Well my frame-rates did go up a lot when I figured out the Z-buffer settings...
Really? That's weird. Haven't seen anything like that here. Either way leaving it at 24bit is the recommended approach though.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Unfortunately, nothing really seems to be working.
It's a real shame, I really like what I see so far, but the game is simply unplayable like this!!
With only 4 AI cars racing, the frame-rate skips from between 90FPS to 15FPS when all the AI cars are visible and going around a corner or something.
I really want to buy a licence, but I just can't justify it with this problem.
Unfortunately, nothing really seems to be working.
It's a real shame, I really like what I see so far, but the game is simply unplayable like this!!
With only 4 AI cars racing, the frame-rate skips from between 90FPS to 15FPS when all the AI cars are visible and going around a corner or something.
I really want to buy a licence, but I just can't justify it with this problem.
That's really not right with that hardware. What kind of drivers are you using for your graphics card? Do the standard Nvidia drivers work on the Macbook, or do you have to use some Apple-specific drivers?
Well, for the record every other game I've tried on my mac-book works perfectly.
When I created the Windows partition, it loaded all the windows drivers needed from a Mac CD. However, it is Windows, running on an Intel computer, I can't see why installing the latest nVidia drivers would hurt. I'll try it when I get home.
But for example, GTR2 runs flawlessly in traffic with everything maxed out. So I doubt it's my hardware!
When I created the Windows partition, it loaded all the windows drivers needed from a Mac CD. However, it is Windows, running on an Intel computer, I can't see why installing the latest nVidia drivers would hurt. I'll try it when I get home.
But for example, GTR2 runs flawlessly in traffic with everything maxed out. So I doubt it's my hardware!
When playing ONLINE, I get 35 FPS with full field of cars IN VIEW, I get 60 - 70fps while i am alone.
In SINGLE PLAYER, I get 100 FPS when I am alone... I add 1 or 2 AIs and i Drop to 50 FPS.
If you get anywhere above 60 FPS while playing single player by yourslef...buy the license and race online.. A LOT more fun.
Have you even raced online? When you do you will see that your computer can handle this game no problem.
BTW: I think almost everyone has this problem with AI.. Escpecially when going around a turn or hairpin.
In SINGLE PLAYER, I get 100 FPS when I am alone... I add 1 or 2 AIs and i Drop to 50 FPS.
If you get anywhere above 60 FPS while playing single player by yourslef...buy the license and race online.. A LOT more fun.
Have you even raced online? When you do you will see that your computer can handle this game no problem.
BTW: I think almost everyone has this problem with AI.. Escpecially when going around a turn or hairpin.
No probably not, but drivers could be an issue since LFS uses D3D8 which is rather old and not heavily supported these days. Could be the Apple drivers are a bit dodgy when it comes to D3D8 support. Just a guess on my part of course, but worth a shot anyway.
Yep, the LFS AI is extremely CPU heavy. Unlike in most other racing games the LFS AI actually drive the cars with the same inputs you do. That means that not only do they need advanced logic to figure out what the car is doing and make proper input to control it, LFS also has to run a complete physics model (tires, suspension, aero, the lot) for each and every AI car you add. Stuff like that can take its toll on a CPU.
Online is comparatively cheaper with the same amount of cars since LFS doesn't need to run the full fidelity physics for cars some distance away. Occational updates as position packets arrive are usually enough.
I have an old system (3 years old, AMD 64 3500 and ATI 1650 gfx). I can't run AI in single player as FPS drops down to or below 20. I race perfectly fine in online play with 30+ in S2 I think 60-80 FPS (not sure as I limit to 45). Blackwood and South City is the biggest hits in frame rate as far as track go, so I will dip from my limited 45 down to 35-40 on slight occasions, but that is plenty playable.
My suggestion is to just go online, you can with the demo you know. Try it out. You don't have to be good just to test out framerate. There are plenty of servers on demo, though they are limited to 11 racers (I think). It will give you a good indication on how it will handle and you can guess from the FPS you get with 11 live racers.
And as Moose stated, you will learn far more in 15 minutes of racing online than you will with weeks of racing in single player. Loads more fun as well.
My suggestion is to just go online, you can with the demo you know. Try it out. You don't have to be good just to test out framerate. There are plenty of servers on demo, though they are limited to 11 racers (I think). It will give you a good indication on how it will handle and you can guess from the FPS you get with 11 live racers.
