Weird stuttering of landscape

[Al1940]

Hi

I am running IL2 patched to 4.09 on an i5 750 machine and am getting framerates in the 50s and 60s all the time. However over certain landscape textures (houses etc and particularly the new map in 4.09 with all the fields on - can't remember the name Beliurossa or something!) they stutter. This is not the frame rates - these stay high and aeroplane movement is perfect but the land stutters. Has anyone got any ideas that might solve it - I have tried different config settings and NVidia pannel settings but none have cured it as yet.

Cheers

Alex

[Al1940]

Hi

I am running IL2 patched to 4.09 on an i5 750 machine and am getting framerates in the 50s and 60s all the time. However over certain landscape textures (houses etc and particularly the new map in 4.09 with all the fields on - can't remember the name Beliurossa or something!) they stutter. This is not the frame rates - these stay high and aeroplane movement is perfect but the land stutters. Has anyone got any ideas that might solve it - I have tried different config settings and NVidia pannel settings but none have cured it as yet.

Cheers

Alex

[FoolTrottel]

Welcome here Alex!

We will be needing more information.
Like what version of Windows you are running.
What model video card.

However, here's a long shot: Should you be on XP and using an 8800GTS/320Mb, them stutters may be cured by using this special driver: NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver 1.16369 (http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=10&go=giveme&dwn_id=509) (Those helped clearing the stutters I experienced on the Slovakia map, using an 8800GTS)

Good Luck!

[Ba5tard5word]

I'm not sure what you mean by the framerate staying fine but the landscape stuttering. The game will load landscape details like trees and houses as you fly over them so as you move forward you'll see houses appear out of nothing, it looks poor but it's an old game. And any time you fly over even a medium sized town the game will slow down a lot especially if you have the graphics settings set to max.

Again I'm not sure what you mean about landscape stuttering, but turning threaded optimization in the Nvidia control panel to off and forcing the game to run on one core should help with general stuttering.

And maybe FT's driver suggestion will help but in any case make sure you are running the latest drivers on your graphics card. And it would help to know what graphics card you have since each card can have idiosyncratic problems with Il-2 that people might have figured out how to solve.

[Al1940]

Sorry yes more details. Running win 7 64, on i5 750, 4GB RAM and Nvidia GTS250 512MB. I know it sounds weird about the landscape, but the fps stay high and everything else renders ok. I thought I was overdoing the config settings (ie water 4, forest 3 etc) but they dont seem to make any difference IMO. Thanks for ya feedback tho, sorry I cant describe it better!

[Al1940]

I suppose a better description would be an intermittent lag if you see what I mean...

[Ba5tard5word]

I still don't understand what you mean about the landscape stuttering, do you mean the way that objects come into view on the ground? Do you mean you'll be flying near a town, and suddenly all the houses come into view?

I sometimes get stuttering in Il-2 (especially with 4.09m) but it's when the game will just freeze for a split second, it has nothing to do with the landscape.

[Al1940]

Mmmm, I really can't think of another way to explain, you must think I am a complete fool. Its not the way the objects come into view, it is like a split second freeze but only happens to stuff on the ground, not in the air.

[Al1940]

I think this is along the same sort of line but I am not sure:

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/foru...9310655/m/3881068897 (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/49310655/m/3881068897)

Heres my GL Render config. It may mean more to you than myself.

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=1
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=0
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=3
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=2
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=17
Water=4
Effects=2
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

[NDS_Camp.]

Set LandGeom=2 to 3, probably wont help, but who knows.

I think you know what you mean, you mean the ground moves uner you in small steps? not as a smooth flowing motion?

[TheFamilyMan]

I know the exact problem you are having for I've been there too (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/49310655/m/2121017997). A (potential) fix is given in the post, and I also found that using S3TC compression (enabled in the setup app, and be sure to set the compression extention too) helps a lot to make it silky smooth. And while you are at it disabling all sound extentions/accellerations (yeah, this really sucks but that's progress for you) helps out too for they are useless (?) in Win7. I really can't tell the diffence in-game using texture compression other than the static splash screens look a bit grainy. I tried the 195.xx driver last weeked and they too were awful with my 8800GTS 512. Good Luck, S!

[Al1940]

Ah at least I am far from alone! There is a lot of info in them posts, will have to spend some time messing about, i'm sure there will be a way to sort it. I am using the 195 drivers so might play with them as a last resort. Will have a go at S3TC too, but I was running that on my old system (Celeron (single core) and an NVidia 5200!!) so I am gonna pretend for at least the time being that I don't have to resort to that! Thanks for all your comments, I will keep yas posted.

Alex

[NDS_Camp.]

To enable S3TC you need to set these 2 lines:

TexCompress=2 and TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=1

[Retrofish]

Remember to enable 'Triple buffering' when 'Vertical sync' is set to 'Application setting' or 'Force on' in the Nvidia control panel.

[Al1940]

Think I have got it all sorted. Have enabled 16bit compression and kept forest=2 and water=3. Can't tell the difference between when it was uncompressed and it allows 8xQ AA and 2xAF without any landscape stuttering even on the maps with high texture at low levels. Fps over 60 all the time (vertical sync on). Marvellous. Thanks for all your help!