FPS/config help..

[Gatherer Thompson]

Besides "Intel can't run gaemz!" (they actually can, to a limit), was wondering if anyone had some tips on making ETS run smoother.. I'm getting a stutter that happens about every second so that the whole game is jerky.. When I start the game or leave cities it clears up for a little while but always comes back..

I thought I had it when I found vsync still enabled in the config file, but it made no change.. Is there a way to turn off shadows or lighting??

I'm on a 2.20ghz Core 2 Duo, 4gb ram and Intel 4500M HD majestic graphics card :) I've heard having drivers hired can cause lag but I don't have a single one yet, and I should be able to escape the lag on all-lowest setting and the smallest resolution, but it still lags even then..

I'm able to play Borderlands 1, Civ 5, Torchlight 2, Sims 3, Fallout 3 GOTY, and a horde of other lesser games, so I figure ETS has something going on with its setup that's foiling my attempts to knock its quality down :>

Any hints or help would be greatly appreciated! Most people can run this game fine out of the box (or, better yet, are lucky enough to have nice enough computers they can't even imagine it running slowly!) so finding help around the net has been scattershot at best..

[Dot Matrix]

If you're playing on a laptop that shares system and video RAM, you could try to increase the amount of video RAM in the BIOS.

[Gatherer Thompson]

My poor old Intel integrated card has no option listed in BIOS for increasing max vram, sadly :( My only 'real' option are the modded RoyalBNA drivers, which work for a lot of Intel Express series 4 integrated card but were specifically designed for my exact card (and the guy who modded them even owns my exact model of laptop).. Those drivers have minor-to-annoying bugs with sleep-mode and black screens, though, so I swapped back to generic drivers.. Anyway, if I could use them they do increase the vram from 64 to 128, but sometimes the bugs combine in some terrifying ways :>

I also can't believe how inactive the ETS 1 community is compared to the ETS 2 community :) I can find search results for optimizing ETS 2 all day long, but next to none for the original.. From looking at the ETS 2 results, though, I did notice that ETS 2 has much more in-depth and helpful video settings compared to the first one.. I wonder how much work it'd be for them to either add some better graphics options, or optimize the game some.. I've played many games where you ride on populated highways and they aren't as resource-heavy as this game thinks it is :> Also can't find a single mod that streamlines the AI or code, or offers optimization for older systems..

I do this same routine for almost every game I take a risk on, whether I'm buying it or accepting it as a gift.. Except most of the time I don't fail :D I hacked ETS 1 down to minimum windowed resolution and absolutely terrifying Nintendo 64 graphics and it still stutters like crazy :| I published a screenshot of it if you'd like to go bask in its glory in person ;) I can keep a decent frate in Dwarf Fortress with 150 dwarves and 120 animals who are eating and sleeping and crying and vomiting and completing work orders and pathing all around each other, but ETS1 chugs like a monster and there's only a single truck and random traffic to worry about pathing for.. I've heard that its poorly optimized, but this seems a little extreme even if I am below specs.. At N64 levels it should run!

[Dot Matrix]

Originally posted by the_uncooked:

Anyway, if I could use them they do increase the vram from 64 to 128, but sometimes the bugs combine in some terrifying ways :>

That would still not be enough, the minimum requirements say 256MB.

About optimization, I agree that ETS never ran very smooth on my old system which is still better than your laptop but come on.... 64MB VRAM are beginning of the millenium specs and comparing it with Dwarf Fortress doesn't really count as that isn't a graphically intensive game.
I really don't understand how you can run M&B and Fallout 3 with 64MB (if that's really what it is) but it could be that SCS uses OpenGL for their older games you could try the Direct3d renderer, maybe that solves your problem.

[Gatherer Thompson]

Agh, apologies! I've got 128mb dedicated on this card, not 64.. I'm a bit terrified myself that I got M&B:Warband running so well.. I've got on-screen combatants capped to 71, but its still showing me up to 200 on-screen at once.. Just took my guy past his 100th day, though I've only got one town under my personal control so far..

