Hey folks, we were discussing client "chugging" in another thread so I thought I'd cross-post this. I've found MERP to be more resource-intensive on the NWN client than a lot of other modules, so these kinds of things might help.

Memory Usage
- The big one. In nwnplayer.ini:
[Game Options]
Max Memory Usage=32
(or 64). Default is 16, it's well established using 16 with 1.69 is going to make the client chug sometimes. (One horse will use 13MB of that cache). Hey, the INI options default to what was optimal in 2002, basically. What can ya do but change 'em.

- And the old saw, "Defrag". I was getting really, really bad transition times, ran Defraggler -- whoops, I had like 79 fragments in the MERP Haks. Fixing that helped some. Generally, the more "chug" you hear while running NWN, the more potential improvement to be had by a full defrag. NWN's architecture is based on traversing a large number of big files -- the more fragmented they are, the more chug, period.

- No surprise, running as few background apps/other programs while playing as you can will usually help.

FPS/Video issues
- Reduce video options before going into some areas. It could be voodoo, but I turn down textures to Medium and disable grass when I go into the Cypress Areas. I find it definately helps with FPS there, and seems to help a bit with transition time.

- It's generally accepted that NWN shadows are... well, not optimally coded. Turning them off at times seems to definately help FPS.

- One particularly annoying thing: The latest, up to date versions of some video card drivers actually run NWN slightly *worse* than older versions. This is because other, newer games have gotten the focus for driver optimizations, and some things are handled differently. Don't know if there's much you can do about it but it's worth noting.

Other
- Finally, although anyone affected surely has run into this by now, if your machine is dual-core, you should ensure Client Affinity is turned off for NWN, since it does *not* handle this well by default. Setting the affinity to only one processor is pretty much a must, from what I've heard.

I'd love to hear what else folks have found useful to tweak on the client end.

Thank You SweeneyTood! Good Info.

My server package running NWServer.

The Server Machine is running an Optimized Vista Package (Vista is a Very Solid Operating System IF you KNOW how to tweak it). Athlon64 with 2.25Gb of Ram with a 8Gb Swapfile Partition.

The Server is also running a Port Forwarded through NAT IP Address with 768Kbps Upload.....average uploads during testing have been 700 to 752. DL is 8Mbps with average DL times in tests between 600 to 1650 (<= Depends upon the Link Stack on the Backbone). The system is Cable Hardwire.

Using the new ORSv4/5 DB and scripting calls the code is very smooth. Average Performance Backlog is 43ms with peaks at 128ms.....this is with 7 to 12 Players online. Smoking fast!
- HCR3.2b APB => Avg 86ms Peak 367ms
- Cobble Together Psuedo HCR APB => Avg 126ms Peak 527ms (<= STANDARD Vault Provided scripts!! WTF??)
- ORSv1 APB => Avg 68ms Peak 257ms
- ORSv2/3 APB => Avg 56ms Peak 201ms (almost had it figured out)


Bottom line.....the Server is not the issue (unless there are a Massive Spawn happening).....please check your rig.

NESS does slow things down a bit.
The ol' girl, she's a thinker.

The max memory thing there - Thats a good one to know.

I just got this computer... Its a liquid cooled snaggley toothed monster, and honestly NWN ran better on my prescot... The affinity deal, did that. Even disabled a couple of processors and yet, I crash for no good reason... The seige equipment store in Fornost... I can't shop there... It crashes me every time... I'll be frakkered sideways, if I can fathom why...