In desperate need of some help...

(Santa) #1

Well my pc is overall still pretty new. Im on a 2.4 pen 4, with 256MB DDR ram, and using a geforce 4 ti-4200. But since i reformatted in July, i havent been able to play ET the same. My fps are terrible, and they are so unstable. Like on battery for example, in one spot i can be getting 76 fps and with one hop they will go down in the 20’s. Its very ‘chunky’ feeling and pretty impossible to play with.

Ive done about everything i can think of, including : reformated, reinstalled video card, tried different video card drivers, updated bios, updated mobo, tweaked my cfg to the point it cant be tweaked anymore, and STILL my fps are terrible.

If ANYONE has any input, on things i could try, or if they have an idea of what it could be, plz reply.

Thanks

(SiX) #2

Be sure your card is running in AGP mode and not PCI. If it’s running in PCI mode try updating your chipset drivers. I had a similar fps problem as well due to my card running in PCI mode due to missing chipset drivers.

(Homer J) #3

As above said, check you have correct/up to date motherboard drivers.

Going from default XP drivers to manufacturers motherboard drivers has been known to give over 300% improvement in performance.

(TBP.Xizor) #4

check you’ve got virtual memory enabled. i know it sounds obvious, but all my fps went downhill majorly and i couldnt figure out why, until i checked my virtual memory. btw- what is the console command to enable fps on et?

(Kendle) #5

/cg_drawfps 1

(kevinski) #6

/toggle cg_drawfps

(WiGgLeRiCe) #7

Might need more ram at least another 256 DDR chip . It’s quite surprising how fast 256 mb disappears at even the most basic proggies mainly due to Windows XP sucking up most of that ram.

(DG) #8

Do a system analysis/benchmark (try SANDRA, 3d/pcmark etc) and check detail scores, see if there is a single low score to figure out what is having issues - cpu, ram, video card…

worthwhile having a go at tweaking XP servces -

sometimes a wayward service can have odd effects ingame, e.g. drive indexing. also XP will use up less ram and theres a significant added benefit of some added security (i’ve never seen a messenger popup).
nb: dont just go for everything “gaming” setting, read through it. worthwhile.

other things:

  • mobo drivers,
  • direct x
  • ensure hard disk is using DMA access (device manager > IDE ATA controllers > primary > advanced settings ; probably should be at least ultra DMA mode 5 or something ).
(Ao1SYS) #9

DG, thanks for the link. That’s a pretty informative site. I’ll be spending a bit of time there in the near future.