Hi, this game so far is unbelievable. Really enjoyable. I played for around 4 hours without problems but then I started lagging badly in big scenes or areas with a lot of NPC's. So I ran some tests and here is what I have come up with.

Here are a few screenshots of my framerate with a Q9650 at 3.0ghz and a radeon HD 5970

http://i56.tinypic.com/k9dnkh.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/110g2rs.jpg

As you can see, it really doesn't make much sense.

1. I tried turning Vsync off in the game and on my card, no change.

2. I tried playing the game in administrator mode and in windows XP service pack 2 and service pack 3 mode, no change.

3. I tried changing the applications .exe to Oblivion.exe because I read that that worked for 4870x2 cards in fallout 3 and I figured the fix might be able to transition over but again, no change.

4. I tried forcing AA//AF through the card instead of the game, no change. I turned AA and AF completely OFF and there still wasn't any change. As in, no AA or AF at all. NO change.

5. I turned HDR and BLOOM completely off, no change.

Tried the dll user fix and that fixed my frame problem, getting 40-60 frames now. However I am noticing the NPC lag now as others have mentioned. I also just got my first CTD after trying this dll. -_-

I then monitored temps, checked hardware, and monitored the gpu in action with MSI afterburner. I then realized that the card was only using 1 gpu despite my best efforts. However even 1 gpu should be destroying this game. So ?? don't know.

So / shrugs / I will wait for a patch//driver update from bethesda//ati// before I continue my adventures. It isn't that fun playing a game when the frame rate drops to unplayable levels.

Try http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1123822-potential-fix-for-npc-slowdown/ for NPC lag. It sure helped me and many others get better FPS overall, but especially around NPCs.

Do you mean when mutliple NPC are on screen or when they are talking? Because I don't have the talking issue, just really really low frames in populated areas//lots of action.

I have two 5870's running like crap I will give this fix a try and let you know.

Please do. I don't like messing around with dll files.

Multiple NPCs. Hell even one for me. Easy Pete in front of the saloon would drop my FPS without the dll fix. If I go in the saloon I get 70-80 FPS, until I look at NPCs. Then it drops again. Look away, and up they go.

That (Nexus) dll is safe! I and many others have used, and scanned it many times and it's 100% clean.

I believe you, I just don't want a patch to come out and then have something bug out after I install it, you know? I don't have that much experience with dll so not sure how they work.

I understand. I was once you.

It's basically just a file that tells the game to use the DX9 files and features of your graphics card. If you do use it, and a patch comes out, it really is just as easy as "high light+delete" and it's gone. If you hold Ctrl while hitting delete, it wont even go to your recycle bin but be "permanently" deleted. You then apply the said patch as if you had never used the dll. It does not alter any game files, so once deleted from the folder, all effects it had are gone.

I wouldn't be highly recommending it if I thought there was any chance of it damaging ones system. It's just such a simple, and easily reversible fix I'll even encourage you one more time to consider it. But again, completely understand if you choose not to! There are those out there that would try and get you to download dlls that can do a lot of damage to ones PC. This just isn't one of them. (As to the many testimonials.)

I wish you the best of luck either way for a speedy fix.

Turn off in game AA and AF and force it in CCC.

19x12
4 AA ( CCC forced )
16AF ( 16AF forced )
V-sync on
HDR
Ultra settings...60 fps

i7 920 @ 3.4
9 g ddr 3 @1333
5970
SSD
Win 7 64
Latest drivers and profiles

I got horrible frame rates before doing above.

Also turn down MSAA and mipmap to performance ( if needed )

Leave Catalyst AI on...and Triple Buffering must be on.

If that doesn't work try the dx9 .dll trick ( I haven't used it myself..yet...no need ) or you might have to replace the atimuglpd.dll library like I had to in FO3 due to HDR flickering and water reflection problems...haven't done that either..yet.
Or the ini quad core trick..which I also had to do FO3 .
And I might have to do again..the game runs great and smooth..but I get micro hitches occasionally...doesn't crash..just freezes for a second.

This game was not optimized....I'm so disappointed.

Did you experience the NPC slow down before you changed the AA/AF to the CCC?

[edit] fixed grammar

Not really...

I did install the dx.dll and now even get better ( smoother ) game play...but I still have to force AA and AF as I still get lousy fps using in game AA and AF. Sometimes up to half.

There is no difference in picture or graphics ....just fps.

