Wednesday
PCFPS Limiter : Smoother gameplay in ArmA2 (and other titles)
Now admittedly, the vast majority of people are far from having overly high frame rates to begin with. This limiter certainly isn’t going to help you if you’re only getting 15fps, and I’d suggest you look over the related articles linked below this post for some tweaks on how to fix that. If you’re like me however and can maintain a minimum of 40 fps or more this tweak should help you smooth out your gameplay, and put your system resources to better use than cranking out overly high frame rates.
It first occurred to me to try this little app when flying around in an F-35 in the editor. On the system and settings outlined at the bottom of this post, I get well over 100fps by myself in the editor with Vsync turned off. What I noticed was that although the frame rate was obviously high, the game stuttered a lot s I flew around. Enabling Vsync locked my FPS to 60 (the refresh rate of my LCD monitor) and the stuttering went away. One can presume that since the system was less occupied cranking out 100+ fps it was more able to maintain a smooth steady experience at 60fps. Now if you think about it, there is really no reason to have a frame rate above 30. Some might be happy enough with 25 or so, but anything over 30 or so is really almost pointless. Why have your system working hard to crank out 60 fps if it’s not needed? Wouldn’t it be better to limit your frame rate to 30, then leave that extra overhead you gain by not rendering all that useless frames for maintaining a smoother game? I’ve found the answer to these is yes, and how you do it is with FPS Limiter. Here’s how.
- Download FPS_limiter_0.2.rar
- Unpack the .rar file to a directory on your hard drive (mine is in \SimLimiter)
- Run FPS_Limiter_GUI.jar (you’ll need Java installed for this to work)
- Click “Search Executable” and find your ArmA2.exe
- Enter 30 for “maximum fps” if its not already there
- Click “create bat”, which will create a batch file in the fps limiter directory.
- Make a shortcut to that batch file on your desktop and rename as you like
From now on you will use this shortcut to launch ArmA2. When double clicked you will see a DOS window appear, followed by ArmA2 (this make take a little while so be patient). This will effectively prevent your in game FPS from going above 30, leaving all that new found free processing power to be available as needed and providing smoother gameplay. When finished playing, just close ArmA2 as usual and close the dos box window.
One caveat, by default you will loose any shortcut switches you previously used (such as -nosplash etc). I’ve not yet experimented with re-implementing these when using the .bat file to load the game, but I’m sure it’s possible. Please post a comment if you try this and find it useful, or if you sort out how to allow shortcut switches to work with the .bat file.
For the record, my system and current ArmA2 specs:
System
Q6600 2.4ghz overclocked to 3.7ghz
Asus P5N32-E SLI mobo with BIOS 1701
2gb OCZ Reaper 9600 @857mhz (4-4-4-12-1T)
nVidia BFG 8800GT OC2 x2 (SLI) with 190.38
OCZ GameXStream 850w PSU
Two 150gb 10k rpm WD Raptors + 1 TB WD Caviar Black
Logitech G15 keyboard
Logitech G9 mouse
TrackIR5 + TrackClip Pro
Win XP Pro SP3
ArmA2 settings
Screen Resolution : 1680×1050
3d resolution : 150%
Visibility : 4000
Texture detail : Normal
Video Memory : Default
Anti-aliasing : Off
Antriscopic Filtering : Very High
Terrain Detail : Normal
Object Detail : High
Shadow Detail : High
Post Process Effects : Low
Frame rate : Locked at 30
Problems : Campaign CTD’s
Post Tags: arma2, downloads, fps, fps limiter, frame rate, FSX, tweaks
Jul 28, 2009
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I just tried this using Windows 7 64 bit and every time the game starts loading I get “ArmA 2 has encountered an error and will stop working.”
Jul 28, 2009
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I’m going to do some Win7 64bit testing this evening, will let you know how it goes. It’s likely the limiter needs to be run in compatibility mode… perhaps Win XP SP3, which is the OS I was running it on prior to installing the RTM.
Jul 28, 2009
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I use Windows 7 rc build 7100 for all my gaming now with the exception of any online games that require punkbuster.For these i boot into xp 32bit to play as win7 is not supported yet by evenbalance.
I`ve had virtually no problems at all and i get a near 30% increase in fps in all the games i`ve played too.Arma2 runs great and the only crashes i had were due to the beta trackir5 software which would put me back to desktop.Try going into msconfig and disabling any startup stuff related to creative or any other uneeded things.I`ve heard this help others out with the same problems.
I`ve been playing Arma 2 approx 80 hours in win7 btw.
