DOOM 3 Tweak

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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May 18, 1997
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If you own a newer NVIDIA card and are running the 61.77 drivers, this might give you a little speed bump depending on your resolution an other settings.

r_useDepthBoundsTest 1

Let me know how it works for you by posting your feedback here. I am unsure what impact it will have on ATI or if it is supported. I think this does a bit better job at culling pixels you never see.
 
Thanks for the information Kyle - it resulted in a 5.4 frames per second gain on my system (system in sig). My timedemo went from 40.1 frames to 45.5 frames. I'm running 1280 x 1024 High Quality with 2x aa and 8x af. Thanks for the great tip Kyle!

PS After a great tip from Xrave about running the timedemo a couple of times to smooth out the cacheing, my average frame rate is 49.4fps when running the standard timedemo benchmark.
 
Thanks for the tweak info, I am going to try this when I get home. I had 1 question:
(1) Colt45 - are you setting your 2xAA and 8xAF in the nvidia control panel or in the game menu? Does it matter where you set it?
 
I wonder why, if these tweaks are so useful, that iD didn't default them in the first place?
 
Kyle, what about this command that has everyone saying "WOW".

seta image_downSizeLimit "384"

I had mine at defaulted "20" and ever since I changed it to a fraction of my 1GB memory, I've gotten beyond substantial framerate increase. I'm on a 9800Pro.
 
BakedGoods said:
I wonder why, if these tweaks are so useful, that iD didn't default them in the first place?
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most likly old cards can't do it.
 
nice, gonna try it now.

I tried that setschunkmegs thingy yesterday but it didnt do jack.
 
I have my AA set to 2x in the nVidia control panel and in the advanced system settings of doom 3. . .I have AF set to Application Preference in the nVidia control panel. But remember that using High Quality in Doom 3 automatically enables 8x AF.
 
r_useDepthBoundsTest 1
Click to expand...

What exactly does this change?

seta image_downSizeLimit "384"
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and that one?

I ask because knowing what it changes makes it easier to see if there will be a performance impact and why. So far I've only read about the image cacheing tweak
 
From Kyle's post, I think r_useDepthBoundsTest 1 enables an improved form of occlusion culling (removing pixels that you won't actually see on screen). The second tweak has something to do with memory allocation.
 
BakedGoods said:
I wonder why, if these tweaks are so useful, that iD didn't default them in the first place?
Click to expand...
That wouldn't be much fun would it? :p Actually I think they did a phenomenal job making this game work with such a wide range of hardware configs/generations. I will try this when I get home. :cool:
 
r_useDepthBoundsTest 1

-okay, I'm having a brainfart here but where do I put that setting or where would I find it?
 
ozziegn said:
r_useDepthBoundsTest 1

-okay, I'm having a brainfart here but where do I put that setting or where would I find it?
Click to expand...
I'm guessing you type it into the console? :confused:
 
NonBiasedUser said:
Kyle, what about this command that has everyone saying "WOW".

seta image_downSizeLimit "384"

I had mine at defaulted "20" and ever since I changed it to a fraction of my 1GB memory, I've gotten beyond substantial framerate increase. I'm on a 9800Pro.
Click to expand...


Haven't hear of that one yet. The big one I have been hearing about is:

seta image_cacheMegs "32"

Setting it to a higher amount of memory provides a large boost. Depending on how much memory you have, I have heard of people taking all the way up to 512 and still realizing increases.
 
I think the consensus on that one is that bumping up <seta image_cacheMegs "32"> can improve the gameplay smoothness due to area loading pauses (i.e. opening doors, etc.), but make no improvements to overall framerates as shown in timedemos. I will have to try Kyle's tweak once I get home.

-Mali
 
Could somebody please hook me up with a backup of their original DoomConfig.cfg and send it to [email protected]? I edited mine without making a backup and am receiving some not great performance.
 
Shorty said:
Could somebody please hook me up with a backup of their original DoomConfig.cfg and send it to [email protected]? I edited mine without making a backup and am receiving some not great performance.
Click to expand...

Backup your current config before you try this idea. Delete your existing config. Load up Doom 3. It should realize there's no config file and then create a fresh new one for you and all should be golden.
 
do you guys know about the pk4 file tweak? if you don't just say so, i don't feel like typing it out if everyone knows.
 
You can turn down the anisotropic filtering in the .CFG file. I run in high detail on my 6800 GT OC, in 1280x1024. I turned aniso down to 4x and I hardly ever notice a decrease in framerate now, and it still looks amazing. I don't remember the exact command because I'm at work, but it says anisotropic in it.
 
Now for the r_useDepthBoundsTest 1 command, where does this go? I tried throwing it in the console and then running timedemo 1 and am still receiving around 42fps at 1280x1024 8xAF 4xAA. If it goes in DoomConfig.cfg, where is the location?
 
StOCK said:
do you guys know about the pk4 file tweak? if you don't just say so, i don't feel like typing it out if everyone knows.
Click to expand...

I'm not aware.
 
Open up your doom 3 config file. At the bottom, type in:

seta r_useDepthBoundsTest "1"

save the config file and load up doom 3.
 
StOCK said:
do you guys know about the pk4 file tweak? if you don't just say so, i don't feel like typing it out if everyone knows.
Click to expand...

No.

J3RK said:
You can turn down the anisotropic filtering in the .CFG file. I run in high detail on my 6800 GT OC, in 1280x1024. I turned aniso down to 4x and I hardly ever notice a decrease in framerate now, and it still looks amazing. I don't remember the exact command because I'm at work, but it says anisotropic in it.
Click to expand...

Whats the config line called?
 
the depth bounds test is a major portion of the tech that makes up Nvidia's Ultrashadow and Ultrashadow II technologies.
 
Added it to DoomConfig.cfg, ran the timedemo and received the same FPS. Went to check the file and the command was no longer in it.
 
Shorty said:
Added it to DoomConfig.cfg, ran the timedemo and received the same FPS. Went to check the file and the command was no longer in it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that happened to me as well. I finally just made the changes to the config file, then made it read-only :) Problem solved.
 
Because you dont ADD it to the file, you find the option and change the value :)
 
MechWarrior said:
Because you dont ADD it to the file, you find the option and change the value :)
Click to expand...

Except for the fact that the config file does not have that line in it by default. Hence the reason to add that line to the config :)
 
anyone know the exacts of setting aniso to 4x for high quality? 8x seems overkill for me on my 9800pro.

-nm, was pretty self-explanatory.
 
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