Far Cry 3 - Island Survival Guide

[Mussels]

frag: things tend to pop in, in a weird checkerboard pattern. its really annoying.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by Mussels

frag: things tend to pop in, in a weird checkerboard pattern. its really annoying.

Hmm, if it's something that bizarre, I'm wondering if it's driver and/or Crossfire related. I assume you're running 5870 dual Crossfire as per your sys specs?

If so, have you tried running it with and without Crossfire enabled (adjusting settings accordingly for one card), just to see if you still get such problems?

Also, have you tried both 12.10 and 12.11 drivers? I know the 5000 series is only two gens old, but sometimes AMD doesn't maintain support all that well for older models.

Lastly, any chance you can make a short vid clip to show exactly what it looks like? I'm assuming you install drivers via a thorough cleaning like with Driver Sweeper?

[Widjaja]

Originally Posted by Mussels

frag: things tend to pop in, in a weird checkerboard pattern. its really annoying.

I get the same thing on occasion.
I don't recall this happening with the 12.8 drivers.
But then again I do not know if the latest patch for Far Cry 3 may have caused this either.

In saying that I do recall this checkerboard pop in happening with my HD4850 and L.A Noire.

[Mussels]

If you're not running the game at ultra settings, that's probably why you're seeing "flickering" or checker-board patterns. Far Cry 3 has high/low textures dissolve in and out, rather than pop in like most games. This makes the pop-in a bit more subtle. When you have lower settings the dissolve-in is more noticeable because the level of detail changes at a closer distance. On Ultra settings, objects further away dissolve-in, making them less noticeable

so since im not on ultra, i get retardo fadeout :/

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by Mussels

so since im not on ultra, i get retardo fadeout :/

Again, LOD settings can be tweaked as per that thread I linked to above. If need be, you can always ask how if not sure. Guru3D is a pretty good forum for that kind of thing. Lot's of tech savvy players willing to share their knowledge.

We're basically talking LOD (level of detail) bias settings here. I'm by no means a coding expert, but in Crysis, poring over the cvar files is how I came up with my own tweak for finalizing my performance boosting while maintaining visual quality, and in the end, it essentially came down to a cvar that effected LOD. This was while playing on a mere P4 single core btw.

I basically put Object Quality at Low, but then had to experiment via trial and error which command to overcome the short distance detail draw in referred to as "dissolving" above. Once I found that the "detail distance" (forgot exact name) cvar was the one to tweak, all was good, and I no longer saw nearby cliffs and such go from blurred to detailed as I approached them.

It's hard to say how such tweaks in Far Cry 3 will affect frame rates though. In Crysis, Object Quality on higher settings gave physics properties to foliage at far distances. Such features as trees and grass being affected by wind is not very noticeable at long view distances, so there was definitely room for performance optimization tweaks. With this game, I'm not sure if there can be such tweaks done to offset bumping up textures to draw in with less pop ins.

[t77snapshot]

Originally Posted by jboydgolfer

thanks @t77SnapShot, Those r Some Nice ones. #3 is Really nice.

If I'm Correct, that's one of the Outpost's, that you Can go around back, and access the "store" that's inside, without actually going inside. I found this out while taking over a base, And I went to loot a body, and it was all of a sudden, in the Store menu, so I backed out, and I was still outside??!!. I believe(if it's the right one), that it's on the second , or third step ,against the building , in back.

Thanks jboydgolfer, yeah some others liked the "moonlight" shot the best too.

As for the outpost store access? I am not sure, infact I have not come across that gitch before and am now very curious about it. I know that there are 2 outposts with almost this exact alarm setup by the river bed.

[Widjaja]

On my second play through still thanks to the steam holiday sales.
Decided to ditch my trusty old assault rifle for the shredder signature smg.

A very very lethal little gun.
Half a second left click and the enemy is dead.

On to the stupid stealth mission to get some ugly clothing.
Took a me a while to figure out how to complete that mission.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by Widjaja

Decided to ditch my trusty old assault rifle for the shredder signature smg.

A very very lethal little gun.
Half a second left click and the enemy is dead.

