Official : Unreal Tournament 2003 | Comments | Reviews | Tips | Help

Don't eliminate the pagefile if you've got less than 512 megs of ram or you're not running XP or 2k. Otherwise, it's in System -> Advanced -> Performance settings -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory -> No paging file -> Set.

As to whether or not the demo is more efficient--of course it is. You have 4 possible skins to load instead of 20 or so, the maps in the retail version are MUCH bigger, etc. al. Plus, I think some of the detail settings are changed in the final game as compared to the demo (I believe High in the demo became Normal in retail, not sure though, the game goes so fast that I don't bother to look at the textures ).

So, with the higher CPU usage, D3D is FAR more whiney in the retail version than it is in the demo. (As I've stated in other threads, D3D seems to be far more CPU-limited than OGL but is smoother unless you don't have a pagefile in XP). So, you can use OGL and not have a pagefile, get it to be smooth as butter, but you need 512 megs or you will run out of memory.

Remember, this is just my opinion--if somebody figures out how to do it with 256 megs, lemme know

[DXnfiniteFX]

If you need help with UT2003 as far as performance goes, please post this in the UT2003 tweaking thread. That should keep things much more organized. And any new discoveries will be implemented in the guide, if the stupid text limit doesn't hamper it any further than it already has.

[SnakeEyes]

I've been 'trying out' some of the tweaks online this evening. My ISP has made it too hard to tell what's really working though, so I've given up for now.

I tried removing the paging file (I have 512MB PC2700), but started getting crashes from UT2003 tonight, with messages from XP Pro about running out of virtual memory. So I reenabled the XP managed page file setting, and the crashes seem to have gone away now. FWIW, I think the retail UT2003 is leaking memory (I'd played about an hour when the crashes started).

Also, I'm having good success using the 31.40 drivers, other than not being able to set some things using RivaTuner. I expect there'll be an updated version of that soon though, so this problem will most likely go away.

[DXnfiniteFX]

I firmly believe something is wrong with the FPS in UT2003. I know that something other than hardware is holding us back. Leaks may be a problem. Specific areas in the maps can cause massive FPS drops for no reason, even when you stare at nothing more than the floor with no bots.

[thcdru2k]

i think that is caused by stuff in ut other than graphics, such as physics, ai, etc. i think performance will be fixed in time with patches, etc. just as the original improved.

Apparently, there is a memory leak and it is INCREDIBLY noticeable with the Radeon 9700--UT2k3 can take up a gig of ram after about 30 minutes, so... waiting for the patch

Originally posted by thcdru2k
i think that is caused by stuff in ut other than graphics, such as physics, ai, etc. i think performance will be fixed in time with patches, etc. just as the original improved.

the difference here is that UT had a horrible rendering engine unless you were using Metal or Glide.

also, didn't he say he was staring at the floor with no bots? i'll go on a limb and assume he meant that no bots were in the match and not just that there were no bots on the screen. there shouldn't be much physics calculations when staring at a floor either

[DXnfiniteFX]

Exactly. Plunge is actually playable, but specific areas in that map create massive FPS drops. I firmly believe that certain areas in maps just plain have memory leaks. You can stare at one direction in the same location and get smooth FPS, or you can turn to your left and generate FPS drops, even before the match even begins! So, there must be something very wrong.

Not just memory leaks, but I believe other code isn't written very well. I sincerely hope performance improves with all upcoming patches.

Patches ALWAYS improve stuff, unless they're Jedi Knight 2 patches.

[DXnfiniteFX]

------------------------
CHANGE LIST:

Gameplay:

- suicides count against team score in TDM
- fixed attenuation flak chunk damage over distance
- reduced minigun spin up time slightly
- made shock beam effect thicker
- always keep dynamic light for shock projectile, even in low detail mode
- translocation destination adjustment bug fix
- "kdraw collision" disabled in MP
- player dies before ball gets through hoop should still get credit for
throw
- fixed redeemer point blank shots
- double tap time invariant to gamespeed
- get rid of 03_2 use (duplicate of "three" sound)
- fixed problems with overtime not ending on first score in some situations
- fixed transloc camera sometimes taking two taps
- fixed 4 rocket bug
- fixed instagib really is instaGIB
- fixed 10 seconds before can speak again
- fixed killz in CTF-December, CTF-Face3, and BR-IceFields
- clamped max view bob
- fixed tokara forest switching to CTF
- fix for balllauncher switchaway bug
- fixed problem with teammates grabbing the flag right when you score
- fixed No Adrenaline mutator not allowing other mutators to work
- fixed getting correct bots on configured bot games with no bots on one
team
- fixed falling damage bug
- straightened lightning bolt
- fixed shieldgun impact charging effect fps slowdown

