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SB Pro PE performance with various grahics cards


Ssnake

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After a few days of tutorials and my first online game last night, so far everything has been smooth with FPS of 20-30.

I have an AMD 3000+ (2.1Ghz) with 1 Gig of Ram and an eVGA Nvidia GEForce FX 5500 with 256K Ram (AGP). I have been running it at 32 bit, 1024 x 768 res on a 19" Samsung 955DF flat screen.

By the way, my Nvidia driver is 6.14.0010.8198 dated 12/10/2005.

However, I would like to offer a request.

The following items get smaller or bigger with resolution settings, making them very hard to read at the higher resolutions (which make reading the terrain easier at the same time):

Main Menu and all Submenu Text

Briefing Text

Top Menu (File, Triggers etc)

Map (F5) Control Panel

Co-ordinate/Elevation Windows (by the way, as any web designer will tell you, Red Text on a Black Background is very hard to read. These should be Black Text on a White Background for legibility)

Message Text (Also, should be black on white)

Tank Clock

Unit and Unit Control Icons in lower right hand corner

Damage / Ammo Text in upper right hand corner

Time Remainning in Upper Left hand corner.

Note of interest, the Range Read out at the bottom of the Gunner's site, remains large and readable regardless of resolution.

Off topic question:

Do the military maps normally leave out elevation numbers on their maps? I was not in the service, but I used to go back packing off the trails all the time and was very good using a Topo Map, which had elevation numbers every 50 feet or so.

While I understand the reason for not color coding the maps for elevation, is their any reason not to have some kind of height reference in the topo lines on these maps so differentiating between a ridge and a valley would be a bit easier?

So far, very impressed. Back to the tutorials now.

Thanks eSim!!

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First of all, all those with frame rates between 20 and 30 should consider using the "medium Details" setting in the Options menu. It doesn't take away much of the looks but helps to improve the overall framerate for most systems into the "above 40" range.

The following items get smaller or bigger with resolution settings, making them very hard to read at the higher resolutions (which make reading the terrain easier at the same time):

Yes, because they're defined by a fixed pixel size, or are textures that won't get scaled (because it would make them appear smeared/washed out).

Note of interest, the Range Read out at the bottom of the Gunner's site, remains large and readable regardless of resolution.

Yes, because it's defined as a fixed portion of the screen. It's a texture that we can scale well will the screen resolution.

Do the military maps normally leave out elevation numbers on their maps?

No, but then again there is an elevation display in the map screen that will always show the data under your mouse cursor. This helps to "declutter" the map.

While I understand the reason for not color coding the maps for elevation, is their any reason not to have some kind of height reference in the topo lines on these maps so differentiating between a ridge and a valley would be a bit easier?

I fully agree with you, and wish we had it, but given the fact that we need to set priorities: Would you rather have annoying bugs fixed (like the infamous MG kills of tanks), or a convenience item that doesn't add new functionality but just makes it a bit easier to extract information that is there already?

We think that bug squashing is more important. Or the addition of shadows. Or making our computer controlled crews smarter. In other words, it's desirable, but not of highest priority right now. Eventually we'll address it as well, but just not now.

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Just jacked my nvidia 6600GT 128mb up to 4x AA and the sim is still smooth as butter even in busy scenarios with lots of foliage, amazing for my 1 yr + old system and quite a relief that I don't need to spend more money on vid card upgrades as my options are pretty limited now with an AGP 8X socket (AGP 7800 GS OC is my last upgrade option before a new pci-e mobo is required).

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After a few days of tutorials and my first online game last night, so far everything has been smooth with FPS of 20-30.

I have an AMD 3000+ (2.1Ghz) with 1 Gig of Ram and an eVGA Nvidia GEForce FX 5500 with 256K Ram (AGP). I have been running it at 32 bit, 1024 x 768 res on a 19" Samsung 955DF flat screen.

By the way, my Nvidia driver is 6.14.0010.8198 dated 12/10/2005.

Correction. When it gets busy and there are woods nearby, my FPS drop below 10. Time to start saving for a new Graphics card.

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Just finished building a new system. Intel Pentium 4 clocked at 3.2 Ghz running on an Intel mobo. 1 Gig of OCZ memory at 667 Mhz. Installed a Egeforce 6800 GS in the PCI express slot. Put everything in an Antec Sonata II case for a super quiet system. With everything maxed out I still get frame rates between 30 and 40 fps. Needless to say I,m extremely pleased

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Well, I only have an AGP. But I do have $75 worth of Rewards Credits from Best Buy and this card is going for $169 and it is Blue (first post)...