And as Moose stated, you will learn far more in 15 minutes of racing online than you will with weeks of racing in single player. Loads more fun as well.
Recently I had similar questions about the game, and I've tested every aspect of the game and monitored my frame rates. It absolutely is the AI, not the cars themselves being on the screen, that's killing the frame rate. Given your specs you shouldn't have trouble with a small field of AI cars, the only thing I can think of is the loss of power in bootcamp. It takes a lot of cpu power to run AI, and you're gonna lose some of that power running windows and windows apps on a Mac.
Your system is similar in power to mine, and I can run with a field of 20 AI cars with the graphics nearly maxed out. If you were on a PC you'd be good.
Anyways I guess what's important is the game should run great for you online.
Your system is similar in power to mine, and I can run with a field of 20 AI cars with the graphics nearly maxed out. If you were on a PC you'd be good.
Anyways I guess what's important is the game should run great for you online.
Not through Bootcamp. A modern Intel Mac is simply a bog standard x86 PC lacking a BIOS (Which is what bootcamp fixes). Windows runs just as well there as on a "proper" PC. You're probably thinking of virtualised performance when running Windows on top of OSX through VMWare or Parallels.
Well guys, thanks for all your help and...
PROBLEM SOLVED!!! 
The DirectX version I had was from my GTR2 install. I had assumed this was the latest version.
I don't know. Anyway, I downloaded and (re?) installed DirectX and it's running beautifully.
I can now play with 10 AI cars, with everything ramped up onto full, including the video hardware (x4 AA, x16 AS, image quality on "full quality") and it runs flawlessly. The wost FPS I get now is about 30-35 (with 10AI at the spots where it was previously about 9FPS with 4AI) and it now I regularly see it going about 200FPS!!!
Woohoo! I'm so pleased. And this game is just SO DAMN GOOD.
Easily the best racing sim I have played so far ... and it's not even finished!! I'm excited!!
PROBLEM SOLVED!!!
The DirectX version I had was from my GTR2 install. I had assumed this was the latest version.
I don't know. Anyway, I downloaded and (re?) installed DirectX and it's running beautifully.
I can now play with 10 AI cars, with everything ramped up onto full, including the video hardware (x4 AA, x16 AS, image quality on "full quality") and it runs flawlessly. The wost FPS I get now is about 30-35 (with 10AI at the spots where it was previously about 9FPS with 4AI) and it now I regularly see it going about 200FPS!!!
Woohoo! I'm so pleased. And this game is just SO DAMN GOOD.
Easily the best racing sim I have played so far ... and it's not even finished!! I'm excited!!
Dont know if its been said but shoudnt this be in tech assistance?
my normal fps is about 40 and with 19 ai cars in front of me i get about 15 to 20 fps not really bad for me 
Ouch.
For me a racing sim becomes unplayable when the frame rate is 15!
I think the absolute minimum you need to drive smoothly is in the range of ~25fps.
For me a racing sim becomes unplayable when the frame rate is 15!
I think the absolute minimum you need to drive smoothly is in the range of ~25fps.
Does limiting ur FPS give less stutter and lag? I'm asking because I don't limit it and get about 70 FPS, but then it drops to 50, 30 and 20 and then lags for a second when I need to load a skin or such. If I limit it to....45 or 50, will it help with this?
My framerate is around 80 when nothing on track, and with a little AA on and stuff. So I limit my framerate to 40 or 50 so it stays constant, and I don't have any stuttering really.
I find this VERY interesting.... About a month ago I installed GTR2, it ran like crap on Vista, so I uninstalled it, but afterward games were giving me problems. The first thing I do if I'm having trouble with more than one game is update directX, so I got the newest redist and installed it, then my system was perfect again.
There's something shady about that game...
Yet another reason to play LFS instead of GTR2! 
The thing i don't get mate why you play with AI when you can go online anyway AI take away alot of CPU...so your fps will be low
Capping it will certainly help yes, unless you have a very high end PC and very few background tasks. Capping it leaves some overhead, so when the game, or a background task need a little extra cpu power, you don't get a spike of any kind.
Myself, I cap just about every game I play at 60, beyond that just doesn't seem necessary, plus I don't like using vsync so capping prevents tearing and any other abnormalities.
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Frame rate problems. Help please. (new user)
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