v1.10/Marines graphics optimizations?

[drtechno]

Sorry to bring this up again, but is there anything new in terms of graphics optimizations in the Marines module? I ask because I'm one of those ppl with a nVidia card that chokes on CMSF. I know I know people claim its an Nvidia driver issue. In any case, I can't really justify forking over more money if its not running well, regardless of who is responsible.

Just curious.

Anyone have any better luck with nvidia beta drivers or specific revision?

[Roter Stern]

Sounds like it's specific to your hardware, since I started playing CMSF when it first came out on an nVidia 6600GT and now I have it running on an nVidia 8800GTS and never had any problems with either card in any version of the game.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

There's been further gains in performance. How much gains it'll give you will be hard to tell though. It seemingly differs wildly from rig to rig.

Many problems with performance seem to stem from an expectation that CMSF should run with similar settings to an FPS. I recommend more modest settings for most users. Dare to dial your settings down. Most times you'll see a noticeable increase in framerate without much degradation of the graphics. Resolution or AA settings can easily be turned down a notch without hindering visuals. Turning off shadows is one that has a great impact on framerate if you don't mind their absence.

[drtechno]

No. There are other posts on here with people running 8800 ultras,etc and getting average (at best) frame rates when the hardware should be able to run it hi-res, antialiased, etc.

I was just curious if it had been tweaked. But if there are no changes, then I guess not.

Thanks Elmar, I will see how 1.10 runs.

[Moon]

I have a 6600 in my desktop and it's working great at Balance/Improved Quality.

[George MC]

I'm using a Nividia GeForce 8800 Gt at best - and that's running pretty large scenarios. You checked the tech forum about this? See if anyone there has some ideas.

[drtechno]

Yea. Been reading it since I've had the issues. Some people have frame rate problems, but its difficult to pin down. The consensus was perhaps something with the openGL drivers. Its been better recently (1.08) but still cant get high enough quality.

[medlinke]

I feel fairly confident in saying this...

Anyone using an Nvidia graphics card 8x00 series should steer clear of the latest 175.19 drivers. It was causing lockup problems in CMSF for me.

I upgraded to beta drivers and so far that has seemed to fix the issue completely.

Now, with those drivers, on my 8600GTS I can go maxed out on everything in large scenarios without slowdown. That said, I've yet to see a ton of smoke, etc. flying all over the place in those scenarios or nighttime with the effects introduced in 1.05.

[Piecekeeper]

I feel fairly confident in saying this...

Anyone using an Nvidia graphics card 8x00 series should steer clear of the latest 175.19 drivers. It was causing lockup problems in CMSF for me.

I upgraded to beta drivers and so far that has seemed to fix the issue completely.

Now, with those drivers, on my 8600GTS I can go maxed out on everything in large scenarios without slowdown. That said, I've yet to see a ton of smoke, etc. flying all over the place in those scenarios or nighttime with the effects introduced in 1.05.

Thank you very much...this really made a difference!

[Battlefront.com]

Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do Video driver quality has never, ever been a strong suit in computing. It is not helped by the fact that nVidia has about a dozen different flavors of the same chipset and, worse still, many sub variants that it doesn't tell anybody about. I read an article last year or so where they got a new exec (CEO?) and he said he would streamline things because they know it's a mess.

The 8800 series is the worst of the bunch. We've had the most number, and least consistent, problems with it since the get go. I use an 8800, on a Mac no less , and have no issues.

The only hope of a "solution" on our end is if some engineer figures out what combo of things is nuking performance for some people and then gives us explicit instructions about how to work around the problems. The most likely people to do this are the nVidia engineers. And if they knew that they'd probably just fix their (DELETED) drivers and be done with it.

Grrr... there is nothing more frustrating than knowing customers have a problem that is outside of our control to fix.

Steve

[SlapHappy]

As much as I agree that video card driver woes are a part of many problems that CMSF owners are experiencing, I wonder if that's the whole story. For instance, when all hell breaks loose and multiple firefights break out amongst many units achieving LOS/LOF almost simultaneously - Couldn't it very well be the CPU is more at fault here?

If the CPU can't continue to shove information to the video card at a rate which the card can construct as a reasonable number of frames per second - Then no amount of GPU power is going to make up for that.

Of course, that still brings up the messy matter of exactly how efficient the game engine code is at doing that very thing....so it doesn't leave the programmer off the hook entirely....

That being said, I can't believe at this stage in the game that there aren't better tools available to all code developers from Nvidia and ATI to help streamline their products.....

[Battlefront.com]

Oh sure, there are definitely times when the CPU or RAM are hit too hard. And you are correct, that CM prioritizes things and rations out as much time for the graphics after the core needs are taken care of. It's logical because you can still have a great game if there is some stuttering in the graphics compared to having LOS/LOF not checked or various results from combat not stored correctly

But the general problems we seem to have with the 8600 family, in particular, appears to be random. Obviously SOMETHING is going on that the card doesn't like, however since it is something that is within their API specs it's very difficult for us to figure out what. We had such a bad time isolating that ATI click bug, for example, and that was far more reproducible and widespread. Thankfully ATI finally fixed it.

