NWN performance bottleneck CPU or GPU?

[Legacy_Guest_Lowlander_*]

               I really expected better peroformance. It seems like I was getting the same peformance when I had an old Athlon processor with Radeaon 9700 card.

Now I have 6Gb ram, 3.2GHz Intel Quad (I know multi doesn't help), and a NVidia 8800GT card and when I do a trace fps, I am usually getting lowish frame rates in the 20 to 30 fps range. (Win7 x64).

This is even in relatively simple area like the Gatehouse in HotU.

I do have most graphics setting maxed, but this is a game from a long time ago. I shouldn't have to skimp on it's simple visuals to get decent FPS.

Is this CPU?? or GPU?? Does ATI work better than Nvidia? Or does NWN just run slow?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN DM]

               I think your GPU is a little old isn't it?  That said, it should be enough to run the game at full settings (it was when I had that very card a few years ago).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Guest_Lowlander_*]

               NWN is a LOT older. The recommended card on the box is a GeForce 2!



I was getting similar frame rates with a 9700Pro as I do now with the 8800GT. The 8800GT is MUCH more powerful, I would expect better.



I read that old OpenGL is being done more in software these days by card makers and that is why faster cards aren't turning in much better performance.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               I can't remember if it's the 8800 GT, or GTS that had serious issues with NWN.  I lied, it seems to be the 8800 GTX, but this thread might be of use to you regardless.



http://nwn.bioware.c...564606&forum=49
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Hmmm in looking something up I found this post, which is by a bioware dev. Its the fourth post down.

http://nwn.bioware.c...635711&forum=42
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Guest_Lowlander_*]

               Yeah, I had stumbled on that thread (and others) since first posting. I have followed all the suggestions, except I turned of CPU affinity. I think I got a mild boost and I am more consistently in the 30-40 fps range... Playable.



I am more curious if this is normal, are people running newer cards getting 100fps or does NWN just run slower.



I also wonder about ATI vs NVidia OpenGL drivers. It seems they are going downhill rather than improving.



               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Pretty sure I don't get a high FPS with NWN and I have a top notch card.  As for drivers, they have continually tried to cut openGL support (I think a lot of things use D3D now).  Fortunately the outcry from customers makes them come back and support it, but there will be a time where support ceases for NWN I'm sure.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Timj37]

               I just had a problem similar to this yesterday. I built a new system running windows 7 a little while ago. Nothing fancy. A 2.8Ghz E6300 O.C.ed to 3.4, An Evga 9500 GT, 4 gigs of ram and so on. Anyway plenty enough machine to run the original NWN. It runs newer games (Like Dragon age) with no problem.

I installed NWN and downloaded the new critical rebuild patch. What happened when the game was running seemed to be a slow framerate. Very jerky when the character was moving on screen. I searched online and quickly came to quite a few threads describing the same situation. There are all kinds of fixes on the boards. The first one I tried was to simply run the game in windows XP service pack 2 compatibility while disabling the visual themes and so on. No dice. I then happened upon a thread that advised to disable the sound in the configure menu. I did that and it worked like a charm. The framerate shot right up and the game was silky smooth with all of the settings turned up on 1280x1024 res. I went back to the configure menu, re-enabled the sound and its still running like a champ.

I don't know exactly what the deal was. Kind of weird but I thought I would share it for those who may have the same problem.

I have to mention that I had the game installed on an old machine running XP and I never had a problem with it before. 
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Timj37, 17 septembre 2010 - 01:30 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

Timj37 wrote...

 The first one I tried was to simply run the game in windows XP service pack 2 compatibility while disabling the visual themes and so on. No dice. I then happened upon a thread that advised to disable the sound in the configure menu. I did that and it worked like a charm. The framerate shot right up and the game was silky smooth with all of the settings turned up on 1280x1024 res. I went back to the configure menu, re-enabled the sound and its still running like a champ.

I don't know exactly what the deal was. Kind of weird but I thought I would share it for those who may have the same problem.

It's these random fixes that drives everyone bonkers trying to get just the right combo pieced together.  This is important information.  If possible, try finding a sticky where this can be inserted.  These new boards don't have the typical ATI and nVidia hardware stickies so you may need to shove it into the lonely Win7 sticky for the time being (just a link to this thread would suffice, I'd expect).  

