[MOD] Improved Combat Frame Rate

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Graxster
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[MOD] Improved Combat Frame Rate

Post by Graxster » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 04:39

Here's a mod for you that tweaks the graphics effects to give you better FPS during combat. I reduced and in some cases removed effects and particle effects. An example would be the little mini-explosions for Fragmentation Bomb Launcher. They're pretty, but not essential to game play. No damage values are changed, just the graphics. I've noticed quite an improvement (no freezing / stuttering in big battles). Check it out and see if it helps you! :)

Enjoy!

-Grax

SPK

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RAR

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

I just found a way to make a huge improvement in frame rate (may not work for Vista users). Go to Start > Run, and type in DxDiag. Click the Sound tab and move the acceleration slider all the way to the left so it says "no acceleration".

I went from having my screen freeze for several seconds in big fights to having no freezing/stuttering at all! I hope it works for you!
Last edited by Graxster on Mon, 10. Nov 08, 23:51, edited 1 time in total.

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corhen
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Post by corhen » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 06:07

sounds great, once i give my new video card a shake down (9800GT oc), ill see if i need it

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Idea
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Post by Idea » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 10:02

Agen you are THE MANNN.BIG TANKS

Scoob
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Post by Scoob » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 14:55

Hi Graxster,

I've modded my own game in a similar way however the BIG combat slowdown for me happens when mulitple Kyons are hitting their targets.

I first tried to replace the Kyon hit effect with a more simple effect in case that was the issue - I used the Mass Driver's. However this made no difference & the Kyon hit effect doesn't appear to be that fancy anyway... Any ideas? For me the Kyons are the main issue, I don't really have much of a problem with the other effects like FBLs etc.

I'll download your update purely out of interest to see what you've changed :)

Cheers,

Scoob.

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Sandalpocalypse
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Post by Sandalpocalypse » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 16:08

Cut the fire rate of Kyons by 50%, Cut the lifetime by 50%, Double the speed, Double the damage.

See if that helps.

honestly though i bet the problem is more the performance hit of fifty bajillion scouts than the actual kyons...heh.
Irrational factors are clearly at work.

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Post by Scoob » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 16:19

Hi Sandalpocalypse,

Yeah, you're probably right - I just didn't really have that much of an FPS hit with Kyons in Reunion.

I've already gone the half-ROF route for PPCs & other cap ship weapons. Thought Kyons were already fast enough being beam weapons (I'm aware of the underlying bullet speed) but I'll give them a check later. Actually in Reunion I doubled the ROF & halfed the Damage of Kyons just to make them 'cooler' lol.

Quick slightly off-topic question...is the acuracy of a 'bullet' based on it's rotation values do you know? I'm rebalancing & wanted to make certain weapons more or less acurate depending on their Anti-cap ship or anti-fighter intent. I.e. low damge but will always hit (fighter = toast) or high damage but will miss a fighter more than likely = dangerous to larger ships.

Cheers,

Scoob.

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Sandalpocalypse
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Post by Sandalpocalypse » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 16:58

as far as I know, accuracy is hard coded.
Irrational factors are clearly at work.

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Post by homerdog » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 17:02

Scoob wrote:Quick slightly off-topic question...is the acuracy of a 'bullet' based on it's rotation values do you know? I'm rebalancing & wanted to make certain weapons more or less acurate depending on their Anti-cap ship or anti-fighter intent. I.e. low damge but will always hit (fighter = toast) or high damage but will miss a fighter more than likely = dangerous to larger ships.
The best way to do that is to mess with bullet speeds. Faster = more likely to hit. Just remember to adjust the bullet lifetime accordingly or the ranges will get screwed up.

I find that all the projectiles in X3 need to have their speed increased, smaller weapons to a greater extent than larger weapons. A nice side effect of speeding up PPC (and reducing its lifetime to keep the range in check) is that there are less projectiles flying around during battle (better FPS).

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Sandalpocalypse
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Post by Sandalpocalypse » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 17:24

The PPC's not really an issue in TC. Gauss cannon might be.
Irrational factors are clearly at work.

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Post by homerdog » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 18:13

Right, I need to get out of the X3:R mindset :lol:

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Post by Scoob » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 18:14

Hi,

Yes, I've always done bullet speed mods in X2, X3:R and now TC however I was more interested in how the individual shots diverge as they fly. If this is indeed hardcoded then there's nothing I can do about it. I'd hoped in was a variable within tBullets I'd be able to change. Ah well, not to worry.

Here's another one for anyone who might know...Fragmentation Bomb Launchers...they'll only ever explode at a set range if they've already missed their intended target. I was considering making them more like conventional flak so they explode actually on contact with the target in the same way as if they miss. Not looked at the file in detail yet myself but thought I'd throw that in there. The good thing about FBLs is that you can effectively change the radius of the Flak burst which has interesting potential :twisted: lol

Cheers,

Scoob.

