severe bug in F.E.A.R

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeff
  • Start date Start date
J

jeff

When reloading a previously saved game, a 33-50% performance loss
results as follows: Lauch fear with FRAPS running. load any
saved game slot, note FRAPS number. Before exiting the game,
reload the game to the
same slot, and you'll see a 33-50 loss in framerate. This degradation
lasts until either you exit the game back to desktop, or you
change resolution in-game (changing res reinitializes the renderer
and restores normal performance). This bug is not random, it's
100% repeatable (although the percentage of loss is variable).
With ATI hardware, It happens with both the demo version, and all
patches of
the retail game. With nvidia hardware, happens only with the retail
version and the loss is less severe, but always significant.
Finally, having 'shadows' enabled is causing the problem,
as shadows turned off does not result in any performance loss.

Obviously, Sierra knows about this bug but they have choosen to ignore
it since six months after the game comes out it's still broken.
No wonder FEAR has a reputation as the most demanding game to date.
Up until the point of the first game restore, the game runs fine. Even
pausing to check settings sets off the bug.
 
Have you applied both the 1.05 and 1.06 updates? Sierra
mentions in 1.06, "This latest update corrects a loading issue
with games saved before the 1.05 update and several other
various fixes. Updated SDK and dedicated server files have
also been released to work with the new update."
 
Im afraid Ive never had this problem in FEAR. Using either X850XT or 6600
GT, (various driver versions), patched or unpatched versions.
Im running X2 3800, 2gb ram, GA K8NFC mobo, WD 160 hdd, and either of above
vid cards.


When reloading a previously saved game, a 33-50% performance loss
results as follows: Lauch fear with FRAPS running. load any
saved game slot, note FRAPS number. Before exiting the game,
reload the game to the
same slot, and you'll see a 33-50 loss in framerate. This degradation
lasts until either you exit the game back to desktop, or you
change resolution in-game (changing res reinitializes the renderer
and restores normal performance). This bug is not random, it's
100% repeatable (although the percentage of loss is variable).
With ATI hardware, It happens with both the demo version, and all
patches of
the retail game. With nvidia hardware, happens only with the retail
version and the loss is less severe, but always significant.
Finally, having 'shadows' enabled is causing the problem,
as shadows turned off does not result in any performance loss.

Obviously, Sierra knows about this bug but they have choosen to ignore
it since six months after the game comes out it's still broken.
No wonder FEAR has a reputation as the most demanding game to date.
Up until the point of the first game restore, the game runs fine. Even
pausing to check settings sets off the bug.
 
Jack said:
Have you applied both the 1.05 and 1.06 updates? Sierra
mentions in 1.06, "This latest update corrects a loading issue
with games saved before the 1.05 update and several other
various fixes. Updated SDK and dedicated server files have
also been released to work with the new update."
Click to expand...

It isn't specifically a loading issue, it happens whenever
you leave/pause your game, then resume, for any reason.
For example, if you are in a game and go into the menu
system to check your settings, when you come back to the game
it will be in this crippled performance mode.
I can't test 1.05 or 1.06 cause there is no 'no CD' crack for
the those updates updates, but I have no reason to think
that these updates would fix the bug.
 
jeff said:
were you running FRAPS w/ shadows enabled? The bug is 100% verifiable.
Click to expand...

No doubt it is 100% verifiable on your system but like others I've just
tried it here with no slowdowns at all. Running an AMD2800+, X80XT PE, 1
Gig of PC3200. ATI drivers 6.5 (with CC).

Game settings are 1032x768x32, effects on max, decals on max, water on med,
reflections max, vol lighting on, vol lighting density max, FSAA off, light
detail max, shadows on, shadow detail max, soft shadows off, texture
filtering trilinear, texture resolution max, shaders max. Getting average
of 70fps down to 37fps in major firefights and up to 100-odd wandering
around. No change in fps when pausing, going into meu, reloading games or
at any other time. Using FRAPS 2.7.4.
 
