Got embedded graphics in CPU? participants needed

[WeeGeez]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]rPoXoTauJIo

i7-6700HQ CPU ... Single smoke nade infront of screen dropped fps to 18-20.

For £280 , something just isn't right.

Was that 20fps reading with one core selected in task manager? (screenshot)

Either way thanks for the test, and the links! True, optimization is crucial. Muttrah City excels in this regard. In any case the (recurring) culprit of low FPS seems to be effects. It may well be memory related as you say;

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]rPoXoTauJIo

theory i have is that yet iGPU already uses system RAM, it's still virtually separated block from system used RAM, therefor when it's not enough to fit all the stuff inside it(usually ~128mb locked for iGPU), it's transfers data inside, causing unnecessary delays. In this way, one of possible solutions would be to somehow increase amount of memory(to ~1gb), dedicated to iGPU, and test how it would run. Someday will do, but not today

There is an official Intel endorsed (it seems) memory tweak for intel graphics that relates directly to video memory.
DefaultSegmentSize Tweak... (youtube guide here).

This may require additional steps on systems with limited ram, unless an option exists in the BIOS.

• Windows uses RAM at boot (as much as it finds), see Reserve RAM for 'foreground programs'. 'hands off my ram, windows'.
• Consequently windows may resort to Page-file (hard drive ram). so maybe increase that too.
• According to this sticky, A BF2 specific tweak enables more ram for 32bit .exe on 64bit OS ('the 4GB Patch') aka "Large-Address-Aware-Flag". BF2PR.exe is patched by default. However there is another tweak for 32bit OSes called the Bootparameter tweak, which that sticky outlines.

So, In a typical iGPU setup, the memory isn't right next to the GPU unlike on dedicated cards. It doesn't help that BF2 is limited to 3.7Gb either but these changes still hold some potential in terms of performance increase.
EDIT 2: Don't forget that its also easy to increase available RAM (in Vista and above) using the 'ReadyBoost' feature, which converts flash memory into ram (usb drives / flash cards, if plugged in).

Spoiler for ReadyBoost:

These following tweaks are not video memory/RAM related:

• Change cache behavior of the main hard drive. IMO, probably negligible for systems with SSDs.
• Laptop-specific ('plugged in' vs 'battery saver') tweak but that is irrelevant here.

Step-by-step for the tweaks listed so far are shown here (in respective order).

Additional tweaks not described on that page:

• Install drivers manually via Device Manager 'Let Me Pick' Method (see video below for details). I can attest to building systems like this, its good practice as it evades unnecessary bloatware manufacturers seem to bundle with driver and so called 'Install Managers' (which can exceed 200mb, wherein relevant files are some 5mb)
• Use "PHDGD" Optimized Driver set for Intel Graphics (seems legit, see video).

[WeeGeez]

Back again,

Done bit more research. A specification that would really help to pin down the performance required for PR, atleast on the graphics-side of things, is "Memory Bandwidth" in Gb/s, I believe.

With the aid of people on here, it would extremely beneficial to somehow determine how much PR uses (peak). Once found, this amount could be added to the manual under recommended spec.

In addition and if this could be determined accurately, a solution I had in mind was to introduce a calculator on the forum somewhere where newcomers can enter video memory type, bus speed and bit depth as these all supposedly contribute to bandwidth, the calculation returns a value which would then be matched against the value in the manual.

Just an idea.

My old rig had 50Gb/s transfer, the game fine on high. Until recently (9th gen), embedded intel chips didn't go past 25 it seems. At this point theres no way of knowing if that is sufficient without running tests on individual setups.

[WeeGeez]

Low down on Intel HD Graphics

In short, any Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Apollo Lake, Skylake, Coffeelake generation (2012 and above excluding Valleyview) processor should be able to handle PR on 1024 x 1280 resolution at 8x AA, with optimized memory. These line support a max memory of 2GB, i.e. shared system RAM.***

This generalization applies to Desktop chips only, laptop performance is harder to pin down. The memory performance is the same across the board but core clocks vary alot.

(info retrieved from wiki article)

I have not validated any of this, hopefully somebody will eventually.

Edit: ***Keep in mind 32bit can only address 4Gig. So if you have allocated 2Gb to video this will cause alot of problems and the OS will cease to function. Dedicated cards with 1GB+ on a 32bit OS highly unadvisable.

[agus92]

I ran PR on a mid-end 2010 laptop (asus, i-5) until last year, with 4Gb of ram, and on high settings I had out of memory CTD after long play sessions (usually after 3-4 hours). I don't recommend going 2Gb RAM.

Laptop died playing PR xD

Now running PR in an intel internal GPU, works fine, but huge fps drop on smoked thermals sometimes.

[WeeGeez]

Originally Posted by agus92

Now running PR in an intel internal GPU, works fine, but huge fps drop on smoked thermals sometimes.

Hello,

What CPU you got? How much Addressable Memory installed?

[qs-racer]

i7 3630Qm with iGpu :
-30 fps on Grozny map city, forest, without looking at concentrated asset area (eg mainbase). Goes down to 12 when poping smoke.
Max 46 on empty area. I didn't change CPU core affinity.
-80 fps with GT650m enable. Max 100, min 50-60 with smoke/fire.


