Q3 ~ extreme quality!

[ThugsRook]

http://www.bleedinedge.com/images/thugs/ico-q3a.gif

First, adjust all settings to High Quality in the menu options of Quake 3 Arena, and then set Geometry Detail to High and Texture Detail to the extreme right hand side.

The following settings were suggested by John Carmack in order to make the best use of the latest high speed vid cards - type them in the console: (or modify your q3config.cfg file)

/r_lodBias -2 (no low detail models)
/r_subdivisions 1 (more triangles in curves)
/r_lodCurveError 10000 (extended curve rows)
/vid_restart

If you want to undo these settings, just select a geometry detail level inside the game.


even more extreme.....

/r_stencilbits 8 (enable 8 bit stencil buffer)
/cg_shadows 2 (enable stencil shadows)
/vid_restart

If you want to undo these settings, set cg_shadows back to 1.


im posting this info cause i will be using this config for all my future benchmarks ~ and it looks awesome!
(most noticable when looking at round objects, objects in the distance, and archways)

typically my system will lose 50fps "in game" using the extreme settings.

enjoy :-)

[ThugsRook]

http://www.bleedinedge.com/images/thugs/ico-q3a.gif Quake III Arena v1.32 1152x864
highest quality = 319.7 fps
extreme quality = 141.7 fps

:wave:

[Hawk]

Time to re-load the good old Q3 and see what I get. . . . ;)

[DAPUNISHER]

Same here, haven't loaded it on this machine yet, but it's time to correct that. What kind of FPS do you get with all that on? 275FPS instead of 350? :D

[ThugsRook]

"in game" i went from 250fps down to 200fps.
(loading a map and just sitting there to see the fps)

playability is not a problem ~ these tweaks were suggested for a gf2!
well have no problems on our gf4s and 9700/9800s.

q3 normally is what i call a "runaway" benchmark cause its scores are too high.
~i mean wth cares if i get an extra 2 fps when im already @ 319fps?!
but if you make q3 rendering tougher ~ going from 141fps to 143fps is a usable increase :chit:

only time and testing will tell but im hoping it will make q3 bench more like UT botmatch.

:wave:

[ThugsRook]

bump!

[DAPUNISHER]

Game looks awesome! I turned everything on, picked trilinear filtering (not sure if my FX is really doing it or if it's the Nvidia approximation thing I hear about) and added all the listed tweaks. I was running 4x/4x with vert synch on and it capped me at 85FPS and dipped to 59 with a lot of action using FRAPS to monitor.

Still smooth game play and I can honestly say I've never played the game with that kind of graphics quality before. I'll play around with vert synch off and see what happens with frame rates, Hopefully they won't jump around too much. Heck, the last time I played QIII was with a 8500le with no AA/AF and none of these quality tweaks.

[ThugsRook]

Q3 is frame capped in the config file...

...\baseq3\q3config.cfg

change it from seta com_maxfps "85" to "0"

to show the in game fps monitor change seta cg_drawFPS "0" to "1"

HTH :-)

[DAPUNISHER]

Thanx Thugs! :beer: That 85fps cap was driving me crazy! I tweaked all the display properties but it wouldn't change! I'd check my FRAPS log and it would be 85 all the time except when loading a level, most frustrating until I read your post just now. I'll try 8x/8x with all the eye candy and mods and see what kind of FPS I get and how much it fluctuates.

[ThugsRook]

hehe~
yea i figured since you guys were saying you havent played q3 in a long time, id remind you of those 2 things before you went nuts ;)

[ThugsRook]

* gf4600 | 45.23 drivers


http://www.bleedinedge.com/images/thugs/ico-q3a.gif Quake III Extreme v1.32
640x480 = 315.8
800x600 = 265.2
960x720 = 200.1
1024x768 = 178.1
1152x864 = 146.7
1280x1024 = 115.4

:wave:

[ThugsRook]

these shots were takin in 1152x864 res on a gf4600 using the new 45.23 drivers.
no AA or AF was used so you can better see the models and such w/o any enhancements.
click thumbnails for full screen image (warning: big pics)

http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/tn0002.jpg (http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/shot0002.jpg) http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/tn0003.jpg (http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/shot0003.jpg) http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/tn0004.jpg (http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/shot0004.jpg) http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/tn0006.jpg (http://home.comcast.net/~d3rook/q3x/shot0006.jpg)

[ThugsRook]

Q3 Extreme tuned out be 99% video card benchmark.

i gained only 7.3 fps going from 133fsb to 187fsb.

altho this sounds bad, it makes for an excellent benchmark to compare different video cards.



http://www.bleedinedge.com/images/thugs/ico-q3a.gif Quake III Extreme v1.32 1024x768
133fsb = 170.8 fps
187fsb = 178.1 fps


:look:

[ThugsRook]

http://www.bleedinedge.com/images/thugs/ico-q3a.gif Quake III Extreme v1.32 1280x1024
3.4g 189fsb = 196.2 fps
3.5g 195fsb = 196.3 fps


:wave: