wolf

How do i find dh community servers of ut?

Judas

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...threadid=40013

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UADD_Wolf

Ok I booted up this morning...there was an upgrade from windows..for ATI driver compatability. It was from DEc 11, 2003.
I said to myself...well wonder why it didn't show up before but wow maybe this is the big help...obscure drivers that I needed."
So i downloaded them and installed...BIG MISTAKE
I lost 20 fps across the board...I am now back to fuscia(20's and even sometimes the teens...or 30's thru high 40's
Of course when i go into the console of the game (to type stat fps) before i connect i still get 300+ on that screen
the rest are all lower...
with the fix of the packet loss i gained 20-30 across the board..i checked i am still not getting packet loss but i am enjoying the game less today because the fps is so low..
If you guys can't help ...I can understand...this is soooooo weird and frustrating...I do appreciate and thank you for all your kindness and helps.

PS I didn't know how to put in dh's server ip in the UT2K4 demo...so i tried another server and i am getting 20 less there now too

Judas

ok.... you were running Omega drivers before right? (btw... try not to download ANY driver related stuff from MS... they are usually for last resort CAPABILITY related reasons.... it's not a major problem.. just a bit of a pain.. as cleanup can be revoltingly bad)..... anyways.. you gonna want to reinstall Omega's drivers.... as for actually opening up the ip... go to the internet selection area for joining servers.... right click anywere in the list and select "Open IP"... it should bring up a little window were you can punch in the IP... remember to put in the periods... as i've encoutered a few people asking why the couldn't connect... found out they were just punching in the numbers....

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thrallie

ok well first you want to never download the drivers from MS. That is a mistake because they are old outdated drivers that aren't made to be optimized for the 9800PRO.

I would recommend uninstalling the drivers and then installing the new omega 4.4's. If this doesn't work you might want to try reinstalling windows.

If this doesn't work there might be a bottleneck in the system. or more likely , a piece of mis configured software or bios setting.


Reinstalling windows has around a 40% chance of working..

UADD_Wolf

would it be too much to ask someone to post...say optimal settings for the video card? it is true i might have some obscure setting on or off incorrectly....
i do have the fast write off...everywhere..mobo ..omega etc
say for mobo and omega?
I did download the new omega and reinstalled...but there was something funny..it asked me if i wanted to overwrite a newer dll file and i said yes..because omega drivers need one another? i don't know..probably THAT was a mistake too...i can try again to uninstall and reinstall and accept the newer files...
someone had told me that catalyst had a new download..so i had uninstalled everything and then downloaded and installed those...no difference...
i went then uninstalled the cp for catalyst and installed omega..that is when i got the "there is a newer file, do you want to overwrite it? and I replied yes overwrite with the omega files...
i spent hours yesterday...trying and re trying...losing that 20 fps because of the wretched window driver download update..was disconcerting...i don't have alot of fps to lose...so i tried and retried

Judas

....if you never got back your speed after replaceing the MS drivers.... then there might be a bit of the registry and whatnot messed up.... Alot of driver installs usually cause this crap.... trust me... i hate it as much as you do... very disconcerning.....

Have your tried in the game to set the sound settings to SOFTWARE mode (instead of hardware or hardware EAX or surround sound of some sort).... sometimes this really give the boost of overall 20-50fps depending on how hard the system is getting hit by the sound quality settings... but

At this point it may be time to organize all your driver downloads...Format the hardrive and do a fresh start.... not exactly something anyone wants to do AGAIN.... but that MS update musta really messed something up.... and It's a pain to figure out what

First things first...

Get all the drivers for your motherboard/video card/sound cards.... you name it

Get the latest omegas from here though... http://206.172.2.40/~judas/Downloads...mega_2536a.exe

Next the latest from creative....

and so forth... if you have a cd burner... i recommend that you get everything... including even some of the basic programs that you download off the net...

IF you don't have windows XP SP1... get that also... (get the network install)
And get DirectX 9.0b Full as well

I'll post here within a few minutes with a fairly in detail of the way to do a fresh clean install... (hopefully it won't take to long)

If you need help located anything i've mentioned... just say.. i'll give your direct or almost direct links to them...

brb

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Judas

lol... i can't seem to find the guide..... er... might have to give me a few minutes... or HOURS just to find the thing...

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Judas

OK....

