Improving FPS (any OS)

[Lag King]

Hi, this topic is for tips and suggestions on improving game play frame rate for various versions of MW2. Also don't forget to post system specs and option settings used.

The versions of MW2 I use are:

MW2 Battlepack (not sure version number, anyone know how to find out) 640x480 all settings off, no cockpit , enhanced view.
MW2 Mercs 1.06 DOS 640x480 all settings off except shadows, cockpit on (except fps intensive situations)

System :
Win95 2nd edition
Trigem Intel 166 MHZ
32 RAM - 4 MB shared VRAM (can be set from 1 to 4 MB)
SIS Video Card 5597/5598
Yamaha OPL3X soundcard (Wrong driver is loaded, windows keeps wantings Sound Blaster)

P.S. Any Idea to improve performance for my versions would really help, especially battle pack (which runs quite poorly .

[Cyril]

I remember when Eskorakas bought a P166, and that was the high end cpu:P



Edit: Deleted extra topic. did you happen to hit the submit button twice?

[Lag King]

Oops, I accidentally double posted the topic. Can the site administrator remove the earlier post.

[Lag King]

Just caught your post when I hit the submit button (oops again )
Yeah I loved my old 166, it's definitely a gem. The system works great still, though performance seems to be closer to 133.

I remember we used it as the family computer. The computer always got viruses and junk from web. We needed to re-install win95 several times. Now that the computer is mine, it haven't had any problems with the exception the second hard drive dying and my 16x cd-drive quitting. It's a fun machine to just play around and experiment with dos. I play all my old shareware titles as several other oldies on it. Recently I bought 4x CD-drive from goodwill (works great), I can play Warlords II Dx, MW2, Mercs, Heretic, ROTT, and Several other games I bought recently online or at goodwill.

Anyways, I got off topic. Does any one know if it's possible to disable cd audio for any of the MW2 titles. I love the music, but it's annoying that the game pauses when the track loads again at the end of the song.

[Sir MMPD Radick]

Just mute the music in the in game settings.
As for fps, unfortuneatly, the best i can suggest is to choose the lowest settings in the game details possible.

Best bet is to use a new PC 1.7 ghz and above with XP, you would have a much better time I believe.
Alternatively you could switch from Battlepack to the DOS version; there, is a major difference in fps on old comps between Battlepack and non enhanced versions of MechWarrior 2.

I will dig around the old usenet posts to see if I can find anything for the Titanium/Battlepack series, but I do not expect to find much.
Sorry!

Edit:
Almost forgot, if you have not patched the Battlepack version you may want to consider doing so.

Update:

Scott (alt.games.mechwarrior2)
Apr 14 1998, 12:00 am

For all those stuck in the same boat as me-

The easiest way to double your frame rate is to shut off the
"enemy" cam. Hitting "F4" twice at the beginning of every mission is
what you need to do!

Doc (alt.games.mechwarrior2)
Apr 18 1998, 12:00 am

it worked
I go from single digets up into the 20's
Also learned if I shut off my wireframe on bottom right I gain even more
I get an average of 32 fps in battle
thanks alot
Doc

Anyway, the general consensus for old computers using the Battlepack is this:

Stephen Strangways
Executive Director, Remembrance Compilation Project
Email: R...@mindless.com

I recently purchased the MechWarrior 2 BattlePack. When I started it up,
I got a horrible frame rate. II can only get about 15fps if I run it in
320x240, turn all options to LOW or OFF, and use enhanced imaging all the
time. I have a Pentium 133 with 32MB of RAM. Why the heck is the frame
rate so darn low?

[Lag King]

I forget to mention that I do use wire frame mode and have the enemy display off. The game runs fine with these settings, but it's annoying with large building, since the walls look like empty space when walking close making it easy accidentally run into stuff when doing torso twists. Thanks anyway? Are there any dos drivers that I should remove from autoexec or config that could cause slow downs. Also direct dialog says that one the files in registry is beta , reinstall direct x. I've reinstalled direct X 8 and the error still comes up in direct dialog. Does the HTAL display use less cpu then the wire frame display of your mech, I still need some indicator of the mech's condition. 320x200 is actually slower. Does anyone no how fix the cd light problem (the light blinks even when a cd is out of the drive). Would any type of TSR or other programs that could boost performance for the DOS version of Mercs (I currently run the program in Windows since the frame rate seems to be unaffected and load times are shorter)?

By the way if anyone's interested in playing Mercs in D3D (for non-enhanced) under XP. I found a patch at http://kontza.googlepages.com/mechwarri ... xppatching.

It's buggier then the MW2HOOK but seems faster on the Computer that I use XP on.
I can play the game with all options, I believe usually keep object density low since has very small effect on the graphics and eats processing power.

I still prefer playing the game on my older machine, since my save data is farther and I like playing without dynamic salvage.
Also the DOS version is compatible with NAIS.

At One time I did actually have battlepack running optimally on my 166 (with most settings on), but I forgot how managed to do it. Performance is pretty good with Mercs with my current settings, I would just be nice get rid frequent pauses when the computer reads from disc, turning the volume all way down didn't get rid the problem (So I know the audio wasn't the culprit). Too bad my 16x failed, I like see if a faster cd drive would fix (or at least reduce the problem).

[Sir MMPD Radick]

sorry, I cannot help you.
As I said pretty much the consenus is on the net for your computer config is that it will never be that fast, activision got tons of complaints when the game was released.
MW2 DOS is your best option.

[Lag King]

Oh well, I just have to pick up the dos version sometime. I saw MW2 31 Combat on Amazon for only a penny, however none of the sellers mentioned which edition. Does Amazon or eBay sell used cd-drives (just encase mine fails)? Too bad I'm not sure which would be compatible with my machine. I know my cmos automatically detects parameters for drives such as cylinders, and the other information that the system needs to properly recognize the drive. Used hard drives would be useful too, since my other one failed.

We should probably use this topic to help using get MW2 working XP at a reasonable frame rate for any version.
I've tried Battle pack in Virtual PC, the game runs better then it does on my 166, however I keep getting windows error messages (Blue screens of Death I like to call them). Anyone have any idea how to fix this problem?
Like you said the DOS version probably the best route go for both old machines and XP. Hopefully the creators of Dosbox will improve CD detection compatibility in coming version.

As for Mercs the windows version works well with either MW2 Hook or the Patch that posted the link to (earlier).
MW2HOOK is less buggier but slower on my machine. The Other Patch allows D3D be used in Mercs, MW2HOOK does not (Yet).

[Sir MMPD Radick]

You do not need dosbox to run any DOS version of MechWarrior 2 on XP it works practically out of the BOX.
I would not worry about DOSBOX except for multiplayer; it really is not worth it, and you will always have a slower game than you would otherwise.

Yep, I agree Amazon should be avoided for buying mech2 cd's, they almost always will send the wrong disc...
Ebay is much more reliable for obtaining mech2 copies. And yep there is CD drives on ebay.

[the_blob]

Cyril-- did you used to be in WP on Mplayer? This is totally taking me back.