Trying hard to raise my FPS in Doom3....

[ryedizzel]

ok fellaz, heres the deal. i am playing Doom 3 on a Pentium4 3Ghz, with 1 Gig of RAM and a 256MB ATI Radeon X800 Pro video card. here is a summary of my benchmark tests with several different drivers. these were all run at 1024 x 768 with no AA on High Quality:

ATI Catalyst 4.7 driver
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 41.2 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 49 FPS
third TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 48.5 FPS

ATI Catalyst 4.8 driver
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 41.9 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 50.6 FPS
third TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 50.3 FPS

ATI Catalyst 4.9 driver (Doom3 performance BETA)
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 43.3 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 51.9 FPS
third TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 51.7 FPS


seeing i was getting nowhere in driver revisions, i started looking for alternate means. i came across several articles on the web where people were saying how they edited the DoomConfig.cfg file and literally tripled their frame rates. what they did was increase the value for line: seta image_cacheMegs "20" to values like "96", "256", etc. so i gave it a shot and....

i increased the CacheMegs to: 96
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 43.2 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 52 FPS

i increased the CacheMegs to: 256
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 43.2 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 52.2 FPS

i even tried deleting all my TEMP files and Defragging my hard-drive. but my scores remained exactly the same. so im really starting to get discouraged. does anyone have other ideas to try increasing my performance in Doom 3 without sacrificing any visual quality?? (aside from selling this thing on Ebay and buying a 6800GT). thanks for all your help...

 

[Bucksnort]

Go by how well the game plays, not the fps in demo. You can turn on fps in the game by bringing up console: ctrl, alt, tilde. Type in com_showfps 1 To turn off com_showfps 0
As far as the changing config file, you have to change all 3 cache settings for it to work. Use these:
seta image_useCache "1"
seta image_cacheMegs "256"
seta image_cacheMinK "20480"

now you should set v sync in ati control panel to "default off" in gl screen
In the ati gl screen clik on compatability button and enable triple buffering
Now in the game clik on options and in the advanced video settings select "yes" for v sync.
Your fps in time demo may or may not be improved but you should have a very smooth, no lag game play with these settings.
Wanting to get rid of your x800p because of a time demo is rediculous. Did you buy the game to sit around and run timedemo or to play it? ATI cards not optomized too well for this game at the moment but give them some time to fix it. This is just 1 game. I have a 9800p and I run high 1024x768 and game plays great.

 

[ryedizzel]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Go by how well the game plays, not the fps in demo. You can turn on fps in the game by bringing up console: ctrl, alt, tilde. Type in com_showfps 1 To turn off com_showfps 0
As far as the changing config file, you have to change all 3 cache settings for it to work. Use these:
seta image_useCache "1"
seta image_cacheMegs "256"
seta image_cacheMinK "20480"

ummm yah. i just put these settings into my config file and every time i tried to open Doom 3 my PC rebooted. (causing me to change them back to the defaults).

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
now you should set v sync in ati control panel to "default off" in gl screen
In the ati gl screen clik on compatability button and enable triple buffering
Now in the game clik on options and in the advanced video settings select "yes" for v sync.
Your fps in time demo may or may not be improved but you should have a very smooth, no lag game play with these settings.

maybe im blind but i didnt see any vsync options in my ATI control panel. nor did i find any triple buffering settings either. however i did already have vsync enabled in the game and my monitor's refresh rate has been manually set to 100Hz at 1024 x 768. so that part is fine.

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Did you buy the game to sit around and run timedemo or to play it?

don't be a jerk. of course i bought the game to play it, in fact i'm currently arriving at the Delta Labs. i'm just trying to raise my FPS a little so the remainder of the game runs smoother. i'm not to happy on how the game keeps pausing to load new content, or during the begining of a large battle. this is ESPECIALLY noticeable the first time i run the demo after a fresh reboot. the demo pauses A LOT. but it seems that once everything is loaded it runs smooth, hence if i run the demo again afterwards it is fine.

i noticed that when it pauses like that, it seems to be reading from the hard-drives. well i currently have 2 x 10,000 RPM Western Digital Raptors running in RAID 0. i also defragged my drive. so that should be fast enough to load the content quickly, but it isn't. i just wish there was a setting where the game would preload all of this stuff into my RAM instead. i have 1 GB, so it should be plenty.

anyway, if anyone else has some ideas to help then it would be much appreciated!

