[GAMEPLAY]Tips for next version reducing fps.

[ezra-r]

Asteroids.

Is it possible to get in the next version of Xtended a reduced ammount of asteroids. All in the goal of reduced fps. I know DDRS mod has something like this and its start is probably the smoothest start I ever had with X3. Along with its minimal hud option, which I copied to my game and it brings nice results.


Weapon effects.

I dont know untill which point one can modify this in the game. But, imo, it is the effects of the weapons what really causes lag instead of the rate of fire. Is it possible to modify the weapon effects to something less fps eater?

I am sorry to bring other games, but I remember Freespace 2, the weapon effects were probably the coolest Ive seen and they didnt take too much fps out of the game, plus, they were very light and still very neat.

for example -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6VhyMzu12c <--
how come a game from 7 years ago develop this graphics with such minimun requirements. :O Well, I know this is a modified version of the original, but the engine is pretty much the same.

Just pay attention to the laser shots when the small ships shoot.. Arent they neat? yes, and they are small and light. I bet that does not consume much fps.

[Mox]

how come a game from 7 years ago develop this graphics with such minimun requirements. :O Well, I know this is a modified version of the original, but the engine is pretty much the same.

You are comparing a F1 racecar(FS2) to a Rolls Royce(X3) here.

FS2 is hypertuned on combat and combat GXF
X3 sucks at combat GXF (but gets by just fine nonetheless if you mod them)
but offers a much broader package.

Mind you, FS would completely freak with X3 poly nr's..the max poly's for a FS2 mesh is 50.000 and even then you can just afford a few of these in a sector.

They are totally different games yet I agree that even today FS2 combat GFX are probably amongst the finest featured in any spacegame.

X3 will never be able to match those, no matter the amount of modding you throw at it. FS2 will never be able to match X3 in diversity and GXF related to other core elements of the game (like it's sectors, which are basically just empty in FS2 apart from the odd roid field, starbase and nebula).

A Reduced Roids version might be possible together with minimal hud.
Then again, these are freely available for users to utilize at their own
leisure. They wont be part of a core-mod, some like dense roid fields, some dont..its a matter of taste and rig-setup.

Combat fps is influenced by amounts of bullets being processed/rendered
more then anything..thats not a guess, thats a fact.
You will NEVER be able to gain significant FPS boosts out of modding/reducing secondary combat GFX like impact/launch effects and/or explosions...those form the margins on the side.

[ezra-r]

...

Combat fps is influenced by amounts of bullets being processed/rendered
more then anything..thats not a guess, thats a fact.
You will NEVER be able to gain significant FPS boosts out of modding/reducing secondary combat GFX like impact/launch effects and/or explosions...those form the margins on the side.

You are right, I let my emotions run wild..

Let me be more objective..

For instance, in a fight, Im in a M6 and Im shooting a Xenon P for instance, I can shoot with not much framerate loss from a certain distance, but when I approach.. bang there goes fps reduced to 6-10 fps...

My question was more oriented to.. is it possible to mod yet another change in the weapon effects, so the are "lighter" and splashes on the ship while weapons hit them get much reduced.. so the fps loss is not so huge..

I think, from my ignorant point of view, that you are talking more in general, but I am focusing on some things like reducing that weapon effect that reduce fps a lot (meaning more than 15 fps reduced) even in empty sectors.

My example on FS2 was more oriented to the gun shooting of the small fighters there, for me explosions in X3 are fine as they are..

but for instance.. the BPAC are a hell of a frame rate loss when they hit a ship, the more you shoot, the more fps loss, even more noticable when you are close the ship you are shooing.. Is it possible to reduce/change these effects? For instance, can a modder change the PAC effect to something blue like the blue shots we see in some scenes in the fs2 video?

HEPT, can they be reduced to something like the blue shots in the FS but green?

Just wondering, cause like I said Im a complete ignorant, and rather than suggest Im in your hands.

So briefly...

PACS= turning them to light blue shots, is it possible?
Splash effect of PACS= can it be switched off or tuned like the one in any other weapon (like IRE's?)

HEPTS= can they be reduced to something thinner? like the blue shots in fs2 but gren

IRE's, could be the same but red.. etc..

Shockwave generators.. I dont know but these are the worst.. Id love to change these and be able to use them without lagging to death.

PPCs and FLAKs, I think they are fine.. maybe could be reduced a bit.. but.. well..

soo.. is this all possible or doable?

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Roid reduction is only possible with a new start, increases fps, and we all have fps issues to a certain degree (or so Ive read), anyone who does not want reducing this in exchange for lesser fps?

[Nestan]

Well the Xtended team has already modified weapon effects to improve performance, the Bpac impact effects are a good example. Even on a top end rig in a fight involving lots of pac weapons you could feel the frame-rate drop. The only problem I see with your idea is that if the weapon effects are nurfed too much to accomodate mid-low end rigs then people like me who spend way too much money on their computer would get frustrated. So any graphics or effects altering in Xtended must be done very carefully and the impact on performance must be weighed against the loss in quality. I definately agree with you on the subject of improving performance in X3 I just feel that incorporating it into the base mod of Xtended might not be the best idea. I would however fully support a seperately downloadable false patch that was compatible with Xtended and drastically altered the quality of X3 to yield performance gains for the many people running less than state of the art PC's.

[DarkWrath]

As we've said , is not the complexity of the effects , but the sheer number of bullets. Take a Aegir with 60 AHEPT on. That means 60*283rounds/minute= 17000 bullets to render in a minute!!! Way too much. And this is a single Aegir ... add a dozen fighters , some cap ships , and the number of bullets goes over 50000.

[Nestan]

So what do you think could be done about it then, I have read that the next version of Xtended raises the bullets/sec back to stock ES values so does that mean that the MM6 / M7 ships will have to have the number of turrets reduced or has this issue already been addressed in the upcoming patch ? I never got to try out 0.6a so I dont know what ships like the Aegir will do to fps with default firing rates on my rig, you make it sound scary :P

[DarkWrath]

so does that mean that the MM6 / M7 ships will have to have the number of turrets reduced or has this issue already been addressed in the upcoming patch ?

Sort of , but we are still balancing.

[ezra-r]

Also, reducing weapon effects does not make your supercomputer useless.. try to enter a system with a couple of complicated complexes.. or with nebula, you feel the difference right away.

What Im suggesting is just an approach to try to make the fight the smoothest possible, not for low end computers, for overall. X3 sucks machine in every aspect, cpu, graphics, reducing certain effects will just help smooth part of x3 if possible, not the whole game.

Also think of this, the more you smooth it, the more plugins and stuff you can add it :P

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Btw.. I get much more lag from my M6 shooting 4 APAC, 2 IRES and 2 AHEPT to another M6 in close range than my titan shooting a miriad of pirates in a pirate sector.. So I guess effects do count in many cases.

I get much more frame rate loss from a single Nemesis (Ira Justi) shooting his shockwave generators than the whole number of ships, Xenon J, L's and M's of the Xenon Invasion in the sector filled with stations.

Sorry for my stubborness.. effects do count.. or so I feel it while I play it..

and since we are on it... Is there a text file in the game or someone can point me to where are those things customized in the game?