What is good performance in Risen?

[JrK]

Currently playing Risen, but I find that the performance isn't really good on my pc. I read some threads using the search function, but it seems everyone was surprised at how good performance was. So I'm wondering if there is just something wrong with my install that prevents me from getting proper performance.

Some data:
Performance is about 30-40 FPS with frequent dips into 20s. I really notice when these type of real-time games dip below 60, so that's not so good performance in my book.

Using Phenom II 940 processor (4 cores) with a radeon 4850 and 2 Gb ram on WinXP. Is this normal performance for this setup? Did everyone in those threads just have better pc's?

Does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Also, I'm sick and tired of the bloom/HDR in this game already, any way to turn it off? Tried putting Postprocessingenabled to false in the configdefault and deleting my configuser file but bloom still seems to be there. Ugh. Thanks in advance bros.

 

[SoupNazi]

That seems odd. I have a similar GPU, a dual-core processor and the only difference would be in my RAM (of which I have 4 GB), but I ran Risen at 60-80 FPS with near-to-highest settings iirc. It could be your drivers or maybe DirectX, I guess.

 

[Angthoron]

Do other (3D) games run properly with high FPS? What sort of a PSU do you have? I had issues with slowdowns and various other joys until I realised that my PSU was screwed/supply was too low.

 

[ecliptic]

Make sure ambient occlusion is off?

I'm running a Core2Duo e6600 with a HD5830, 1gb of ram and it ran smooth as silk maxed out at 1920x1200.

 

[JrK]

How can you put ambient occlusion off?

Other games run just fine and my PSU is more than enough to run everything. 600 watt and a good quality Tagan with modular cables, an excellent PSU. Heck Crysis ran just fine at high settings. When I get home I'll try some other video drivers and reinstalling DirectX, see if that works.

ADDIT: I have the steam version. Don't know if that matters.

 

[Angthoron]

You can also try looking up a settings editor for Risen on the internet, it had a very good range of options.

 

[Multidirectional]

I currently don't have it installed to check out how exactly that particular ini file is called, but you do need to turn off SSAO near shadow options. Disabling soft shadows can help too, but really SSAO should be enough.

 

[Twinkle]

There should be an "INI" folder in the directory where you've installed Risen. Open the file named ConfigDefault.xml with any text editor, find any strings with "ScreenSpaceAmbientOcclison" (spelling mistake is on PB's part) and set them all to "false".

Disable DOF, it adds unnecessary strain on your PC without improving IQ. Drop down shadow quality or disable them completely. You really shouldn't cut down draw distance, though, because it makes navigating the world much easier.

 

[Tycn]

Clearly not a hardware issue, you should be able to max it out no problem. Most likely drivers, I had some similar issues myself.

 

[racofer]

I maxed it out on my triple core PII 720, 4GB ram and GTS250 without issues with constant 60 FPS (vsync). Perhaps the 2gb of ram and XP are the issue?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Perhaps the 2gb of ram and XP are the issue?

I had 2gb ram and XP when playing it, and I didn't have any problems, so definitely not this.

I suspect drivers might be faulty.

 

[Raghar]

Either you need to disable energy saving features in BIOS, or you need to play with VSYNC. Or try new drivers. (Fast CPU and NV8600 GT are enough.)

 

[Ruprekt]

Turn the shadows to low. It looks better anyway; as in most games for environment shadows.

 

[Jaesun]

Ran fine for me (Steam version also).

Nvidia GTS 250
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs)
4 Gigs Ram
Windows 7 32 bit

 

[JrK]

Can't find a settings editor on the webz. The first google result is.... this thread.

Tried installing new drivers, blowing the dust outta my pc, installing newest DirectX update, disabled CoolnQuiet in BIOS. Nothing helped. I did find that setting shadows to low boosts my FPS to 50 from 30. Still below 60.

Already applied the tweaks to the .xml files (I used notepad, is that wrong?). It doesn't seem to make a difference, and I'm not sure if anything I did in the defaultconfig actually changed. Bloom still seems to be there.


Just did a test, ran the game and checked the CPU usage. Yep you guessed it... it's using only one core, even though affinity is set to all four. WTF is going on here?

 

[JoKa]

google said to try this:
http://www.worldofrisen.de/download_60.htm

 

[JrK]

That file, like the mod downloader from the same site, seems to be unavailable. The links are broken.

 

[Jaesun]

I'd suggest posting on the official forums. Someone possibly with a configuration as yours probably had the same issues.

 

[Multidirectional]

I did find that setting shadows to low boosts my FPS to 50 from 30. Still below 60.

50 FPS is normal for your video card. And it's a good performance too. Why would you worry about it? I'd understand being unhappy with FPS below 40, but not this.
Try if shadows on "medium" gives you the same performance by the way, SSAO should only be on with shadows set to "high" if I remember correctly. Also, decreasing vegetation quality could help if you want 60 FPS so badly.

 

[JrK]

Well if it is normal then that is good. I was just worrying about whether or not my rig was having particular issues. Since everyone in that big Risen thread was making claims about "smooth as silk" performance and so on, and given that in my experience that's only the case for 60fps or more, I was worried there was something up with my drivers/game/pc.

 

[Multidirectional]

My card is roughly similar to yours in terms of power (GTS250) and I got about 50 FPS for the most part too. The thing is, as long as it doesn't drop below 40, it is "smooth as silk". I know people who can't even tell the difference when they get 30 FPS, that's why I don't take these internet posts seriously. Neither should you.

 

[JoKa]

That file, like the mod downloader from the same site, seems to be unavailable. The links are broken.

i just downloaded it with no problems and tested the file - it works as intended. try a proxy or if needed i can throw it up on rapidshare or something.

 

[JrK]

That worked, thanks! I'm just one of those unlucky buggers who notice any drops below 60 I guess.