Call of duty 4 fps...

hi there i am playing call of duty 4 and currently it is running at about 20 fps. i was just wondering if there is any way to inrease this? also when i am configuring the graphics options there doesnt appear to be any high settings?

here are my system specs:
XPS M1530
2ghz core 2 duo
2gb ram
250gb 5400rpm hdd
8600m gt gddr3 (174.31 driver)
1440x900 screen

thanks in advance anyone!!

 

get a bit more ram and turn of the AF and the AA

 

Are you OCing at all?

 

get the 174.93 drivers, better

 

nope im not overclocking... do you think it is worthwhile?
are those drivers on laptopvideo2go?
ill try turning off AF but i like playing with AA on! i like the game lokking good i was just wondering if this is norml performance for my setup or if there is something els ei should be doing

 

em ps what is AF? lol

 

AF = Anisotropic filtering.
Too much aa will slow your system down to a crawl. Try lowering you resolution and try the 169.xx series drivers from laptopvideo2go.com.
More ram will not help

 

The 8600M-GT GDDR3 is amazing at overclocking; I run it at a stable 675 core/875 memory clock with demanding games....try OC'ing to 625 and 800, as an 8700M-GT...

 

Try the 175.16s or .75s. My number one recommendation would be to turn off specular maps. I find the lighting from it unrealistic.

 

Okay best way to improved your fps Settings for cod 4 is to make a custom config file. You can easily get any where from 30 fps to 100 with a good custom config file depending on how you set it up. Also are you playing mp or sp ???.

 

you should be getting a lot better framerates than that. i never drop below 30.

 

im 525/752, settings maxed out, xcept for bodies in small...
i get avrage 30... sometimes up to 50, sometimes down to 15

 

Turn off the "soft smoke edges", "shadows", and "depth of field".

There is no point having detailed shadows/smoke, since no one will notice it anyway. No one is going to be checking the shadows to see if they are high quality or not. Both these options will save you 10fps each.

I prefer to leave on the AA and Specular Map, since AA kills the jaggies and Specular Map makes the game look "next-generation". Both these options only cause a 2fps drop each so they are a good deal.

Texture options are maximum by default, which is good since they have almost no impact on framerates, just on loading times.

I use these settings to get around 50fps when playing the game. Your card is the same strength as mine so you should be able to get this easily.

 

ok i tried running the game on "optimal system settings" this lowered the res. right down and i was gettin 40 fps. so i changed the res back to 1440x900 and this dropped my fps to 20! do u guys think this could be the promlem?

i will investigate overclocking just now!

Lavitz what do u man by a custom cofig file? could u explain this a bit more?

thanks everyone!

 

QFT. Shadows and soften smoke edges kill the framerate. Also, turn off AA or set it to a maximum of 2x. Try running the game at 1280x800 too. Finally, assuming you have Vista, make sure your battery profile is set to "High Performance" and not "Power Saver"

 

ok well i changed to the 169.09 drivers and that has seemed to help, i am getting from 13 to 30 fps now dependin on the in game stuation. I have overclocked the card to 625/800 (well i think i have lol) using ntune. i didnt really notice a difference tho...

can anyone suggest anything else? or am i doing everything correctly

 

I'd guess you're running out of video memory\bandwidth. The COD games usually take 350mb+ with high res, textures and anti-aliasing. You'll probably have to make sacrifices in one of those areas

 

You should be getting much more out of that system.
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-2.html - Use this guide to optimize your cod4 settings.

- AA/Shadows/Smoke Edges Disabled!- Make sure you do this immediately.

- Hit custom in the graphics option to adjust textures: go with Extra, High, High to start with, as well as what the article below suggests.

- Keep 2-8xAF (the Bar goes up to 16X). AF just makes distant road textures for example much clearer. It doesn't effect your FPS unless you have it sky high.

- Try 1280*800 resolution to start, along with disabled AA/Shadows/Smoke Edges like the article says. As a guide, when your playing if it drops below 20fps at any point, your settings are too high and need to be tweaked more.

- Then when you find the perfect balance, TURN OFF YOUR FPS counter and enjoy that great game.

 

The problem is that the 8600M GT runs great at 'lower' (1280*1024 is great, but 'considered' lower by the desktop competition...and expensive laptop GPU's) resolutions, because of its limitations (The 256mb VRAM, and more importantly: the 128Bit interface won't allow you to turn up the resolution like that).

My X1950 (pretty big desktop card, 256mb VRAM, 256-bit interface) runs most games @ 1280 * 1024 maxed out. And Call of Duty 4 @ 1400 * 900 ( 20-60FPS). You need to stay in the 1280 * 800-1024 Range because your GPU simply cannot handle higher resolutions in that particular game. Thats all there is too it.

 

Not true at all. My overclocked 8600 can run cod4 at 1680 x 1050 with max settings except spec maps disabled. I average 27-28 fps.

 

It's actually true, 100%, I can prove it completely.

