New Vegas

Anybody else got New Vegas on their M11x?

I have it running on medium settings, no AA, on 1280x720 and I'm getting 10-20 FPS outside.

FO3 ran 40+ FPS on high settings, 2 AA and 1366x768...

 

What drivers are you running?

 

I'm getting the same, though I'm using an R1. I dunno what the deal is.

 

It might just be something wrong with the game, might need to haz an update

 

Sounds like early PC game blues, just like Civ V and pretty much every other PC game, when they first come out performance is pretty abysmal. FO3 has seen years worth of patches, so it is very optimized.

I am playing New Vegas on my 360, so I can't really contribute, but I feel pretty certain it should run as well as FO3, it doesn't do anything new graphically.

 

Upgrade to the latest video drivers here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...k-release-260-89-whql-now-supports-11xr2.html

Also make sure the game is added to your whitelist so the Nvidia graphics card kicks in. It is a new game (thus a new exe file) so it may need to be added manually. Good luck

Cheers,
Stain

 

I'm installing New Vegas now. After the tweaks Stain was providing us a month or two ago for FO3, I should hope getting decent performance with NV isn't going to be a problem.

I'll also be updating my custom OSD icon package with a NV tweak or two.

 

Yeah, thanks slickie88.

New Vegas uses the same engine as FO3,and the tweak I was posting for FO3 never was incorporated into an official patch. It may work on New Vegas as well, it does not hurt to try.

Just to get it in this thread, here is the tweak that worked on FO3:

Go to Documents\My Games\Fallout3 and edit FALLOUT.INI <-- replace with new vegas directory

Find the line:
bUseThreadedAI=0

change it to:
bUseThreadedAI=1

and add the following line right after this one:
iNumHWThreads=2

Good luck,
Stain

 

Guys to be honest I think it's just that the game isn't very well optimized yet. I have an i5-540m and a 5850 running at 800/1100 in my m15x and I get 45-60 fps on absolute max settings and 1080p but it looks slightly choppy like it isn't optimized well. Even lowering the settings doesn't change that bit of choppiness, so it's definitely not my hardware.

 

There seems to be bugs, likely related to Steam Cloud where setting changes aren't being saved. Mine for instance keeps reverting Fallout.ini back to the state it was in the first time the game was ran, it's likely you lowered your settings but it just reverted back again as soon as the game was executed.

Check the modified date/time on the Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\Fallout.ini file and make sure it's actually saving when you change your graphic settings.

Edit:

My bad, it looks like it's using a file called FalloutPrefs.ini in the same folder, so if you wanna manually tweak something use that file, not Fallout.ini.

 

So it sounds like an R1 owner, like myself, should wait for the game to be receive patches and better optimization before I let Steam charge me the $50, right?

Guess I'll pick up the '360 copy after all.

 

I've been trying to get the game running well on my R1. It runs exactly like Fallout 3 did in most cases, unless you are near certain NPCs, then it drops to like 5 fps for seemingly no reason. I haven't been able to figure out what's causing that. It may be an nVidia related bug from what i've been reading on other forums. If you got a 360 that might be the best bet.

 

For what it is worth - following the tips similar to FO3 and installing the new drivers helped me significantly. I can play the game at high settings + full resolution, averaging about 30+FPS.

I know, hardly "great" but very playable, and above all...very mobile!

 

Looks like we're not the only ones having issues. People with much better systems than ours are experiencing the same thing:

Game runs very choppy - Bethesda Softworks Forums

 

When I had Fallout 3 installed it ran perfectly fine out of the box. I'm sure Obsidian will release a patch that actually fixes the game.

 

Is there a way to update the drivers but still keep optimus with my r1

 

Another note...my game seems to suffer slow-downs when there are groups of humanoid NPCs around, not necessarily "monsters."

...oh, and how much I hate ghouls...

 

Have you guys lowered your audio settings in windows? Meaning set to sample at 16bit, 44khz? If not, try it and see if it helps when conversing with humanoids and npc's. Thanks, StevenX

 

Uh, the R1 doesn't have optimus. If you mean being able to keep the ability to switch graphics cards manually (FN+F6) then you have to stick with the dell drivers.

 

I spent the better part of last weekend scouring the internet and most of the useful advice on getting my R1 running top notch came from you Steven. Thanks-- that audio fix got Starcraft 2 working much better.

Anyway, the problem with the NPC's in New Vegas seems to be an error in the way the engine is coming up with the NPC's facial responses. If you type "~ ToggleEmotions" it should give a slight boost in fps, though in my case the game is still unplayable when even a single human NPC is on screen.

Also, I've found that disabling the water effects in the settings helps enormously with the frame rates outside, even when there is no water nearby, oddly enough.

The game runs fine otherwise--- outside and in battle with 5-6 Mantises the game was running with an acceptable fps and only an occasional hiccup here and there.

Given the amount of traffic on the subject on the Bethesda Forums it looks like it's a programming error, and not our trusty M11xs.

Alienware M11xR1 BIOS A05
Intel Duo Core Over-clocked to 1.73
4 GB Ram
GeForce GT 335M Driver 260.89

 

@AnonFalls - Good post +rep

And thanks for the positive feedback!

