Half-life 2: episode 2 low fps

A few days ago i bought the orange box (it's really great btw ) but this afternoon i finished episode one (i ran it maxed out without any problems)

Now, i start up episode 2 and my fps is really LOW (like 30fps), in games like crysis 30 fps is very playable but for source engine games it's really laggy...

Shouldn't i normally max out episode two with my 8600M GT GDDR3 ? (I also Oced and my fps was still to low)

Anybody else has this problem with episode 2 ?

 

Well, I do know that Episode 2 is alot more graphically demanding than Episode 1 which would probably explain the drop in frames.

 

uhhh . . . fps is an objective measurement, that doesn't really make any sense?

 

First off, yes it is much more graphically demanding.

Try turning off motion blur, AA, or lowering your resolution

 

Motion blur is off and AA also an my res. is 1024x768
I'm not gone change it to 800x600 lol

 

You should be doing better than that. I had ep 1 maxed out at native res on my G1S (some AA, AF, but not the whole way up though), and when I went to ep 2 I saw the difference, but all I needed to do was turn AA and AF down to 2x or 4x and decrease res (barely) to 1600x1000 and it was as smooth as ever.

 

I ran EP2 at high settings without AA and motion blur at 1440x900 on my 8600M GT DDR 512. :/

 

wth :s
That's WEIRD, it's really running bad on my G1S.

What drivers are you guys using?

 

It might have been 1280x800, I can't really remember and I've uninstalled the game. I'm currently using the 192.21 drivers.

 

That shouldn't be happening. EP 2 load compared to ep 1 is negligible. Your running the same drivers and everything as with episode 1?

 

For ultimate Orange Box fun, try this
http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/17/half-life-2-portal/

 

Your system should be able to handle it fine. CPU and RAM are more than the recommended. The GPU is just below the recommended (since they recommend a nVIDIA 7900). And even 30fps should be more than enough. Try to turn off HDR and see if anaything improves.

 

Get newer drivers and try the res at around 1280 x 800.

I'm playing maxed out with 2xAA at that res on the DDR2 8600M (constant >30fps with v-sync on), you should be able to run at a higher res just as well as me...odd.

 

FPS is an objective measurement yes, but certain games are more playable than others at lower FPS. Crysis is playable at FPS in the 20s because of the post-processing done to the image, which adds motion blur and helps smooth everything out.

@ original poster - as noted, you'll want to update your drivers to the latest ones. I like 169.04. Also, get rid of AA; AF does not have much of an impact on performance in my experience.

 

I'm using the 169.21 driver (so that's one of the newest ones...) I'm playing on 1024x768 with no AA; AF ...

Maybe i should go back to the 169.04 driver? I think this one is still the best performance wise

EDIT:
Also, this game is LESS demanding then games like Call of duty 4 (even cod4 i can play maxed out)...
I will try to install the 169.04 driver again (the .04 driver gave me aero lag but the performance in games was great...) let's see what it gives

 

I just installed the 169.04 driver and still got identical the same fps (inside/when i look in the air = 60 fps), when looking normal (like when i look at Alex = 30 fps)

60 fps is good, very playable but 30 fps is LAGGY.

I got these results when OVERCLOCKING to 550/777 !

I have also tried to turn down the settings like filtering to bilinair, shadows on medium, texture on detail on medium, vsync disabled, no AA, no HDR
and i still get the same fps

I checked the max_fps and it was on 130 also tried to change it to 60,...

I even used the stuttering fixes thread


So is this really normal?? ( I think not? )


EDIT: I played hl2 episode one with maxed out settings and i have lagged NEVER (i had high fps) without OC !!

 

I just tried the NEWEST driver 169.25 ! and it is still the same
When i put EVERYTHING on LOWEST settings i get 60fps !
I even got more in hl2 episode one with EVERYTHING on HIGHEST settings



Anybody got some advice??

 

Do you have Vsync on? check your nvidia control panel and set all according options to MAx Performance.
Also,in game, disable HDR. It will give you a boost. Also, disable AA,since at higher resolutions it`s not very visible unless you`re an image freak that needs absolute perfection like me
Post your results afterwards,and a screenshot of the settings you use in HL EP2.

 

Ok, i will take some screenshots (i'll use fraps)
But HDR is disabled, AA to,...

 

Haha lol
Vsync was Forced-on in nvidia control panel, i selected let the application decide and get BIG fps increase
Even HDR is on and i get 60-70 fps now

Can you post a screenshot here of how the settings in nvidia control panel should be to get the best results? Maybe there are still some other options that are wrong here

 

Sure thing. The last 2 settings that are not visible are set for OFF (tripple buffering) and vertical sync force off.

 

Here is a screenshot of my settings now
I get 70-80-90 fps


But i think I'm gone lower some settings (like texture detail just to high,...) and take a higher resolution

 

As stated, setting the HDR (high dynamic range) to none(or lowest , whatever) will get you another increase in fps, paired with lowering texture detail to high. I don`t even remember seing very high over there,it might be my faulty ram(head memory )

 

It's only in the latest source games you can select very high (only texture detail) (episode 2, portal)

But i have just put it to high
Inside i get like 120fps and outside 70-80-90 (depends)

 

In my book, anything above 60 fps is pointless. I usually cap my fps to 65 ,if possible within the game (kinda like a vsync,with a determined limit : quake 3 is my most favourite example. The game runs at maximum possible details and resolution with over 400 fps. Which is useless. So I cap it to 65

 

Yeah definitely lower textures to high and increase the resolution.