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Low fps while walking with Radeon 9700
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RPGDot Forums > Gothic - Troubleshooting

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Excalibur2404
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Joined: 30 Nov 2003
Posts: 4
Low fps while walking with Radeon 9700
   

I've got a little problem with my Graficboard (at least I think it ist one).

It is as follows:
In the Game I have only about 22 frames per second when I'm walking around. As long as I don't move at all and do not look at models that are moving much or are quite complex, the fps rise fast up to 200.
But even when I look at the ground (to reduce complex graphics) AND try to walk, I get fps of around 22.
I've tried to reduce detaillevel, the fog distance, ... Ireduced everything possible, but there was no change.
A friend of mine has a similar Graphic-Board (Dell) and he has no Problems!

My system so far:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
1024 MB RAM (no "no name")
Asus A7N8X
Hercules 3D Prophet 9700

I've also tried to install newest drivers of all kinds - doesn't work.

Please help me, if you think you know what's going on!


Excalibur
Post Sun Nov 30, 2003 10:19 am
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Wulf
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Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Hello there Excalibur2404 and welcome to the forums.

Can see no fault with your hardware list, it should run gothic with no prob's

This could be one of those faults that could take 100 posts to clear up!

What is your sound device, is it integrated into the chipset. to confirm this, ensure you have istalled the latest "chipset" (agp/sound) mobo drivers.

Can you hear the sound o'k and in the game menu is it set on s/b or miles?

Try reinstalling but select the "repair" option. how old is the mobo and what is your bios date?

Is your pc running all other app's o.k?

Maybe we will check the memory later?
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Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Mon Dec 01, 2003 8:34 pm
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Gorath
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Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany
   

Your friend also has this problem: the frame rate is locked at ~23 fps.
You can unlock it if you install patch 1.08k, Player Kit 1.08k and the fpspatch.
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Post Mon Dec 01, 2003 10:10 pm
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Excalibur2404
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Joined: 30 Nov 2003
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The Problem isn't that the FPS are locked at 23. The manage to reach 200, but only when I'm not walking.

My PC computer works ok. The only problem ist that CS doesn't run in D3D since I've installed the new Catalyst Drivers.
Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:50 am
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Gorath
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When you move you wonīt get more than 23 fps unless you unlock the frame rate.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:44 pm
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Excalibur2404
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Ok, i have updated to 1.08k. I also found the fpspatch. It asks for a GothicMod.exe file. I don't have this file - what should I do with this Programm?
Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:25 pm
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Gorath
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http://www.rpgdot.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=211575

All files are in the same location as the FPSpatch.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:35 pm
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Excalibur2404
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Joined: 30 Nov 2003
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I got it It works fine, thanx!
But i still couldn't imagine, that my friend installed this patch. He didn't even play the game really... But his framerates were more than 80 all the time...?
Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:52 pm
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Gorath
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Joined: 03 Sep 2001
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He either didnīt use the internal frame counter or got wrong results. He would be the first with a good frame rate out of the box.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 10:03 pm
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hwfanatic
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Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 2850
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
   

I'm curious here... The frame limiter was implemented to prevent flickering and flinching while you move. As a developer who had the chance to work with an engine, I can confirm that it really helps... Why would you want to unlock it?

Once again, plain curiousity.
Post Wed Dec 03, 2003 3:46 pm
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Wulf
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Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Well i am even more curious!

So it's a kind of "smoothing" effect for the graphics? That explains it!

So, each & every time i install gothic & it runs as smooth as silk with super graphics, no jerkyness, no slowing down, no problems with multiple sprites,
No "patch" installed, no FPS patch. clear stereo sound, thats the way the game
writers wanted it to be?

So is that some p.c's need to have software patches installed to overcome hardware deficiencies?
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:37 pm
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hwfanatic
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Joined: 28 Oct 2002
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If I tell you that limiters are actually timers, you shouldn't be all that surprised. The neccessity of a timer in a game is natural, and is a result of movement. Each time something changes, the canvas of the drawing component needs to be re-drawn to reflect that shange. It is much easier to trigger this several times in a second than to detect changes... Thus, one would use a timer.

Timer have a certain period. But it seems irrational to limit the refresh rate of the canvas. The video card should simply do it as fast as it possibly can. Thus the timer interval should be set to 0. This timer simulates an infinite loop, and is not really a timer...
But, not only graphics are controlled with a timer. Movement is as well, but for a different reason. To insure that certain moving object is going to conduct the same way on systems of different speeds, the "command of movement" (increase object's x coordinate by const) is put within a timer with a period other than 0.

The problem is born when the period of the video timer gets higher than the period of the movement one. This usually happens when the object comes into a more complex enviroment, and the graph. card needs more time (in miliseconds) to render it. This delay every frame simulates a period of the timer controlling the video; but the period of the movement timer is still the same. If this lasts for some time, the object will move faster than the graph. card can show it, and, from the viewer's perspective, it will flicker (or flinch if you like).

To prevent this, the two timers are usually merged. This resolves the flickering problem, but the permenance of movement speed is compromised by the same reason. In high-complex enviroments the object will move slower than it usually does!

There is no solution to this, but the problem can be reduced considerably by setting a greater period to the video timer. This will force the object to move "slower" at all times, if you understand what I mean. And, this is basically called "frame limiting".

I had the chance to see for myself that it really does the trick, and reduces flickering to absolute minimum. Offcourse, flickering can not be avoided if you have too slow machine to get the game going, in which case it will always flicker. So, youn see, frame limiting is done not because of hardware deficiency, but because of it's excess.

The optimal framerate for human vision is about 20-30 fps. Any lower than that, and it will be seen as flickering, and any higher, and it will get unnoticed. The choice of G2 developers to limit it at 23 fps (approx. 43 ms) seems very rational to me...
Post Sat Dec 06, 2003 8:21 pm
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