Jul 29, 2009
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Yes, Win7 does seem to be rather good for gaming (and everything else) though my testing with the FPS limiter last night didn’t work out too well. I can get the little DOS window thing to popup but it closes instantly and the game won’t start. No combination of .bat edits or compatibility modes seem to get it happening so I’m not sure what’s up with that.
It works beautifully in WinXP so I’m going to keep at it. My FPS in ArmA2 is was over 30 and I found limiting them was a great way to maintain smoothness with no spiking.
Jul 30, 2009
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Hi,
I just heard about FPS Limiter and was searching directions on installing when I came upon your article. I am not familiar with the rar extension. Can I unzip with Winzip? Also, I have a Gateway FX6800 01E and am averaging about 20-25 fps in FSX but I occasionally see fps spikes of 40 or more. Will the Limiter still help me? Thanks. Regards, Tom
Jul 30, 2009
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Winzip may work, if not Winrar will do the trick (link below). I would say the FPS limiter will certainly help you with FSX, it’s not going to do anything with your 20 to 25fps but the spikes will be held back to 30 (or whatever you have the limited set for) which will give you an overall smoother experience.
You can find WinRar at http://www.rarlab.com/
Jul 30, 2009
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Thanks for the help, Datter. Just curious, but how does the limiter affect the fps limiter already built into FSX? Thanks again. Tom
Jul 31, 2009
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Happy to help!
The idea with FSX is to set your frame rate to “unlimited” in the sim, so that the only thing doing the limiting is the FPS Limiter itself. The in-game version has an odd habit of suppressing frames far below what you set it at. You can test that yourself by just running the sim normally (without the 3rd party FPS limiter) and locking your frame rate to 99 in FSX. On a lot of systems (mine included) the frame rate gets pushed down into the teens for some reason, where with it set to unlimited I’m in the 40’s and spiking into the 60’s. Basically, the in-game limiter is a bit broken or at the very least doesn’t work as advertised on most systems. The FPS Limiter works as exactly as expected with no extra frame rate drop. If you set it to lock at 30, that’s what it does. Now if I could just get the thing running in my new Win7 install. ;)
Aug 2, 2009
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Hi Datter,
I’m afrain I still need a little more help with FPS Limiter if you don’t mind. I followed the directions and have it installed. I found fsx.exe, have 30 fps set, but when I click on create bat, the window disappears but nothing is created in my FPS Limiter directory. It just has 7 files – FPS_Limiter, FPS_Limiter_GUI,HookHelper.dll, Limiter_D3D8.dll and D3D9.dll, Limiter_OGL, and a Readme. I tried 3 times but no file created.
Also, I have been using AlacrityPC to shutdown programs and auto start FSX with system resources maxed. Can I still use the Limiter with this? Lastly I noticed the selection window for D3D8 and D3D9 and OGL. It is set to D3D9. Is this OK? I am running Vista HP Service Pack 2. Thanks again. Regards, Tom
Aug 3, 2009
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Hi Datter,
It seems I solved my problem through a post response on Avsim. The reason I couldn’t create my batch file is that apparantly Vista won’t let a batch file be created in the Program Files folder. That is where I put my folder for FPS Limiter. I moved it to the root directory and it created with no problem. Hope this tip helps other viewers. Thanks again for all your help. Tom
Aug 4, 2009
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ah excellent, glad you got it sorted out!
Aug 12, 2009
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Hi datter,
Could you post your exact shortcut with parameter to fix FPS to 30, cose it seems i can’t get it work right. I’m doing something wrong obviously.
Fire up CMD, find where FPS_Limiter instaled and add /f:30 option with game exe path?
Win7 64bit here.
Thanx, Ivan.
Aug 12, 2009
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To be honest, I haven’t had any luck getting this to run under Win7 64bit myself. It was flawless in XP 32bit, but now not so much. The instructions in the post is the way to go about it…
The trick is running that little .jar file (double click it), and it will open an interface allowing you to find your game .EXE file and set what frame rate to lock it to. When you click OK it will spit out a simple batch file which you double click to run the game, and Bob is your uncle. So to speak. All that said, I have yet to install Java on the new Win7 install, so I was just modding my original .BAT file in the hopes I could sort it out. It seems that under Win7 64bit, even in various compatibility modes, the file will open then close instantly without actually doing anything. When I get time to sort out what the hell is going on (or more accurately, isn’t going on) I’ll update the post.
Win7 64-bit is terrific so far, for everything but this odd little application.
Aug 15, 2009
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Hi.
Have you had any progress with Windows 7? I am trying to limit the FPS for Independence War 2 and so far have got no results. FPS limiter does run and doesn’t just close instantly as it did for you, so it might be a problem with the game. I have Windows 7 32bit and run the limiter in compatabilitiy mode for WinXP SP3.