Setting bellow, 1080p, high, i know it wasn't was you where looking, but this test was made 2 month ago while setup news driver and forgetting force GPU choice. Geforce driver fail to recognize PR and run it on Intel iGPU, made me mad for 1 weeks to figure it out.

System Information
------------------
  Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Édition Familiale Premium  (6.1.7601)
      Architecture: 64 bits
   Current Culture: French (France)
       Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. N56VZ
         Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (Physical: 4, Logical: 8)
            Memory: 16,00 GB
      DIMM Modules: ChannelA-DIMM0: 8,00 GB @ 1600 MHz
                    ChannelB-DIMM0: 8,00 GB @ 1600 MHz
         Page File: -1904640,00 B
    .NET Framework: 4.6+ Release Build: 460805, Runtime: 4.0.30319.42000

Display Information
-------------------
 Display Device(s): Moniteur Plug-and-Play générique on Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
   Display Mode(s): 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) @ 60 Hz
    Driver Version: 9.18.13.3182 (331.82)
    Display Memory: 4,00 GB
     Multisampling: 2, 4, 8
               DPI: 120 (125%)

Audio Information
-----------------
  Primary Playback: Haut-parleurs (Realtek High Def
 Primary Recording: Microphone (Realtek High Defini
  Open AL Renderer: Software
               EAX: True
           EAX 1.0: False
           EAX 2.0: True
           EAX 3.0: False
           EAX 4.0: False
           EAX 5.0: False
             X-RAM: False

Disk Information
----------------
      Install Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Project Reality\Project Reality BF2
                    Free: 84,56 GB, Total: 232,88 GB, FS: NTFS, SSD: True
          Mod Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Project Reality\Project Reality BF2\mods\pr
                    Free: 84,56 GB, Total: 232,88 GB, FS: NTFS, SSD: True
     Profiles Path: C:\Users\Quentin\Documents\ProjectReality\Profiles
                    Free: 84,56 GB, Total: 232,88 GB, FS: NTFS, SSD: True
    Update DL Path: C:\Users\Quentin\AppData\Local\Project Reality\Project Reality BF2\Downloads
                    Free: 84,56 GB, Total: 232,88 GB, FS: NTFS, SSD: True
   Update Log Path: C:\Users\Quentin\AppData\Local\Project Reality\Project Reality BF2\UpdateLogs
                    Free: 84,56 GB, Total: 232,88 GB, FS: NTFS, SSD: True

Game Information
----------------
    Installed Mods: pr, pr_ww2
       Current Mod: pr
           Version: Standalone - 1.0
        PR Version: 1.4.17.0
          Language: english
   Debug Available: False
     Large Address: True
Supported Hardware: None

Profile Information
-------------------
      Profile 0001: offlineQS
              Type: Offline
        View Intro: False
        Fullscreen: True
      Display Mode: 1920x1080@60Hz
Display Mode Valid: True
   Graphics Scheme: High
     Multisampling: 2x
             VSync: False
            NoLods: False
   Terrain Quality: High
   Effects Quality: High
  Geometry Quality: High
   Texture Quality: High
  Lighting Quality: High
   Dynamic Shadows: High
    Dynamic Lights: High
 Texture Filtering: High
    Audio Provider: Software
    Provider Valid: True
     Audio Quality: High
               EAX: True

      Profile 0002: [PRTA]qs-racer
              Type: Online
 Last Used Profile: True
        View Intro: False
        Fullscreen: True
      Display Mode: 1920x1080@60Hz
Display Mode Valid: True
   Graphics Scheme: High
     Multisampling: 4x
             VSync: False
            NoLods: False
   Terrain Quality: High
   Effects Quality: High
  Geometry Quality: High
   Texture Quality: High
  Lighting Quality: High
   Dynamic Shadows: High
    Dynamic Lights: High
 Texture Filtering: High
    Audio Provider: Software
    Provider Valid: True
     Audio Quality: High
               EAX: True

Also same experience, i don't recommend 2 Gb RAM on a 32bit Win, very slow on loading, almost unplayable in game, and lot of CTD. Tested on 2010 version of PR on laptop. Going to 4 Gb and everything get right (with extended memory trick to 3Gb)

[WeeGeez]

I've used forum systems for almost a decade and it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to make double posts?

[WeeGeez]

Hi, thanks Good info.

Seems i7 3630QM has Intel HD 4000.

Still unconfirmed is the allocation of more VRam for iGPU and if that can reduce notorious smoke/FX lag.
If this can be tested, it can help newcomers who want cheapest PR capable system.

[inb4banned]

I tested it and smoke doesn't increase the amount of memory required, what rises is the GPU usage (from 32% to 42% on my discrete GPU). It's likely that iGPU usage is already close to 100% so when smoke deploys and asks for an additional 30% the FPS drops because iGPU is simply too shit.

[WeeGeez]

Thanks for the feedback.

I realise you said you 'monitored' the stats, but have you tried adding vRAM manually?

It might be worthwhile aswell to see if your system runs smooth with effects in Options set lower, to say medium, perhaps?