More graphics intregue

I've beem messing around with various settings in the game and trying out settings in the f1graphics.cfg file. Initially, the game chose 25fps for me. changes in the game screen would only make it worse, by a little. I refuse to turn off the mirrors.

At one point, I copied the file that I thought was the F1graphics.cfg file into the GP4 folder, but what the file was, was the copy of the thread about the file from here. ( I named the text file the same, by not thinking I would forget . ) GP4 couldn't make use of THAT file, so it created a new one. I gained 5 fps by letting it make a fresh copy. The funny part is that the created copy has a 0 set for the top line, which you would think would make the file dormant.

I then went back to the advanced screen and set every thing to its max, and set the pit crew to min. ( OK, my crew now looks like the blockheads from Gumby , but who cares. ) The resolution to 1024X768. I have the mirrors on but all other things like visor off. I ran the test. It suggested 14fps. I forged ahead and set it to 30fps. It starts from p22 in a quick race at about 22-24fps but goes up to 30 before the first turn.

I tried forcing the issue by setting the frame rate to 35, then 45, just to see what happened. I got those rates but....the proccesor must have taken a beating because the game became slow feeling. I didn't notice it at 35 but at 45 it was obvious. I have it at 30fps now and it fine.

I noticed a few lines in the .cfg file that mentioned load balancing . I assume that means that the game will try to balance the load between the video card CPU and the computer CPU. There are settings to change when that happens. I haven't tried any changes there.

Has anyboady tried changing their AGP window in the system BIOS ? I've read a little about increasing that to help performance. Too much adds nothing. Too little slows the performance. Some people suggest that you use half of your installed RAM. My card is a 64Mb card ,but the window is set at 32. I will play with some changes and let you know.

Configuration:

Athlon 1.0
512MB RAM ( PC-133 )
GeForce 3 Ti 200 ( 64Mb )
MS Sidewinder FF wheel
Low end SB sound card
Win98 SE


JohnW

set yr agp to 256

---

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

My AGP aperture used to be set at 64MB because I had 128MB of RAM. When I doubled it to 256MB, I set my aperture to 128MB and got no change in graphics performance. However, I must point out that I only have a P3-800MHz with GeForce2MX32MB

I have made a strange experience regarding graphics and performance as well. I carefully started out at 1024x768 and got 28 fps recommended with all details set to max, heat haze and video screens on, TV overlays and visors off. I then raised the resolution to 1280x1024 and surprisingly gained 7 fps. I had 35 fps all of a sudden (same graphical setup). Just yesterday I raised the resolution again to 1600x1200 and guess what? Another increase of 4 fps (39fps now) Fraps does verify this, I haven't checked PO, though (I disabled sky messages in GpxPatch). There is no apparent slow down to notice even at the start of a race. It is all smooth and gives a very good impression of speed. I do not really understand this. Since I have only a 17" monitor I do not dare going beyond 1600x1200.

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

that's just wierd!! Good though..

Set your AGP aperture using 3D Mark. Thats what I did, and was quite suprised at the results.

First run 2 tests from a clean boot and make sure the score is exactly the same. Then, set the aperture and run 2 tests again, making sure the scores are identical. This is what I did and it worked.

Also helps if you have the registered version (or a serial number from elsewhere) to do a batch run with lots of fancy effects.

If anybody is confused about the AGP aperture fallacy, maybe they'd like to read this .

Just don't set it lower than 16

[www.boogletech.com]

What about individual card settings? Those things you can change in the display control panel . Anti-aliasing ? Sharpening ?

The odd things I saw, in playing with the f1graphics.cfg file was that none of my changes seemed to do anything ! ( Yes, I had the first line set to 1 ). What could be overruling this file ? If the changes are not supported by a persons video card, will they be ignored ? Any differences between the "detonator " drivers and the universal drivers from nVidia ?


JohnW

I ran some tests, using the 3DMark software.

My scores were not impressive.

With AGP aperature at 32Mb:
5427
5213
5482

With AGP aperature at 64Mb:
5216
5348

Then I put it back to 32Mb and enable USWC ( AGP caching )
5340

So none of these changes effected my overall 3dMark score. I didn't go online to get the details, since the scores didn't seem to change enough to bother.

Just for grins, I also ran the 3dMark util on my CPU at work, which has the same geForce 3Ti-200 chipset. This box has a Pentium 4 at 1.8Mhz. I didn't jot the numbers down but I recall the score was in the upper 8000s. The CPU really helps with graphics.


JohnW

What about individual card settings? Those things you can change in the display control panel . Anti-aliasing ? Sharpening ?

Anti-alising makes the jaggy lines smooth, but at the loss of serious computing power on anything less than a GF4 Ti. If you having FPS problems, leave this alone and dont use it.

Sharpening I havent actually heard of before. Not quite sure how it works, so that will be a trial and error thing.