STALKER Performance Issues

[Nightmare225]

I'm playing STALKER (with the patch) and am having a mighty fine time playing so far. However, there's one problem that's annoying me. My FPS are consistently dropping to 30s and sometimes below 20s if I'm looking at specific parts of the environment, most often outside.

I am using 97.94 drivers with High quality image settings in the NVIDIA control panel @ 1680x1050. All the STALKER in-game settings are maxed except for the AA, which doesn't work on 8800 cards.

What's wrong? Is the game really this demanding? I'm lucky if I get 40 FPS at times. Maybe my system's screwed up? But I doubt that. Is this performance normal for an e6600/8800GTX system, or is there something wrong?

 

[Patt]

I used the 97.92 drivers, but otherwise I have even exactly the same specs ... the only thing difference is my MB, and I haven't OC'd. Even the monitor. Can't say I had any problems, but then again, I didn't ever measure the FPS ... didn't need to.

 

[Nightmare225]

I got rid of the OC, same performance.

Don't you feel any slowdown at all during the game?

 

[Zambien]

Try turning anis down. That's what I had to do. I don't think this is really hitting your card that hard... it's just a limitation in the game or driver. I could run at 60+fps at 1400x900, but when I went to 1680x1050 with the same settings i was getting an average of about 35fps. Dropped anis and it went back up to 60 at 1680x1050.

weird.

and yes, vsync was off

 

[JPB]

Turn off Dynamic lighting, and turn on Static lighting. Should increase by a large margin.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Nightmare225
I'm playing STALKER (with the patch) and am having a mighty fine time playing so far. However, there's one problem that's annoying me. My FPS are consistently dropping to 30s and sometimes below 20s if I'm looking at specific parts of the environment, most often outside.

I am using 97.94 drivers with High quality image settings in the NVIDIA control panel @ 1680x1050. All the STALKER in-game settings are maxed except for the AA, which doesn't work on 8800 cards.

What's wrong? Is the game really this demanding? I'm lucky if I get 40 FPS at times. Maybe my system's screwed up? But I doubt that. Is this performance normal for an e6600/8800GTX system, or is there something wrong?

turn grass density way down

just try 'that'

 

[Nightmare225]

Originally posted by: Zambien
Try turning anis down. That's what I had to do. I don't think this is really hitting your card that hard... it's just a limitation in the game or driver. I could run at 60+fps at 1400x900, but when I went to 1680x1050 with the same settings i was getting an average of about 35fps. Dropped anis and it went back up to 60 at 1680x1050.

weird.

and yes, vsync was off

Originally posted by: apoppin

turn grass density way down

just try 'that'

I tried both of these, and interestingly enough, the FPS barely changed. This is in combination with grass density all the way to the bottom, AF to the bottom, and also shadow quality for the heck of it. I'm starting to think there's an engine bug and not a hardware problem.

Well, I'll keep playing because this game is definitely worth it, but if anyone comes up with any fixes or help, I'll be greatly appreciated!

 

[40sTheme]

Grass density down is great.
Also, turn vision distance to ~75%. Makes no difference in actual visible difference that I have been able to note and increases performance by a good margin; about 5-10 fps depending on the area.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Grass density down is great.
Also, turn vision distance to ~75%. Makes no difference in actual visible difference that I have been able to note and increases performance by a good margin; about 5-10 fps depending on the area.

it's my opinion that the more problems are experienced by guys with nvidia cards ... nvidia did say they were working on a performance increase with STALKER and that you should expect new drivers

unpatched it was great for me ...

Grass density made the biggest difference ... oh, and "grass shadows" too ...

lighting distance was perfect at 60% for me

 

[Nightmare225]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Grass density down is great.
Also, turn vision distance to ~75%. Makes no difference in actual visible difference that I have been able to note and increases performance by a good margin; about 5-10 fps depending on the area.

it's my opinion that the more problems are experienced by guys with nvidia cards ... nvidia did say they were working on a performance increase with STALKER and that you should expect new drivers

The Way it's Meant to be Played... :disgust:

 

[tuteja1986]

Yo people with high end GPU ain't able to play stalker with good frame rate are hopeless. My poor buddy with a system like Intel P4 2.8Ghz @ 3.2Ghz , 1GB DDR 400 , 9800PRO is able to play stalker without a frame rate issue .

