I get 55 fps in editor with lots of AI and combat going on. Why can't I achieve the same in mp?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
ArmA 3 Performance Thread
- Thread starter Sethos
- Start date
I get 55 fps in editor with lots of AI and combat going on. Why can't I achieve the same in mp?
Legato.Reborn-
Member
Because Arma
It's a known problem with a lot of topics about it on the forums. Some people just keep blaming the CPU when that's not what you're talking about at all. It doesn't matter what's going on or what settings you're using, MP is horrible on a lot of servers right now while a few are fine. It's the biggest thread on the ArmA forums right now for good reason.
Some servers can't handle it but it's a lot bigger than that. It's almost like the framerate cap is stuck at a shitty number since it's always the same. Not saying these problems aren't expected in an alpha, but it's definitely not something you just blame on individual computers when it's so wide spread.
paperspace
Member
So, any special command lines you guys are using?
Here's what I'm using so far:
-cpuCount=4 -exthreads=7 (this is for an i7 with HT)
In order to make sure the engine is using all cores and threads. Could help if the game is not detecting your hardware correctly. Adjust after your own hardware.
-nosplash -skipIntro
Skip intro.
-world=empty
Skips loading the island on startup = faster boot.
-maxVRAM=2047
To make sure the engine is using all the VRAM. Solves an issue with Windows as well. 2047 is the max value iirc, adjust after your own hardware.
-nobenchmark
Skips the benchmark that occurs on startup. At the moment, the benchmark can cause the drivers to reboot if there's other applications running with sound etc.
-malloc=system
Advanced memory allocating. In this case, it's forced using Windows allocator. More info here.
Here's what I'm using so far:
-cpuCount=4 -exthreads=7 (this is for an i7 with HT)
In order to make sure the engine is using all cores and threads. Could help if the game is not detecting your hardware correctly. Adjust after your own hardware.
-nosplash -skipIntro
Skip intro.
-world=empty
Skips loading the island on startup = faster boot.
-maxVRAM=2047
To make sure the engine is using all the VRAM. Solves an issue with Windows as well. 2047 is the max value iirc, adjust after your own hardware.
-nobenchmark
Skips the benchmark that occurs on startup. At the moment, the benchmark can cause the drivers to reboot if there's other applications running with sound etc.
-malloc=system
Advanced memory allocating. In this case, it's forced using Windows allocator. More info here.
Portugeezer
Member
Next fucking gen, right here!
Anton Sugar
Member
Yeah, it's crazy how clean this game looks.
Nope, outside of the nosplash ( nobench / world=empty ), most of those are just redundant settings that provide no benefits.
Everything you have with -maxmem=2047 and -winxp
Anton Sugar
Member
Dwarden has posted instructions on how to allow Steam to update your game to the "beta" (or release candidate) versions of the Alpha (that is, dev builds that haven't yet completed QA) here.
With Arma 2, these typically had lots of improvements, but of course, you risk it not being QA complete. By default, the Alpha will only update once the RC has been QA'ed, so you have to opt in.
With Arma 2, these typically had lots of improvements, but of course, you risk it not being QA complete. By default, the Alpha will only update once the RC has been QA'ed, so you have to opt in.
Thanks, I'll be using these! One question though, I have an AMD Phenom II 965 processor; so what should I put for -exthreads?
I have the same cpu. I don't use the exthreads command line. Just CPUcount 4
paperspace
Member
Yeah, the game should detect those settings automatically. Doesn't hurt making sure the hardware is used correctly though. The in-game setting for Video memory can be sort of confusing since Default (not Very High) is the one to choose if you want to use 2047MB.
4.
Anton Sugar
Member
Video Settings Guide. Haven't watched it myself, but may be useful for people here.
I watched the whole thing and I wasted my time. It was everything I already knew. He just read the descriptions of the settings and just compared them. Just go into editor and mess with the settings and see what works for you.
ScaryMovies
Member
Dunno if you guys have tried it, but it definitely gave me performance boost when I went in to the ArmA 3 launch properties and added noSplash -cpuCount=4 -high. I'm on an i5 3570K, if you're on an i7 you can change it to 8 and it supposedly makes use of HT.
I also added -maxMem=6144 to make it use more than 4GB of ram (I have 8GB total).
I also added -maxMem=6144 to make it use more than 4GB of ram (I have 8GB total).
Game doesn't support HT very well / at all. In ArmA 2, HT made the game stutter on early i7s before they patched it. Also Maxmem has a hardcoded maximum of 2047, it'll just revert to that plus the .exe isn't LAA or 64Bit afaik so it won't go beyond 4GB in the first place.
ScaryMovies
Member
Well then try =4 instead of 8 if it doesn't work.
I at least got an FPS boost. I'm always playing with FRAPS' FPS overlay.
EDIT: Just now realised that what I posted above was already posted. Sorry about that.
I figured I'd ask here. What's a about PP AA filter, SMAA or FXAA? SMAA makes everything look smoother, but as a result it looks blurrier. FXAA makes everything look sharper, but it looks slightly more jaggier, but it could be due to the removal of the blur. Which seems like a more viable selection for the game?