 

Now this is good news. I was thinking Fallout NV was lagging when there was 2 or more NPC's around because of the M11x's weaker CPU. I can't wait for the update(s) I hope there soon though ^_^

 

not got new vegas till fri so i cant realy tell but does fallout use all of avalible ram i remember someware reading that fallout 3 had to have a file or summate changed so it could use more than 2gb ram just my 2 cents

 

I've not read the whole thread but people with 4.5Ghz OC'd i7 and GTX 480's are also getting some rather large issues. Looks like poor coding and some serious patching is needed!

Dont get mine until Friday and was really excited, I really hope it works on my Desktop.

Some people (usually on ATi cards) are not having any issues..? Strange.

 

Another something to look for is to see if the config file has any settings for "prefetch" or "game cache". I am wondering if this happens (stuttering) around npc's to folks with SSD drivers?

Thanks, StevenX

 

A true fix seems to have been found for the massive drops in FPS.

potential FIX for npc slowdown - Bethesda Softworks Forums

I have confirmed this as working on my m11x R1. This fix seems to force the engine to use DirectX 9, and now it's smooth as silk for me.

 

The original fix came from a commenter here:

Fallout New Vegas Errors, Crashes,Freezes and Fixes | SegmentNext

Seems to have been a problem with Fallout 3 as well.

 

thats brilliant news cant wait for friday now only got lappy a few days ago and cant wait to see it in action

 

@Mike - nice find. The steam kids are all arguing about it but apparently it fixes the issue. Rep to you sir! StevenX

 

@MikeMaximus: It works! Thank you so much. +rep

 

Holy e it works for me as well.....nice work. I have been pissed since yesterday until now.

 

Hi everyone.

Having a rough time with New Vegas due to the NPC slowdown issue.

I would really appreciate the following:
If the dll fix worked for you (or did not work for you) can you mention whether you are running an R1 or R2?
Essentially, if you have an R1 it should work. If you have an R2 running Optimus- it won't... at least not without an elaborate and irritating as hell fix.

Basically, R2 users post-fix will get an infinite launcher loop. You hit "Play" and the launcher just pops up again... no game. On the Bethesda forum for this issue, all of the other Optimus/R2 users seem to be running into this. If there is an exception to this and some other R2 users are playing successfully with the fix, I would really like to hear about it.

Otherwise, it seems you have to do this:
Fix for NVIDIA Optimus users - Bethesda Softworks Forums

Anyway, let me know... R2 users- let's stay in touch until this gets resolved for everybody. I bought my M11x R2 to play Fallout 3 on the go... am dying for nto being able to explore the new wasteland as a result of this dumb bug...

 

I haqve a R2 and Fallout NV works almost as good as FO3 with the fixs from Fallout New Vegas Errors, Crashes,Freezes and Fixes

 

Really? That's good news.... follow up questions, if you don't mind?

For each of these, Y for "I did this" and N for "I did not do this"

Did you add the FPSclamp line in FALLOUT.ini?
Did you update your video drivers to 260.89? (If not, what version are you using)
did you remove FFDSHOW?
did you add the d3d9.dll file?

Anything else that you did from that list to fix your problem(s)? Any idea what worked? Advice would be really helpful.... I'm stuck at 10-20 fps in most places without the multi-step dll fix thingy I posted.

 

Did you add the FPSclamp line in FALLOUT.ini? - Y
Did you update your video drivers to 260.89? - Y (I Update my video card as much as I can)
did you remove FFDSHOW? - Y
did you add the d3d9.dll file? - Y (Did that because DX10 and DX11 never work right for me)

Settings (I am still fine tuneing them):
Detail
Water
Shadows
View Distance
Distance LOD
By the way Please ingore it saying "NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS" it said that after updateing my video card.
I also find that having Vertical Sync on the FPS is higher then w/o it.
I also use Game Booster

Oh another thing that I found helped with my FPS was disableing desktop composition for FalloutNV.exe (Running in combatibilty mode or as an admin caused a loop that made the launcher pop back up after clicking Play)

In a heavy firefight I got a Min FPS of 17 (In V.A.T.S) a Max of 57 (right before the fight started) and a Avg of 35.623.
The FPS could be raised with ToggleEmotions used in the console

 

I can't figure how to remove FFDSHOW?

 

I used the d3d9.dll trick. it works really great smooth play with high setting. However u cant change the AA setting on the option of the launcher. U need to change it on the nvdia control panel.

 

You do not have to remove FFDShow just disable it from being used in FalloutNV.exe (Look at the links below to see how to do it)
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

That problem has been patched (I think/hope)

 

I use FFDshow everyday to upscale my DVD's why the hell should you have to remove a program because of a game. I remember issues with this in fall out 3. Why have they not fixed this??

I hate when there is a problem in one game, it gets fixed on that game then the sequel comes out with the very same problem! What a Joke! Here are some examples:

Bioshock's widescreen issue
Assassins Creed Wireless 360 Controller problem
and now this!!