Yep, one of the best sig weaps in the game. Think I'll try the Bull next. I have the Bushmaster, and it's good, but I hate the scopes they put on assault rifles in this game. I diligently saved up for the AMR last play through and was disappointed that it's literally an enemy magnet having no suppressor. The exploding rounds don't seem as powerful as they should be either. I might try making some exploding tip arrows instead.

[Jstn7477]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

Hmm, if it's something that bizarre, I'm wondering if it's driver and/or Crossfire related. I assume you're running 5870 dual Crossfire as per your sys specs?

If so, have you tried running it with and without Crossfire enabled (adjusting settings accordingly for one card), just to see if you still get such problems?

Also, have you tried both 12.10 and 12.11 drivers? I know the 5000 series is only two gens old, but sometimes AMD doesn't maintain support all that well for older models.

Lastly, any chance you can make a short vid clip to show exactly what it looks like? I'm assuming you install drivers via a thorough cleaning like with Driver Sweeper?

My 7950 has the crappy pixellated pop-in on Ultra and it is rather annoying as it happens on close objects as well. The game is also rather stuttery like it is experiencing frame latency issues (often hits 20ms+). I'm using 12.11 Beta11 drivers, no difference between Win7 or 8, and my card is currently at 1175/1500, 1.2v.

[Frag Maniac]

Again, can anyone offer a short video clip showing what this type of pop-in looks like? What you're describing sounds a bit like the "tiling" that occurs when a digital TV broadcast fades in and out. I don't get such problems with my 7970, but then again I've turned off MSAA to keep frame rates up.

Whether or not one experiences pop-ins I think has more to do with than just the game coding. On my GTS 250 I often experienced pop-ins that others didn't. I think it has to do with the raw power of the GPU regarding ROPS, fill rate, etc.

Anyways, for those whom argue that this is a well optimized game, I can't say I agree with them. For all the heat Crytek took for Crysis 1, it actually runs more stable than this game does. Far Cry 3 has issues other than performance too.

Despite offering a variety of AO, the lighting, esp in foliage, has this weird, subtle flicker, and there's some hitching to movement too. I've also seen weird white or yellow small triangles appear in NPC's hair at times, which has been verified by others.

[Widjaja]

Originally Posted by Jstn7477

My 7950 has the crappy pixellated pop-in on Ultra and it is rather annoying as it happens on close objects as well. The game is also rather stuttery like it is experiencing frame latency issues (often hits 20ms+). I'm using 12.11 Beta11 drivers, no difference between Win7 or 8, and my card is currently at 1175/1500, 1.2v.

I seem to be having the same experience as you with Far Cry 3 but on a 7870.
The funny thing is, didn't AMD say these drivers are going to be performance drivers for Far Cry 3?

I was on 12.8 WHQL in the first play through with no AA and don't recall any on the pixel pop in.
I did not use AA because it was broken for me with the 12.8 drivers.
The game did not receive it's first patch either.

[Frag Maniac]

BTW, forgot to say, but make sure you install the AMD Far Cry 3 driver patch. The Far Cry 3 driver tweaks are not contained in any one specific driver, but rather this patch. It's called the 12.11 CAP 2 Application Profile and is only .5MB.

"Description:
This release of AMD Catalyst™ delivers support for the latest AMD CrossFireX™ and AMD Enduro™ profiles in a separate executable file ensuring users have access to the absolute latest set of profiles installed on their PC.

New profiles added to this release:
- Improves Far Cry 3 performance for single GPU configurations with AA"

[silapakorn]

Originally Posted by Widjaja

On my second play through still thanks to the steam holiday sales.
Decided to ditch my trusty old assault rifle for the shredder signature smg.

A very very lethal little gun.
Half a second left click and the enemy is dead.

On to the stupid stealth mission to get some ugly clothing.
Took a me a while to figure out how to complete that mission.

Shredder is the best weapon all around, especially for stealth/close counter.
Assault rifle is only good for taking out hoards of enemies after your position is compromised, because most enemies use the same weapon and you don't have to worry about ammo.

But for base assault, using sniper rifle or AMR will be the quickest.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

BTW, forgot to say, but make sure you install the AMD Far Cry 3 driver patch. The Far Cry 3 driver tweaks are not contained in any one specific driver, but rather this patch. It's called the 12.11 CAP 2 Application Profile and is only .5MB.