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Grass density down is great.
Also, turn vision distance to ~75%. Makes no difference in actual visible difference that I have been able to note and increases performance by a good margin; about 5-10 fps depending on the area.

it's my opinion that the more problems are experienced by guys with nvidia cards ... nvidia did say they were working on a performance increase with STALKER and that you should expect new drivers

unpatched it was great for me ...

Grass density made the biggest difference ... oh, and "grass shadows" too ...

lighting distance was perfect at 60% for me

I've got grass shadows off, grass density at about 30%, vision distance at 75%, and everything else on max. Looks great.
EDIT: Except AA, since it has no effect.

 

[BFG10K]

I have everything on maximum except I use static lighting and disable shadows. That will give you a massive performance gain plus the game still looks great.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I have everything on maximum except I use static lighting and disable shadows. That will give you a massive performance gain plus the game still looks great.

/gag

no HDR ... no shadows ...
. . . looks 'great'

i think it is still a nvidia driver issue

whatever makes you feel better

 

[43st]

I noticed some weird performance things when going from 50% textures to 75% textures, especially when the sun was casting long shadows (morning and evening). All other settings didn't effect anything... it was the texture slider for me. I didn't try 100% textures.

Using E6600, 7900GS and Vista

 

[Gstanfor]

Only just got the game, patched it to 1.0.0.1.

I've got everything maxed in the graphics department (except for grass shadows) @1600x1200, full dynamic lighting, drivers are 92.91, didn't even bother to create a game profile yet -- the game works well, runs fast and looks great. I see no Jaggies anywhere (and I'm pretty darn sensitive to them).

I fail to see what the driver fuss is all about - on SLI'd 7900GT's at least it works a treat (without even setting up a special SLI profile) - no weirdness with the aiming reticle either.

 

[apoppin]

are you *sure* it works with sli with decent performance increase over a single 7900GT ?

did you try it with just one?

 

[Gstanfor]

Why would I? I'll get around to creating it a custom profile, then I'll experiment with SLI modes, but that can wait until tomorrow (its 2 AM here and time for some shut-eye). The game plays perfectly well as is.

 

[josh6079]

I fail to see what the driver fuss is all about - on SLI'd 7900GT's at least it works a treat...

Maybe because the OP has an 8800 GTX and not two 7900 GT's?

 

[Extelleron]

You must have a problem because I play it at absolute maximum settings @ 1680x1050 on my Opteron 144 @ 2.4GHz and 8800GTS.

 

[Nightmare225]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
You must have a problem because I play it at absolute maximum settings @ 1680x1050 on my Opteron 144 @ 2.4GHz and 8800GTS.

Which drivers?

 

[BFG10K]

looks 'great'

Yup, much better than the low resolution mush you run the game at.

i think it is still a nvidia driver issue

There are nVidia driver issues but they're not related to performance.

whatever makes you feel better

Yup, I run static lighting with the game @ 1920x1440 with everything maxed including draw distance and grass and it flies.

Can you do the same?

 

[BFG10K]

I've got everything maxed in the graphics department (except for grass shadows) @1600x1200, full dynamic lighting, drivers are 92.91, didn't even bother to create a game profile yet -- the game works well, runs fast and looks great.

Sure, if by running fast you mean 28.1 FPS.

Why would I?

Because 28.1 FPS is an utter slideshow and that's what your single 7900 GT scores.

I see no Jaggies anywhere (and I'm pretty darn sensitive to them).

Just like you're senstive to a low framerate?

I fail to see what the driver fuss is all about

That really doens't surprise me based on your comments above.

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I've got everything maxed in the graphics department (except for grass shadows) @1600x1200, full dynamic lighting, drivers are 92.91, didn't even bother to create a game profile yet -- the game works well, runs fast and looks great.

Sure, if by running fast you mean 28.1 FPS.

Why would I?

Because 28.1 FPS is an utter slideshow and that's what your single 7900 GT scores.

I see no Jaggies anywhere (and I'm pretty darn sensitive to them).

Just like you're senstive to a low framerate?

I fail to see what the driver fuss is all about

That really doens't surprise me based on your comments above.

You are forgetting my 7900 GT's are 512 mb and clocked at 550mhz core by default. they are more akin to (in fact for all practical purposes they are) 7900 GTO's, which score 40.2 fps in your chart, and thats quite playable. Haven't actually checked with FRAPS what my FPS is yet - have not had the spare time, but it's most certainly above 28.1 fps.

So, nice troll, but no cigar

 

[BFG10K]

I concede your card is faster than I thought but you must be blind not to see the aliasing.