Why do smoke grenades in CS 1.6 drop my FPS so much on my "fast" PC?

[psteng19]

OK, I don't understand how a smoke grenade in a game running on a 5 year old engine could cause my FPS to drop to 15-30 on a fairly fast system.
I mean it brings my system to a crawl in some cases, i.e. in Aztec with rain, thunder and smoke at T spawn

Is it just CS1.6/Steam?
Is it happening to you guys too?

PC Specs
AMD Athlon XP2200 @ 1.8 Ghz (default)
MSI KT4VL (KT400 Chipset)
512 MB Crucial PC2100 @ default (Infineon Chips)
Chaintech GF4 Ti4600 128 MB @ default
WD 120 GB 8 MB Cache
SB Audigy

Running 1024x768 @ 32 bit with quality turned all the way up, system not overclocked.

 

[chocoruacal]

Originally posted bysteng19
Chaintech GF4 Ti4600 128 MB @ default

and

Running 1024x768 @ 32 bit with quality turned all the way up.

 

[boyRacer]

Are you using D3D?

 

[josedawg]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal

Originally posted bysteng19
Chaintech GF4 Ti4600 128 MB @ default

and

Running 1024x768 @ 32 bit with quality turned all the way up.

Doesn't mean anything. I used to run ~60-70fps constant on GF2 GTS and ~100fps constant on Radeon 8500. This was on CS 1.5, so I dont know about 1.6. It's not a new engine, just a few updates with guns and bug fixes, so performance should be about the same. I don't play 1.6. Steam sucks. Talk to a gamer, or search online for CS tweaks.

CS-Free for 2 months. It's good to kick your habits

Originally posted by: boyRacer
Are you using D3D?

Yeah, make sure you're using OpenGL. HL SUCKS in D3D.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal

Originally posted bysteng19
Chaintech GF4 Ti4600 128 MB @ default

and

Running 1024x768 @ 32 bit with quality turned all the way up.

You've lost it, CS doesn't require a Ti4600 & 1.8ghz for smooth play...

I agree, use OGL in CS...

Is Vsync disabled?

 

[Jeff7]

FSAA enabled? What level? How about anisotropic filtering?

 

[boyRacer]

I used openGL with 1.5 and had no problems with everything at full... i used D3D with 1.6 and had no problems at 1024x768 with everything at full either. P3-S 1.26 and an 8500. Must be some software problem.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
FSAA enabled? What level? How about anisotropic filtering?

Ding ding ding, we have a WinnAr.

The rendering of the smoke grenades in the original Half-Life engine does not take well at all to either AA or AF. Your shiny new rig will be butchered by them at full sprite quality, especially now that the 1.6 game code has "instant full smoke"

- M4H

 

[WobbleWobble]

Remember you can turn off the rain and mist in the console by typing "cl_weather 0" (it ranges between 0 and 3 with 3 being the most detail).

CS 1.6 for me is noticably slower than 1.5 was, especially on my older Kyro 2 card. But I still get a constant 100fps (XP2500+, Radeon 9500 Pro).

 

[psteng19]

AA and AF are both off (tried at 2X, didn't like it, now it's set to application IIRC).
I don't like having VSync off - the 99 FPS I get from it in CS looks worse than 60 FPS with VSync on.

 

[GiantCowOfDeath]

so again you are sure you're not using D3D?

for a long time I was using D3D and didn't realize it. it worked fine but as soon as a smoke grenade popped up my FPS plummeted. no problems whatsoever in opengl.

and I'm even running a slightly slower system than you (XP2200, K7VTA3 mobo, MSI GF4 Ti4400).
I *think* I'm running at the same CS settings and I stay above 30fps.

 

[BigFatCow]

you can turn the quality of the smoke grenades down...

 

[mrgoblin]

THen you cant see thru them and yes you can see thru them.

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: mrgoblin
THen you cant see thru them and yes you can see thru them.

What?

 

[spartacuskzm]

Threadjack - is it true CS is almost hack-free now? I haven't played for over a year as I was tired of all the hacks.

 

[Amorphus]

yeah, pretty much hack-free.

also, I tried OpenGL, it wasn't as good as D3D for me. my GeForce4 MX420 had problems with D3D and performed well with OpenGL, though. I have a 9700 pro now. 8x AA and 16x AF, though.

Originally posted by: aRCeNiTe

Originally posted by: mrgoblin
THen you cant see thru them and yes you can see thru them.

What?

yes, you can see through the smoke grenades, but if you turn the smoke grenade quality down, then you can't see through them. in response to this:

Originally posted by: BigFatCow
you can turn the quality of the smoke grenades down...