A Technical Question...

Tim Wakefield

Tim Wakefield

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Hello. I was wondering if anybody knew of a possible way to make my frame rate on my computer while playing this game a little better, preferably of the free or cheap variety. I have an ATI video card (i forget which series, but i believe its 9800) and a decent amount of RAM, but in areas with more than like 10 people my frame rate goes so slow i cant even function properly (see: Crawlers Nest, Valkurm Dunes, any city)

Any real help is sincerely appreciated, and please dont be a jack-off and say "durrr buy a new computer"

Thank you :D
 
Sorry, can't do much. Are you sure its FPS lag or maybe your connection? A 9800 is more than enough to play FFXI, its not a demanding game at all.
Make sure that you don't have anything else running while playing FFXI, no firewalls/spyware checkers ect

Edit: make sure you download the latest ATI Catalyst drivers, or type "Omega drivers" in google
 
Tim, try turning stuff down in config, like effects, turn off weather, and footsteps, and shadows that tends to help, also turn downt he clipping frame, and the number of people you see and such, I did it a while ago with my old vid card.
 
I didnt see anyone recommend this, this is what I did before I got a kickass video card:

1. Turn off Antivirus programs
2. Turn off AntiSpyware programs (I dont use any, but some ppl do)
3. Depending on your level of computer knowledge, you might want to clean unnecessary services out of XP.
4. Turn off ALL unnecessary programs (I.E. WhatPulse, Folding@Home, anything thats not essential. Which is just about all of them.)

And then the weather effects and clipping rate and whatnot in game, like he said.

Oh yeah, and durrrr buy a new computer.
 
All good suggestions above. You should defenitly try to see if your drivers are outdated as mentioned.

Another thing you could try is turning on MIP mapping in the ffxi config from the start menu.

MIP Mapping
 
Format » rebuild.

It's not particularly fast, but it is free and will speed up damn near everything on your computer. Speed increase is (somewhat) exponentially proportionate to how long it's been since your last format.
 
Asplode said:
I didnt see anyone recommend this, this is what I did before I got a kickass video card:

1. Turn off Antivirus programs
2. Turn off AntiSpyware programs (I dont use any, but some ppl do)
3. Depending on your level of computer knowledge, you might want to clean unnecessary services out of XP.
4. Turn off ALL unnecessary programs (I.E. WhatPulse, Folding@Home, anything thats not essential. Which is just about all of them.)

And then the weather effects and clipping rate and whatnot in game, like he said.

Oh yeah, and durrrr buy a new computer.
Click to expand...


This is a good post. Follow that.

Also what do you mean by "decent" ram? I currently have 512 megs and still expierience slow down sometimes. I'd say for gaming and xp 512 minnimum if you want good fps. 1 gig is really nice.
 
This sort of applies to what CmdrFly said. Pop open ur tower and dust out ur video card as much as possible. Dust can slow down ur card's fan, causing it to overheat and slowing ur framrate down or cause u to flat-out crash. Also, getting better air flow in ur tower will help. The cooler ur tower is, the cooler ur cpu will run, and the faster ur comp will go, which also plays a part in framerate.

I should take my own advice, i can see dust bunnies forming at the bottom of my tower. . . /sigh
 
i am in no way an expert on these but i have experienced a similar problem and just one single step solved this completely.

i just went and DL the older version of directx coz FFXI isn't designed with the latest directx version. i cant remember the exact verion of the directx u need but u might wanna give it a try :)
 
What your looking for is a software, an ATI CATALYST driver. Some drivers work better with some games and others don't.

Changing your graphics driver isn't just install and your done, you'll need to remove the current graphics driver or else the two will conflict with one another.

I'd recommend saving your current settings so if anything you can roll back and everything will be the same. When you download the new driver (which is a free service last i looked) make sure you carefully read how to install it properly. There are different versions of the CATALYST driver and you may have to test a few of them out.

Along the bottom of this page you'll find a recommendation and a link to what you're looking for.
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/beginners/win/
 
btw: I have the same Vid card and have no complaints what so ever. The slow downs are hardly noticable to me. On my comp it simply looks like jitter for 1 sec and thats it.
 
FFXI is heavily processor dependent. A good processor with weak-average vid card will outperform a medium processor with amazing video card (just check benchmark scores). Radeon 9800 is great for FFXI, definitly not your bottleneck. I have played between 256 and 1 gig of ram and saw little performance difference in ffxi. However, upgrading my processor made a huge difference. I didn't see post what processor you are currently using.

Also, if your slow down is around other people you might consider lowering the number of visible players on screen or changing some of the ugly races (elvaan) into cuter races (taru/mithra) with the race convertor. This really helps in dynamsis as their is less different .DAT files that must be loaded up at the same time if everyone is the same race.
 
Rones said:
Also, if your slow down is around other people you might consider lowering the number of visible players on screen or changing some of the ugly races (elvaan) into cuter races (taru/mithra) with the race convertor. This really helps in dynamsis as their is less different .DAT files that must be loaded up at the same time if everyone is the same race.
Click to expand...
I didn't think of that for dynamis, I might have to do that. Plus, seeing less elvaans is always a good thing to me.
 
Thanks Guys...alot of good advice. I think it may be a processor problem b/c the computer itself isnt that new and i added most of the hardware myself, but never changed the processor...So one more question...can you change a processor yourself, and whats the price range for myself to get a good processor. Thanks :D
 
processer is dificult to change, you'd probably end up having to replace the motherbord along with it. Doing this would cost you about as much as a new computer.

However, you could probably scavenge some of your aftermarket Hardware, like the video card, and put them into a custom computer to save some money.
 
Are you using cable ? or Dsl?

I have dial up, but dont tell anyone ... /shhh

But i have never bad lag except buy Jueno AH.
mine runs really smooth.
 
Nah i have cable...and 318 mb RAM, and an Intel Celeron processor. My biggest concern is that if i lag a little here and there now while im exping its not a big deal, because the fights are easy. But when im in an area like dynamis in the future and im lagging balls and everyone dies because of me its gonna suck....Regardless thanks for the input.
 
Bajaratt said:
Rones said:
Plus, seeing less elvaans is always a good thing to me.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

I highly disrecommend disabling your Anti-virus at any given time, as it leaves you very vunerable. I'm sure everyone by now has learnt not to trust Windows XP by itself, especially with their security.

If you find FFXI is lagging, I suggest you try reducing the various graphic options on the config thing. Top of the list should be resolution, as this seems to badly affect performance. Next are MIP mapping and bump mapping, which are fairly tough on your old grey box. You'll find that a lot of these options don't actually detract from the graphical quality of the game, while still help enhance performance.
Click to expand...
 
I'm gonna take a shot here and say that the Celeron processor is your problem. It was never made for gaming at all, and not even heavy program use....So....Check out some info on your motherboard and see if you can upgrade soon
 
Yep celeron lacks floating point which games use lots of.

As far as motherboards go if you change the processor you prob end up changing the motherboard, Ram and processor along with your case and power supply depending on what type of power supply you currently use.

Doing research before hand to make sure all parts listed are compatiable with each other will save you lots of headaches. For instance I recently built a comp that I was in a rush to do, bought a BTX motherboard when the computer had a Micro ATX power supply. Ended up buying a new case and power supply as well along with the ram and processor.

So as you can see if your gonna go the new processor route, don't rush into it.
 
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