Does FEAR run this poorly, or do I have something wrong?

I

InorganicMatter

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 19, 2004
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OK, after hearing all the rave reviews of FEAR's graphics, I thought I would give it a try. Now, don't think I'm being whiny, but it just seems that the level of eye candy I am getting isn't justified by the enormous ammount of system horsepower it needs. I can run it at 1280*1024, medium everything, no AA, 4xAF and the performance is just barely acceptable (dips below 25FPS quite often). It just doesn't seem right; I can run HL2, Far Cry, and Quake 4 at a much higher IQ and FPS than FEAR (1280*1024, High everything, 2xQAA, 4xAF). Is FEAR just poorly optimized? Is something wrong on my system's end? Or am I just expecting too much?
 
Its your system... FEAR has alot more going on in the enviroments and graphics then HL2 and Q4 put together...

Your videocard is holding you back...
 
It's based off of the Lithtech Jupiter Engine, which has alot of commericial sucess, you're expecting way to much from your system. Just take a quick look at the popular sponsered LAN's what game will usually appear ;) they can show off their tech on a sucessful game (graphics and gameplay wise) unlike Aquanox :D
 
LOL, F.E.A.R is by far the most power hungry game out there today. The only rigs that can run it at true EyeCandy settings are ones with X1900XT's. I don't know why but it just runs poorly on most setups.
AFAIK it should run ok at 1024*768 fine with a 7800GT/X1800 and up with no AA or AF with softshadows disabled and everything else set to high, as long as you have over 1GB of system memory (otherwise you get load hitches).
Having played it a bit, I can't say it justifies the performance.
So in short- it's not very optimized, so don't freak out. you should run at 1024*768 medium and be fine.
 
Run 1024x768x32. I run that on my 6800 ULTRA. F.E.A.R is demanding yes but looks way way better then Doom 3 for example :). But running 1024x768 I think you will have much better luck. It still looks good :). You don´t need much aa in this game either.
 
Altcon.. Whats wrong with you.
F.E.A.R. may be a hog, but it's not that much of a hog.

I play FEAR with the rig in my sig at the following settings.

1024x768x32
2XAA
Full AF
No SoftShadows
Everything Else on Max

I never drop below 30 FPS EVER
 
I just started playing FEAR, because I wanted to see how it would perform with my new 6800gs..but still pushing my stock athlon xp 2500+
I'm playing 1024*768*32 with 2xaa with very steady playable framerates. :)
 
My x1900xt kicks but in fear except for the outside. Sucks I don't know what to do with my settings. Inside 1920X1200 2AA/8xAF no soft shadows runs brillantly. Outside it sucks my ass. Maybe I should have spent the extra dough and SLI'd with the GTX 256 I had. :(
 
i can run with alot of things on high if i disable shadows and dynamic lights, don't really need those anyways
 
texuspete00 said:
My x1900xt kicks but in fear except for the outside. Sucks I don't know what to do with my settings. Inside 1920X1200 2AA/8xAF no soft shadows runs brillantly. Outside it sucks my ass. Maybe I should have spent the extra dough and SLI'd with the GTX 256 I had. :(
Click to expand...
I'm a big fan of nV, but never SLi or CrossFire anything. Just wait for the newest card to come out and get that. There's no reason to buy two current-gen cards when you can get one next-gen card for the same price.

FEAR kicks my system's ass. I have to turn down the setting so much, it looks like CS 1.6! :(
 
texuspete00 said:
My x1900xt kicks but in fear except for the outside. Sucks I don't know what to do with my settings. Inside 1920X1200 2AA/8xAF no soft shadows runs brillantly. Outside it sucks my ass. Maybe I should have spent the extra dough and SLI'd with the GTX 256 I had. :(
Click to expand...

Here's an idea: Just maybe, maybe, if you're lucky, turning the resolution down a bit will help you? :p
 
1280x1024
2xAA
16xAF
no softshadows
everything else set to maximum

Never dips below 30fps. System in my sig.
 
i play fear at everything high at 12..X1024 pretty much perfect
and i have a 256Meg. X800GT 550/1100
Amd 3000+ @2.2
1XGigaram gig stick
Soundblaster 5.1 live
 
The 1280x1024 isnt available in the options I think your refering to 1280x960 for a 4:3 aspect ratio.

the game runs fine at 1600x1200 however I like the smoothness of 1280x960, everything set to maximum SS off no AA.