"Description:
This release of AMD Catalyst™ delivers support for the latest AMD CrossFireX™ and AMD Enduro™ profiles in a separate executable file ensuring users have access to the absolute latest set of profiles installed on their PC.

New profiles added to this release:
- Improves Far Cry 3 performance for single GPU configurations with AA"

just grabbed that. might make a difference, even with crossfire.

[MightyMission]

I just reinstalled far cry to get 100% on it (I missed out clearing the outposts without getting spotted)
and it's giving me some really odd corruption,like the landscape just turns to straight vertical lines covering my sight..i'll try do a screen grab..anyone have any ideas what it is?

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by MightyMission

I just reinstalled far cry to get 100% on it (I missed out clearing the outposts without getting spotted)
and it's giving me some really odd corruption,like the landscape just turns to straight vertical lines covering my sight..i'll try do a screen grab..anyone have any ideas what it is?

Is your CPU or GPU OCed? This game doesn't handle OCing as well as some. It can run fine for a while, then you might start seeing strange artifacts.

[Mussels]

setting textures to ultra, locking Vsync to off (and not zero) and then setting the .ini to read only really boosted my FPS and smoothed out the popin issues (not gone, but reduced)


with the catalyst profile thing mentioned earlier, its even better.

[Mussels]

setting textures to ultra, locking Vsync to off (and not zero) and then setting the .ini to read only really boosted my FPS and smoothed out the popin issues (not gone, but reduced)


with the catalyst profile thing mentioned earlier, its even better.

[boise49ers]

Originally Posted by Widjaja

On my second play through still thanks to the steam holiday sales.
Decided to ditch my trusty old assault rifle for the shredder signature smg.

A very very lethal little gun.
Half a second left click and the enemy is dead.

On to the stupid stealth mission to get some ugly clothing.
Took a me a while to figure out how to complete that mission.

Yeah I kept going left to try and get by and then found out you just go right and drop into the water.
Took me a lot less time then fighting the ink dude though. I only had 2 health bars and no flame retardant
when I went in to talk to Citra though.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by Mussels

setting textures to ultra, locking Vsync to off (and not zero) and then setting the .ini to read only really boosted my FPS and smoothed out the popin issues (not gone, but reduced)


with the catalyst profile thing mentioned earlier, its even better.

Nice, I can't turn VSync off with my display, too much screen tear.

What do you mean by ini file? Most only refer to the xml files in Documents\My Games\Far Cry 3. I've yet to see an ini file anywhere in the game files.

By "catalyst profile thing", I assume you mean the CAP 2 Far Cry 3 driver patch?

[Mussels]

sorry it was the xml

and yes the CAP2 thing.

[Widjaja]

Originally Posted by boise49ers

Yeah I kept going left to try and get by and then found out you just go right and drop into the water.
Took me a lot less time then fighting the ink dude though. I only had 2 health bars and no flame retardant
when I went in to talk to Citra though.

A message popped up saying, I need to find another way.
I could see there was a lot of soldiers about if I went ahead so I back tracked and decided to distract the guard looking over the dock and quickly jump into the water to get to the dock.
The big splash was fine.
I look back and see the guard is still looking away, then I climb up on to the dock and I am caught.
If I swim all the way to the boat the ladder is magically not there.

Needing to find another way around is throwing rocks continuously and hoping for the best outcome.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by Mussels

sorry it was the xml.

I tried setting it to read only, didn't seem to make any difference. Might be that I'm running my page file on a non OS SSD partition though. Could be the difference if there is one is too small to notice.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

I tried setting it to read only, didn't seem to make any difference. Might be that I'm running my page file on a non OS SSD partition though. Could be the difference if there is one is too small to notice.

the read only was purely so it didnt keep erasing my changes.

[MightyMission]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

Is your CPU or GPU OCed? This game doesn't handle OCing as well as some. It can run fine for a while, then you might start seeing strange artifacts.

Yes,the CPU is occed,the same overclock I had when I completed it a few weeks ago..but It didn't make this mess on the screen when I played it through last time..