FPS Tweaking

I am aware that there are alot of people out there who either can't afford or are too lazy to buy better pc's and have to deal with bad fps on some maps, so I thought I would make this guide for getting better fps in game (alot of it is stolen from some graphic sites but I can't remember it so I can't reference it).

Two things .. graphic settings and in game cvars.

Graphics:
Obviously it depends on what card you have but as I have a GeForce 6800, I will explain the relevant settings for best performance (more fps).

First you need to find the best drivers for your card, google.com is your friend for this :-)

I use the new 97.73 drivers for my GeForce 6800 as it gave me the best fps when I ran a 10mb demo on supplydepot using /timedemo 1 (a command which gives you your average fps at the end of the map, similar to benchmarking).

Go into your GeForce drivers and go to "Performance and Quality Settings"

http://turbomatik.i-prague.com/Hype/1.JPG

- Make sure you check "Advanced Settings".
- Antialiasing and Anisotropic filtering should both be off.
- Image Settings: High Performance.
- Vsync: up to you, some people have it on and some off but theoretically speaking, you should get better performance with vertical sync disabled.
- Force mipmaps: Bilinear.
- Conformant texture clamp: off.
- Trilinear optimization: on.
- Anisotropic mip filter optimization: on.
- Anisotropic sample optimization: on.
- Transparency Antialiasing: Multisampling is said to give you better performance, where as Supersampling gives you better quality, I however just leave it off as I see no difference when I tested it :)
- Triple buffering: If you decide to put vsync on then make sure this is on too, otherwise just leave it off
- Negative LOD bias: Clamp

These BIOs settings are from my drivers, obviously there may be different settings for the drivers you have but just try to research each setting on google to find out how it effects the performance and quality.

Another useful program for graphics is Rivatuner, more specifically the "OpenGL Settings" but I will leave that bit of tweaking to you :)

I also use aTuner - http://turbomatik.i-prague.com/Hype/3.JPG

You can also overclock your graphics card (recommended if you plan to buy a new one soon) to get the best out of it but be careful how much you do, best to do it in +10 increments.

As ET is mainly processor based, you may also want to consider overclocking your CPU (I've never done this before so I can't say anything about it).

Config:
Most obvious and important commands for better fps are r_picmip and r_mode, r_picmip 1 will give you better quality than 3 but 3 will get you more fps, also r_mode 4 (800x600) will get you the most fps but i'm sure you know this already :)

(better performance = more fps, better quality = less fps)

- cg_shadows - set this to 0 for more fps, this will disable shadows where as 1 will enable circular shadows.
- cg_fov - fov 90 will give you more fps than 120 :]
- r_clear - a value of 0 will fill cracks between textures, 1 makes these cracks visible which will give you more fps.
- r_detailtextures - self explanatory, 0 for improved performance.
- r_displayrefresh - set this to the maximum refresh rate your monitor can handle.
- r_dynamiclight - set to 0 for better fps
- r_gamma - controls the RGB colour intensity level, the brighter the visuals the more washed out the textures will look, so brighter = better fps
- r_lodbias - controls the detail level of models, the maximum value will get u the best fps
- r_nocull - 0 enables the rendering of visible objects only, hence better performance.
- r_nocurves - set this to 1 to disable curves and vastly improve performance. If you notice visual faults, then set this setting to 0
- r_norefresh - leave it on 0.
- r_overbrightbits - increasing this makes the game brighter which is better for fps
- r_picmip - set to 3 for more fps.
- r_subdivisions - use this to set how complex (rounded) the curves will be in maps. 1 will give you the most detailed (smoothed) curves where as 999 will improve performance.
- r_swapinterval - leave this off at all times (bugged in ET).
- r_texturemodes - controls the texture filtering method for ET, use GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST (Bilinear) for increased performance.
- r_simplemipmaps - setting this to 1 will enable mipmapping which will smooth transitions between textures. Setting this to 0 may improve performance.
- r_flares - set to 1 to enable light flares, set to 0 for more fps.
- r_lodcurveerror - determines how polygons are culled from a scene when further away. When set to a low number, polygons are culled off at shorter distances, while set to a higher number they are not culled for a long distance. For optimal image quality increase this value (Objects remain detailed for longer) & vice versa.
- r_intensity - defines the overall RGB intensity, higher values will effectively increase brightness although textures will lose some of their quality.
- r_allowExtensions - leave this on 1.

Whatever FPS you can get, make sure it's constant e.g. constant 76 > fluctuating 125. I manage to get a constant 100 on most maps apart from some parts of radar and goldrush, it can go down quite abit in certain areas.

http://turbomatik.i-prague.com/Hype/2.JPG is ideal for the best performance in ET.

Remember, these are just for best fps and not neccessarily best for you so it's up to you to decide what you want to do.

I'm sure there are probably some things I've missed or got wrong, so any feedback is welcome, hope this works for you and you get abit more FPS :]