 

You do not have to REMOVE FFDshow you just have to disable it from being used in Fallout NV
By the way mardon are you saying you have never overlooked a problem for something you are working on?

Just look at the post before yours
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/526760-new-vegas-4.html#post6816046
=-_______________________________________________________-=
Fallout New Vegas has been updated. The changes are as follows:
Preferences, quicksaves, and autosaves should behave normally. Cloud support currently disabled.
Taken from News - Fallout: New Vegas Updated

 

@All - To be frank, if you are not into "optimizing" then the m11x is probably not for you. Plain and Simple. Actually, let's revise that statement. If optimizing game files, system files and/or hardware is not for you then PC gaming is probably not for you. Almost every game I play I have to edit a config file or change properties or whatever. It's just the nature of PC gaming.

This is why so many have gone the way of the console. Insert Disc, grab large controller device, insert headphones and play on.

BW, StevenX

 

Well said, sir. I couldn't agree with you more.

 

@hoockhand:
Thanks for all the details. It is really appreciated. I have to try out some of what you suggested when I get home tonight.

Last night, with the dll fix in place, I found that I was only able to avoid the Launcher loop by obeying the advice I posted previously... which is a giant pain in the as you have to redo all your settings each time after fooling the launcher to run in Integrated Graphics mode before switching... it sucks.

With that fix, I was getting comparable framerates to what you were getting with similar settings (I had Decal cap @ 4; Shadows off, as the FO3 tweak guide suggested they were mostly useless; some water settings on like low reflections and displacement; higher View Distance settings for all but grass (speaking of which, dropping Item or Actor fade settings can really adversely affect your warning time for enemies and ability to spot loot); lower LOD settings).

And I have not yet tried changing the iFPSClamp line (does that really help? why 60 and not 40?) or disabled ffdshow (have not yet noticed audio stuttering).

For me, what is most interesting about your post is something I just want to make sure I understand correctly:
"Oh another thing that I found helped with my FPS was disableing desktop composition for FalloutNV.exe (Running in combatibilty mode or as an admin caused a loop that made the launcher pop back up after clicking Play)"

Are you saying that you encountered the launcher loop after doing the dll thing (which I have been trying to get past in some sort of permanent way), but got around it just by disabling desktop composition for the FalloutNV.exe? That worked? (not sure I understand what is in your parenthesis, essentially... I apologize for being slow)

If I could get around the launcher loop by doing something other than what I am doing now, that would be awesome.

 

This is completely true, but there are a lot of PC gamers who will not admit this fact. There is a whole attitude of elitism surrounding PC gaming, and it can make people truly believe that it is the end all be all best way to game. In reality PC gaming has both advantages and disadvantages, the same as consoles, it is an individual choice as to which is really better.

Nothing is more frustrating than waiting for that big release, take Civ V for example, and then on launch night there is some problem, take the fact that Civ V wouldn't run properly on a wide range of popular Nvidia cards.

With a console you get the disc, you pop it in, and you enjoy. Crashes are much less frequent on consoles for example in 20+ hours of Fallout:NV I have not had a single crash or major glitch on 360, yet several friends on PC complain of crashes every 30 minutes.

On the other hand, with the PC version you can mod and tinker and change, it will look better, it can have more features, etc etc. But because you have that flexibility you have to be willing to tinker and change often to just get things working right.

 

Hello again everyone. To clarify what I am talking about, I found this over on the bethsoft forums.

Video explanation of the looping issue with the R2 and the round-about way to fix it:
Fallout New Vegas Frame Rate Issue Fix | Aleinware M11x | Anthonydamasco.net/blog
warning: kind of a LOT of swearing in the video...

 

i tried using the dx9.dll fix and all i get is instant crashes to desktop, any ideas guys?


M11xR1

 

Have you tried it without the dx9.dll in the file? Also are you putting the file in the correct location? in the C:/programfilesx86/steam/steamapps/common/fallout new vegas folder if I remember correctly.

 

Sorry for not being clear about what I said. Disableing Desktop Compostion raises the FPS a slight bit. Also for running as an admin or in combatibility mode it was a warning to not try it because that will just cause the loop.
I have not encounted the loop with the .dll fix

I'm not sure if the iFPSClamp helped or not because I foolishly did all the tweaks/fixs at once. I'll go reset that and try out FONV to see if it really dose.
Edit: I guess IFPSClap is not needed, mine got reset back to 0 and it is running fine.

I read on the bethsoft forums that if you disable all the settings for the water it will help with the FPS. As for lowering the View Distance settings I would try to keep the Actor and Item fade as high as you can while lowering things like Shadows and Grass.

Another question; Have you disabled FFDShow from being ran in FalloutNV.exe? That fixed my extream lag I got when I was around a group of NPC's or when a NPC talked.

 

yep, made sure the file was in the right place, someone told me it should be in both the root folder for new vegas and in documents/falloutnv too tried that, both result in crash to desktop, remove the .dll and it works but i get massive variance in fps depending on how many NPCs are around.

 

here is a video of gameplay from an M11x-r2. after the tweaks and fixes were done.

YouTube - M11x R2 Fallout New Vegas Ultra Settings