# How to get the best FPS?



## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

Is there any way that I can just disable all other processes besides the one that my game is using? I'd like to get the best performance out of the game, but I basically don't want Windows XP running in the background. I don't want to just end explorer.exe or run down the list ending processes; I want it faster than that. I also don't want to have to multi-boot to another OS.

If anyone knows anything about this, please tell me.

Thanks in advance


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

I have found that preventing programs from starting up in the first place is the 
best way to keep the resources open for more important things...like games!

You can run the System Configuration Utility and choose the programs
that you don't want to run in the background after the computer is started.

Start > Run... >* msconfig* > OK

Startup tab

Then uncheck the items that aren't needed...I've seen computers with 20-30 entries here.

***You might NOT want to disable things like virus programs, but that's up to you.
The only things that I have checked are the virus program and the NVIDIA Control Panel.***

p.s.
Some items might keep showing up as checked, even after they've been unchecked.
In this case, if you really don't want them, they can be removed from the registry.


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## tony oh (Mar 22, 2007)

Hi,

I don't know what gpu you have but I got good results following the nvidia version of this:

http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html

http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_1.html

It's just a general tweak guide for you graphics card... I know this wasn't exactly your question but every little bit helps


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## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

Tom6049, thanks for trying but if you read my post you'd see that I said I did not want any processes besides the ones required to play games. I don't load my computer up with programs; I have no other processes besides the ones installed when you install Windows. Tony oh, I'll look at that next, thanks.


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## Tanis (May 30, 2006)

tacoman359 said:


> Tom6049, thanks for trying but if you read my post you'd see that I said I did not want any processes besides the ones required to play games. I don't load my computer up with programs; I have no other processes besides the ones installed when you install Windows. Tony oh, I'll look at that next, thanks.


What Tom said was totally correct. Even if you had a totally clean installation of Windows it would still start up with programs (parts of windows) running that you probably don't want or need running. 'msconfig' can be used to disable them.

Also you can try searching Google for a program called "End it All" I still use this sometimes before I run games to stop any random processes. There are probably many other programs that do the same or even better, this is just the one I use.


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## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

Yes, but those processes don't take up much CPU and RAM and I've already disabled them. I don't think I'm going to find anything that will completely suit my needs. I just want to make my games run in XP like they would in 98.


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## Albyint (Oct 8, 2007)

Well first we would have to know what kind of computer you are running on. if you upgraded a computer operating system, like from 98 to XP, XP requires more power to be ran properly. Therefore, you would need to proportionally upgrade your pc to match that performance. 

Other than that, without your computer specs I cant tell you much else. But I would seriously follow what Tom said if you are looking to be rid of programs, or you can run End It All.


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## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

Well, firstly, when you upgrade from 98 to XP it doesn't take more 'power', it takes up more CPU percentage and more RAM. I have already done what Tom said. I don't want a fully functional Windows environment. All I want is to play games without having to install 98 again. My hard drive is only one partition and resizing is currently not an option, so I can't multi-boot.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

It sounds like you're contradicting yourself. You say you want the most resources available as possible, but then you say that the other stuff Windows loads don't do much. If you really wanted as much resources as possible to be available, then why wouldn't you disable them?

Anyway, there's a program that claims it's better for games, and this is the list of stuff that it does. It says it's freeware at the bottom, but I've never used it, so I can't suggest using it or anything.

Personally, I doubt that you would really notice much difference if you were to disable all the other background stuff. Yea, you might get a technical improvement, like 1 or 2 FPS or something, but you can't notice that, you can only tell because the FPS counter tells you.


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## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

You must be misunderstanding me. If I go to the startup tab of msconfig, there are only a couple things there. Those couple things aren't enough, I want to disable everything besides the things required to play games.


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## Gulo Luseus (May 12, 2007)

It means thers nothing else left to disable. There is only so much yo ucan do in windows, and it looks like youvr reached that point. If it isnt emnough, then realistically you are looking at upgrades or overclocking. Games wont run as well as they did on 98, because they tend to get better, and more intensive on th eCPU and GPU. Unfortunate but true.


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

tacoman359 said:


> Those couple things aren't enough, I want to disable everything besides the things required to play games.


As McTimson has already mentioned, disabling everything possible won't net more than a few frame per second. 
You haven't posted your PC specifications or what games you're playing....maybe you just need a faster computer.


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## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

Disabling everything possible WILL help me, it will make games in XP run like they did in 98. Gulo Luseus, I am running games that I used to play on 98.

I have a 733 MHZ P3 and 384 MB RAM. I'm attempting to play Hexen II, Quake 3, and Unreal Tournament, which all have recommended specifications that are below what I have. I'm pretty sure that Hexen II just has a compatability issue, because I've played games like Doom 1 and Quake 1 with no problems and they all have about the same graphics, but Hexen II runs much slower.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

I think you're going about this with the wrong mindset.

It seems to me that you think turning off all of XP's extra services will turn it into Windows 98. That's not the case...XP isn't just 98 with extra features, it's a completely different system.

Did you look at the link that I posted? There's a bunch of things there you can do. If it's not listed, you can go to MSConfig, and try disabling services. Don't disable everything though, because you'll probably regret it.

If you want the games to run like they did on 98, then why don't you just get 98? Why bother getting XP if you don't want to use any of the features of it? Did the computer used to have 98, and you just installed XP over it? If so, that could be the problem, as the hard drive may not have been formatted.


