Tweak UT graphics/sound to the max

[Evil Johnny]

I tried to follow the instructions from the s3tc install site and when I switch from 16 to 32 bits the game crashes and if I go in rendering in the preferences, I don't have the s3tc option... Also, How do you create a batch file? I tried naming a notepad file ut.bat but it doesnt change to a batch file

 

[Evil Johnny]

Ah at last I made it through. Looks sweet but Still got that speed problem, I did the .bat file and shortcut thing but it still does it.

 

[XxDangerxX]

Doing that every time is not necessary. Create a batch-file named like UT.bat into System folder and paste following line into it:

start /wait /affinity 1 UnrealTournament.exe

save the file and start the game with it.

Omg thanks!

So, where did you find that out? Also, while we're at it, is there a command for putting the priority up?

Ah at last I made it through. Looks sweet but Still got that speed problem, I did the .bat file and shortcut thing but it still does it.

You'll have to excuse me for saying this, but I'm not totally convinced, as you said yourself you're not a total newb in terms of computers. Post your shortcut and bat file in a zip file. We'll see if we can find anything.

 

[Evil Johnny]

Here: http://files.filefront.com/UTrar/;11060325;/fileinfo.html

I'll try changing the speed of my processor in the shortcut as it says it's @ 2.16 GHz 2.17 GHz and wrote 2160. Also didn't we need to not link the shortcut to the .exe file but to the .bat one so it can take effect?

 

[Jovi]

Omg thanks!
So, where did you find that out? Also, while we're at it, is there a command for putting the priority up?

Yes, you can change process priority too....

type in dos-prompt command box to get options for start-command: start /?

Goes like this:

start /wait /high /affinity 1 UnrealTournament.exe

Priority options are: low,normal,high,realtime,abovenormal,belownormal

I have only needed these in server environment when not running UT-server as Windows service. Few things you guys might want to check too:

Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Power Options: High Performance

And you might want to select

Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced -> Performance Settings (button) -> Advanced: Processor scheduling; Adjust for best performance of Programs

and check settings for DX9 renderer from this post: http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showpost.php?p=2106221&postcount=274

Im using these settings with 2 small differences:
SwapInterval=0
OneXBlending=True

I would have given link to my full d3d9 renderer settings file, but site does not allow it I guess, it replaces URL with ***** Don't understand how these filefront-links are visible?

If game is too fast it's mostly caused by too high fps-rate, old ut-engine is in trouble if fps gets higher than 200. You can your see fps-rate in game when you tick the Timedemo Statistics on from UT tools menu. I Hope these helps, happy fragging

Edit: And make sure that in online game you do not use netspeed higher than 10000
UT-menus: Options -> Preferences - > Network: Internet Connection, choose Cable, xDSL
or type netspeed 10000 in console before joining online server.

 

[Jovi]

Here: http://files.filefront.com/UTrar/;11060325;/fileinfo.html

I'll try changing the speed of my processor in the shortcut as it says it's @ 2.16 GHz 2.17 GHz and wrote 2160. Also didn't we need to not link the shortcut to the .exe file but to the .bat one so it can take effect?

start /wait /high /affinity 1 UnrealTournament.exe -CPUSPEED=2160

 

[Malevol3nt]

Anyone got an ATI x1650 PCI-Express gfx card? I'd like to see your UT99 settings really.

The game run perfectly fine on this gfx, untill I bought this new 22" LCD monitor, which was to replace my old 16" CRT. At first I thought, it has to be the monitor's fault. Then I tested the monitor at my friends house, and a couple of other guys PC's and the monitor was absolutely brilliant. Yet in ut99 I get input lag, motion blur, framerate goes +2352525 which makes it unplayable in offline or online mode, unless i put vsync on. But when I put vsync on I get motion blur & input lag.

Basically I haven't played UT1 for over 5 months now.. I dunno if I should buy a new gfx, which I probably will anyway, but that will come in a few months only. Funny thing is, every other game runs smooth, I've even tried UT2004 just now on 1680x1050, max graphics, no input lag, no motion blur, framerate constant no dropouts ever. I'm totally confused.

Tried all sorts of drivers, tried all sorts of re-formats, reinstallations etc etc. The drivers I'm using now actually work better then the default ati ones for games (im using ngo's drivers), but UT99 is unnaffected, it still lags..

UT is really giving me some bitchin attitude, don't u think? And I ****in cherrished it all these years! Someone help!

Edit: Btw, I'm just about to try out DX9. Seems like it came out just when I stoped playing.. *keeps fingers crossed*

Edit2: So I've tried DX9, the problem is the same. When I turn vsync on I get alot of input lag. For example I move my mouse but it really feels sloppy. Direct Input on or off its the same. On the good side, when vsync is off, I don't experience 'tearing' like i used to with the opengl/d3d8 renderer. I think the game might be playable. It's constantly at around 200 fps.

Edit 3: I think I'm finally up to something. It seems my gfx has problems using vsync. And not just with UT, with any other game aswell. Every game that I've tried with vsync=on resulted in input lag. I'll have to power up my old CRT monitor again to see if the gfx has vsync problems there. I know LCD's and CRT's are different technologies, but could that be the reason that vsync is creating all that lag? I'm about to test my CRT again, I have to get to the bottom of this.[/PHP]

Edit 4: Oh my GOD, this was like on of the worst 5 minutes of my life ever experienced. I turned on the CRT, I plug it into the pc, I look at the desktop picture. Man, I first had to look away for a few secs and then just blink to it. After 2 mins I started having a massive headache, I felt dizzy, I almost fu**in fainted. I can't believe what an eye/brain killer that CRT is. And to think I've used it all these years :x. No wonder I was so antiproductive.

