GP3 2K poor performance - good pc

Hi there,

I've searched pretty thoroughly, read and tried the various options to lower the Processor Occupancy but not had much luck. The problem is at the start of races particularly wet races, the PO shoots up to more than 200%.

Am I assuming too much to think that my pc can run GP3 2K in 1024x768 with all graphics options (including mirrors) switched on?

Here's my specs:-

AMD Athlon 2400 (I think it's 2 ghz)
1Gb ddr ram
128mb GeForce FX5200
onboard sound

Windows XP Home Edition (it's a fresh install, without any service packs or anything)

Any ideas, suggestions or help would be much appreciated. Missed this game a lot. Thanks in advance guys.

Try turning 3D sound and EAX off, these hammer PO even in GP4. Also, some Antivirus software hates jam files, so make sure your AV software is disabled before running.

Had a similar set-up a while back, and this is what helped me. Good luck!!!

Dinga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Try turning 3D sound and EAX off, these hammer PO
> even in GP4. Also, some Antivirus software hates
> jam files, so make sure your AV software is
> disabled before running.
>
> Had a similar set-up a while back, and this is
> what helped me. Good luck!!!

Ok Dinga, thanks. Will give this a try.

I'd already had a play around with trying Reduced Channels and original GP3 sound but it didn't make much difference. I'll try cancelling the EAX.

I don't even have any AV software running on my pc at the mo, it's not connected to the internet.

Do you think with my specs that it should be possible to run GP3 2K on maximum detail 1024x768?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2009 11:52AM by BeamingSauber07.

Try turning off any background programs that may be running. I think RealPlayer or some other video program (might have been Veoh) was running in the background on my computer, used to kill GP3/GP4, didn't affect other games.

The Lopper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Try turning off any background programs that may
> be running. I think RealPlayer or some other video
> program (might have been Veoh) was running in the
> background on my computer, used to kill GP3/GP4,
> didn't affect other games.

Already done. Background tasks are down to a bare minimum. It's a totally fresh install of Windows XP HE. The only stuff on there at the mo is literally GP3 and GP4 lol.

The .exe and GPx.exe files are both set for Windows 98 compatability mode. AA and AF as well as Vsync are all turned off. Running out of ideas...keep 'em coming chaps, it's much appreciated.

Woah that's a dedicated machine Dunno, I'm nearly sure I ran GP3 well on a computer with worse specs than that (I think I had the same graphics card and all, dunno it's been a year or two since I used that PC, it's a music storage device now )

That said, from my experience, little things can often crop up and explode the PO all of a sudden without any readily apparent reason. GP3 and GP4 hardly affect eachother, anyone know from experience...?

How does it work without mirrors et all turned on?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2009 03:01PM by The Lopper.

The Lopper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> That said, from my experience, little things can
> often crop up and explode the PO all of a sudden
> without any readily apparent reason. GP3 and GP4
> hardly affect eachother, anyone know from
> experience...?
>
> How does it work without mirrors et all turned on?

Exactly. That's my experience too. I'm just trying desperately to find such little things that are causing the PO to explode.

Without mirrors and various textures turned on it is slightly improved, although still not what I'd expect given the specs of the pc. Race start PO is still high enough to slow the frame rate down (180% or so).

Thanks for your help Lopper



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2009 03:40PM by BeamingSauber07.

I always find that at start of the race my PO sometimes goes up to about 150 % but as soon as I'm a couple of seconds into the race it goes straight back down , so I dont get too upset but 200 % does sound a bit exccesive . Hmm

Yeah I expect a hit at the start for sure, and obviously in wet weather conditions, but it slows down to the point where it is undriveable, and the start too...I mean it's important.

Please keep the suggestions coming, I know I'm missing something here. Will keep tweaking around...

Cheers

I also have this issue but with GP3v1.13- Starts and wet races are horrifically slow unless i start from pole.....handy at monaco...not!

Will try the av thing out- according to process manager nothing else is working at same time as the game so dunno?

Spec
Intel celeron 2.8ghz single core
geoforce 7600 gs graphics card (256mb)
4 gig ddr ram

do you use GPxPatch? I've had horrendous issues recently with the debug mode causing stupidly high PO, so uncheck that.

I do seem to remember that the FX5200 isn't actually a particularly strong card (I had one back in the day, it's long since exploded). Is your rig OK with GP3? I always find GP3-2K is more demanding than GP3

_______________________________________________________

Team Japan Owner - GPGNC

harjinator Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> do you use GPxPatch? I've had horrendous issues
> recently with the debug mode causing stupidly high
> PO, so uncheck that.
>
> I do seem to remember that the FX5200 isn't
> actually a particularly strong card (I had one
> back in the day, it's long since exploded). Is
> your rig OK with GP3? I always find GP3-2K is
> more demanding than GP3

Graphics card has always been fine with the game. The only things I've done recently is reformat and put an extra 512mb of ram in. I've been playing GP4 previously with no complaints. On the rare occasions that I installed GP3 2K it ran beautifully. I'm even using a backdated graphics card driver that I was using some years ago.

I do use GPx Patch the latest version, but I don't think that's it because I've tested the game without GPx Patch and it's the same.

I really can't think of any conflicts or issues other than a fundamental lack of compatibility on XP that is causing the PO to spike so bad. The only other thing I think is that I am being unrealistic to expect the game to work on full graphics with my hardware. But if GP4 can run on max graphics with AA on 800x600 then I really thought GP3 2K could do the same but on 1024x768. As I say, I'll keep on tweaking and if I discover anything I'll post.

Many thanks for everyone's input, keep the suggestions coming, I refuse to accept defeat lol!

Cheers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2009 08:55PM by BeamingSauber07.

Looks like the clue's in your last post - AA! Turn it off, GP3 and GP3 2K are not designed to run with anti aliasing. Also, the sound settings I mentioned a few posts back refer to the in game settings. Have you turned 3D sound off? Keep going

Dinga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks like the clue's in your last post - AA! Turn
> it off, GP3 and GP3 2K are not designed to run
> with anti aliasing. Also, the sound settings I
> mentioned a few posts back refer to the in game
> settings. Have you turned 3D sound off? Keep going
>

Yep. AA and AF are all switched off.

Ok, made some progress here. Disabling GPx Sound in the GPx Patch has reduced the PO load by about 20-30% at race starts. Interesting but not unsurprising. For some reason GP3 2K allows me to turn on hardware acceleration for sound settings even though I only have onboard sound, though not EAX. I just wonder if this combined with GPx Sound was causing any conflict. Maybe someone with better understanding than mine can elaborate. All I know is its helped. Joy! Thanks for everyone's help in this, I've seen from searching that this is quite a common complaint.

Now to start updating...