Increasing Frame Rates

[DeeBye]

There was recently an interesting thread in the WoW tech support forums in which a Blizz rep explained what quite a lot of the options in config.wtf do.

linkylinkylinky

I was able to significantly increase my framerates by going through the various settings.

[Saxywoo]

Thanks for the link. My issue is that I am using the one video driver that doesn't have the MicroSquish Approved Driver.

-SaxyCorp

[LavCat]

I checked this link when you first posted it, but that was before I had the beta. I tried it a couple weeks ago and then again tonight, but the thread no longer seems to be there, or at least I cannot find it. Is there some other source for the information?

My frame rates are typically in the range of 8 to 17 and I'd like to get them higher. I assume my system is video card limited for WoW. I am using a Radeon 8500, but unfortunately there is no known AGP driver for the chipset on my motherborad. I am not keen with spending the funds for a new card right now, but I wonder if it would make a difference?

[--Pete]

--Pete

[LavCat]

Explain please, sorry to be dense...sometimes a little extra text does help!

[TaiDaishar]

I believe it means you need to check your e-mail for some e-mails... ;)

[--Pete]

Hi,

Explain please, sorry to be dense...sometimes a little extra text does help!

Well, you were looking for the information that was in a link that no longer worked. At the time the link still worked, I downloaded a copy of that information to my hard drive. I used the Lounge e-mail system to send you a copy of that information. Some people use e-mail addresses that they seldom if ever check to sign up for things (like the LL). In case that was the case here, I was giving you a heads up to check your e-mail so that you would get the information you wanted and my effort would not be wasted.

Clear? Or should I write an essay? ;)

--Pete

[LavCat]

Pete, thanks. Email was what I first thought you meant, but since I did not see anything, I figured you might have in mind something else. What I thought of as a possibility was the in-game mail system. I have only one non-work email account, but I have not seen anything that looked like it might be your message, even looking through the trash. Griselda has told me email to my account sometimes bounces. Could you please resend?

As an alternative, other people might be interested and if it would not break Blizzard's copyright too badly, perhaps you could post the information here? You write well, I would not mind an essay.

By the way, did you ever settle the dispute whether you or Deebye had the more antiquated video card?

[Crusader]

I, too, am somewhat interested in increasing performance. maybe an alternative is to post the information in this thread (or make a new one)? If not, please send it to me as well. Crusader@chello.nl

Thank you.

[--Pete]

Hi,

I'll just paste what was posted. However, I set the values to what I am using, but the suggestions for what to set them are from the original. The file that you need to change is config.wtf which is in the WTF folder under the World of Warcraft folder. And use Word Pad.

(EDIT) Just to make sure everyone knows, everything past my name is *not* from me. It is from a post by one of the Blizzard folks that has rolled off their forums. I copied it so that I could set (and record) my settings. Had I thought that I would ever be reposting it, I would have copied the reference info as well so the right person would get the credit for this information.

--Pete

Here the the values that are worth mentioning. Feel free to change their values to find the best combination for your system. If you experience any problems, just delete the file and all the settings will restore to default.

SET lod "1"

Toggles terrain LOD on and off ... looks much nicer with it off, but draws about 2-3 times as many polys. If you have a 2ghz+ processor and a GF4 or better, you can usually turn this off.

SET fullAlpha "0"

Leave this to "0" ... almost no objects use full alpha, and this setting does not affect spells or particles. Turning it on will slay your framerate if you do get close to an object with full alpha.

SET doodadAnim "0"

Setting this to "1" will enable environment anims, such as windmills, birds, etc. All animation is very CPU intensive. I wouldnt suggest enabling this with less than a 1.5ghz machine.

SET mapShadows "0"

Turns display of terrain shadows on / off.

SET lodDist "50"

Generally leave this at 50-100. Sets the distance at which the terrain LOD change occurs. Only meaningful when LOD is "1".

SET DistCull "150.000000"

The absolute max distance an object (not terrain, but objects on it) will be drawn. Much like SmallCull, this value heavily affects framerate on lower end machines. On a high end machine you can set it to the same as your farClip setting. It should be a good bit less than farclip on a slower machine.

SET shadowLevel "1"

Sets the resolution of the shadow maps on the terrain. 0 is high, 1 is low.

SET trilinear "1"

Any good video card (GF3 or better) set this to "1".

SET frillDensity "8"

Sets the density of the foreground grass, rocks, etc details. "8" for a lower end machine, "16" for a mid range machine, "24" or greater for a fast machine. Goes up to 256 max i think. 256 is not for the feint of heart and might crash you.

SET farclip "177.000000"

Matches the farclip slider. Range is 177 to 777. Dont ask why the weird numbers =P Farclip is the single biggest setting that will affect your framerate. Experiment!

SET specular "0"

Specular cannot be used without pixelShaders. Enables specular highlighting on certain terrain textures. Looks nice and shiny!

SET pixelShaders "0"

Enabling pixel shaders allows the world to be rendered in less passes, potentially increasing performance on cards that support them. Pixel shader code is still work in progress, so on some video cards its faster, some its slower.

[DeeBye]

Great reply, Pete. I hope that in the future this will be documented in-game if at all possible.

I do have a couple of comments/questions.

What are the ATI Radeon equivalents to a GF2/3/4? I've been trying to draw a meaningful comparison between the two brands for awhile now without much luck.

And use Word Pad.

Yep.

Do what I did -- right click the config.wtf file, select "properties", and change the default program to open the file to Wordpad (click for Windows screenshot). This file is almost unreadable with Notepad.

Specular cannot be used without pixelShaders. Enables specular highlighting on certain terrain textures. Looks nice and shiny!

I love the shiny!

In previous pushes, I had to disable pixelShaders because certain Radeon models (my 9200 being one of them) got all funky with them on. This has been fixed, and I now love the way specular highlighting looks.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Great reply, Pete.

Thanks, but all I did was paste what I had found in the link you gave in the first place. I changed my post to make that clear.

I hope that in the future this will be documented in-game if at all possible.

I agree it needs to be documented. In game, in a manual (does anyone remember "manuals"?) or on a web site. Since editing the WTF file is probably best done outside of game and since the info might have some degree of fluidity, I think an official, *maintained*, web site might be best.

Typically configuration files are next to impossible to understand and poorly documented. Half the parameters are only identified by the variable assigned to them in the program. You start messing with one with a name like rcFar_Cli and find out that its range is from 13.67 to 294.16 and that increasing its value decreases its effect. And its effect turns out to be the blockiness of leaves on minor trees. Sometimes tweaking the config file is a better game than the game itself :)

What are the ATI Radeon equivalents to a GF2/3/4? I've been trying to draw a meaningful comparison between the two brands for awhile now without much luck.

Cross an elephant with a rhino. :) Maybe somebody else here has a clue.

--Pete