R.I.D BASE OF OPERATIONS

Last night's base bust, Jonem pulled out a bunch of serving droids and set them to wandering around me. People caused drama, saying we increased their lag.

Tonight's base bust we did a quick and dirty test. I admit, we're on a different planet, with probably less people there, and there are factors we can't control, how many mobs in the area, how many people spamming/dueling/vehicles/aoe's/ calling stims. However this was still a good little quick and dirty test.

Here are the results:
Before Droids Ping 151
After Droids Ping 143
Before Droids FPS 10
After Droids FPS 11

Here is the table I used and raw data collected.


So just based on this scientifically flimsy test storyteller droids moving around did not appreciably add to the lag in the location on average for 5 players with widely separated graphics settings and computer/internet set ups.

And Jonem's computer sucks
And Aedean needs to share his with me

lol yea that is a sweet computer, aedean. I run at about 5 FPS when I hide in one of the bases. I can't actually measure my FPS outside of a base because I immediately crash when I walk outside.

Given SWG's graphics engine, you'll always get more lag with toons/NPCs than you will droids. With droids you have specific textures you'll load repeatedly, while with toons and NPCs you get a large variety of textures that can just abuse graphics cards.

In the case of last night's base bust, it was probably the addition of more polygons that needed drawn that just killed people with not-so-great graphics cards.

I'm also curious about Aedean's computer specs. I'm wondering how they compare to mine.

Since I appear to be the poster boy for good framerates, here's what I'm running, and my settings.

My computer is an intel Dual Core 1.86Mhz CPU with 3G RAM running a Radeon X1650 video card, all on XP.

I play SWG at 1280x1024, generally with the overhead map on, with guild and group names visible. Having everyone's name up is just too cluttered, and slows things down.

Graphics
Enable Post Processing Effects (bloom and heat shimmer) all on
Enable glare on
Viewing Distance maxed

Following 5 check boxes unchecked (for better graphics)

Object and Character LOD 75%
Particles 100%
Nebula 50%

Simple ground shadoes, no character shadows

Terrain
Global Terrain Detail 75%
Terrain High Detail Range 50%
Everything else checked, and at 75%

E=MC2

That's just a theory.

I'm pretty sure that my graphics card is what's killing me in my computer.
This is my secondary computer while my good primary 3.0Ghz with the AGP Radeon 512k Graphics card is hiding in the closet waiting for a new power supply and some new matching ram sticks.

AMD Athlon 64 +3200
2Ghz
2G Ram
Nvidea PCI 1600 w/ 128k Ram (that's the slow part)

Monitor is 1280x1024, no overhead map up, only guild and group names showing.

Graphics
Enable post Processing Effects (bloom and heat shimmer) all off
Enable glare off
Viewing distance maxed
Simple Camera Collision on

Object and Character LOD 0%
Particles 0%
Nebula 0%
no character shadows

Terrain
Global Terrain Detail 0%
Terrain High Detail Range 0%
Everything else off and 0%

Those were my settings last night. When I am in base busts I dial everything to zero. When I am NOT at base busts I am running with average of 25-29 fps and these settings different:

character detail 100%
global terrain details 30%
Terrain high detail range 30%
everything else still checked off.

at this level, I average 25-29 fps all the time except really strange lag shit areas like Mos Eisley I run into a wall of jello ant go down to 5-10 fps and theed also and places like the dantooine pet grind. Of course, all these statistics right now are based on the fact that I am normally dual logged in with either Corsa in Mensix or Dearic but this week I've been dual logged nearly 24 hours with Innelle at the pet grind location on Dant.

Here's the specs on my machine:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz
2GB DDR2 PC3200 Memory
Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
200GB HDD
20.1" LCD LG Flat Panel monitor at its native resolution which is like 1680X1050 or something like that (widescreen FTW!)
Windows Vista Home Premium (It's really not as bad as people say, I promise!!!)

