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 Home  Forum Index Neverwinter Nights 2 NWN2: Technical Support (Self-Help) Nvidia SLI Tips for NW2
NWN2: Technical Support (Self-Help)
SlaveDog
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 |
 Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 03:19PM |
There doesn't seem to be any default SLI support, and there is no NW2 default profile in the 91.47 drivers. Last night I worked out how to get great framerates in NW2 with my Nvidia SLI system and thought I would share my findings:
1. Create a profile in the nvidia classic control panel
using nw2main.exe and nw2.exe (note: nw2main.exe is the
main memory usage executable). Arrow down to ADVANCED settings. Also, make sure this profile is the one actually selected (don't leave at global settings and trust auto-selecting by executable).
2. In the profile you made for NW2, check vsync and force
it to be off (not application controlled)and make sure
it is not forced on in global settings. (Note: I had
a hard time getting vsync to shut off in the game,
hence all the minute details. If you cant get vsync off
in the game, SLI will not work.
3. SLI rendering to AFR2 (best framerates for me, but you
can try them all)
4. Under the main SLI tab, check "show gpu load balance"
(this is just for temporary test, later, uncheck this
to remove the green balance bar)
5. Load FRAPS or another framerate program so you can
verify vsync is off if balance bar does not display.
6. Start Game. You should see the green load balance bar,
if you don't see it by the time you load a save game,
then set resolution to 800X600
and see if your FRAPS numbers are higher then your
refresh rate number. (example: 61+ if you have an LCD
monitor set to 60hz refresh rate). You may need to
lower graphics settings to truly make sure you are not bound by vsync.
7. Once you are sure SLI is working (fps higher than refresh rate and/or balance bar displays), then comes the fun part: With the green SLI balance bar up, set your resolution back to what you want it to be, then experiment
with shadows and bloom. In my case, setting bloom, or
any shadowing above "low" caused the balance bar to
shrink to 0. Which means NW2 shadowing and bloom are
heavily CPU bound and SLI does nothing for it. As long as
you keep the green balance bar completely full, you can set all the other options pretty much to what you like.
8. In my case, I set shadows to LOW, and bloom off,
freeing up the CPU to feed my dual 7900GTX's. Tearing
and shearing is really very minor since the frames
really don't drastically go over your refresh rate
anyway, and the engine seems quite forgiving of having
vsync off.
9. So I just sacrifice fancy shadows and bloom, and can get great framerates at 1920 X 1200 resolution with textures on high and the game runs great indoors and acceptable outdoors. I think bloom is pretty, but it also has some wierdness to it on my character when my face is all shiny, so I don't really miss bloom at all. If you really like bloom, then leave it on, but bloom + medium-high shadows will null your SLI.
10. Now, go back and uncheck your load balance bar in your
Nvidia Forceware control panel and have fun playing the game in SLI.
My System:
Athlon FX 60
2X 7900GTX SLI
MSI diamond plus mainboard
Dell 30" LCD
-SlaveDog | 
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AtraAngelis
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 09 Oct 2005 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 03:33PM |
Wow, Thank you. Very informative for the SLI novice.
_________________
Obsidian Shores | |
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SlaveDog
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 05:50PM |
I'm glad I could help. I was an SLI novice just 9 months ago when I added another 7900GTX and hit all the message boards trying to figure things out.
Good Luck. | |
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Sumradagnoth
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN 2
Joined: 30 Jun 2002 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 06:17PM |
ugh - i always use vsync due to the tearing games cause with LCD monitors
there is no way to get SLI to work with this game AND use vsync? Are you just dealing with the screen tear (provided you are using and lcd)? | |
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SlaveDog
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 06:33PM |
Well, since you can't see the load balance bar when vsync is on, you have to load FRAPS to check the framerate. And with vsync on and SLI on/off I see no difference. But usually, that's how SLI is since you are telling your GPU's to wait for a vertical refresh. Also, dxtweaker (triple buffering for direct 3D) will not work with SLI.
Yes, in some games you can get a performance boost with SLI and vsync on, but not in this one, at least, not right now with how NW2 is using the hardware. And you will never get the full SLI FPS benefit if you have vsync on.
