DarkPlaces low frames.

[Paradise]

Hello all, I switched engines from GLPRO3.50 to the latest version of DarkPlaces and I am facing the following issue.

I am aware that depending to your video-card and monitor the refresh rate is locked.

It is locked at 60Hz no matter what I do it will not go up. I did all that display properties foolishness, it does not go up.

That is not the issue here.

Via the showfps command my frames show 60. Ok, that is fine. It goes up and down, especially into the Start map at the episode selection area where there are lots of torches it drops down to 35.

Is this acceptable?

People say they get up to 150 frames.

I increased the frames to 555 via the cl_maxfps command and it has no effect, I continue to get 60 dropping to 30 around heavily animated areas.

Yet when I do timedemo demo1, I get 256 frames.

Is this a computer issue? My computer is fairly powerful and DarkPlaces can not be THAT demanding.

I have a single core AMD64, 1.5GB RAM, ATI 256MB video-card and Windows XP Pro.

I had another issue where my movement was inconsistent, I addressed that by using this command:

gl_finish 1;

I appreciate help and clarification for my issue. I want to get into Quaking, please help!

Thank you.

[Baker]

It is locked at 60Hz no matter what I do it will not go up. I did all that display properties foolishness, it does not go up.

This may or may not be what you mean, but here goes:

1. You should be able to change your refresh rate in DarkPlaces at Options -> Change Video Mode. There is a refresh rate slider bar. This is provided that your display supports a refresh rate other than 60Hz.

2. In DarkPlaces, with a substantial number of video cards, typing r_glsl 0 in the console greatly increases frame rate.

3. You can speed up DarkPlaces by turn most of the fancy stuff off and then experimenting with turning stuff back on. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to do because DarkPlaces has so many options. This .pk3 (download) can be tossed into quake\id1 and DarkPlaces will default with most of the FPS eating stuff OFF and then you can selectively try turning things back on.

Is this a computer issue? My computer is fairly powerful and DarkPlaces can not be THAT demanding.

I have a single core AMD64, 1.5GB RAM, ATI 256MB video-card and Windows XP Pro.

I don't know your processor speed, but I bet your specs are better than mine and I can get 250 FPS in DarkPlaces (150 consistently). But I have to turn off certain things to do that. So it's unlikely to be your computer. Make sure you use vid_vsync 0 if it doesn't cause tearing for your display.

There is a dedicated DarkPlaces IRC channel and those guys can be a lot of help.

[Paradise]

Thank you for your prompt and timely response, Baker.

I am fairly technical and if I do talk into the IRC I will probably annoy everybody with lots of questions.:d

I can make my own sound judgements based onto good information. I need help understanding this. I did research into this and did not come up with much.

My processor speed is 2GHZ.

Yes, I did increase that slider frame rate, and with no effects, it snaps back to 60 into the client - I see that via the showfps command.

As for the performance, I enabled a lot of stuff into DarkPlaces. I enabled HDR rendering and a lot of eye candy that does not get into the way of playing.

Despite all of this, lol, the performance is the same. If feels the same to me when I move around. It generally hovers around 58 FPS. The frames drop from 60 to half into that above mentioned area of the Start map. Also DM2 is extremely slow crawling at 25 FPS when I am moving around. Now that does not have any moving entities, what is happening? *scratch head*

As for the display properties, changing the refresh rate other than the supported 60, it knocks down my resoltion and that is unacceptable to me.

What I do not understand is how you get more FPS and the showfps counter shows 60 into DarkPlaces.

Can you please post all settings pertaining to setting the fps and after I plug them into my config file see what I get?

What is your referesh rate into display properties?

There must be a settings that is amiss onto my computer somewhere that is causing this. Half Life 2 is running faster than Quake, lol, therefore I am missing something somewhere.

Is the DarkPlaces GL renderer more demanding of requirements than HL2, I do not think that, lol, yet it is slower.

[Baker]

Yes, I did increase that slider frame rate, and with no effects, it snaps back to 60 into the client - I see that via the showfps command.

Did you click "Apply Settings" in the panel? If so, maybe your monitor does not support the Hz you selected. If it is a flatpanel, this might be the case.

If it isn't a flat panel display, like if it is a CRT, it should support multiple settings like 60, 75, 85, 120, etc.

As for the performance, I enabled a lot of stuff into DarkPlaces. I enabled HDR rendering and a lot of eye candy that does not get into the way of playing.

The basics go like this:

cl_particles_blood_alpha "1"
cl_stainmaps "0"
cl_stainmaps_clearonload "0"
gl_polyblend "0.200000"
r_coronas "0"
r_glsl "0"
r_shadow_gloss "0"
r_shadow_realtime_dlight "0"
r_shadow_realtime_dlight_shadows "0"
r_shadow_realtime_world_dlightshadows "0"
r_shadow_realtime_world_shadows "0"

Despite all of this, lol, the performance is the same. If feels the same to me when I move around. It generally hovers around 58 FPS. The frames drop from 60 to half into that above mentioned area of the Start map. Also DM2 is extremely slow crawling at 25 FPS when I am moving around. Now that does not have any moving entities, what is happening? *scratch head*

If you use the above settings in the above paragraph plus vid_vsync 0 and have cl_maxfps set to 200 or something and have set r_glsl 0, I don't know what else you can do.

