Re: Loading Times Test

**FeistySheep.** · 08-04-2007, 08:02 PM

How do you get the average, I just looked at the max and noticed that it was relatively stable at max, although about 30 secs in, it went into a little decline. Also, I think that I made a mistake when it came to my RAM speed. I'm pretty sure its PC2700 at 333Mhz but I'm still not certain and I couldn't figure out how to check it with CPU-Z

**-=4th=-1/2Hawk** · 08-04-2007, 08:49 PM

Some notes from an actual mod dev - the guys talking about the hard drives being key are pretty much spot on, though theres a whole chain of hardware inbetween your HD (source) and your RAM (destination) so an argument could be made that having a high bus speed would also help.

So, the BF2 file structure splits everything up into client files and server files. The stuff only you can see (and hear etc) locally on your box comes from the client (ie: you). This would be the visible meshes, textures, sounds - everything needed to recreate the world around you at any given moment in time. The remote server doesnt care your tank is grey or what your A-10 sounds like, its just dealing with the physics and keeping track of where everything is to pass info back to each player. So, the server files store all the collision meshes, animations, material properties, damage modifiers, etc.

Right, therefore the map load process is two main steps. First it checks the map files to see what content on your box is needed for the map. Youve got 135MB of custom PR stuff there to go thru, plus 146MB of the original BF2 files to sort out as PR is not a 100% total conversion. Then, its got to verify that you havent tweaked your files to give the enemy hot pink bunny suits or make all the buildings see thru... this also takes a lot of time.

Anyway, all that garbledygook is rather independent of your gfx card and internet connection so if you want to get on a map faster try to find the weakest link between your HD and your RAM and you'll see the most improvement here.

**Steevo** · 08-05-2007, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by -=4th=-1/2Hawk

Some notes from an actual mod dev - the guys talking about the hard drives being key are pretty much spot on, though theres a whole chain of hardware inbetween your HD (source) and your RAM (destination) so an argument could be made that having a high bus speed would also help.

So, the BF2 file structure splits everything up into client files and server files. The stuff only you can see (and hear etc) locally on your box comes from the client (ie: you). This would be the visible meshes, textures, sounds - everything needed to recreate the world around you at any given moment in time. The remote server doesnt care your tank is grey or what your A-10 sounds like, its just dealing with the physics and keeping track of where everything is to pass info back to each player. So, the server files store all the collision meshes, animations, material properties, damage modifiers, etc.

Right, therefore the map load process is two main steps. First it checks the map files to see what content on your box is needed for the map. Youve got 135MB of custom PR stuff there to go thru, plus 146MB of the original BF2 files to sort out as PR is not a 100% total conversion. Then, its got to verify that you havent tweaked your files to give the enemy hot pink bunny suits or make all the buildings see thru... this also takes a lot of time.

Anyway, all that garbledygook is rather independent of your gfx card and internet connection so if you want to get on a map faster try to find the weakest link between your HD and your RAM and you'll see the most improvement here.

So to make the loading times better, get a faster motherboard?

**-=4th=-1/2Hawk** · 08-05-2007, 08:34 AM

Well it depends if thats the gate. If you have an old IDE hard drive to slap on it, wont make a difference. When I got a SATA drive awhile back my BF2 loaded up in half the time. If you got the $ to burn, stick 8 gig of RAM in your machine (w/ Vista) and install BF2 on a virtual RAM drive. You'll be jumping in a chopper on the next map before the previous round even ends.

**Sabre_Tooth_Tigger** · 08-05-2007, 11:33 AM

Motherboard wouldnt usually be a factor, more likely the drivers used with the motherboard.
PCI-E is faster then any AGP standard but few graphics cards will ever approach that limit so upgrading your motherboard in this way is only a potential gain.
Same with a cpu, whatever you have is probably fine. BF2 doesnt have artifical AI, it doesnt need a big brain. Maybe the server does but the client can cope with fairly low amounts unless you have a monster graphics card that needs alot of data processing.
By accident I set an athlon xp cpu to 1ghz, it didnt make any difference till about 20 mins into the game we had about 8 vehicles on the screen and fps dropped rapidly when normally it'd be fine.

