FFXI framerateFollow

Could be any multitude of things.

1. What is your internet connection.
2. How are you connected to said internet.
3. Have you tried upgrading drivers?
4. How many other processes do you have running with FFXI?
5. What operating system are you using?
6. What version of FFXI are you running, Full screen, Legal windower, illegal windower?


From what I can see your running a single core 1.7ghz processor. So that means your on the low side for things. If I knew some more I could probably tell you what to tweak.

First of yes this would lead into less FPS as there is lag because your internet connect is slow as molasses. Is it seriously 2MB??? If so thats pretty bad. Also having a slow connection into a wireless router is not the best of choices.

This configuration can lead to FPS problems in besiege due to the amount of information that is passing along your network port.

Besides from your poor internet setup the only thing I can deduce is that you rig is just weak. (note: not trying to be mean)

Your processor is sub par really. I have run this game on a single core unit with about the same setup as your self. With a single core that low in power you are probably maxing it out as is.

Have you tried to update your Catalyst? Version 5.3 is pretty old and at the very least you should be running something like 8.1 ~ 8.5

I would upgrade Catalyst then see if the issue still occurs.

You can't fully trust the list which SE has because there are better options, as well as some of the mentioned drivers experience the BRD song of death lag.

Not sure exactly which of the 9600 series cards you have however I think all 9600 series cards go no more then 128Mb RAM. This would cause you some issues in extremely high traffic areas. Something you can try is to limit the units drawn which is in the Final Fantasy XI options when in the game.

You can also try to filter out effects such as BRD songs, NPC spells, and other various things. You can also change your config res to a standard one instead of a modified value to help balance the load. It may not appear to be effecting things however the way your video card handles the values will change.

Their are several things you can do to make FFXI run smoother with older hardware, sure it's not "pretty" but it will run better.

is my hardware just weak?

Yes. For 2006. It's time to build a new computer.

Consider upgrading your motherboard, CPU, and RAM (1GB at least, preferably 2, memory is cheap these days), and possibly your GPU, and you'll see a pretty significant difference. All of these things can be upgraded for I'd say $200-300 if you're frugal.

You can build an entire new system, including case and power supply, and everything else except drives (reuse yours) for $200 and change.

Dang. Where can I find them and what would be considered an upgrade at those prices?

Couple of quick pre-requisites. You need to live in the US, and be able to use a screwdriver without injuring yourself, and be patient enough to spend an hour or so putting it together.

I *literally* built my parents a HTPC a week ago for $220. I'll use it as an example, but depending on how much you have to spend, there are many options of varying levels of performance between $150 and $1500.

These are the parts I used.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147010

Case with 350 watt power supply. $30. PS works fine, case looks great. Easy to put together, etc. Doesn't include any fans, so if you were going to build something with heftier cooling requirements you'd want a different case (and power supply et all).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

2GB DDR2 800 RAM. Works great, fast, reliable, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090

Gigabyte (very reliable, easy to use BIOS) mother board with AMDs new 780G integrated graphics solution. $90 Fastest IGP ever. Ludicrous for what it is. Faster than many discrete cards (including yours) by a fair margin. DX 10 compliant. Silent.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103214&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL062408&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL062408-_-CPUsProcessors-_-L2B-_-19103214

Mid/Low range AMD Dual Core CPU. Works great, doesn't draw much power, cheap. $40 with a newsletter code that's still active.

Runs Crysis. Really. Not on high settings or anything, but it'll do 60FPS in FFXI at a normal resolution pretty easily, I'd imagine. Unless the system reqs are much higher than I assume.




Edited, Jun 27th 2008 10:50am by Smasharoo

Many/most games achieve 'optimum' performance at 60, so it's a good rule of thumb anyway, and Smash doesn't play FFXI. We'll forgive him this time. ;)

Best I can figure is because the game was developed for the PS2 and then (poorly) ported to the PC and later xbox 360.