Support NeoGAF

[Truelize]

Ok. I have my new comp up and running.
AMD 64 3000
1 Gig of ram
ATI Radeon 9800pro

What are the optimum settings to run this game at? Are there any sites that teach an ATI n00b about all the setting on this card and how to get the most out of it? I would rather know what I'm doing that to have to just screw around with it.

I'm about to start the game up for the first time too.

Oh. I think I just wet myself.

 

[Drexon]

Wow, that's my exact setting (though Kingston RAM sticks) in T-6 days. Just thought I'd let you know.

Tweak #1 - Don't force the CPU to decompress the game all the time

Instructions:
Go to /base in the Doom 3-directory, see those .pk4-files?
Theses compressed files pretty much make up the whole game,
so when you play it, your CPU decompresses these all the time
to be able to access the files inside. This causes the game
to run slower than it has to. To get rid of this slowdown
and make the most out of your CPU, just use WinRAR to extract
all the .pk4-files in the Doom 3/base-directory, overwriting any
duplicate files as you go. Then make sure you delete the original
.pk4-files so the game don't continue to access them later on.
Beware though that the game will take up alot more space uncompressed.
Around 3.5 gb instead of the usual 1.5.

Tweak #2 - Increase game cache

Instructions:
If you have got a lot of RAM on your system (like 512 mb), you
could try increasing the cache available to the game. This is
done by using notepad to open DoomConfig.cfg, then find this line:

seta image_cacheMegs <number> (Usually 20 or 32)

Try changing the number to say...96 instead. You should notice a
pretty neat performance boost when playing the game. Feel
free to try and change it to an even higher number. I've
heard of guys increasing it up to around 256 and even 512 and
still getting better performance. Try it yourself!

 

[B'z-chan]

I'm running similar specs except i'm using the 9600xt. I've known about the pk4/pk3 winrar trick for a few years but what does it really do? Does it load textures to the video card faster? just wondering.

 

[Burger]

I have the same system except with a A64 3200.

I can play in Medium or High with almost no difference in framerate.

I for one, play with V-Sync turned on, I can't stand image tearing in my games. Turning this on will have an effect on performance however. Your framerate will either be 60, 30 or 20 and below. You won't be able to get say, 42 frames per second. Doesn't make much difference to gameplay though.

To see what fps your getting, hit CTRL-ALT-~ while in game, and type "seta com_showfps 1"

Also, if the game is too dark, don't fiddle with the brightness setting, that wont change much. Change the hidden Gamma setting, "seta r_gamma 1.x" where x is the difference you want to make. Default is 1.0, I have mine on 1.6 because my old CRT is a piece of shit and I couldn't see things even with the flash light.

Have a look in the cfg file in the base directory. Turn on MuzzleFlash for sure, and Playershadow if you want.

 

[Vormund]

Wow, that's my exact setting (though Kingston RAM sticks) in T-6 days. Just thought I'd let you know.

Tweak #1 - Don't force the CPU to decompress the game all the time

Instructions:
Go to /base in the Doom 3-directory, see those .pk4-files?
Theses compressed files pretty much make up the whole game,
so when you play it, your CPU decompresses these all the time
to be able to access the files inside. This causes the game
to run slower than it has to. To get rid of this slowdown
and make the most out of your CPU, just use WinRAR to extract
all the .pk4-files in the Doom 3/base-directory, overwriting any
duplicate files as you go. Then make sure you delete the original
.pk4-files so the game don't continue to access them later on.
Beware though that the game will take up alot more space uncompressed.
Around 3.5 gb instead of the usual 1.5.

Tweak #2 - Increase game cache

Instructions:
If you have got a lot of RAM on your system (like 512 mb), you
could try increasing the cache available to the game. This is
done by using notepad to open DoomConfig.cfg, then find this line:

seta image_cacheMegs <number> (Usually 20 or 32)

Try changing the number to say...96 instead. You should notice a
pretty neat performance boost when playing the game. Feel
free to try and change it to an even higher number. I've
heard of guys increasing it up to around 256 and even 512 and
still getting better performance. Try it yourself!

I have an:

A64 3000
1GB low latency ram 2-2-2-5
X800pro

couple of q's

Does tweak 1 make the game load up slower?

and for tweak 2 what would be a good setting for 1GB ram?

 

[Burger]

I have an:

A64 3000
1GB low latency ram 2-2-2-5
X800pro

couple of q's

Does tweak 1 make the game load up slower?

and for tweak 2 what would be a good setting for 1GB ram?

1. No, if it does anything at all, it will make it faster. The CPU isn't uncompressing data as it needs it, it's all there uncompressed already (by you). Side effect is more disk space used.

