In the North lags like crazy

[cloudropis]

the Video Options don't seem to change anything, either with all off or everything at max this map is unplayable after the initial sewer. My pc is old but meets Doom 3's recommended requirements by a long shot (I know TDM takes more power than Doom 3) and Tears of Santa Lucia played fine. How can this be possible?

[zergrush]

Not all maps are as well as optimized as Tears of St Lucia. The reason more complex maps lag on older PCs is due to the lack of multicore support by TDM's engine.

[nbohr1more]

Sorry. This mission has far more AI than St Lucia. Also I think it's a larger map too...

[Mortem Desino]

It would also be helpful to know your Computer's specs, so we know where your performance bottleneck would be.

[grayman]

Not all maps are as well as optimized as Tears of St Lucia. The reason more complex maps lag on older PCs is due to the lack of multicore support by TDM's engine.

 

This map is very optimized, and was beta tested out the wazoo to squeeze out as much lag as possible. But it's a much larger map than SL, and with more AI that are much busier than SL's, so older PCs might have some difficulty.

 

While multicore support would certainly help all maps, it's not really the root cause of lagging; there are many factors.

 

The forum folks have helped a ton of people who started out with the same "so and so mission lags on my computer" problem, and--as MD noted--knowing your specs will help get that discussion started so we can help minimize your performance issues.

[cloudropis]

Yeah, I should've posted the specs in the first place. Sorry.

[zergrush]

This map is very optimized, and was beta tested out the wazoo to squeeze out as much lag as possible. But it's a much larger map than SL, and with more AI that are much busier than SL's, so older PCs might have some difficulty.

 

While multicore support would certainly help all maps, it's not really the root cause of lagging; there are many factors.

 

The forum folks have helped a ton of people who started out with the same "so and so mission lags on my computer" problem, and--as MD noted--knowing your specs will help get that discussion started so we can help minimize your performance issues.

 

I wonder though, aside from multicore support, what else could be done in the long run to boost performance on all maps?

Edited October 12, 2013 by zergrush

[Serpentine]

I wonder though, aside from multicore support, what else could be done in the long run to boost performance on all maps?

Many many things that have to do with the graphics side of the engine.

[nbohr1more]

I can't speak to the CPU because that number is probably the idle clock but the GPU is pretty low on the TDM spectrum.

You could try lowering graphic options, resolution, and setting image_downsize cvars in Darkmod.cfg to boost performance

a little.

 

Id Tech 4 does a lot of things that are inefficient and use either too much CPU and GPU resources. Every engine that's better than it

has had the benefit of updated API and Drivers. This is simply the history of progression in engine tech. For example, if you made a

map like Lords and Legacy in Quake 2, your CPU would be in pain because it was simply more dependent on CPU rendering than

later engines. The Dark Mod could benefit greatly from Deferred lighting or a pre-light pass (similar to the prepass for z-fill), GPU accelerated

mesh transforms, better normal map compression, hardware instancing, and possibly GPU silhouette calculation for shadows (or shadow maps).

 

On the CPU front, much has been done to improve the performance there. The script interface is really the weak spot because scripts are interpreted

at run-time rather than be pre-compiled. This is why missions with lots of AI scripts can bog a system down. Things have improved since

most of the sophisticated AI behavior has been added to the core code leaving fewer places where scripts would be needed. That said, if

anyone converted the script system to use a pre-compile model like Quake 3, it would boost things substantially.

 

Some of the above has already been done in the BFG engine but it's too different from the original Id Tech 4 to easily port in.

 

Also, nothing mentioned above would be easy... So hopefully we'll eventually get more help.

[Bikerdude]

I can't speak to the CPU because that number is probably the idle clock but the GPU is pretty low on the TDM spectrum.

As per nvidia's usual rebadging bollox, the GT 230M is the same as a Geforce 8600gs from 2007 - notebookcheck

 

I/We are going to have to post a sticky/graph (or update the wiki) with how the gamer perfs on 2.0.

[zergrush]

Regarding engine upgrading, I was wondering, it would perhaps be best to create a separate webpage dedicated to Dark Engine, chiefly to document new features and updates that separate it from idtech4, but also to attract potential developers that can help improve it. Is there a github page for the code, or something like it?