Large Framerate Boost w/ Practically No Image Quality Loss

[Spinelli]

(This was originally written for rFactor 2 and slightly modified for Game Stock Car Extreme & Formula Truck 2013, however, everything applies to GSCE and FT2013 as I have tested everything - with the exception of #1 and #5 - in GSCE and FT2013. Also, this should apply to any other game based on ISI's engines.)

Trying to run Game Stock Car Extreme / Formula Truck 2013 with maxed-out graphics settings but just can't do it? Try this!

The following settings are "golden" and have transformed my gaming experience. They do not change the visual quality - to me - from fully maxed-out graphics settings, yet they really boost my framerates, and therefore the overall experience, so much! Thanks to these settings, I can keep everything else absolutely maxed-out.

1. Anti Aliasing (Nvidia) - 8xCSAA instead of 4xAA / 16xCSAA instead of 8xAA - Slightly better performance AND image quality. If setting AA from the Nvidia Control Panel or Nvidia Inspector, then make sure to also set "antialiasing mode" to "override application settings" instead of "application controlled", and make sure the antialiasing in the GSCE/FT2013 configuration screen is set to "None". If using AA from GSCE/FT2013 itself, then I believe Lvl 2 = 4xAA, Lvl 3 = 8xCSAA, Lvl 4 = 8xAA, and Lvl 5 = 16xCSAA, but don't quote me on that, plus, it may be different with different GPUs (780 Ti, here).

2. Shadows - "High" (4/5) - Visually speaking, you will hardly notice a difference between this setting and "Max". I don't notice it, I would need to do side by side comparisons to notice, but you sure do get better framerates (especially overall consistency around the track).

NOTE: Please read Hex's post below (post #6). Apparently shadows must be set to max in order to cast inside your cockpit.

3. Shadow Blur - "Off" (1/2) - Of course not as nice as "On", but it also helps very nice with framerate and is hardly noticeable when you're actually playing (unless you play from an exterior cam eg. chase cam).

4. Anisotropic Filtering - "8x" (6/7) - You almost certainly will not notice a visual quality difference between 8x and 16x (you will with 4x, though), and you will also most likely not get a framerate improvement when lapping on your own, but testing shows good framerate imrpovements when multiple cars are on screen (especially at the start, during the first couple laps, lots of cars on screen at once during a replay, etc.).

These settings are the difference between my framerate dropping and stuttering to as low as 45 fps/eye (total 90 fps - I use Nvidia 3D Vision 2), and having them constantly at 60 fps/eye (total 120 fps) (I have this set as my max framerate in my player.PLR file). Maybe some rare drops to 58 fps/eye (116 total) or something, but hardly. That's a pretty massive gain for settings that literally make no image quality difference to me, at all - and that's while using triple screens w/ multiview!


If you still want to raise your framerates without lowering any in-game graphics then you have 2 more options (I recommend to everyone to do #5, regardless!).

5. Pre-Rendered Frames - "1" - This may raise framerates in GSC & FT2013, but definitely lowers input lag for most users.

6. This may noticeably affect image quality for some, but it may not for others, give it a shot! In Nvidia Inspector set the following (I believe you can only adjust two of the following in the standard Nvidia Control Panel, however it may give the same result - framerate-wise - but I'm not 100% certain, so I use Nvidia Inspector just to be safe):
- Texture filtering - Anisotropic filter optimization: ON
- Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: ON
- Texture filtering - Quality: HIGH PERFORMANCE
- Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization: ON


Still want more framerates while hardly affecting image quality?

7. Circuit Detail - "High" - May achieve a higher and more consistent framerate around the track or at specific points around the track where you may be experiencing framerate drops. You may notice some far-away trackside objects not showing anymore, but it is a very small amount of stuff, and usually far off into the distance rather than actual track-side stuff. It is a very, very small image quality decrease for the amount of potential framerate increase it may bring on certain PCs and certain tracks.

8. Opponent Detail - "Medium" or "High" - May improve framerates when racing against other opponents, including possible large framerate improvements when racing against many opponents.


