FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

[b6x]

Good evening all... a couple of questions if you dont mind.

a) Is BF2 limited to 100 FPS? That's all I ever seem to get out of it according to FRAPS. I read it may be down to monitor, so for the record, I have a 18" Dell TFT running 60Hz.

b) What are the two numbers on "renderer.drawfps 1". I'm assuming the first one is current FPS (which sits around the 85-98) mark, and the second hangs around the 11-15 mark. I read somewhere it was current/average, but that doesn't seem to make sense with the figures I get.

c) Lastly, does anyone now of a memory monitor equivilent to FRAPs? I'm interested in seeing memory usage during the game as I think I am running out. The standard Windows XP one in Admin Tools is pretty crap and hard to work with.

Thanks alot.
b6x

[ConscriptVirus]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

all i can say about for this post is that it doesnt have tocome down to the monitor. theres smoething called vsync that is usally turned on so ur fps matches ur montior refresh rate to avoid tearing in the screen (not physcailly bad for the monitor, just looks bad) but u dont seem to have it on

[JCFast]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

Yes the game is locked to 99 fps, but you can use this command: game.lockfps 999 to get over 100 fps.
And yes the vsync can stop your fps but if u had it on you would get only 60 fps.

[WiredEvolution]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

b) What are the two numbers on "renderer.drawfps 1". I'm assuming the first one is current FPS (which sits around the 85-98) mark, and the second hangs around the 11-15 mark. I read somewhere it was current/average, but that doesn't seem to make sense with the figures I get.

*BUMP*
Can anyone confirm what the second number is? It's too low to be an average 'fps'.

Peace
Gary

[b6x]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

One other quick thing, is vsync a in-game setting? or a windows thing? or a graphic card setting?

Also, does the game.lockfps need to be changed everytime I play or is it a once only thing? Would I benefit anything by locking the FPS down to 60? (to match monitor refresh rate)


Thanks very much. Sorry for all the questions!

b6x

[b6x]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

*bump*

[*Lost*Soldier*]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

i tougt that left is ur prossecor useage and right Frames per Sec

[Gunny Highway]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

One other quick thing, is vsync a in-game setting? or a windows thing? or a graphic card setting?

Also, does the game.lockfps need to be changed everytime I play or is it a once only thing? Would I benefit anything by locking the FPS down to 60? (to match monitor refresh rate)


Thanks very much. Sorry for all the questions!

b6x

Vertical Syncronization
In most games you can set v-sync in the game, and in Windows it can be set to Application Preference. This means the game decides. In BF2 there is no such option so you have to set it to always enabled or similar setting in the ATI/Nvidia control panels.

V-sync isn't a problem as long as you can achieve FPS above or equal to the Hz of monitor, if you can't then the syncronization will set FPS to 30 FPS because that fit into 60/2=30.

V-sync is a good thing if you get the high FPS because it makes sure the image isn't torn or teared. It is a image quality setting.

On CRT monitors this ins't a problem, because you jsut set it to run at 100Hz or the highest possible for that resolution you are gaming at. With TFTs the Hz is much lower because it really isn't how it displays frames, it is however still 'limited' by v-sync if it is enabled.

Triple Buffering
If there was triple buffering support for DirectX (instead of just in OpenGL) this would be less of a problem.
Because instead of trying 60 then 60/2=30 FPS and etc... wit Triple Buffering it would try 60 then 60 x 3/4=45 then 60/2=30, so with this it limits to 45 if you can't get 60 FPS at first, which is much better than 30.

There is a way to tweak it so it works for DirectX, thread by BloodUK:
Triple buffering + Vsnyc high frame rates for TFT owners!


game.lockfps
If the game.lockfps doesn't hold then type it in the end of your video.con file and write-protect the file, then it should stick.

Just make sure to remove the write-protection of the file if you need to change other video related settings in BF2.

The video.con file is in ..\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\0001 or in 0002 if you have more than one multiplayer profile. Look in profile.con to make sure you are in the right folder and that you are editong th right video.con file. The files opens in notepad, it i just plain text.

NOTE
Remember that your monitor can't show more FPS that its Hz if you got a CRT and no more than 1000/response time in ms if you have a CRT (e.g. 1000/16= ~60 FPS).
So no matter hom many FPS your gfx card spits your monitor, it will not magicallly show more than it is capable of.

c) Lastly, does anyone now of a memory monitor equivilent to FRAPs? I'm interested in seeing memory usage during the game as I think I am running out. The standard Windows XP one in Admin Tools is pretty crap and hard to work with.

