Tweaking linux for gaming, how?

Thetargos · 03-07-2004, 11:38 PM

Word!

ftgow · 03-08-2004, 12:33 AM

TIP!

To get VASTLY improved sound quality in ut2003.
SIMPLY
Installt ut2004 demo, and copy over the openal.so from its system directory to ut2003's.
Or symboliclylly link if you dont have enough space.

And remember to have the apprioate sound card modules ainstalled as well as a sound card. You need a sound card to listen to sound but not video. A video card doesnt listen to sound. Nay a video card prohjects sound. and a joystick is not what it sounds like. freak. away.

ftgow · 03-08-2004, 12:34 AM

UPDATE!

For ut2003/4 my slackware setup (minus the new kernel is always done)
Once I feel its good (im doing quiite well and getting very good frames) I will test it against redhat 8.0 And then again against 8.0 but iwht a new kernel.

ftgow · 03-08-2004, 12:34 AM

and then against windows.

purplecow · 03-08-2004, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RolledOat
To enable fast writes and SBA, simply add the support variables that your card supports. JUST after
'alias char-major-195 nvidia' in /etc/modules.conf add one (or both if supported) add this line.
options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1

This worked in Mandrake 9.2, and I got like 100 fpr more in glxgears...
But in Mandrake 10, there's nothing about nvidia in /etc/modules.conf.
I tried adding that there, but it didn't work. Crash.

Well, MDK 10 seems faster, I get 100-200 more fps in glxgears, but that's not very much as it is. But Seems like my main goal, faster ut2k4, is reached.

I'll get to recompiling the kernel sometime after I've ironed out all the other (numerous) glitches this distro has. Not enough energy for that now.

ftgow · 03-08-2004, 01:40 PM

Mandrake, using 2.6 has a differnt setup for module loading. The 2.4 kernels use the modules.conf, 2.6 modprobe.conf.

Thetargos · 03-08-2004, 02:56 PM

Exactly, besides in my Fedora set up I did notice a substantial increment in FPS when I migrated from 2.4 kernels to the 2.6 (when I selected the new scheduler of course

)

LavaDevil94 · 03-08-2004, 07:23 PM

i think were straying slightly from the point here. btw, i wouldnt mind tweaking my xf86 config a bit. hell, im the one who cleaned it up and added all sorts of fancy stuff like cursor shadows, agpgart...

Thetargos · 03-08-2004, 07:55 PM

Also a minor tweak, if you use an ATi card, and you've got the console set to use the Vesafb driver, this patch is for you! This patch solves the problem of overlapping MTRR's as reported by dmesg. The problem is that the VESA driver sets one MTRR of size 16Mb while the drivers will attempt to get the size of that MTRR to the videocard's RAM (in my case 128Mb). You must apply this patch to the file /drivers/video/vesafb.c in your kernel's source tree. This patch works with kernels 2.6.x, since there's another solution for 2.4 kernels.

Patch:

Code:

diff -urN linux-2.6.3/drivers/video/vesafb.c patch/drivers/video/vesafb.c
--- linux-2.6.3/drivers/video/vesafb.c  2004-02-18 04:57:15.000000000 +0100
+++ patch/drivers/video/vesafb.c        2004-03-06 11:24:02.168585856 +0100
@@ -236,8 +236,8 @@
        /* limit framebuffer size to 16 MB.  Otherwise we'll eat tons of
         * kernel address space for nothing if the gfx card has alot of
         * memory (>= 128 MB isn't uncommon these days ...) */
-       if (vesafb_fix.smem_len > 16 * 1024 * 1024)
-               vesafb_fix.smem_len = 16 * 1024 * 1024;
+       //if (vesafb_fix.smem_len > 16 * 1024 * 1024)
+       //      vesafb_fix.smem_len = 16 * 1024 * 1024;

 #ifndef __i386__
        screen_info.vesapm_seg = 0;

ftgow · 03-08-2004, 09:15 PM

As far as my slackware box here is concerned, I think ive got it tweaked as much as possible, ill be working with the 2.6 source so I can check out glxgears benchmarks nad post them here.

LavaDevil94 · 03-09-2004, 01:23 AM

ya, people have been saying bad things about the integrety about 3d acceleration in the 2.6.x kernels, no matter what drivers theyre using, even if its proprietary. meanwhile, anyone know any monitor or ram tweaks?

Thetargos · 03-09-2004, 01:37 AM

The XF86Config(-4) file offers much control over tweaking your monitor, about RAM... Can't help there, I don't know any (besides the kernel ones)

CKHarri · 03-20-2004, 04:24 PM

Help needed, i've been tryin to setup gentoo so i can play ut (btw this thread helped loads, since i found it yesterday) its almost perfect now, but when im online it feels like im playin on 56k modem i.e there is a delay when i fire.

any1 have any suggestions ?

Thetargos · 03-20-2004, 10:34 PM

Check your ping times (the most important one), over what connection are you playing? (LAN, Broadband internet, how many kbps, etc).

CKHarri · 03-21-2004, 04:33 AM

NTL Cable connection 6ook. ingame pings seem fine, same as i get with XP maybe slightly lower. F1 ping =20-40 F6 ping = 60-80 depending on server.