These improvements will give you a very, very nice framerate boost in Game Stock Car Extreme and Formula Truck 2013 while barely affecting the image quality at all.

Thanks for supporting Game Stock Car Extreme, Formula Truck 2013, and Reiza Studios! Happy racing!


Here's an example of great results

The 2 worst places for fps drops and stutter areas I have noticed lately have been the tunnel at Troyton GP where the FPS would drop to 40 and stutter like crazy and a full grid start at Curitiba where dust would fly up on the front straight and fps would drop to 25 and stutter badly. With your suggestions, the Troyton tunnel does not drop fps or stutter at all anymore and the dust at Curitiba only drops fps to about 50 with very little stutter.

source --> http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/large-framerate-boost-w-practically-no-image-quality-loss.97304/#post-1882250

 

[David Cordell]

Excellent tips, Spinelli. Thanks.

I have an EVGA GTX750 ti FTW oc'd edition and already had the settings optimized in Inspector from someone else's post about graphics but changed to the AA and AF you suggested and it did help. My monitor refresh rate is 75 hz so vsync holds it there and without vsync It runs GSCE at about 95 fps with maxed out settings.

The 2 worst places for fps drops and stutter areas I have noticed lately have been the tunnel at Troyton GP where the FPS would drop to 40 and stutter like crazy and a full grid start at Curitiba where dust would fly up on the front straight and fps would drop to 25 and stutter badly. With your suggestions, the Troyton tunnel does not drop fps or stutter at all anymore and the dust at Curitiba only drops fps to about 50 with very little stutter. I guess the stutter and framerate issue due to dust are not track dependent but that track is where I first really noticed it. Also, smoke does not seem to be a performance issue at all, just dust.

I just remembered I was playing around with some settings in display about a week ago and I had special effects on full . I turned that setting back down to medium and now zero problems with stutter due to dust.

Thanks again. Your suggestions really help a lot.

 

[JoelGL]

Pre-Rendered Frames - "1"

Where is this set? Thanks.

 

[jimortality]

Where is this set? Thanks.

Nvidia control panel

 

[Spinelli]

The 2 worst places for fps drops and stutter areas I have noticed lately have been the tunnel at Troyton GP where the FPS would drop to 40 and stutter like crazy and a full grid start at Curitiba where dust would fly up on the front straight and fps would drop to 25 and stutter badly. With your suggestions, the Troyton tunnel does not drop fps or stutter at all anymore and the dust at Curitiba only drops fps to about 50 with very little stutter.

Great! Love hearing positive results like this

 

[hex]

2. Shadows - "High" (4/5) - Visually speaking, you will hardly notice a difference between this setting and "Max". I don't notice it, I would need to do side by side comparisons to notice

Actually there is a huge difference between HIGH and MAX:

With high you won't have shadows visible in cockpit, so every time you're in the pits or passing under a bridge (like Dunlop Bridge at Donington and Le Mans) or some shadow-casting objects/places - you won't have it visible in cockpit.

Other than this - awesome tips

 

[JoelGL]

7. Circuit Detail - "High" - May achieve a higher and more consistent framerate around the track or at specific points around the track where you may be experiencing framerate drops. You may notice some far-away trackside objects not showing anymore, but it is a very small amount of stuff, and usually far off into the distance rather than actual track-side stuff. It is a very, very small image quality decrease for the amount of potential framerate increase it may bring on certain PCs and certain tracks.

8. Opponent Detail - "Medium" or "High" - May improve framerates when racing against other opponents, including possible large framerate improvements when racing against many opponents.

In which file are these 2 found? I checked my PLR but didn't find them. And what value is Medium or High, 3, 4? Thanks.

Also, when choosing 8xCSAA, upon starting GSCE the screen flickers. What GPU are you using?

 

[Jan Mikuž]

Joel, you have these in your graphics options in game.

Thanks for picking this up, hex. Need to check these out as well. Do you know what the AMD equivalent of pre-rendered frames would be if that's important at all?

