CS:Source FPS problems? Check this out...

[rayraymo]

Some useful FPS information

MAX POSSIBLE FPS, (CPU DEPENDEDNT)

If you want to see what your max FPS will be try this- Turn all the graphics down to the worst they can be, (So the graphics card isn't really being used much) this will be your max fps (aprox) no matter what graphics card you have.

If this amount of FPS isn't high enough for you then get a new CPU.

TWEAKS


IMPROVE FPS- CONFIGS

There are a number of configs bouncing around, I would advise that you firstly just try turning all the settings down in the SOURCE options menu and check your FPS then. Otherwise try this-
http://forums.caleague.com/showthread.php?t=549 **
http://prejudice.mantissaoperations...tent/view/25/1/


DIRECT X LEVEL INGAME
You may find that setting this value lower than what your card can actually support to yield a performance increase. For example, a DirectX 9 card may run significantly faster in DirectX 8. Below is the recommended usage:

-dxlevel 90 for DirectX 9
-dxlevel 81 for DirectX 8.1
-dxlevel 80 for DirectX 8
-dxlevel 70 for DirectX 7

Add to your launch properties by 'right-clicking Counter-Strike: Source in Steam's My Games menu, clicking Properties, then Launch Options.'


DRIVERS
Below are some generally recommended 3rd-party drivers for your brand of card. One thing to keep in mind:
ATI Recommended Drivers:

OmegaDrivers
DNA-Drivers

nVidia Recommended Drivers:

DNA-Drivers
NGO Drivers

When removing previous driver installations, it's very important to make sure all files and registry entries have been removed before installing your new driver. Following these directions should help ensure your old drivers are properly uninstalled and new ones installed:

Download, install, and update Driver Cleaner
Download new driver
Uninstall previous driver via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel
Reboot in Safe Mode (F8)
Run Driver Cleaner
Reboot
Install new driver


COLOUR CORRECTION
Turn this off, will increase your viewing distance and up your FPS by about 15%, (Here)

To enable it do the following:

Video options-->Advanced-->Color Correction Enabled.
Start a game and set sv_cheats "1".
Type "colorcorrectionui" into the console.


HDR
Yes it looks pretty, but it will hammer your graphics card and make game play harder.


FREE UP YOUR CPU
As steam is very CPU demanding, you need to make sure it has all the CPU power possible. There are a number of things you should look at if your having FPS issues-

1. The amount of programs running! If you have 500 programs running in the background then this will effect in game profromance. Also make sure you don't have lots of needless programs running at start up, (Clean Booting).

2. Using a 'dual core'/'HT' CPU? The SOURCE engine isn't multi threaded and so will use only 1 CPU. You need to set up your computer so it only uses 1 affinitie, (Guide here)

DEFRAG YOUR HARD DRIVE
For obvious reasons this may 'speed' up the game for you but I doubt you'll see a massive difference in pure FPS. It should how ever reduce loading times.


FINALLY ------------------------------------------------------------------------


MINIUM SPECS FOR THE GAME

The official box specs for HL2 say
'Official Half-Life 2 Box minimum specs:

* Processor: 1.2 GHz Processor
* OS: Windows, 2000/XP/Me/98
* Graphic card: DirectX 7 level graphics card
* Hard Drive: 4.5 GB
* Memory: 256 MB RAM
* Other: Internet Connection, DVD-ROM Drive. '

This isn't really enough to play SOURCE as its much more demanding and being updated with new features all the time, (HDR etc). Also DX7 isn't the best idea and is banned from CAL! You need to be looking more on the lines of the following for decent game play-

* Processor: 2.5 GHz Processor
* OS: Windows, 2000/XP
* Graphic card: DirectX 8 level graphics card 256mb, 6600GT
* Hard Drive: 10 GB
* Memory: 512 MB RAM
* Other: Internet Connection, DVD-ROM Drive.

[rayraymo]

YOUR FPS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED? COMPAIRE YOUR COMPUTER TO ONE BELOW

The computers below have all come from leading hardware websites and are there to give you an 'IDEA' of how your system should run.

If your computer runs near the same FPS as the ones below then don't post and don't waste people time, if the results are very different for very similar hardware post and someone will help you out. - This will be continually updated.


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PROCESSORS
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Standardized graphics cards- ATI RADEON X800 XT PE
PENTIUM P4

Pentium 4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition
Pentium 4 560 3.6GHz
Pentium 4 3.4C
Pentium 4 3.2C

AMD ATHLON

Athlon 64 FX-53
Athlon 64 3800+
Athlon 64 3400+
Athlon XP 3200+
- MORE TO COME

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAPHICS CARDS
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http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...hreadid=260730

[rayraymo]

OTHER SOURCE FPS LINKS

http://whisper.ausgamers.com/wiki/in...p/Fps_problems
- very good in depth look at FPS improvments

http://forums.caleague.com/showthread.php?t=549
- a couple of tips, most of them I've already put on this thread.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...hreadid=471100
- stickie in the source forum, (TUTORIAL:CS:S for low end users (FPS help))

[streetster]

i always type 'fps_max 100' which seems to boost the fps and give me a much better average frame rate...

[rayraymo]

i always type 'fps_max 100' which seems to boost the fps and give me a much better average frame rate...

That only raises the amount of FPS source will display, it won't increase your FPS per-se but will allow the maximum to be higher. As for an better frame rate that is totally wrong. If you get a massive difference between your higher fps and lower, you would want to set the FPS_MAX to around the middle of that area. So that when you get lower fps, you wont notice it as much and so it wont affect your gameplay.

[unreal]

Thanks, nice post Maybe this should be stickied in the CS:S forum.

[rayraymo]

Thanks, nice post Maybe this should be stickied in the CS:S forum.

Probably not a bad idea. I hope this helps people get Source smoother, and cuts down on the amount of FPS problems people have these days.

[streetster]

That only raises the amount of FPS source will display, it won't increase your FPS per-se but will allow the maximum to be higher. As for an better frame rate that is totally wrong. If you get a massive difference between your higher fps and lower, you would want to set the FPS_MAX to around the middle of that area. So that when you get lower fps, you wont notice it as much and so it wont affect your gameplay.

hmm thats kinda what i meant, in that I could set it to (for example) 300, and in places i might get 300 fps, but then most of the time i'll be getting between 70-150... therefore setting the limit at 100 means that there arent any wasted cycles giving me 300fps, and the whole experience is smoother

[rayraymo]

well you could have said lol

[streetster]

yeah but i thought i implied it with 'better average framerate' but nevermind