Performance Enhancement
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First off, no, I am not talking about Barry Bonds. If I were, my title
would have been "Asterisk." But I do want to focus on performance
enhancement for my personal computer for those times I play Vanguard. More specifically, I want
to talk about the latest round of beta drivers NVIDIA released for
Windows XP 32-bit systems.
Simply put, Vanguard's
performance on my computer has increased greatly since Game Update #2.
To clarify, I run a Dell Dimension 4700 3GHz Intel with 1.79GB RAM and
a NTFS formatted Maxtor HDD. My graphics card is a GeForce 7600GT with
only 256MB RAM. I understand that some of you out there have not gotten
the improvements I have since GU#2, and I'm not trying to rub it in.
Recently, NVIDIA released a new driver, and some people were expressing
major performance increases using it. I tested it out, and here are my
notes.
Prior to GU#2
Before GU#2 went live, I got maybe 35 FPS out in an open plain, but
even just standing still, that number could flutter between 18-35 as my
system process all of the mounds of data the client throws at it.
In a bigger city (say Khal), I'd peak around 17 FPS with stutters down
to 4 or 5. Entering a crowded room in a big building could drop me to a
literal slide show for a few seconds until the rendering was complete.
After GU#2, but Before the NVIDIA Driver Update
Once GU#2 went live, my GPS in the fields dropped to about 28 FPS. But
the amazing thing is that it was stable. It might bounce from 25-28,
but none of that roller coaster business from before. I was content to
lose the frames per second to gain the stability.
In big towns, my FPS held somewhere between 14-17. Sure, I could get
the occasional bog-down when entering a new room that needed to be
rendered. But I almost never experienced a loss of 10 FPS just from
standing still anymore.
I'll have some
of whatever he's having for my graphics card, please.
GU#2 with the NVIDIA Driver Update
I'm torn at this point and considering a rollback. The new NVIDIA
driver (163.71 released 9/21) has my FPS back up into the high
30s. I can hit 38FPS in a field, but the stuttering has returned
slightly. If I spin a 360, I get hitches that take me from 38 FPS down
to 18. By the time I do 2 360s, I can stand still and have the FPS
remain steady at 34-38. The effect of the hitching is more noticeable
because of the higher framrate. It was likely there before I updated
the driver, but the change in performance appeared less drastic.
In a big city (I played around in Martok last night), my FPS goes back
into the familiar realm of the high teens. I was running somewhere
between 18-21 FPS with the usual drag when loading the inside of a
building.
The Verdict
Overall, GU#2 has made my gaming experience better when it comes to
performance. Stability hasn't been an issue for me for a while though I
know it continues to be for others. The new NVIDIA driver seems to give
me a slight boost in performance as well with the drawback of making
the hitching more noticeable.
I'd say owners of the GeForce FX, 6, 7, & 8 series cards should
give it a try. If you don't like the outcome, you can always rollback.
One More Thing: Content
First, let me acknowledge that we see your votes in our content
poll. The voting does not end until September 30, but I think the
winner is already clear. You guys want to read more quest guides. We're
talking about the best way to get it done.
Machail has just about finished the Pantheon
Quest Guides (he'll publish the last one this week). It has been
slow go for him, taking roughly 2 months to publish the whole thing.
But his guides are thorough and talk you through each step. Still, he
could have put out over a dozen one-shot quests in that time frame. But
then, who needs help with those quests? You see where this argument is
going. You'll get a chance to voice your opinion in a new poll this
week, and we'll take a look at some revisions to our content plan
starting in October.
OK, Now Just One More Thing: SOE Interviews
I last heard about the interview questions
I submitted a while back was the week GU#2 released. Ellyra had emailed
me to update the progress (she was hoping she could get me some answers
that week). But then the madness of GU#2 hit, and well, the interview
is MIA. Ellyra has also asked about reviving the Ask the
Devs feature here at Ten Ton Hammer. I asked Ellyra to find out the
perfect number of questions and frequency of submissions to fit the
developers' busy schedules. The answer she got back was "submit as many
as you want whenever, and we'll try our best to answer as many as we
can." Machail has been sifting through the stuff, but I haven't
submitted anything yet. In due time. Just know that we're looking at it.
Now get out there and try those new NVIDIA drivers. It could make your
life happier. I Told
You So.
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