FXAA for this game by far. SMAA looks better in some games, but in Arma FXAA is the way to go.
SMAA is better, much cleaner AA method and doesn't introduce native blur.
To counteract the blur from FXAA, they decided to add a heavy sharpening filter to the FXAA options - Which looks pretty bad.
Karak
Member
Ya the SMAA appears broken. Its fucking terrible looking. Worse implementation I have ever laid eyes on damn. I am not a fan of FXAA myself but it looks a bit better. I would rather have neither actually after really looking hard at what both options do to the IQ in this game. Damn.
Fuck. Yeah.
Reason why I rented a TS3 yesterday.
ArmA without ACRE is like a hotdog without bread.
SJRB
Gold Member
Pardon my ignorance, but where do you find these? Do you add them in the Arma3Alpha.cfg in the Documents folder?
I really need a fix to skip the startup splash screens.
Anton Sugar
Member
You can add them to Steam launch parameters (right click the Game>Properties in Steam, I think).
Anton668
Member
for the most part its as simple as changing 1 number in the bios. providing you have a good MB
long as you have a aftermarket CPU cooler that is
Gigabyte GA-770T-USB3 is my motherboard and I'm not sure I have an aftermarket cpu cooler.
Anton668
Member
if you're not sure, you prolly dont
Yeah that's why I edited my post after like 5 minutes saying I don't want to anymore haha
Anton668
Member
meh, a cooler master 212 evo is only like $35
Trying to use a mixture of Very High and Ultra settings @ 1080p (View Distance is at 3k) and getting bad performance in the first infantry showcase area. FPS is locked at 60 for the first minute or so, but once I get to a wide open area my GPU usage dips and CPU usage is around 30% on 3 cores with one core at 100%. When this is going on I am in the mid 40's for framerate. I have only done the cpu count=4 launch option.
i7 2600k@4.6 GTX 680@1210 16GB RAM.
Is this the kind of performance I should expect, or is there something I can do?
i7 2600k@4.6 GTX 680@1210 16GB RAM.
Is this the kind of performance I should expect, or is there something I can do?
Not much you can do, view distance kills even top-end computers because it's reliant on the CPU and right now they really aren't taking advantage of multi-core CPUs.
Phanatic8390
Member
Anyone else having crashes when trying to join MP? I think 1 in like 10 attempts I can actually get in
Stahsky
A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
Yeah, the autodetect put my view distance and everything else at pretty much max settings. view distance is at like 80% and it's wrecking my FPS in MP settings.
I'm running on an 8-core AMD CPU, so I'm not really sure what I can and cannot do with launch settings. Anyone got any idea?
Okay, to revive this thread with some solid information I might have found a performance fix for some.
On my 3930k, my performance in the main village went from 30-40FPS to locked 60 and a slight dip when looking at the airfield. It also removed my stuttering when doing quick turns. It didn't work on my friend's i5 2500k.
So I'd like some feedback on the fix, which CPU, is HT enabled and did it help the FPS at all.
Disable CPU Parking: http://www.coderbag.com/Programming-C/Disable-CPU-Core-Parking-Utility
Restart PC.
Try the game.
On my 3930k, my performance in the main village went from 30-40FPS to locked 60 and a slight dip when looking at the airfield. It also removed my stuttering when doing quick turns. It didn't work on my friend's i5 2500k.
So I'd like some feedback on the fix, which CPU, is HT enabled and did it help the FPS at all.
Disable CPU Parking: http://www.coderbag.com/Programming-C/Disable-CPU-Core-Parking-Utility
Restart PC.
Try the game.
Something isn't right on Bohemia's end if the cpu cores remain parked while the game is taxing them.
I'd try it but I think I'm GPU bound anyway. Will be interesting to see if someone else experiences the same improvement though.
You should file an issue on their feedback tracker either way.
I'd try it but I think I'm GPU bound anyway. Will be interesting to see if someone else experiences the same improvement though.
You should file an issue on their feedback tracker either way.
I'll give it a go on my 2500K and see if it helps anything.
scorpscarx
Member
Disabling core parking is overclocking 101, everyone should do this in their uefi/bios before they even install Windows, and it's usually disabled by default.
Yeah I know Sethos, happy it helped you out though.
Yeah I know Sethos, happy it helped you out though.
Never in my life heard core parking part of overclocking.
Speedstepping and all that stuff, yes, core parking no. It's not even in my BIOS.
I'm with Sethos here. Never heard of core parking before.
Didn't help me though, get the exact same fps after I disabled it.
indigo-cyclops
Member
Same here I've never heard of core parking. I opened the utility, though, and my cores are parked...
scorpscarx
Member
Maybe there are some Win7 issues with HT cores, but as far as I remember core parking has it's own setting on most newer motherboards, and on older it's a part of c states which you can usually configure or reduce. Also it's usually never called "core parking" out right.
indigo-cyclops
Member
I'm worried about unparking them and then having issues...Does this utility work for AMD processors as well? I'm assuming so, though in the comments a few people seem to be having issues with it.