Thief 3 on a Radeon 9100

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Tim

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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Is anyone playing Thief 3 on an ATI Radeon 9100/8500? If so how does it
run? It's extremely choppy for me, and not just the game, even the menus.
That animated title starts and stops, as it swoops in, on the main menu.
Everything is extremely jerky. I can't imagine that this game needs a beast
of a card just to run a menu screen well, but what else could cause this? My
in-game frame rate goes from the mid thirties to a slide show around 7 fps.
I'm running the game at the lowest resolution and lowest graphics settings,
vsync disabled. My Radeon drivers settings are all set for "performance".

Here are my system specs, any suggestions are greatly appreciated ...


Abit NF7-S with Athlon XP Mobile 2600 (clocked at 2400 MHz w/200MHz FSB)
On-board NVidia SoundStorm audio accelerator chip
Radeon 9100 w 128MBs RAM
1 GB DDR dual channel RAM
80 GB WesternDigital "Special Edition" ATA HD
WinXP Pro /sp1
DirectX 9.0b
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

I put my 9100 back in my machine (took out a GF4ti 4200) and Thief 3 does
struggle a bit but it runs acceptably at 800x600 low details (but not low
detail textures) and Vsync off. Menus are just as fast as the GF4 but in
game performance is poorer as the 9100 is more like a GF3ti 200. I was using
the 4.4s as they are advised in the readme but you may want to try the 3.7s
which I used to find best out of all drivers from 3.1 to 4.1 with this card.

"Tim" <argybargy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2jsr0oFvl9s4U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Is anyone playing Thief 3 on an ATI Radeon 9100/8500? If so how does it
> run? It's extremely choppy for me, and not just the game, even the menus.
> That animated title starts and stops, as it swoops in, on the main menu.
> Everything is extremely jerky. I can't imagine that this game needs a
beast
> of a card just to run a menu screen well, but what else could cause this?
My
> in-game frame rate goes from the mid thirties to a slide show around 7
fps.
> I'm running the game at the lowest resolution and lowest graphics
settings,
> vsync disabled. My Radeon drivers settings are all set for "performance".
>
> Here are my system specs, any suggestions are greatly appreciated ...
>
>
> Abit NF7-S with Athlon XP Mobile 2600 (clocked at 2400 MHz w/200MHz FSB)
> On-board NVidia SoundStorm audio accelerator chip
> Radeon 9100 w 128MBs RAM
> 1 GB DDR dual channel RAM
> 80 GB WesternDigital "Special Edition" ATA HD
> WinXP Pro /sp1
> DirectX 9.0b
>
>
>
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

"Peter" <nospamwanted@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:fCdCc.565$7A4.5566692@news-text.cableinet.net...
> I put my 9100 back in my machine (took out a GF4ti 4200) and Thief 3 does
> struggle a bit but it runs acceptably at 800x600 low details (but not low
> detail textures) and Vsync off. Menus are just as fast as the GF4 but in
> game performance is poorer as the 9100 is more like a GF3ti 200. I was
using
> the 4.4s as they are advised in the readme but you may want to try the
3.7s
> which I used to find best out of all drivers from 3.1 to 4.1 with this
card.
>

Many thanks, Peter. I can understand the game running slow with my card,
but I can't figure out why it freezes periodically, like it's taking a
breath for data transfers (my 9100 has 128MBs anyway). I'm wondering if a
BIOS setting might be the culprit. I just got the mobo so it's possible
something is still out of place that way.

Not too long ago I was running Thief 3 with the same card, but on a BX440
mobo with a 1GHz Celeron and 512 MBs of PC100 SDRAM. It ran slow (around
10-14 fps), but at least it was consistent, no choppiness. With the new
mobo/CPU even the thunderclap sound stutters, as the Thief 3 title struggles
to zoom into place. The thunder sound also stops and repeats itself
whenever the title itself starts and stops. After upgrading the
mobo/CPU/RAM, my 3DMark2001 score doubled so I would expect the game to at
least run as well as before.

In addition to keeping the graphics settings as low as possible (for T3, and
the card's D3D settings) I also tried changing IDE drivers and sound chip
drivers, and Enabling/Disabling "Hardware Mixer" in Thief 3. I am using the
Catalyst 4.6 drivers however, so maybe I'll try the 4.4s or the 3.7s as you
suggest. I know the 4.4s are recommended anyway but I thought that it was
just for correcting certain lighting anomalies. It just doesn't make sense
why even the animated title in the main menu can't run smoothly. That's
just pre-rendered video anyway, isn't it?

Thanks again.
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

> Abit NF7-S with Athlon XP Mobile 2600 (clocked at 2400 MHz w/200MHz FSB)
2.3ghz athlonXP here, 10.5x220

> On-board NVidia SoundStorm audio accelerator chip
Me too. Can anyone comment on framerate differences with a Audigy2 ?