This is for installing windows

First thing first.... This is gonna completely WIPE everything off your drive... and i mean EVERYTHING

Make sure you get every driver for your computer... latest.. all the programs you want... you name it.... You might want to even print out this post for a guide but i stress that you take full responcibility of what happens.. it is not a bit my fault if anything goes wrong at all... shouldn't happen

OK... you made a disc with everything you need on it... that's includeing such programs as winzip.... maybe winamp.... a few other programs.... all the drivers including SP1 IF you cd doesn't have it intergrated already and DirectX 9.0b Redistruteable

(if you don't know were to get these.. just post and i'll give direct links)

STEP ONE:

Uplug your computer from the net... pull your ethernet cable out.... you don't want windows going out on the net right away... you can reactivate later... Pop in the windows XP cd you have and reboot

When it asks you to boot from cd-rom do it...

It'll load the files and whatnot to start windows setup... get to were it asks were to install windows...

at this point i'm going to recommend something:

Delete all the partitions you may have... depending on how large your hardrive is.... i suggest this:

Make C: Partition to be 10240MB (hit the C button under and unpartioned place)... then type in 10240.... hit enter.. and volla... you'll have a precise 10gb C: partition .... now to make another partition
select the next unpartition area and hit C again... and type in 5120MB hit enter.. and now you'll have either D: 5gb or (depending on the number of CD-rom drives) it could be E: or F: 5gb (if you don't want it to show up as E: or F:.... simply delete all the partitions again and start again.. it'll do it right the second time)
Next make the next partition as large as you want it... this will be used for you games....
and if you want to keep your downloads.. music.... other stuff... make a 4th partition as large as you want.. (just remember though... that your games partition is gonna have to be fairly large... probably in the 15000mb or higher if you want all games loaded)

Reason for doing this is that it'll keep your drives clean and organized.... less fragmentation as the days go buy... ( and i see personally.. a preformance boost.. abite... small... but allround boost)

Step TWO:

After making the partition... select the C: (first partition) and select NTFS (NOT QUICK) to format it....

after formating.. windows xp will start to install.. you'll punch in the nessaries such as cd key and location and whatnot.... basica windows xp routine install...

OK after windows XP Finishes... you'll be greeted with setting up your user info and activation... i suggest you activate later.... skip the stuff that you need to do over the net...... and soon finish up with the fresh desktop... and TAKE THE TOUR as well activate soon popups.
i suggest you click take the tour popup and just select non animated version... hit ok.. it'll load IE .. just close it down.. and it'll never bother you again....

STEP THREE:
FOR ORGINAL XP INSTALL (non-intergrated XP SP1 cds)

pull the windows xp cd out.. and put in your cd...navigate to the SP1 network installer.... and run it.... let it do it's task.... reboot after it finishes up.... and you'll have a clean install of sp1 without worries of sp1 crap showing up later...

STEP FOUR:
(you may skip this part if you don't have any of this stuff... it's completly optional)
If you have any Kernal updates after SP1 was released.... (there are a few).... you must install these now... rebooting after it finishes...
Also if you have CPU driver updates ... install and reboot after also....

STEP FIVE:
Defrag your C: drive..... and format the other... right click them and make sure everything is set to default.. and NTFS is selected.. DON'T do a quick format... Do this for each drive....

After defraging and formating the other drives right click MY COMPUTER in the start menu... hit properties..... and navigate:

Adavance>Preformance SETTINGS>ADVANCED>Virtual Memory CHANGE

You are greeted with a layout of how the swap file is setup...
Select C: and then just below it... set it to NO PAGING FILE ..and hit the button to the left to SET.... now select your next drive in the list that is 5gb.... and below select CUSTOM

Now set the initial to 128
set the max to 4096
then hit the SET button...

hit OK .. OK... Apply (if it's available)... and then OK... (it'll ask you to reboot a few times for the settings to effect... on the last OK... to exit the properties... hit yes to reboot)

appon reboot... defrag your C: drive again..

STEP SIX:
Disable Hibernation:
RIGHT click the desktop>Screensavers>Power>Advanced
Uncheck "Propt for password when computer resumes from standby
move to the HIBERNATE tab and Uncheck Hibernation (if it isn't check... then your all good)
hit apply and ok... Defrag Drive C: again

STEP SEVEN:
Install DirectX 9.0B Redistruteable
Reboot after...
Defrag your hardrive

STEP Eight:
Install Your Motherboard Chipset drivers.. (be it via... install them using normal... restart.... defrag C: drive again)

STEP NINE:
Install Video card Drives... be it omega... install them normally.... after installing... Reboot and Defragment again
After rebooting and defraging... if you having installed your monitor drivers.. do so now... (if you need to do this.. make sure your monitor isn't showing up as DEFAULT... plug n play is safe though)

STEP TEN:
Install your Sound Card Drivers and reboot after even if you don't need to ... this will ensure everything runs smoothly... defrag after rebooting

STEP ELEVEN:
Install your Other devices.. perferably the Network adapter first... then the rest .. in the order of often you use them....

