FPS spikes in source games
 

Whenever I play FF the game runs fine for about 3 minutes at 200fps constant but then every few seconds I will spike to 5 fps.

I have tried running FF at the minimum resolution with a fps config and this still happens. I have a Nvidia GTX graphics card which is able to run every other non source game I play on max with no lag at all.

This is really annoying, I'm coming here to find an idea for how to fix it because it seriously ruins the game for me every time I play. I can't hit any conc in pickups because it always happens at the worst possible time, like when I'm trying to take down a SG or when I'm playing demo and I'm about to det...

I'm no techie, but I'm guessing this is a problem with the CPU? Or maybe viruses chowing down your comp...

Spikes like that does suggest it's some kind of background process stealing your CPU else I don't know why this would be specific to you and no-one else experiencing it.

I do get the odd 1 second long spike now n again - but it's quite infrequent and my OS needs a refresh.

Try putting -high in the launch option to put the hl.exe process to high priority. Though I've heard this can lag sounds for some people... but might help you.

Does this happen in other games too?

It happens in all source games, such as tf2, CSS etc.

Ill try the -high launch option, to see if it fixes it.

also if you haven't already done this...

2GB RAM = -heapsize 1048576
3GB RAM or more = -heapsize 1572864

to reserve ram for the game 1048576 should be more than enough for FF anyway. I tried over 1572864 for the hell of it but FF wouldn't load (probably due to it being a 32bit process??)

Can you explain that in more detail please?, do I need to do something with -heapsize 1572864

I currently have 3GB of RAM and I sometimes get FPS spikes in game.

I know what I know from google....

http://www.google.com/search?q=sourc...ient=firefox-a

There are reports of it helping with performance. Thats about as much as I can say.

I had a look through an advanced guide for tweaking Source games, and here are some console commands I've selected that could help people in various ways:

flush - Flushes the cache memory. Can resolve graphical anomalies such as texture glitches.

mat_compressedtextures [0,1] - If set to 1, uses compressed textures for optimal performance. For those with graphics cards which have higher amounts of Video RAM (e.g. 256MB or more) setting this to 0 will improve texture appearance at the possible cost of some performance, but may cause a crash.

snd_mix_async [0,1] - If set to 1, this command will allow multi-core CPUs to run most of the sound engine in parallel with the renderer, which can improve performance and reduce stuttering.

mat_queue_mode [-1,0,1,2] - This setting determines the threading mode the material system uses. A value of -1 uses the default for your system, a value of 0 uses synchronous single thread, 1 uses queued single threaded mode, and value of 2 uses multi-threaded mode. Many users report performance increases on multi-core systems when setting this variable to a value of 2.

sv_robust_explosions [0,1] - If set to 0, explosions will be less spectacular, but this may improve performance around explosions without a significant drop in realism.

mem_force_flush [0,1] - If set to 1 forces the cache to be flushed on every allocation, which is not necessarily optimal nor recommended, but can reduce memory-related errors and crashes.

cl_smooth [0,1] - If set to 1 attempts to smooth the view after prediction errors, however this can increase stuttering, so if you want to reduce stutters set this to 0.
cl_smoothtime [seconds] - Time over which to smooth the view after prediction errors. If cl_smooth is enabled, experiment with values to see which gives the best results.

timedemo [demoname] - Plays the specified demo and reports performance information upon completion, including frames played, time taken, average FPS and FPS variability. Also records the information in a file called sourcebench.csv in your \Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\[username]\[game name]\[game name]\ directory.

Full guide, http://www.tweakguides.com/HL2_7.html

snd_mix_async probably only on OB with the multi CPU support. Can't see it in the cvars in FF.

I think... that may be for Source SDK base 2007 onwards sadly.

This seems to have fixed it :D Thanks Elmo.. I only noticed no lag in a 3v3 game on Talos, the true test will be a 9v9 pub :)

-heapsize just increases the amount of your system ram will be available JUST for Fortress Forever. So that means faster server loading times and less likely that you have issues where the RAM will be used by other programs on your PC.

From what I've been told, you set your -heapsize to half that of your system RAM because your computer still has to have SOME ram to do its normal functions, so since I have 4gb ram or 4194304kb ram, I just take half my ram and use it so I use -heapsize 2097152.

hmm as i said 2GB wouldn't work for me and FF wouldn't load. So keep that in mind if you try 2GB heapsize and it doesnt work! I doubt FF uses that much anyway...

i have 8 gb of ram but i still cant have more than 2gb heapsize allocated. (game wont launch)

i would like to try it with 4gb heapsize tho