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Battlefield 3 PC Performance thread

Manager

Member
I talked to Minsc, who did the great Witcher 2 performance thread, and we'll do our best to keep this one updated with drivers etc. For more BF3 info, see the awesome BF3 Official Thread.

TIPS
- Stuttering? Disabling hyperthreading is working for some. A few more things to try. Also try lowering textures to High (specially for <1.5gb GPUs). And unplug the X360 controller.
- Disable Cloud Saves (disabled by default). Can cause corrupt (or deleted) save files, conflicts, and stuttering. How do I do this?
- Low framerate? Try Lowering shadows, effects, motion blur to lower level (Ultra->High, High-> Medium etc) with little loss in image quality. HBAO to SSAO will enhance performance quite a bit without damaging picture too much. Disabling MSAA will make a great performance difference but also damage picture, try 4x->2x first. Also, lowering Texture Quality to High improve framerate greatly. Nvidia has posted a performance guide as well.
- To see ingame FPS, press ~ and add "render.drawfps true" or "list" to see commands (Thanks longdi).
- Nvidia card users with own/factory overclock reports black screen/crash at startup. Solution is to underclock.
- Nvidia card users with freezing / sound hanging in background, try using nVidia audio drivers instead of realtek.
- Game won't launch? And other fixes.
- Want to cap framerate to lock 30 fps/etc? You can try Dxtory
- Sound loop crashing? Disable sound enhancement.
- Weird artifacts on screen? Due to low vram, lower your settings.

GPU DRIVERS
NVIDIA (last update 10-24-2011):
dejan said:
Worth mentioning: pcgh.de is reporting stuttering on Geforce 8, 9 und 200 cards. The new driver didn't alleviate this problem.
Revolutionary said:
Okay, it's the new drivers. Reverted back to the Beta BF3 drivers from last month and it's now running at a smooth 60 maxed out @ 1080p. Good job on those WHQL drivers, Nvidia! lol
Hero_of_the_Day said:
Sli 560ti's. Beta drivers work wayyyy better then new ones.
There's conflicting reports. The new drivers mentioned above (buggy?):
GeForce 285.62 WHQL 64-bit
GeForce 285.62 WHQL 32-bit
GeForce 285.62 WHQL Notebook (Thanks Oni Jazar)

AMD (last update 10-31-2011):
Catalyst 11.10 32-bit
Catalyst 11.10 64-bit
Crossfire-users, download the CAP4 on same pages. Do not use the old CAP3, due to poor performance.​

BF3 PATCHES
mp1st said:
According to Fredrik Thylander, Senior Designer at DICE, a future patch is already being worked on. When asked when we will be seeing a bug fix, Thylander responded yesterday, “it’s the day after release here, so I do not for the life of me have a schedule, but the fix has gone in to the patch-code.” There are a few fixes that we can speculate will make it into the incoming patch.

DICE has reported that they are “aware of the issues that are affecting users’ ability to activate BF3 and to redeem game codes. [They'll] update once fixed.”

Regarding some problems PC players have been experiencing with the mouse, it seems DICE has “found the issue thanks to your guys’ threads. Sneaky bug.” Apparently, “it’s a code thing, not a setting. When [the mouse] hit the cap for movement it interpolated time of movement instead of distance.”

Many fans on the PC and PS3 have reported issues of look sensitivity. On PC, it probably has much to do with the problem noted above. However, Ian Tornay has stated that “we’ve heard similar concerns regarding the sensitivity and control for PC and PS3. We’ve forwarded all of these concerns along to the DICE team who is looking at this issue."

http://mp1st.com/2011/10/27/battlefield-3-incoming-fixes-and-patch-confirmed/
Day 1 patch is already included in pre-downloaded copies and available on Origin upon startup for retail copies. Changelist made after beta feedback, obviously not complete.​

CONTROLLERS
X360 controller is supported, but UI doesn't work with QTE's. QTE button layout workaround. Activate the controller BEFORE starting up the game.​

SETTINGS INFO
Graphics Settings explained (video examples):
Low = "lowest possible"; Similar visuals to consoles, lots of stuff disabled
Still contains the essential visuals not to be unfair in MP
Minimum: GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB RAM

Medium = "good performance";Most important visual features enabled

High = "what the game is designed for"; All major features on except MSAA (if you have DX11 card)
Recommended: GeForce 560 TI or better

Ultra = "highest possible"; Intended mainly for multiple GPU machines for 60+fps
Recommended: Multi-GPU machine, like a dual 580 or a dual 560 for that matter, you can run Ultra at 60fps."

