Official Forumdan Performans Başlığı

[Gangren]

Wall of Text inc =)

Are you wondering how to run this game as smooth as possible ? Would you like someone to test, change and retest stuff until they eventually come up with pre-chewed checklist so you can see in the blink of an eye what to improve about your computer to run this game smooth at release time ? Well, look no further because I have done the work for you. Hope you enjoy. This guide was last edited to reflect the may 17 early access build.

List of impact per hardware pc component:


1. Central processing unit (CPU)

high, depending on which video card you use you will need a stronger processor. Nvidia cards draw their power greatly on the processor and thus generate extra load. ATI cards operate at maximum speed pretty much independent of the processor. In both cases the game itself requires a considerable deal of continuous processing power. I'm very happy to see a continous 30-70% load on all 4 cores on a Q6600 overclocked to 3.3Ghz (default clock = 2.4Ghz). This leads me to believe that the current client has really good multicore support and seems to scale very well. For this reason it's highly recommended to use a latest gen dualcore or even better get a quadcore!!


2. Random access Memory (RAM)

The amount of memory installed in your computer is absolutely critical to running this game smooth. The game itself has been developped as a 32-bit executable with LA (large address awareness) enabled. What does this mean? 32-bit executables are by design restricted to 2GB per running process on a 32bit OS. (ageofconan32.exe = 1 process = the whole game) As you zone to the inn or other zones, the executable size in memory will try to cache all this information (= keep it loaded in memory in the form of ageofconan32.exe growing in memory usage size) to give you a smoother gaming experience. I have noticed that the "working set" of the executable grows to as large as 1.9-2GB (since latest checkup), this is how much of your physically present RAM is being used by the game. If you don't have that amount of free ram BEFORE starting up the game, your game will slow down after zoning enough times and slow down even further over time until you restart it to make the game use less memory again. For this reason you need under XP at least 2.5GB in your computer to run this game smooth and under Vista at least 3GB. Aside from the physical usage there's also the virtual size (the actual size of the process) which I have seen to grow as large as about 2.1GB after zoning alot. The current gameclient releases it's allocated memory from loaded zones very good so you always stay in the 1.5-2GB physical usage range and that is very good.

note: 4GB is the ideal amount needed to run this smooth along with whatever other stuff you run on your OS (services, background apps, the OS memory itself) Vista will even use the extra memory to help cache other stuff. I have 8 and beyond 4GB you do not notice much more improvement in speed and smoothness so 8GB is NOT necessary for running ONLY this game while having all other apps closed. However having 8GB will help considerably with caching the zone loadings and other stuff under Vista as well as allow you to simultaneously run a bunch of other windows programs. Above 4GB is a luxury however, not a must have. A total of 2GB in your computer means running the game at decreased performance. This is inevitable. memory is cheap so try to get 3 or 4.

note: the speed of the memory is completely trivial when compared to the actual amount of memory. Having e.g 1066 Mhz mem instead of 667Mhz will only yield a 1-3% memory read speed increase in synthetical benchmarks but in a game don't even feel or notice anything at all. Think about that before buying expensive memory

note: although increasing your RAM from 2GB to 3GB is in essence not a direct increase in fps but instead makes the game play and loading/zoning feel alot smoother, it should be noted however that if you lack alot of RAM your FPS will be affected through stuttering etc. Running the game with 1GB e.g will give such problematic play (enough to feel 'unplayable') Having 2GB is therefore a bare minimum for running at all while 3GB is the minimum for running smooth. 4GB is a good standard. More memory with Vista 64 gives you better HD access caching. For more details about memory see the /3GB guide


3. Graphics processing unit (GPU)

Critical impact!! This game uses pretty advanced graphics that are a bit ahead of it's time. This allows for a visually stunning game under ideal circumstances with future hardware. I have been able to run at 1900*1200 at high graphic settings in a quite smooth way using 8800GT cards. A retest with 2 of those in SLI showed that SLI does work. does not make any difference in the current game client. It's absolutelty critical to have a latest gen of graph card for smooth play (nvidia 8800series or ati 3XXX series and up) The graphics card therefore is well worth your money for this game, more than buying the latest processor in any case. Upon measuring videocardmemory usage I noticed that outdoors 512MB is saturated all the time on resolutions 1600*1200 and up. Get 768 or more memory on the card if you can.

