Still Having FPS Issues In Counter-Strike: Source?

[MuddyMuDmaN]

Like many of you who might be reading this thread, I preloaded CS:S, fired it up when it was released but was disappointed at how unplayable it was right out of the box. I knew from the original HL and its various mods that a lot of tweaking could be done to counteract this and get the fps up to a playable level. Now, I'm NOT claiming to be an expert in cvars or anything like that, but if you are looking for a bit of a performance boost and don?t want to seek out tweak guides and forum postings yourself, this thread might be for you. I have been messing around with various configs for a couple of months now and wanted to share my results for those of you still having trouble setting up a playable gaming experience.:):)

I have three rigs that I?ve set up and benchmarked representing the last three generations of DirectX with various CPU speeds. I hope they represent the average gaming systems out there. The basic setups I have are as follows:

Rig #1: DirectX 7

Athlon 1800+

Nforce2

512 MB DDR3200

Geforce 4 MX440

Rig #2: DirectX 8

Athlon 2200+ @ 2400+

Nforce2

512 MB DDR3200

ATI Radeon 8500DV AIW

Rig #3: DirectX 9

Athlon XP-M 2500+ @ 3200+

Nforce2

512 MB DDR3200

ATI Radeon 9600

All three rigs are running XP PRO SP2 and have the same Counter-Strike: Source setup. For the two ATI systems, I?m using the latest 4.12 Catalysts and for the Nvidia system, I?m using the newest WHQL 66.93s. I performed the simplest benchmark available by running the Video Stress Test at 800x600 before and after adding my custom autoexec.cfg.

Here are the results:

Rig #1: DirectX 7

86.60 -before autoexec.cfg (default)

88.66 -tweaked with autoexec.cfg

I found these results a bit surprising. First off, you'll notice the cvar tweaks in the custom config had little effect on the benchmark results and I can only postulate that the Source engine is so advanced that DX 7 doesn't really use many of the tweakable elements anyway. The second thing is, despite the relatively high benchmark result (80+ fps), I found the actual online game play framerate wasn't nearly as high or smooth. I played a couple of rounds of de_aztec with my autoexec.cfg and found my framerate ranged from the mid twenties up to about 50 fps depending on where I was in the map and whether or not I was in a firefight. Not great, but liveable if you really can't afford an upg:)de. :)

Rig #2: DirectX 8.1

66.08 -before autoexec.cfg (default)

85.59 -tweaked with autoexec.cfg

That?s a 19.51 fps increase with the custom autoexec.cfg. For online play, I haven't found my framerate dipping below about 45 fps and usually stays at 60+ fps in d:)aztec. :)

Rig #3: DirectX 9

76.93 -before autoexec.cfg (default)

101.17 -tweaked with autoexec.cfg

That?s a 24.24 fps increase with the custom autoexec.cfg. For online play, I never really notice a drop below 60 fps. In fact, I usually bump my resolution up to 1024x768 and use a ?less tweaked?:)utoexec.cfg. :)

I've made an effort to make sure the cvars contained in this autoexec.cfg don't create too many graphic anomalies or make the game look too ugly but you are the best judge of that. Obviously, if you tweak to increase your fps, the trade off is a reduction in image quality, but for me, I'd rather sacrifice some eye candy to keep my framerate up! Having said that, I really don't notice that much of a visual difference with my rigs.

For those of you interested in trying it out, I've attached my autoexec.cfg in a zip file. All you need to do is unzip it and place the autoexec.cfg in the Steam\SteamApps\youremailaddress\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg folder. If you let the game install to the default location, the path to the folder you are looking for should look something like this:

C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\youremailaddress\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg

I would recommend running Counter-Strike: Source's Video Stress Test before and after adding the autoexec.cfg to see if it is making a significant difference for you. The other thing I should say is that the changes contained in the autoexec.cfg are 100% reversible. If you don't like the way it makes the game look or it doesn't give you the boost you are looking for, all you have to do is delete it and you are back to where you started. Obviously, if you are already using an autoexec.cfg, make sure you back it up before trying out mine in case you decide to switch back. If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please post them in the thread ?if you are really stuck, you can send me a private message and I?ll try to answer your question in good time. For those of you who are experienced with the CS:S cvars and tweaks, I welcome your comments and feedback. Let me know if you have something to add or if I have missed something.

I hope some of you will try it out and post back your results. Thanks and good luck!