I built the rig myself around February last year. My processor probably ahs one of the biggest heat sinks I've ever seen... lol

SWG runs at a smooth 25 to 30 FPS most of the time. I have every graphical option cranked up all of the way except for the terrain settings whcih I have hovering around 50% or so at the moment. I usually get some hiccups when I first walk into a busy area as things load. Mos Eisley is usually painful for about 5 or 10 seconds as I walk while I load everything (the SWG servers just can't send me the info quick enough...). Other than that, I don't get too many bad framrate issues. Keep in mind I only display names overhead of guild members, other than that I think I have everything maxed out. Terrain seems to be one of the things that is brutal on graphics cards.

I have a big moniter! Like..a Nvidia 5600 fx...1 gb of ram..Thats all i care about..All i know about the motherboard is it cant take PCI-E crap which pretty much forces me to get a new computer..Which i hope to in a few months.

i usually run in default mode. I'm saving for my friend's friend's computer case+mobo/cpu which has a pci-e slot on it...cpu is a amd 64 dual core processor http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews ... leId=16068

and the mobo is http://techreport.com/articles.x/9467/1

right now this computer is:

Dell Dimension 3000
2 GB DDR RAM
PCI Video Card VisionTek X1300 256MB

Highest broadband connection available from blue ridge communication

get around 10-20 fps on default setting with post processing effects all on. i can turn on everything on extremely high detail in lok...and cry because it lags baaaad when in combat. but looks so pretty

My new laptop should be here next week.

Intel Core Duo 2.6 GHz
4 GB DDR2 ram
Nvidia GeForce 8700 GT 256 Mb
320 Gb Harddrive

Its really nice compared to my current desktop:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.1GHz
1 Gb ram
Nvidia GeForce 5200 FX 128 Mb
80 Gb harddrive

Apium wrote:My new laptop should be here next week.

Intel Core Duo 2.6 GHz
4 GB DDR2 ram
Nvidia GeForce 8700 GT 256 Mb
320 Gb Harddrive

Its really nice compared to my current desktop:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.1GHz
1 Gb ram
Nvidia GeForce 5200 FX 128 Mb
80 Gb harddrive

And you didn't get a desktop why??? lol

Just seems like a lot of stuff crammed into a laptop chassis that would be better suited for a desktop. So how big is the thing going to be? It sounds like a desktop replacement (ie. big and bulky). If so, I don't understand the point in getting a huge laptop if it's going to be anchored to a desk.

Kurke Aumea wrote:

Apium wrote:My new laptop should be here next week.

Intel Core Duo 2.6 GHz
4 GB DDR2 ram
Nvidia GeForce 8700 GT 256 Mb
320 Gb Harddrive

Its really nice compared to my current desktop:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.1GHz
1 Gb ram
Nvidia GeForce 5200 FX 128 Mb
80 Gb harddrive

And you didn't get a desktop why??? lol

Just seems like a lot of stuff crammed into a laptop chassis that would be better suited for a desktop. So how big is the thing going to be? It sounds like a desktop replacement (ie. big and bulky). If so, I don't understand the point in getting a huge laptop if it's going to be anchored to a desk.

Apium and I have college starting soon.

telemchus wrote:

Kurke Aumea wrote:

Apium wrote:My new laptop should be here next week.

Intel Core Duo 2.6 GHz
4 GB DDR2 ram
Nvidia GeForce 8700 GT 256 Mb
320 Gb Harddrive

Its really nice compared to my current desktop:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.1GHz
1 Gb ram
Nvidia GeForce 5200 FX 128 Mb
80 Gb harddrive

And you didn't get a desktop why??? lol

Just seems like a lot of stuff crammed into a laptop chassis that would be better suited for a desktop. So how big is the thing going to be? It sounds like a desktop replacement (ie. big and bulky). If so, I don't understand the point in getting a huge laptop if it's going to be anchored to a desk.

Apium and I have college starting soon.

yea, what he said. Its basically my desktop and my laptop since I'm not bringing my current desktop to college. Its really not as big as it sounds, but I will admit its not sleek like the alienware I had originally planned on getting. This laptop was 700 dollars off, so I went for performance over looks. I went for the laptop for two reasons: I've spent most of my time in front of my computer in my room (its really getting old, I'm ready for some mobility) and my university requires a laptop.

Hehe, laptops are overrated unless you're in business. Even then, we use thin-client laptops where I work. It's always nice knowing that you never have to worry about stolen data with those.