HUD/Menus:

- typed messages stay up on HUD longer
- don't limit chat when game is paused
- fixed joystick support in menus
- added joystick hat support
- made sure "showlog" leaves fullscreen first
- new HUD options in menus:
Number of console messages shown
Console message font size
Ability to turn on and off various pieces of the HUD
Ability to scale the HUD
- Cut and Paste in Console and server browser/edit boxes.
- Change IForce to TouchSense Mouse Settings
- Added Min/Max players to Map Selection
- Added Author Name to Map Selection for Non-Epic maps
- Add Description field for Mod Authors and hooked it to the scrolly
- Added Announcer volume control to menus
- 'Speech' binder menu in Settings.
- Mouse wheel support on speech menu. On by default, but the ut2003.ini
option bSpeechMenuUseMouseWheel turns it off.
- Letter key support in Speech Menu. The ut2003.ini option
bSpeechMenuUseLetters turns this on, and you can specify what keys it
uses in the .ini file as well.
- Fix [ALL] being at the bottom of the speech menu player list.
- Fix bug where ragdolls didn't turn skeletal when they fall into lava
volume.
- If there is no momentum on death, add a small random one. Reduces
ragdolls just falling to their knees.

AI:

- bots supporting player will grab nearby pickups
- fixed bots rotating to acquire targets too fast
- added ReactionTime parameter for bots
- fixed bots stuck in corners wanting to go to paths above
- bots go after adrenaline more

Editor:

- fixed editor crash when rebuild paths with new pickupbase
- UnrealEd works on Win98

Networking:

- added option to cap framerate in netplay (on by default). This improves
client smoothness by keeping client physics updates more in sync with
server. Its controlled
in your UT2003.ini file in the [Engine.LevelInfo] section by bCapFramerate.
- improved ping measurement shown in scoreboard
- F6 bound to "stat net" again
- improved client movement on jumppads
- Buddy list wildcards
- Master server cheat protection MD5 support
- Removed server connect() 10054 warning
- servers no longer don't reconnect to master server on authentication
failure
- Show server ip in server browser
- Remove ICMP logspam by default
- IRC client under 'Chat' tab in Server Browser.
- Added 'Server Browser' button in-game so you can view servers/chat
without leaving game.
- Remove spurious qhull-related warnings at the console eg. when running
a server.
- Removed a lot of server log spam

Compatibility:

- fixed CD check problems on some machines

D3D

- fix for SiS 315 and certain other non TnL cards not being able to
run the game
- better debug output for fatal failures
- better handling of running out of memory in default pool
- possible fix for UD3DRenderDevice::Unlock crash
- possible fix for "CreateVertexBuffer failed (D3DERR_INVALIDCALL)"
crash
- made code respect D3DTEXOPCAPS_MODULATEALPHA_ADDCOLOR caps bit
- fixed case that led to an invalid stage setup in certain scenarios
- Voodoo 3/5 & G400 workarounds

OpenGL

- replaced 8x8 dummy texture with 1x1 texture
- increased VARSize from 20 to 32
- added code to correctly fill in GMachineVideo
- implemented DesiredRefreshRate
- implemented ReduceMouseLag
- friendly error message when trying to run the Editor
- implemented missing case where neither NV_texture_env_combine4 nor
ATI_texture_env_combine3 are exposed



I read through the section, and although new features isn't a bad thing, there is no mention about performance optimizations. There is, however, mention about memory issues in the D3D section, although nothing about it in OpenGL. I seriously hope for some under the surface improvements that make performance optimizations, not only just fixes for the SiS graphics chips

[Phyre]

I just got UT2003, and the install went well. However, I can start the game fine, get past the NVidia logo, and can start changing settings, but after about 30 secs., the game just crashes to the desktop. It almost seems that this happens right when the cdrom starts spinning down.

Any ideas?

Phyre

[thcdru2k]

use the ut2k3.exe from the demo..so you don't have to use the cdrom. ut2k3 doesn't use the cd though..all it does is use it in the beginning to check their is safedisc on it so it will load.