Aside from that, I got one good news. It actually is the gfx. Vsync seems to slow down & make input lag on the CRT aswell, however I didn't realize the effect of it before as it's a much smaller screen + I got used to that CRT back then.

 

[Derdak2rot]

hum , i played UT for years on a 1650pro and a LCD 20' , never got problems with it , even online .. i assume you must tweak your UT.ini depending on the renderer youre using ? be sure to tweak stuff in your ini like max framerate=200 , vsync=off ect , not by the driver

 

[GreatEmerald]

"System and Maintenance"? What kind of a system are you using?

 

[XxDangerxX]

Affinity command doesn't work. I run it and nothing happens to the affinity. I copied the text exactly and placed it in my system folder, so I don't need to upload my batch file.

When I run the bat, it comes up with cmd for an instant then closes. I thought there might be an error that cmd doesn't let me see, so I ran the bat after first running cmd manually. It said invalid switch - "/affinity". Suggestions?

This might explain why it didn't work with Evil Johnny. Is there a registry alternative?

 

[Defeat]

Use Forcecore: http://www.kalme.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=35

 

[brdempsey69]

Use Forcecore: http://www.kalme.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=35

Downloaded and saved. Thanks, this looks like a very easy to use and nifty utility.

 

[BlackCheetah]

One of these has my color mutator in it.

 

[Dark Pulse]

The color mutator doesn't really improve the graphics quality, though, it just ups the saturation on a lot of things.

It'll also get you kicked right off of PURE servers.

 

[iSenSe]

Doing that every time is not necessary. Create a batch-file named like UT.bat into System folder and paste following line into it:

start /wait /affinity 1 UnrealTournament.exe

save the file and start the game with it.

Weird thing is that I'm having Intel Quad Q6600 and game runs perfectly without any tricks. Why these problems with UT99 does not apply to all multi-core cpus?
Edit: Forgot to mention, my OS is MS Vista 32-bit


And thx to Dark Pulse for good post, made me found out why I have had annoying lightning/texture problems (light colors burned to white) with Dohnal's renderer. Setting OneXBlending to TRUE made the texture colors look like same than with original Epic renderer.

youre my hero!
never knew that.
Had that problem for a while
especially on w00t maps. and deck16 and stuff.

Thanks

 

[XxDangerxX]

When I run the batch file through cmd, it says:

Invalid switch - "/affinity".

How come it doesn't do that for you?

 

[GreatEmerald]

Maybe the OS type isn't the same for you, Danger?

 

[XxDangerxX]

I'm using Win XP SP2. What are you using?

Are you using XP SP3 or Vista?

Here's what I see when I type "start/?" in cmd:

 

[Lee_Stricklin]

Most admins seem to finally be getting their sh!t together so you may want use my guide for tweaking UT99. There are screenshots this guide so that you can get an idea of what this will look like. Agony, DM Tutorial, Stalwart, Codex, and Skaarj Storage especially look amazing.


Guide here:
http://www.unrealtexture.com/General/Website/Forums/Forums01/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=19

 

[Cyberia-Mix]

Hi there. I've been playing with the latest video drivers since yesterday and I wanted to share my thoughts.

Actually I don't notice any big difference from UT's original drivers. While looking some of the screenshots in this thread, the most visible difference seem to come from the S3TC textures, not really from the settings themselves. :x

I was using D3D so far.
Got my UnrealTournament.ini deleted by mistake some months ago and since then I couldn't have a proper framerate (got all speedy in low poly places) and my screen was screwed by black horinzontal lines when close to strobbing lights (flak in Deck16][ f.e.).

I'm glad to see those issues have been solved by the new drivers.
I also could never use MultiTexture before, which resulted in my UT becoming all dark and gloomy, but it works well now (nice water reflection in DM-1on1-DavidM, no more sun flickering in CTF-Facingw00ts, no more visible sun brush sheet in CTF-Airie, etc.). MultiTexture seems to have a nice effect on skyboxes overall.

I do notice a little improvement in performances as well (DM-CT-Eldora runs a little better now, DOM-Horean still doen't tho lol).

But besides that it's about the same. If I have a walk in Deck16][ I just see no difference from before.
Judging by the enthusiasm here, I somehow expected something better.

The only flaw I can notice so far is about the anti aliasing (both D3D8/9 and OpenGL). It makes some skyboxes edges visible (biiiig black lines in the sky... :/), and with OpenGL causes some minor artifacts with the menu and the hud (but bleh anyway).
So I run with AA disabled for now, as aliasing has never really bothered me actually.
I'm pretty sure anyway that AA on my video card is set to 0. I wonder if setting higher values can fix my issues in game, but I can't find where to set AA for my video card itself anymore.

As for differences between D3D8, D3D9 and OpenGL it's very hard to tell.
OpenGL looks a tiny bit more colorful (I'm not even sure tho), so I'm going with this one for now.

Maybe can someone tell me the main differences between OpenGL and D3D (if not only card related I mean)?

Now I'll try to have an eye to the S3TC textures (from what you said it looks hard stuff to install properly tho ).

For the record, I've got a GeForce5900 XT (128Mb) and I run the game in 1152x864 (and I've got a crappy blurry 17" screen you can't read anything on with any higher resolution).