To test performance of the current client I used the following settings: resolution = 1920*1200, no bloom, no AA, everything else maxxed out including all distance sliders. Then I zone from Khemi to Old tarantia and let go of my keyboard and mouse. Here's what I measure with ctrl+alt+f in-game:

1 8800GT card on nvidia "let my application decide" : 21-22 fps
1 8800GT card on nvidia "Age of conan advance profile" : 24-27 fps
2*8800GT SLI on nvidia "let my application decide" : 31-32 fps
2*8800GT SLI on nvidia "Age of conan advance profile" : 33-35 fps

This was measured with non-OC cards with 512MB, vista 64-bit SP1 with ALL possible settings maxxed except those mentioned. That means with shadows from all etc with distance view range 3500meter etc...I'm totally stunned by this good performance. I never expected to get 30+ frames at all times on max settings in a heavy graphical zone like Old tarantia. Superb job from the devs. For better overal performance however I recommend setting shadow textures to medium or low since they tax the system enormously while not making the game look that much better. That's just a personal oppinion though.

note: naturally the above fps listed is a torture test!! You will not play like this mostly but instead turn the video options somewhat down and see your fps about double this. Anyway for the quality of the graphics this kind of fps is superb imho !! See tips and tricks for configuration. This part about hardware.

note: all 8800 series are rocksolid choices for this game as long as they have 512MB ram on them as an absolute minimum. Don't use a card with less memory !! All latest gen ATI cards such as 29XX and 3XXX series appear to be doing well as well. Note that x2 cards such as 9800x2 only use 512MB memory in reality since they have 2 chips with each 512MB and only one can be used by it's internal SLI. ATI is known to currently give less fps in general than the nvidia cards. I don't know why but when comparing fps from different people I came to this conclusion.

note: dx10 is not implemented yet even though it's listed in-game. It will be truly implemented around sept/oct. Still the game looks awesome on DX9 as it is imho


4. The disc subsystem (HD or a RAID of HD's)

important and severly underestimated. This component does not increase your fps in any way (at least not to a noticeable degree) but DOES effect exclusively ALL ZONING experiences which is pretty much from launching the game to going in and out of zones nonstop (in tortage e.g) The sky is the limit here since the game dir is over 24GB as it is today and parts of that are being loaded into memory as you zone. I have tested the game while running it off a latest generation 7200RPM harddrive (samsung 400GB) and later on a RAID 0 of two WD Raptor 10000RPM disks. My god the difference is day and night. With the single 7200RPM disk the loading screens take double the time and I can listen to up to an entire song while zoning into the game. On the raid system I could only hear the part of the women with the high voice and I never hear the rest of that song because I'm already ingame. This feels so good. If I had the money I would buy a 32GB HyperOS hyperdrive to run the game on because it would be blazing fast then no doubt. I can only imagine how good that must feel but I'm already very happy with the raid0 system. Adding more than 2 drives to the raid0 made a further improvement in loading times but only marginal like 10% (not worth it imho) For smooth experience ofc you have no data or anything else running off your game disk or raid system except the game and maybe the OS (peferably even only the game itself and nothingelse)

That's it for the hardware part. Plz RATE this thread and give comments or requests to sticky this if you like it. Thx


disclaimer: All findings in this thread are based solely on the personal testing experience of a game betatester. I will take no responsability for any damage that certain software or hardware changes may cause to your computer or data by executing actions suggested in this thread. Please execute any actions only after careful consideration, research and above all always at your OWN risk.
Last edited by profundido; Today at 09:37.
Reply With Quote
profundido
View Public Profile
Send a private message to profundido
Find More Posts by profundido
Add profundido to Your Contacts
Unread 17th May 2008, 18:06 Report Post profundido is online now #2
profundido




Default
tips and tricks to run the game smooth(er):