Aug 16, 2009
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No joy with Win7 and the limiter as yet, but I’m hoping to sit down with the thing one of these evenings soon and sort it out once and for all. It’s interesting it’s doing the same for you on 32bit as it is for me on 64bit, that rules out one area of possible trouble. The FPS limiter is the only thing I’ve had a problem with in Win7 and I’ll certainly post if I get anywhere with it. It’s definitely worthy of a follow-up.
Aug 17, 2009
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Ok, looking forward to hearing from you.
Aug 21, 2009
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has anyone worked out how to get this working with @mod shortcuts yet?
Aug 23, 2009
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Right clik on .bat file, click the edit and add as much mod folder as you want…
To bad this aplication cant work with Win 7, hopefilly somone will fix it
Aug 23, 2009
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thx radnik but i’ve tried every possible edit to the .bat file and it does not work…
anyone else got any ideas how to get this working with mods?
Aug 23, 2009
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Tried everything I could think of as well, and no luck with @mods at all… still no luck under Win7 either.
Aug 27, 2009
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If this is anything like Crysis, its because FPS Limiter doesn’t work under dx10. I’m not sure about Arma2, but I’m guessing it defaults to dx10 as well when running the game.
Aug 27, 2009
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This guy make it work on Win7 for Crysis
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=303508
Sep 14, 2009
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Hey dude! Thanks for your post! I actually saw this while searching google for “FPS limiter”. I’ve been trying to locate this for over 3 months already and forgot about it.. luckily I stumbled upon your site and found the ACTUAL FILE!!! Thanks!
**Won’t be using this for ARMA II but for Oblivion and Fallout 3
Sep 16, 2009
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Hey, glad to be of help. :)
Sep 25, 2009
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@Radnik
That was me from guru3d :). If you guys need to get this working for Crysis on vista/windows 7, you don’t need to do what I said in that forum post anymore. Just create a system.cfg file and add this line “r_driver = DX9″ w/o the quotes (autoexec won’t work for this). This will make Crysis run in dx9 without the need of using a command line parameter. It works in windows 7 64bit, as long as you point it to the 32bit exe
Now for Arma 2, I’ve only tried the game a few times so I’m not sure if there are any ways to tweak it like Crysis. If it can accept cfg files too, there should be a cvar/command that can force it to run in dx9. Then just point the fps limiter batch file to the arma 2 exe and it should run good. As for 32bit vs 64bit, I am also not sure since I haven’t looked into its files yet. With Crysis, that game offers separate exe files.
Nov 24, 2009
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Is there anyway to disable the F11 and F12 commands??
Nov 26, 2009
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Hello.
Well I installed the fps limiter and ran the limiter and got the batch file but when i run a dos windows appears and the following message appears. Windows cannot find (then the directory route down to) FPS_limiter.exe not sure what to do any help please.
thx
Dec 9, 2009
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I’m wondering if anybody knows if this app is Valve Anti-Cheat safe or not? I would love to use it to make things smoother in Left 4 Dead but when it said it was hooking into left4dead.exe I got a bit worried and canceled out of it… Ne1 here used it online with VAC games? Valve support won’t tell me and asked me to contact the author… (because the author obviously knows more about VAC than they do… :/). Thanks!
Dec 15, 2009
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I guarantee you I can tell you the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS.
30FPS is ok, but still stuttery, 60FPS is dead smooth.
Although I’d prefer a constant 30FPS than 60FPS that dips down to <30FPS regularly…
Jan 18, 2010
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Maybe some of you guys good with computers can figure out what’s wrong with windows 7 64-bit version. the problem with the immediate closing, by right-clicking and pressing edit on the batch file? Because I don’t know much about scripts, but the script I have in my batch file seems pretty simple:
start C:\”Users\Home\Desktop\Downloads\FPS_Limiter_0.2\”FPS_Limiter.exe /r:D3D9 /f:500 /x:OFF /l:OFF “C:\Users\Home\Documents\Gunzlauncher.exe
Jan 18, 2010
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I think I’ve found the problem – User Account Control. I disabled it, restarted my pc, and the thing didn’t close automatically, but gave me an error for my game specifically, so it should work for other games.
Jan 18, 2010
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Sorry for all the posts, but I don’t know how to edit. I finally got it to work, but it doesn’t limit the fps. It just waits until the game loads, then says press any key to close.
Feb 11, 2010
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i have a question:
i use fsx and have windows7
i installed fps-limiter and put properties under xp and it works.
the only problem i have, i get a lot of mini crashes sometimes 4 or 5 after each other.
i think it has to do with my windows7 64bits which cannot handle the fps limiter working under xp.
has someone an idea or is there a payable version for fps?