F.e.a.r

PucK · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:33

All

Been playing this game with my GTO2 and now my new 1800xt. I put everything on max but it plays rubbish.

Ive got a 64 144 running at 300X9 2700mhz

All other games can run at full res of my 19" tft just this game really struggles. Is there a know setting which i need to turn off.
Cheers
Puck

lemonkettaz · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:36

probably turn the AA and AF down.

man_from_uncle · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:38

Have you changed the .exe file? There is some bug that turns off all the fixes ATI released for the game if you don't rename the FEAR.exe file. You can rename it to anything you like.

GingaNinja · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:39

Also, turn texture detail down from high to medium. This improved my frame rates considerably.

Ginga

lemonkettaz · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:41

what memory you got?

shouldnt really need to take the texture to medium with an x1800xt

PucK · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:43

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC4400 Ultra Platinum CAS3

Whats this renaming the exe all about? how does that apply the the ATI fixes?

PucK · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:53

ah ive looked it up on the internet, ill rename it tonight

LoadsaMoney · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:54

Strange i played it here maxed out with 2xAA/16xAF 1280x1024, only soft shadows off, and it was smooth as silk, ran like a dream, it really needs 2gb of ram to get the best out of it, stuttered like hell when i had 1gb so you may have to turn some settings down with not having 2gb.

I don't think the renaming of the .exe works now, think it was fixed in 5.12's and onwards.

helpimcrap · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:59

hmmm on my X800XL i play with everything on max except softshadows and no AA(?) and it plays fine... averages 45fps. only stutters a little bit when loading up a new section.

PucK · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:01

May be ive got this soft shadows on, does this cripple the performance?

Domo · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:03

As Loadsamoney states - you need 2 GB RAM to run F.E.A.R at decent settings.
I'm using a 7800GT + AMD X2 and it runs like cr@p at 1280x1024.
I can't afford the extra GB though..

man_from_uncle · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:05

Try it.

Basically ATI released a number of fixes for FEAR in their late 2005 drivers. Sadly there was a bug with the fixes that meant that they all got turned off as soon as FEAR.exe was loaded. A complete schoolgirl error, but there you have it. By renaming the file to say FEAR01.exe, the fixes don't get turned off and you should see a fairly good increase in performance.

The X1800XT should be able to run at max settings at 1280x960 with everything maxed out at 50-55fps ish. If you are trying to go higher though you'll have to cut down the AA to x2, lower the textures to medium and probably reduce volumertic light and maybe a little AF too. Also, don't bother with soft shadows. If you have any AA on they don't work, and they are not visually impressive enough to make sacraficing AA at lower resolutions worth it.

EDIT: I didn't spot that you were only using 1 gig of ram. You might just have to lower textures to medium even at 1280x960, everything else should max out fine though.

welshtom · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:09

helpimcrap said:
hmmm on my X800XL i play with everything on max except softshadows and no AA(?) and it plays fine... averages 45fps. only stutters a little bit when loading up a new section.

thats a contradiction for me :-

Plays fine - averages 45fps

Dutch Guy · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:12

PucK said:
May be ive got this soft shadows on, does this cripple the performance?

Sure does:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/fear_beta_performance/page5.asp

helpimcrap · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:17

welshtom said:
thats a contradiction for me :-

Plays fine - averages 45fps

it dips down to high 30s on occasion but its certainly not sluggish.

ArchAnGeL · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:29

Dutch Guy said:
Sure does:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/fear_beta_performance/page5.asp

I have just been doing some benches with a [email protected] (257x10), 2gb gskill zxpc3200, 166 divider , 2,3,2,5 and a x1900xt @ stock.

at all max, 1600, I see on a slight difference with soft shadows on or off.

I will post the exact figures when I get home.

Dutch Guy · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:37

I found that the built in benchmark is a little easy on the system, if I get 60fps in that and start a new game the fps at the start are much lower than 60fps

LoadsaMoney · 28 Feb 2006 at 12:39

helpimcrap said:
hmmm on my X800XL i play with everything on max except softshadows and no AA(?) and it plays fine... averages 45fps. only stutters a little bit when loading up a new section.

Heres a tip for you which should help as it did me when i discovered it when i had an x800 XT PE if you want some AA on.

Turn the shadow detail to minimum as they cripple the performance on the x8 range for some reason, the only shadows you lose are yours which is projected, and the shadows of the enemy.

I was able to ramp up the resolution, and add some AA without any hit at all once id dropped the shadows, and it ran fantastic.

I used to play 1024x768 no AA 16/AF everything maxed except soft shaodws, and still got a bit of lag when it got busy etc... then when i dropped the shadows i ramped it to 1152x864 2xAA/16xAF everything maxed still with no soft shadows, and i was getting exactly the same frame-rates, and without the lag when it got busy.

man_from_uncle · 28 Feb 2006 at 13:15

Dutch guy, you are quite right the in built test is generous. But as it's all relative. If you can get 50 odd fps in the test then the game is more or less playable to most people. More than 60-65 odd and only (comparitively) fussy complaints can be made. Once you are at 80 it's pretty much as good as it can get, at least to the naked eye.

Loadsamoney is right too. Turning Shadows down or off makes the world of difference (more so than volumetric lighting). Personally i notice the lack of shadows and prefer lowering the AA instead to get the best framerate per image quality. But to each their own. I actually notice very little difference between max volumetric lighting and min (though it's quite obvious when it is not on at all), so that might be another setting to reduce if you want to squeeze and extra few frames a second.

PucK · 28 Feb 2006 at 21:02

it stutters, its paging the hard disk all the time!! im doing a defrag. seem like its mostly the sound causing the probs