VG Guides - Performance Tweaking : Vanguard Confirmed Guides / Tricks

Also, I don't think that ANY of these tweaks are "supported" so before you do ANYTHING, make a copy of the file you are about to change and save it somewhere in the event that you need to revert back to basics.

I'll try to make this as clear and easy to follow as I can.

#1 GENERAL Tweaks
A) FIRST, be sure to defragment after install. Seriously, this has a HUGE impact on the game's performance.
B) Turn off your AV program and/or Firewall. I know you hate the idea of it but try it, if it doesn't help then you know you can leave it on.
C) Google the program RivaTuner 2.0 and set the card to force shading at 2.0. if anyone else figures this out please let me know. personally I think this program stinks. THIS IS AN ADVANCED TWEAK don't mess with anything else unless you know what you're doing!!!
D) In the in-game settings, change sound settings to "Hardware"
E) In the in-game settings, set the resolution to 1024x768
F) In the in-game settings, turn off HDR
G) NVidia 6xxx series users, Tru using the older "71" series drivers. Linky goodness (Link en francais)
H) ATI users (I'm one myself) by far, ATI users with AMD proc's tend to be having the most problems aside from the Nvidia 6xxx users. I've been told to try the catylist 6.8 drivers (which can be found Here) I am currently using these drivers and still have the older 6.7 driver install program, I can't find it on the web, but I haven't really searched for too long. the original filename is : 6-7_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_34826 so for those who want to try a driver rollback, there you go.
I) Also for ATI peeps, Rumor has it that the Omega drivers (Register to unlock hidden link) give some folks SIGNIFICANT increases in quality and speed. UPDATE!!! My personal test shows only a ~1 FPS gain and what's worse is that the Omega drivers don't support OC'ing for the 1300+ series of cards. DOUBLE worse is that reverting back to the Catalyst 6.8 drivers no longer allow ATI tool to OC my ATI 1300pro and deleted my openGL drivers which the ATI installer didn't like re-installing (I know, weak card. Give it a rest already)
I) Someone previously suggested starting the client and then Alt+Tabbing to desktop, bringing up the Task Manager, Going to processes, selecting the VGClient.exe file and setting the priority to high. might work for some.
J) TURN OFF Hardware Occulsion while in the field and TURN IT BACK ON in town. The FPS gain in the field (for me) is close to 10!!!

#2 VGCLIENT.INI Tweaks
go to:
[install drive]:\ProgramFiles\Sony\Vanguard\bin\vgclient.ini

Open it using notepad and make the following changes:
AnisotropicFiltering=off (which supposedly works for NVidia folks VERY well) Side Note: ALSO go into your card's propertied and change this there as well
UseJoystick=False (I don't know why but this did give me an extra 3-5 FPS)
UsePrecaching=True (For NVidia folks and some ATI folks, this is the holy grail)
UseTrilinear=False (For some folks this was an incredible boost)
UseCubemaps=False (I only noticed an ugly load screen, the game still looks fine to me)
ReduceMouseLag=False (this has worked for a few folks as well)
UseTripleBuffering=True (Only do this if you also set the vsync)
UseVSync=True (it gave me a few extra FPS)
UseSound=False (You lose the sound but can pick up nearly 5-10 FPS!!!)
Side note: instead of turning sound off you CAN set LowQualitySound=True instead!
GlobalHardwareSkinning=True (gave me a noticable bump 2-5FPS-ish)
TextureDetailWorld=5 (this controls the texture details, raising this to 5-7ish can save you a significant amount of memory and reduce stuttering. This can range from 0-7, 0 being the most detailed textures to 7 being lowest texture detail)
RenderQuality=5 (Setting this to 5 sets the game into "very high" mode but coupled with a higher TextureDetailWorld setting, it will give you the special effects of very high with the memory requirements/stuttering of a low or medium settings)

(NOTE: Changing the in-game drop-down graphics settings to Medium or High (or whatever you change it to) changes BOTH RenderQuality and TextureDetailWorld to their default settings. The trick is to adjust all the in-game settings FIRST, THEN mess with the .ini settings for these two and don't flip between low/med at all in-game since that would reset this change)

Now look for the [Engine.NullRenderDevice] Heading.
There add the line: CacheSizeMegs=64

This is rumored to be the workaround to the sysconfig.ini overwrite issue I'll be mentioning in just a second.

#3 SYSCONFIG.INI Tweaks

When you start Vanguard the autopatcher will scan your filed and update the sysconfig.ini file (but thankfully, not the vgclient.ini file) When it has finished updating you'll have the "PLAY" button.
BEFORE CLICKING ON PLAY!
go to:
[install drive]:\ProgramFiles\Sony\Vanguard\bin\sysconfig.ini

and find the entry that says:
CacheSizeMegs=32 and increase that. Some say use 128, others say 256 and still others say 512. I say to just play with it and find the one that works best for you.

Then click on FILE and SAVE it. THEN click on play.


I hope that this helps everyone. at the very least it SHOULD help cleanup all of the "why are my FPS so low?" posts out there. (I don't mind if you want to sticky this) If the above didn't help you then chances are that you need to upgrade some hardware in your system. First try getting your gaming rig up to around 2G or better of system RAM. After that you might want to consider a full system update.

One final thought. if you are running through a Router, try plugging your computer directly into your modem to bypass and packet filtering that your router might be doing. I've heard rumors that this has helped a few people more than a little.

Finally, I will be adding to this as people send me their own findings and tweaks (or until I lose the abillity to edit the post ot this gets lost somewhere)

ophidian wrote:I have a fix.

Buy a new video card. They are cheap.

Im using an x1800 and an AMD x64 3800+.. By no means are they top of the line aka expensive. Considder upgrading. You don't need a lot of money. Build it peice by peice if you can.

I know.. You want a new card but it requires a new motherboard, a new case maybe if the power supply sucks. The thing is, you'll have to upgrade eventually. Next generation games will become completely unplayable on 2004 technology.

For defragging I suggest a utility called PerfectDisk. Im using version 8 and its optimization methods seem to be as solid as they get(insert boring geek details). So if you need to defrag, goto your local pirating website and pick up a copy. I mean, buy it.

Yes I know this game is horridly written. I swear I've seen better engines developed by C- Average students at poorly funded state universities.

Get over it. You can beat poorly written engines with nice computers. Should you have to deal with it? No. Are you? Yes.

Ophidian

thescribe wrote:

ophidian wrote:I have a fix.

Buy a new video card. They are cheap.

Im using an x1800 and an AMD x64 3800+.. By no means are they top of the line aka expensive. Considder upgrading. You don't need a lot of money. Build it peice by peice if you can.

I know.. You want a new card but it requires a new motherboard, a new case maybe if the power supply sucks. The thing is, you'll have to upgrade eventually. Next generation games will become completely unplayable on 2004 technology.

For defragging I suggest a utility called PerfectDisk. Im using version 8 and its optimization methods seem to be as solid as they get(insert boring geek details). So if you need to defrag, goto your local pirating website and pick up a copy. I mean, buy it.

Yes I know this game is horridly written. I swear I've seen better engines developed by C- Average students at poorly funded state universities.

Get over it. You can beat poorly written engines with nice computers. Should you have to deal with it? No. Are you? Yes.

Ophidian

Buying new gear isn't always the answer. I'm completely broke, and will be for some time, and there's nothing I can do about it. I can't tell you how many times I upgrade my computer or build new systems, but it's a lot. I don't mind doing it, but I have better things to spend my money on than buying a video game for $50 and then upgrading my computer for $200+.