I was getting 60 ..some 50s and a few mid 30s when the dust devils flew around or in certain spots...also was getting hiccups..pauses.

Now it's ultra buttery smooth...I don't even worry that much about making a save every few minutes anymore..

Smooth as FO3...

Just tried what you suggested, no change whatsoever. Still dropping to 20 or lower frames in highly crowded areas.

I should also mention I am NOT using the dll fix, that is probably what caused your frames to improve, forcing aa//af in ccc did absolutely nothing for me. I even turned AA and AF completely off on the card and in the game and that didn't even change anything.

That"s weird?
Did you turn off in game AA and AF ( Set to best performance ) in game ? Then force it CCC ? That's what I did..turned off in game AA and AF and forced it CCC instead. Also had to slide Mip Map and MSAA back to half way to keep the fluidity of the game going.

You can't tell the difference...

It wasn't the dx.dll that gave me the boost it was forcing AA and AF in CCC instead....even now after using the dx.dll if I use default AA and AF my frame rates tank....I just checked !

All the dx.dll was was the icing on the cake.

I turned AF and AA completely off as well as forcing it through my card, and yes I turned them both off using launcher. There wasn't a frame rate improvement in this area in the screenshots. I mean I turned AA and AF completely off period, I could see how horrible the graphics looked in the game and I was still looking at 10-15-20 fps in this area.

I also just tried playing with HDR off and BLOOM off and I still had poor frames in this area. Try going back to the default dll and doing your method, you may be confusing your steps up.

Alright so I went ahead and tried the dll user-end fix.

I'm getting smooth 40-60 frames now however I am noticing NPC lag.

And I also just got a CTD error not 4 minutes after installing the dll and playing.

Sigh......... seriously bethesda...

Can you update your first post to include your solution and results for future people like us who have this same prob.

I've started playing the game and I'm not having any probs with my 5970, I'm didn't need the d3d9.dll fix either. Here are my .ini tweaks in case someone wants to know them. I'm not sure what makes mine work fine but I'd think it'd be something like the bUseThreadedMorpher=1 or bAllow30Shaders=1 but that's just speculation.

A note for anyone who uses these settings, back up your existing .ini files. My fallout.ini was being overwritten after I modified it so I changed the permissions to deny my user write/append so now it isn't overwritten. These settings are for high end systems with a lot of RAM and good CPU/GPUs.

http://www.xyvo.com/fonv.jpg

Here are the edits I made, I'll just include the parts I changed

Fallout.ini

[General];-- ccc - below didn't existiNumHWThreads=4;-- ccc - was 3 and 36uInterior Cell Buffer=9uExterior Cell Buffer=108;-- ccc - was 0 bUseThreadedBlood=1;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedMorpher=1;-- ccc - was 26214400iPreloadSizeLimit=262144000;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedAI=1;-- ccc - was 0bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1[Display];-- ccc - was 10.0000fDecalLifetime=999.0000;-- ccc - was 0bAllow30Shaders=1;-- ccc - was 10iMaxDecalsPerFrame=99;-- ccc - was 1bEnableEyefinity=0[Water];-- ccc - was 0bUseWaterHiRes=1;-- ccc - was 0bReflectExplosions=1;-- ccc - was 0bForceHighDetailReflections=1[Audio];-- ccc - was 2.0fASFadeInTime=3.0;-- ccc was 0 (doesn't work + game won't exit)bMultiThreadAudio=1;-- ccc - was 0. This allowed EAX and causes the famous Xonar crashbEnableEnviroEffectsOnPC=1; cache sizes in kilobytes, -- ccc was 2048iAudioCacheSize=8192;-- ccc - was 256iMaxSizeForCachedSound=1024;-- ccc 09.07.10 - was 32, set to 16, sounds cutting each other out at 16, 64 sounded teh same as 16 so trying 32iMaxImpactSoundCount=32;-- ccc - didn't existfMinSoundVel=90.0000;-- ccc - was 600.00fDialogMinDistance=125.00[RagdollAnim];-- ccc - was 0bRagdollFeedback=1 [Loading];-- ccc - was 3.0000fLoadingInitUpdateInterval=5.0000[SpeedTree];-- ccc - was 0bForceFullLOD=1[BackgroundLoad];!!-- ccc - was 1 bBackgroundLoadLipFiles=0[Grass];-- ccc - was 7000.0fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=10000.0[TerrainManager];-- ccc - was 125000.0fBlockLoadDistance=250000.0

