FPS drop

[Cunnilson]

Hello
I'm using aprq2 1.20, in a 1.8 Ghz + 128mb RAM WinXP PC, with very little background applications & windows services (zone alarm firewall).
Apr doesn't give me any troubles at all, but since the anticheat is loaded i experienced a noticeable FPS drop.

i heard comments about this from some people at the chilean aq2 community (where i belong  )

besides that, i am very pleased with your project... keep up the good work!

[Cunnilson]

Hmm now that i analyzed the problem a little more... i think it has to do with the models (md2), 'cause it only happens when there's a lot of players in picture.

to add more info, i use a 32mb video card & i play in 640*480 resolution

thanks for reading.

[R1CH]

I've noticed that there is an FPS drop immediately after a vid_restart, but the frame rate usually comes back to normal within 2-3 secs. I have however had a rare problem where the anticheat portion uses 100% CPU time. If when you get the FPS drop, try alt+tab out of Q2 and check task manager and see if Q2 is using 100% CPU or not, this will help isolate the problem.

[Cunnilson]

I will, i'll comeback with an answer

[Cunnilson]

no, the peak was 56%.
and yes, i also heard about that 3 seconds fps drop, but this is constant :S

feel free to ask more about my system specs, to see if i can help with more info

[R1CH]

What video card/driver and Windows XP Service Pack? Anticheat does require some CPU resources to do its own stuff, but it shouldn't cause too much of a CPU impact.

[Cunnilson]

i got this from the apr log:

Code:

-------- [Loading Renderer] --------
ref_gl version: GL 0.01
Initializing OpenGL display
...setting mode 3: 640 480 FS
...using desktop display depth of 32
...calling CDS: ok
GL PFD: Color(32bits) Depth(24bits)
Stencil(8bits)
... Using stencil buffer
GL_VENDOR: ATI Technologies Inc.
GL_RENDERER: RAGE 128 Pro Ultra
x86/SSE2
GL_VERSION: 1.2.1716 WinXP Release
...allowing CDS
...enabling
GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array
...enabling WGL_EXT_swap_control
...GL_EXT_point_parameters not found
...using GL_ARB_multitexture
...GL_SGIS_multitexture deprecated in
favor of ARB_multitexture
...GL_NV_texture_rectangle not found
...GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap not found
...GL_ARB_texture_compression not
found
...GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic
not found
Maximum Texture Size: 1024x1024
------------------------------------

it's not a very powerful card, only 32mb  , & the drivers i'm using are the only ones available

i'm using service pack 2 with some recent security updates

[Gen]

gl_ext_pointparameters 0
gl_ext_swapinterval 0

[R1CH]

Try what Gen suggested - in your autoexec.cfg:
set gl_ext_pointparameters 0

ATI drivers don't like pointparameters for some reason.

[Cunnilson]

great, i'll try it out

[Cunnilson]

OK, it works, in the sense that now the fps drop is not so violent, but is still there anyway... now i can play relatively normal , thanks for the answers

i also added gl_swapinterval "0" to my autoexec, is that ok?

[R1CH]

gl_swapinterval 0 disables vsync which has no harm. I've also tried to do a few optimizations in the anticheat, although any FPS drop should be hardly noticable as it really doesn't use that much CPU time. How bad is the before / after FPS now?

[Cunnilson]

Well, i use cl_maxfps 80 and it fluctuates between 83-30 with the anticheat.
It still looks a bit "choppy", but before gl_ext_pointparameters 0 it was unplayable

Optimizations in anticheat.dll? new version?

[Cunnilson]

Is it normal that the anticheat uses about 30-50% of CPU??
I also work with some audio software but that uses between 3-10% (software that consumes lot's of CPU, like Reaktor or Live)

[R1CH]

No, that's not normal. On my 2.4GHz P4, I see perhaps 1-2% extra CPU usage from the use of anticheat. Where are you getting the 30-50% figure from?