7800GTX 512
4400 X2 @2.41GHz
A8N32-SLI
 
I don't remember what my resolution is, I'll have to look.
4 AA
32 x AF
Softshadows on
Everything else set to maximum

Specs in sig.

Course after I got BF2 I stopped playing FEAR and still haven't beaten it.
 
I rather run two current gen and max everything out then run the latest and greatest and not be able to max any game out ;).

two 7800 GT is on the limit to max F.E.A.R out. Had to overclock them just a tad to run it 100 % smooth in high quality mode with max aa and aniso settings. And max in game as well :)
 
FEAR is a system hog.. I just kept adjusting the in game settings and running the built in benchmark till my frames never dipped below 35 in it... I then played the game without difficulty.. That was the game that caused me to abandon my 9800pro, agp rig for a 7800gt and pci-e after so many years of excellant service.. I doubt I will get as many years out of this setup as I did the last one..
 
Fear is a beast. I find the difference between 1GB vs 2GB in this game is huge. not in FPS, but stuttering is gone, and overall the game runs much smoother. But I see you have a 6800NU which is a decent card, but mid range by todays standards. You are about where you should be at :)
 
The biggest recommendation I can make for Nvidia users is to go grab the latest XtremeG modded drivers (http://www.tweaksrus.com/).

These can give quite phenomenal boosts in FEAR. 1152/864 max cpu high vga I average IIRC approximately 67 frames, with a 68GT @ Ultra. The game is more fluid and better looking at 1024 2AA however, yielding about 63 frames (once again IIRC, its been a while).
 
altcon said:
AFAIK it should run ok at 1024*768 fine with a 7800GT/X1800 and up with no AA or AF with softshadows disabled and everything else set to high, as long as you have over 1GB of system memory
Click to expand...

You can pull that off and add 4xAF on a 6600GT. With a 6800GT add 2 hits of AA and you're still fine. I'd imagine a 7800GT would at least be able to do the same settings but at 1280x1024.

-pig
 
I installed and played the game last night, great game I think.
I played the game for 4 hours, I havent been entertained with one game like that for a very long time.
I had my settings maxed out, soft shadows on but no AA and 8 AF and the testing process that the game has said that my average framerate was 45 lowest was 29 and highest was 59.
That made me one very happy gamer.
 
Fistandantilis said:
I installed and played the game last night, great game I think.
I played the game for 4 hours, I havent been entertained with one game like that for a very long time.
I had my settings maxed out, soft shadows on but no AA and 8 AF and the testing process that the game has said that my average framerate was 45 lowest was 29 and highest was 59.
That made me one very happy gamer.
Click to expand...

Hm what res?
 
Wow, i didnt really know exactly how demanding FEAR is, i can play the Demo fine (i havent bought it yet) with only one dip below 25, and thats in the room with a TON of lighting efects, so yeah, and im running on a [email protected], 1 gig Ram, and a ATI 9200SE (128) so, yeah, i cant have anything up, i basicly get to see the engine, lol, i play it at 640x480 (what i play most games at) with everything low or off, DX8 shaders, and no pixil dubling, so its ok, but i need a new system, hopefully gonna get a raise and can get one in the summer.
 
I run 1280x1024 with 4xaa 8xaf and get good rates, it will drop below 30 but it isn't for a long amount of time.
 
kleox64 said:
The 1280x1024 isnt available in the options I think your refering to 1280x960 for a 4:3 aspect ratio.
Click to expand...
It's amazing how many people don't realise this...

Even game developers - Doom3, for example, will let you set 1280x1024 (even if you set it to 4:3 :confused: ) but not 1280x960 (not without some .cfg editing, anyway). Same thing with Windows - 1280x960 is not available in the display properties before you install your video card drivers.

I get the feeling that millions of people have just accepted 1280x1024 as a 4:3 resolution without thinking about it, and use it routinely on their CRT monitors. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that 1280x1024 is intended only for use on 5:4 LCD monitors.