FalloutPrefs.ini

[General];-- ccc - below two were 3 and 36, can go quite high (21/252)uInterior Cell Buffer=21uExterior Cell Buffer=252;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedBlood=1;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedMorpher=1;-- ccc - was 26214400iPreloadSizeLimit=262144000;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1;-- ccc - was 0bUseThreadedAI=1[Display];-- ccc - was 4iMultiSample=8;-- ccc - was 1.0000fGamma=0.8133;-- ccc - was 0bAllow30Shaders=1;-- ccc - was 10, then was 15 for a long timeiMaxDecalsPerFrame=99;-- ccc - was 0bActorSelfShadowing=1;-- ccc - was 6iActorShadowCountInt=8;-- ccc - was 6iActorShadowCountExt=8;-- ccc - was 2000fSpecularLODStartFade=3000.0000;-- ccc - was 1000fShadowLODStartFade=1500.0000;-- ccc - was 3500fLightLODStartFade=5000.0000;-- ccc - didn't existfDecalLOD2=1500.0000;-- ccc - didn't existfDecalLOD1=1000.0000;-- ccc - didn't existiShadowMode=3;-- ccc - didn't existiMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=3[Audio]-- ccc - was 2.0fASFadeInTime=3.0;-- ccc - didn't existfMinSoundVel=90.0000;-- ccc - was 600.00fDialogMinDistance=125.00[RagdollAnim];-- ccc - was 0bRagdollFeedback=1[Loading]-- ccc - was 3.0000fLoadingInitUpdateInterval=5.0000[SpeedTree];-- ccc - was 0 bForceFullLOD=1[LOD];-- ccc - was 15fLODFadeOutMultItems=20.0000;-- ccc - was 15fLODFadeOutMultObjects=20.0000;-- ccc - was 15fLODFadeOutMultActors=20.0000[Grass];-- ccc - was 7000fGrassStartFadeDistance=10000.0000[Archive];-- ccc - was 1bInvalidateOlderFiles=0[TerrainManager];-- ccc - was 1.5fSplitDistanceMult=4.0000;-- ccc - was 40000fTreeLoadDistance=200000.0000;-- ccc - was 50000fBlockLoadDistanceLow=250000.0000

I have a 5970 as well and confirmed that the 2nd GPU simply isn't working in Fallout New Vegas, I've heard reports of 4870x2 dual GPU card also only running 1 GPU and other dual card setups, I'm guessing that crossfire is completely broken, massive disappointment.

I think someone managed to get dual GPU working, you have to use the D3D file and then use a 3rd party app to force AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) for the game, I can't remember the app name now, sorry.

Any update on this issue?

I tried running it as fallout3.exe and my 2nd gpu didn't kick in (Checked with MSI Afterburner). I wanted to try the Radeonpro approach but it doesn't want to run on my system. I'm going to try the d3d9.dll fix now

I tried the d3d9.dll that is 106496bytes and it allowed crossfire but there wasn't a noticeable increase in fps.. I compared a d3d9 vs non-d3d9 screenshot of a scene with an NPC and they were identical sans a tiny change to perspective and the NPC's shadow being lighter on the d3d9 version, but otherwise they were identical (overlapped them in Photoshop and did a diff)

The NV launcher makes it difficult to set anything specific for the .exe since you can't execute it directly. Others have tried renaming it using other methods and still no crossfire.

I guess I will start playing the game now.

Yep renaming the exe didn't work for me either, I really love this game so far but the lack of crossfire, the NPC stuttering and the CTD every 2-3 hours really lets the game down.

I'm thinking of replacing the atimugdpl.dll library with the one from FO3.

I had poor performance. HDR flicker, and water reflection problems until I replaced the default atimugdpl.dll with a 64 bit version I got from mydll.com.
After that FO3 ran flawlessly..
Think I'll try that in NV today and let you know how it goes.

I'm not sure how it works but I think it resets the ATI profile to use one the from Crysis instead....all I know is that it really worked in FO3.

I replaced my atimugdpl.dll with the x64 one from AMD everything works fine from what I can tell. I moved most of my changes to FO3 over to NV before I started playing and I have the same probs as I had with FO3 so things are ok.

check my thread on 5970/crossfire

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1128352-framerate-fix-for-5970-possibly-crossfire-too/