BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

[Rohan]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

You might also want to have a look in Catalyst Control Center, put everything on "Application Controlled" and Image Quality (or overall performance, whatever it's called - I can't remember exactly) to "Performance" mode.

If I remember, there is also a help/troubleshooting section, you could always try the things there. And somewhere in the catalyst center you can check what speed your AGP port and card are running at.

Have you had no improvement in any games since installing the card or is it just BVE?

[lankylancaster]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Nope, that changes nothing unfortunatly. It seems in general although I can't be sure that just BVE is affected by it, I've had no other problems with any other games. I had a look in system information under conflicts/sharing and Radeon 9250 comes up with SiS Processor to AGP Controller on 2 occasions and PCI Bus and SiS Processor to AGP Controller. You wouldn't think this would have anything to do with it? SiS 650 isn't mentioned anywhere thought, which was the old chipset I disabled.

[leezer3]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Ugh, yes- Windoze is still recognising, and pissing around with the SIS controller. Try uninstalling any references to the SIS controller from device manager, and see if this does anything. My personal solution would be to totally delete all stuff related the the GFX, and re-install from safe mode, but from your replies, I suspect that is an option you are really unable to go down. (For a start, this route could potentially result in a reformat if things go awry)

Cheers

Chris Lees

[Rohan]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

You might want to have a look at DriverCleaner:

http://www.drivercleaner.net/

I haven't tried it myself, but it's a tool to completely remove the remains of graphics drivers, hopefully that should be able to clean out anything SiS related that's left.

Unfortunately, you have to uninstall all graphics drivers through Add/Remove programs first (ie. Uninstall your ATI ones as well and then reinstall them afterwards).

[lankylancaster]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Ok, yeh if I'm going to need to do anything like that I'll get my mate to do it! That seems like the problem, thanks to every1 who has helped me with this, it is very much appreciated! An interesting revalation for you all too. I bought this PC from curry's about 3 years ago, it appears they have tampered with all these models personally, to stop people upgrading them too far. As you know I'm using 768mb of memory, I bought 1024mb but this computer has a System License Error when I put all 1024mb in?!? Hence I've just left my old 256 in and put a 512 with it. Just thought that was a bit sneaky that's all!

[Simon_G]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

>>this computer has a System License Error when I put all 1024mb in?!?

I think you may just need to activate Windows again. XP monitors the hardware configuration of your system and if you change the system too much it worries that you might have copied Windows illegally to another computer and stops working.

You might find the article http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php at useful (scroll down for the section What if I make too many changes?). I hope you have SP1 installed

[leezer3]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Hiya once again
As others have said, the system licence error is almost certainly coming from Windoze; Correct me if I'm wrong. Now I'm becoming curious- Can you post the manufacturer & model of this PC- Windoze should only ask you to re-activate, as opposed to kicking up a system licence error, and I'm wondering if there are any more surprises in store!

Cheers

Chris Lees

Site is in the process of being moved- Just the domain to go!

[lankylancaster]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

It's a Packard Bell IXtreme 6052, GA-8SIML-NF5 motherboard made by Gigabyte Technology, Intel Celeron 2.6 GHz processor. Came with 256mb ddr memory and SiS 650 graphics chipset, so really only 192mb memory. Is that what you need to know?

[hongjian]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

The CPU plays a important part to BVE performance too! I was aware from reading the posts that users with Celeron CPUs were the most affected when running BVE.

Using Intel Celeron CPU, no matter what speed it is operating on, do not improve BVE 4 performance even it is installed with 1GHz RAM and a top of the range AGP 8x video card with 256Mb of video RAM.

Hence for stable performance for BVE 4, I recommend using Pentium 4 for desktops or Pentium 4/Centrino for Laptops with stand-alone, not integrated, video RAM of about 128Mb.

Celeron CPUs do have its limitations due to its cache memory and instruction set, if I remember correctly,from the days when I was a Computer Engineer. Hence Celeron is not recommended for high graphics intensity software.

