PC Optimisation Guide for Rome II ( Prepare Your PC for Massive Battles! )

[jiltedjock]

One of the best things you can do is install 64 Bit Windows. Under 32 Bit Windows, even with LAA, the app will not use more than about 2.5GB of RAM. When running under 64Bit, it is not unusual to see 32 Bit applications using over 3GB.

Regarding the anti aliasing, I've got a 4GB GTX 680. On the Total War games I am tending to only use FXAA through the NV Control Panel rather than MSAA etc. It is not noticeably poorer than 4* AA (to my eyes) but has good effects on frame rates in very large battles. I also tend to cap my FPS at 45. Any more is unnecessary and this irons out the peaks and troughs.

With these settings, on a 2500k o/c @ 4.7Ghz , I get a steady 45FPS in NTW with 6 20 unit armies, 5 of them CPU controlled (using modded unit sizes so about 20k units all in). With this size of battle you are becoming more CPU bound, so limiting the GPU's FPS puts it more in tune with what the CPU can consistently deliver.

[c.ryo]

One of the best things you can do is install 64 Bit Windows. Under 32 Bit Windows, even with LAA, the app will not use more than about 2.5GB of RAM. When running under 64Bit, it is not unusual to see 32 Bit applications using over 3GB.

500 more ram will also make a performance impact. However for games like Kingdoms that application does wonders if you have lots or ram.

Regarding the anti aliasing, I've got a 4GB GTX 680. On the Total War games I am tending to only use FXAA through the NV Control Panel rather than MSAA etc. It is not noticeably poorer than 4* AA (to my eyes) but has good effects on frame rates in very large battles. I also tend to cap my FPS at 45. Any more is unnecessary and this irons out the peaks and troughs.

With these settings, on a 2500k o/c @ 4.7Ghz , I get a steady 45FPS in NTW with 6 20 unit armies, 5 of them CPU controlled (using modded unit sizes so about 20k units all in). With this size of battle you are becoming more CPU bound, so limiting the GPU's FPS puts it more in tune with what the CPU can consistently deliver.

I agree, however some people want eye candy.

[A Barbarian]

Nah, FXAA/MLAA/SMAA just don't cut it for me, especially on the TW battle field (it's not so bad on the campaign map) all the small detail (buildings also for some reason) are not properly anti-aliased. But sure it's a personal preference and you need the computing power for MSAA since it's a lot more costly than those other filters.

Since I can't force MSAA with my AMD card (supposedly some guy managed it for his Nvidia card with Nvidia Inspector but I am not sure of that) I am using FXAA and SMAA together atm, lol. They are injected by RadeonPro which also allows to toggle those filters on- and off while being in the game. And yes I also use a framerate limiter (again from RadeonPro). Atm, my framerate is fixed to 30fps since I can tolerate that for TW games and have everything maxed out as much as possible.

[jiltedjock]

Each to his own, however I am referring to Nvidia's FXAA rather than third party injectors, it works well and has the appearance of 4*AA at less cost. On my rig, a difference of 3 or 4 FPS.

[A Barbarian]

Filters from third party injectors often offer superior quality/performance over driver filters due to being more up to date. Also, the FXAA+SMAA combination I use costs very little performance, maybe 2 or 3 FPS on a 7970. The thing about MSAA is, that it allows easy SSAA which is far superior to everything else in TW games. Shogun 2 with 4xSSAA looks simply stunning.

[alQamar]

I found a good setting for NVIDIA and EXTREME Preset finally!!!


take my preset I've posted earlier with the FXAA optimisation.
alter these settings:
Antialising mode: override applicaton settings
Antialiasing settings: 8X CSAA
antialiasing transparency: 8x Supersample
V-Sync: adaptive (half refresh rate)
apply settings

results: stable 30 fps on 670 GTX nearly all the time no fps scooter anymore


max the game all out disable vsync in the game
disable antialiasing in the game
apply settings

edit: nice poll performance poll here

[A Barbarian]

There is a new AMD BETA driver which supposedly fixes crossfire (had a bluescreen installing them, lol. will try later again):
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=381150


@alQamar
Can you please post a high-quality (.png) screenshot since I would like to check the anti-aliasing quality, thanks!

