Halo 3 framerate

[PieIsAwesome]

In multiplayer when panning or turning around it isn't perfectly smooth, there's always some stutter in framerate.

I know the game runs at 30 FPS but I get pretty obvious drops. The game is very playable but I would expect games on consoles (especially such a high profile one) to run perfectly, so it annoys me. Maybe I am just picky.

I did apply a simple cooling mod to the 360 though, there seems to be no difference. Want to be sure this is how the game is supposed to be before I try something else.

 

[mugs]

I haven't noticed this, but maybe I have lower standards than you.

 

[SnipeMasterJ13]

Since you said multiplayer, I'm going to go with you don't have a super fast connection so you aren't hosting most games. That is where I bet your lag is coming from. Also, depending on which playlist you were in could have a large part of it. Big Team Battle always lags for me, so I'm sure it does for others as well.

Try single player and see how that treats you. I'm willing to bet it will handle itself better. That, or even split screen multiplayer not over the internet.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Lag issues?

 

[alfa147x]

what cooling mod ?

 

[PieIsAwesome]

I gave a multiplayer example because I wanted to be sure it wasn't caching issues, but I also tried running around a multiplayer map by myself and its the same.

The cooling mod involves putting a cardboard divider in the fan duct so as to dedicate one fan to the CPU heatsink and the other to the GPU heatsink and improve airflow. It also involves covering the top of the GPU heatsink to improve airflow. The guide was posted on this board, I'll find it and post a link.

 

[vyperious]

hmmm, i played H3 at my friends house, are you on 360 Elite? we ran perfectly through Elite...

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: vyperious
hmmm, i played H3 at my friends house, are you on 360 Elite? we ran perfectly through Elite...

Yep the black case and bigger hard drive add about 15 FPS to the game. You should go out and buy an elite..

 

[NoSoup4You]

Certain maps are more problematic than others. The new map, Avalanche, will often experience slowdown during 4v4 battles (not a big deal really). Maps like Guardian should run smooth as silk. The game appears, to my eyes, to run around ~45 fps during average gameplay, which is enough to keep things nice and steady. 60 would be preferable, but you take what you can get...

 

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: chrisg22

Originally posted by: vyperious
hmmm, i played H3 at my friends house, are you on 360 Elite? we ran perfectly through Elite...

Yep the black case and bigger hard drive add about 15 FPS to the game. You should go out and buy an elite..

An HDMI cable will also allow for native 1080p and 4x Anti Aliasing.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Well, I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the problem, but my 360 just got RROD'd. I've had it since a month or two after launch and thought I would get away with a 360 that actually worked...guess not.

Unfortunately, I have already opened it before to fix the DVD drive (thanks to MS using it as part of the GPU heatsink. . .), so now I'm doing the X-clamp mod. Just need some smaller washers and I can finish.

I couldn't find the link to the previously stated cooling mod, but here's a link to a different guide that does the same mod.
Text

 

[kylebisme]

The game drops to 20fps quite a bit and lower at when the action gets hot in various spots. Some maps are more demanding than others, The Pit is particularly bad with 20fps though much of the middle area even with nothing going on.

Originally posted by: NoSoup4YouThe game appears, to my eyes, to run around ~45 fps during average gameplay, which is enough to keep things nice and steady. p.

Your eyes are playing tricks on you, the game vsynced with only double buffering and is hard capped at 30fps anyway.

 

[Oyeve]

I have noticed a bit more lag on fast moving games like GTA4 and FPSes whenI went HDTV. I assume its because I am running at a much higer res than when I was playing through my old tv. Its all still very playable.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: chrisg22

Originally posted by: vyperious
hmmm, i played H3 at my friends house, are you on 360 Elite? we ran perfectly through Elite...

Yep the black case and bigger hard drive add about 15 FPS to the game. You should go out and buy an elite..

An HDMI cable will also allow for native 1080p and 4x Anti Aliasing.

:laugh:

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
In multiplayer when panning or turning around it isn't perfectly smooth, there's always some stutter in framerate.

You also haven't discussed what your TV is and what video mode the 360 is running in. If your TV is having to do any scaling or pulldown at all you'll see uneven motion in scene changes, unless you've got a TV with an uber scaler.

For example, my TV exhibits the same effect on 480p sources to a limited extent (DVD player) and a pronounced extent with 480i sources (PS2).

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
In multiplayer when panning or turning around it isn't perfectly smooth, there's always some stutter in framerate.

You also haven't discussed what your TV is and what video mode the 360 is running in. If your TV is having to do any scaling or pulldown at all you'll see uneven motion in scene changes, unless you've got a TV with an uber scaler.

For example, my TV exhibits the same effect on 480p sources to a limited extent (DVD player) and a pronounced extent with 480i sources (PS2).

I'm using a CRT HDTV that is 1080i native, so I have the 360 set to that. I have also tried using a monitor through VGA.

 

[TerryMathews]

My gut is that its a scaling issue on the 360's end since H3 uses a weird-sized framebuffer to accomidate all the graphical effects. There might not be enough CPU left for scaling once (HANA takes care of second scaling) after you throw in multiplayer.

Try 480p and see if its any smoother then.

 

[kylebisme]

The 360 doesn't do any scaling on the CPU, it has a dedicated scaler built into the GPU which keeps the procoess from having any effect on performance. And HANA doesn't do any scaling, it just handles output.

Again, the framerate drops are inherent to the game. It is simply too demanding on the hardware to mantain a solid 30fps.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Well I fixed the 360 from its RROD-ness, performance in Halo seems the same, so I guess it really is just the game. Sounds as if it is indeed too demanding for the hardware since it doesn't run at 720p or with AA, which were probably sacrificed for much needed performance.

I don't really see what part of the game is a performance hog, it doesn't look so great, and I would of been happier with less shader or HDR effects and higher resolution+AA and smooth framerate. The 360 supposedly uses something like an x1800xt or x1900xt, and my experiences with these cards show that adding AA or increasing the resolution to a point doesn't reduce performance too much.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Repost.