1. Turn off "bloom" in advanced graphics options and set shadows textures to "medium" or even "low". This may double/triple your fps in problem area's.
2. (optionally) turn off AA (4-25 fps gain on average). AntiAliasing= a GPU hungry technique to improve the visual quality of a game even further on lower resolutions.
3. Run the game off a seperate fast disk or raid system (where you only install the game and put no other data or programs) This noticeably helps the loading times during zoning and launching the game
4. close all other running programs and antivirus before playing AOC and defragment at least twice a week. Use simpleconfig.exe in your gamedir to perform a compression while you sleep (takes ages!)
5. Run the game fullscreen!
7. Backup your gamedir before and after every patch
8. (no longer valid in this build)
9. Vista only: disable the service called "windows search" and stop that service. That will remove the constant HD trashing even while idle which will allow your HD to load the game and it's zones much faster!!. Note: you will not be able to use the search function in windows (who cares...) as long as this service is stopped.
10: Vista only: disable system restore (at your own risk) or decrease the interval of system restores. This further decreases constant HD trashing
11. Vista only: make sure you got SP1 running. If not, install the SP or format and reinstall using a DVD that has the SP integrated in it already.
12: Vista only: set your power mode to max performance (= disable power saving modes etc....)
13: BACK UP YOUR FUNCOM DIR to another drive or at lease another spot on your harddrive. Something CAN go corrupt quite easy and you don't want to start redownloading all patches so backup your funcom dir (c:program files....) after every new patch. If your game is corrupt just restore. TIP: you can move the game at any time by moving the funcom dir and then editing the "installinfo.txt" file in the "FUNCOMage of conan" dir to point to the new and correct path. That's all it takes to move on the same computer. To move the game to a new computer, first install using the installer then move as if on the same computer and edit installinfo.txt as needed. You'll be good to go
14: I've played insane much since start and found an issue where video performance in-game will suddenly decrease incredible to a (very low) fps that you normally do not have in that specific zone. I've found that it can be fixed by "reloading graphics" which brings it back to it's normal fps. Since I don't know any command to do this, I personally change the "shadow resolution" setting to any other than what it's set to. Upon applying the game will reload it's video and all is well again for a long while. Changing AA settings for example does the same thing. Ofcourse you could also restart the game but that takes more time. Changing shadow resolution seems fastest for me to fix it.

99: general note: the game runs best on Vista 64-bit as long as you have at least 4GB of memory on board.


note: to access the debug console, press << left ctrl + right shift + c >> It may allow you to do some advanced troubleshooting if needed


Plz RATE this thread and give comments or requests to sticky this if you like it. Thx

disclaimer: All findings in this thread are based solely on the personal testing experience of a game betatester. I will take no responsability for any damage that certain software or hardware changes may cause to your computer or data by executing actions suggested in this thread. Please execute any actions only after careful consideration, research and above all always at your OWN risk.
Last edited by profundido; Today at 08:22.
Reply With Quote
profundido
View Public Profile
Send a private message to profundido
Find More Posts by profundido
Add profundido to Your Contacts
Unread 17th May 2008, 18:07 Report Post profundido is online now #3
profundido




Default
Since it's so popular, here's my complete roundup to managing user-mode memory on 32-bit Operating systems with 4GB physical memory:


Intro: What is this all about ?

a 32-bit OS such as Vista or XP has a few limits when it comes to memory use. To sum them up they are:

