Maximizing Your FS2 Performance

by: Old Staff (Zarathud) - November 21, 1999 for Freespace Watch

FreeSpace 2 is a beautiful, eye-dropping game at any detail setting and should run smoothly on the minimum system requirements. However, not everyone may understand enough about the game to maximize their FreeSpace 2 performance. I expect that gamers new to FreeSpace 2 might find the following technical information helpful, and even fans from the original haven't seen all this information about the game's performance all in one location. My thanks to Dave Baranec, FreeSpace 2's lead programmer, for having answered all these questions before in various places.

With that said, let's get right to the details and tips on how to maximize your FreeSpace 2 performance.

1. System Specifications

FreeSpace requires a 3D accelerator that supports either a Glide or D3D API. A high-speed 3D card and extra RAM will take the strain off your processor and will result in better performance. The debate between the Glide and Direct3D APIs should no longer be such a major issue (for those who have not used these FreeSpace Direct3D registry tweaks), as FreeSpace 2 supports Direct3D at the same level as Glide. Quite a few bugs in Direct3D have been fixed from the original FreeSpace.

To achieve maximum performance, the fillrate speed of your 3d video card will be important for the nebula effect. A Voodoo 1 will work well, but a Voodoo 3, TNT2 or G400 will be preferable for the most smooth framerate which results from their high fillrate speed.

If you're looking to upgrade your 3d card with FreeSpace in mind, keep in mind the following critical requirements:

• Direct3D or Glide API compatibility (your choice)
• Speed of fillrate
• Recent generation 3D chipset for 1024x724 mode

The next important factor for frame rates is "definitely memory." One of the biggest sources of "lag" reports is hard drive swapping, where Windows uses much slower virtual memory on the hard drive to substitute for RAM. There are several ways to reduce hard drive swapping, but the best solution is to have 64 MB or more of RAM installed.

Compared to the above, the CPU speed "isn't too much of an issue" if you have a decent video card (Voodoo 1 and later). The original FreeSpace engine often ran at much lower than the system minimum requirements, so I wasn't surprised when one demo beta tester reported satisfactory performance on a Pentium 166MHz and a Voodoo 2. However, there are various levels of detail and features you can de-select in order to improve performance (all while still looking very good).

2. Screen Resolution

FreeSpace 2 supports a larger screen resolution of 1024x724, in addition to the standard 640x480 resolution. However, a single Voodoo 2 won't be able to handle this higher resolution. You'll need two connected in SLI mode or one of the most recent generation 3D chipsets (TNT2, Voodoo3, G400, Rage 128 or later) in order to choose the 1024x724 mode. A resolution of 800x600 is not supported, because this would require a third set of interface art and animations. Either you have a high-end system or you don't, end of story.

Of course, even the best video card won't do any good if you fail to install the high-resolution art required for 1024x724 resolution. Make sure you choose this option when installing FreeSpace 2, and look for the file "sparky_hi_fs2.vp" in the directory you've installed FreeSpace. You'll need an extra 252 MB on your hard drive, but the additional detail is definitely worth every last byte. The HUD scales back so that you can see even more of the jaw-dropping visuals that FreeSpace 2 does so well.

FreeSpace 2 also supports both 32 bit and 16 bit color. Among the changes to the graphic engine is a revamp of the bitmap and texture manager so that everything internally is in 16 bits, but video cards with 32 bit color support will have much nicer alpha blending in the nebula effect. The nebula effect is simply stunning in 32 bit color, demonstrating to me that 32 bit color does make a noticeable difference on my TNT2.

3. CD-ROM

Since FreeSpace 2 covers three CDs, you'll be using your CD-ROM drive quite heavily as the game loads. If you don't have the hard drive space to install the full 1 GB of FreeSpace 2, you'll use that CD-ROM drive even more frequently. This requires your CD-ROM performance to be optimized, otherwise you may experience some difficulties loading animations and cutscenes in FreeSpace 2. The solution to this problem is rather simple, but easily overlooked.

Go to your System Properties (either through the Control Panel or by right-clicking on My Computer). Click on the Performance tab. Look on the bottom in the Advanced Settings area and select the File System button. Now select the tab for your CD-ROM. Now make sure that your supplemental cache size is set to the largest possible (all the way to the right). While you're here, check that you have optimized access pattern for Quad-speed and higher CD-ROM drives.

Without these settings, your computer will not manage CD-ROM data access efficiently -- resulting in problems while the CD-ROM loads, even if you have an incredibly fast drive. Take my word for it, a SCSI-3 Ultra 40x CD-ROM will have difficulties if you don't have a full supplemental cache for your system.

4. Virtual Memory

The more daring will wish to adjust their virtual memory settings. This trick is something I learned a long time ago playing Unreal (an expecially system-demanding game), but it's not something which should be entered into lightly. Any problems you cause with your system is on your own head -- so tread carefully and be very careful you understand the consequences before you do anything.

One possible cause of delays and apparent hiccups during gameplay is the virtual memory resizing itself as more (or less) hard drive space is required for the additional memory Windows creates on your hard drive (virtual memory). The constant resizing of the virtual memory causes something called "thrashing," which can delay your games because of the constant change in the size of virtual memory required. Often, gamers will find that setting your own virtual memory settings for memory-intensive games will be more efficient than letting Windows manage it for you.

On my system at home, I have set aside a 500 MB minimum and maximum space for virtual memory on my primary hard drive. The size of the virtual memory no longer changes, because any reading or writing to the virtual memory is now in the same amount of dedicated space -- any free space will sit unused until the program requires that it be filled again. Windows and the hard drive no longer has to spend valuable clock-cycles increasing and decreasing the size of the virtual memory, thus reducing the thrashing. I have found the result to be a more consistent performance in games.

5. Game Settings

There is always a trade-off between graphics and performance in computer games. Higher resolutions, more detail and additional features will result in an impact on your performance, even if it is unnoticable. FreeSpace 2 is no different. If you're having difficulty with FreeSpace 2's performance, be certain to use the Setup Option in the FreeSpace 2 Launcher to auto-detect the default detail level. Even at "low" detail settings, FreeSpace 2 is a gorgeous game. However, the first impulse of every gamer is to crank up the visual details. Call it the Spinal Tap Syndrome...everything just seems better when set to 11 instead of 10, even if there is no difference at all. Let reason prevail -- tweak back your game settings a little if you're looking for more performance and you might find yourself a lot happier.

On nebula missions, which really taxes your system, turning the nebula detail to "minimum" has a negligible effect on visual quality but has an incredible effect to reduce system thrashing and improving frame rate. If you're having any difficulties in these nebula missions, you can go a long way towards fixing the problem this way while losing very little of the effect.

Do you know of additional ways to optimize your performance in FreeSpace 2? If so, let me know. If you have technical problems with FreeSpace 2, then contact Interplay's techical support or visit the Interplay FreeSpace 2 support site. They know much more about different systems and special compatability problems than I do. No, really, truthfully. Just ask my mother. :) Believe it or not, technical support has been known to send more helpful replies to problems than I have (bascially because that's what they get paid to do).