 

[JoelGL]

Joel, you have these in your graphics options in game.

Thanks for picking this up, hex. Need to check these out as well. Do you know what the AMD equivalent of pre-rendered frames would be if that's important at all?

Oh ok, sorry. Thought they were one of those in the files. Thanks. Problem though with 8xCSAA , don't know why.

 

[hex]

Do you know what the AMD equivalent of pre-rendered frames would be if that's important at all?

That would be Flip Queue Size

 

[DriverJay]

Nice tips, although id say i do some of these already like the 8xCSAA but with 4x Sparse Grid Super sampling (in Nvidia Inspector) and has less of a performance hit than 4x MS + 4X SGS, there are some here that i will defiantly use and didnt think of , id like to add for those who dont know that if you can download MSI afterburner and install the add on program that comes with MSI Afterburner call Rivatuner and cap your FPS to 60 that willl aslo eliminate stutter if using Vsync in Nvidia inspector

 

[Spinelli]

Actually there is a huge difference between HIGH and MAX:

With high you won't have shadows visible in cockpit, so every time you're in the pits or passing under a bridge (like Dunlop Bridge at Donington and Le Mans) or some shadow-casting objects/places - you won't have it visible in cockpit.

Other than this - awesome tips

Thank you , and DARNNN, I can't believe I never noticed this as I normally notice shadows on the dashboard and wheel and such. Has this always been like this? I wonder if it's changed recently or track dependant? Unfortunately setting shadows from "max" to "high" can make huge differences in fps and fps consistency around the track and the difference - other than the cockpit thing you described - is just about unnoticeable. But I'm very sorry for possibly misleading so many people if what you described has always been true for all builds and all tracks , I will have to edit that when I have time. Man, I hate giving false/misleading info.

In which file are these 2 found? I checked my PLR but didn't find them. And what value is Medium or High, 3, 4? Thanks.

Also, when choosing 8xCSAA, upon starting GSCE the screen flickers. What GPU are you using?

I know it's already been answered for you but I'll answer anyways. The CSAA modes work great for me and always have. I have the 780 Ti (3 ATM), and have had 5 different 780 Tis in total (2 EVGA Superclocked reference style, 3 ASUS DC2 OC) and have never had an issue with the CSAA modes with quite a few driver versions over the past year or so.. However, apparently Nvidia dropped support for CSAA in the 980 (and maybe the entire 900 lineup??).

Make sure you also have NVidia set to "override application settings" for AA when setting the CSAA mode from the NVidia control panel, and also make sure you go to the actual game's (gsce, rf2, rf1, ft2013, whatever) config tool and set the AA Level to "None".

Do you know what the AMD equivalent of pre-rendered frames would be if that's important at all?

Again, already answered but I'll respond . It's equivalent to pre-rendered frames. Set it to 1. I've heard some people say it doesn't seem to work anymore (definitely worked with my ATI cards 6 or 7 years ago), but others say it does seem to work. Doesn't hurt to try.

Nice tips, although id say i do some of these already like the 8xCSAA but with 4x Sparse Grid Super sampling (in Nvidia Inspector) and has less of a performance hit than 4x MS + 4X SGS, there are some here that i will defiantly use and didnt think of , id like to add for those who dont know that if you can download MSI afterburner and install the add on program that comes with MSI Afterburner call Rivatuner and cap your FPS to 60 that willl aslo eliminate stutter if using Vsync in Nvidia inspector

Yup, with Sparse Grid Supersampling (SGSSAA), you should ideally be using normal multisampling (MSAA) alongside it, not CSAA - and the same number for each, so for eg. 2xMSAA + 2xSGSSAA, 4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA, etc. By the way, if you like using high quality, demanding forms of AA like SGSSAA+MSAA, you should also try experimenting with the combined ("xS") modes, they can work very well too, sometimes even better than MSAA+SGSSAA . Just choose one of the "xS" combined modes, you don't need to also choose another form of AA alongside that.


