Post your favorite mod experience...

[Art Blade]

again, we posted too quickly, I edited that post: Type PCB into the console :) And I too have lags, sometimes

[PZ]

Thanks, we also have a mod that is supposed to clear the buffers, but I didn't notice anything significant in the way of improvement.  However, I changed the game settings to default through the FO3 vanilla launcher (the application checked my hardware) and it did away with all of the lag (or so it seems) - have not had a chance to really play enough for a definitive opinion though.

[Art Blade]

I usually find the defaults are a little too conservative. Like, they'd suggest to set up a game to a mixture of mid and high values. I don't check the games anymore, I just switch almost every time everything to something like ultra high and neither the game nor the rig seem to suffer. But my eyes, when I stick to "default"  ;D I do accept a few lags in exchange of a great ultra high setup. The only exception would have been online shooters, where speed is the key, and lag is equal to suicide. But I don't play online shooters any more :)

[Art Blade]

cheers, will keep that in mind :)

edit, oops -- forgot to quote ;) it is related to:

The only thing I would add is that one of the mods I recently installed recommend toggling ArchiveInvalidation off and then back on to complete the installation.  If you installed a mod that requires that applet or are having problems getting it to w@&k, you might try this technique.

[Ricamundo]

In-game setting "Texture size =Large". Gfx settings all maxed out. Both game and driver side. Plus, "my specialty," always V-Sync OFF, AA OFF, AF OFF.

So Large textures use less resources? I think mine were set to medium, so ill try large. I am experienceing a fair amount of stuttering when walking around in the wasteland, and not so much in city environments and none inside. It does tend to get annoying tho, as i dont think my settings are particularly high. I have a couple of questions for you guys.

In the main video setting window i have V-sync off now, as per Art's post. it was on. Will that help and will it be noticed?

There's something called HDR which is on. What is it, and if i turn it off, will it help with the stuttering?

One aspect of the graphics which i would like to tweak, is that out in the open, people, and objects, like building arent visible until i get quite close to them. Then they suddenly appear. I looked at the advanced tab and it has several setting for view distance. Have you guys adjusted these setings and did it slow down frame rates or what?

[PZ]

I'm not sure about the large textures thing - nor really much about any of the graphics tweaks (except for the AA and AF that is often mentioned as killing performance).  Also, the farther away you want to be able to see, the more difficult it is for your graphics card to do the w@&k.

On my machine, which is relatively peppy, I was experiencing significant performance problems which were fixed by clicking the Default button in the FO3 (vanilla) launcher.  This caused an applet to start which examined my hardware and chose the best settings for my machine automatically.  Then I went in and manually played with different settings each time starting the game to see how things were affected.  Interestingly, I was able to achieve outstanding performance plus stunning graphics detail even though my settings at the end were not much different that the settings I was using when experiencing the problems.  I have no idea why the performance improved, but clicking that default button did the trick for me.

[Art Blade]

I guess the large textures option reserves more memory for large textures which should prevent your pc from using the HD too often. But I don't know that for sure.

HDR is responsible for fancy and drastic light effects, using quite a bit of graphics power but of course adds a lot to the look & feel of the game. So it is a good idea to uncheck HDR if you've got a low spec vid card. Same goes for "bloom" wich for example causes windows or water to reflect light.

V-Sync Off? Really? I was mistaken LOL, sorry, going to edit that away, it's always forced ON  ;D

V-Sync means the vid card waits until the screen is filled with a picture (frame) until it loads the next frame. This is important only during movements, especially quick movements. Imagine you look at a tree, then quickly turn to the right to see what's there. If you turn V-Sync off, you might experience effects like the upper half of your screen already shows the area you intended to see after your turning, while the lower half still shows the tree you have been looking at just an instance before. Turning V-Sync ON means you might experience a not so quick turn (a little lag perhaps) but you will see a "clean" turn, no half trees. :)

The drawing distance, as PZ mentioned, will affect your performance, the farther you see, the more memory for textures and objects will be used and the vid card will start sweating a little :) If you've got a low spec vid card, you should prefer a not so far viewing distance. The game has lots of sliders for the gfx, try experimenting with those "fade" sliders. Supposedly the more fading, the less "pop ups" of characters and objects. Fade = smooth :)

[Art Blade]

[smg id=1675 align=center width=400]

I enjoy travelling around the wastelands with my companions. There's Washington DC in the background, and a silly looking dogmeat up front ;D

[PZ]

lol, he looks like a hairy pig!