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Post by homerdog » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 19:32

Scoob wrote:Yes, I've always done bullet speed mods in X2, X3:R and now TC however I was more interested in how the individual shots diverge as they fly. If this is indeed hardcoded then there's nothing I can do about it. I'd hoped in was a variable within tBullets I'd be able to change. Ah well, not to worry.
I know what you mean and I'm pretty sure that's hardcoded. At least I've never figured out how to change it.
Scoob wrote:Here's another one for anyone who might know...Fragmentation Bomb Launchers...they'll only ever explode at a set range if they've already missed their intended target. I was considering making them more like conventional flak so they explode actually on contact with the target in the same way as if they miss. Not looked at the file in detail yet myself but thought I'd throw that in there. The good thing about FBLs is that you can effectively change the radius of the Flak burst which has interesting potential :twisted: lol
I think the flak and FBL should be smart enough to explode in close proximity to enemy ships. I.E. tie the detonation range to the range of the targeted ship.

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Post by Scoob » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 19:55

Hi homerdog,

Yes, if the game could dynamically change the initial bullet duration to the range of the ship that would be perfect...possible via scripting? Hmmm, not sure.

Cheers,

Scoob.

homerdog
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Post by homerdog » Thu, 6. Nov 08, 21:47

Scoob wrote:Yes, if the game could dynamically change the initial bullet duration to the range of the ship that would be perfect...possible via scripting? Hmmm, not sure.
Maybe, but I wouldn't even know where to begin :gruebel:

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Graxster
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Post by Graxster » Fri, 7. Nov 08, 00:36

Scoob wrote:if the game could dynamically change the initial bullet duration to the range of the ship that would be perfect...possible via scripting?
Not to my knowledge, you can't. Listen, if you come up with some modifications to TBullets that helps with FPS, don't hold out on us! :D I certainly didn't delve very deeply into really trying to improve FPS to its maximum potential. There are so many variables that contribute to low frame rate, including fight scripts and mission director files, among other things. What I'd really like to see is a Community Project to optimize all these things for better FPS, and merge them all into a single mod.

-Grax

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Post by aXeL_UK » Sat, 8. Nov 08, 12:14

Scoob,

Accuracy is can be effectively controlled by modifying the hitbox parameters in TBullets. Didn't we speak about this the other day? I massively accelerated all the bullet speeds but the velocity was soo high that the bullet would step past small targets on it's velocity vector so that the hit box was in front of the target and then behind but never making contact so not triggering a hit event.

If you want to make bullets faster and maintain accuracy, you need to increase the length of the hitbox in proportion to the velocity of the shot then it will be fine.

For beam weapons just make the hit box taller and wider assuming you want to increase the probability of impacts on smaller ships or do the opposite to reduce them.

Tested this to death in Reunion. Got sick of my beam converted PBEs missing anything below an M6

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Post by paulms1980 » Sat, 8. Nov 08, 13:37

so this script will not make any weapon uber?
it just changes the effects right?

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Post by Scoob » Sat, 8. Nov 08, 13:50

Hi,

I thought about that however you then get the problem where you (or whatever) are 'hit' by a bullet that blatantly missed. Playing around with the hit box length to ensure fast bullets still hit if the FPS lower than optimal is fine. I don't want to make artificially wide hit boxes though.

Still, it looks like the whole acuracy thing isn't a configurable option via the usual tBullets/tLasers files. Shame.

Graxster: To improve framerates, and in my opinion to make the game better, it's important to increase shot speed while reducing duration to the same degree. This has the effect of individual bullets existing or half the time - gotta save some processing resource that! To compensate for the fact that faster bullets hit far more often I also half the damage they deal to both hull & shields. On top of this I give all shields a slight recharge buff - smaller ones recharging faster. This makes combat far more enjoyable in my opinion and a darn site tougher to take down an M6 in your M4...the guy can actually hit you now!

For larger cap ship weapons I half the fire rate while doubling the shot speed. Agile ships can still dodge for example PPC fire as can larger ships at range however it makes taking on large ships more of a challenge.

In previous X games, and certainly X2 where I first started modding, it was always the weapon hit-effect that caused major slowdown...I did the first analysis & mod for X2 which changed any of the demanding hit-effects to that of the Mass Driver - made a staggering difference. In TC I don't appear to be getting any of the reduced FPS when things are being hit that I've noticed. The only exception being when LOTS of Kyons are firing & hitting...think as suggested previously that that's just the volume of hits going on rather than a particularly demanding hit effect.

I'm still looking into tweaking things, my X3:R with XTM ran like a dream with my various bullet, laser, shield & ship mods. With all the extra weapons offer by TC it's more of a challenge to ensure weapons remain balanced & that all have a use...for example the Phased Repeater Gun doesn't really benefit from having its speed doubled, however halfing it's damaged nerfed it...I went with a ballance of x1.5 speed and x.75 damage that worked nicely - a great anti-fighter weapon vs. M5, M4 and the lighter shielded M3s.

Cheers,

Scoob.

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Graxster
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Post by Graxster » Sat, 8. Nov 08, 18:21

paulms1980 wrote:so this script will not make any weapon uber?
it just changes the effects right?
Yes, it just changes the graphic effects.

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Post by Skinmeister » Mon, 10. Nov 08, 16:13

Last edited by Skinmeister on Sun, 13. Feb 11, 18:43, edited 2 times in total.

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