My FPS sliced in half after upgrading.

[Cactus]

1: Introduction and test results

Right, this is driving me crazy so i thought i would share my test results with you all, to see if any of you guys can make anything of it.

 

Since this board doesnt seem to support any form of tables whatsoever ( ) i used a crude method using the code box. The top row shows the graphics AA (antialiasing) and AF (Aniostropic filter) settings, incase you down know what these are heres a basic summery. If you know what AA and AF do, skip on to section 3.

 

2: Anti Aliasing and Aniostropic filters and what they mean

 

The Anti Aliasing smooths the jagged edges of polygons, making a more pleasent look, jagged edges are more noticable in low resoloutions. Raising the AA level smooths the polygons, this is a strain on the graphics card, thus the higher your AA level the less FPS (Frames per second) you will get.

 

Aniostropic filtering basicly uses lower resoloution textures when objects are further away, the lower the level of AF set, the closer you must be for the high resoloution texture to show.

 

3: System specs

So that everyone has an idea of the system the test was ran on, a breif summary of the machine used.

 

AMD xp1800 (2.2ghz)

2 x 512mb RAM (corsair)

SATA hard drive

Nvidia 6800GT

NF7-s Motherboard

 

The software used for the test was FRAPS.

 

4: The test results

 

                   | 0AA/8AF  | 2AA/8AF   | 4AA/8AF  | 8AA/8AF   |
                  | M / H / L  |  M / H / L  | M / H / L  | M / H / L   |
    800x600| 85/22/26 | 60/22/26 | 42/22/26 | 21/17/24 |
  1024x768| 72/21/25 | 42/21/25 | 27/21/24 | 11/14/21 |
1280x1024| 38/19/25 | 25/19/25 | 19/17/25 | 06/11/18 |
1600x1200| 30/20/20 | 20/18/20 | 11/12/20 | 04/08/15 |

 

RIGHT! Here we see (if you can understand it) my bizarre test results. On the left column is the screen resoloution and as you work your way to the right you see higher levels of AA being used.

 

M/H/L are the places the FPS was tested, M being the game menu (with nihlus), H being high quality elvel, the tombs exterior on korriban (lots of dust etc, laggy), and L being low quality, which was tested standing in the ebon hawk.

 

Its also worth noting that x8 AA is still experimental, Nvidia dont yet reccomend using it because it can kill frame rates, i included it in the test anyway just for kicks.

 

5: Examining the results

There are some abnormalities in my results, some being;

• Switching from 1024x768 to 1280x1024 resoloution at x4 AA actually GAINED a frame! I tested this 3 times and the same results occoured!
  
• The game HAS TOTAL DISREGARD for my sanity by giving the same fps REGARDLESS to the AA level set! (x8 not included). in 800x600 it gives out 22fps regardless to the AA level set! Argh!
  
• In the high quality level, the game only lost 2 FPS going from 800x600 to 1600x1200! (at 0AA) Thats DOUBLE the resoloution!
  

Real Logic: "Oh you want to change the resoloution and go up to x2 AA from 0 AA? that will cost you X amount of frames-per-second, determined on a ratio of how much extra i need to render on screen. Have a nice day."

 

KOTOR2 engine "Logic": "Oh you want to change the resoloution and go up to x4 AA from 0 AA? that will cost you... meh, i cant be bothered, lets just call it one frame per second eh? Hell, i'll GIVE you an extra frame just to confuse you! Have a nice day, wierdo."

 

I mean come on, whats the deal with that?! If the game had a decent FPS to start with, then i would be incredibly pleased with only losing (or gaining!) 1 frame per second when going through such a change!

 

However the game does NOT have a decent fps for me! On my last graphics card (9600xt) i got a regular 30-40fps at 1024x768 with AA on 4! Now i cant get anywhere near it!

 

6: Loseing sanity

 

So i decided "hmm... lets see what my max fps i can get is!" The results are as follows...

 

800x600 res, EVERYTHING turned off, lowest of low settings: Menu: 130fps, Korriba n: 50fps, Ebon Hawk: 54fps!

 

The highest i can SQUEEZE out is 54fps ingame?! This is absurd, i was getting that at 1024x768 with x4 AA on my last card! Why does kotor suddenly hate me?!

 

Also for fun, here is everything set it its most ripe and juciest: Menu: 4fps, Korriban: 7fps, Ebon Hawk: 10fps.

 

 

Now wait a minute... did you notice that too? when everythings set to high, the menu fps is LOWER than the in game fps! Less than half the amount infact! Proof KOTOR2 is here to steal my sanity and corrupt my poor logic-minded brain!

 

7: Conclusion

So thats it, kotor2 seems pretty messed up for me, and i dont understand why. I mean i suffered a MASSIVE performance drop going from my 9600xt to the 6800gt, it cut my FPS in half, literally.

 

If anyone has any ideas, or anything at all to say, please comment.

I have included the FPS results in a .txt file attached incase anyone has trouble with the one in this thread.

 

Adios!

FPS.txt

Edited October 1, 2005 by Cactus

[BattleCookiee]

Did you install 1.0B, it has reported (with me, for example) to reduce FPS by... well.. a very lot?

[Cactus]

After the upgrade i installed the same patches (and bugfixes frim team gizka) that i had with the 9600xt.

 

I will back up my stuff and try a fresh un-patched version of the game now and see what i get.

 

EDIT: Nope, exactly the same. Fresh install, no patchs.

 

Does anyone else here use a 6800gt and get better performance? I just cant understand how its crippled my performance so much.

 

EDIT2: How strange... when i turn off frame buffer effects, i get double the frames per second and moreso! even when frame buffer effects are being USED!

 

This is most unusual... and highly confuzzeling

Edited October 1, 2005 by Cactus

[Cactus]

DAMN I'M SO STUPID!

 

Jeez, i've been forgetting to turn my 2nd moniter off when playing the game. i went from 13fps to 60.

 

EDIT: Yup, definatly was that, i now get around 30-40 in laggy areas and 50-60 in less intensive areas at 1600x1200 res with 4AA. Quite a remarkable change!

 

I wouldnt care, but i myself have told people to disable their 2nd moniter when playing, then i went and forgot

Edited October 1, 2005 by Cactus

[Judge Hades]

BWAAAHAAAAHAAAAAAAA! (w00t)