Tweaking RvS

[Dickie]

Heya, you may have seen me around gameranger or whatever (usually dead in a GhR room) but I've got RvS and am trying to eek out a bit higher framerate. I did the same with AA after a guide for the .ini files, and that worked so I thought I'd give this a go. I've had a look at the ravenshield.ini and changed a few things (cache for one) and haven't noticed a huge change, but I hear the best res is the same as the desktop, mine being 1440x900, but even when I change this in the .ini file it goes back to 800x600 when I start the game?! Can anyone help me? I did search google and these forums but everything is either PC specific or generally not there.

Ta,

Dickie

[:MoD:Shade]

Boot up RvS not through multiplyer - change the RvS res in game.

As far as tweaking RvS there are a few useful sites mostly with the same information:

http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/327106611/m/1001011622

and

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/raven-shield/5666-tweaks-raven-shield.html

As far as .ini tweaks none will help a whole lot.  Most significant being TextureMaxLOD in my opinion the lower the more FPS but the characters and surrounds will begin to look seriously shitty.  Cache size I don't see a huge diff, and turning off alot of the graphical knick-knacks to make the game look better helps.

If you're willing to play a game that looks like shit you can turn everything off - otherwise you'll have to suffer.

ANOTHER thing I just thought of is in game when you goto multiplayer prefrences in options change your connection rate.  Depending on what you say there is a cap for each, it seems modem is around 21 but if you lie and say you have a T1 or T3 connection you may see your FPS go up.

I will reccomend you play with VSync on since its smoother even though your framerate will be capped at whatever your Refresh Rate is for your monitor.  On an LCD  the highest you'll get is 59.

[Seany]

  Just to give a little imput, I've had my graphics on their lowest settings for about two months now, and the improvement in frame rate is noticable.
  Normally, if you turn corners suddenly the game slows down for a split second - often making the difference between a frag and a death. Low settings result in smoother gameplay, simple as that.
 
  After a while you don't really notice the bland environment, and besides, you don't need maxed out grpahics to make a game enjoyable (well, in multiplayer, that is).

[Dickie]

"Boot up RvS not through multiplyer - change the RvS res in game."

How do I do that then? Or is that in the options menu?
And ta for the help!

Dickie

[:MoD:Shade]

Yep, it's in options menu when you start the game up.  I would change your res to 1440 x 900 in your case.

[Dickie]

I don't get that option in the menu, any ideas?

[:MoD:Shade]

Options - Graphics - Video Resolution (right at the top)

[PandabeaR]

Hey man, I would be glad to help with this! Just catch me on GR sometime (-aP-PandabeaR) and I'll help you tweak your ini files till your hearts content. But I will say one thing thats verry odd.. I experience BETTER gameplay on my emac at least, when my settings are higher! LOL... I attribute this to it being an unpredictable emac that only a select few with a skewed sense of humor embrace 

[Dickie]

Hmm, 1440x900 ISN'T an option in the list the game gives me. I'm getting 8-20FPS at the mo, less in a firefight. Is it just time to give up? Oh, and Pandadude, I might just take you up on your offer for tweaking help...

[BFG]

Resolution does matter, don't attempt anything higher than 800x600.. if you have problems with the res changing then change the comp res before you load up RvS to make sure that both are set at the same (800x600) settings. GL!!

[PandabeaR]

I will reccomend you play with VSync on since its smoother even though your framerate will be capped at whatever your Refresh Rate is for your monitor.  On an LCD  the highest you'll get is 59.

Actually... If you are looking for a higher frame rate I have found that turning VSync OFF works better because essentially what it does is wait for the frame buffer or what have you. My personal experience is that it does more harm than good. Actually. My personal experience is that doing ANY tweaking of the ini file does more harm than good. What I have found works best is just simply doing a fresh install and changing the default settings in the ingame menu(not in multiplayer). I found also that a higher resolution with lower details(gore, bodies, rainbow, terro, hosties etc.) gives you a much better performance gain in multiplayer matches. Another solution all around(which isnt always a possibility due to the amount of people hosting games) is just to join games with no more than eight people and avoid big servers all together(small games are more fun anyway). Any higher, and then I start to lag - so it may help you out. If you are intent on doing the ini modding then I would leave everything alone but the TextureMaxLOD and the fps cap and min. desired framerate(set it about 10-15 frames higher than your avg. fps in a game).

Hope this helps... I hear your cries of pain in gaming on a slow mac as I suffer the same fate.

[:MoD:Shade]

To answer BFG, the only time it matters is if you are playing in windowed mode, if it's fullscreen there is no difference unless again its a CRT.

To the VSync thing, yes you do get higher FPS but you'll see more video anomalies such as tearing and other things.  Tweaking the ini works but only if you know what to tweak, thats why there are these helpful websites.

[PandabeaR]

To answer BFG, the only time it matters is if you are playing in windowed mode, if it's fullscreen there is no difference unless again its a CRT.

To the VSync thing, yes you do get higher FPS but you'll see more video anomalies such as tearing and other things.  Tweaking the ini works but only if you know what to tweak, thats why there are these helpful websites.

Negatory. You get lower fps, but "smoother" visuals in game. I have seen it on RvS and Counter Strike source. When I had vsync on CS, i would get no more than 45. With it off i got about 55-70 fps on full details. So I would have do disagree with you shade.

[:MoD:Shade]

I just said you get higher FPS . .

I also said with it on your FPS are capped to the Refresh rate of the monitor, for LCD's it is 60.

[PandabeaR]

I just said you get higher FPS . .

I also said with it on your FPS are capped to the Refresh rate of the monitor, for LCD's it is 60.

Ahh, I musta misunderstood you. But yeah, I just find that VSYNC usually doesnt help me out much.