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## tacoman359 (Jul 26, 2007)

I want to disable the extra features in XP. Maybe it won't run as fast as 98, but it will definitely run faster. I just looked into your post. It seems like my computer is a bit faster, although I can't really tell; I should have checked the RAM usage before and after I did it. I also tried the EndItAll program, but there was nothing to end in it that was not protected. I used to have 98 on the computer, but I did a full format on my hard drive and installed XP. If I got 98, that would defeat my whole purpose of games running on XP like they did in 98. The main reason that I don't want 98 is compatability issues.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

With that machine though, you can't run new games anyway...if the games you're running are Q3, UT, and Hexen, those are games that were made before XP anyway, so I don't see how you would have problems with 98. 

Any problems you're having with games not being fast enough are more than likely due to drivers, not background programs. Games all have higher priority than background apps, and will receive whatever resources they need from the machine. 

What video card do you have in your computer? And what driver version are you running? Sometimes, the latest drivers are not the best for older games, certain versions seem to be optimized for certain games.


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

McTimson said:


> What video card do you have in your computer? And what driver version are you running?


That's a good question....maybe it's a 3dfx card (as in Voodoo) without the correct drivers.


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## REBDomine (Nov 12, 2007)

tacoman359 said:


> Disabling everything possible WILL help me, it will make games in XP run like they did in 98. Gulo Luseus, I am running games that I used to play on 98.
> 
> I have a 733 MHZ P3 and 384 MB RAM. I'm attempting to play Hexen II, Quake 3, and Unreal Tournament, which all have recommended specifications that are below what I have. I'm pretty sure that Hexen II just has a compatability issue, because I've played games like Doom 1 and Quake 1 with no problems and they all have about the same graphics, but Hexen II runs much slower.


Oh lord, I suggest upgrading your computer. And get a good video card and a sound card too! Quake 3 and UT won't mix well with your current rig.

Anyway, here's my rig:
2.93Ghz Intel Celeron (D??)
768 MB RAM (originally 512 MB but my friend gave his old computer to me and added anything useful to my rig)
Intel 82865G video card (oh yeah, the built-in ones. Hate them.)
Two hard drives.

Yet I play Half-Life 1, Counter-Strike 1.5 (with 68 bots ingame), The Specialists, CS:Source and Postal 2 (Share The Pain, Apocalypse Weekend and Eternal Damnation) while at the same time listening to Suicide Commando, KMFDM, Combichrist, :wumpscut:, Assemblage 23 and UnterArt on WMPlayer. I also did my custom maps on this rig, although it takes twelve minutes to compile everything.

Here's my word for running Unreal Engine-based games based on my experience: Most UT-based games won't play well if your memory's below 512 MB. It does help if you could add more RAM. Also, lower your video settings (distance fog, projectors, sprite quality, in-game screen resolution, texture quality and other related stuff) to low values. For sounds, it helps to set it to the lower values (I'd shut off 3d audio for P2). 
Lastly, why do I have two hard drives? It improves virtual memory performance. Move the pagefile (aka the virtual memory file itself) by going to the System Properties, click 'Advanced' and the 'Settings' on the Performance field. Set everything to "Adjust to best performance" then go to the next field that says "Advanced" and "Virtual Memory" . Go to the C:\ drive and click "No Paging File". Then go to your second drive and set it to "Custom Size". I had my values maxed out here in 2048 MB (Initial Size) and 3024 MB (Maximum Size). Click "Set", then OK. It's just simple...and don't forget to reboot teh computer for the changes to work!
Also, if you're on a decent-sized budget, get some Creative Labs soundcards. Postal 2 tends to hog and slow down my PC when using the onboard sound. Built-in soundcards = performance bottlenecks.

Don't forget to scan your computer too for spyware, as well as non-essential applications that run on startup. They tend to be resource hoggers.

I hope this helped you in a pinch.
REBDomine


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

REBDomine said:


> Postal 2 (Share The Pain, Apocalypse Weekend and Eternal Damnation)


I love the Postal 2 games! I even have the "Postal Fudge Pack"!
...last I heard, Postal 3 will use the Source Engine...

p.s.
Sorry for jacking the thread.


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## REBDomine (Nov 12, 2007)

tom6049 said:


> I love the Postal 2 games! I even have the "Postal Fudge Pack"!
> ...last I heard, Postal 3 will use the Source Engine...
> 
> p.s.
> Sorry for jacking the thread.


Oh, that's soooo.....freakin' awesome! Postal 2 rules! Anyway, if Postal 3 is out sometime next year and you decide to buy one, forget installing it on your current rig. Forget it. I've played CS:Source on mine and it takes like five or six minutes to load a small map. But you could stick to Postal 2 for this time.

If you're playing Postal 2, you can do this: try switching the sound driver from "3D Audio" to Safe Mode and don't play full-screen (play only in windowed mode at the 640x480 screen resolution). It's gonna give you a nice little FPS boost. Don't forget the virtual memory thing I told you... :up: 
And put the music at "0". Ambient music takes away huge loads on system resources for a itty-bitty PC like yours.

As I'm writing this post, I'm playing Doom II with uaclabs.wad. Wondering what's it? Google it and be prepared for a big surprise!


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

REBDomine said:


> Oh, that's soooo.....freakin' awesome! Postal 2 rules! Anyway, if Postal 3 is out sometime next year and you decide to buy one, forget installing it on your current rig.


Actually, my current rig plays Crysis and Gears of War just fine.  
The Pentium 1 etc. is just for laughs....see "Tom's PC Specs" for the real rig.
p.s.
I've used Doomsday 1.9 beta-5 for quite a while now.


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