Low framerates on 8800 GT

[hondala]

Hi all!

 

I have this computer: (copy from everest)

 

Computer

Computer Type ACPI x86-based PC

Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

OS Service Pack -

Internet Explorer 7.0.6000.16546

DirectX DirectX 10.0

Date / Time 2007-12-05 / 17:24

 

Motherboard

CPU Type DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, 2800 MHz (11 x 255)

Motherboard Name Asus P5K (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

Motherboard Chipset Intel Bearlake P35

System Memory 2048 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)

BIOS Type AMI (06/22/07)

Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)

 

Display

Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB)

Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB)

3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Monitor Samsung SyncMaster 717MB/757MB/MagicSyncMaster CD177D(P) [17" CRT] (HVDWA36302)

 

Multimedia

Audio Adapter Realtek ALC883 @ Intel 82801IB ICH9 - High Definition Audio Controller

 

Storage

IDE Controller Intel® ICH9 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 2921

IDE Controller Intel® ICH9 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 - 2926

Storage Controller JMicron JMB36X Controller

Storage Controller Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

Disk Drive SAMSUNG HD501LJ ATA Device (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)

Disk Drive SAMSUNG SP2504C ATA Device (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)

Optical Drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-108 SCSI CdRom Device (DVD+R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/4x, DVD-RW:16x/4x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:32x/24x/40x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)

SMART Hard Disks Status OK

 

Partitions

C: (NTFS) 476937 MB (271961 MB free)

D: (NTFS) 238472 MB (7911 MB free)

Total Size 698.6 GB (273.3 GB free)

 

I have the latest driver, i applied kotor 2 official patch, i tried swkotor2.ini hack, the problem is, sometimes i have framerate slowdowns, i attached some schreenshot, so you can see it, i use v-sync on. This is the first level. You can see, if i stand in front of that place, frame rate is between 10-30, but other time, always 70-85. I tried disable aniso filtering, and anti aliasing, but it didn't affect the frame rate. I tried every combination in Nvidia control panel setting, nothing helped I think i have high end pc, i can run most modern games at very high graphic setting, even Crysis playable at very high detail, but K.O.T.O.R. 2 isn't

I read Intel dual core thread here, but it didn't help either.

 

Do you have any suggestion, what should i do now, or what the problem is?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[racofer]

"Size means nothing to the Force!"

 

It's probably due to the dual core processor rather than the 8800GT. Try setting CPU affinity for 1 on task manager. Since I don't have a dual core processor (yet) I'm not sure what else you could try. Someone in here should be able to offer you more help.

[Pidesco]

It's probably the volumetric fog that just wasn't well optimized. Try getting closer to one of the other clouds and see what happens.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Kot0R II does not like duel-core systems, try running it with only one...

[hondala]

First of all, thanks for the quick responses!

 

I tried what you told to me. I already tried CPU affinity, but i tried it once again

Here are the results:

 

Volumetric fog closely:

 

 

This orange glassy thing made 17 fps

 

 

Another fog:

 

 

Another orange glassy object, with normal fps

 

 

Same place, but this time, i turned off a core, in CPU affinity settings

 

 

So, i really don't understand it. If anyone can try it at the same place(i am at the mines, at the first level, after i met the guy) it would be a great help! Or if you have another idea, please tell me

[Pidesco]

Try turning off V Sync, but I really have no idea, and find this extremely odd...

[hondala]

V-sync doesn't help either, where i have high fps, i will have more(over 100), but where i have low fps, i still have low fps

[Pidesco]

Just play the game. 15 fps at a few rare locations isn't all that important in a game like KOTOR2.

[hondala]

You are right, Pidesco, kotor is my fav. game. I don't think, i will change my mind, because of fps drop sometimes. But i wanted to be sure, that no fix out there, or fps drop is normal, or something like that.

Thanks for all help and response!

[niteh]

It could be something specific to nvidia's opengl implementation. Try fiddling around with the settings in whatever the nvidia control panel thingy is called, or even test out a newer or older driver release.

[hondala]

I'm trying a newer beta driver, i will post results. I think i can't try older drivers, because, older drivers doesn't support my vga, it's the latest nvidia card

[hondala]

I tried Nvidia newest 169.12 driver, it didn't change anything.

