How can I improve the performance of GP4?

Hello!
I know this might be a silly question, but I would like to know how to improve the performance of my GP4, which is terribly slow when loading and doesn't flow at all when there are lots of cars (for example, at the start).
My cars.wad occupies 238 megabytes, with a lot of textures, at least 2 for any car, and 2x22 helmet textures (2006 Arai shape), which I resized to smaller formats.
Assuming that
- I cannot afford a new computer
- I have a NVidia GeForce4 MX 440 graphic card
- The processor is a 4 years old AMD Athlon XP 2000+, with a 1.67 gigahertz frequency
-My Random Access Memory is 512 megabytes
is there a way to speed it up, even changing the parameters of the f1graphics.cfg file or removing some of the textures?
Thanks for any answer and please apologize me if I'm asking such things.

First of al, don't apologize..

However, I think your graphicscard is really too slow, and you can't expect much more from your processor either. Just lower the graphics dramatically or, well, buy something new, which is obviously not what you'd like to hear.

I'm sorry to bring you bad news

_________________________________

I have the same graphics card and a P4 2.4GHz processor and I'm not able to run most Mods with high settings, so you'll have to work around your graphics settings to try and find a good compromise between quality and speed, but don't expect wonderful results.


My unfinished tracks: [www.grandprixgames.org]
Send bug reports and track editing questions to f1virtualblog@gmail.com

Have a look at the GP4FAQ, there is a topic link on how to run GP4 on a low-end machine
Good luck.

---

[www.mediafire.com] Some say you should click it, you know you want to. [www.gp4central.com] <----GP4 Central

Thanks everyone!

I read the FAQs topic, and I modified the graphic config a bit: I reduced the shadows definitions and the reflections from high to medium and I did the same with the pit crew. I couldn't touch the textures resolutions as the cars would appear white. I also tried to remove the "advanced lights" options but the tyres didn't look good, so I re-applied it. Anyway, it flows more than it did before!

Disable heat haze and videowalls in the graphic options.

I sympathise cause my performance aint brilliant and I have a Core 2 Duo E6300 with a GeForce 7950 GT 512mb card :-S

=====================================
hmmmmmmm.....Scarlett Johansson......

hey James, i specialise in improving performance

your cars.wad is too big

it seems you have every car with 2048X2048 textures, if you know how to use tex resizer or gp4 master, you should be able to take the size down to 1024X1024, this will DRAMITICALLY improve you performance

if you have to, reduce to 512X512 for some cars, and keep 1024X1024 for your favorite cars

also LODS of some cars should be changed, for instance lod2 can be used as lod1, lod3 as lod2, this helps when there are alot of cars on screen, but it also depends if you dont mind see the switch from one lod to another

tweak tweak tweak your f1graphics cfg

in the mirror part, use the lowest rendering available, i think its point buffering or something, disable everything apart from track, kerbs, walls, shadows and near side buildings if you can
in car scalar use 50%, view cars 200-300 metres

in the main part, reduce viewing distance to about 1250 metres, never use dynamic maps.


then play with original tracks, if you see a great improvement, it's time to open the track wads of the newest hi-res tracks and reduce texture size.
i found that grass size was crazy in early hi-res tracks, some 2048-2048, reduce everything to 512x512, you can keep some adverts at 1024X256, but try not to keep anything over 1024X1024

once you reduce the textures, its time to photoshop, try to soften some textures or they will look horrible ingame, especially the grass

if you cant be bothered to do any of the track, send me a pm, i've done them most of them and i can send them to you

Cheers, hope it helps!

hm, how can i reduce car textures with tex resiezer?
and, how can i reduce lods?

thanx.

ralv585 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hey James, i specialise in improving performance
>
>
> your cars.wad is too big
>
> it seems you have every car with 2048X2048
> textures, if you know how to use tex resizer or
> gp4 master, you should be able to take the size
> down to 1024X1024, this will DRAMITICALLY improve
> you performance
>
> if you have to, reduce to 512X512 for some cars,
> and keep 1024X1024 for your favorite cars
>
> also LODS of some cars should be changed, for
> instance lod2 can be used as lod1, lod3 as lod2,
> this helps when there are alot of cars on screen,
> but it also depends if you dont mind see the
> switch from one lod to another
>
> tweak tweak tweak your f1graphics cfg
>
> in the mirror part, use the lowest rendering
> available, i think its point buffering or
> something, disable everything apart from track,
> kerbs, walls, shadows and near side buildings if
> you can
> in car scalar use 50%, view cars 200-300 metres
>
> in the main part, reduce viewing distance to about
> 1250 metres, never use dynamic maps.
>
>
> then play with original tracks, if you see a great
> improvement, it's time to open the track wads of
> the newest hi-res tracks and reduce texture size.
> i found that grass size was crazy in early hi-res
> tracks, some 2048-2048, reduce everything to
> 512x512, you can keep some adverts at 1024X256,
> but try not to keep anything over 1024X1024
>
> once you reduce the textures, its time to
> photoshop, try to soften some textures or they
> will look horrible ingame, especially the grass
>
> if you cant be bothered to do any of the track,
> send me a pm, i've done them most of them and i
> can send them to you
>
> Cheers, hope it helps!


Thanks!
Very kind of you! I just tweaked my f1graphics.cfg and it seems to work a bit better, but I'll follow your advice and reduce the tex sizes!
I'll let you know how it ends up!

Done!
It works quite better!
Cars.wad is 175 megs now, but not all the textures were 2048x2048. anyway, it's even more flowing even on hi-res tracks and the fact that the textures are smaller doesn't affect the graphical effect!
Thank you so much!