 

[BFG10K]

Keep vsync, triple buffering and AA off. Also turn off shadows in the advanced options.

Also from my limited testing use_cache breaks the game.

 

[Shinei]

Bucksnort: Your minK is too high, you're not going to cache any files with that filesize requirement. Use 3072 (3MB) so most of the textures get cached.

BFG's suggestion will turn off the main feature of Doom 3, which really defeats the entire purpose of the game and its engine. The difference shadowing makes is minimal, since all shader calculations are executed inside a vertex shader unit anyway; my Ti4200 could run with all shadows enabled just as well as it could without them.
Are you sure your video card is getting the textures stored in the RAM and not texture-thrashing by loading all the content as it needs it? Check your com_videoram setting, if it's 64, change it to whatever your RAM amount is. That should fix some of the pauses in lieu of the CacheMegs thing, but I can't guarantee that; I don't have any experience with X800s, just my 4200 and my 6800GT, both of which have relatively few problems with Doom 3.

 

[ryedizzel]

BFG10K, i think it is obvious that disabling certain visual features will increase my framerates, but that is not something i am willing to do. i am looking for other optimizations, primarily one that will load more stuff into RAM and reduce it from having to acces the hard-drive during gameplay.

SHINEI, i couldn't find that com_videoram setting. are you sure this is located in the DoomConfig.cfg file?

 

[Shinei]

It's not in the config file, you have to boot up Doom and type it into the console. Don't add a number after it, just type "com_videoram" and see what value it returns. Then retype it as "com_videoram #", where # is the amount of RAM on your video card (if there's a difference between your card's RAM and what Doom 3 thinks it has).

 

[BFG10K]

BFG's suggestion will turn off the main feature of Doom 3, which really defeats the entire purpose of the game and its engine.

It doesn't turn off all shadows, just certain dynamic ones from monsters and the flashlight. You'd be hard-pressed to see a difference, especially since few people concentrate on monsters' feet when in combat.

The difference shadowing makes is minimal, since all shader calculations are executed inside a vertex shader unit anyway;

The shadows are the most intensive calculation of the game and to suggest they're somehow free because they're "executed inside a vertex shader" is a gross inaccuracy.

BFG10K, i think it is obvious that disabling certain visual features will increase my framerates, but that is not something i am willing to do.

There isn't much else you can do other than upgrading your hardware. If you're expecting a miracle setting that will give you a massive performance gain for nothing then you simply won't find it.

 

[Shinei]

BFG: I had shadows enabled in the menu and I turned on some extra ones in the config file on my Ti4200, I lost maybe a fraction of a frame per second; I actually have a mod that enables models to cast shadows on themselves and I saw a minor framerate hit. It's not that big a deal to leave shadows on.
And yes, using a shader unit is effectively "free" because you spend a couple of cycles using the massive calculational power of a vertex shader unit to brute the math for shadow calculations without wasting GPU logic cycles on it. Type "r_useshadowvertexprogram" into your console, it should be set to "1" by default (as it was on my Ti4200). If it's not, try enabling it and see if it makes a difference in performance; if you get any errors or Doom crashes, that variable may not be ATI-compliant (as it may use Cg to perform the calculations, any nVidia card of GF4Ti-class and above can do Cg calculations inside shader units).

And CacheMegs DOES seem to be a "miracle setting" that can tack on a couple of extra frames, but it doesn't seem to work for this fellow, for some reason. Maybe the use of that extremely high minK crashed his computer.

