Metro2033: Any way to get more performance?

[smeezekitty]

I ended up picking up the FREE copy of Metro 2033 over the weekend.

Awesome give away. The thing is that my rig is basically a scrap heap.

With the settings on "LOW" I get an average framerate of ~20 FPS with drops down to ~11 FPS.

It is already a very chaotic game so those framerates are...not so good.

I am used to being able to tweak all the settings manually but metro has the stupid presets.

Is there anything I can do to get at least 30 FPS? I will probably be upgrading my GPU
for Christmas but for now I have to suffer with what I have.

CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9550
GPU: Radeon 6670
Mobo: Asrock G41M-S3
RAM: 4 GB DDR3 1066
Monitor: 1920x1080

 

[James Mason]

A newer GPU will likely help the most.
It is weird they don't let you micro manage the graphics settings. I'd be willing to bet there is a mod that lets you do that though.

 

[smeezekitty]

Thanks. I plan to get a new GPU soon.

I heard there is a way to do it by modifying the configuration files.

I dropped the resolution to 1600x900 which I don't really like to do because it makes things kind of blurry
but it brought the framerate up mostly above 30 with some drops in the 23-25 range. It is a lot more playable.

I still suck at the game though 😛 It usually scares me when a monster appears

 

[Frag Maniac]

Metro 2033 plays OK save for the Biomass level, where I had to turn res down on my prior GPU. I played the rest of the game on max textures at 720p even on that GTS 250 though, and I have two DxTory videos of it.

You want to average 35-40 FPS in that game though. The way you can play on max textures with mediocre spec is to edit the user.cfg file. You want to set blur to 0.

Then you can set textures to it's highest setting. I have 2033 Redux installed currently though, which has a different cfg file due to using the LL engine, so I don't recall exactly what the cvar names were.

Picture quality isn't just about res though, it's about viewing distance. If 1600x900 looks too blurry to you, maybe you're sitting too close.

 

[smeezekitty]

Metro 2033 plays OK save for the Biomass level, where I had to turn res down. I played the rest of the game on max textures at 720p even on a GTS 250 though, and I have two DxTory videos of it.

Well 1280x720 is quite a bit less resolution

You want to average 35-40 FPS in that game though. The way you can play on max textures with mediocre spec is to edit the user.cfg file. You want to set blur to 0.

Here is what I have with "blur"

r_deblur_dist 10.
r_local_mblur_coef 0.015
sick_mblur 0.

If 1600x900 looks too blurry to you, maybe you're sitting too close.

The problem is the monitor upscaler. I guess I could hook up my old 1440x900
monitor but that is inconvenient.

 

[HEXiT]

drop the screen rez down to 720p (1280/720) and you should get playable framerates on that build...
and while your rite it is quite a drop down in physical size the picture quality wont be hugely different. turn everything else except textures down and you should be fine.

 

[smeezekitty]

I'll live with it at 1600x900 until I end up getting a new GPU

Thanks guys.

 

[Frag Maniac]

The problem is the monitor upscaler. I guess I could hook up my old 1440x900
monitor but that is inconvenient.

Then let the GPU do the scaling. Any GPU will scale to any res it or your monitor can handle. Set the monitor to native res, then select the res you want to use in game.

If the game doesn't show the res you want to use in the menu, edit it into the user.cfg file. The user.cfg file should be in the main Metro 2033 directory.

The cvars to edit res with are...

r_res_hor
r_res_vert

...hor being for horizontal, vert for vertical.

Most monitors will handle any common resolution of the same AR below the native res.

 

[smeezekitty]

It does look better with GPU scaling on. And ALT+TAB is faster too.

Still I wish I could run at native resolution. I guess I will need to wait until I can buy a new GPU

 

[smeezekitty]

Just wanted to say that I played through Metro 2033 this evening. It was a great game even though I am not much into shooters.
The framerate we okay at 1600x900 although it dropped into the 10-15 range and even briefly into single digits when dealing with the amoebas.
Despite all that about the biomass level, I didn't find it that hard.

Very thrilling and worthwhile although a bit too scripted at times. Thinking about buying Metro:LL but first I want to finish Portal2

 

[Frag Maniac]

J...it dropped into the 10-15 range and even briefly into single digits when dealing with the amoebas.

On my previous GPU I had to drop res to 1024x768 for Biomass. 2033 Redux is optimized WAY better, and plays better too. They added some nice segments to it. Looks better as well.