An introduction

I've mentioned before that if you run Unreal on a PowerVR card, you'll want to change the default settings ... well, this page describes some general recommendations for your Unreal setup, and specific graphics settings for PowerVR users. Feedback on these PowerVR settings has been very good - dramatically improved visuals, and good performance. I've benchmarked the settings on a PII-266 (overclocked to 300MHz), with 64Mb SD-RAM, a Matrox Mystique and an m3D, but Apocalypse 3Dx users report the same improvements in graphics quality.

One quick note regarding modifications to the unreal.ini file (where most of the changes will go) - the first time you run Unreal, it performs a bunch of first-time configuration operations. So, if you haven't installed Unreal yet, be sure to run it and set up your graphics card at least once before modifying the INI file.

Getting Windows ready for Unreal

As with any of the system-heavy games that run under '95, there are a few general guidelines to follow when running Unreal. Your virtual memory settings and free disk space both have a big impact on Unreal's performance. So ...

• Ensure you have quite a bit of free disk space on the drive that holds Unreal - 100Mb should be ample. The Unreal 'cache' is stored in the Unreal directory structure, so you'll need at least that much space free (more on the cache later).
• Give Windows a great big swap file ... the more virtual memory it has, the easier it can manage memory allocation for all your software, not just Unreal. 100Mb is recommended as the minimum, but I'd suggest 150Mb or more ... if you can set up a permanent swap file of this kind of size, you'll really notice the difference. With the size of 'standard' hard drives these days - 4Gb or more - creating a dedicated partition at the end of the disk to use as a permanent swap file doesn't cost you much in free disk space, and gives Windows room to breathe.

An important note about running Unreal - make sure your system's not running any unnecessary software ... close all the apps running in your System Tray before running Unreal up, especially stuff like ICQ, virus scanners and the like. Even the active desktop and heavy wallpaper make a difference...

Just gimme the cache...

There are two caches that will have an impact on Unreal's performance - the Unreal cache and Windows' own file cache, also known as the VCache.

• In unreal.ini's [Engine.GameEngine] section, increase CacheSizeMegs. The default is 2Mb (CacheSizeMegs=2), personally I've got mine up to 64Mb (CacheSizeMegs=64). This is one for you to experiment with. Update 19.07.98: Apparently, Epic recommend that you stick to the 2Mb default, perhaps moving to 4Mb on a 128Mb-RAM system. I'll experiment further and see what I get...
• If you want to move the Unreal cache, modify the CachePath entry in unreal.ini's [Core.System] section.
• For the Windows VCache, you'll need to modify system.ini. I've had a few recommendations, one for Quake 2 and a couple for Unreal. Your best bet is to experiment (but remember you'll need to restart Windows for any changes to system.ini to take effect). You may find that you don't have a VCache section in system.ini - if this is the case, just create one. Those recommendations, then -
  
  
  • [vcache]
  • ;Quake2 recommendations...
  • MinFileCache=8192
  • MaxFileCache=8192
  • ;Unreal recommendations #1 (18.07.98)
  • ;MinFileCache=2048
  • ;MaxFileCache=4096
  • ;Unreal recommendations #2 (19.07.98)
  • ;MinFileCache=1024
  • ;MaxFileCache=1024
  
  
• Note the semicolons - when they begin a line, the line is ignored by Windows, so you can keep both sets of settings in system.ini and just 'comment out' the ones you want Windows to ignore.

Testing the changes

OK ... when you're ready to roll, you need some way of testing the changes you make. There are two issues here - frame rate and playability. While frame rates can be measured, improvements as a result of modifying settings like the cache size can only be seen by actually playing a level or two ... frame rate isn't everything ! When you're changing graphics options, though, it's a damn good measure of the changes. If you want to test/measure frame rates...

• Create a directory under X:\Unreal called (for example) Custom.
• In unreal.ini, find the first empty Paths[n]= statement, and change it to read Paths[n]=..\Custom\*.u. This will keep your Unreal system directories clean while you test out custom mods.
• Download timedemo02.zip, and unzip it into X:\Unreal\Custom.
• Run up Unreal and leave it running the flyby ... hit the Tab key to get the command prompt down, and type 'summon timedemo.timedemo' (without the quotes). Unreal will now measure and display your frame rates ... if you just run it on the flyby, then you'll be able to compare frame rates after changing different graphics options.

So ... to try out a change to your graphics settings ...

• Run Unreal and load the timedemo, making a note of the average over at least one run through the flyby
• Quit Unreal
• Modify your chosen graphics setting(s) in unreal.ini
• Run Unreal and load the timedemo, making a note of the average over at least one run through the flyby
• Quit Unreal
• Modify your chosen graphics setting(s) in unreal.ini
• You must have the idea by now...

PowerVR Recommendations

OK ... these are the unreal.ini settings I use to get a good balance between visuals and frame rates. As always, your best bet is to experiment and see what works best for you, but I'd suggest you start with these just to see what your PowerVR is capable of. This section may well change if (when ?) NEC release an updated Unreal driver for the PCX2 chipset (mind you, the PVRSG will probably be out by then...). I'm running the latest generic PowerVR drivers, by the way (you can, of course, grab them on the PowerVR page).

Update (13.11.98): many thanks to John Snider for pointing out that setting VertexLighting True makes a big difference to the average framerate of Unreal on the PowerVR - 23% in 640x480, and a whopping 35% in 800x600 ! Consequently I've modified the recommendations below ...

• [SglDrv.SglRenderDevice]
• Translucency=True
• VolumetricLighting=True
• ShinySurfaces=False
• Coronas=False
• HighDetailActors=False
• ColorDepth=24
• DetailTextures=False
• FastUglyRefresh=False
• TextureDetailBias=Near
• VertexLighting=True

You may need to hike the brightness up on your VDU to counteract the darkness that VertexLighting True introduces, but it's a small price to pay for the increase in performance. Setting Coronas and ShinySurfaces True drops about one frame-per-second, but you may prefer the look of it - give it a try !

In conclusion...

Well, this is probably one of the most bare-bones pages in GWeb, but hopefully it'll help a few Unreal users out there ... and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to drop me a line.

Good luck, and enjoy Unreality !