[Art Blade]

LOL

Yeah, he doesn't look too clever, does he  ;D I though that it was so funny, how he looks, I had to capture and upload that beast  ;D

I guess you wonder, how the heck did he do that. Well, I waited until the good dog barked (sometimes he does that, it's one of a couple of idle animations) and hit the screenshot button while he was right at it  :) Got him in a rather unfavourable moment, which made me laugh  ;D

[fragger]

Hehe ;D ;D

It looks like you're dangling a chew-toy in front of him... or someone's arm... ;D

[Art Blade]

hehe yeah :) or, as if he was about to sneeze his brains out any second now  ;D

[Art Blade]

In-game setting "Texture size =Large". Gfx settings all maxed out. Both game and driver side. Plus, "my specialty," always V-Sync ON, AA OFF, AF OFF.

So Large textures use less resources? [...]

One aspect [...] i would like to tweak, is that [...] objects, [...] arent visible until i get quite close to them. Then they suddenly appear.[...]

Sorry for cutting the quote, but that is the essence:

- Again, V-Sync ON, see my previous post dealing with that.

- Large textures: The settings of FO3 offer low, mid and large texture options. Low means, you get a LOT less of details. That should speed up the game a lot. Large = maximum detailed textures and more resources (may cause lag)

- visibility of objects: I tested those "fade" sliders in the settings of FO3. I had them all maxed out, using the right arrow to fill the slider, as in no fading at all. That caused the game to draw far objects and light and everything. Also, this causes some objects to "pop up" in the distance. Now, I did the extreme opposite. All sliders to the left, as in maximum fading. Everything seems to slowly filter through a wall of mist and darkness, that wall being rather close to me. That caused even a door not 20yds away to be invisible until I approached it. It's like you're inside a bubble of light and clearness, and beyond that, everything is in the mists. So, if you want to reduce stutter and GPU usage, you should try and test setting your game towards the left end of the fading sliders.

Hope that helps, Ricamundo :)

[Ricamundo]

Thx Art, that does explain it nicely. I'll definately be tweaking a few things when i start the next playthru.

[Art Blade]

great :)

you know, should you still suffer lags, it may be a good idea to switch V-Sync to "off" (yes, this time I mean "off" ;) ) because the v-sync (on) will sometimes make the game "wait" for the frame to fill, so that may be a stutter, whereas no v-sync will allow the game to show everything "on the fly" meaning no stutter, because the game won't wait to build a complete frame. Yet then you may see those shifted half screens :) I tend to buy complete frames with a possible stutter.

[Art Blade]

Regarding mod experiences.

Just now I fast-tavelled to the carrier, Rivet City, and looked at a door reading "Door to mercato di Rivet city" and I was close to fainting.

First I suspected it might have been yet another new mod I was testing, I disabled some in FOMM, to no avail, Still Italian infos on doors  :D Then I though heck, let's check every bloody esm first (I've got a prog that allows to open any file as if it was a text file, even if it isn't, and most of the "text" you get to see looks scrambled anyway, but sometimes there is real intelligible language in there. And I found it, in the optional wasteland travellers crowded cities .esp -- the exact file that gave me headaches once before. Disabled it, and woo-hoo, the Italian bits were gone and the good ol' English was back :)

Bloody hell.  ;D

[PZ]

Wow - that's a new one to me - need to check that because I'm using the same mod.

[Art Blade]

it's the text you get on your mouse cursor when aiming at the straight forward entrance of the carrier.

[Ricamundo]

Hmm, i was using all 3 wasteland travellers mods and i never saw Italian on any door. Weird.

[Art Blade]

it's only in the "crowded cities" mod that comes alongside of MTC Wasteland Travellers

[V2.1]

    * "Wasteland" not localized Again (I've forget to translate it in the optional files)

[Ricamundo]

OK, i visited Rivet City to re unite the boy in Graveditch with his Aunt who runs the Hotel. I have all the wastland mods running, and I too now have Italian on the doors to the main mall area, and the staircase up and down. Strange. I like the extra people wandering around tho. Rivet City is actually quite crowded. :-X

[PZ]

Yeah, I like the extra people too, and it is kind of funny to see a prompt appear in Italian when everywhere else they are in English  ;D

[Art Blade]

good to know it's not everywhere. Maybe I'll put it back in :)

[Art Blade]

It's a pity that the maps don't show all locations. I've just emerged from a sewer expedition, and the exit/entrance is not on the world map (you can see the "door" symbols on the local map though). The world map shows locations no matter where you are, but local maps only in your immediate surroundings.

Just left the sewers here.

[smg id=1694 align=center width=400]

[Art Blade]

Erm... I told you I'd modify Charon's knife a bit... well...
This was a regular Rivet City Guard. With helmet.

[smg id=1695 align=center width=400]

Fragmentation of a head,
a fraction of a second after the blow.
Jaw, eye-balls, brain, blood, and
pieces of skull and tissue...
:o
<retches>
LOL
;D