<:) />muddymudman :)

extreme_autoexec.zip

Edited December 27, 2004 by MuddyMuDmaN

[dL]

Yup, I'm using your tweak with some that I took out ;) I gained about 10-20 fps more. Thanks :)

dL

[MuddyMuDmaN]

Yup, I'm using your tweak with some that I took out ;) I gained about 10-20 fps more.  Thanks :)

dL

585173758[/snapback]

Hey dL...thanks again for the feedback. The autoexec attached to this thread is a slightly updated version of the one I gave you. I basically took out the cvars that gave you glowing hands and showed the developer text and added a few new cvars to try and squeeze a few more fps out the average DX8.1 or DX9 rig. :)

PS. It should work just fine for HL2 as well. ;)

[Toxicfume Veteran]

I tried it and I do get an increase in fps, but for me on my 9800 pro dx9, the eye candy is too lacking with it :s The textures all weaken down and the water is opaque. Dn't get me wrong, I don't mean to put you down, I think with a bit more of tweaking of the autoexec we could still get an fps increase with minimal graphics quality loss. But with your cvars the gfx just becomes too bland for me :(

[Xtreme $niper]

I dont even know why but CSS didnt lag before... After a certain update, the spawn areas in CSS have some bad frame rate issues. Everyones been whining about it during gaming.

[dL]

Muddy, could you tell me which ones to delete to get nicer water quality? Perhaps explain to me specifically which each one does. I may take a few off and leave some on.

dL

[LOC Veteran]

Bump mapping makes the water look good, I'm pretty sure that he probably disabled bump mapping. It's mat_bumpmap 0/1 or something like that to disable/enable.

*Edit* I looked over the cfg, and yes bump mapping is disabled. Also Muddy, you have 3dsky set to 0, unless a server has cheats enabled this does nothing for the average user. Valve is supposedly going to take that out as a cheat so people can disable the 3d sky, and I know first hand that cvar really really helps. I got like an extra 5-10 fps just from that during the beta testing of CS:S.

[CJC]

Yeah, this is a nice autoexec.cfg.

However, you get the extra FPS at the expense of some visual quality. I'd rather pay 10-15 fps for the visuals, but that's partially because I have a good FPS in the first place.

;)

[MuddyMuDmaN]

OK...I addressed a couple of the issues you guys have brought up and trimmed back the number of cvars to make it a bit more balanced. Basically, I removed the rate tweaks which should hopefully take care of the spawn framerates, I tested it out and I'm not getting any lag. As for the water, I removed the cvars that basically take out most of the water rendering effects so water should look the way it was meant to. This does reduce the framerate while playing online but doesn't seem to really impact the Video Stress Test. All in all, I removed the following cvars from the original autoexec.cfg:

r_drawtranslucentrenderables 0

r_waterforceexpensive 0

mat_drawwater 0

mat_compressedtextures 1

fog_enable_water_fog 0

mat_picmip 2

cl_cmdrate 35

cl_detaildist 0

cl_updaterate 35

mat_forcehardwaresync 3

mat_reducefillrate3

r_dispfullradius 2

r_DispUseStaticMeshes 0

r_renderoverlayfragment 0

I'm attaching the new one if you don't want to go in and mess around with it yourself. This autoexec is aimed to deal with the issues dL and Xtreme $niper were having. Let me know if it works for you! :)

medium_autoexec.zip

Edited December 27, 2004 by MuddyMuDmaN

[MuddyMuDmaN]

Bump mapping makes the water look good, I'm pretty sure that he probably disabled bump mapping. It's mat_bumpmap 0/1 or something like that to disable/enable.

*Edit* I looked over the cfg, and yes bump mapping is disabled. Also Muddy, you have 3dsky set to 0, unless a server has cheats enabled this does nothing for the average user. Valve is supposedly going to take that out as a cheat so people can disable the 3d sky, and I know first hand that cvar really really helps. I got like an extra 5-10 fps just from that during the beta testing of CS:S.

585176700[/snapback]

Hey LOC...I wouldn't recommend re-enabling bumpmapping unless you have a really powerful rig. I find it is the single biggest tweak you can do to increase the framerate of a DX9 card. I find my Video Stress Test score drops about 15-17 fps if you set it to mat_bumpmap 1 . Basically, I used a combination of about 4 other cvars to reduce the water rendering quality to plain old mud, just by re-enabling them, you can get nicer looking water while only taking a 2 or 3 fps hit instead of the 15-17 fps with the bumpmap cvar. :)

I do have a question about the 3dsky cvar, I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean. Are you saying that command is disabled (regardless of setting) for CS:S online? If so, I think it still works for HL2, so I think I'll leave it in there for now, if thats what you mean. Please let me know.