> Radeon 9100 w 128MBs RAM
9700pro

> 1 GB DDR dual channel RAM
512M

Gameplay here is acceptable at 1024x768. With your card you will have
to back off to 800x600 or even 640x480.

rms
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

"Tim" <argybargy@hotmail.com> kirjoitti viestissä
news:2jsr0oFvl9s4U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Is anyone playing Thief 3 on an ATI Radeon 9100/8500? If so how does it
> run? It's extremely choppy for me, and not just the game, even the menus.
> That animated title starts and stops, as it swoops in, on the main menu.
> Everything is extremely jerky. I can't imagine that this game needs a
beast
> of a card just to run a menu screen well, but what else could cause this?
My
> in-game frame rate goes from the mid thirties to a slide show around 7
fps.
> I'm running the game at the lowest resolution and lowest graphics
settings,
> vsync disabled. My Radeon drivers settings are all set for "performance".

My setup is AMD AV64 3000+, 512MB RAM, WinXP Home with all updates, SB
Audigy 2, ATI AIW 9800 Pro 128MB. I played the game through at 1280x1024,
default driver settings, bloom on, and everything ran smoothly. Framerate
checked with Fraps varies, but this is what I'm getting:

* Splash screens starting the game (IonStorm, Eidos, etc. logos) 30 fps.
* Main menu 85 fps
* While loading the fps varies, starting from 7 and climbing quickly to 85
* During gameplay I'm getting 25 at lowest, 35-45 on average, and 65 and
upwards at the highest, but the fps reading really varies a lot, depending
on where you are, what's happening on the screen etc. Main thing is,
there's no choppiness at all, everything's smooth, and this is running at
1280x1024.

- Mika L
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Check you aren't running background progs. Also you should be able to
increase the cache size in the default.ini file for the game.

rms
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

"Tim" <argybargy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2jsr0oFvl9s4U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Is anyone playing Thief 3 on an ATI Radeon 9100/8500? If so how does it
> run? It's extremely choppy for me, and not just the game, even the menus.
> That animated title starts and stops, as it swoops in, on the main menu.
> Everything is extremely jerky. I can't imagine that this game needs a
beast
> of a card just to run a menu screen well, but what else could cause this?
My
> in-game frame rate goes from the mid thirties to a slide show around 7
fps.
> I'm running the game at the lowest resolution and lowest graphics
settings,
> vsync disabled. My Radeon drivers settings are all set for "performance".

I ran the game on a Barton 3200 1 gig system with a full bore 8500 128Mb
clocked at 300/310 and found it was semi-OK at 800x600 with bloom disabled,
vsych disabled and shadow detail set halfway. Playable, but slightly choppy.
No hangs or lags though. A 9100 at stock 250/250 would be a bit worse. Many
9100 128's have only 200Mhz memory, and this would slow it down more.
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

So you've recently changed your mobo ? Thats the cause of your problems.
Your devices all share IRQs under Windows 2000 and XP and that requires
up-to-date drivers installed properly. The fact that 3dmark works well is
because it doesnt use sound - youre seeing lag in Thief when sounds are
played so both sound and graphics card are working simultaneously (and you
have onboard sound rather than a separate sound card which isnt good). I
expect you didnt do a Reinstall of Windows when you fitted the new mobo ?
Try downloading the latest drivers for your mobo from the manufacturer and
if that doesnt work do a format and fresh install of the OS.

"Tim" <argybargy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2jtqjaF14r61sU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "Peter" <nospamwanted@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:fCdCc.565$7A4.5566692@news-text.cableinet.net...
> > I put my 9100 back in my machine (took out a GF4ti 4200) and Thief 3
does
> > struggle a bit but it runs acceptably at 800x600 low details (but not
low
> > detail textures) and Vsync off. Menus are just as fast as the GF4 but in
> > game performance is poorer as the 9100 is more like a GF3ti 200. I was
> using
> > the 4.4s as they are advised in the readme but you may want to try the
> 3.7s
> > which I used to find best out of all drivers from 3.1 to 4.1 with this
> card.
> >
>
> Many thanks, Peter. I can understand the game running slow with my card,
> but I can't figure out why it freezes periodically, like it's taking a
> breath for data transfers (my 9100 has 128MBs anyway). I'm wondering if a
> BIOS setting might be the culprit. I just got the mobo so it's possible
> something is still out of place that way.
>
> Not too long ago I was running Thief 3 with the same card, but on a BX440
> mobo with a 1GHz Celeron and 512 MBs of PC100 SDRAM. It ran slow (around
> 10-14 fps), but at least it was consistent, no choppiness. With the new
> mobo/CPU even the thunderclap sound stutters, as the Thief 3 title
struggles
> to zoom into place. The thunder sound also stops and repeats itself
> whenever the title itself starts and stops. After upgrading the
> mobo/CPU/RAM, my 3DMark2001 score doubled so I would expect the game to at
> least run as well as before.
>
> In addition to keeping the graphics settings as low as possible (for T3,
and
> the card's D3D settings) I also tried changing IDE drivers and sound chip
> drivers, and Enabling/Disabling "Hardware Mixer" in Thief 3. I am using
the
> Catalyst 4.6 drivers however, so maybe I'll try the 4.4s or the 3.7s as
you
> suggest. I know the 4.4s are recommended anyway but I thought that it was
> just for correcting certain lighting anomalies. It just doesn't make
sense
> why even the animated title in the main menu can't run smoothly. That's
> just pre-rendered video anyway, isn't it?
>
> Thanks again.
>
>
>
>
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