You can use counter logs to monitor many things in Windows OS

[HOW-TO] setup a memory counter in XP and have it running it the background, for later study.

1. Go to Administration Tools
2. Find Performance
3. Expand Performance Logs and Alerts
4. Right-click Counter Logs and select New Log Settings and give it a name.
5. Click Add Counters button
6. Find Performance object: and select Memory find Available MBytes and click Add (it is added in backgriound after you click)
7. Click Close. Go to Log Files tab, select Text File (Comma delimited) in Log file type
8. Note where it saves the file, default is C:\PerfLogs\nameyougaveit_0000001.csv
9. Click OK
   
10. Now the counter is running in the background (GREEN) if not right-click and select Start

Now it logs available physical memory (RAM) for you to study. You just open the .csv file in notepad, and will look like this:

"(PDH-CSV 4.0) (Romance Standard Time)(-60)","\\SERVER\Memory\Available MBytes"
"01/08/2006 16:27:15.515","142"
"01/08/2006 16:27:30.515","142"

where my Windows 2003 Server, named SERVER shows 142 MB available RAM, in 15 sec. intervals.

This is the same value that is displayed in Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC), in Performance tab and in section Physical Memory (K) at the Available value.
The Task Manager gives you a here-and-now view, whereas the Counter Log, is better because it can run while you game. Just double check that it infact runs when you mean to monitor it.

This might look new and too hard but it really isn't if you just are willing to give it a try.

[b6x]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

I really don't know. Read somewhere else it was left: FPS, right: time in ms between each frame.

[b6x]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

Thanks for taking the time to do this... seems to have done the job in terms of monitoring the background. And also displayed some interesting stats... at one point during play, the free RAM went down to 5MB. However it does seem to hover around the 50MB free. (still low).
It is just a case that BF2 nicks as much RAM as possible? Does everyone else have similar results? Or do I really need to upgrade from 1GB to 2GB?

Thanks again,
b6x

[b6x]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

As a matter of interest, what's the best FPS to have configured until it's too high? i.e. surely there's no benefit to running 100fps if, say the eye (and my slow brain) can only cope with say, 50-60.
I may as well up the settings and sacrifice fps's for quality.

thanks,
b6x

[WiredEvolution]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

As a matter of interest, what's the best FPS to have configured until it's too high? i.e. surely there's no benefit to running 100fps if, say the eye (and my slow brain) can only cope with say, 50-60.
I may as well up the settings and sacrifice fps's for quality.

thanks,
b6x

When I used my Sony CRT for playing quake2 and CS 100fps@100hz (vsync enabled) it was a different world to 60fps@60hz! So I would say 100hz (and therefore CRT gaming) is better than 60hz.

However, anything above that (120fps/120hz or 200fps/200hz) didn't show much real visual improvement. I would say 100fps/100hz is as sweet as we need it.

I currently play on the 2405FPW DELL. That's at 60fps/60hz (vsync enabled, triple buffered). It's good, and I can have everything maxed with my 7800 GTX but I do miss 100fps! I'm actually thinking of going back to CRT!

Triple Buffering
If there was triple buffering support for DirectX (instead of just in OpenGL) this would be less of a problem.
Because instead of trying 60 then 60/2=30 FPS and etc... wit Triple Buffering it would try 60 then 60 x 3/4=45 then 60/2=30, so with this it limits to 45 if you can't get 60 FPS at first, which is much better than 30.

There is a way to tweak it so it works for DirectX, thread by BloodUK:
Triple buffering + Vsnyc high frame rates for TFT owners!

Excellent post Gunny Highway! I posted a few times on that thread myself and I actually found your summary of TB easier to understand than the thread's offering! Cheers!

Peace!
Gary

[b6x]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

ok. I get the feeling I'm missing out on some decent tweaks here. I have a 6800GT card that I've not really configured at all. Installed the drivers, overclocked a tad, and left well along.
I have a 18" Dell TFT running at 1280x1024@60Hz and struggle to get my BF2 settings up above Medium (some still on low).
Although the card seems to frequently kick out 90-100 fps within the game, according to FRAPS.

Would I benefit from enabling vsync, triple buffering etc etc? I'd be more than willing to drops fps's if I could increase the quailty.

If so, I'd appreciate some assistance on how and where?

Thanks,
b6x

[Talus]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

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

http://gear.ign.com/articles/626/626714p1.html (the in-text images don't match up, but they are all there at the bottom of the screen)

http://www.tweaksrus.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=451&Itemid=41/

[aRien_war]

Re: FPS, drawfps and memory monitors

Can u tell me what procedor to set Drawfps and memory monitors.