+=+= Suggestions for Performance Settings, Scripts to use, Etc.

[thresholdrpg]

I remember reading some suggestions a long time ago for scripts to help people deal with slowdowns in cities.

Someone had written up a guide that had examples scripts to do things like lower view distance in town, then reset it to longer outdoors, etc.

What are some scripts you all have/use that help you tweak visual settings and improve performance?

Also, what settings in the video/audio categories do you lower to improve performance, framerate, etc. without giving up too much quality.

Thanks!

[skybert]

I've posted this before, but I forget the thread it's in (probably way down in the abyss where noone sees it, so I'll post it again.

I did not write this document. I downloaded it a long time ago, and are only copy/pasting it here.

And, yes. The link on the bottom id broken. The site has been down for a very long time.

----------------------------------file begins------------------------

As you may know, scripts in AO can only contain commands that can be entered into the chat window,
making the use of scripts limited.
However, if you are like me and keep changing the view distance and character view distance
when entering and exiting cities and other crowded areas, you can use these scripts.

The two commands to use are:
/viewdist #
/chardist #
with # meaning a number from 0 to 100 (%).
Example scripts:
"Low"
----------------------------
/delay 1
/text View setting: Low
/viewdist 50
/chardist 5
----------------------------
"Medium"
----------------------------
/delay 1
/text View setting: Medium
/viewdist 70
/chardist 40
----------------------------
"High"
----------------------------
/delay 1
/text View setting: High
/viewdist 90
/chardist 100
----------------------------
To use these example scripts, just copy the text between the lines into a file with Notepad
and save it as some name. Remove the file extension .txt, and put the file in a folder
called "scripts" in your AO directory.

The script can then be invoked in-game with:
/script <ScriptName>

You probably want to make macros of the scripts too:
/macro <MacroName> /script <ScriptName>

For example:
/macro ViewLow /script viewlow

This will invoke the "Low" view setting script above (saved in a file called "viewlow").


/Kraith (kraith@soulfire.org)
-----------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Crysallis (crysallis@igmproductions.com)
for the complete command list, available at:
http://www.igmproductions.com/ao/texts/gencom.txt

[thresholdrpg]

Great post! Thank you VERY much.

Can I ask what the /text setting does?

Also, let me make sure the obvious meaning is correct:

viewdist - how far ahead the "world" is rendered

chardist - how far ahead player characters are rendered

Also, are there any other performance tweaks you or anyone else recommends? Some things like ground detail and such boggled me. Is ground detail all that important? Perhaps that is a good place to trim things down a bit for a bump up in frame rate.

Thanks!

[__________Holmgehirr]

excellent post Skybert. thank you.

Why did you include a /delay 1 at the start of the script?
would be 1ms ... /scratch

Thx in advance

[skybert]

/text blablablablabla
will make the text show up on your screen only. It is ment for giving you info about what you just did.


About the /delay 1
I did not put it there. It was like that when I downloaded the file. All I did, was to decide to not edit it.



edit: answering a few more of the above questions....

You are right about the chardist and viewdist rendering part.
Ground quality is one of the things you can safely reduce.
Other stuff is clouds and clientside wildlife.

Play around with the setings until you find one with satisfying quality/speed. Take everything to minimum, and raise the ones you feel is more important until you notice lag becomes too much.

[thresholdrpg]

Thanks again! =)