How far we've come (FPS) 2.03->2.08->2.09Alpha

[AluminumHaste]

I was playing around with older version of TDM to try and compare performance and it's such a drastic improvement that I had to share.

On v2.03

 

On TDM 2.08 that just released

 

 

On Cab's 2.09 Alpha branch

 

Both have as close to the same settings as possible.

Well done everyone. Amazing work.

[Springheel]

Wow, those stones got shiny somewhere along the way.

[AluminumHaste]

They're supposed to be shiny and wet according to the spec map anyways.

[HMart]

The performance improvements are very impressive, you guys are doing a fantastic job but I most say that personally, I like the 2.03 version look the most, less shiny more brighter. Could it be the SSAO doing that, or the team changed how the ambient lighting works?

[AluminumHaste]

Yeah that was the old ambient method which was based off  texture colour I think, so it was wrong

Also I think I had gamma up too high in 2.03, it was at 1.2, whereas the other 2 were at 1.

 

EDIT: All the new settings are off, SSAO etc.

[HMart]

Ah ok that explains things. 

[AluminumHaste]

Because the ambient method has changed (for the better, it's way more accurate now), they will look different. Here is the 2.09 version with Gamma at 1.2 like the first screenshot

 

[Goldwell]

The huge jump in FPS is amazing!

[Cambridge Spy]

I know I'm going off-topic, but since you're talking about 2.03, can I please have a look at the ambience soundshader files from 2.03 so I can compare them to those from 2.08?

[chakkman]

I wished 2.08 had such a dramatic impact here... it's pretty much the same as 2.07.

I also wished I could play without VSync activated. But, there's a lot of screen tearing when I do.

[cabalistic]

2.08 contains a lot of the technical prep work that makes the improvements in 2.09 possible in the first place

Also, the improvements in 2.09 require scenes that are CPU bound. If they aren't you won't see much of an impact.

[chakkman]

You mean there is stuff which rather depends on the GPU?

I always was under the impression that more or less everything in TDM is CPU bound... at least I read several times here that it literally doesn't matter which graphics card you have, as most of the heavy calculation is done on the CPU. I'm probably wrong. I don't know anything about it, apart from the things I read. 

What I do notice is that I never had significant improvements in terms of performance throughout the TDM versions. There might have been a slight improvements in 2.07, but, nothing really groundbreaking. All totoally unscientific, just based on the lags I got in the missions.

My system: 

Intel Xeon E3-1230 v3
Geforce GTX 1060 6 GB
16 GB 1600 MHz Ram

It's not the most performant, so, I definitely see a lot of frame drops. I have TDM's settings on about medium.

[cabalistic]

Have you enabled multi-core enhancements in the options? That's the one option that would give you the most immediate jump in performance compared to older versions. But that is a 2.06 feature, so if you've had it enabled from the start, there were no other major improvements from 2.06 to 2.08.

But yes, the GPU does matter, particularly if you enable features like soft shadows.

[chakkman]

Yep, I enabled the multicore option.

Anyway, I don't want to claim false things. It's just that I really didn't notice anything up to 100% better performance, as has been stated here. The training mission (especially jump and climb section and the archery section) has always been laggy, and I didn't notice much of a improvement there throughout the versions. I didn't really measure anything though.

It's a bit difficult to say anyway. As far as I know, the soft shadows added a significant performance drop, so, anything which improved it could be equalized.

[Goldwell]

3 hours ago, chakkman said:

I wished 2.08 had such a dramatic impact here... it's pretty much the same as 2.07.

I also wished I could play without VSync activated. But, there's a lot of screen tearing when I do.

I've found better performance when using Nvidia's vsync instead of TDM's built in one. It's a setting found in the Nvidia Control Panel. Firstly make sure vsync is turned off in the dark mod and then just open up the nvidia control panel and then go to:

3D Settings - > Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings -> [select your TDM exe]

 

It's the second last option from the bottom. Just turn that to "on" and you should notice a smooth and screen-tear-free version of TDM.

[AluminumHaste]

Anyone with less than optimal specs should probably run with VSync off or use Freesync/Gsync if available.

2 hours ago, chakkman said:

My system: 

Intel Xeon E3-1230 v3
Geforce GTX 1060 6 GB
16 GB 1600 MHz Ram

It's not the most performant, so, I definitely see a lot of frame drops. I have TDM's settings on about medium.

What is your motherboard? (HWinfo64 if you don't know).

Is there a reason you're running an ancient Xeon processor? Is this an old server that you repurposed to game on?

[lowenz]

4 hours ago, chakkman said:

I wished 2.08 had such a dramatic impact here... it's pretty much the same as 2.07.

I also wished I could play without VSync activated. But, there's a lot of screen tearing when I do.

Force (openGL) Triple Buffering via drivers  (it works for Radeon and GeForce too).

Create a dedicated profile for TDM and enable the option!

Edited July 5, 2020 by lowenz

[chakkman]

54 minutes ago, AluminumHaste said:

Is there a reason you're running an ancient Xeon processor? Is this an old server that you repurposed to game on?

Nope. It used to be a good value for money processor, which was actually recommended for some low/mid tier gaming PC's. My mainboard is a ASUS Z87-K. it's a pretty old computer (2013 I think, I bought it in early 2014... I built in the graphics card and memory 3 years ago or so).

I will try the Nvidia sync option, thanks for the tip.. 

Edited July 5, 2020 by chakkman

[Filizitas]

I ask myself how well this would run on my 249 Euro Laptop from 2019 
I will try

[AluminumHaste]

You're definitely being held back by that CPU, your Motherboard supports up to Devil's Canyon 4790k.

I have a 4770K in my other computer overclocked to 4Ghz all 4 cores, with an EVGA 980ti, which clocks to over 1500Mhz. You're 1060 isn't that far behind, maybe 20% slower.

On that computer, I get 133 FPS in the same scene.

While the Xeon and the 47xx series are similar, the Xeon is not overclockable. Only K series processors have an unlocked multiplier.

[chakkman]

Yeah, I'm planning on getting a new computer next year, it's pretty slow now.

Would it be a good idea to use FXAA in the Nvidia driver instead of TDM's anti-aliasing? Any performance to be improved that way?

[AluminumHaste]

Oh god yes. AA in game basically cust your FPS in half. I don't think FXAA works in OpenGL though.

For you, turn off AA, Bloom, Soft Shadows.

[chakkman]

Yeah, I noticed quite an impact when I set the AA from x2 to x4.

I remember someone actually recommended to activate FXAA in TDM in another thread. Should work then?

[AluminumHaste]

I was surprised how quickly I got used to no AA in TDM. Won't hurt trying FXAA, just make sure to set AA in game to 0

[AluminumHaste]

Oh, FXAA is Nvidia only, unless the game implements an FXAA shader.