Hellgate: London on 9600GT SLI

[jjzelinski]

Not sure how many people are playing this game, but I can't seem to stop Anyhow, I've finally had a chance to run it on my system (specs below) with everything (OS, game, drivers) fully updated. Indoors it runs silky smooth (>60FPS) with these parameters:

OS: Vista 64 SP1
Resolution: 1680*1050
V-Sync: Enabled
Engine Version: DX 10
Shader quality: Extreme
Model Detail: High
Model Viewing Distance: High
Anti-aliasing: Low
Shadow detail: Medium
Texture Detail: Very High
Dynamic Lights: Enabled
Enhanced Weather: Enabled
DX10 Smoke: Enabled
Trilinear Filtering: Enabled
Anisotropic Filtering: Enabled

Outdoors... it's another story entirely. Throw lots of smoke like in Chocolate Park into the mix and it's just brutal, ~15FPS.

Just for the sake of curiosity, is anyone else experiencing such massive drops with other cards?

 

[Tempered81]

possibly graphics options like "soften smoke edges" or a form of AA on the smoke limits you. Also could be texture size?

try all the latest patches, drivers, updates?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Not sure how many people are playing this game, but I can't seem to stop Anyhow, I've finally had a chance to run it on my system (specs below) with everything (OS, game, drivers) fully updated. Indoors it runs silky smooth (>60FPS) with these parameters:

OS: Vista 64 SP1
Resolution: 1680*1050
V-Sync: Enabled
Engine Version: DX 10
Shader quality: Extreme
Model Detail: High
Model Viewing Distance: High
Anti-aliasing: Low
Shadow detail: Medium
Texture Detail: Very High
Dynamic Lights: Enabled
Enhanced Weather: Enabled
DX10 Smoke: Enabled
Trilinear Filtering: Enabled
Anisotropic Filtering: Enabled

Outdoors... it's another story entirely. Throw lots of smoke like in Chocolate Park into the mix and it's just brutal, ~15FPS.

Just for the sake of curiosity, is anyone else experiencing such massive drops with other cards?

i am running *exactly* the same settings in-game - (edit) OOPS, my "shadow detail is HIGH" - everything maxed in-game [although i prefer to play with AA - 'Off' - to stay above 30 FPS] .. and i get slowdowns to ~25 FPS ... an occasional *chug* that is not repeatable in the same place. My rig is X-fire as in Sig
-make 100% sure that the game is fully patched and that you have the latest "everything" updated - i believe Hg:L was patched again last week! Also, MP is a LOT buggier than SP.

Vista 32 is another story ... i play on DX9

 

[chizow]

Very possible this is one of the few instances in current games where the lower # of SPs is hurting you with the 9600GT compared to other G92 parts. Smoke is typically rendered using particle effects, which can be very shader dependent. AA or Texture size/buffer could also be an issue. I haven't played HG:L (still have 5-6 games sitting around to play through...) so I can't comment on whether a beefier card would eliminate the issue or not.

 

[jjzelinski]

Originally posted by: chizow
Very possible this is one of the few instances in current games where the lower # of SPs is hurting you with the 9600GT compared to other G92 parts. Smoke is typically rendered using particle effects, which can be very shader dependent. AA or Texture size/buffer could also be an issue. I haven't played HG:L (still have 5-6 games sitting around to play through...) so I can't comment on whether a beefier card would eliminate the issue or not.

You know that might be a valid point, chizow. I'm still kind of surprised though that for what should equate to a 8800GTX in terms of raw performance it is struggling so much on this game. All other benches I've read about concerning 9600GT SLI'd puts in slightly ahead of the GTX. Chizow, if you DO install Hellgate (and I highly recommend you do) please take a note of your framerates in open areas with lots of fog.

Appopin, you really should see this game in DX10; they've done a great job with the particle effects (like volumetric smoke, ash falling from the sky), motion blur, depth of field, and lighting. I'm reluctant to turn anything down because I've become so spoiled with it

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski

Originally posted by: chizow
Very possible this is one of the few instances in current games where the lower # of SPs is hurting you with the 9600GT compared to other G92 parts. Smoke is typically rendered using particle effects, which can be very shader dependent. AA or Texture size/buffer could also be an issue. I haven't played HG:L (still have 5-6 games sitting around to play through...) so I can't comment on whether a beefier card would eliminate the issue or not.