 

[Manzelle]

Originally posted by: ryedizzel

ATI Catalyst 4.7 driver
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 41.2 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 49 FPS
third TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 48.5 FPS

ATI Catalyst 4.8 driver
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 41.9 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 50.6 FPS
third TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 50.3 FPS

ATI Catalyst 4.9 driver (Doom3 performance BETA)
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 43.3 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 51.9 FPS
third TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 51.7 FPS


i increased the CacheMegs to: 96
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 43.2 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 52 FPS

i increased the CacheMegs to: 256
first TimeDemo run (fresh reboot)= 43.2 FPS
second TimeDemo run (run immedietly after)= 52.2 FPS

Geez...those benchmarks stink...I get about 61fps on HQ 1024x768 NoAA 2xAF and I only have a 9800 Pro (441/792) running Catalyst 4.9b and an AXP-M 2600+ @ 2.665GHz - the x800 Pro can't be that bad...something isn't right...
As for the tweaks I am doing this:
seta image_useCache "1"
seta image_cacheMegs "512"
seta image_cacheMinK "20480"

Good luck trying to fix whatever is wrong...

 

[Childs]

Disable Vsync in D3. Those numbers aren't much better than my 9800Pro@1024x768HQ2xAA, A64 2800+ 1GB RAM system, all running stock (which btw gets ~40fps). Tossing out AA would get me fairly close.

Maybe you should give Humus's tweak a try as well. It didn't do much for me, but the gains seem to be with the X800s.

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: Childs
Disable Vsync in D3. Those numbers aren't much better than my 9800Pro@1024x768HQ2xAA, A64 2800+ 1GB RAM system, all running stock (which btw gets ~40fps). Tossing out AA would get me fairly close.

Maybe you should give Humus's tweak a try as well. It didn't do much for me, but the gains seem to be with the X800s.

That tweak is worth your time. Some ppl report some minor increases, or even up to 10% ive seen in the benchmark. It's "claim" is that up to 40% in some areas it will increase, but ive never seen it be THAT effective.

 

[Bucksnort]

Well critisize your setup and not the card. Sell this thing? Its not the video card, its something with your setup. most would love to have your card. How is your paging file setup, what is dma set at in ide controllers?

 

[BFG10K]

BFG: I had shadows enabled in the menu and I turned on some extra ones in the config file on my Ti4200, I lost maybe a fraction of a frame per second;

It sounds like you could be CPU limited. What is your CPU and what resolution are you runnning the game at?

And yes, using a shader unit is effectively "free" because you spend a couple of cycles using the massive calculational power of a vertex shader unit to brute the math for shadow calculations without wasting GPU logic cycles on it.

Again, stencil volume shadows are extremely computationally intensive and that's why ID had to optimize elsewhere (small level sizes, darkness, low polygon counts, etc) to get the game playable.

Furthermore, given D3 uses per pixel shadowing and lighting I'd expect the pixel shaders to be performing the bulk of their operations, not the vertex shaders.

 

[ryedizzel]

thanks for the great feedback so far. i suspected my scores were low considering my video card and system specs.

Originally posted by: Shinei
It's not in the config file, you have to boot up Doom and type it into the console. Don't add a number after it, just type "com_videoram" and see what value it returns. Then retype it as "com_videoram #", where # is the amount of RAM on your video card (if there's a difference between your card's RAM and what Doom 3 thinks it has).

ok, i did this and sure enough it was set to the default value of "64". i changed it to "256" but it didn't increase the FPS in the TimeDemo at all. however i do think the game is running a tad smoother. even though it still gets a little choppy when several enemies attack me at the same time.

Originally posted by: BFG10K
There isn't much else you can do other than upgrading your hardware. If you're expecting a miracle setting that will give you a massive performance gain for nothing then you simply won't find it.

jeez, what more do i need? i already blew $400 on this video card and over $1000 on my system. again, here are my complete specs:

Pentium 4 - 2.4c @ 3 Ghz
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
800 FSB @ 1060 MHz
1 Gig of Kingston Hyper-X PC3200 (5:4)
2 x 10,000 RPM SATA Western Digital Raptors in RAID 0
256MB ATI Radeon X800 PRO
SoundBlaster Audgy 2 ZS
450W Power Supply
Antec Super Lanboy case with 2 x 120MM fans for cooling

i also have a fresh install of Windows with my core apps installed and the Catalyst 4.8 drivers. so again, do you guys think i should definetly be getting higher framerates with this setup? or have i pretty much reached my limit?

