Splinter Cell Chaos Theory very low FPS

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jai

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Just got the Chip April 2005 edition and installed the SC : CT demo. Just for kicks, I turned up all the options to max, resolution to 1280x1024, Shader model to 3.0 and HDR On. When I run the game, Fraps tells me that the frame rate is a niggardly 16 FPS :huh: , sometimes 25 FPS. Switching HDR off will increase the FPS to about 25 minimum to 35 maximum, but switching 4x AA on will pull it back to around 20 FPS.

Is this OK for my rig? I have a feeling that I am missing out on something. What I have is:

AMD 64 3000+ (S 754)
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
XFX 6600 GT AGP 8x
Hynix 512 x 2 PC3200 RAM
Seagate 80GB SATA HDD
Windows XP
All the latest mobo drivers
71.84 WHQL Official

In comparison, Doom 3 1280x1024 High with 4xAA gives me about 45 FPS and HL 2 1280x1024 High with 4x AA gives me between 50-70 FPS.
 
HDR and all those wonderful effects of SM 3.0 are causing the slow down of the game. The current gen of nvidia cards is probably not capable of handling all of this. Try switching to SM 1.1 thru console if there is such an option and blame Nvidia for making a paper-only SM 3.0 card :P
 
Like Blade_runner said Nvidia cards are only Paper SM 3.0 products turn off HDR lightning. Also that game requires atleast a X800XL or a 6800 GT to play with AA and AF on. All said it plays a lot better then my 9800 pro which struggles on 1024 also on a similar rig.
 
@Blade_Runner, yes that game has an option to switch from SM 3.0 to SM 1.1. I will try that and see if there is any difference in the frame rates.

But FarCry 1.3 also uses SM 3.0 and works pretty good, FPS always > 30 even during intensive combat and the super-shader intensive Volcano level. That is with 4x AA on. Removing AA increases the FPS to about 40-42 steady. Of course, switching on HDR makes my 6600GT struggle a bit.

Maybe it is the Unreal 3 engine that is not implementing SM 3.0 so well.
 
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dude atelast splinter call pandora tomoroow atleast @ 1024*768 with out aa anda af radeon 9800pro is better than 6600gt with 900mhz memory

refer to xbitlabs.com
 
@hardboy, please note that we are talking about Chaos Theory here, not Pandora Tomorrow. My rigs does Pandora Tomorrow at 1280x1024 with 45 FPS minimum. Cant check with AA since the game does not support it. How does your rig do Chaos Theory? That is more important here.

BTW, my XFX has 1000MHz memory and we are not discussing whether 9800 is better than 6600. That has been done to death everywhere. Anyway, Aces170 said (just three posts above):

All said it plays a lot better then my 9800 pro which struggles on 1024 also on a similar rig.
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Maybe it is the Unreal 3 engine that is not implementing SM 3.0 so well.
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Huh, is Chaos theory based on Unreal 3 engine, and no its not the engine but the hardware that lacks the punch. Maybe the next genration G70 and R520 will display playable SM 3.0 enhancements like HDR lightning etc
 
Aces170 said:
Huh, is Chaos theory based on Unreal 3 engine
Click to expand...

I guess not, my bad. It seems to be just an updated version of the engine used by Pandora Tomorrow, which *I think* is Unreal 2. Sometimes I get an error message which goes something like LoadData<-Unreal::BeginLoop<-Unreal::Tick or similar. That is an Unreal 2 engine error, since I used to get the same type of message in Unreal 2.
 
None of the features introduced with the SM3.0 path - HDR lighting, soft shadows and parallax mapping - cannot be performed in SM2.0, let alone SM2.0b. Instead, ATi users - even on the top-of-the-range X850XT - are left with a game that is essentially running on three-year-old technology with SM1.1. Secondly, while the NV40 is in every regard a very competant card, it's not actually that good at running SM3.0 shaders; it has actually been known to choke on more complex shaders, especially when dynamic branching is used. This is very apparent on the SM3.0 Splinter Cell path, since performance is supposed to be pretty mediocre for a game that by most accounts is great looking, but not spectacular.
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k tht explains why even a 6800gt will fail to produce good results whn using SM3.0

so thr no reason to freak out cuz eithr SM3.0 isnt really developed or nvidia r :tongue:
 
Chaos Theory is unreal warfare only I think, just a newer build. Not sure.

Splinter Cell games always favour graphics over performance, all of them perform equally bad.
lol I noticed a performance gain of 10fps between my 8500 and 9800 pro in pandora tomorrow, only difference was with the 9800 pro I could apply some aa.

Also if you chose to use ps1.1 in ct, you will get some ugly texture banding.
 
what ? your enabling HDR ( high definition ranging ? ) . thats a bit too much for your card and that too in max. resolution . turn down some options ( reduce the resolution and image quality maybe ) . Splinter cell - chaos theory is too much for 6600GT i tell you .
 
Also if you chose to use ps1.1 in ct, you will get some ugly texture banding.
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Thats a software issue, might need a patching. I havent seen one though care to post a screenshot as I am not clear what you are saying ?
 
Aces170 said:
Thats a software issue, might need a patching. I havent seen one though care to post a screenshot as I am not clear what you are saying ?
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i didnt get any ugly texture banding on my 6600 ( ps 1.1 ) .
 
Right, I am now running the game on SM 1.1 and the FPS jumped from 15-20 to 25-30, without AA. No banding of any kind seems to be visible. Take a look at the two images below. The first one is SM 1.1 and the second one is SM 3.0 with no AA/AF in either case. The FPS difference is obvious. I have scaled the images down from 1280x1024 to a much smaller size.

Edit: Oops, the images seem to ahve switched around.

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@saumil, if you are talking about the image in the Beyond3D forums, yes that seems to have heavy banding. I am not seeing anything like that here. Maybe that appeared since the game was still in development at that time. Must have improved it before final release.
 
It's present in the final version as well and looks uglier than ever.
Can't find links to the screenshots I saw showing the banding at it's worst.
 
Must be ATI specific, since I am seeing no banding whatsoever. The screenies I posted speak for themselves. I can post more screenies taken in different areas, if anybody wants, just to show the absence of this "banding".

Any nVidia guys around here getting banding in this game with SM 1.1? How about the ATI crowd?
 
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