Why such bad perormance compared to Windows drivers?

[shakin]

I've tried the latest (3123) drivers with Redhat 7.3, Mandrake 8.2, Redhat Limbo and now Mandrake 9.0 running Unreal Tournament 2003 (retail) on my GeForce 4 MX 400. In Windows 2000 with the same graphic detail options I consistently 10-15 more FPS than Linux.

I have 4xAGP on, reduced refresh rate to 60hz (my eyes! my eyes!) and have gotten nowhere with this. On my 1.2ghz Duron w/576MB RAM I'm stuck on 640x486x16 with all graphics at their lowest when playing on Linux, but on Windows I can play at 1024x768x32 (32bit is faster than 16bit on Windows, not so on Linux) with the effects at normal.

So I guess I have two questions:

1. Why is the performance so much worse?
2. What can I do to help this.

Ok, here's a third question:

The bottom of the readme states a lot of environment variables I can use to change things like FSAA modes. How and where do I put these variables.

thanks.

[Andy Mecham]

Are you using OpenGL or DirectX in Windows? There will be a performance difference between the two; as such, there will be a performance difference between Linux and Windows if you're using DirectX in Windows.

To set FSAA modes, you'll need to export the environment variable from the xterm you're running the game from. (You won't be able to use window manager shortcuts) Open an xterm, type 'export __GL_FSAA_MODE=x', and start your game.

--andy

[kappax]

heh yeah you can use wm shortcuts to start a game in fsaa.


in gnome, you tell it to export a command, to start a game same in fluxbox and same in kde.


here is a snip from my fluxbox menuy list. i have the option to start all games in any fsaa mode :) and it works


[exec] (Quake3) {export __GL_FSAA_MODE=1 && quake3}


so insted of telling the link to just execute "quake3" u tell it to
"export __GL_FSAA_MODE=1 && game name" and it works.

take a look here
http://yellowk.n3.net/~kappax/screenshots/ss26.png

[Andy Mecham]

Well, yeah, sure you can do that. However, a lot of people don't realize you can't set the envvar in an xterm and then run it from a wm shortcut. That was my point, albeit a bit poorly worded.

--andy

[sgaap]

Epic made ut2k3 for d3d, the opengl renderer is far from optimized, so its not a linux problem but a ut2k3 problem
Ut for example is faster on linux than on windows, just like a lot of other opengl games

[bwkaz]

Running Linux without a lot of the crap that Mandrake likes to run in the background will also help.

As will getting rid of any desktop environment that you are using (for example, Gnome or KDE) and running just a minimalist window manager (like {black,flux}box, twm, or even no WM at all).

To run a game with no window manager at all, do an echo gameexecutablename >~/.xinitrc, then startx to start up just X with your game as the primary client. Move that .xinitrc file out of the way when you want to do anything else.

Edit: Now I see. This thread is a good four months old. Well, in any case, the info's there if anyone wants it in the future...