ATI - RADEON X1300 PRO Graphics Card 100-437602

256MB memory; AGP interface; S-video output; 400MHz clock speed; CrossFire-ready

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  • 2 weeks later...
First of all, all those with frame rates between 20 and 30 should consider using the "medium Details" setting in the Options menu. It doesn't take away much of the looks but helps to improve the overall framerate for most systems into the "above 40" range.

Iw got a XT850PE, it dosn't seem to make any difference if i set details on High or Medium, i always get a FPS of about 25-45. That is in windows mode. But when i change to fullscreen i get 55-60.

Is this normal, that windowsmode is making so lousy FPS, and is there anything i can do about it, my PC tends to crasch when i alt+tab. So windows mode is a blessing.

Above 40? IMO everything above 20 is making the game run normal (atleast looks like it).

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Does using SLI Technology cause slowdowns?

Reason I ask is I see all of these great performance of other people, but mine lags occasionally. Nothing bad mind you, but I don't see why it is.

My System:

P4 3.0 Ghz 833mhz FSB

2 (yes 2) Nvidia PCI-E GeForce 7800 GT cards each with 256mb memory (using SLI)

2 Gigs of DDR2 533mhz RAM.

I typically get 40 FPS at the High Detail Settings and only 1024 X 768 resolution. However, when a lot of smoke is on the screen, or I'm traversing and there are a lot of trees, it will dip briefly to 27. It stays smooth, but it is a little noticeable. Just wondering as I can run more graphically intense games than this with the same or higher FPS (For instance COD2 with everything turned up, 4X AA and 4X AF.)

THe game is still smooth and no slowdowns, but I think it could be a wee bit smoother :lol:

Also, where do I turn on Anti Aliasing in the game, or is that something I have to do through the Nvidia control panel.

Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Zero need too.

When talking about pro, I think it's perfectly ok to redefine what a good framerate is.

I'm playing it on an xp2400 with a gf6800 with 8xs AA and 16 tap anisio, and the only time I drop below 24fps in looking through the gunners primary, tis on standby at high mag. Then I'm into 14fps, but it's still very smooth, no stutter when traversing etc. This is in a very busy, vehical heavy sce I'm working on. Otherwise I'm around 40fps, but again, this is with maximum eye candy my card, drivers and game settings can generate at 1024x768.

Considering the number of 3d objects and all the stress on the cpu, I find this quite good performance on a somewhat obsolete system. I hate the paying for the hardware arms race and i'm glad Esim didn't make me play that game. I'd rather buy software than hardware any day.

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I have a two and a half year old computer: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, 1GB DDR 400, ATI Radeon 9800 PRO.

At the time of purchase I believed it was good enough for any games on the market.

Rumours about SB Pro PE said that it is not extremely demanding for graphics performance. The graphics card is now ranked into the highest SXGA+ class in the "Graphics card recommendations for steelbeasts Professional".

I was surprised when I got low frame rates ( 13 ... 25 FPS ) in one MP game "300 Spartans".

In plain grass test scenario with few vehicles the frame rates are constantly more than enough, 40 - 60 FPS, but any woods and ground cover decrease frame rates badly.

I can play with lowest settings, but it seems that the nice looking maps do not come free.

Here is one test I made:

I run scenario demo/refueling-forest.sce,

I look at the default F8 view of the default tank down the road so that barely no sky is visible and there is some woods and some road in the screen. I do not scan or otherwise move the view while measuring the frame rate.

Resolution is 1024 * 768

Test case 1: Highest graphics card settings in ATI Direct3D settings

Anti Aliasing max 6x

Anisotropic filtering max 16x

Performance vs qualityquality

texture preferences max

mipmap max

Detail high, medium, low, does not matter so much in this case.

Result:

F8 view 20 FPS

F8 view zoomed 9 FPS !, ( not good enough )

Test case 2: Lowest graphics card settings in Direct3D

Anti Aliasing min 2x

Anisotropic filtering min 2x

Performance vs quality performance

texture preferences min

mipmap min

Results:

Detail low

F8 view 27 FPS

F8 view zoomed 28 FPS

Detail medium

F8 view 23 FPS

F8 view zoomed 22 FPS

Detail high

F8 view 20 FPS

F8 view zoomed 22 FPS

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I have AMD 64 3700 San Diego (2.2GHz overclocked at 2.8GHz),ATI X800XL 256mb pci-e card and 2 GB DDR400.