"Peter" <nospamwanted@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:u3lCc.1006$JS.9699489@news-text.cableinet.net...
> So you've recently changed your mobo ? Thats the cause of your problems.
> Your devices all share IRQs under Windows 2000 and XP and that requires
> up-to-date drivers installed properly. The fact that 3dmark works well is
> because it doesnt use sound - youre seeing lag in Thief when sounds are
> played so both sound and graphics card are working simultaneously (and you
> have onboard sound rather than a separate sound card which isnt good).

The onboard sound is dedicated hardware, it's not a software solution. The
NVidia SoundStorm is comparable to an SBLive for processing power.

>I expect you didnt do a Reinstall of Windows when you fitted the new mobo?
Try downloading the latest drivers >for your mobo from the manufacturer and
if that doesnt work do a format and fresh install of the OS.

No it is a fresh install on a freshly formatted drive. All drivers are the
latest version. I think it's a configuration issue somewhere. Next I'll
try rolling back the video drivers to 4.4 or 3.7, and increase the cache in
T3's default.ini file. No programs are running in the background and I
already disabled my antivirus program.
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 03:49:17 -0400, "Tim" <argybargy@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Is anyone playing Thief 3 on an ATI Radeon 9100/8500? If so how does it
>run? It's extremely choppy for me, and not just the game, even the menus.
>That animated title starts and stops, as it swoops in, on the main menu.
>Everything is extremely jerky. I can't imagine that this game needs a beast
>of a card just to run a menu screen well, but what else could cause this? My
>in-game frame rate goes from the mid thirties to a slide show around 7 fps.
>I'm running the game at the lowest resolution and lowest graphics settings,
>vsync disabled. My Radeon drivers settings are all set for "performance".
>
>Here are my system specs, any suggestions are greatly appreciated ...
>
>
>Abit NF7-S with Athlon XP Mobile 2600 (clocked at 2400 MHz w/200MHz FSB)
>On-board NVidia SoundStorm audio accelerator chip
>Radeon 9100 w 128MBs RAM
>1 GB DDR dual channel RAM
>80 GB WesternDigital "Special Edition" ATA HD
>WinXP Pro /sp1
>DirectX 9.0b
>
>

I have an Gigabyte 7N400mb,, XP3000+,, 1Gb PC3200 RAM,, SB Live,,
FX5700,, XP Pro SP1 and although I can run T3 at 1024x768,, it is a
bit slow...

An FX5700 would be sort of equal to an ATI 9600 - 9700 job. I imagine
that your 9100 is quite a bit behind in performance and might run
quite poorly in this game...
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

"Augustus" <tiberius@weeik.com> wrote in message
news:vxjCc.5865$HS3.5274@edtnps84...
>
>
> I ran the game on a Barton 3200 1 gig system with a full bore 8500 128Mb
> clocked at 300/310 and found it was semi-OK at 800x600 with bloom
disabled,
> vsych disabled and shadow detail set halfway. Playable, but slightly
choppy.
> No hangs or lags though.

Which Catalyst version?
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

"Tim" <argybargy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2jv9vtF164vijU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "Augustus" <tiberius@weeik.com> wrote in message
> news:vxjCc.5865$HS3.5274@edtnps84...
> >
> >
> > I ran the game on a Barton 3200 1 gig system with a full bore 8500 128Mb
> > clocked at 300/310 and found it was semi-OK at 800x600 with bloom
> disabled,
> > vsych disabled and shadow detail set halfway. Playable, but slightly
> choppy.
> > No hangs or lags though.
>
> Which Catalyst version?
The 4.5's....which have the odd shadow/light flicker but are faster than the
4.4's
 
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Just a follow-up. The problem with the stuttering menu screen, and
thunderclap sound, turned out to be the v4.6 Catalysts. I rolled back the
drivers to v.4.2 and everything is fine. In fact any drivers between 4.2
and 4.4 work fine but the 4.2s give a slightly better frame rate. Anything
before version 4.2 and the game disappears, literally. - just a blank grey
screen except for flames and portal signs (such as those by the blue-fog
boundaries). Wonder what changed, starting with v4.2, to correct this.

I also noticed that Thief 3 sporadically resets its own multisampling
slider to the far right. Once I restored it to the left my frame rate
almost doubled. Now I'm getting 22 fps minimum instead of 13. Usually the
game averages between 30 and 40 and I'm quite satisfied with that. And after
hearing reports of higher powered machines getting lower frame rates, I'm
wondering if this multisampling resetting issue might be one of the causes.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.
 
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