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Choppy Game Play PLEASE HELP!!Follow

#1 Jan 16 2004 at 8:53 AM Rating: Decent
I brand new to the forums and fairly new at FFXI. I recently made a minor upgrade to my old rig. Nothing out of this world, but I defenitely thought I was going to get better game play out of the upgrade.

"My Computer Specs"

1.33ghz Anthlon "Tbird" 266fbs clock multi 10 /feq at 133
512/ PC133 ram
9600 Radeon SE ASUS brand
30g 7200 rpm IBM hd
ASUS AV7133 MotherBoard
Windows 98se


I think this should cover the main components that will decide my performance, moreover I run dual monitors at times so I can supervise my memory with a memory manager. It appears that while playing FFXI it leaks memory. Does any one else experience this? Also how could I got about fixing it?

Back to the main question. I run FFXI at 1024x1024 background and 800x600 for the other display value. As for the options I'm not to keen on what to do with them. I get choppy at times just running outside with only 2 monsters in sight. And don't even get me started about the dreaded AH. I know my MB has good potential to Overclock but wanted to hear some insight in how to tweak the settings or general Windows so I can enjoy playing the game.

Thanks for all your help.

#2 Jan 16 2004 at 9:00 AM Rating: Decent
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511 posts
It could be your internet connection. Do you have dial up or broadband.?
#3 Jan 16 2004 at 9:03 AM Rating: Decent
I have DSL, also forgot to mention I ran the benchmark test off of the PLAYONLINE.com and got 2700 for low and about 1600 for high. Which I thought was rather bad.
#4 Jan 16 2004 at 9:11 AM Rating: Decent
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1,178 posts
Ok . . this has been brought up in another forrum, and I'll list the URL below, but also tlak here too.

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1074155824884304994&num=14

Your information that FFXI leaks memory is something I have suspected for some time. I play on an IBM t40 thinkpad with a 64 MB ATI Radion 9000 Mobility, and 1 GB of DDR RAM. I run Windows XP Pro with all the recent hotfixes.

I max out my graphical settings, and it is beautiful. After a few hours I start to get a little chunky. Especially places like Tharongi Canyon,when I get Sandstorms, and the AH when a lot of ppl are there.

nothing I cannot deal with, and really only a hassle when I an Chocobo back, and therefore moving pretty quikly. I often have to stop and re-orient myself do to the movement lag.

A reboot allways clears up this intermittent issue.

First suggestion . . and this may/may not be feasable for you.

Get off Windows ninetyhate. It has very poor memory managment, and your memory leak may be less pronounced. Additionally 2000, and XP has a lot of tools inherrent to the OS that will help you troubleshoot.

Monitor your processor. When things get slurky (slow and jerky) check your CPU Utilization. If the FFXI process is up over 75% or so I would start looking into a potential processor upgrade.

If you're on XP you'll also be able to run an application called Perfmon. With this you can log all the memory utilization that the system is using. There are also 3rd party utilities that will do these things, but I am unfamiliar of ones for 98 because of my prefference for the NT/2K/XP Operating system as opposed to the less stable versions (95/98/ME).

If it's not processor related (or even if it is) you might try dumbing down your graphics settings. I know . . I hate running at less then beautiful resolutions as well, but it might help. Try grabbing the latest drivers for your card, or checking with Squenix and seeing which versions they recomend. Some people have complained that newer GForce drivers have issues, and ATI may be the same. With your video card I expect your bottlenack is either the processor, or the OS.

Also try to draw any kind of correlation between how choppy it is VS how long you have been playing. If it get's choppier as time goes by you might look into the leak a little more seriously.

Thanks



Edited, Fri Jan 16 09:13:53 2004 by UberJerry
#5 Jan 16 2004 at 9:37 AM Rating: Decent
I think you may have a point with the OS, some friends state that they have slower rigs than I and same video card and don't have a complaint whatsoever. Yet they are using XP. I'm not to pc literate what would be the best way to guage my CPU usage when it becomes choppy?

Thanks for all the recent and speedy answers. The more the merrier, please leave any feedback concerning my problem. All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, and keep them comin' :-)
#6 Jan 16 2004 at 10:10 AM Rating: Decent
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1,178 posts
Also

Something I did not broach was that your network connection would also be a very significant bottleneck.

Is there the potential that you could pack your box over to one of your friends houses for a test session? Se how it performs on their network.

I have noticed at home that while I am playing, if my wife is downloading some large files, or talking on the phone (we have VoIP) it can get pretty choppy at moments.

If indeed your perfomrance is good at the other locations you might check your phone lines. Try running a brand new line strait to the phone junction box. If you still have bad performance related to your network complain to your ISP.

