FPS and Soundcards

This came in from Nurface and might help those with FPS problems.

"Many times we read the required specs for games and find that our computers meet the standard, so we expect smooth gaming. I have found that with the wrong sound card life can be very unpleasant. I tried numerous drivers for sound card and graphics card. My computer setup is PIII 866MHZ/256 RAMBUS memory/Aopen PA256MX Geforce2 MX 32MB AGP. I had previously tried Chaintech sound card CMedia PCI Audio but that card didn't run smoothly. It met the requirement I might add, so I purchased the soundblaster 16 PCI. I couldn't believe the difference the sound card made on my system. My Frame per seconds went from avg 30 to 60fps with Sb 16. The price for the sb 16 pci card is around $30.00. This may improve your gaming experience."

I can't run at faster than 60FPS, why is that?

To see the framerate during a mission entering the console by pressing NumPad Enter key, then typing ToggleShowFrameRate, then press Escape.

If your FPS seems capped at 60FPS, downloading the latest drivers for your video card may help. If you are running winXP or 2000, there is an issue that limits your refresh rate to 60Hz, no matter what the windows setting is. This caps your framerate at 60FPS.

There is a free tool called NVRefresh that fixes this, the official site is at http://www.nvrt.net/ but has been down for some time. You can grab the latest version of NVRefresh from mirrors listed on this page at MajorGeeks.

The first thing to do is upgrade to the latest NVidia drivers, which you can find on the official Nvidia drivers page here. Then check the NVRefresh tool compatibility page to see if the tool has been tested with your new drivers. If you get a green result, run it, click the "Apply Settings" button, reset your PC, and enjoy 60+FPS with Ghost Recon - or any other game!

There is also another tool, that works with any graphics card, not just Nvidia, download RefreshLock here.

A more professional tool can be downloaded that does all that and much more. Grab Powerstrip here for a host of graphics options at the touch of a button.

Note : If you notice your monitor starts to display text a little fuzzy, or out of focus around areas of the screen after using these tools, simply reset to default settings, or tone down the refresh rate. You can do this through your normal window settings, Display Properties>Settings>Advanced.

Note : Please check the maximum refresh rate your monitor permits. Setting any of these tools higher than the manufacturers recommended refresh rate can cause problems.

Where can I download the latest patch?

The current patch version is V1.4.0.0. The full patch history and download locations as follows, starting with the most recent:-

PATCH 4 v1.4.0.0 Oct 2002. 5.8Mb
full content pop-up | download locations : Ubi Soft | FilePlanet
Before installing this patch your Ghost Recon must be at version number 1.3.50. After installation you will have to insert the original Ghost Recon disk to play.

PATCH 3 v1.3.5.0 Sept 2002. 46.9Mb
full content pop-up | download locations : Ubi Soft | FilePlanet

DS Multiplayer Patch Apr 2002. 1.2Mb
full content pop-up | download locations : Ubi Soft | FilePlanet

PATCH 2 v1.2.10.0 Mar 2002. 44Mb
full content pop-up | download locations : Ubi Soft | FilePlanet

PATCH 1 v1.1.5.0 Feb 2002. 31.8Mb
full content pop-up | download locations : Ubi Soft | FilePlanet

General Notes:

• Replay files are not compatible across different version.
• Official Ubi Soft Ghost Recon patch info is here.
• As at Patch 4 RSE have made over 160 changes to Ghost Recon!
  • 199 improvements and new features
  • 7 anti-cheat measures
  • 62 minor bug fixes

Where is the Official FAQ/Trouble Shooter?
Click here to view every GR Question in the Ubi Soft Trouble Shooter.
Click here to view the Ghost Recon FAQ at Ghostrecon.com.
Click here to enter the Official Technical support forums.
Click here to enter our Technical support forum.