 

[ryedizzel]

Originally posted by: Childs
Maybe you should give Humus's tweak a try as well. It didn't do much for me, but the gains seem to be with the X800s.

forgive my ignorance, but what is Humus's tweak? do you have a link?

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Well critisize your setup and not the card. Sell this thing? Its not the video card, its something with your setup. most would love to have your card. How is your paging file setup, what is dma set at in ide controllers?

i believe DMA is setup on my IDE controllers, but i will have to double-check when i get home. in regards to the paging file, i actually have a seperate partition setup for it. the partition is 2.5 Gigs and the paging file is set to 2.3 Gigs. could that be the issue?

 

[nRollo]

jeez, what more do i need? i already blew $400 on this video card and over $1000 on my system. again, here are my complete specs:

The X800Pro is a very weak card for it's price point at Doom 3. It sort of splits the difference between the bad performance of last gen cards and the good performance of all the 6800 cards and the X800XT PE.

Sorry, that's just the way it is.

 

[Bucksnort]

For Christ sakes, the 800p is an excellent card nvidia fan boy. Dizzel, make your paging file 1536 min and max. Your problem is the caching to the hard drive when it shouldn't be doing so. Also set your agp aperture to 128. Do you have the latest chipset drivers installed for your motherboard? Do you use driver cleaner when switching all those cat drivers? Defrag occasionally in safe mode also. When changing drivers I uninstall control panel (dont reboot) then uninstall ati drivers then reboot into safemode and run driver cleaner for ati, then I defrag while in safemode. restart then cancel any hardware driver install prompts. Install ati driver reboot and install control panel. Defrag. And you have a fine system! Besure to do the triple buffering settings described earlier also.
Shinei, you are correct. My settings are:
seta image_useCache "1"
seta image_cacheMegs "256"
seta image_cacheMinK "3072"

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
For Christ sakes, the 800p is an excellent card nvidia fan boy. Dizzel, make your paging file 1536 min and max. Your problem is the caching to the hard drive when it shouldn't be doing so. Also set your agp aperture to 128. Do you have the latest chipset drivers installed for your motherboard? Do you use driver cleaner when switching all those cat drivers? And you have a fine system!

I didn't say he had a bad system, I didn't say he had a bad card. I said that for $400, he has a very weak Doom3 card.

This is true, it has nothing to do with "fanboy" anything.

The X800XT PE, the 6800GT, the 6800U, the 6800UE are "great" Doom3 cards. The 6800NU is a very good Doom 3 card.

The X800Pro is at the top of the OK Doom3 cards. (at least I've never seen any benches to tell me otherwhise)

 

[CraigRT]

who cares how doom3 runs, i mean the X800 pro does very good in every game except doom3. and since doom3 sucks....... well... meh!

 

[BeTomXXX]

I had 5 fps more by setting my Anistrophic filtering to 8x in the ATI control pannel instead of disabeling it. also the humus tweak gave me some extra fps.


I have the same configuration as you, but I have a pentium 2.8 and I run doom timedemo @58fps

good luck

 

[BeTomXXX]

Setting the image usecache etc. gave me no iprovement.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
who cares how doom3 runs, i mean the X800 pro does very good in every game except doom3. and since doom3 sucks....... well... meh!

I agree with this as well, the part about the X800Pro running every game well except Doom3. I think Doom 3 is as good as any game I've ever played however.

 

[Brian48]

ryedizzel,

Don't get hung up on the fps race. I think what performance you got is plenty to enjoy the game. I've been playing through D3 thus far on my slowest "gaming" machine (box #3) which only gets about 41+/- fps at 1024x768 with the built-in timedemo and the gaming experience is just as good as what I'm experiencing with my fastest machine. The timedemo is not very indicative of actual in-game performance or experience. Just forget about it and enjoy what you've got. The x800Pro is still a great card by all accounts and will continue to get better as newer drivers come out.

 

[gururu]

humus!!!

1. unzip glprograms folder
2. add folder to 'Base' folder

as a precaution, I added both the vfp file AND the glprograms folder containing another copy of the vfp file to both the Base folder and the Doom3 folder.