Specular map ( ) is the MOST IMPORTANT SETTING in call of duty 4. I don't know how you can play without it... It gives the game pop, it's what makes it look next-gen (See for yourself):

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-3.html

The article also goes on to say that it effects performance by 17FPS @ 1280 * 1024. 1650 * 1050 would be much more.:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-2.html

So lets factor in your settings with spec map enabled like the original poster has:

27-28FPS (1680 * 1050) -17FPS (Specular Map) = 10-11FPS at best. : Everything I said makes sense, 100%.


The fact that he got 19FPS is due to him running at 1400 * 900, obviously with specular map. But he should never sacrifice Specular map. The resolution, AA, soften smoke, and shadows have to be tweaked first.

You are correct in that he could achieve awesome results by disabling Specular Map, but the game would look really generic and ugly that way in my opinion. Again:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-3.html

So again, to the Original Poster:

Theres not much else to say really. Run it @ 1280 *1024 along with what the article recommends (No Softened Smoke Edges, decide whether or not to keep shadows...), no anti-aliasing, high/extra textures and you will be fine (it looks amazing...). Your system cannot run Call of Duty 4 @ 1400*900 maxed, it won't work. For the reasons listed above.

Everything that needed to be said about this problem, has been said.

 

I disagreed with your statement saying the 8600 "simply cannot hand higher resolutions". I've run most recent games at 1680 x 1050 without sacrificing visual quality. My 8600 overclocked can also handle it max with 2xaa with spec maps but framerates drops below 20 sometimes.

Specular maps are ok in cod4 but nothing revolutionary like you claim. It simply mimmicks real life reflection of life and I believe it overdoes it, especially around the soldiers. It doesn't matter though I just disagreed about your comment about the resolution.

This is all assuming your will to accept a 25 fps average or so with a few dips.

 

I said:

I'm not talking about the 8600GT and other games, I was explaining to him what his GPU is capable of in Call of Duty 4, and how he could better optimize Call of Duty 4.

It's definitely glossy, and out there. But you can't deny it, it looks good. If you had a pair of 9800GTX's, would you disable it? I doubt it. As an article I've read states: it gives the game 'pop'.

Thats exactly my/the original posters point. He does not like his game dipping into 19FPS, I've said in a number of posts his the best solution. He doesn't have a defective card or anything like that, but his game will and should run fine at 1280 * 1024, maxed.

BTW: Do you have an 8600MGT DDR3 256MB VRAM like he does? Or do you have the 512mb VRAM? His system clearly can't run Call of Duty 4 @ 1400 * 900+ without sacrificing some major graphical options.

 

Yeah thats where I disagreed with you about. The comment about it being ablt to handle it with 2xaa and spec map is at 1680 x 1050 not 1280 x 1024. It would run alot better in that resolution.

Yeah I generally disable it. I could just lower my resolution and run it with spec maps at 1440 x 900. No offense but the "pop" is their opinion and I don't agree. They apply specular maps to too many surface or in general increase the reflection of the specular maps, whhich gives some surfaces unrealistic lighting. Like the gleam around the soldiers mainly. But again to each his own.

I forgot to mention that I do have soft shadows disabled that is barely noticeable in terms of visual quality.. I have the 512 majorly overclocked at 635/1400/515 range.

 

Will on my notebook with a Geforce 9500M GS which is not exactly a 8600M GT DDR3 I can manage 32-45FPS on CoD4 with these settings:







So I would say with our GPU's 128-bit memory buss the lower resolution of around 1280x800 would play out better.

 

what? So what are you saying? Listen, he should not run the game at 1680 * 1050 @ near max settings (like he wants). Bottom line. I'm not sure how else to say that. He's already said that it doesn't run (+-19FPS) @ 1400 * 900, so what are you telling him? To turn up the resolution even more and add 2x AA. That doesn't make any sense.

The majority of gamers would disagree with that. I haven't heard of anyone who doesn't play Call of Duty 4 without specular map. Thats just ridiculous.

Well good, you don't have his standard 256mb Video Ram, 128-bit interface card. I was giving advice to him, about his particular card. Not yours.

 

Thank you very much (for proving my point to theforerunner)

By the way, you should disable softened smoke edges (you can't tell the difference, effects FPS by 24.) and you could manage 1280 * 1024 with a bit of AA instead of * 800 . Your decision. Raising the resolution generally gives the same effect as AA though. And the bit of AA will help with those jaggies which cannot be eliminated by turning the resolution up because of the cards bit interface.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-2.html

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-3.html

 

Sigh. I never once mentioned the OP. I was just making a quick side comment about you downplaying the 8600s ability to handle higher resolutions. I was merely stating that with some overclocking it will do fine.
You misconstrued what I was saying from the beginning. I never meant to say it to the op. I was merely making a side comment to you.

Specular maps have been done in tons of games, but usually they are done to a lesser degree and some objects. COD4 just makes it an option to turn it off since they use it to a large (IMO exaggerated in some aspects) degree and it has a big impact unlike most other games.

Also his card at stock is faster than mine, since he has the gddr3 version. Well anywas this discussion is going nowhere and it seems you did a good job helping him
out so whateve.r

Also, its obvious that it will run better at 1280 x 800, thats a given regardless of bandwith.

 

lol ok thanks for ur inputs guys ill give it a shot at 1280x800 with the settings ur reccomending!