When I play Counter-Strike, I expect to have a constant frames per
second (FPS) of 99-100. I am pretty sure that I had this a couple
months ago. Since then, I had not changed much except for my monitor,
which is a lower end, small model that I am temporarily using for the
summer. I do receive 100 FPS when looking at a wall or when
alone in the game, or even (strangely) when near a smoke grenade.
However, when near water or when many others are on the screen, the
FPS drops to as low as 50. I don't notice any slowdown of the game
(could this simply be the game making a mistake in saying that it is
50?), but would like to know how to fix this.
I figured that open software may have been the issue, but it still had
the problem when I started up with no software running. I then
reformatted, and it seemed to work initially, but then after the
installation of mainstream software such as mIRC and Adobe Acrobat,
the issue came back. I then reformatted again and verified that it
works initially after only essential driver installations, but then
starts acting up when basic software is installed. I'm pretty sure
that this isn't a system issue as I'm running a Dell 2.0 GHz system
with 512 MB SDRAM and a GeForce Ti 4600 128 MB video card.
Could this be a monitor issue (I am currently using a KDS Xtreme Flat
Xf-7b with its drivers)? I normally use a Sony CPD-G500 with its
drivers. I'm also using Nvidia Detonator version 44.03 (and have
tried about five other versions). The monitor does seem to work at 60
FPS if I limit it to this (Windows XP has a bug that limits games to
the FPS of the desktop, but when I go around this by using a refresh
rate fix tool, it allows 100 in the game), but starts acting up when I
allow it to go to 100 FPS.
Please post suggestions in the clarification area so that I can test
them. If they work properly, I will notify you immediately so you can
receive the payment.
Thanks,
chis |
Clarification of Question by
chis-ga
on
20 Jul 2003 18:03 PDT
This forum thread may be helpful as well:
http://www.guru3d.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47047&highlight=counterstrike
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Clarification of Question by
chis-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 02:01 PDT
Sometimes the game even begins to be choppy without a large FPS drop,
which is even more annoying than the FPS drops themselves which I
probably wouldn't even notice without viewing the meter.
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Request for Question Clarification by
techtor-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 04:19 PDT
Wow, your system specs make me blush with envy, Chis. ;) Sorry to hear
this time it had gone haywire.
What's your DirectX version?
Have you tried an automatic cleanup of the registry, using programs
like RegCleaner?
BTW, what settings do you use for your Nvidia driver? Do you turn on
Anti-aliasing and Antistropic Filtering? I turned those off because
Warcraft 3 on my computer doesn't run smoothly when they're on. I'm
not sure if the same goes for CS.
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Request for Question Clarification by
andrewxmp-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 06:20 PDT
What program/utility are you using to measure the frame rate? When I
run the regular /net_graph 1 to check frame rates, (I'm not sure why
but) it will display a maximum of 60 fps, but I know my system can do
much higher than that. Remember, the human brain can only distinguish
framerate differences slower than about 50 fps anyway (meaning higher
framerates arn't really percieved anyway) so this "slowdown" from 100
to 50 fps may only be in your head. Using your examples, a wall might
always seem to be refreshing quickly, but a crowded scene might be a
cognitive burden so to speak, and you might think it's getting slower.
Physiologically, there's no difference.
Or maybe you just need a driver update for your silly system ;)
-Andrewxmp
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Clarification of Question by
chis-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 18:15 PDT
Techtor: I'm using DirectX 9.0 (same problem occurred with 8.1), I
have not tried a registry clean up, and I'm using the default settings
which sets anisotropic filtering off and sets antialiasing to be set
by the application. I have turned these up all the way, and I still
get the 100 FPS when alone, but as soon as a group of people are in
sight, it drops down.
Andrewxmp: I've seen quite a bit of discussion on this topic, and I'm
not sure what my eye can distinguish, but I know that when I had the
game locked at 60fps compared to when I have it at 100fps, I have to
change my mouse sensitivity significantly because at 60 the mouse runs
MUCH slower. Your CS is locked at 60 fps becuase of a flaw in the
Windows system that only allows games to go up to 60, or, in the new
service pack, allows them to go up to as high as your desktop is set
at. To fix this, you need to download "RefreshForce" (you can do so
at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1847). Make sure you
are using correct monitor drivers before you use this or else it will
attempt to run your monitor at an unsupported level.