P.S. One more thing, I should move "Circuit Detail" to the first group of tweaks - rather than the 2nd that it's in now - because the tweak makes such a big difference to framerates according to my tests.

 

[JoelGL]

Thank you , and DARNNN, I can't believe I never noticed this as I normally notice shadows on the dashboard and wheel and such. Has this always been like this? I wonder if it's changed recently or track dependant? Unfortunately setting shadows from "max" to "high" can make huge differences in fps and fps consistency around the track and the difference - other than the cockpit thing you described - is just about unnoticeable. But I'm very sorry for possibly misleading so many people if what you described has always been true for all builds and all tracks , I will have to edit that when I have time. Man, I hate giving false/misleading info.

I know it's already been answered for you but I'll answer anyways. The CSAA modes work great for me and always have. I have the 780 Ti (3 ATM), and have had 5 different 780 Tis in total (2 EVGA Superclocked reference style, 3 ASUS DC2 OC) and have never had an issue with the CSAA modes with quite a few driver versions over the past year or so.. However, apparently Nvidia dropped support for CSAA in the 980 (and maybe the entire 900 lineup??).

Make sure you also have NVidia set to "override application settings" for AA when setting the CSAA mode from the NVidia control panel, and also make sure you go to the actual game's (gsce, rf2, rf1, ft2013, whatever) config tool and set the AA Level to "None".

Again, already answered but I'll respond . It's equivalent to pre-rendered frames. Set it to 1. I've heard some people say it doesn't seem to work anymore (definitely worked with my ATI cards 6 or 7 years ago), but others say it does seem to work. Doesn't hurt to try.

Yup, with Sparse Grid Supersampling (SGSSAA), you should ideally be using normal multisampling (MSAA) alongside it, not CSAA - and the same number for each, so for eg. 2xMSAA + 2xSGSSAA, 4xMSAA + 4xSGSSAA, etc. By the way, if you like using high quality, demanding forms of AA like SGSSAA+MSAA, you should also try experimenting with the combined ("xS") modes, they can work very well too, sometimes even better than MSAA+SGSSAA . Just choose one of the "xS" combined modes, you don't need to also choose another form of AA alongside that.


P.S. One more thing, I should move "Circuit Detail" to the first group of tweaks - rather than the 2nd that it's in now - because the tweak makes such a big difference to framerates according to my tests.

What's the next best option to 8x CSAA? I'm guessing the GTX970, like the 980s don't allow CSAA anymore, as I can't get it to work. Funny as I have 8x CSAA working fine running AC.

Or could it be because I switched from auto to dx9 in config? I had to do this to address the flickering shadows.

Also, I get a lot of tearing, mostly when turning, anyone resolved this? Hope I don't have to go vsync. I also have frames set to "-120" and have Reiza's sweetfx.

 

[Martin Vindis]

Also, I get a lot of tearing, mostly when turning, anyone resolved this? Hope I don't have to go vsync. I also have frames set to "-120" and have Reiza's sweetfx.

Do you have a 60Hz monitor? If so, try to lower your fps lock. I'm running 84 (60x1.4) myself and get no tearing.

 

[JoelGL]

Do you have a 60Hz monitor? If so, try to lower your fps lock. I'm running 84 (60x1.4) myself and get no tearing.

Yes, 60hz monitor. I'll try that tomorrow, thanks.

 

[Spinelli]

adjusting the framerate limit above or below your monitor's refresh rate can help hide or make tearing unnoticeable but you will get a constant stutter at constant intervals. Even at 61 or 62 fps limit you can see this constant stutter.

Instead of 8xCSAA? I guess just try regular 8xMSAA (may also be called "8xQ"). If that is too demanding then I guess 4xMSAA. You can also experiment with DSR. That can work absolute wonders. You do that in the general NVidia profile, not the game-specific profile, and then after you apply that you then go to the game's config and set the new resolution. DSR will set the game to a higher res and then down sample it, but it can be pretty darn demanding just like some of the "xS" modes and SGSS, but give it a shot since it's tunable.