New graphic card

[TLr]

Thinking of getting a new vid card? Just ordered mine and used the following frame rates to help make my mind up. Cost came into as well.

Max Payne (http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2/020418/vgacharts-02.html)
Quake 3 (http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2/020418/vgacharts-03.html)
Jedi Knight 2 (http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2/020418/vgacharts-04.html)



Might take some time to load but worth it :)

[Pure Luck]

I get 225.5 fps in a Q3 timedemo with my GF3 Ti200 at 1024x768 32bit. :D

[TLr]

Hey PL, d'ya overclock or what? Could've told me before I got my new card (Geforce4 Ti 4200) and saved some money :D
Want to share some tips with this noobis?
Trev.

[Pure Luck]

I don't oc my cpu nor my card. I do have a few settings that I use that I think help me play better but also increase fps.
Here's the results of my timedemos with different system settings but my normal tweaks in place. All are at 1024x768 with texture and detail set to high:

Lightmap on, 32bit color = 196.7
Lightmap on with 16bit color = 208.0
Lightmap off with 16bit color = 238.0

I use vertex lighting instead of lightmap. Lightmap is prettier but I can't stand the darkness. I'd rather see my target than see pretty lights on the wall.

I force model so all targets look the same. That helped my rail accuracy more than anything.

I turn off all 3d icons in the HUD. I also turn off the icon of the attacker. Here's a shot of my HUD (http://www.larryshome.net/hud.jpg).

I force 16 bit color instead of 32bit. Honestly, can anyone see a difference between the two in the middle of a firefight?

There's a few other settings I've tweaked that I would have to look up. It's been too long.

You'll notice in that shot of my HUD I'm only getting 125 fps. That's one of the sweetest things I've learned about the Q3 engine. 125 maxfps is a sweet spot. You can jump higher and farther, have more control during the jump, etc. if you can maintain a maxfps of 125. Might seem silly to be able to get 238 fps and limit it to 125 but that's what I do. If you play awhile at 125 you'll see a diference. Or start the Q3DM 13 map and try jumping up into the hole where the megahealth is at different maxfps settings. You'll see that at 125 it's easy as pie.
The command for setting the maxfps is
/com_maxfps 125
or whatever value you want in place of 125.
Hope all of this helps some.

[Dave Morton]

And here, I'm limping along with 35-50 fps... Been that way since I switched to XP... :( Oh, well... :D

[TLr]

Thanks for the tips and the effort of replying PL. If Jeff and I meet up then I'll pick his brains too. :D
Trev.

[Pure Luck]

oh, and make certain your ide/atapi controller has dma enabled in Device Manager. In Win98 or ME I think the dma option is under the actual hd.