I am using the latest drivers, and I recall these same drivers working
a month or so ago, but then they (seemingly) suddenly stopped working.
I don't think that these were tweaked at all, and after formatting,
the problem seems to spring up again after the installation of basic
software. I tried reinstalling the game yesterday to no avail. The
game does seem to be able to stay at 60 FPS properly before I apply
the RefreshForce fix, which leads me to believe that it may be a
monitor issue (I will be back to my higher end monitor in early August
to try it out). The monitor that I'm using supports 100 at most at
800x600 but the Sony one goes OVER 100, so perhaps it's easier for it
to stabilize at 100?
Now, the game seems to even become choppy at random points, about
every 30 seconds, making it almost unplayable. Could this be a result
of a bad network connection here?
This is definitely a strange problem as I know my system should (and
has) be able to easily handle this five year old game at 100 FPS. Any
suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
chis
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Request for Question Clarification by
feilong-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 19:31 PDT
Hmmmm, I find your case interesting. It could be that there are other
programs in the background that are using your resources. Suppose we
say the cause of the problem is the Nvidia driver itself, can you tell
us the tweaks or settings you have done with the Nvidia driver?
Perhaps you can try using the default settings of your Nvidia driver
and disable the Nvidia driver wizard by unselecting "Nwiz" and
"NvCplDaemon" in your Startup list. Also If you do not connect to the
Internet when you play CS, you can try to disable programs such as an
antivirus or firewall or any other programs that simply run in the
background.
"This is definitely a strange problem as I know my system should (and
has) be able to easily handle this five year old game at 100 FPS."
With regards to hardware, high-end doesn't always necessarily mean
better performance. It still depends on how you setup or "tune" your
system and the compatibility of the software to the hardware. For
example, my fine-tuned 950Mhz processor running on my old 1998 mobo is
actually faster than my friend's 1.2Ghz system, a 1997 Grolier
Encyclopedia CD won't run on current computer systems; WarCraft 1 is
hard to control to in my system, and so on and so forth. Weird
behavior/performance is almost always expected in old programs running
on new systems, so the meter in the game doen't necessarily mean it's
absolutely accurate.
Well, this is all for the meantime. Troubleshooting is simply a
process of elimination. In your case, there's no trouble. It's simply
personal dissatisfaction.
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Clarification of Question by
chis-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 20:40 PDT
Feilong,
I will try booting up my computer with no open programs again to see
if this resolves the problem.
This is in fact a problem and not just a personal dissatisfcation as I
remember it working perfectly at a solid 100 FPS just weeks ago and
now I'm experiencing severe drops that result in choppy, uncompetitive
game play. Minor FPS drops in situations such as huge fire fights or
smoke bombs would seem reasonable, but they seem to often come
randomly and are often huge (drops to as low as 10 FPS), which results
in choppy game play.
I will try running with no open programs and will get back to you.
Could this be a monitor issue at all? Could CS be reporting the
incorrect FPS at all?
Thanks,
chis
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Request for Question Clarification by
feilong-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 21:34 PDT
"Could this be a monitor issue at all? Could CS be reporting the
incorrect FPS at all?"
Yes to these two questions. It's possible. In fact, there are many
possible causes for this dissa... er.. a.. problem ;-)
You can expect other suggestions/comments to follow from our fellow
GAR's.
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Clarification of Question by
chis-ga
on
21 Jul 2003 22:24 PDT
I notice no difference when booting up with all programs or with no
programs. I'm using the latest Nvidia drivers version 44.03 available
on their web site with default settings and a refresh rate fix so the
game plays at 100 FPS. I've used many driver versions and settings,
all to no avail. Many suggested turning off vsync. This made
absolutely no difference, except for worsening the graphics. I also
notice that when I press tab to see the current score, the frames tend
to drop. The video card seems to have trouble processing simple
things like text and characters, but no trouble with the complex high
quality smoke grenades, which seems quite strange. Perhaps some
tweaking must be done, but I recall it working earlier using default
settings.
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Clarification of Question by
chis-ga
on
22 Jul 2003 01:04 PDT
I've determined that open programs make no difference (of course if
the computer stays up for a week or many many programs are open there
will be a decrease in performance) and that if I take off my refresh
rate fix (locking the refresh rate at 60 due to the Windows XP/2000
glitch) that it will actually stay at a constant 60 with no drops and
no choppiness. I will keep it like thise for now until I either get
some suggestions or until I get back to using my regular monitor.
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