STEP TWELVE:
Plug your in your internet at this point... Activate windows.... and let Windows Update startup by itself and download.... Don't install any extra programs till it has downloaded ... you may browse the net now though.... and configure a few things.... After it finishes (it may take up to 30 minutes for the windows update downloader to kick in...).... reboot... defrag your drive.... and install your programs.... Defrag after each program...

STEP THIRTEEN:

GAMES> now for the fun part.... installing games... make SURE you select your GAMES drive (the third drive in your list).... and make sure you setup folders for it...

For example.. UT/UT2K3/UT2K4 all like to install to C: first... don't let it.... type in something like (lets say your games drive shows up as E: drive)

E:\Unreal\Unreal Tournament
E:\Unreal\Unreal Tournament 2003
E:\Unreal\Unreal Tournament 2004

This will keep your games organized... and easy to navigate.... also.. installing all your games this drive will leave your MAIN C: drive alone... less fragmentation..

after each game install... PATCH THEM.. don't ever run a game before patching them..... some of the new settings available through patches.... won't take full effect if you run them before the patch.... defrage after each...

DEFRAG? WHY? reason for massive defraging after each willl keep your system from fragmenting as quickly... also makes it extremely easy to defrag later... as you don't have to wait as long.... if you defrag often.... you will only have to wait a minute for it to fully defrag.... if you don't do it often.... it'll takes AGES to defrag.... I also so a nice boost overall from doing this constantly.... and really... it doesn't take long at all... it's a nice habit to get into...

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UADD_Wolf

I will follow your directions etc..but I must wait until i graduate....I need my computer desperately for school..i have two powerpoints etc to prepare before april27...i probably won't even be playing much...and i have work too...but i am truly grateful...
i never thot to partition my drive like that...
i have a lot of images etc for school i was planning on cleaning up totally...and i will...
i printed out your directions...
i have an 80 gb and a 20 gb drive...i have not even used the 20 yet...
Thank you very much!!for your time and patience...

Judas

hmm... if you have a 20gb... you might wanna put the 5gb partition on IT.. along with maybe making the other 15 gb for other stuff..

Basically... change around:

80GB:

Partition 1: 10gb (C: Drive)
Partition 2: 70gb (D: Drive)

20GB
Partition 1:5GB (E: )
Partition 2:15GB (F: )

also.. remember... you can set up the drive letters in the order you partition.... so if you made the C: drive first... then moved to the second drive and made the 5gb partition.. it should show up as D:.... and so forth... and also remember.. if it shows up as E: or F: right away... it's due to your cd-roms taking the letters before it... to fix it... just delete the partition again.. and start over... i've NEVER ever had to delete and start over more then once...

Good luck with your classes..... keep this thread bookmarked.... (these threads tend to move quickly out of site if none posts in em)

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UADD_Wolf

i tried accessing the ip: 65.25.95.162:7777
and it flashes repeatedly something about a patch?
for the demo?
or is the full game playing there?
i only have the demo...
lol

Judas

whoops.. sorry.. i thought you had the full version... the server is a dedicated Full version... that has the latest patch......

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UADD Wolf

I will when the price goes down and my money tree blooms...lol
Seriously when I get some free time away from school etc...get the full version...I like the demo alot...
I just want to wish EVERYONE HERE:

[COLOR=deeppink]A MOST BLESSED AND JOYFILLED EASTER!![/COLOR] [COLOR=deeppink]HE IS RISEN AS HE PROMISED AND GOES BEFORE US IN LOVE AND GRACE!![/COLOR]

UADD_Wolf

I keep getting this error...when I play Americas Army...perhaps this is part of my problem...??

OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: AuthenticAMD PentiumPro-class processor @ 1792 MHz with 639MB RAM
Video: RADEON 9800 PRO (Omega 2.5.30) (6414)

PlayerReplicationInfo SFhospital.PlayerReplicationInfo14 (Function Engine.PlayerReplicationInfo.GetCommVolume:0018) Unknown code token 3C

History: FFrame::Serialize <- UObject::ProcessEvent <- (AGP_HUD SFhospital.AGP_HUD5, Function AGP.AGP_HUD.PostRender) <- FPlayerSceneNode::Render <- UGameEngine:raw <- UWindowsViewport::Repaint <- UWindowsClient::Tick <- ClientTick <- UGameEngine::Tick <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop

Judas

....hmm... this you might want to post about in the Radeon Driver Thread...

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UADD_Wolf

I found someone with my same problem on the www..but he never got an answer in the forum he posted...(it was NOT dh thats for sure...lol)
Also he already reformatted his drive and it didn't help....