Older Unreal Engine thread-management / UT3 Performance issues

[Dinnercore]

Hello fine people on the internet.
This may not be the perfect place to get support on a specific game engine, but the epic-games forum somehow does not allow posts from new members in the UT3 section...

I have the following problem:

Huge fps fluctuation. The fps drop is related to drawn game engine objects on the maps. If I look at the skybox my fps are rock steady and very high (150+). As soon as I look at the map it drops, the more of the map it has to draw the worse it gets. Drops below 30 at some point.

Moving the camera around impacts this too, so I initially thought there may be some memory related issue.
GPU usage drops symmetric to fps. CPU usage is a tiny bit higher with lower fps, so I´m now thinking it´s CPU related. This older game engine does not know what to do with 32 threads. So I went into game mode and disabled half of my CPU. Still the same.

I tried every ingame setting there is, from thread lock to smooth framerate, ofc I disabled physX. I even tried different hardware audio stuff. Nope.
Bots, as a CPU stress factor, do not impact these numbers. It is the same in 1v1 duels as it is in huge vehicle CTF map with 30+ bots.

System specs under my profile. I use freesync and 144hz monitor. Resolution 1440p.

My first guess is that it just doesn´t match with my hardware (threadripper is not the stuff you want for gaming, especially older titles; I know), being an old nvidia playground title. My hope and second guess is that there may be just some directX components still missing, but that is far fetched.

Anyone here got an idea if there is something I can do? If nothing else works I´ll rebuild my old gaming pc just for UT3. I can´t imagine to live without it in the future.

Thanks for reading and possibly answering!

 

[SniperHF]

Is it possible it can't handle 16 threads either?
That's still double anything mainstream that was out there when UT3 was released.
Disable cores in the BIOS beyond what gaming mode does or try set afinity?

I play UT3 occasionally and it runs great on a 3770k+480. Latest drivers don't cause issues on that card anyway.

If you have another older GPU laying around you could try a straight swap to try and identify if it's the Vega or the Threadripper.

Also you might check and see if there are similar but more discussed issues out there for other UE3 titles like Borderlands or Gears.

 

[Dinnercore]

Thanks for the suggestions, I found the culprit... I feel kinda dumb now.

It was just that I had HPET still enabled from running GPUPI. After probing the BaseEngine.cfg for 2 hours straight and trying some dodgy Cache sizes and texturepool size I found myself staring at my desktop and looking at the damn gpupi symbol thinking... wait a minute...
Disabled it again and it´s ok now. FPS still all over the place, but they stay above 60 where they had been 20 before. And now the CPU load is less, while it actually reaches a higher temp, telling me it actually does some work now instead of god knows what.

Thanks HPET! Thanks Windows 10! You´d both look cute in a double suicide.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hello fine people on the internet.
This may not be the perfect place to get support on a specific game engine, but the epic-games forum somehow does not allow posts from new members in the UT3 section...

I have the following problem:

Huge fps fluctuation. The fps drop is related to drawn game engine objects on the maps. If I look at the skybox my fps are rock steady and very high (150+). As soon as I look at the map it drops, the more of the map it has to draw the worse it gets. Drops below 30 at some point.

Moving the camera around impacts this too, so I initially thought there may be some memory related issue.
GPU usage drops symmetric to fps. CPU usage is a tiny bit higher with lower fps, so I´m now thinking it´s CPU related. This older game engine does not know what to do with 32 threads. So I went into game mode and disabled half of my CPU. Still the same.

I tried every ingame setting there is, from thread lock to smooth framerate, ofc I disabled physX. I even tried different hardware audio stuff. Nope.
Bots, as a CPU stress factor, do not impact these numbers. It is the same in 1v1 duels as it is in huge vehicle CTF map with 30+ bots.

System specs under my profile. I use freesync and 144hz monitor. Resolution 1440p.

My first guess is that it just doesn´t match with my hardware (threadripper is not the stuff you want for gaming, especially older titles; I know), being an old nvidia playground title. My hope and second guess is that there may be just some directX components still missing, but that is far fetched.

Anyone here got an idea if there is something I can do? If nothing else works I´ll rebuild my old gaming pc just for UT3. I can´t imagine to live without it in the future.

Thanks for reading and possibly answering!

Set it for dual core, enable frame pacing and vsync if you have freesync on your monitor enable that too. The game is 11 years old so it is not optimized with the current Hardware

https://www.techpowerup.com/41195/unreal-tournament-3-pc-system-requirements

 

[Assimilator]

Glad to see someone else still rocking UT3.

 

[Dinnercore]

Glad to see someone else still rocking UT3.

Yeah I love that game. Let´s keep it going for ages!
Had so much fun with it on LANs, and even with bots it´s great. It has the perfect pace for a shooter and I must say it´s my favorite title from the series so far. Not many seem to agree but that´s ok.

 

[qubit]

I like playing the even older UT2004. That game still rocks. Dunno why it won't vsync lock any more, but whatever. Have to run it in OpenGL mode of course, as it's DX8 which isn't properly supported in W10.

 

[eidairaman1]

I like playing the even older UT2004. That game still rocks. Dunno why it won't vsync lock any more, but whatever. Have to run it in OpenGL mode of course, as it's DX8 which isn't properly supported in W10.

You might need DX8 libraries

 

[qubit]

You might need DX8 libraries

From what I understand when this was talked about at the time, there's no proper fix for DX8 support and older other than running it in OpenGL, or just using an older version of Windows.

I hope you're right though and the support can be brought back with that. You wouldn't have a link for me, would you please? Not really sure what to look for here.

 

[eidairaman1]

From what I understand when this was talked about at the time, there's no proper fix for DX8 support and older other than running it in OpenGL, or just using an older version of Windows.

I hope you're right though and the support can be brought back with that. You wouldn't have a link for me, would you please? Not really sure what to look for here.

Ok w/e dlls it complains about not having you download those and put them in correct folders in windows.

Heres a video that should help.

How to download dx8.1

How to download Directx 8.1

 

[qubit]

@eidairaman1 Thanks man, gonna bookmark this and try it when I have a bit more time over the weekend.

 

[eidairaman1]

@eidairaman1 Thanks man, gonna bookmark this and try it when I have a bit more time over the weekend.

There is another video there bro

 

[Vayra86]

UT'99 or bust

Nice to be reminded of this utter brilliance from time to time. Still got the boxed version of 2003 somewhere over here A good reminder of how little shooters have evolved over 15 years.

 

[phill]

I loved the original Unreal.. I can't remember when I was playing it but getting 4500 fps was making it a little difficult to play... Vsync helped on that one

Still love and play UT 3, one of the best and my favourite FPS games for sure
Glad you have solved the issue you where having!