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buddye -> RE: New BOBII customers Please Read (6/8/2008 9:37:58 PM)
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BOBII Performance
BoB II WoV is a vastly improved remake of Rowans' BoB. Furthermore, BOBII is still being developed by the BDG (a volunteer force of freeware enthusiasts) who are adding new features, better aircraft models, better flight and ground models, and a lot of improvements/fixes in code that increase BOBII performance requirements for every major free update (2.04 through 2.10 and forward). It is highly recommended that you have a very powerful single core, a dual core, or a Quad core PC before buying BOBII.
BOBII is a very demanding Combat Flight Simulator as well as a BOB Strategy Commander and Single Player Campaign. It takes a good PC to run BOBII effectively (good processor and video card) and a good "gamer PC" to run BOBII at full settings. BobII does need a Directx 9c compliant external video card to run. We have had no success getting on-board video to run BOBII without errors and we do not recommend even trying it. If your processor is a single core and less than 2.5 GHz, I would not even recommend you trying BOBII.
BOBII has a built in FPS counter (shift+F). The key is the minimum FPS (not the average). If you’re minimum FPS get below say 10 FPS for an extended time your game play will be affected (performance delays) and you may see some skips or jumps on the monitor.
The BOBII FPS counter is Shift+F. Try to keep your average FPS in the mid-20's to mid-30's but in the large battles in the campaign and historic Instant action with 100’s of A/C in the air may still over power your PC.
If you have a single core processor and get a CTD in 3D, you must set in your Bdg.txt:
LANDSCAPE_TEXTURE_SIZE = 1024 , the default is LANDSCAPE_TEXTURE_SIZE = 2048 and it may cause a CTD on single core processors (we had one on a single core 3.0 Ghz processor) or older video cards.
For our BOBII Version 2.10 and beyond the processing requirements have increased based on all the new opjects and trees that have been added to BOBII landscape. In addition, our high res textures will take additional processor CPU/performance. The new Bomber and Ju87 skins are a new load on performance. Please try the following:
Here is a list of the Bdg.txt big performance impacts. You may need to trade quality for performance:
ENABLE_AUTO_GEN=OFF
MULTI_SKIN_MODE=DISABLE
LANDSCAPE_TEXTURE_SIZE = 1024
Here is a list of the GUI big performance impacts. You may need to trade quality for performance:
horizon distance = medium (saves 15%) or low
weather = medium or low
particle density = Medium or low
Object Density = medium or low
Object Quality = medium or low
Water = medium or low
Play with these and see if you can find the sweet spot and keep your FPS up to recommended levels.
The loading of BOBII files is a function of processor power, harddrive I/O, and memory speed. On my PC (a late model Quad) the missions load fast. If your loading times are excessive, you may have software blocking the BOBII loading of files (virus, firewalls, spyware, etc). We have nothing but problems with Norton and it is very hard to turn off or disable for our customers.
Here are some examples of loading times on my PC (measured by stop watch) with MutiSkin turned ON (You can turn MultiSkin off in the BDG.txt to save some loading time but the Skins are just wonderful :D ).
TakeOff mission (default) first load = 34 seconds
TakeOff mission (default) second load = 13 seconds
Historic London Mission (LUF, He111) first load =52 Seconds
Historic London Mission (LUF, He111) second load =35 Seconds
Here is an answer I gave a customer who ask the following question: Given my PC spec's (which he listed in detail) and my game play requirements (which he listed), what are the "best" setting for BOBII?
Simple question but I am afraid you will need to do some work to develop the best answer for you and your PC.
Your bottleneck will be processing power and slow memory speed. A processor speed of less than 2.5 GHz (you speed is 1.75 GHz) has a tough time running BOBII without very low setting but it is possible with low settings. I am not comfortable seeing a 1.75GHz processor run BOBII unless the customer is very experienced with BOBII and BOBII settings. The game is just too demanding for a 1.75GHz processor, IMHO. That said it is possible to run and enjoy BOBII on a 1.75GHz processor at low settings as we have seen before.
Start with these settings I think and then slowly change one at a time and test, test, and test.
Use the FPS counter (shift+F) as your guide to performance tuning. You need to try and keep your average FPS in the mid 20's to mid 30's with "no"minimums of 1,2,3 (the minimums will show up in the FPS counter (shift+F)). The "minimum" is the "key" and you want to prevent low minimums. Low minimums cause processing delays and unpredictable results. The average FPS is just a guideline (not all that valuable but OK as a guide) and the average's value is not all that significant but the "minimum" is important.
horizon distance = medium
weather = low
particle density = low
Object Quality = low
Object Density = low
Water = medium
Try to find the best sweet spot for your player requirements (both quality and performance) and the FPS counter. Only change one setting at a time and test throughly. This task could take days depending on your hobby time. The best sweet spot setting wise will ensure the best game play.
Good luck. Maybe someday you can run BOBII on full setting and get all the eye candy and avoid processor delays which really hurt game play.
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