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[Help] Low FPS with Effects

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 9:25 am
by Cpt. Spaulding
Hi all there, not sure if this the right thread, but i have an issue that my FPS are dropping down to 5.0 - 6.0 if using the latest effects of blue max (1.1.4).
If i put the latest ddraw from Jeremy (1.3.11) over it it works smooth with approx. 50 fps. But i'm not sure if all effects that i would like to have are still active then and (bigger problem for me) in Jeremys ddraw there is no amendments of the joystick and i have the problem that i am using a mouse (no joystick available atm) and my ship keeps constantly rolling the z-axis. So i "need" a ddraw where this joystick options are implemented...

Can someone help if/why the effects are such resource using that my laptop (i5-6200 2,30 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Intel HD graphics 520) cannot handle it or what the problem might be?
Thank you very much in advance.

PS: XWA UCP 1.6, Backdrops 3.0 and dynamic cockpits (Rebels/Imps) are all installed of course (prior to the effects 1.1.4).

Re: [Help] Low FPS with Effects

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:59 pm
by blue_max
Hello, take a look at this thread:

https://www.xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3/viewt ... 36&t=12490
Cpt. Spaulding wrote:
Fri Aug 21, 2020 9:25 am
Can someone help if/why the effects are such resource using that my laptop (i5-6200 2,30 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Intel HD graphics 520)
Your computer has an i5 and you don't have a discrete graphics card (nVidia or AMD), so don't expect stellar performance. I think what you can do is run the effects with "ssao_type = Deferred" in SSAO.cfg, or just do "ssao_enabled = 0" in the same file if that doesn't work. I must warn you that I don't bother much with the "ssao_enabled = 0" mode (because why?) so you might see some artifacts. I consider the "Deferred" shader to be the baseline now for the effects.

You might want to try Reimar's ddraw (in the downloads section) too. It doesn't have effects but has enhanced support for the joystick. In fact, I copied the joystick support from Reimar (with his permission) so you'll see the exact same settings ;)

Re: [Help] Low FPS with Effects

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:59 pm
by Cpt. Spaulding
Many thanks for the quick support blue_max! :) can try your tips later and will report then. Sounds good with the shader.

Interestingly on my other laptop - a MacBook Pro 13 from early 2015 with also only Intel Iris graphics (and using bootcamp), it doesn’t run very smooth also but surprisingly better (15 FPS) as on the previous mentioned computer... but not 100% sure if I have the latest effects version installed and tried on that MacBook.

Re: [Help] Low FPS with Effects

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 9:05 am
by Cpt. Spaulding
Ok, I think it depends on my weak laptop. Disabling SSAO doesn’t really help.
Only if use last ddraw from Jeremy it runs at approx 50 fps, but this means not shader improvement, no bloom, no laser lighting etc...

What is weird is that the FPS seem to be totally independent from the resolution in my case. If I run at 640x480 or at 1920x1080 absolutely makes no difference...

thanks anyhow. :)

Re: [Help] Low FPS with Effects

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:26 pm
by blue_max
Cpt. Spaulding wrote:
Sat Aug 22, 2020 9:05 am
What is weird is that the FPS seem to be totally independent from the resolution in my case. If I run at 640x480 or at 1920x1080 absolutely makes no difference...
If you're talking about the in-game resolution, then yes, this is to be expected. You need to change your screen resolution to see any difference. Try lowering it down a bit. For instance, my laptop supports 4K resolution, but I play at 1920x1080 in VR to improve performance.