01.12.2009, 17:22
Benchmarking Preparation Phase
#4 Sizing IL-2
Here is the phase likened to the shoemaker in establishing the basic dimension of the shoe about the foot.
Close every program and restart your Operating System (Vista in my case). After that, wait until everything-all your startup programs-are open. You can close any programs that are not needed. Look to your nHancer tray icon. Right click on it to reveal an options box, of sorts. Put your cursor on the Activate Profile which will lead you to a listing of your Profile(s) that have an Executable file path.
It is worth noting here that I have a two profiles for my online version of IL-2. Each profile has a unique name that was created in the Application box of nHancer. Each profile has the file path to the Executable folder in the same IL-2 version. I activate one or the other manually before I start IL-2. One profile is DirectX and the other profile is OpenGL, both have the same file path to il2set.exe. I can therefore manually choose one or the other profile for the same version of IL-2.
In the Tray icon, click on the Profile of your choosing that you created in the Application box of nHancer with an Executable file/folder and the file path listed in the Executables box. All those that you created should be listed in the Tray icon access box if you checked the box by the Executables called Activate Profile Manually, or some name like that. Note: A check next to your profile name in the Tray icon options box indicates that it is activated. However, the file path of the profile that is activated must go to the version of IL-2 that you plan to open with it.
Next, open Fraps. Now you can open IL-2. Next open Windows Task Manager Resource Monitor. You could also open NVIDIA System Monitor. If you have correctly done everything in the Topic instructions, then you should at least see your IL-2 running in a bunch of threads while in a mission. If you have Multi Core Support, then you will see changes there, too.
Run the same mission and flight path that you flew previously before beginning the Benchmarking. Take note of the core temperature. It is very conveniently displayed on you Desktop by using NVIDIA System Monitor. Core Temperature should be within the safe margin given by the manufacturer. There should be no problem, but check to be certain. Take note of the Frames Per Second. You probably will see improvement.
Knowing the FPS is crucial to Benchmarking. If you have very high FPS, then you can put gradual increases of graphics demand on your system with expecting eventual huge increases-but that comes later. Take note of the FPS.
After you make adjustments, if any, in core utilization and prerendered frames, having compared the changes with FPS, then you open IL-2 again to be sure that the settings stay. (Prerendered Frames in my version of 2.4.5 nHancer allows prerendering for both OpenGL and DirectX. Check your version of graphics card and nHancer to be sure.) An FPS of 20 is too low. To raise graphics levels later, you should now have FPS of 30-50 at least. Once you are satisfied that you got the most FPS with Multicore and Multi threading, then you are ready for the Final Phase of Benchmarking.
#4 Sizing IL-2
Here is the phase likened to the shoemaker in establishing the basic dimension of the shoe about the foot.
Close every program and restart your Operating System (Vista in my case). After that, wait until everything-all your startup programs-are open. You can close any programs that are not needed. Look to your nHancer tray icon. Right click on it to reveal an options box, of sorts. Put your cursor on the Activate Profile which will lead you to a listing of your Profile(s) that have an Executable file path.
It is worth noting here that I have a two profiles for my online version of IL-2. Each profile has a unique name that was created in the Application box of nHancer. Each profile has the file path to the Executable folder in the same IL-2 version. I activate one or the other manually before I start IL-2. One profile is DirectX and the other profile is OpenGL, both have the same file path to il2set.exe. I can therefore manually choose one or the other profile for the same version of IL-2.
In the Tray icon, click on the Profile of your choosing that you created in the Application box of nHancer with an Executable file/folder and the file path listed in the Executables box. All those that you created should be listed in the Tray icon access box if you checked the box by the Executables called Activate Profile Manually, or some name like that. Note: A check next to your profile name in the Tray icon options box indicates that it is activated. However, the file path of the profile that is activated must go to the version of IL-2 that you plan to open with it.
Next, open Fraps. Now you can open IL-2. Next open Windows Task Manager Resource Monitor. You could also open NVIDIA System Monitor. If you have correctly done everything in the Topic instructions, then you should at least see your IL-2 running in a bunch of threads while in a mission. If you have Multi Core Support, then you will see changes there, too.
Run the same mission and flight path that you flew previously before beginning the Benchmarking. Take note of the core temperature. It is very conveniently displayed on you Desktop by using NVIDIA System Monitor. Core Temperature should be within the safe margin given by the manufacturer. There should be no problem, but check to be certain. Take note of the Frames Per Second. You probably will see improvement.
Knowing the FPS is crucial to Benchmarking. If you have very high FPS, then you can put gradual increases of graphics demand on your system with expecting eventual huge increases-but that comes later. Take note of the FPS.
After you make adjustments, if any, in core utilization and prerendered frames, having compared the changes with FPS, then you open IL-2 again to be sure that the settings stay. (Prerendered Frames in my version of 2.4.5 nHancer allows prerendering for both OpenGL and DirectX. Check your version of graphics card and nHancer to be sure.) An FPS of 20 is too low. To raise graphics levels later, you should now have FPS of 30-50 at least. Once you are satisfied that you got the most FPS with Multicore and Multi threading, then you are ready for the Final Phase of Benchmarking.