Thanks for the feedback btw! :) I knew when I posted, I would get friendly suggestions (like yours) and probably some criticism but thats all good if it helps build a better config. :) I guess I'm already moving towards an extreme, medium and light version of the config once I hit the right balance. Definitely a work in progress. :)

[MuddyMuDmaN]

I wanted to use a slightly better benchmark to test the autoexecs so I just ran them through HLBench?s d13c17 demo. Here are the basic settings I used:

Filtering Mode - System Settings (none/disabled)

Antialiasing Mode - System Settings (none/disabled)

Heapsize - 256 MB (half of my systems? RAM)

Refresh Rate - 85 Hz

The first thing I did was run through HLBench?s Maximum and Minimum Quality settings at 800x600 and 1024x768, then ran the demo using the Medium and Extreme autoexec?s posted in this thread. Here are the results:

DX8.1 Results 800x600:

20.8 FPS - Maximum Quality 41% of Minimum Quality.

49.7 FPS - Minimum Quality 100% of Minimum Quality.

56.4 FPS - Medium Autoexec Config 113% of Minimum Quality.

61.8 FPS - Extreme Autoexec Config 124% of Minimum Quality.

DX8.1 Results 1024x768:

09.4 FPS - Maximum Quality 20% of Minimum Quality.

47.0 FPS - Minimum Quality 100% of Minimum Quality.

50.6 FPS - Medium Autoexec Config 107% of Minimum Quality.

60.2 FPS - Extreme Autoexec Config 128% of Minimum Quality.

DX9 Results 800x600:

41.5 FPS - Maximum Quality 75% of Minimum Quality.

55.4 FPS - Minimum Quality 100% of Minimum Quality.

66.4 FPS - Medium Autoexec Config 120% of Minimum Quality.

70.0 FPS - Extreme Autoexec Config 126% of Minimum Quality.

DX9 Results 1024x768:

35.4 FPS - Maximum Quality 79% of Minimum Quality.

44.8 FPS - Minimum Quality 100% of Minimum Quality.

59.1 FPS - Medium Autoexec Config 132% of Minimum Quality.

62.4 FPS - Extreme Autoexec Config 139% of Minimum Quality.

Test them out and see for yourself! I hope it helps a few of yo:)out. :)

[ToastGodSupreme]

anyone know how to run CS:S in DX8 if you only have the steam download?

[KC]

My system:

AMD Athlon XP 2200

512MB PC

Nvidia GeForce FX 5600XT

I don't have any problems what so ever running at 1024x768.

[MuddyMuDmaN]

anyone know how to run CS:S in DX8 if you only have the steam download?

585262775[/snapback]

You can use the following guidelines to set your card properly:

DirectX 7.0 - RADEON 7200, GeForce2 MX, GeForce4 MX

DirectX 8.0 - GeForce3, GeForce4 Ti, GeForce FX 5200

DirectX 8.1 - RADEON 8500, RADEON 9200, GeForce FX 5700, GeForce FX 5950

DirectX 9.0 - RADEON 9500 and up, RADEON X800, GeForce 6800

In your autoexec.cfg (without quotes) put:

"mat_dxlevel 70" for DirectX 7.0

"mat_dxlevel 80" for DirectX 8.0

"mat_dxlevel 81" for DirectX 8.1

"mat_dxlevel 90" for DirectX 9.0

Or in your Launch Options (without quotes) put:

"-dxlevel 70" for DirectX 7.0

"-dxlevel 80" for DirectX 8.0

"-dxlevel 81" for DirectX 8.1

"-dxlevel 90" for DirectX 9.0

This information was pulled directly from the Steam forums and can be found here

Hope it helps. :)

[phildachilpill]

hey mud, im currently using ur extreme exec. well after u kill someone, the person disappears. i was wondering wat command i should do to change that.

[xe9rox]

anyone know if the thing with making the game think that you use an ati card(like in hl2) will give me any fps increase?

[Rogue`]

Dunno about anyone else, but fog_enable 0 doesnt do nowt for me.....can still see fog on dust2

[phildachilpill]

Hey LOC...I wouldn't recommend re-enabling bumpmapping unless you have a really powerful rig. I find it is the single biggest tweak you can do to increase the framerate of a DX9 card. I find my Video Stress Test score drops about 15-17 fps if you set it to mat_bumpmap 1 . Basically, I used a combination of about 4 other cvars to reduce the water rendering quality to plain old mud, just by re-enabling them, you can get nicer looking water while only taking a 2 or 3 fps hit instead of the 15-17 fps with the bumpmap cvar.  :)

I do have a question about the 3dsky cvar, I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean. Are you saying that command is disabled (regardless of setting) for CS:S online? If so, I think it still works for HL2, so I think I'll leave it in there for now, if thats what you mean. Please let me know.