You know that might be a valid point, chizow. I'm still kind of surprised though that for what should equate to a 8800GTX in terms of raw performance it is struggling so much on this game. All other benches I've read about concerning 9600GT SLI'd puts in slightly ahead of the GTX. Chizow, if you DO install Hellgate (and I highly recommend you do) please take a note of your framerates in open areas with lots of fog.

Appopin, you really should see this game in DX10; they've done a great job with the particle effects (like volumetric smoke, ash falling from the sky), motion blur, depth of field, and lighting. I'm reluctant to turn anything down because I've become so spoiled with it

What are you talking about?? .. i DO play in DX10 with every single in-game setting maxed completely out! .. and i get way better FPS than you do
-i prefer to play with NoAA as i don't like to drop below 30 FPS and there really isn't much difference given the effects and motion blur.

But only on Vista 64 .. Vista32 is about 15% slower with the same DX10 settings!! Only difference is the OS is 64bit vs. 32 bit. For Vista 32, i play in DX9c [i *finished* Hellgate: London 5 times over since the beta, and 3 times with the *same Char* - ALMOST completing it for the SECOND time thur on NIGHTMARE!
:Q

OK .. i am SICK of shutting the fricking Hellgate - it is very repetitious and there are just MORE of the stinkin bastages with the Bosses needing 1,000,000 hits just to put 'em down .. :|
. . . SO i made a new pact with Sydonia since he IS immortal, after all --the hellgates and demons will be "invisible" from now on regarding this Biosphere.
:evil:

:shocked:

well .. 250+ hours with Hg:L since the beta .. what was i gonna do .. play forever?
:laugh:

 

[jjzelinski]

Wait, you're confusing me pal; you have two boxes that run hellgate on two different OS'? And why the heck are you getting so much better framerates than me? I thought the 2900XT was supposed to be right on par with the 3870, which is pretty much on PAR with the 9600GT. Bah... think I'm going to go play with my n00b L15 engineer. My blademaster got dull, my marksman pretty much reach EOL for me, and the summoner... well, he's still bad ass. Just not his turn

 

[Lithan]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Not sure how many people are playing this game, but I can't seem to stop Anyhow, I've finally had a chance to run it on my system (specs below) with everything (OS, game, drivers) fully updated. Indoors it runs silky smooth (>60FPS) with these parameters:

OS: Vista 64 SP1
Resolution: 1680*1050
V-Sync: Enabled
Engine Version: DX 10
Shader quality: Extreme
Model Detail: High
Model Viewing Distance: High
Anti-aliasing: Low
Shadow detail: Medium
Texture Detail: Very High
Dynamic Lights: Enabled
Enhanced Weather: Enabled
DX10 Smoke: Enabled
Trilinear Filtering: Enabled
Anisotropic Filtering: Enabled

Outdoors... it's another story entirely. Throw lots of smoke like in Chocolate Park into the mix and it's just brutal, ~15FPS.

Just for the sake of curiosity, is anyone else experiencing such massive drops with other cards?

Can i ask why you have AA low? It doesnt even seem to affect my fps. I'm dx9 though.

Ill check choco park right now, be back in a min or two (I run max everything dx9 on palit 9600gt @ 733x1000)

edit: make that several minutes... new patch dling now (I play test)

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Wait, you're confusing me pal; you have two boxes that run hellgate on two different OS'? And why the heck are you getting so much better framerates than me? I thought the 2900XT was supposed to be right on par with the 3870, which is pretty much on PAR with the 9600GT. Bah... think I'm going to go play with my n00b L15 engineer. My blademaster got dull, my marksman pretty much reach EOL for me, and the summoner... well, he's still bad ass. Just not his turn

1 box with 2 identical HDs - one with Vista 32 and one with Vista 64
- i did an OS comparison of 32-bit vs 64bit for a 4GB gaming rig
[Vista 64 is gone as i am now benchmarking Graphics on identical 32 bit vs. 32 bit Vista]

Hg:L is one of the few GFW that is really 64-bit ported for performance - i found it is one of 2 games that really makes a difference over 32-bit [the other is FarCry]. The rest of the games run the same or slightly faster on Vista 32 as 99.99999% of PC games are 32-bit and have to run on Vista 64's WoW emulation layer [more or less]

My 2900xt is slightly LESS than your GT - BUT i have a near-equivalent of 2900xt Crossfire [with a cheap O/C'd 2900p as it's mate] - and it's faster than a 3870x2 - and a hellofalot smoother than the x2 bastage.