As for the display properties, changing the refresh rate other than the supported 60, it knocks down my resoltion and that is unacceptable to me.

Maybe if it tries a new setting and it isn't available, it reverts all video settings to the default. It doesn't know which one is the "bad one", so that's all it can do (I'm guessing).

What is your referesh rate into display properties?

I'm using a CRT, I have 60, 72, 75, 85 available in display properties.

[leopold]

You may want to download a more recent (beta) release from
http://icculus.org/twilight/darkplaces/files/
I had frame drops below 40 FPS (mostly on dm2 in some areas) with the
stable release. Although i run a home compiled darkplaces engine, i remember
that all FPS hassle went away with a build from > 2008 found under the link above.
For example, I'm getting constant 120 FPS with the ultra-texturepack and quite high settings at 1680 x 1050 (most rtlights stuff set to on).

Being stuck at 60 FPS smells like vid_vsync is set to 1 (needs a vid_restart after
a change), should be 0 for cl_maxfps to take effect.

[mithril]

I think this is a well known problem in DP at least in the past. DP is really unsuitable for online play unless you have an extremely powerful computer and graphics card (I think monster successfully used DP to play online).

Lord Havoc told me once he's tried many times to track down the problem of why it plays so slowly but was unsuccessful. Maybe he's made some progress recently though.

[Paradise]

Baker's codes gave me acceptable frames.

Obviously, I have no f-ing clue what I am doing.

I am going to erase all that crap from my config.

Baker, can you PLEASE give me a bare minimum DP config for maximum performance into order for me to get into the game ASAP? Then some codes for the game to appear visually pleasant at an acceptable level not cutting into the performance. I appreciate A LOT!

Thanks a bunch!
-T.

P.S. To answer the pending questions.

1. Yes, I am using a flat panel display.

2. Yes, I clicked on apply settings, then I clicked OK. It ignores the setting and the next time I go into the refresh rate it is back at 60.

3. Yes, I got the latest build of DP from LordHavoc's official website.

Thankfully, all this information will help Baker to make a nice config for me to start fragging. I have not played 2 months and I frigging miss it.

Also the corners are very dark and I can not see very well, any brightness settings to remedy this situation? Other than this, I like this client.

Thank you!!!!!

[Baker]

Baker's codes setup boosted my frames to a stellar level.

Obviously, I have no f-ing clue what I am doing.

I am going to erase all that crap from my config.

Baker, can you PLEASE give me a bare minimum DP config for maximum performance into order for me to get into the game ASAP?

That what this pk3 is: http://www.quakeone.com/index.php?in...le&file_id=201

Put it into c:\quake\id1, it only affects DarkPlaces.

Also the corners are very dark and I can not see very well, any brightness settings to remedy this situation, make everything even, better? Other than this, I like this client.

DarkPlaces has 2 "severe" problems when playing even with a good framerate compared to other clients.

1) Players will becoming 100% dark in the shadows for you.
2) Players will get washed out in really bright lighting.

DarkPlaces has the minimum and maximum lighting levels removed, the for instance the armor next to the LG gun on DM4 can never be seen by a DarkPlaces user.

You'll have to live with those downsides as no settings can solve the issues.

[leopold]

That what this pk3 is: http://www.quakeone.com/index.php?in...le&file_id=201

Put it into c:\quake\id1, it only affects DarkPlaces.



DarkPlaces has 2 "severe" problems when playing even with a good framerate compared to other clients.

1) Players will becoming 100% dark in the shadows for you.
2) Players will get washed out in really bright lighting.

DarkPlaces has the minimum and maximum lighting levels removed, the for instance the armor next to the LG gun on DM4 can never be seen by a DarkPlaces user.

You'll have to live with those downsides as no settings can solve the issues.

You can lighten up the map with r_ambient. i have it set to "10". From the console:
r_ambient is "10" ["0"] brightens map, value is 0-128
With this value it almost looks like other, more "normal" quake engines so there are no
100% dark places anymore.

[Paradise]

Thank you. I am ready to rock now!

[Paradise]

Last nag.

My DP setup is complete.

I can load a skybox into the game, when the map changes it defaults to Quake's sky. Is there a way to permanently enable the skybox onto level change?

Putting it into config crashes the client before it loads. There is a envmap command mentioned into the ReadMe, I do not know how to use it.

Yelp, Baker!

[Baker]

Last nag.

My DP setup is complete.

I can load a skybox into the game, when the map changes it defaults to Quake's sky. Is there a way to permanently enable the skybox onto level change?

Putting it into config crashes the client before it loads. There is a envmap command mentioned into the ReadMe, I do not know how to use it.

Yelp, Baker!

I don't think there is a way to keep a skybox loaded across maps in DarkPlaces. I'm not aware of a way and offhand, I don't believe it is possible.

[Paradise]

I am going to disable the moving sky then, there is no purpose for it.

This is good. I am happy with everything. Thanks. See you on the servers.

I want to give a shot-out to all those that gave me input and advice to help me make my cfg: Baker, Leopold, Polarite and =Peg=. BIG THANKS!