Want to know what you're missing out on if your machine can't handle Ultra mode?
"Ultra sort of cranks things up further," explained Andersson.
"The shadows are a little bit sharper, the terrain is a little bit more tessellated. And also a big setting we have on Ultra is anti-aliasing. We use our multi-sampling there which is really memory-consuming and performance-consuming in general.
"It looks better but it's not a giant step in visual quality.

The settings page is exactly the same as the beta screen.

Beta settings difference (keep in mind that some features, mainly Ultra ones, were not enabled in beta):
Ultra
High
Medium
Low

PERFORMANCE

First of all, see Nvidia's performance guide. Also Full version benchmarks. See link for comparison of AA/MSAA.

2vnfn78.png


battlefield3-final-gpuoklf.png


Older card not on the list? Bad Company 2 uses the Frostbite engine, benchmark. Find your card and find a similar card that's on both lists (BF3 and BC2). It will give an approximation of your performance. Also see this huge benchmark of more cards.

Saren is Bad said:
Good news fellow 580 GTX SLI'ers. Running on Ultra...60 frames locked, bitch
 

Manager

Member
SuperÑ said:
I can not see any differences between High and Ultra. Somebody point'em out for me, plz.

Not all settings were enabled in the beta, like tessellation. These features will probably make the biggest shift in High->Ultra in full version.

When playing, the biggest difference between High and Ultra is the additional AA/MSAA methods, they're not as clear in those pictures though (and I'm not sure they even enabled them, I don't remember if Ultra did that automatically).
 

TheExodu5

Banned
SuperÑ said:
I can not see any differences between High and Ultra. Somebody point'em out for me, plz.

I'm noticing better ambient occlusion (probably HBAO versus SSAO), but beyond that, I'm not seeing much difference. I don't think many of the Ultra options were doing anything in the beta. The lighting was one thing in the beta that did not match up to pre-release videos, so I expect that will be significantly improved in Retail (god rays, volumetric lighting).
 
Pity PC ports of console games (or games that just must be on the consoles as well) never get additional geometry on ultra graphics settings.
 

Deadbeat

Banned
Beta comparison gif is pointless. All its going to do is have tons of people say theres no different between high/ultra when there might be in the retail version.
StoppedInTracks said:
Pity PC ports of console games (or games that just must be on the consoles as well) never get additional geometry on ultra graphics settings.
Draw distance is all that matters honestly. I hated BC2 with shit popping in 10 feet infront of me.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
So, tweakguides said 285.62 WHQL are out but Nvidia's site just shows the 285.38 beta from September as the latest driver... Did it get recalled or what?

Edit: nm, I should read the OP I guess, lol... It's still weird they didn't show on the search...
 

iNvid02

Member
Alextended said:
So, tweakguides said 285.62 WHQL are out but Nvidia's site just shows the 285.38 beta from September as the latest driver... Did it get recalled or what?

op got links
 

Manager

Member
Deadbeat said:
Beta comparison gif is pointless. All its going to do is have tons of people say theres no different between high/ultra when there might be in the retail version.

You're right, removed them. Does the Low/Medium/High links work? Stopped deep linking before.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Benchmarks look good. Nice to know that the ol' 5870 is still holding its own.

I'm hoping the visuals are similar to Crysis 2 in that the higher levels of detail simply add better LOD and improve a few things rather than completely changing the look of the game (like Crysis 1).
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
Haven't downloaded the new nvidia drivers yet but it's running great on my GTX260 at 1080p and low settings. Can't wait til my new card arrives though.
 

knitoe

Member
Pretty much what I expected for long time now, you need highend SLI / CF to run the game at max settings, 1080p and locked 60fps.
 

Wag

Member
Definitely need reports from Crossfire 69xx owners. The beta was a mess for me and totally unplayable. Graphical glitches and whatnot. The folks on Guru3D forums are saying the current preview drivers are glitchy (as usual).
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
gray_fox224 said:
Anyone here going to run the game on the mobile Geforce GT 540 M?

Im just hoping for a consistent 30fps
Have you tried running The Witcher 2? I'd expect the same sort of success with BF3.