Blademaster and especially Summoner *Kick demon Ass* [back] to Gehenna [well first time, no return trip]
-Summoner got me thru 3 plays on Nightmare!

 

[Lithan]

Ok just checked. In DX 9 FPS in choco are comparable to wake hollows (what I use for fps testing). Both are outdoor areas, both ~15fps-20fps less than most indoor areas (due to much much much less being rendered). Smoke seems to have almost no impact. I actually had better FPS with fog on screen than without it. Probably cause it obscured some of the distance... thus less rendering.

Also of note: I must have done my initially testing during a FUBAR build because NOW turning AA off gives me ~double fps. I went from 33min fps in Choco park to 59min fps.
So yeah, DX 10 sucks?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Lithan
Ok just checked. In DX 9 FPS in choco are comparable to wake hollows (what I use for fps testing). Both are outdoor areas, both ~15fps-20fps less than most indoor areas (due to much much much less being rendered). Smoke seems to have almost no impact. I actually had better FPS with fog on screen than without it. Probably cause it obscured some of the distance... thus less rendering.

Also of note: I must have done my initially testing during a FUBAR build because NOW turning AA off gives me ~double fps. I went from 33min fps in Choco park to 59min fps.
So yeah, DX 10 sucks?

Not at all - your rig needs SLI
-you are certainly running at a low enough resolution

DX10 is awesome - and you *must* run in Vista64 to appreciate it

 

[Lithan]

My point about DX10 sucking is because Im running almost the same rig and settings as op and getting ~4x the fps. The main difference is Im dx9 and he's dx10.

edit: there is no 733x1000 reso. Those are my gfx clocks. I run 1680x1050... see where I said ~same settings as OP.

 

[jjzelinski]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Wait, you're confusing me pal; you have two boxes that run hellgate on two different OS'? And why the heck are you getting so much better framerates than me? I thought the 2900XT was supposed to be right on par with the 3870, which is pretty much on PAR with the 9600GT. Bah... think I'm going to go play with my n00b L15 engineer. My blademaster got dull, my marksman pretty much reach EOL for me, and the summoner... well, he's still bad ass. Just not his turn

1 box with 2 identical HDs - one with Vista 32 and one with Vista 64
- i did an OS comparison of 32-bit vs 64bit for a 4GB gaming rig
[Vista 64 is gone as i am now benchmarking Graphics on identical 32 bit vs. 32 bit Vista]

Hg:L is one of the few GFW that is really 64-bit ported for performance - i found it is one of 2 games that really makes a difference over 32-bit [the other is FarCry]. The rest of the games run the same or slightly faster on Vista 32 as 99.99999% of PC games are 32-bit and have to run on Vista 64's WoW emulation layer [more or less]

My 2900xt is slightly LESS than your GT - BUT i have a near-equivalent of 2900xt Crossfire [with a cheap O/C'd 2900p as it's mate] - and it's faster than a 3870x2 - and a hellofalot smoother than the x2 bastage.

Blademaster and especially Summoner *Kick demon Ass* [back] to Gehenna [well first time, no return trip]
-Summoner got me thru 3 plays on Nightmare!

Holy crap pop that's insane, 3 on nightmare?! :Q I bow to your Hellgateness!

Originally posted by: Lithan
Ok just checked. In DX 9 FPS in choco are comparable to wake hollows (what I use for fps testing). Both are outdoor areas, both ~15fps-20fps less than most indoor areas (due to much much much less being rendered). Smoke seems to have almost no impact. I actually had better FPS with fog on screen than without it. Probably cause it obscured some of the distance... thus less rendering.

Also of note: I must have done my initially testing during a FUBAR build because NOW turning AA off gives me ~double fps. I went from 33min fps in Choco park to 59min fps.
So yeah, DX 10 sucks?

Yes DX10 is a hog but it just looks so good! I've got to figure out a way to revel in DX10 goodness AND run outdoor maps >20 FPS.

 

[apoppin]

Yes DX10 is a hog but it just looks so good! I've got to figure out a way to revel in DX10 goodness AND run outdoor maps >20 FPS.

piece of cake .. get a 2nd GT
-or wait for GT200

 

[CVSiN]

have they fixed the craptastic mem leak in HG:L yet. I have it just hated it bringing my system to a crawl after hours of playing.
thinking of trying it out again if i get my new 8800GTS 512 today

 

[apoppin]

Yes!

!!