Incidentally,once you got the FPS back up, did you try experimenting with any other compatibility modes or just the XP sp2 one?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Timj37]

               Good idea Hip. There should be a sticky about this. Especially since it seems to be a common problem for NWN users with Win 7. It took me quite a while searching to find a fix.



No, I didn't mess around with it anymore. I pulled down the console and checked my FPS and the number was 100+ even with high activity on-screen.  Thats a perfectly fine number with me! So I didn't even screw with it.



Just to be clear for everyone, I'm still running in XP SP2 compatibility mode with the visual themes and such disabled. The only thing I did was to disable the sound, run the game, and then enable the sound. Such a weird little thing and if I had not read about it in a post I never would have thought of it.



Does anyone have any idea why it does this?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Guest_Lowlander_*]

               100 fps in busy areas? Color me skeptical. I haven't seen anyone reporting those kinds of numbers.



I have tried all recommendations on 3.2GHz q9400 and 8800GT (more than twice as powerful vs 9500GT) and I get in 20's in some areas. 20-50 fps in 95% of areas.



Also I actually played a couple of modules with "~trace fps" on, not just pop in and check in the starting room of the mod.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Gorath Alpha]

               The first time that I played this game, I had a TNT2 video card with only 32 GBs of VRAM on it.  My CPU was an AMD Athlon, the Thunderbird 1300.  If there ever was any frame rate slowdown, I never noticed it.  I was, however, displeased with the Gamma settings between the game and that card's drivers.  I had to raise the brightness quite a bit, and in so doing, lost some contrast and sharpness. 

When SoU was released, I had a GF3 Ti-200 card and was running a version of RivaTuner that made it easy to place a number for the FPS rate in the top right of the game screen.  That was a fast card in its day, but not in comparison to recent video cards.  I believe I was seeing 50-70 FPS most of the time with that card.  I was still running Windows98se then. 

Now, I have a machine that was reassembled from the parts I sent to college with a neice five years ago.  Between then and her entry to Graduate School, I upgraded it completely for her.  The parts sat in a drawer for about a year, and last winter I got bored.  I also had a spare case on hand, and reassembled her hardware in it, installed Windows2000 on it, then installed the Bioware Aurora pair, KotOR-1, and NWN-1.  It's just great for those (the current RivaTuner, if it has a similar FPS option, is much more difficult to use that way.  I've not found the option to do that in it.)

Gorath
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 20 septembre 2010 - 11:53 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Timj37]

               

Lowlander wrote...

100 fps in busy areas? Color me skeptical. I haven't seen anyone reporting those kinds of numbers.

I have tried all recommendations on 3.2GHz q9400 and 8800GT (more than twice as powerful vs 9500GT) and I get in 20's in some areas. 20-50 fps in 95% of areas.

Also I actually played a couple of modules with "~trace fps" on, not just pop in and check in the starting room of the mod.

Sorry your skeptical. Colored or otherwise.

I'm only reporting what I see in the console. The LOWEST I've seen it get is 70 fps. The highest I've seen it is 123.  I've seen a few people on other forums (When I was searching for the fix) report over 160 fps.

Yes I do have a 9500gt 1Gb overclocked to 650, 1500, 450. I have a simple duel core E6300 2.8 overclocked to 3.4.  

I just pulled down the console again, checked the fps and it read 106.

If your running 20 fps something isn't right.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Timj37, 20 septembre 2010 - 05:29 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Mmmmm fiddling around, my FPS will dip to 20 at times, but usually between 50-100.



Running GTX 295
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shia Luck]

               

Timj37 wrote...

I just had a problem similar to this yesterday....

What happened when the game was running seemed to be a slow framerate. Very jerky when the character was moving on screen. I searched online and ...I then happened upon a thread that advised to disable the sound in the configure menu.

Ironically updating sound drivers, changning the sound settings etc ... is often more productive than messing with the visual effects for imrpoving FPS. An old sound driver can crash the game. Especially if you have a Realtek sound card iirc.

have fun '>