Without combat the framerates are somewhere between 50 and 70 (resolution 1280x1024 and 4AA). When scanning suroundings with binoculars, framerates drop briefly to 40 but after a second they jump back up. I guess the system is just loading textures and such.

In heavy combat framerates are somwhere around 30 and sometimes dropping to 20, but quite rarely below 20.

I'd love to see the framerates stay over 30, but it seems to be CPU issue in my case. Changing detail levels doesn't affect the framerates.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Have noticed no problems at all re: graphics, running @ 1920x1200 on a widescreen H.P L23335. Admittedly I am running a relatively high spec., machine a P4 3.2 ghz upped to 3.7 ghz and I have a nice GeForce 7800GS ExtremeEdition, everything maxed out, It looks wonderfull.

Cheers

leesee :wink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dell Precision 360 (P4 3 GHZ 1 GB RAM) with Quadro FX 500 card. Poor frame rates when trees are around. Just tried a 6600GT which improved things a bit, but still often going below 20 FPS with binos or in combat. Not sure what to try, but it appears the latest versions of SB Pro are VERY graphics intensive, earlier versions were not so hard.

Cheers

Rob

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Dell 8300

P4 3.0

Intel 875 mobo 800 FSB HT

1.5 GB Corsair DD 400 3200 Ram

ATI 9800 Pro

After a lot of testing, I think that a lot of FPS hits are caused by the themes used. I've made my own themes for summer, winter, etc., and load them into scenarios if I can. Some default and user created scenarios use themes with thick ground clutter and cover that they would choke down any computer. And even some trees selected for use cause FPS hits more than others. Carefully select the type of trees you use. Reducing ground clutter and cover to a density of 9 and size to 30 or less makes a vast improvement. Getting rid of the boulders and reducing visibility to 2000 - 2500 meters helps greatly. I guess I could up load my themes if anyone wants to use them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

did some testing for ya...

i have an eMachines M6807. athlon64 mobility 3000+, ati 9600 mobility, 2GB RAM. it ran o.k. 30-40 fps until zoomed in gps (binos, etc would prolly be the same) view with a large forest in the background. then i got the jitters...16fps. i had to run at 1280x800 as that is my screen resolution and i need to figure out how to get it to resize to the entire screen instead of displaying in only part of the screen...

i tried windowed mode as well, and it was marginally better but i could not get fps (fraps only works in full screen mode apparently).

i then upgraded my notebook to an athlon64 mobility 4000+ (intended to do it this weekend anyway) and the fps in the zoomed/forest view was marginally better, about 20 fps. still got the jitters.

so it is quite apparent that it is limited by the gpu, and a faster cpu does not help much in this case. i hear the 9600 mobility pro can be overclocked quite well, and i will be trying that next...and last resort will be figuring out how to fill my screen with a less than native resolution. you may want to do the same.

it is a shame if you are dependant upon this laptop to decide to buy the sim or not. it is absolutely worth having! no other machine?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just upgraded to a 7900GT from a 7600 GT and noticed 50% improvement in framerate using my one test where I was looking in the gunner's F3 view into a patch of trees.

Now it's sitting rock steady at 60 fps in this test, probably because the sim caps framerate at 60.

Simply amazing card. SEAN-1, you might want to recheck all your settings, you were getting like 44 fps in this test, you should be getting over 50+ easily with your 7800GT.

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  • 3 months later...
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what are your configurations for SBpro Ssnake? (with your card) (i dont know whats the best config for mine, i have a nvidia 7900GTX)

Well, I use 4X FSAA and little to no Anisotropic filtering, and I have Vsync enabled; usually I run it in windowed mode at about 1400 x 1000 size. Then again, I'm more interested in nice-looking screenshots than ultimate frame rates. I could run it without problems at 1600x1200 with 4xFSAA, but I often have stuff running in the background that I need while testing the software, and a smaller window that one can drag around on the desktop is more convenient than Alt+Tabbing.

So, I'm not sure if this is helpful - but these are my settings.

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