Low FPS! Please help!

[M8EO 16]

Hi there,

I've been getting annoyingly low FPS while playing this game - it was ok a while ago, but then i started playing DayZ recently, and it was annoyingly low, and then when I played Wasteland again, it is still really bad.

Now it seems acceptable when i'm in the country side, but not good enough when i see someone - i zoom in to aim, but the fps is too low for me to aim properly, so i end up missing or getting shot before i can see them through my sights.

I've tried many, many different methods of improving my FPS, but none seem to work - they have improved other things, like the visibility in game, but not the FPS.

Here are the links containing the steps i have followed (so please don't suggest to me doing one of the steps i've already tried!):

http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/wqx8q/getting_low_fps_try_this/

and

http://i.imgur.com/1AQoW.jpg

I would paste my relevant system specs, but i'm a n00b and don't know where to find them or which ones are relevant, so please tell me if you need them!

Thanks

[sonicrainbrony 136]

If using windows, go to start menu -> search -> 'dxdiag'

This is the DirectX diagnostics tool that will give you info on your system. Taking a screenshot of the 'system' and 'display' tabs should suffice.

[M8EO 16]

Here is the link to the screenshots:

https://www.dropbox....pecs.jpg?v=0mcn

Thanks very much for the quick reply!

Edit: BTW remember that all my settings are set to those advised in the links in my first post, so if i should reset anything back to default, please let me know :)

Edited May 31, 2013 by M8EO

[sonicrainbrony 136]

Was a bit busy and only had time to check this stuff now. Hmh, Im not that familiar with your CPU, but it appears to be 5 years old, and your other hardware doesnt seem to be all that new either. At this point, it's pretty much that either you cope with the low FPS (which I did for a long time on my 4650... I know the pain) or a near total system upgrade. If you are considering an upgrade, I have time to discuss such things as these. If you are not considering one, good luck, but I'm just gonna say, the setting tweaks arent going to do shit.

[entspeak 374]

Your CPU is no better than an i3 and is most likely the cause of the low FPS. I don't know what your video settings are in game or what resolution you are playing at, but you might try playing at 1280x720. Considering the age of your graphics card, you might also try disabling shadows - if your card doesn't support Shader Model 4.0, shadows may be a problem and, as I understand it, the GTX 285 doesn't.

Disable post-processing and turn off AA.

[sonicrainbrony 136]

Yah I think most of the problems are caused by the CPU and the RAM, possibly the graphics card too so yah... ramp down the settings.

[M8EO 16]

Ahh right so it WAS my computer after all. I was assuming it was something else because i can run other games such as BF3 fine. I will try the resolution change - i've been playing on 1920x1080 resolution, but the FPS doesn't change at all whether i play on Very High or Very Low settings. I'll try the new resolution but i think it may be time for a new pc!

Thanks very much for the info guys; you saved me a lot of confusion and frustration!

[Mos1ey 6301]

Ahh right so it WAS my computer after all. I was assuming it was something else because i can run other games such as BF3 fine. I will try the resolution change - i've been playing on 1920x1080 resolution, but the FPS doesn't change at all whether i play on Very High or Very Low settings. I'll try the new resolution but i think it may be time for a new pc!

Thanks very much for the info guys; you saved me a lot of confusion and frustration!

That's because when you use 'very low' or 'low' settings the load is put on your CPU instead of your graphics card. I'd set anything that can be disabled to 'disabled' and then set texture detail to 'normal' or 'high' (whichever gives best results) and object detail to 'normal'.

Video memory should be set to 'default' to ensure that the game can use all of your available video memory.

[M8EO 16]

Ok thanks very much i'll try this now. By the way, should i reset all of the stuff on the nvidia control panel and the launch parameters? or would that not matter too much?

[Mos1ey 6301]

I haven't used Nvidia Control Panel for a very long time so I'll struggle to help you there. In Catalyst we have a 'use application settings' option for every setting, I would either recommend that or forcing them lower.

What launch paramaters are you currently using? Making sure that they're correct for your system might buy you a few more FPS.

[sonicrainbrony 136]

You should probably default the stuff in the control panel.

[M8EO 16]

For dayz i'm using these:

-beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion -nosplash -mod=@dayz -world=empty -winxp

but nothing for wasteland.

Oh and also, i was told to change some lines in some config files to

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=1;

i still have them set to that.

[Mos1ey 6301]

-cpucount=4 -exthreads=5 -maxmem=2047 -xp

Try adding those, just to make sure the game's detecting your hardware properly.^

And change the following values in your ARMA2OA.cfg...

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=0;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=1;

Also make sure that mouse smoothing is completely turned off in-game, if it isn't already.

Edited May 31, 2013 by mZLY

[M8EO 16]

Ok well i changed my video settings to what you suggested earlier, even with 1280x720 resolution, and it wasnt much better. I must say that it is basically smooth when running through woodland, but whenever i get into cities, or zoom down the sights, it stutters really annoyingly.

Thank you very much for all this help - i will try the new parameters and .cfg alterations when i can, but i gotta go now - i'll let you know what happens when i try them. Thanks again!

Edited May 31, 2013 by M8EO

[entspeak 374]

It's tough. I play on a Dell N4110 laptop - Core i3 2.1Ghz, Intel HD3000 and I get playable framerates at 720p... but nothing even close to great. I also get drops in cities sometimes... also sometimes in forests. One thing I did was to turn down the sound quality to 24... that seemed to help me in the forests... that and turning shadows off. On a low pop server, at night, I can sometimes play with shadows on... but I get artifacting and occasional FPS drops.

But, I think your CPU may be the guilty party here.

Edited May 31, 2013 by entspeak

[Cap'n (DayZ) 1827]

It suprises me how many people play DayZ on unsuitable computers. From what I understand, from the amount of things you've gone through to make it run better all I can recommend is that you upgrade your computer. And if you can't afford even a slightly better one, than you either deal with what you have, look for more options or just simply quit.

[M8EO 16]

Ok well i've changed everything to what you all ahve suggested, including the extra launch parameters, and it SEEMS to be a little better. I say this because i dont think it was quite as stuttery in a village on a 60 man server.

I'm not entirely sure which bit did it, but i think it's as good as it's gonna get lol xD

I think a new system is the only proper solution.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

[monkie 30]

Ok well i've changed everything to what you all ahve suggested, including the extra launch parameters, and it SEEMS to be a little better. I say this because i dont think it was quite as stuttery in a village on a 60 man server.

I'm not entirely sure which bit did it, but i think it's as good as it's gonna get lol xD

I think a new system is the only proper solution.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

as long as you dont think a new pc will greatly improve the way the game runs, because you will be extremely disappointed.

as far as i know the only people that have reasonable, and i mean reasonable not good, performance are those with modern cpu's that are overclocked.

[M8EO 16]

Oh... dear xD