all i’m asking for is ideas here. i’m not necessarily asking for a savior.
i know some might suggest i get the pro version or “upgrade” to XP. as i’ve got a legal copy of win2k server only and an illegal copy of WinXP, it should be clear why i run Win2k. (that and i’ve got a lot against XP. :P)
my problems are rather unusual, so i’ll try to take time to lay them out carefully so as to avoid confusion. please take time to read carefully, as people have been known to be quickly confused by me. the problem is most evident in two of my favorite OpenGL games, but i suspect it may be a general OpenGL problem. i’ll explain (full system specs are below):
Tribes 2: i know what you’re thinking - it’s buggy as hell. it isn’t an issue specific to the Torque engine, but i have identified a few possible culprits to my problems. the following items cause performance to go through the floor when they fill more than 10% of the screen: damaged players (or bots - damage is visible on the textures), the flagstand (which is little more than a black base with a dynamic light), and a few other objects which rely heavily on a texture’s alpha transparency. all visual settings produce identical results in general performance and my performance problem. (i haven’t actually taken down the frame rate yet, but it runs quite smooth until the objects are shown as i described - then it can literally drop to exactly 1 FPS, and it is quite obvious. i could watch the second hand on my pocket watch tick each time the screen updates.)
Neverwinter Nights: i just [majorly] upgraded my system and was excited to begin playing this, so you can imagine my disappointment at the performance problem. generally, performance is sluggish, running roughly 6 FPS or so, and slower on large areas. when the inventory window is displayed, the frame rate drops to about 1-2 FPS. at stores, it drops further to 1 FPS or less. this is regardless of resolution or settings.
now, when you see my system specs, you’ll scratch your head as hard as i’ve scratched mine. (i am now also bald.)
AMD Athlon 2100+ Palomino
MSI KT2 Combo-L
Via KT266A chipset
256MB PC-133 CL3 RAM
onboard ethernet
Elsa Gladiac GTS2-32 (nVidia GeForce 2 GTS 32MB reference board)
SoundBlaster PCI128 (old version - uses ES1370)
USB Logitech iFeel
PS/2 keyboard
IDE primary: 1 hard drive
IDE secondary: hard drive, CD-RW
300W power supply
settings and drivers follow:
AMD AGP registry patch
most recent VIA 4-in-1 drivers
nVidia Detonator 44.03, Omega Det. 44.03, and nVidia Det 41.09
standard Win2k drivers for everything else.
onboard audio is disabled.
nVidia drivers set to performance-oriented settings: FSAA off, aniso. off, etc.
BIOS settings:
video bios shadow/cacheable: disabled
VGA palette snoop: disabled
BIOS shadow: disabled
AGP 4x with fastwrite
AGP aperture 128MB (IIRC, i’ll have to reboot to check)
most everything else default.
now, let me explain a few minor details about my setup:
Elsa is out of business, and tech support is a busy signal. (i assume their creditors contracted out for that.) the video card is based on nVidia’s own reference design for the GeForce 2 GTS, with few, if any, changes. as a result, i use only nVidia’s Dets. the BIOS has been flashed to the last version Elsa released before their demise.
i haven’t flashed the motherboard BIOS, mainly because i don’t even have a floppy drive and am too lazy to try any other method.
i have tried 3 different video drivers, and all three produce identical results (except that the Omega drivers bluescreened on a couple benchmarks, but nothing else).
i am not using Creative’s SoundBlaster drivers because they’re such a hassle to install properly. (a fact a lot of people may not realize.)
i’m also not using Logitech’s driver for the iFeel for two reasons: i don’t need the feedback functionality (yet), and the standard drivers seem to work fine.
i can easily switch to a non-integrated NIC (as i have 2 extra), but for convenience and simplicity, i’m using the integrated NIC.
i have PowerStrip installed, and as such have a great deal of control over some more hardcore settings, but i have left all of the hardware at its defaults for now. (i will uninstall it if anyone suspects it might be causing some silent changes.)
any further questions are encouraged, though i may have already answered them. again, please re-read this post before you post your question.
ideas welcome, flames encouraged, and help appreciated.
thanks for reading.