Re: Interesting Problem

**cptCuervo** · 07-21-2007, 09:57 PM

I have never had this problem before in POE2. However I have been experiencing the same drop in Frame Rates on our server. I usually get about 75-100 FPS (even testing), but I have been getting a solid 10-30 with a full server. (Berezen Island, Acorn, Orel were the last ones that I played with this experience).

I will investigate further, however lowering my settings to the recommendations of Whiskey (all but resolution) did not rectify the situation.

AMD X2 4600
ATI x1950 pro (512 MB)
2GB DDR3200 RAM
SB Audigy 2 ZX

**WhiskeySix** · 07-21-2007, 09:59 PM

Make sure to disable vertical sync in your control panel also - jmaker was having seeing the same symptoms, but the problem turned out to be he reinstalled a driver and it enabled vsync.

**jmaker** · 07-22-2007, 12:50 AM

Yeah try disabling Vsync. That definitely solved my massive framerate drop problem. Cuervo does this happen only on POE2, because for me this was happening on both POE2 and PR. I was reading the Tweak Guide for BF2 and was just messing around with the settings in the nvidia contol panel, and after turning vsync off, I put all my in game settings back to max and my framerates have returned to normal.

But this has to be odd if this is everyone's problem, because this started happening to me during .6 PR release candidate. I say it's odd because I changed no video card settings from the first .6 beta release to the RC to the final release.

**machowner** · 07-22-2007, 01:06 AM

Yea, it is odd. I'll be walking around with a smooth 40 or so framerate and all then it will start going from 40 to 10 and back and forth. I am about to test out the new settings but I don't understand why it would start roller coasting like that.

**Knights_Roundtable** · 07-22-2007, 01:12 AM

Anyone know how to find vsync in the control panel?

**jmaker** · 07-22-2007, 02:18 AM

Well if you're using the nvidia control panel, click on 'manage 3d settings' and make sure you're on the 'global' tab, and vsync is at the bottom of that.

**corporate** · 07-22-2007, 02:39 AM

I cleaned out my shader cache and found that it helped a lot. These really was a noticeable difference. I ripped this from Tweakguides.com:

Clearing Shader Optimizations: When you change the graphical settings or install a new patch, BF2 attempts to optimize the shaders used in the game for the best performance on your particular hardware. These optimized files are stored in your \Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2\cache\ directory. If you've changed your settings several times, I recommend you finalize your changes, close BF2, go to the above directory and delete everything under the \cache\ directory. The next time you start the game and play single or multiplayer, your shaders will be optimized again. Close BF2 one more time, defragment your hard drive, and now things should be much smoother and load much faster the next time you go to play BF2.

**WhiskeySix** · 07-22-2007, 04:06 AM

Display Settings -> Advanced -> 3D / DirectX settings [tab] -> Show Advanced

.. or something like that.

OH! You know what else it could be? Heat problems. When your card gets to hot, it will under-clock itself to let it cool off. Get a program like SpeedFan or some other utility (AtiTray maybe?) that shows your GPU temperatures. It should update your max temp. If you're over 75C, it's probably throttling down the clock. Mine was doing exactly that about a week ago... cleaned the dust sweater of the heatsink and it was good as new.

**Daarken** · 07-22-2007, 02:21 PM

We need to compile alot of these tips into a Lag reduction FAQ

**khaerus** · 07-22-2007, 04:26 PM

Here's another way to save some ram for the game... Disable the movies that load on start. I think I got this from TweakGuides some time ago as well.

Goto your ProgramFiles/EA Games/Battlefield2/Mods/POE2/Movies. You'll see three files: intro.bik, menu_loggedin.bik, and menu.bik. Rename them all (for example "intro.bikx") and the movies won't load.

Keep in mind this won't help a whole lot for POE, since they kept the movies pretty small, but it's something.

**cptCuervo** · 07-22-2007, 10:03 PM

Whiskey,

I am only experiencing this in POE2.

I did recently update a video driver and control panel, and I have been looking into the settings that are enabled/disabled. I checked my CC settings for my video card and I do not have Vsynch turned on. But good catch. I did have some other settings on that I do not know about. I will disable them and see how my situation improves.

I still suspect that this is isolated to my system/settings... However I will have to push some more buttons to see what blows up or works.

Thanks for the help.

**P8riot** · 07-23-2007, 05:39 PM

I switched everything to LOW and still have really good visual results especially with the 8800GTX 768MB card. I was rather shocked to find out the graphics were THAT much more involved.

**WhiskeySix** · 07-23-2007, 06:45 PM

PoE2 is really pushing the capabilities of BF2's engine. Odessa has a lot going on... The canal on Odessa is built completely out of static objects... so is every fence, tree, railroad, dock, retaining-wall, etc... basically if it's not dirt or plants, it's a static.

also - the map is huge... 4x the size of karkand:

**DrunkenPirate** · 07-23-2007, 06:58 PM

she's a beast ain't she? :P

**cptCuervo** · 07-23-2007, 07:30 PM

I discovered my issue. It was definitely the ATI Control Panel settings.

Of course I don't remember changing these settings. However when I disabled the "Catalyst A.I." and "Adaptive AA" all of my worries went away. I am back up to 75-100 FPS on high settings. I am only getting the occasional server rubber-banding lag...

Praise the gods!

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