Thanks for the feedback btw! :)  I knew when I posted, I would get friendly suggestions (like yours) and probably some criticism but thats all good if it helps build a better config. :)  I guess I'm already moving towards an extreme, medium and light version of the config once I hit the right balance. Definitely a work in progress.  :)

585176880[/snapback]

can u tell me wat those 4 cvars are?

[phildachilpill]

mud one more thing, my flashlight doesnt work during multiplayer too.

[phildachilpill]

Dunno about anyone else, but fog_enable 0 doesnt do nowt for me.....can still see fog on dust2

585341600[/snapback]

im MOST LIKELY sure that its ur contrast on ur lcd screen or the umm... forgot wat its called for cvr.

[MuddyMuDmaN]

Hey phil...If you want to see the bodies after you they die, look for the following line in the autoexec and make sure it is set to "1":

cl_ragdoll_physics_enable 1

As for the water commands, I think they were:

r_drawtranslucentrenderables 0

r_waterforceexpensive 0

mat_drawwater 0

fog_enable_water_fog 0

...I'll have to check into the flashlight. I never use it so I hadn't noticed! :)

Rogue...are you talking about smoke puffs or fog? Maybe its just me, but I don't remember seeing any fog in Dust2! :blush: If you did mean smoke puffs (from a smoke gren), I don't think you can turn that off cuz it would be cheating! In CS the command was:

max_smokepuffs 0 ...but I don't think that one works in CS:Source. :(

Edited January 26, 2005 by MuddyMuDmaN

[Kupo-Cheer]

I don't see the point in using most of those tweaks. Sure your framerate will be a little bit better, but you're also missing out on pretty much all the graphical quality. Might as well just play 1.6 then. That and editing some stuff like turning off shadows and blood sprays makes it harder to see people and to see if you're actually hitting them.

[MuddyMuDmaN]

Hey barcode...

In some ways I can agree with you but in others I don't. If you only happen to have borderline hardware requirements, your framerate can get low enough in a firefight that you get lit up, even if you are a skilled player. No one likes to get owned so turning off the pretty stuff can really level the playing field for those people. :-) Besides, the tweaks aren't turning off the improved physics of the Source engine...you still get the barrels bouncing around...and IMO a tweaked down CS:S still looks way sexier than CS. :D

Xe9roX...

I don't know all that much about the Nvidia to ATI hack, but I'll give you my two cents about it. First off, don't buy all the hype about ATI being way better than Nvidia...they are both good! :) Anyway, the way I understand it, the hack/mod/tweak is meant for owners of the Nvidia FX 5700 line of cards. Supposedly DX9 is not implemented all that well with these cards so alot of users are finding that if they force DX81 in HL2/CS:S, they get a significant framerate increase. I don't own one of these cards so I have no firsthand experience of this but if you want to try it out, you don't need to hack it, just add the following line to your autoexec to try it out:

mat_dxlevel 81

[MuddyMuDmaN]

Xe9roX...

I don't know all that much about the Nvidia to ATI hack, but I'll give you my two cents about it. First off, don't buy all the hype about ATI being way better than Nvidia...they are both good!  :)  Anyway, the way I understand it, the hack/mod/tweak is  meant for owners of the Nvidia FX 5700 line of cards. Supposedly DX9 is not implemented all that well with these cards so alot of users are finding that if they force DX81 in HL2/CS:S, they get a significant framerate increase. I don't own one of these cards so I have no firsthand experience of this but if you want to try it out, you don't need to hack it, just add the following line to your autoexec to try it out:

mat_dxlevel 81

585359329[/snapback]

LOL...I did a bit of digging and I was way off on that one...sorry, I was eating dinner. :whistle:

The Nvidia FX 5X00 line of cards are defaulting to DX80 or DX81 in HL2/CS:S, so you can use 3D Analyze to trick HL2/CS:S to think you are using an ATI card and it'll use DX9. Check this link for the mixed reviews about performance. Seems some are getting a big boost, for others it doesn't work at all. I'd say, if you are comfortable with the instructions in the link, give it a try to see if it works for you. :)

[phildachilpill]

i was just wondering. when i installed my graphics card(chaintech geforce fx5200 256 mb ddr, 128 bit). i found a option for aperture size. and i was wondering how i would max out my graphics card because i thought with such a great graphics card, i wouldnt have problems with fps, but my fps doubled form 9 to 18. and if aperture size has nothing to do with it, can u tell me what to do to make my graphics card work the best for my computer?