2. 128 is fine, you won't notice a hell of alot of difference after that.

 

[epmode]

for tweak 2, don't forget that you have to actually enable the cache. just setting the size doesn't do anything. so. change seta image_useCache from "0" to "1".

 

[Synbios459]

Can someone tell me where exactly that Doom.cfg file is exactly? I extraced all the .pk4 files and I only have 2 files in my base directory (config, doomkey). Also, I have extracted the files, but do I need to put the folders themselves in the base directory, or can I leave them as-is? There's a pak001 containing all the extract folders in the base directory.

 

[buck naked]

Synbios, all the files are meant to be in the base directory, don't extract them into 'pakXX' folders. I'm not sure of it's exact name, but if it has a .cfg extention, that's the one. Open it in notepad.

 

[Mason]

I know everyone is sick of people posting their specs and asking how the game will run; hell, I'm sick of it too.

But since you guys seem to know these specific tweaks and since I need some help getting better performance, anything you can do to help me out?

Athlon XP 2500+
512 MB RAM
GeForce FX 5600 (256mb)

I am forced to run Doom 3 on 640 x 480 with medium detail, and I still get slowdown often enough to bother me. I know my videocard is horrible, but I would figure the 256 mb would be good for something. I thought maybe I should run it on high detail so it didn't have to uncompress as much (not sure where I came up with the logic for that one) but obviously, it didn't help.

 

[Gattsu25]

I have an:

A64 3000
1GB low latency ram 2-2-2-5
X800pro

couple of q's

Does tweak 1 make the game load up slower?

and for tweak 2 what would be a good setting for 1GB ram?

Tweak #1 made the game load noticably slower for me, but absolutely reduced every single in game pause (whenever a door opens or enemy appears) which I find is a much better trade-off

just note that if you do tweak #1 you will have a hard time playing multiplayer....which...uh....sucks donkey balls (the multiplay, not the harder time join servers)

 

[Truelize]

I'll try those out tomorrow. I have had a couple of little freeze-ups while playing. The game doesn't crash it just sits there for a second or two (or three). I am hoping that these tweaks will help. As well I've had the screen tear sideways a couple of times when I turn quickly too.
I'm also wondering how I can improve the resolution of the the textures in-game. I have read about some specific setting suggestions to make the game look better too. Such as dont' turn on Vsync but turn something that turns resolutions up a bit. Any clue?

 

[seismologist]

I run it at 1600x1200 high detail with pretty much no slowdown

A2500m@2.4
6800gt@Ultra
2x256mb

 

[shibbs]

Tweak 1 did screw up some textures for me, i couldnt look through windows for instance and the fireball that one of those creatures throws was just a black square.

 

[Shell Bullet]

Thanks for the tweaks guys!!!

 

[Gattsu25]

Tweak 1 did screw up some textures for me, i couldnt look through windows for instance and the fireball that one of those creatures throws was just a black square.

looks like you need a better version of winrar :b

to reduce tearing, I just turned on Vsynch.

 

[tedtropy]

My framerate actually dropped whenever I decompressed all those PAK files. There's alot of people that are experiencing a similar effect, and id theirselves has said there's not any real benefit in doing it. The files aren't heavily compressed and they're in those archives more for simplfying things rather than saving on HD space. It may help with the inital loadtime some, but that's not going to impact in-game speed much as all the files that a particular map needs are prefeteched before you even see the screen. If it has helped some people gain a few FPS, more power to them, although technically it shouldn't impact in-game performance. I've found my real speed increases game simply from verifying that I had the latest drivers, tweaking a few settings in the .cfg file, and overclocking my card abit. Your mileage may naturally vary...

 

[Stuggernaut]

Anyone getting results with Tweak 2?

I have read people geting 20-30 fps increases with that one.

 

[Truelize]

It's hard to say if I noticed a change in performance with doing tweak#2. I changed those setting and then turned on Vsync at the same time and I'm still running consistantly at 40 tp 60 fps. So everything is nice.
I tried out High Detail and the game locked up on me. So I probably need some other tweaks to be able to play it on High.

Note:
AMD 64 3000
ATI Radeon 9800pro
1 gig of Kingston ram.

 

[Yusaku]

doom 3 doesn't really need any tweaks. turn on cache if you have the ram to spare, but really, that's it.

 

[Yusaku]

Anyone getting results with Tweak 2?

I have read people geting 20-30 fps increases with that one.

You read wrong. All this will do will prevent the game from "skipping" as it loads shit. You're not going to see any general game performance increase.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

Nice info in this thread...thanks