Framerate - what is it & why is it important ?

[Bass]

OK ... have been playing round with my new PC and have finally got things to a reasonably good level, and saw last night that some peeps aren't too clued up about why framerate is such an important thing - hence this thread.

So ..
Framerate (otherwise called frames per second, or fps):
- refers to how many images are drawn every second on your screen.

From Wikipedia:

Frame rate, or frame frequency, is the measurement of how quickly an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (fps) or simply, hertz (Hz).

Why this is important to you:
Have you ever gotten nauseous while playing a 1st-person game ? A low frame rate might be why !
Basically the higher your frame rate, the smoother & less jerky your game experience will be. Especially when turning side to side, think of what difference there will be if the turn through a 90 degree arc can be split into, say 100 frames, instead of only 10.
This is especially important when in a firefight, or any other situation where there are a lot of peeps shooting - THAT is going to be the time when your framerate dips to its lowest levels, and if you are only getting 10 fps it is almost garaunteed that you will lose against someone who has a framerate of 100.


Please post any questions/comments you have - most technical guys here will be able to help with tweaking hints which would be the next logical step if anyone is interested ..

Other threads of interest:
This is an excellent article !! Take a look if you're interested..
http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frames_can_humans_see.htm

[sss]

i used to manage pretty well on my laptop with a framrate of 25 avg against all u other bf2 players!

[FeralBanana]

Well mine frame rate is -2! Beat that! ;) :p

Just kidding, but my comp is really quite horrible and I don't think it's ever gotten more than 50 FPS in BF2... And I only EVER play on lowest possible grafix :(.. :cry:

[doobiwan]

My aiming so bad I wouldn't notice if my frames dropped below 30fps . . .

[Ruslan74]

framerate is king in online games... anything above 30fps is good vs eyecandy.

an example is in CoD2 people are playing online you HAVE to play DX7 or else you simply get butchered.

Reason?For example : All the GFX effects in DX9 would make you believe you are in lying hidden amongst tall grass, while in reality in DX7 you are out in the open. Same with shadows and other fancy eyecandy.

For single player games framerate doesnt count, give me eyecandy instead. :p

[Albereth]

I tried a bit of COD2 online and got totally slaughtered. It seemed to have some interesting ideas. And the graphics look very pretty - but if it subject to blatant abuse I'll give it a skip.

[doobiwan]

Mmm, after getting pwned noticibly due to lag on Tuesday night, I need to work on my framerate . .

[Ruslan74]

has anybody wondered if in the future you would get implants which will enhance your reaction in PC games? would that be considered an upgrade or a cheat?

[doobiwan]

Does shoving the mouse (and preferable the keyboard as well) down some smacktards throat count as an implant?

[rainy]

Certainly not one that improves your reaction ;)

[Mairiiv]

has anybody wondered if in the future you would get implants which will enhance your reaction in PC games? would that be considered an upgrade or a cheat?

If you do, I think it will initially be considered to be a cheat but as more ppl get it it'll be considired a necessity

[rainy]

It's like these mice and keyboards with macro keys. In my opinion that stuff borders on cheating, since it gives you an unfair advantage over others. But the stuff is there, so it will be used. And with the lengths peeps go to in order to achieve a certain award...

[sss]

i think response time is the key factor... i think mine is 11ms....i've always been top at FPS games... especially the more face to face.. quake... unreal... etc etc and its because i react fast

[Bass]

Have often thought about a head tracking system (like the HUD used in jets) that points you in the direction you are looking on the screen - just imagine how easy it would be to track someone in a fight !! :D

[stoke]

I react fast, but in the wrong direction ... :rofl:

[rainy]

I wouldn't know how to measure my response time, but I know I am a slow player. Which is why the sniper style suits me. Up-close battles are too hectic for me. Maybe my mouse settings are not ideal, but I really don't have the nerve to fiddle with that to see if it gets better. I used to play UT for a while, but I was never top of the log.

You can practise up to a certain point, and improve your reaction times, but then you have to keep playing and playing, because if you stop, you lose your skill again. Fast reaction definitely helps if you have it to start with.

[Bass]

11 ms !!!!!!

No way !! ;)

To test your reaction speed, do the ruler drop test ... one can fairly quickly work out what the reaction time is.

I *think* it's generally about 200 ms....

Will be interesting to test this out though :)

One quick google link
http://www.draebenstedt.de/reaction/reaction.html

[sss]

that program just doesnt run on my pc

i'm still top of the log out of our 40 odd UT players here at work!

i only join them every 2 months or so, they practice each day and always ask me to come play to see where they are getting

[sss]

sorry.. thats 110ms

[sss]

would explain why i have multiple times after brushing teeth... knocked half the stuff out the cabinet while putting tooth brush back and been able to catch like 4 items falling out before any hit the sink

[stoke]

LOL ... that executable chasing the target my lag was a disgusting 210ms.
Bleugh.

/me must try this wit da equip at home.

P.S. The program buggers up your screen display frequency ... set it back to 85Hz then done.


On this test : http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/reaction/reaction_test.htm
Me gets 0.179 on that [played twice]

[sss]

it probably doesnt like my lcd , hence it doesnt run!

[MADMAXBADBOY]

Has anybody got any idea how to check what your bf2 frame rate is

[stoke]

Inside BF2, press the ~ button to open the console.
Type in:
renderer.drawfps 1
press enter
press the ~ button to get back out of the BD2 console.

The FPS will be drawn in the upper right left corner immediately.

[Flatty]

Fraps - MMBB

262ms - Stoke, so it just goes to show that the theory about bigger people being slower is not quite right. I think you are just a teeny bit larger than I - Haxx, I tell you, Haxx :p

[senorblinky]

What Flatty said. Fraps is awesome!