 

[jjzelinski]

appopin, I AM running 9600GT's SLI'd! That's why I was confused about the disparity between our gaming experiences! Same proc at the same speed, same OS. Hell, I probably have more favorable drivers and updates than you did when you ran your tests; WTF

On a side note, would you say summoner was your favorite class>?

EDIT: can't type for shit today

 

[jjzelinski]

Also apoppin, on another tangent, what was your 3DMark06 score when you were running Vista64; was it noticeably less? Somehow your score is about 1000 more than my highest.

 

[imported_wired247]

I'm thinking CPU upgrade couldn't hurt... a lot of physics and particle effects are taken care of by CPU are they not?

E8400 at 4GHz would be a nice upgrade no?

 

[Lithan]

Hellgateness... lol I've got a level 50 elite of every class but engineer... and I havent really played in the past month (busy with nonstop exams and projects).

CVsin. Mem leak seems to come and go. Here one patch gone the next... but again Im on test so we get a lot of builds that never make it to Live. Live probably doesn't have it anymore. Single player probably still has it. They havent really patched single player at all.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Lithan
Hellgateness... lol I've got a level 50 elite of every class but engineer... and I havent really played in the past month (busy with nonstop exams and projects).

CVsin. Mem leak seems to come and go. Here one patch gone the next... but again Im on test so we get a lot of builds that never make it to Live. Live probably doesn't have it anymore. Single player probably still has it. They havent really patched single player at all.

the last patch fixed SP

EDIT .. i missed this .. sorry

=====

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Also apoppin, on another tangent, what was your 3DMark06 score when you were running Vista64; was it noticeably less? Somehow your score is about 1000 more than my highest.

Yes it was ... about 600 points higher in 32, i think .. i have Vista32 set up right now but am currently not running CrossFire in my rig

i also tend to run higher FPS than a 3870x2 for 16x10 resolution and it is also quite a bit higher than GTX ultra performance for my rig

2nd EDIT: Maybe that didn't make much sense .. 13090 is my Vista64 score .. i got around 13700 with Vista 32

 

[XMan]

How'd you guys get 3DMark06 to run in Vista? I get a DX9 error in mine when I try to run it.

That said, HL2: Lost Coast, gets 171.4fps on my 9600GT SLI setup. :Q Thats 1600x1200, 6X16AA, too.

 

[Lithan]

Nice. I get about 65 fps in HL2 Ep 2 on a single @ 1680x1050, so 165fps on sli is just crazy. I really ought to go back and play Lost coast, never did it... just started Ep 2.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: XMan
How'd you guys get 3DMark06 to run in Vista? I get a DX9 error in mine when I try to run it.

That said, HL2: Lost Coast, gets 171.4fps on my 9600GT SLI setup. :Q Thats 1600x1200, 6X16AA, too.

Make sure you have the very latest version of 3Dmark06

From Cat 8.2 in February
[edited for accuracy]

HL2 Lost Coast built in benchmark [everything Maxed]
Vista 32 - Min, Max, Avg
2900xt - -------62, 226, 106.322
Pro/XT ------- 68, 283, 141.051



Call of Juarez DX10 benchmark - Vista32-16x10- High Shadows/Shader Map - 2048x2048
Vista 32 -- 14.7 Min/24.9 Avg/52.3 Max 1-2900xt
Vista 32 -- 14.4 Min/38.5 Avg/85.5 Max -*Crossfire*


CPU Crysis demo 32bit Vista - "Very high" 16x10
Single2900xt - Average FPS: 11.59, Min FPS: 4.95, Max FPS: 14.62
CrossFire ----- Average FPS: 13.89, Min FPS: 4.46, Max FPS: 21.68



CPU Crysis demo 32bit Vista - "Very high" 16x10
Single2900xt - Average FPS: 10.60, Min FPS: 0.74, Max FPS: 17.16
CrossFire ----- Average FPS: 13.96, Min FPS: 1.98, Max FPS: 17.60



OK, i looked .. 13,690 in 3DMark06 in Vista32 .. i out to change my sig

 

[Lithan]

Originally posted by: XMan
How'd you guys get 3DMark06 to run in Vista? I get a DX9 error in mine when I try to run it.

That said, HL2: Lost Coast, gets 171.4fps on my 9600GT SLI setup. :Q Thats 1600x1200, 6X16AA, too.

Hehe, seems a waste of SLI to me. Just tested it and I get 167fps on solo 9600GT max all settings (dx9) 1680x1050.
Go play Crysis or something