how do i improve my fps?

[j4k3]

before i start buying stuff, is there any FREE way that i can do to improve my fps? during a heated battle, my fps will drop below 20! :/ i have closed most background tasks and don't have any firewall/anti-virus program running and have most of my video settings at low & medium (no setting in high).

again, anything FREE would be awesome.

specs:

amd athlon xp 2200+ (1.8ghz)
1024mb ram
ati radeon 9600xt 256mb (running omega drivers 2.6.75a [catalyst 5.10a])

[x0pht]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

steal a new computer.

[mlkmnz]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

before i start buying stuff, is there any FREE way that i can do to improve my fps? during a heated battle, my fps will drop below 20! :/ i have closed most background tasks and don't have any firewall/anti-virus program running and have most of my video settings at low & medium (no setting in high).

again, anything FREE would be awesome.

specs:

amd athlon xp 2200+ (1.8ghz)
1024mb ram
ati radeon 9600xt 256mb (running omega drivers 2.6.75a [catalyst 5.10a])

Overclocking is your only other option if you're wanting to get some more juice out of your current setup. You can increase both your CPU and graphics card, let us know if you want steering in a direction of information. Just make sure to do it incrementally, dont go for the highest possible overclock as you could do some damage. And make sure your powersupply and cooling are adequate.

Also try start==>run==>msconfig and turn off everything in the startup menu which isnt mission critical, and services too.

In all seriousness, get a better graphics card.

[JuzzyDee]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

I must agree here, I have the same problems.

My fps is constantly dipping so low it's pointless for me to anything other than attempt to point myself towards a building and run. However, what really gets on my goat, is the fact i've been told it should be running at least semi decent on my system. Once again, all settings on Mid/Low,

My Rig:
AMD 64 3000+
1gb Ram
x800 pro

I'm wondering wether it's the onboard sound thats giving me grief, as explosions, jets and helos seem to be the main cause of the drop in fps, even when I can't see them, I know this is more for the support section, but until it's moved I figure I'll just add to it

Any help much appreciated :)

[mlkmnz]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

I must agree here, I have the same problems.

My fps is constantly dipping so low it's pointless for me to anything other than attempt to point myself towards a building and run. However, what really gets on my goat, is the fact i've been told it should be running at least semi decent on my system. Once again, all settings on Mid/Low,

My Rig:
AMD 64 3000+
1gb Ram
x800 pro

I'm wondering wether it's the onboard sound thats giving me grief, as explosions, jets and helos seem to be the main cause of the drop in fps, even when I can't see them, I know this is more for the support section, but until it's moved I figure I'll just add to it

Any help much appreciated :)

Holy crap. Yeah you've got issues. Your machine is probably 25% faster/better than mine, and I run it on medium with no issues at all. Sounds like you might have something in the background chewing up resources. Either that or faulty hardware. Some things to try:

1) Download and run Adaware. This should find a lot of spyware or whatnot that could be chewing up resources.

2) Download and run "Hijackthis", this will show you what is running in the background. Assess whats important and untick all the other stuff

3) Turn off your virus scanner, this will be chewing up both your ram and hardware.

4) Check all drivers are up to date

5) Make sure your power supply is at least 400W, more if you have heaps of hard drives/cd rom drives

6) Make sure you defrag, BF2 is a hog of absolutely everything, so if your hard drive is in bad shape this can effect it too.

Are you sure its not your internet connection? Try running it in singleplayer and see if you experience the same problems to rule out network issues.

[Domicinator]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

Are you serious?

[JuzzyDee]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

I'm deadly serious, however, as norton is fairly resource heavy, I might kill those services next time I start up. I use diskeeper to defrag on a daily basis during my working hours. Haven't attempted single player at all on it, so I'll boot her up and ensure that it's not a network thing when I get home from work.

[Neat_Hedgehog]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

Wow, my graphics card is just a step below yours (9600 AIW Pro) and I can get a few things into the high range with no dips below 30. Do like everybody says and run some spyware scans, and make sure there aren't any big resource drags holding you down while playing.

Check into adjusting your "AGP PCI latency" as well. Use this little utility to do so: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951 It worked great for me, and gave me a much better (and stutter free) frame rate.

[F-1]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

before i start buying stuff, is there any FREE way that i can do to improve my fps? during a heated battle, my fps will drop below 20! :/ i have closed most background tasks and don't have any firewall/anti-virus program running and have most of my video settings at low & medium (no setting in high).

again, anything FREE would be awesome.

specs:

amd athlon xp 2200+ (1.8ghz)
1024mb ram
ati radeon 9600xt 256mb (running omega drivers 2.6.75a [catalyst 5.10a])

Yup! do what the guy said! steal a new computer! or overclock your system! or lower your video settings! or tweak windows to use less resources. did you check those windows and bf2 tweak guides? Here it is if you never ran into that page:

http://www.tweakguides.com/BF2_1.html

[F-1]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

Also what mlkmnz said is very helpful. you should do that always even if you do not play bf2. your system will stay clean and work smoothly. turn off that antivirus. this is very important to do.

[imported_rebuilder]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

I had some odd issues with choppiness myself, and finally came to the conclusion it was because I have "only" 1gb of ram, which causes bf2 to use the swap file a lot. I moved my swap file to a different physical hard disk than bf2 and windows and then defragged that disk - the improvement was very considerable, it went from just about unplayable to almost totally smooth. I recommend you try it if possible, it's generally a good idea to have the swap file on a different disk than your apps anyway. Just make sure you put it on a different physical drive, a different partition on the same disk won't help.

[F-1]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

Another thing that you can do to use the memory more properly is to disable all of the services that you do not need and the programs that run when you start windows.

when you start windows make sure that the system is not using more than 150MB of RAM by checking the task manager. if it is using more then disable any thing you do not need.

if you run the game while the system is using only 150mb then the 1gb will be enough. just avoid those 64-player maps and you will be doing well.

[Krypp596]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

:p

steal a new computer.

You did so?

[j4k3]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

thanks for the helpful tips, guys!

[imported_rebuilder]

Re: how do i improve my fps?

Another thing that you can do to use the memory more properly is to disable all of the services that you do not need and the programs that run when you start windows.

when you start windows make sure that the system is not using more than 150MB of RAM by checking the task manager. if it is using more then disable any thing you do not need.

if you run the game while the system is using only 150mb then the 1gb will be enough. just avoid those 64-player maps and you will be doing well.

I have disabled pretty much everything I want to disable long ago, but my memory usage is above 200 mb. However, after moving the page file I was able to play 64 plr maps quite well nevertheless, on an athlon 2800+, 1gb ram as mentioned, radeon 9600 pro.