Steve

[SgtMuhammed]

That's why CMSF should have been produced for the Wii.

[Berto]

We had such a bad time isolating that ATI click bug, for example, and that was far more reproducible and widespread. Thankfully ATI finally fixed it.

Steve

"ATI finally fixed it"...... you speak of the new patch that we are waiting for september :confused:

if the answer is yes:

Should update drivers for ATI or simply the new version of CMSF is ok.

With the iMac is always a little dangerous update drivers ATI.

[Battlefront.com]

Hmmm... my understanding is that ATI has released new drivers, several months ago, which fixed the click bug. If that is not correct then it's a surprise to me.

We have not disabled the option within CM:SF v1.10 that allows ATI users to use a different, and unfortunately inferior, way to track mouse clicks. Therefore, if you still have problems with the clicks with your ATI card you can continue to use the CM:SF work around.

Steve

[Berto]

Hmmm... my understanding is that ATI has released new drivers, several months ago, which fixed the click bug. If that is not correct then it's a surprise to me.

We have not disabled the option within CM:SF v1.10 that allows ATI users to use a different, and unfortunately inferior, way to track mouse clicks. Therefore, if you still have problems with the clicks with your ATI card you can continue to use the CM:SF work around.

Steve

Now on my iMAc, i have ATI HD2600 with driver 7.11 and ATI left click ON, if there are no IDE, and ATI left click OFF if there are IDE .

When i have try to install 7.12, CMBB and CMAK not work, and ATI bug click was not resolved.

Today I will try to install 8.8 the last driver, but is not regular option from apple (as 7.11). Apple has special ATI driver for win with bootcamp.

I am sorry for my English

[Battlefront.com]

Your English is fine

I also use Boot Camp, but I never had a problem with my ATI card in my MacBook Pro. I know that Apple is slow to update their drivers, which is unfortunate.

I can't think of any reason why CMBB/AK would not work on Windows XP even with the older drivers.

Steve

[Berto]

Your English is fine

I also use Boot Camp, but I never had a problem with my ATI card in my MacBook Pro. I know that Apple is slow to update their drivers, which is unfortunate.

I can't think of any reason why CMBB/AK would not work on Windows XP even with the older drivers.

Steve

Ok. I mounted the last driver official ATI-Apple-bootcamp-XP (v8.43-Jan 8, 2008 for imac with ATI HD2600).

They work like that used 7.11, but not a problem with CMBB CMAK as 7.12.

I have not tried the 8.8 for fear of overheating of my Imac; I preferred the drivers official even though older.

When you say: fixed the click bug, it is true (with ATI left click off) that there are no more CTD, but CMSF is slower (when click) and often redraws.

So I prefer "less" precision (ATI left click on), but more more fluidity of the game. For this reason, I hope the bug (ATI left click on- forces with IDE- CTD) is eliminated.

This bug is strange, because with the version 1.07 there was not. It was introduced with the 1.08.

Steve thanks for your attention and good work.

[Battlefront.com]

Hello Berto,

OK, let me make sure I understand you correctly

ATI v8.43 works better than v7.12 with CMBB/AK. So your problems running CMBB/AK are now fixed, yes?

With ATI v8.43 you can now play with the special ATI Click override option (within CM:SF) in the OFF position without crashing. However, when you click it takes longer for the click to be recognized and sometimes you see the screen redraw (the whole thing, or just portions of it?).

I do not know why there would be a difference between CM:SF v1.07 and v1.08. I am pretty sure we did not do anything to the mouse code.

There is nothing more we can do about this problem, unfortunately, so hopefully a newer version of the ATI driver will be better than v8.43. I do not know about problems with v8.8, so hopefully you will be able to get something newer.

Thanks!

Steve

[Berto]

Hello Berto,

OK, let me make sure I understand you correctly

ATI v8.43 works better than v7.12 with CMBB/AK. So your problems running CMBB/AK are now fixed, yes?

Yes

With ATI v8.43 you can now play with the special ATI Click override option (within CM:SF) in the OFF position without crashing. However, when you click it takes longer for the click to be recognized and sometimes you see the screen redraw (the whole thing, or just portions of it?).

Yes, the whole thing, but "only" on vehicles or crew:confused: (click directly on image, not on icon)

I do not know why there would be a difference between CM:SF v1.07 and v1.08. I am pretty sure we did not do anything to the mouse code.

CMSF 1.08 -> ATI left click ON ->only if my units include IDE ->when I select any unit CTD........

This is not happening with the 1.07.

I have never tried to reinstall CMSF (patch over patch!). But I remember that my friend (with ATI) had the same problem.

[Berto]

Sorry :eek: my acronym error:

IDE = IED (Improvised Explosive Devices)