Performance issues

[graaaeme10]

Ok guys, when I got my 6600gt for xmas along with bf2... i installed it and i could run most settings on 1024x768 high, no aa, med texture, i could load any map and have consistent smooth gameplay, no problems, then a couple of days later i can see a definite performance downgrade... i have $%^ all installed on my computer... basically no other programs running apart from bf2... and when i first installed i could run other stuff aswell as bf2....
now it lags to a very low rate at the start of a game, i have turned all my settings on med, some on low, and still it lags at the start for about 2-3 mins, then it becomes a bit better... but when there are events such as explosions or when i turn around it lags like a %^($$.
i have 768mb of ram, 2.5 p4 processor... legend 6600gt agp... any ideas on why my performance is reducing?

[Talus]

Re: Performance issues

You could try this:

-Delete your cache (contents of ..\My Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2\cache)
-start BF2
-make sure all of your graphics settings are where you want them (i.e. your original graphics setup)
-start a single player map
-wait for shaders to optimize and for the map to load
-exit BF2
-defragment your C drive
-reboot
-start BF2
-enjoy

[DarkHorizon472]

Re: Performance issues

Hi,
My setup is none to special but below are some usefull pointers to help improve peoples FPS. Like many people after the last patch my FPS dropped off a fair bit so try out the following (AT YOUR OWN RISK) and see how it helps. I used to get around 25 - 40 FPS on average on 64 player servers with it peaking at about 60fps. I now get around 55 - 60fps on average with it peaking in the 90's. This may not be true for everyone though.
My specs :-
2.66 (533fsb) P4
1.5 GB (2700) RAM
x800xl AGP
Audigy 7.1 se PCI

To see your FPS in game press ` (top left on keyboard below esc)
and then type
renderer. drawfps 1
press ` again to get back to normal screen.
The top left number is your FPS (frames per second , the number of times your screen updates a second)
Ideally you want to average 60FPS or more but an average above 40ish is fine. If it drops into the 20's or less then you will be at a disadvantage compared to other players. Please note it is not the same as watching a film which does not require such high FPS due to it being non interactive!!!!!!

(1) Make sure you have all the lastest drivers for motherboard and other components. Some older drivers contain errors or have not been optimized which will impact on performance. For Graphics cards try out a few drivers and see how you get on some people claim they get better performance with older drivers.
(2) Take the load of your CPU. Anything running in the background or drawing CPU cycles away from BF2 will drop your frame rate. Common examples are Software Firewalls, antivirus, utilities and On board sound.
In my PC I used to use the AC97 onboard sound. Buying a cheap Audigy 7.1 se OEM PCI sound card (£15) and then setting the ingame sound to low quality and software made a big difference to FPS. The same may be true if you swap to a hardware firewall etc
(3) More RAM is better. The game is RAM hungry and having 512MB or less will drop your FPS alot due to swap file activity. 1GB seems to be a starting point for alot of people but more is better.
(4) http://bf2lag.b0x. com/top5tips. html
This website has alot of usefull things to try I have tried most of them and found this helped alot.
(5) Drop your details level to low or off on all settings except the last one in the BF2 graphics settings. I play on 1024*768 with all options low and 90% visibility. If your FPS is OK you can raise the settings and resolution to suit. Remember the lower your FPS after a point the more it hampers your game play.
(6) On my x800xl I set the advanced graphics settings to performance and unticked any options that I did not need or use. Also disabled 2nd display in computer manager.
(7) Buying a faster GFX card may not be the best solution if you CPU is struggling to keep up with game. I found this may self. Upgrading from a 9800pro to an x800xl made little difference until I did all the above tweaks.
(8) Clear down the cache files : -
Delete the folders in the My Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2\cache folder
This forces the BF2 to recreate them with your current settings from scratch.

(9) Be honest about what your average FPS is. Too many people exagerate their average FPS coming out with unrealistic figures. You cannot improve the performance of your BF2 setup unless you are very honest and accept low and high figures.
Hope people find this helpfull and any other usefull tips please add them on.