To prove, I have tried installing BVE 4 onto my mate's PC with Celeron CPU and the difference immediately shows.

[Boxcars]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

I wish I had known this before I bought my PC although I’m quite happy with it (except for BVE 4) and BVE 2.6.3 runs well. Coincidentally I’ve got the same PC as lankylancaster

http://www.packardbell.co.uk/products/node1821.asp?partNumber=P851008225

but I still don’t understand why my framerates seem to be better than lanky’s, especially after he has upgraded. So it seems the problem is the Celeron CPU. Earlier posts in this thread suggest more memory and new graphics cards will help performance but Hongjian suggests otherwise. Hongjian says “Using Intel Celeron CPU, no matter what speed it is operating on, do not improve BVE 4 performance even it is installed with 1GHz RAM and a top of the range AGP 8x video card with 256Mb of video RAM.” Then how come that lankylancaster says he can run large 3d games such as unreal tournament 2003, which are much more demanding than BVE? Simon says “This is not a pure 'framerates' issue, but seems to be related to memory management and can probably only be cured by Mackoy”. I really hope so. I still don’t know whether it’s worth spending money upgrading my computer or whether to just wait and see what any future versions of the great BVE bring. It’s all been very interesting though.

Neil

[hongjian]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Framerates depends on both video card RAM and CPU processing as well. From the specs given for you Packard Bell PC, I am quite certain that the problem still lies in your CPU.

I am certain that your video card had already been upgraded based on you earlier post and the SIS integrated video card had been disabled. Hence the video card is not at fault here.

I have not played Unreal Tourament 2003 at all hence I am not in the position to comment on its graphics useage. My only guess is that the graphics intensity of Unreal Tourament 2003 is not as processor and video hungry as BVE 4.2, given the two-year gap in between the release of Unreal Tourament (2003) and BVE 4.2 (2005).

When I purchase my PC, I always make sure that it is the with good specifications like Pentium 4 range and a video card like ATI or NVidea with at least 128-256MB video RAM.

[leezer3]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Hongjan,
Have you seen my posts- My secondary PC with roughly the same specs (Same CPU, less RAM, very similar GFX card) is operating at a much faster rate than Lankylancaster's. I'm nearly certain that the problem is not with the CPU, but rather somewhere in the complex interaction between all the different components of Windoze/ PC.
As he said that the SIS drivers were still showing up as shared resources, this still makes me think that some sort of a driver conflict is at fault.

As such, I'm now pretty much out of ideas; The following suggestions are just housekeeping, but may improve things-
1. Have you updated to all the current Windoze patches?
2. Have you tried defragging?
3. Have you updated all the other drivers to the latest available?


Cheers

Chris Lees

(Now back online!)

[hongjian]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Hmm, you have mentioned that "My secondary PC with roughly the same specs (Same CPU, less RAM, very similar GFX card) is operating at a much faster rate than Lankylancaster's."

So can I assume that you are able to load BVE without any video problems on a Celeron PC?

On the issue of video card, all unwanted drivers have to be uninstalled especially if you are changing video card. My motherboard do have an integrated video card but I have disabled it at BIOS level and installed a GeForce 4 card. I guess the BIOS have to be checked as well if any of the unwanted integrated hardware is still active.

[leezer3]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Correct. I'm getting about 20FPS in BNS with a Celeron 2.6ghz.
However, I've only just looked at his mobo specs ( http://support.packardbell.com/uk/my...851008201#show )- I'm running on AGP 8x, whilst he's only on AGP 2x. This is probably what's causing this massive discrepancy in FPS.

Dunno where to go from here?

Cheers

Chris Lees

[Boxcars]

RE: BVE 4 versus BVE 2 (performance issues again)

Chris ...

Celeron 2.6 and 20 FPS in BNS ! Are you talking about BVE 4 or BVE 2 ?