5 replies to this topic

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, these are the BG2 advices, but most of them do relate to the PS:T too:

4. To set the game up right the first time, the only time.

1. Always patch the game(s) with the latest patch, start a new game and exit after the game has auto-saves itself(so you have to make a char or choose a pre-made one), before you install any mod, and you might as well make a safe backup from the important files: data and override -folders, baldur.exe, BGMain.exe, dialog.tlk and CHITIN.key, in the unmoded game this should take about 960 to 1020 MB's, depending on how the computer counts it.
2. Put the ambient sounds off from the BGConfig.exe, as some of the areas might have no ambient sounds and so the game tries to start them many time continuously, and so looses processing power.
3. Get a huge RAM storage, and set the Cache size to huge from the BGConfig.exe... the recommendations wary, but it can be from the 300 to 3000(Mb's) depending on the size of your installation and how large the .bif files end up being. This will eat your hard drive, but only temporarily.
4. Don't mess with the game configurations so the speed adjustment percentages stay on "normal" ratings even if you have very high end machine, as the game has own it's internal fps counter, it sometimes tries to correct the fps on it's own by lowering graphs etc. Also the games frame rate should be set to about 30, as that's the default.
5. I wouldn't recommend to install any of the speaking item mods, as they run their scripts and fire their comments everywhere, and that's bad for the fps(frames/second count).
6. Trying to avoid too many effects on a character(about 20 is fine, 200 is too many, and 20 000 is way way too many...)
7. De-fragmenting your hard drive might also help... as you don't have to go find the data in the pieces. (hmm, there is a joke in there, hih)
8. Before installing the mods, plan the exact order, so they are in correct order, and make sure if you uninstalled the game that you deleted the old mod files, the data and override folders(don't go and overwrite them) so you can start from a clean install, so there is no leftovers from old mods.
9. Helpful links for Tutu and BGT(the English and German .pdf files) -based Megamods. And the most recent BWP vX, which today is the 8.0.
10. Take note that you should have done all the points 1-9 before you install any mods! But you should be able to do them still, with few alterations.
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11. And when you have installed all the mods you are going to, it might be a good idea to test your game to make sure your mods work, particularly any newer or untested mods. Once you are satisfied your install works, and only then, you will want biff your override folder, but do that knowing that you generally can't change the game much after. The easiest way to do this is to use the End_biff from here, or the more modern Generalized Biffing.
12. Repeat the step 7 again, if you think it might help.
13. Run as few programs on the background while playing as possible, if you think it might help. And scan for viruses, but do so when you are not playing the game... so don't have the Anti virus program running in the backround. *
14. When you quit the game, delete all the files from the Cache folder, if the game even puts any files in there. This might cause a little loading time increase, but it is worth it, cause it removes lag when playing the game.
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15. Inventory management(no stacks that have more than about 200 items, in a bag, arrows etc.), -might also help, as in if you drop an item to the ground or store it in a stash the stuttering might go away. And do not carry too many bags of holding and the like storage items.
16. NPC management, some mods might cause lag if a particular NPC is in the party for some odd reason or another, so if dropping the NPC from the party results in the removal of the lag or the stuttering, do so. And don't forget that somebody needs to know about it, the circumstance this happens etc. good debugging info...
17. Play the game yourself! So turn off the character AI's off by pushing the glowing lantern so it's not lightened anymore, unless it's strictly necessary for 1 action or another... as it's needed to be running while you level up a few mod installed Kits, for example, and if possible make the characters AI to be the None, or very limited and small script, such as auto attacking one if the character is idle.
18. Complete all the quests you are given, as in a long game, some scripts that are looking IF you have this-or-that quest active, will be screaming and causing lags, if their checks are in global category and used all the time... it can be very bad.
19. And if you know your way around coding a .tp2 file and have file name knowledge, you can debug files with a custom made mod based on this.
19.1 The other is to play the game as far as you humanly can with the growing stutter/lag/slowdown until you can't take it anymore, and make more than one save along the way, then install the LStest mod from the bottom of this thread, use NearInfinity to export the .bcs's that are reported by the dialog window the most frequently, and report us what it gives and upload the files, someone should be able to help you then. Then you can uninstall the LStest mod, copy the fixed file to the 'override' folder, and then you get to play the game once more. *
20. For some unexplained reason, when you have played the game quite long time, starting a new game so it autosaves in ToB and importing the BG1 or SoA game in, might help to clear out some of the stutter in them, even after you go back and load the game in the BG1 or BG2 portion of the game, we have to investigate this a bit.
21. Keep in mind that these advices won't solve the whole problem, as there can be things that make a lot of lag for no apparent reason, until they are found, and then it's more than obvious... like the ambient sounds caused lagging problem, it's caused by missed files that references have never been rechecked to be accurate.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 08 October 2009 - 06:58 AM.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Is there any way to do the chache size increase for PT?

Open the Torment.ini with Notepad and edit the line CacheSize=120 ...
If you have Vista, just remember that the game needs to not be in the Program Files sub-folder, for th edit to actually work.