Overall performance in bf2 relys on Main Ram > Vram > Gpu > HDD > CPU

Upgrade any components with those priorities, a motherboard would only be a secondary function in that process

**Ghost Dog** · 08-05-2007, 01:27 PM

CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3,20GHz 200FSB (HT on)
System RAM: 3GB DDR PC3200 (2x1G, 2x512MB Kingston)
Video Card: MSI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB PCI-E x16
HD: Western Digital WD1600JD-00hBB0 (Everest sais IDE but it has a SATA connector??)

Display Mode: 1680x1050@60Hz
Terrain: High
Effects: High
Geometry: High
Texture: High
Lighting: High
Dynamic Shadows: High
Dynamic Light: High
Antialiasing: 6x
Texture Filtering: High
VSD: 100%

Audio Renderer: Hardware
Sound Quality: High
EAX: on

TIME: 2:14

**Sabre_Tooth_Tigger** · 08-05-2007, 05:01 PM

Yes that graph looks very similar to my drive at the moment apart from the big dip at the start.

I just tried again without any mixups or retrys this time and it was much longer, 71 seconds. Caching must help alot.
But still its much lower then others so Im not sure why exactly.

A defrag image might help as well I think

**FeistySheep.** · 08-06-2007, 01:06 AM

Originally Posted by Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

Overall performance in bf2 relys on Main Ram > Vram > Gpu > HDD > CPU

CPU at lowest for overall? I've just found out that I run at good video settings above 40 fps when creating a local server but at 18 fps when I'm playing in a populated TG server, even when looking at a wall. Doesn't this have to do with CPU or is it something else?

**Ghost Dog** · 08-06-2007, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

A defrag image might help as well I think

I started a defrag last night, been ages since I did one... will run the test again this evening and see how big the difference is.

Originally Posted by HeyBlinkin.

CPU at lowest for overall? I've just found out that I run at good video settings above 40 fps when creating a local server but at 18 fps when I'm playing in a populated TG server, even when looking at a wall. Doesn't this have to do with CPU or is it something else?

I think this is more of a memory issue.

**FeistySheep.** · 08-06-2007, 01:05 PM

Memory as in RAM? So not everyone has this drop in FPS?

**Ghost Dog** · 08-06-2007, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by HeyBlinkin.

Memory as in RAM? So not everyone has this drop in FPS?

Exactly, the more models on the map, the bigger the loss in FPS...

Loaded again after the defrag -> 1:59, (that 's 15 seconds less).

**FeistySheep.** · 08-06-2007, 11:33 PM

Anything I could do about that?

**Sabre_Tooth_Tigger** · 08-07-2007, 08:15 PM

I installed a new raid setup and my time rises! Now its 90 secs, how crap is that

**Ghost Dog** · 08-08-2007, 04:55 AM

Originally Posted by Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

I installed a new raid setup and my time rises! Now its 90 secs, how crap is that

RAID 0?

**ZZEZ** · 08-08-2007, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

I installed a new raid setup and my time rises! Now its 90 secs, how crap is that

RAID 0 actually loses performance compared to normal HD when it comes to pulling out of the HD many small files.

RAM doesn't increase FPS, its used like a temporary HD, what it does is prevent shuttering that comes from when the game wants to access files in the HD..that happens mostly when you enter a vehicle or make a quick turns, if you don't have enough RAM you'll freeze and the game will wait for the files it needs from the pagefile, I had PR use 2gig ram and 300MB pagefile on Kashan

RAM speed is measured in nanoseconds, HD speed is measured in milliseconds.

I'd say the performance order for smooth game play is RAM > GPU > CPU > HD.
A stronger CPU and more RAM wont increase your FPS unless they're bottlenecking your GPU, a better GPU always increases FPS.

2gig cheap generic RAM[4x512]
E6300
X1950PRO 256mb
P5B DELUXE

Game settings are all on possible highest, at 1280x1024, I'm averaging around 70 fps on most maps, it gets to around 45-50 on intense firefights.
Took it 90 seconds, the game is on a 150gig HD SATA1 with 8MB buffer..I really should move it to my second HD, 200gig SATA2 with 16MB buffer, will decrease load time by a small amount.

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