Closed - Can't Stand Smoke Anymore

[Garrett]

Name: Garrett

Rank: N/A

Type of issue: Software/Hardware

Brief Description of Issue:

I made a lot of mods to the settings on my computer, and it can actually run games at lowest settings with good configs (like the 1st MRB config). However, the smoke in DoD:S always causes my system to lag, even if it's just rocket smoke about 50 meters away. The smoke in CS:S is a million times better; it doesn't affect my performance at all and you can see the muzzle flashes from inside it, but that's beside the point.

Is there anything I can do about smoke lag, or am I gonna have to hang DoD:S up? Thanks.

***Medical Supply Staff ONLY Below this line***

Current Status: Closed

Main Technician: N. Holland

Supporting Technician:

[Holland 1st MRB]

Hello Garrett, thanks for posting an MSO topic!

The first thing you should be trying to do is to optimize the game as much as possible. It sounds like you have spent a lot of time working at this, and so should probably move on to optimizing your system.

Make sure your computer is thoroughly cleaned, so as dust and other various particles will not be affecting the performance of your computer. Be sure that the vents and fans are not being obstructed in any way, so as to ensure proper air flow to the internals of your computer.

Make sure you do not have anything excessive programs running in the background. If you have programs like Skype or Windows Live Messenger, close them down before opening the game. It might be a hassle, but it is a very necessary step to testing whether or not your system is actually capable of displaying the in-game smoke, or not.

Go through all of your startup processes and make sure that nothing is starting up that does not need to start up. This is done quickly and easily via the MSConfig tool. This can be run via Start>>Run. Type MSconfig, then OK.

Clean up your hard drive a bit. I personally like to keep a minimum of 5-10 % of my drive free. Believe it or not, it can make a large difference in your computers performance. Be sure this is done mostly through the Add/Remove programs dialog. Simply deleting the folder from My Computer will not remove many of the associated files.

If you have looked into the above, and there is still no improvement, it might be time to think about an upgrade to your system. Though DoD:S was rather intensive for it's time, it is usually an easy run for optimized computers that are even 5 or 6 years old. We have some great people here who specialize themselves with hardware issues, and might be able to help you more with sorting out a relatively cheap, yet large improvement to your system, if you were interested. A modern, high-end computer can be built from scratch for up to $1000, and a significant upgrade can cost as little as $20-100.

[Garrett]

Make sure your computer is thoroughly cleaned, so as dust and other various particles will not be affecting the performance of your computer. Be sure that the vents and fans are not being obstructed in any way, so as to ensure proper air flow to the internals of your computer.

As long as my graphics card doesn't start cooking and the vent isn't obstructed, performance isn't affected.

Make sure you do not have anything excessive programs running in the background. If you have programs like Skype or Windows Live Messenger, close them down before opening the game. It might be a hassle, but it is a very necessary step to testing whether or not your system is actually capable of displaying the in-game smoke, or not.

Yes, I've optimized my computer, used the config to remove all parts of the game unnecessary to gameplay, and ran it at minimal graphical settings.

If you have looked into the above, and there is still no improvement, it might be time to think about an upgrade to your system. Though DoD:S was rather intensive for it's time, it is usually an easy run for optimized computers that are even 5 or 6 years old. We have some great people here who specialize themselves with hardware issues, and might be able to help you more with sorting out a relatively cheap, yet large improvement to your system, if you were interested. A modern, high-end computer can be built from scratch for up to $1000, and a significant upgrade can cost as little as $20-100.

I'm trying to pull off gaming on a 6 year old Dell 17" laptop. I'm lucky that it has an 8600GT, but unfortunately Dells "suck" and the bottleneck seems to be the motherboard and/or processor. This causes a lot of input lag. I won't have money to buy a new PC for at least a year, and I was wondering if there is any kind of fix for the bad smoke in this game.

[Holland 1st MRB]

As long as my graphics card doesn't start cooking and the vent isn't obstructed, performance isn't affected.

Yes, I've optimized my computer, used the config to remove all parts of the game unnecessary to gameplay, and ran it at minimal graphical settings.

I'm trying to pull off gaming on a 6 year old Dell 17" laptop. I'm lucky that it has an 8600GT, but unfortunately Dells "suck" and the bottleneck seems to be the motherboard and/or processor. This causes a lot of input lag. I won't have money to buy a new PC for at least a year, and I was wondering if there is any kind of fix for the bad smoke in this game.

I am attempting to shy away from the supposed "fix", as they are openly seen as cheats in-game. If you look around on mod sites, you could easily find mods that remove smoke, but keep in mind that they very much are cheat mods, and not only take much away from the game, but could also result in a ban on some servers. As far as I know, there are no mods that remove things like rocket smoke specifically, and so would only be fixing half the problem. I would, however, prefer to restrain from discussing these kinds of methods on the forums.

I expect that by running the game in the lowest graphics setting, you have also attempted to lower the DirectX level as well. If not, I suggest you try it.

Please make sure you look into all the steps I had posted above. Every one of them are important to maintaining a strong system.

Laptops are not, unfortunately, made for gaming. The common designs simply do not offer the necessary requirements for the specific hardware, and to provide decent cooling abilities, regardless of whether or not it was branded as a "gaming laptop". If you notice your laptop is getting warm or even hot at the bottom, then I suggest you attempt to get yourself a cooling pad.

Otherwise, you may have to wait it out. Unfortunately not all problems have such a cheap or easy "fix".

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

[Bryant 1st MRB]

It could be as simple as your using a lap top too....that thing gets extremely hot during gaming and if yoi haven't before monitor your temp and possibly buy a cooler. Or get a desktop with a newer card and you will be fine

[T. Brown 1st MRB]

Found this on the dev forums, not much help but at least its kind of an explanation why smoke lags some people out

The smoke grenades use a lot of overdraw, which is demanding on your GPU. Graphics cards with poor fill rate will experience an FPS loss. You can mitigate and test this by playing at a lower resolution. If you don't see your FPS drop as much at a lower rate, than you've verified it's a fill rate issue. For those who has smoke lag issues, try to set up the mat_dxlevel variable to 81 (Can be done through the console, or by defining a command-line parameter -dxlevel 81).

(fyi, mat_dxlevel changes the Directx mode so if you've already experimented with that, derp...; more info here)

[Holland 1st MRB]

Are you looking for any further information on this subject? Please feel free to post here if you have any further questions or concerns.

[Holland 1st MRB]

Ticket closed.

Please post another ticket should any further problems arise, or if you have any further questions to be answered.