1.The Operating itself can only "see" 4GB minus the amount of reserved memory space by the Bios (because the bios is a layer that stands between the hardware and the operating system itself) The larger the memory on your video card for example, the less memory is left for your OS. This why one person sees only 2.8GB in windows and another sees 3.5GB while they both have 4GB of physical memory installed. Regardless of which edition of an OS you have, ALL 32-bit XP and Vista are subject to this rule.
2. 32-bit XP and Vista are designed in such a way that they need a part of the total addressable (= amount of memory that the OS can "see") for themselves. For this reason, Microsoft designed both XP and Vista in such a way that a certain process could only get up to 2GB of memory, and then the remaining memory would remain available for kernel processes (= itself), even though it does not in fact always need a full 2GB. In fact a clean XP might only need 300MB at some point if only 1 game is running and nothing else installed. Vista will require more kernel memory because it's bigger by design. As more stuff runs, the OS itself might need up to 1.5-2GB of memory for it's kernel. By default the balance in 32-bit XP and Vista is such that it's 2GB for a given user-mode process (= a program = Age of Conan) and 2GB for the kernel (= OS itself) If the virtual size of a process such as Age of conan reaches a total size of 2GB, the program is terminated by the OS BY DESIGN to prevent it from infiltrating the kernel reserved memory space. The user experiences this as a program crash straight into windows. For age of conan, my tests have shown that it's virtual size reaches 2GB at about when the physical memory usage size reaches around 1.5GB (this is what you see in windows task manager). This is why people keep crashing all the time without understanding why. Well, at least until now...
3. 32-bit Processes (=programs) themselves have a built-in little extra mini switch that's called a 'flag' that prevents them from groing bigger than 2GB. Even if you configure the OS using the above to allow up to 3GB for a process, it would not be able to do so if it's built-in switch is set to "not Large Address Aware" because that settings limits the process to a max of 2GB memory. If it's set to "Large Address Aware" however the 32-bit process is allowed to grow up to 3GB on a 32-bit OS or up to 4GB on a 64-bit OS, which is again the maximum for ANY 32-bit process.


Now there is a switch that makes it possible to shift the balance a bit from 2GB/2GB (program/kernel) to 3GB/1GB. This switch allows us to change the max mem limit for user-mode process so that Age of Conan can continue to grow in virtual size up to 3GB instead of only 2GB and that equals a physical memory usage of at least 2.2GB. The game will crash again when it reaches that new limit. My testing has shown that if you zone enough and roam about, the game wil go beyond 3GB physical usage and 3.5GB virtual size as of now. For this reason you can still crash. However, further testing has shown that the game reaches 1.5 physical usage in the first hour easily when zoning around Tortage (quite easy to simulate) while reaching the 2.2physical usage takes at the very least lots of zoning and usually a few hours to reach. For this reason the following switch (ONLY IF YOU HAVE 4GB MEM) may solve alot of problems for you


Great news! So how do I set the switch ??

Under Vista 32-bit:
1. Under Vista 32-bit (with at least 4GB memory installed regardless how much you see of it in windows) go START
2. Navigate to programs...etc until you see a black icon named "command prompt"
3. rightclick it and select: run as administrator. A big black box appears
4. In the big black box, type the following command: BCDEDIT /Set IncreaseUserVa 3072
5. Press enter to execute the command
6. reboot your computer

7(optional). If you don't like it for some reason you can revert the switch the same procedure but replace step 4 with this: entering bcdedit /deletevalue increaseuserva (this undoes the switch)

Under XP 32-bit:

the equivalent of that switch on Vista for xp is simply by modifying the boot.ini file (it's a hidden system file under c:) and add the /3GB switch to the line that looks like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Pro"

so it becomes:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Pro" /3GB

then reboot to activate the change

to remove the switch under XP: remove the /3GB and reboot



Is there a catch ? Any danger to this switch ?

Yes, there is. You limit the available memory to the OS itself. If the OS tries to use more, windows will crash and you will have to reboot and start your programs up again. Is this most likely to happen ? Nope, generally it's not. But it can whenever the OS requires alot of memory, more than is available. Let's say someone has 4GB installed, but he uses 2*8800GTX (the type with 768MB per card) so his OS only "sees" 2.8GB. On top of that his computer is not cleanly/newly formatted. It's filled with tons of previously installed programs, antivirus and whatever else that uses memory. Then on top of that he's playing AOC with the switch so it's using over 2GB of memory...you can see where this is going and you know how to avoid it...

note: in this regard and considering the fact that SLI currently is not working in AOC anyway : on computers with ony 3-4GB of memory, AOC can in fact run better with only 1 video card for now since then you have more memory available to windows not kidding...



Final advice:

enable this switch ONLY if the following conditions are BOTH true (if you still wonder why you haven't read the above):

1. you have Windows XP32-bit or Vista 32-bit (any edition)
2. you have at least 4GB of physical memory (even if your OS only sees 3.2)

if the answer to any of the above conditions is NO, then do NOT enable this switch or it may work contrary to your goals.


Note: On a 64 bit OS such as e.g Vista x64, this switch is not needed at all. The OS allows by default for any process to take up to it's maximum of memory available by design. Vista is able to "see" technically up to 128GB. Microsoft however decided to set a limit for each edition. so let's have another look at what restrictions we have for Vista x64 since that seems to be a popular question now:

1. Restriction by edition: Vista Home basic supports max 8GB, Vista Home Premium max 16GB, Business-Enterprise-Ultimate all support 128GB
2. Restriction by process: Since 64bit OS's can run both native 64bit designed process as well as 32-bit processes, there is still the max limit for a 32-bit process which is 4GB inevitably while a 64-bit process process could take up pretty much all memory. So if Ageofconan.exe is a 32-bit process and you are running Vista 64-bit with 8GB of physical ram (installed in the computer), then the OS will see all 8GB of ram while AgeofConan will crash if it reaches 4GB in virtual size but it will be able to use all 4GB since the OS still has enough memory left for itself so we dont' have the crappy situation from XP or Vista 32-bit. If Funcom would make a 64-bit version of the executable then it could grow even beyond 4GB up to..around 7-7.5 (assuming you have 8 onboard) ?? Something like that

Note: since the introduction of 32-bit Vista, many people have complained to Microsoft about the fact that windows shows that they can actually only see 2.8-3.5GB of memory while having 4GB memory installed that starting with SP1, enough people in fact for Microsoft to decide to change the decription under "System" in windows control panel. Yes you are reading this right: after installing SP1 for Vista on your 32-bit Vista you will see 4GB instead of the lesser number, although lesser is still being used even though the system information will indicate otherwise. The phylosophy behind this is that the system information should reflect how much memory is installed in your computer, not how much is effectively available to windows or used by windows so be careful there. Important to remember is the fact that you STILL only have 2.8-3.5 available for windows when doing your math for memory hungry programs such as this game... again, with 6GB or more and Vista 64-bit SP1 all those troubles are nonexistant and that's the near future of gaming imho !


Why is this ?
Setting the switch shifts the memory limit from the AOC client to the OS itself on (32-bit OS only). So: before april 14 your AOC client was the main source of crashing and your OS less since the client wanted to grow up to 3.1GB physical memory usage. By setting the /3GB switch you let the AOC client grow bigger at the cost of limiting the OS itself to 1GB which may make it crash as well. After april 14 the client only grows up to 2.1 so if you remove the /3GB switch you revert back to the default 2GB/2GB balanced limit (2GB for AOC, 2GB for the OS) so the OS is safe from any crashing now. Hence since AOC is no longer the main source of crashing we can conclude that the remaining crashes (coming from not enough free memory for the OS) may be removed by reverting back to the default settings. Hope this explains alot for people

Plz RATE this thread and give comments or requests to sticky this if you like it. Thx
Last edited by profundido; 17th May 2008 at 19:06.
Reply With Quote
profundido
View Public Profile
Send a private message to profundido
Find More Posts by profundido
Add profundido to Your Contacts
Unread 17th May 2008, 18:08 Report Post profundido is online now #4
profundido




Default
I have vista 32 bits, and if i would have vista 64 bits , how do i upgrade ?

you cannot upgrade directly. You have to backup all data, format your pc and restore your data and reinstall your games and applications.

Can i do an upgrade online on Microsoft, or do i need to buy a new copy ?

All OEM, Express, and Retail Vista 32 bit and 64 bit installation DVD's can be used to install Vista with any 32 bit product key number. This means if you own a license for a certain edition already you only have to find or download the X64 bit version installation disk to format your computer and reuse your same installatie code.

Can i do that whitout changing anything on my hardware?

That depends. After installing Vista 64bit you will have to download and install the 64bit driver versions of all your detected-but-not-automatically-installed-devices so you are best to check if they exist and if there are any compabtibility issues known for your hardware. If so you may choose to swap out non X64 compatible hardware with X64 compatible parts. The very least you need to have right now is a 64-bit processor ofc

Is my software gone still work with 64 bit?

There are certain old exotic pieces of software that can be incompatible with Vista X64. Most recent/new 32-bit software and games however works really well on Vista X64 to my personal knowledge. I advise you to CHECK THOROUGLY however for known issues of your software on Vista x64. Google is your friend...

am I going to have other troubles with drivers ?

answered already a few lines up

Are there other issues to look in afther upgrade ?,in case i can.