Game settings are 1032x768x32, effects on max, decals on max, water on med,
reflections max, vol lighting on, vol lighting density max, FSAA off, light
detail max, shadows on, shadow detail max, soft shadows off, texture
filtering trilinear, texture resolution max, shaders max. Getting average
of 70fps down to 37fps in major firefights and up to 100-odd wandering
around. No change in fps when pausing, going into meu, reloading games or
at any other time. Using FRAPS 2.7.4.
Click to expand...

And yet I have seen this on various CPUs, vid cards, ATI and Nvidia,
each having
nothing in common with the other, and each with no problems
whatsoever on any other game, only on F.E.A.R. Also, both the
demo and retail do this.
 
jeff said:
And yet I have seen this on various CPUs, vid cards, ATI and Nvidia, each
having
nothing in common with the other, and each with no problems
whatsoever on any other game, only on F.E.A.R. Also, both the
demo and retail do this.
Click to expand...

To you. Is there no other indications with other games or software that
would give clues as to the problem? Currently d-loading latest patch for
FEAR (1.05) and I'll try it again for you later.
 
jeff said:
And yet I have seen this on various CPUs, vid cards, ATI and Nvidia,
each having
nothing in common with the other, and each with no problems
whatsoever on any other game, only on F.E.A.R. Also, both the
demo and retail do this.
Click to expand...

Jeff, do you have soft shadows turned on? I don't know if that would
conflict with FRAPS, but it has been known be a system hog.
 
Jeff, do you have soft shadows turned on? I don't know if that would
conflict with FRAPS, but it has been known be a system hog.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't tried turning soft shadows on (off by default), but having
shadows enabled
triggers the bug. That is, with shadows turned off, the bug deosn't
happen and I always get full performance. As far as a conflict with
FRAPS, Fraps is merely a convenient way of measuring slowdown, putting
a number on it.
I can disable FRAPS and the bug still occurs, as evidenced by very
rough gameplay.
 
To you. Is there no other indications with other games or software that
would give clues as to the problem?
Click to expand...

Yes, in that since this never occurs with any other game, and happens
with every different combo of vid card, mobo, driver, game patch,
etc., I'd have to say it is the game. Especially since having shadows
"on" is triggering the bug. My nvidia card didn't have a problem with
the demo, but I'm guessing that's cause shadows were off by default (only
a theory, I didn't know to check shadows when I tested the nvidia/demo
combo). SInce I always use a no CD crack, the cracks could be
causing the bug, except that the demo has the same bug.
Currently d-loading latest patch for
FEAR (1.05) and I'll try it again for you later.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I've tried 1.00, 01,.02, .03, .04. Just now I launched the game
at 1024x768 and went directly to a save slot, FRAPS showed 124 fps.
I hit 'escape' to the main menu, and went back to the game, still
124. I then hit 'esc' to the main menu, then choose 'options'
then 'controls', then 'OKed' back to my game without changing anything.
FRAPS was 80. This 35% loss is typical, in fact it is often more
like 45-50 % loss. Point is, just going beyond the main menu
caused the slowdown, no need to actually get out of my game
via a quickload. Reinitializing the renderer is the only thing that
restores full performance (assuming shadows are enabled). if I turn
shadows off,
I get full performance always.

Since I have never seen this reported in any forum, I wondered
how such a severe bug could go undetected. First, you would
have immediate proof only if you are running FRAPS, most people
probably don't routinely run FRAPS 100% of the time.
Second, since virtually anything triggers the bug, it happens very early
in the gaming session and thereafter there is no further slowdown.
So there is no real basis of comparison, the game just always seems
to run slower than other games.
 
I don't think I've seen this bug in FEAR, and I don't even have the latest
update to the game. With everything turned on, maxed out in 1280x960, I get
very good gameplay. I'm about to up the res to 1600xnnnn for the new
monitors.

--
AMD A64 X2 4800+
GA-K8N-SLI
2x1gig PC3200 in dual channel
2x 7800GTX 256meg in SLI
2x Samsung Syncmaster 204B's in DualView
XP Pro x64 and x32 dual boot

McG.
 
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