Your only hope is low settings at a low resolution.
 

knitoe

Member
Wag said:
Definitely need reports from Crossfire 69xx owners. The beta was a mess for me and totally unplayable. Graphical glitches and whatnot. The folks on Guru3D forums are saying the current preview drivers are glitchy (as usual).
I'll be able to tell tomorrow when it becomes unlock on Origin. Think, I was top CF setup on the benchmark thread.
 

gray_fox224

Junior Member
K.Jack said:
Have you tried running The Witcher 2? I'd expect the same sort of success with BF3.

Your only hope is low settings at a low resolution.
Sorry for my ignorance, but why Witcher 2. Does it run on the same engine?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
gray_fox224 said:
Sorry for my ignorance, but why Witcher 2. Does it run on the same engine?
No, not the same engine, it's just that the two games are equally demanding on mid-range mobile chips.

I asked because the 540M falls below the minimum Nvidia GPU requirement (8800 GT) for both games.

MrOogieBoogie said:
How do I check to make sure I have the latest AMD drivers installed?
If you have to ask that, you probably don't. Check the driver version with GPU-Z.
 

knitoe

Member
MrOogieBoogie said:
How do I check to make sure I have the latest AMD drivers installed?
Without looking, go into CCC > information > software. Check the installed version. Or, just download and install the latest drivers & cap. You only need the latest cap install and can uninstall the old ones, called ATI application profiles.
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
K.Jack said:
No, not the same engine, it's just that the two games are equally demanding on mid-range mobile chips.

I asked because the 540M falls below the minimum Nvidia GPU requirement (8800 GT) for both games.


If you have to ask that, you probably don't. Check the driver version with GPU-Z.

I'm pretty sure I do, but I just want to be completely sure. What should the driver version be? From what I understand AMD has weird driver versions.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
gray_fox224 said:
Anyone here going to run the game on the mobile Geforce GT 540 M?

Im just hoping for a consistent 30fps
Hitting a consistent 30 fps is very difficult on the PC, though. You usually end up with huge variations in performance depending on the scene. You CAN limit your framerate using one of several 3rd party programs, but unfortunately, all of them introduce a slight stutter into the image that ruins the effect. I would love to be able to lock my framerates at 30 fps in cases where 60 fps cannot be sustained.
 
Huh, why are the benchmarks in the OT and the ones linked above different? They both seem to be the same version from the same site.
 

gray_fox224

Junior Member
K.Jack said:
No, not the same engine, it's just that the two games are equally demanding on mid-range mobile chips.

I asked because the 540M falls below the minimum Nvidia GPU requirement (8800 GT) for both games.


If you have to ask that, you probably don't. Check the driver version with GPU-Z.
Oh shit, I didn't know it fell below the 8800 GT :/
 

Soi-Fong

Member
That Nvidia article seems a but fishy. If a GTX 590 or 580 SLI are able to get to beyond 100fps on max settings and 1080p, then cheers to DICE for optimizing the game further.
 

gray_fox224

Junior Member
K.Jack said:
Have you tried running The Witcher 2? I'd expect the same sort of success with BF3.

Your only hope is low settings at a low resolution.
What do you guys think? Buy BF3 to run on my Alienware MX 11 R3 (540 moblie GT card) or get the game on the console?
 

Mechazawa

Member
So are these benchmarks generally better than the Beta benchmarks? Wasn't too crazy about the performance on my 4870/955.

Edit: Actually, I guess it wouldn't matter too much if it's not specifically testing Metro.
 
I did a lot of testing on the beta. The following will imporove performance dramatically:

Turn Off MSAA
Turn Off HBAO/SSAO
Turn DOWN shadows to Medium
Turn DOWN/OFF Motion Blur

The biggest offenders are MSAA and HBAO/SSAO. Disable those if you want higher FPS.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
MrOogieBoogie said:
I'm pretty sure I do, but I just want to be completely sure. What should the driver version be? From what I understand AMD has weird driver versions.
I believe the Battlefield 3 driver is 11.10 Preview 3.

gray_fox224 said:
What do you guys think? Buy BF3 to run on my Alienware MX 11 R3 (540 moblie GT card) or get the game on the console?
Well, how does the BF3 Beta run and look for you?
 

Doc Holliday

SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Getting 25-45 on high on a i7 930 @3.5 crossfired 6850s. 1080p. I blame ati drivers! Gonna try reinstalling again, hopefully that improved things a little.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
TheExodu5 said:
That's a weird benchmark. Performance is where I would expect it, but I'm surprised the difference in between Minimum FPS and Average FPS is so low.
That's incredibly promising, actually, if it's true.
 
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