Hope this helps.



#7 Jan 16 2004 at 10:30 AM Rating: Good
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4,596 posts
Do you have anything running in the background like nortons "real time file" scanning?
____________________________
Nicroll 65 Assassin
Teltorid 52 Druid
Aude Sapere

Oh hell camp me all you want f**kers. I own this site and thus I own you. - Allakhazam
#8 Jan 16 2004 at 10:43 AM Rating: Decent
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1,178 posts
Lord xythex wrote:
Do you have anything running in the background like nortons "real time file" scanning?


I know where this is going. "Turn off your AV and see if that helps . . ."

Indeed this is valid troubleshooting but I STRONGLY recomend that you make sure you don't make this a habit. Especially with Windows 98. If your AV is impacting your game (especially if it's a newer version) then it indicated you need a system upgrade of one sort, or another.

Thanks

Edited, Fri Jan 16 10:46:13 2004 by UberJerry
#9 Jan 16 2004 at 10:44 AM Rating: Decent
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1,178 posts
sorry about the double post

I run my AV at full capabilities as well as a Personal Firewall.

I have tested, and noticed very little if any impact from these 2 pieces of software.

Edited, Fri Jan 16 10:45:23 2004 by UberJerry
#10 Jan 16 2004 at 11:29 AM Rating: Decent
Just by changing my OS you guys think I'll have better game play?
I can get Windows XP fairly easy, is that the ideal OS?
Where exactly do I remove the AA/AF at?
#11 Jan 16 2004 at 11:40 AM Rating: Decent
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1,178 posts
I would hate for you to upgrade/nuke&pave without exploring other options. It would be a significant outlay of time, and possible $$. 3-4 Hours for getting the OS up, and patched. Then another 2-3H for game install/Update.

My personal preference is XP. I moved from 98 to 2K to XP. . . been happy with each move. XP is far more stable, and I have had better gaming experiences on XP. However remember that my experience with 98 is getting to be over 4 years old.

I would first head to a friends house who runs fine, and hook up to their connection. Test your performance. If you are fine then it's probably your DSL line, and you need to look in that direction.

If, however you still have issues I would start looking into the OS, and Hardware platform. I think it grinds down to this. If it's not the connection, in your shoes I would move to XP. Better performance, and more tools at your disposal means that even if you do still have problems it's likely you can troubleshoot them easier.

But I am also quite familiar with OS installations, and troubleshooting. I regularly Nuke&Pave my systems every 6-12 months depending on their behavior.

I hope I have provided some insight

#12 Jan 16 2004 at 11:40 AM Rating: Good
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4,596 posts
Quote:
I know where this is going. "Turn off your AV and see if that helps . . ."

Indeed this is valid troubleshooting but I STRONGLY recomend that you make sure you don't make this a habit. Especially with Windows 98. If your AV is impacting your game (especially if it's a newer version) then it indicated you need a system upgrade of one sort, or another.



I notice that if my system starts virus scanning while im playing the game I will get short lag pulses. My system is:
2.8GHz P4 800Mhz FSB HT
1GB 400Mhz DualDDR Ram
ATI 9500Pro 128MB 8x AGP VPU
MSI 875P Mainboard
2x 7500RPM SATA HDD Striping Raid array.
Win XP Pro SP1

I'm guessing I don't need a system upgrade and I experience a slight lag from my AV :P
____________________________
Nicroll 65 Assassin
Teltorid 52 Druid
Aude Sapere

Oh hell camp me all you want f**kers. I own this site and thus I own you. - Allakhazam
#13 Jan 16 2004 at 11:53 AM Rating: Decent
How do I turn off AA/AF, I hear it makes the game run smoother?
#14 Jan 16 2004 at 11:59 AM Rating: Decent
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1,178 posts
Lord xythex wrote:

I notice that if my system starts virus scanning while im playing the game I will get short lag pulses.

I'm guessing I don't need a system upgrade and I experience a slight lag from my AV :P


lol . . . There is a difference between what you are describing, and what I am saying.

By the statement
Lord xythex wrote:
I notice that if my system starts virus scanning. . .
I am assuming at this point you are talking about a Manual/Scheduled scan. Manual/Scheduled scans go through your system File by File, and examine each one in turn.

If this is going on while you are playing then a performance hit in-game is to be expected. I recommend you avoid running a file by file scan of your system while playing the game.

What I was speaking to is what most AV softwares call "Real Time Scanning", or "Autoprotect". This is scanning that is allways going on in the background, and watches for malicious file activity at all times.

This is the functionality that I was speaking to when I made my recomendations to TaruLove (love the nick btw).

I hope this is clear.
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