[c.ryo]

results: stable 30 fps on 670 GTX nearly all the time no fps scooter anymore

30 FPS Is not Stable!

[A Barbarian]

I can even play with smooth 25FPS. It's just a matter of personal taste . On the other hand I get a seizure if I see all those pixelated screenshots without proper AA

[alQamar]

cryo please to not mix things: stable means having constantly 30 fps not means 60+ FPS fast fluid gaming

[c.ryo]

cryo please to not mix things: stable means having constantly 30 fps not means 60+ FPS fast fluid gaming

Its a metter of taste. For me if even Stable 30 fps, would be bad. I always try to get 60-70 stable FPS.

[alQamar]

well actually the Rome 2 pie tastes very muddy, so I though this would be better to know than nothing and having FPS coasters but you are right. I really would love to have steady 60 fps but this is currently far from being possible in multiplayer battles
and when I review the submissions on my Rome 2 benchmark thread and also the Rome 2 performance issues poll thread.

Perhaps you can try this out and add it to your great OP if it is working.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...erformance-hit

[shane32ie]

Noticing even during my 20FPS~ in heavy melee battles that my GPU load is only ever 40-60%, 1500MB Vram max used and although CPU load goes up to 70% at times The 4th core is always 100% while other 3 cores are way down.
Any tweaking about I can do, to help?
Thanks
(i5 at 3.8ghz,670 2GBVRAM etc..)

[c.ryo]

Noticing even during my 20FPS~ in heavy melee battles that my GPU load is only ever 40-60%, 1500MB Vram max used and although CPU load goes up to 70% at times The 4th core is always 100% while other 3 cores are way down.
Any tweaking about I can do, to help?
Thanks
(i5 at 3.8ghz,670 2GBVRAM etc..)

Its all about game engine, same as we cant manually enable SLI, same goes for Processor cores utilisation.

[RDH376]

I found a good setting for NVIDIA and EXTREME Preset finally!!! take my preset I've posted earlier with the FXAA optimisation. alter these settings: Antialising mode: override applicaton settings Antialiasing settings: 8X CSAA antialiasing transparency: 8x Supersample V-Sync: adaptive (half refresh rate) apply settings results: stable 30 fps on 670 GTX nearly all the time no fps scooter anymore max the game all out disable vsync in the game disable antialiasing in the game apply settings edit: nice poll performance poll here

Wow, your the man alQamar! Tried the above settings and for the first time since owning the game, i'm getting a stable fps experience even when full stacks are engaging in melee. Before my fps would go down to 17-18 during melee and freeze occasionally, now it remains above 25 and no freezes. Sure i'd much prefer 60 fps but this is a start. my rig is:- i7 2600k (OC to 4.3ghz) 8gb ram EVGA GTX 770 You might have done this elsewhere but do you mind posting the full settings you are using in the nvidia control panel please. (searching the forum is painful at the moment with the increased traffic)

[alQamar]

I asked cryo to summarise the settings in his OP.

Did he?

Thanks for the credits. Not only the fps are stable but also this leads to a much lower power draw. This settings saves energy and heat which I found quite important in my prodigy case

[RDH376]

I asked cryo to summarise the settings in his OP. Did he? Thanks for the credits. Not only the fps are stable but also this leads to a much lower power draw. This settings saves energy and heat which I found quite important in my prodigy case

Yea he stated these settings, but you are using different settings for AA. I guess the better question is whether you are using the same settings for everything else apart from AA? Obviously thanks to c.ryo as well for the thread which is pretty helpful

[c.ryo]

Im sorry guys for not updating OP, forum lags so hard that atm it take 5-10 minutes to refresh the page. Certain UI elements aren't even working.

[Fresco]

I found a good setting for NVIDIA and EXTREME Preset finally!!!


take my preset I've posted earlier with the FXAA optimisation.
alter these settings:
Antialising mode: override applicaton settings
Antialiasing settings: 8X CSAA
antialiasing transparency: 8x Supersample
V-Sync: adaptive (half refresh rate)
apply settings

results: stable 30 fps on 670 GTX nearly all the time no fps scooter anymore


max the game all out disable vsync in the game
disable antialiasing in the game
apply settings

edit: nice poll performance poll here

Sorry alQmar,but where are your settings that you have already posted for the FXAA optimisation?

[Profound]

I have a 4770K. I disabled hyperthreading and overclocked to 4.8ghz and the turn speed improved by at least 50% percent. AI time between turns is down to 2 minutes!!!!