So if you're having performance issues, and you're running 1280x1024 on a CRT, change it. The game will have 81920 less pixels to process (multiply that by 10 to take into account all the per-pixel effects in FEAR...), the picture won't be slightly squished together, and if your monitor is anything like mine, you won't be stuck with a horrible 60Hz refresh rate.
 
I run it at 1680x1050 with a 6800nu-128, med quality settings.

Shadows and dynamic lighting is tunred off. On a 6800nu, they just kill the frame rates. When I turned them off, the game ran very well.

Though, going from an 2500XP with a gig of ram to an x2 3800 with 4gigs of ram helped a lot also.

Since you have a 3.2p4, I'd recomend getting another gig of ram and see if that helps. But definately turn off shadows and dynamic lighting. Looks great if you are standing still and showing off, but it's not too good for actauly playing the game.
 
I run it at 1280x960(?) ..with AA maxed , AF maxed , soft shadows on , everything to their respective highest settings with vsync enabled running on my 19" LCD and its smooth like butter in my shoe on a Monday morning

:)



[F]old|[H]
 
DocNsane said:
But definately turn off shadows...
Click to expand...
You might not need to turn them off altogether - try just turning off soft shadows. It looks to me like this actually casts four or five shadows per object (one from a slightly lower angle, one slightly higher, one to each side, and possibly one in the middle), and it's a huge drain on performance.

DocNsane said:
Though, going from an 2500XP with a gig of ram to an x2 3800 with 4gigs of ram helped a lot also.
Click to expand...
I'd be willing to bet that the last 2GB didn't :p
 
FEAR is quite the ball buster.


After recording some data I found that 4xAA is more demanding than SS, though 2xAA is less demanding than SS.

I play the game at everything maxed, 1280x960, SS, and 16xAF. I dont know why some people say that they use both SS and AA at the same time.....it doesnt work right as far as I know. I prefer SS because I hate the sharp high-contrast shadows that occur when I have them off. The jaggies arent too noticeable anyways. I think the graphics are fantastic.

To the original poster.....if they turn the res down to 1024x768, their framerate would see a HUGE improvement. You might even be able to turn some of the visuals on High, as well. Maybe.

BTW what does the pixel doubling do? Does it make things look better?
 
Khaydarin said:
To the original poster.....if they turn the res down to 1024x768, their framerate would see a HUGE improvement...

BTW what does the pixel doubling do? Does it make things look better?
Click to expand...
Yeah... all the per-pixel effects increase the workload dramatically as you bump up the resolution.

As far as I know, pixel doubling simply makes every line of pixels an exact copy of the line before it, so it effectively halves the resolution. But I have no idea how I know that, so... don't quote me on it...
 
heh yea the game is poorly optimized seeing as it shades every pixel

but i think its very worth it, does look way cool, especially with all those sparks (sprites?)
 
The soft-shadows in FEAR aren't worth rendering. Turn them off for a boost.

FEAR makes me hate my computer. Yeah, FEAR's a beast; a huge, hulking beast that kicks many other games' asses. Just because it's a resource hog doesn't mean it's a bad game. Halo PC was a beast when it first came out, now any budget PC can play it with everything jacked up. I think FEAR will take the same route: look great, suck power now. Look great, never a hog later. Hardware just has to catch up with software sometimes. Sometimes...but not often.
 
FEAR is a bear in terms of system use. First game that my 6800GT couldnt handle at native resolution.
 
n3g471v3 d3c1b3l said:
I just started playing FEAR, because I wanted to see how it would perform with my new 6800gs..but still pushing my stock athlon xp 2500+
I'm playing 1024*768*32 with 2xaa with very steady playable framerates. :)
Click to expand...
Damn, wish I could say the same for myself. Maybe it's because I run 1280x1024 on this damn LCD. I'm without softshadows, AA AND AF and I still get dips below 25, hell even a few below 20 but it's not as common. I run with everyone on max, sometimes I turn shadows down to medium to see if it does anything but it doesn't. Maybe it's time for a CPU upgrade already.


BTW I do run at 1280x1024. You have to edit the settings.cfg file for that just like BF2.
 
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