Section 8 Clan Forums

There has been some recent conversation about what settings can be adjusted to improve game performance for those folks who have older rigs. Thought it would be worth starting a thread here to get the creative juices flowing so folks can share experiences. I'll kick it off by summarizing a couple of recent posts ( and ) which reference third party forums/sites from which the below info was sourced.

Please take note that punkbuster ("pb") can be particular about some of these settings and you may find yourself kicked or prohibited from a server for making some of these adjustments.

Diagnostics
\seta cg_drawfps 1 (default = 0) [shows realtime fps]
\cg_drawlagometer 1 (default = 0) [diplays network performance graphs in the bottom right corner]

Boosting FPS
\cg_fov 80 (default = 65) [if you have fps to spare]
\seta sm_enable 0 [remove some shadows]
\seta com_maxfps 0 [unlocks fps, some say limiting fps to 125, 250 or 333 is optimal]
\seta cg_brass 0 [gun does not eject shells]
\seta r_drawdecals 0 [remove rubbish from the ground]
\seta r_drawsun 0 [lightning tweak]
\seta r_drawwater 0 [disables water animation]
\seta r_normal 0 [flatter textures]
\r_multigpu 1
\r_cachemodellighting 1
\r_cacheSmodellighting 1
\r_aaAlpha 0 [remove the anti-aliasing / smudge effects]
\r_texfiltermipmode 2 [turns it to bilinear filtering; best fps]
\r_rendererPreference 0 [uses Shader Model 2.0]
\seta r_specular 0 [removes the glossyness]
\seta r_lodscalerigid 4 (range 1-4, default = 1) [reduces bushes and textures] (level of ugliness: light)
\seta r_r_lodscaleskinned 4 (range 1-4, default =1) [lowers player and object detail] (level of ugliness: high)
\r_picmip 3 (range 1-3, default =1) [lowers texture detail] (level of ugliness: moderate)
\seta r_picmip_manual 1 [must be 1 to enable the other picmips]

Network adjustments
\rate 25000
\cl_packetdup 1 (range 0-5) [duplicates packets send between player and server, players with a good connection (no packet loss) should use 0, the higher your ping the higher the recommended value (ping:suggested value -- <20:0, 20-40:1, 40-60:2, 60-80:3, 80-100:4, >100:5)]
\cl_maxpackets 100 (default = 30) [helps with bad hit registration; if your fps is set to 125 you should set maxpackets to 100]
\snaps 30 (default = 20) [determines server how many times to update positions of players, bullets etc per second; movement will look smother and hits register better]

Curious to hear about any experiences...

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Vagisil. Use only as directed.

Thanks for putting this thread up.

Hopefully, others will come along and share their experience (and potentially their configs) as well.

I'm basically running the config you posted here, with a few tweaks. I turned the blood back on and "tuned down" some of the things that make the quality a lot more "ugly". It really isn't necessary (not on my rig anyways) and seems to cause no additional taxation on my gpu. I really don't notice a frame rate difference either on or of in regards to the blood. The "drawdecals" being turned to 0 cleans up a bunch of the debris, but that's another one of those "ugly" factors as the debris is part of the experience, imo.

Setting my packetdup up to 5 has definitely stopped a lot of the lag spike issues I was having. Not all, but most, and it has minimized the larger spikes, making them not so bad as they were. It's one I would definitely recommend for players with higher ping, even if it's only 80 or right in that range.

The settings you have listed are essentially a bottom line type of experience and when set in such a way don't tax my gpu at all. Not even as much as I would like...so, it's the reason I've messed with a few of them to bring some of the quality and "prettiness" back. Trying to find a nice balance.

However, even with these settings, my fps remains basically the same (mid 30s to 50 or so). I just cannot seem to get them any higher for any decent amount of time consistently, unless I'm inside buildings or staring at a wall, and then of course they jump into the 100s range. I've all but given up on it really and am, like I said, just seeking a balance between quality and efficiency at this point in time. (but oh how I wish I could jump around like some of you...lol)

...........
In regards to setting a fps of 333: From what I've read I believe that is one of the things pb is particular about and a lot of servers will kick for that. Something to do with the gravity or some such.....(I'm still asleep atm, so articulating that isn't happening)

The rest of these settings, I'm yet to have a problem with being kicked for them....just ftr.

.............
Interested to see if others come along and post some advice. Maybe there are a few that I'm missing that may help with fps.
Will be watching this thread closely.

Thanks again, vag.
Jakal


ETA:......I think that keeping ones field of vision (fov) at around 65 would probably increase frame rate quite a bit. I know after changing mine to 80 I had to alter some other settings to account for the slow down, but the added ability to have more fov is just such an advantage that as long as my fps isn't dropping into choppy territory, I cannot bring myself to change it back. It's made a significant difference in my ability to see enemies in the distance and I've noticed a lot more ability to kill those things in said distance because of it.

Personally, I don't mess around with configs and the like, I just slam the standard graphics options to the lowest possible and lower the resolution slightly too: enemies are bigger then! #flawlesslogic

-[s*8].Bohongles

wow where was this for the past 4 years of me playing with beautiful everything and no usable FPS lol tyty for the post!

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Don't run, you'll only die tired.

It comes in handy, that's for sure.