I've already tried both Open and Direct3d settings, with no change to the stutter.. I really think an option to lower view distance and remove the trees/shrubbery would really help.. A friend may be sending me a desktop tower that'll laugh right in this laptop's sad face, so it'll be a shocking change to actually play some decent games without hunting down optimizations for days first :>

Here is my config txt for ETS1, would use a spoiler if I could, or knew how to on Steam..
# prism3d variable config data

uset g_minicon "0"
uset g_console "0"
uset g_trackir "1"
uset g_developer "0"
uset g_save_idx "1"
uset g_mouse_control "0"
uset g_steering_func_param "0.0"
uset g_joy_axis_brake_dz "0.0"
uset g_joy_axis_brake "7"
uset g_joy_ff_gain "1.0"
uset g_joy_axis_throttle_dz "0.0"
uset g_joy_axis_throttle "7"
uset g_joy_axis_ff "0"
uset g_joy_axis_combine "0"
uset g_joy_axis_steer_sens "0.6"
uset g_joy_axis_steer_dz "0.0"
uset g_joy_axis_steer "7"
uset g_tutorial "1"
uset g_job_sort "0"
uset g_gauges "0"
uset g_mirrors "0"
uset g_fatigue "0"
uset g_police "0"
uset g_subtitles "0"
uset g_quality "0"
uset g_reflection "0"
uset g_atrans "1"
uset g_flyspeed "100.0"
uset g_lang "en_gb"
uset g_colbox "0"
uset r_gamma "1.0"
uset r_path "3"
uset r_msaa "4"
uset r_fullscreen "1"
uset r_mode "800x600x32x0"
uset r_device "gl"
uset r_driver "gl"
uset g_texture_usage_stats "0"
uset g_fps "0"
uset ds8_mix_channels "2"
uset ds8_mix_depth "16"
uset ds8_mix_rate "44100"
uset ds8_reverse_stereo "0"
uset s_acceleration "0"
uset s_mix_channels "2"
uset s_mix_depth "16"
uset s_mix_rate "44100"
uset s_sfx_enabled "1"
uset s_music_enabled "1"
uset s_sfx_volume "1.0"
uset s_music_volume "1.0"
uset s_reverse_stereo "0"
uset s_device ""
uset r_vsync "0"
uset r_quirks "0"
uset r_anisotropy_factor "0.0625"
uset r_texture_detail "2"
uset i_force_gain "1.0"
uset i_feedback "1"
uset i_joystick2 "-1"
uset i_joystick1 "-1"
uset i_deadzone "0.0"
uset i_device "di8"
uset m_invert "0"
uset m_sensitivity "0.33"
uset m_filter "0"


If anyone sees anything that may help I'd be glad to try it out :) And here's a snippet of the log showing PC specs (since I'm not very reliable, bahaha..):

******** : log created on : Saturday October 25 2014 @ 15:17:06
15:17:06 : [sys] running on x86 / Windows 7 (version 6.1) / Service Pack 1
15:17:06 : [sys] DirectX version : 4.09.00.0904
15:17:06 : [cpu] GenuineIntel [Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6600 @ 2.20GHz] at ~2194MHz.
15:17:06 : [cpu] Features utilized: fpu cmov mmx sse sse2.
15:17:06 : [sys] using QPC / unknown timer (thread affinity: 0), frequency 2143359Hz
15:17:06 : physical memory detected (4059120K/2624012K)
15:17:06 : virtual memory detected (2097024K/1951548K)
15:17:06 : Trying to allocate memory pool (409600K)
15:17:07 : [zipfs] base.scs: mounted ok, 9445 entries [crc_0x81a5d336]
15:17:07 : [zipfs] <mem-addr-file>: mounted ok, 65 entries [crc_0x15c2a514]

[Dot Matrix]

Well 128MB still isn't a lot these days but it comes closer.
You may try uset g_trackir "0" if you aren't using headtracking, it tends to use resources.

[hi3N]

how to add the config