I overclock my processor, so i tried the run on base frequency. It made it worse

I think, the problem is with the game engine. If you remember kotor 1, on Dantooine, it was so slow, i couldn't do anything. I'm still curious if anyone has the same problem, at the same place, it would be appreciated if anyone else can post screenshots too.

[Swxpert]

how do you overclock a compter?

[Pidesco]

It depends on the type of compter you use. There are many different types of compters.

[hondala]

Yeah, depends on your pc. They used to have dip switches. Now you can overclock via bios, or you can use clock generator software

[Hassat Hunter]

Kotor and Kotor2 have a really bad way of rendering smoke. It does so by using the CPU instead of the GPU, which is made for tasks like that. The best thing you could try is shutting one core off, add the "Disable Vertex Buffer Shaders=1" line at the correct place, and then hope for the best...

[Bokishi]

Kotor and Kotor2 have a really bad way of rendering smoke. It does so by using the CPU instead of the GPU, which is made for tasks like that. The best thing you could try is shutting one core off, add the "Disable Vertex Buffer Shaders=1" line at the correct place, and then hope for the best...

 

That did fix Dantooine for me before

[hondala]

Thanks for all help again. I put Disable Vertex Buffer Shaders=1 in swkotor2.ini after [Graphics Options], but it didn't change anything. If you would like, i can post another screenshots.

Cpu affinity setting make the entire game so slow, it ruins the game. Unfortunately it doesn't help here

 

I discovered something new, if i change swkotor2.exe priority to realtime, it runs a better than in normal mode. The place, where i made the screenshots, it still have low framerate, but it doesn't lock the graphics like in normal priority.

 

This lock, if you want to imagine, it's like, the animation stops for a moment, when you move the came, it's not continuous. If i change priority to realtime, this lock disappear, i still have 20-30 fps at certain place(example: screenshot), but it's continuous

Edited December 9, 2007 by hondala

[hondala]

Hi all again!

 

I didn't give up, i tried several things today. I though, i made something in the wrong way. So i tried different applications, for example: Sysinternals ProcessXP. I tried this cpu affinity settings, however i didn't believe that it would work, because i tried cpu affinity several times. ProcessXP didn't help at the 1st time, but second time, by accident, i set affinity at the beginning after i launched swkotor2.exe. I always tried affinity settings, when i was inside the game.

 

It worked I got constant 40+ fps at the place, where you can see 20 fps.

 

So i tried to run this way again, i couldn't, it didn't work I looked for another method to start swkotor2.exe with only 1 core. So i googled, and i found this software: Get and Set CPU Affinity

This program can run programs with 1 core, from the beginning, and this is what kotor2 needs for dual core processors

It solved all my problems i think.

If anyone has the same problem, try this program, set swkotor2.exe cpu affinity, check auto set affinity, and run kotor2

I never thought, i have to set affinity from the program start, i though, if i set inside i game is enough, i was wrong, but fortunately here is the help.

 

Thanks for all help again!

[SteveThaiBinh]

Thanks for posting the solution when you found it - a lot of people forget to do that, but it really helps the community and future visitors.

 

The link in your post is broken - I'm assuming you're talking about this site. I notice they don't recommend using their software with Vista - has that been a problem for you at all?

[hondala]

They don't recommend it, but it works perfectly with Vista, since i use it, i don't notice any slowdowns, it's perfect Maybe the writer of the program though, on XP works perfectly with all software, but Vista has some problems with some program. The most important thing is, it works with Kotor2. i don't use it with any other software

Sorry for broken link, it seemed to work in preview, i forgot to check it after post

 

This is the link: http://www.geocities.com/edgemeal_software...inity/index.htm

[hondala]

Hi all!

 

I finished the game. I used Get and Set CPU Affinity program every time. I never had any problem with framerates, it's enjoyable, i never noticed slowdowns. Maybe this program should be in FAQ i think it would be a great help for others

[Lidda-Bit]

Glad to hear you found a fix , cause I had no idea what to tell you . I too have a 8800gt and dual core AMD processor but I don't have any problems with kotor2 at all, but I know I won't be switchign to vista any time soon now :D!