I always advise to compare your current hardware options and their 64-bit alternatives to upgrading certain parts or even replacing the whole computer. In other words, you want look at the big picture and consider all options to your endgoal before making a choice of action and certainly before the ACTUAL ACTION. In other words, don't format unless you know what's ahead

tip: make an image of your entire computer with it's data to another computer before formatting so you can recover things easily afterwards in case you find out you "forgot something"

[Sam]

faydalı bilgiler var, aklıma gelmişken sp1 yüklenememe sorununu çözeyim bari.

[MADBOY]

Ben de aklıma gelmişken servisten gelmiş eski ddr2-800 ramleri bunların yanına ekleyeyim, 4gb olsun dedim de, araştırdım, latency ve voltaj farklarından dolayı iki tane ayrı model çiftliyi bir arada kullanmak sorun stabilizasyon sorunları yaratabiliyormuş.

Bugün ram tweak dışındaki tweakleri denerim sanırım, yarın da aynı çiftliden alıp deneyeceğim muhtemelen.

Ayriyetten ram fiyatları bayağı düşmüş, ve 2gb'tan 4gb'a geçmenin performansta bayağı artış yaptığını söylüyorlar, 1gb'tan 2gb'a geçmek de öyle yapıyor ayrıca.

[Venator]

Çok yardımcı oldu valla, sanırım 1.5GB'dan 2GB'a upgrade edicem PC'yi bu gidisle, oyle gozukuyor.

[elesso]

direk 2.5 gb yapsan daha iyi olur

[Venator]

Sanırım anakart 3 tane slot Ram desteklemiyordu ya 2 ya da illa 4 olcaktı ama dur bi daha bakıp okuyayım onu belki de yapabiliyorumdur. Zaten su anda 512yi cıkarıp 1gb takmayı dusunuyodum cıkarmama gerek yoksa niye 2.5 yapmiym ki =)

Edit: Oha Anakart o kadar eski ki, anca 2GB ram destekliyormus zaten tüh diyorum sadece upgrade etmeyi de 1 yıla kadar düşünmüyodum ama, napıcaz boyle idare edicez bi süre 2gb ram ile low ayarlarda :/

[MADBOY]

Oyun eşşek gibi ram yiyor sorun orada, ve şöyle bir mantık var, adamın yukarıda dediği gibi windows only/kernel olarak 1gb, application only olarak 1gb falan ayırıyor 2gb ram'e sahip olduğumuzu düşünürsek, ve oyun zaten 30 dakika/1 saat oynadıktan sonra o 1gb limiti direk geçmiş olup kernel'e ayrılan memory'i doldurmaya başlıyor, yanlış mı anladım bilemiyorum gerçi de, farkettiğim birşey ise performans *ıçmaya başladığında taskmanager'dan baktığımda 1.15gb falan civarı gözüküyor bellek kullanımı, 4gb'a geçmenin iyi olmasını bu yüzden söylüyor olabilirler, zaten 2-3 saat nonstop oynadıktan sonra crash yiyorum genelde. Ama cidden, oyunu stabil yapmak için bu gibi sorunları düzeltmeleri lazım, oyuncunun 3-5 saat tweak için uğraşmasından ziyade adamların kendilerinin uğraşması lazım açıkçası.

[Absolut]

Bloom ve AA OFF yapmak cidden arttırıyor fpsyi.

[MADBOY]

Evet, ayriyetten burada yapılabileceklerin üstüne, gereksiz ıvır zıvırları mantık yoluyla kıstım, Bilinear filtering yaptım, shadow quality'i Low ve From Characters Only olarak ayarladım, farketti gibi, maintenance'a 5 dakka kalmıştı girdiğimde tabi, ama mekana göre 65 fps falan gördüğüm oldu, 40 ile 60 arası dolanıyor genelde.

[Alpgiray]

http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=531

[Xaenin]

Plays best on Alienware.

[MADBOY]

Xaenin said:

Plays best on Alienware.

Adam aldı yeni makineyi galiba, hayırlı uğurlu olsun gülüm.