What are the minimum system specs?
CPU - Pentium II 450 MHz processor or equivalent
Memory - 128 MB of RAM
Operating System - Windows 9X/ME/2000/XP
DirectX - DirectX 8.0 or higher (included on CD)
Video Card - 16MB DirectX 8.0 compatible 3D card
Drive Space - 1GB minimum hard drive space
CD-ROM - 4X or better
Sound Card - DirecX 8.0 compatible sound card
Internet/Network - TCP/IP connection at 28.8 KBPS or faster

Which operating systems and Platforms are supported?
Windows XP, 2000, ME and 9x are supported on the PC. There is also a Mac OS X version.

An X-Box version is available, also Island Thunder with downloadable content.

Is EAX sound supported?
Sure EAX 2.0 is, and it sounds great!

How do I solve sound issues?

Poor sound performance, popping, or muffled sounds may be helped by the following procedures. Please select from the list.

Creative Labs PCI Series | OS: Win98, WinME
Creative SBLive and 5.1 Series | Win98, WinME
Creative SBLive and 5.1 Series | Win2K
Creative SBLive and 5.1 Series | WinXP Home and Pro
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz | Win98, Win2K Should be similar.
VideoLogic Sonic Fury | Win98, Win2K Should be similar.
A-bit AU10

Creative Labs PCI Series | OS: Win98, WinME

• From the Ghost Recon main menu screen, go to Options | Sound and
  check the "Use Alternate Cache" checkbox.
• If you hear odd or loud echoes when entering houses or caves, uncheck the "Use EAX" checkbox on the same page.
• Exit the game and restart.

If none of these help.

• Go to: Control Panel | Multimedia | Audio | Advanced Properties | Performance. Adjust the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to the left (Emulation Only).

Creative SBLive and 5.1 Series | OS: Win98, WinME

• Go to: Control Panel | Multimedia | Audio | Advanced Properties | Performance.
• Adjust the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to the left (Emulation Only).

Creative SBLive and 5.1 Series | OS: Win2K

• Get the latest Win2K drivers for your card--for most of you, this will be Creative's site, www.soundblaster.com.

If this doesn't help:

• Go to: Control Panel | Sounds and Multimedia | Audio | Advanced | Performance.
• Adjust the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to the left (Emulation Only).

Creative SBLive and 5.1 Series | OS: WinXP Home and Pro

• Update your XP drivers from Creative.

If the problem persists:

• Go to: Control Panel | Sounds and Multimedia | Audio | Advanced | Performance.
• Adjust the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to the left (Emulation Only)

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz | OS: Win98, Win2K Should be similar.
(Also VideoLogic Sonic Fury)

• Get the latest drivers from Turtle Beach (dated 1-15-2001)
  
• Open the Santa Cruz Control Panel and check the following settings:
• Main Tab: Set the Master Volume to the highest setting, and make sure the button under the slider is on. Set Appropriate speaker mode, and VersaJack setting (should be analog in most cases).
• Mixer Tab: Set the Wave Out Volume to the highest setting and make sure the button under the slider is on. Adjust this setting later to get a comfortable play level within the game.
• Effects Tab: Make sure both Effect1 and Effect2 are OFF.
• Synth Tab: Set Max hardware notes to 64, and max software notes to 128.
• Other Tab: Enable 3D Stereo Enhance, turn off Legacy DOS, and do enable Direct Sound Acceleration.

A-bit AU10

• Run dxdiag and set the Sound Acceleration slider to the second notch (Basic).

Why can't I read the menu's? They are all fuzzy.
This is a Voodoo 3000 problem. Drivers for Direct X8.0+ were never made for the Voodoo 3000 cards, and thus the card is not compatible with Ghost Recon. The game may run fine, but the menu's will be unreadable.

Voodoo 5000 should be okay.

Riptide sent in a fix for the fuzzy Voodoo Menus.

"I have here a fix for the blurry text in the menus of Ghost Recon that many people are experiencing with older video cards(Voodoo3). What it does is take out one of the two fonts stored in the font texture so that the card can handle the size of the image without it being rescaled. There are two sets of files in the archive. One removes the larger font and uses the smaller one. The other does the inverse of that. I'd suggest using the smaller font since the larger one can make the text too big and it ends up getting chopped off at the end of it's allocated space in the menus.

Download the files here.