Question for FFXI Laptop Vista users... (was forum=28)Follow

I just got a very nice laptop that is acting as both personal and work. It has some great specifications:

NVidia GeForce 8400M GS Video card w/ 256MB VRAM
3 GB RAM
1.83 Ghz dual core Intel Pentium processors
32-bit Windows Vista Home Premium

Those are the relevant specifications. Much to my chagrin (and upon reading various FFXI forums), FFXI runs worse on this than on my previous desktop that had much worse specifications.

Well, the game runs fine if there are no enemies, PCs, or NPCs on the current screen. Soon as more than 3 other of the above are in my sight, the framerate takes a significant dive.

I had tried resolution changes, compression, turn off effects, etc.

Even on the lowest monitor resolution, same problem.

I read a possible solution was to install driver version 175.16 for the GeForce 8 series with a modded INF file. Why Nvidia doesn't update its laptop graphics cards drivers regularly is beyond me, but I digress.

With this driver update, my framerate has improved slightly, but still noticeably worse than my desktop.

It makes no sense why a system of this caliber runs FFXI this badly. I know some solutions have been suggested around the internet, such as running on DirectX 8.0 and not 9.0. I wanted to know of any laptop users w/ Vista have had similar problems, and if you have found a workable solution yet? I really would enjoy playing FFXI on my laptop for lots of reasons that beat the desktop.

I thank you all in advance!

Thats your problem first off. 1.83 is right above what I see as the optimum range for running Vista. I dont install Vista on anything with less then 1.80 Ghz dual core.

Things to check:

Make sure your power settings are turned onto max or for maximum porformance.
Try some different drivers, it seems to be a bit hit and miss with them.
Which version of windower are you running? (legal or illegal)
Are you running other programs besides FFXI?

Your laptop can run Vista just fine. XP is crap once you get Vista running well.
Try different drivers. If that doesnt work we will move on.

Ok here's what i've tried so far.

I tried installing nvidia driver version 175.19 - with more than 10 other NPCs or PCs on screen, FPS would drop in the single digits, sometimes 1 or 2 if a battle was going on.

Then I tried 175.16 - saw very little, if any, improvement.

Then I installed 169.17 - FPS seems a little bit better, but still a huge decrease when there are multiple NPCs or PCs on the screen. Roaming in large zones is fine though - the computer can handle 3 or 4 monsters no the screen with little drop in FPS.

Is there another driver version I should try? Where else can I go from here?

Also, I have turned bump mapping off.

OK, this problem as of now (and I will further confirm once maintenance is finished) is solved.

NVidia just released a few days ago a new driver for the GeForce 8* series. Version 177.79 for Vista 32 bit. I installed the driver this morning 2 hours before maintenance.

To test it out, I went to Aht Urghan, and stood by the mog house getting only the lag-related framerate reduction I usually get on my desktop.

Not to mention, I needed some Ancient Beastcoins and someone shouted a good price. Now I get to get my Boxer's Mantle when maintenance is over.

For those who are having similar problems, I highly recommend trying this driver out. I got it from www.laptopvideo2go.com and used the modded INF file so it would install on my Laptop.

Edited, Aug 4th 2008 7:33pm by zelljrc

My machine at the house has performed flawlessly on Vista. I have had a smoother run with Vista so far with XP. XP is nice if your system isnt half way decent, but on a high end machine Vista runs just fine or better then XP.

Yeah but if your computer is good enough it doesnt matter as the amount of resources is more then what both needs.

Also most people around here only run MMOs or other non graphic intensive games. So its unless im playing something brand new crank all the way out you may never notice.

I'm on a desktop but you can run Vista on 1.80GHz is just fine. Hell, you can run Crysis (with most settings at medium) at a decent clip. Vista doesn't require anything special from processors or GPUs (problem is really when you don't have a GPU...), the operating systems stumble is memory. At least on a desktop I'm pretty sure you can go lower than 1.80GHz without a noticeable issues within Vista.

Both Balanced and High Performance allow for 5% to 100% processor usage by default. The most important change between these two profiles is the that the computer is not set to sleep automatically at any time under High Performance. I'd suggest investing about thirty seconds and customizing your power profile to your liking, though power setting profiles don't effect performance either way in most cases (search and indexing might though).

Maybe once or twice. XD

My system:
Vista HP x64
E2160 @ 1.8GHz
2x2GB DDR2-800
7900GS

My point was you could possibly go lower. Not that anyone would ever want to, or that it's important in any way, but - possibly!

So... I downclocked to 1.20GHz and played level 2 (2 or 3, still in jungles) of Crysis (Med. Settings + 1024x768... small monitor ; ;) for kicks. It was smooth except when I blew up one of the little houses made of tin sheets and they collapsed, that would cause stutter. A few too many enemies on screen would, too. Under those settings its generally smooth at 1.80 though.

Just out of my own curiosity, what hardware? I've heard of issues resuming from sleep but never bricking caused by sleep. :O