I posted a guide for triple buffering with a single card and it actually performs very well if you want to keep vsync. Hey, I'm with you, I hate tearing and shearing, even though I think in NW2 case, its minor if the FPS hovers around the refresh rate anyway.
You can turn off SLI, and use dxtweaker to load the game with triple buffering. (find my post, or google dxtweaker triple buffer). Triple buffering will allow the frame rate to roam freely up to the vsync cap at your refresh rate. Otherwise, vsync causes a division of your frame rate from 60ish to 30ish. Or in NW2 case, you wonder why if you can't get 60FPS you are stuck at 20fps.
I was actually surprised at my performance using dxtweaker and just one of my 7900 GTX's (provided I had shadows to low and bloom off, wich are completely CPU bound).
If you try this, the executable you want to assign to dxtweaker is: nw2main.exe. Then click present changer and set its count to 2. You can google all this and there is a ton of info on it.
-Good Luck | |
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Sumradagnoth
Game Owner
NWN
NWN 2
Joined: 30 Jun 2002 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 06:39PM |
gotcha on all that
now when you say use only 1 card, are you actually disabling SLI in the nvidia cp, or just forcing the game profile to use a single gpu? | |
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SlaveDog
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 06:42PM |
In my case, I was disabling SLI in the control panel. However, dxtweaker would probably work by setting the SLI profile to Single GPU but I didn't think of that last night when I was experimenting, since it was just quicker for me to tick it on/off from the nearest option.
Thanks for reminding me, and I'll have to give it a try. | |
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Sumradagnoth
Game Owner
NWN
NWN 2
Joined: 30 Jun 2002 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 06:44PM | |
let me know if that works for you, if you end up testing before i get home from work | |
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MikeF73
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN 2
Joined: 18 Dec 2002 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 06:59PM | |
Nvidia posted a new 93.71 driver today and they include an SLI profile for NWN2. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet though. | |
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shaon94
Game Owner
NWN
NWN 2
Joined: 21 Jun 2002 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 07:06PM |
haha figures I just updated my driver last night. I will have to try this when I get home. I hope just updating the driver and setting the NWN profile works.
shaon94 | |
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SlaveDog
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 07:57PM | |
I set my profile to single GPU and triple buffer with dxtweaker (which does not support SLI) worked fine. | |
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stakenyf
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
Joined: 04 Dec 2005 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 11:08PM |
Ok, I can only speak for myself here but all my issues are resolved. I'm running the game in SLI with ALL settings maxed out, including bloom effects. The only setting that's lower is Number of lights per object which I set to 4 and not >4. My resolution is 1600X1200. I also ran it at 1920X1200 but it looks too stretched out vertically. The game runs super smooth and is using full SLI capability (turned on the sli indicator and I'm seeing a nice full green bar). Here's what I did.
I installed the new Nvidia driver 93.71 which has a Neverwinter Nights 2 profile.
Using Nhencer I added the other executables from the NWN 2 directory. I forced Vsync off and added antialiasing 8S, everything else I left the same. The neverwinter nights 2 profile appears to be using AFR2 with several compatibility flags (if you use Nhencer you know what I'm talking about). It is also set to Quality.
I haven't tested with vsync on and triple buffering yet, nor have I tried the High Quality setting. You know what they say, "if it ain't broken don't fix it". Besides, the game looks damn good to me and runs super smooth.
I guess I can take back what I said about SLI being overrated.
Now if I can only solve the tutorial 
Happy gaming folks! 
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SlaveDog
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 04 Jan 2003 |
Posted: Thursday, 02 November 2006 11:23PM | |
That sounds great! I'll have to experiment with those new drivers when I get home tonight. | |
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hynbw
Game Owner
NWN 2
Joined: 01 Nov 2006 |
Posted: Friday, 03 November 2006 12:04AM |
I will download and try these new drivers when I get home.
Just one thing: what is "Nhencer"? | |
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Sumradagnoth
Game Owner
NWN
NWN 2
Joined: 30 Jun 2002 |
Posted: Friday, 03 November 2006 12:07AM |
its actually Nhancer
more detailed sli profile editing
google it... good tool! | |
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