Emily Grey
26th November 2012, 06:59 PM
Hello, and thank you for viewing my guide on how to achieve higher frames per second on San Andreas: Multiplayer. There is another guide on here but its not very extensive and likely wont be as effective as this one, the only way I can prove that to you is that the other guide is just one step within this guide.
Step 1: Getting Started
Having a higher FPS rate is useful in pretty much every situation, who doesn't want smoother gameplay? I'm going to start by fine tuning your San Andreas settings, you should set them to something similar, if not identical to this (You will get to this screen by pausing, going to options > display > advanced):
http://i.minus.com/jT7gyEXwMjVJL.png (http://minus.com/lT7gyEXwMjVJL)
A breakdown of each setting can be seen below in the spoiler, the only one you shouldn't copy is my screen resolution as it's accustomed to my PC screen size.
Draw Distance - This is similair to render distance in minecraft, it sets the distance in which objects will be loaded on your screen, the lower the setting, the longer it takes for that building in front of you to appear, ergo less intense on your process = higher fps fo you!
Frame Limiter - I'm not sure what the limits at for this specific game but this pretty much cuts the number of FPS you gain to a certain number, I've found I get smoother gameplay with it off, you can feel free to tweak with it to fit your PC.
WideScreen - You should know what this is already, and widescreen sucks so keep it off :p (unless you really want it).
Visual FX Quality - The basic quality switch (as with almost every PC game), with a buffered up name, if you're experiencing heavy lag on any other setting keep it at low.
Anti Aliasing - I've never completely understood this, and I don't want to go in depth explaining it, if you really want to know what it is go here - http://www.ransen.com/articles/Anti-alias/Default.htm , I keep it off, it's worst quality but faster gameplay.
Resolution - This actually can affect FPS, it's the size the game runs at on your laptop / PC Monitor, each computer is different with this setting and you should remember your default, but if you haven't try tweaking around with it and see where it gets ya.
With these settings alone, as long as you weren't already set similar you'll have to see at least 5-20 fps increase. But I'm not quite done yet.
Step 2: What's an IOBit?
Now, onto my favorite part, IOBit Advanced System Care 6. Long name, amazing results, the people at IOBit have managed to pack pretty much the most efficient / useful PC optimization tools into one program. After running this program (especially if you don't tune-up your pc regularly) I would be surprised if you didn't notice a difference in the slightest on your PC. Now here's the tricky part, the program costs $30 and while I'm sure ALL of you are going to actually buy it there's a great website where pirates bay (thepiratebay.se) and I'm sure of you were to you know, search Advanced System Care 6 and sort by Seeds (highest first) you would find it, not that I'm telling you to or even encouraging it because you know this is for educational purposes and what not. Anyways once you've bought (torrented) this beautiful software go ahead and launch it. Start by verifying that you have the full version by seeing if there's a "Manage License" or "Upgrade" button, there should be one of two and it's located as shown in the picture.
http://i.minus.com/jbgUnh0Cju2q9U.png (http://minus.com/lbgUnh0Cju2q9U)
Once you've a setup similar to the image above we're good to go, now we're going to start by making sure all the tasks in the care tab are checked, and once they are go ahead and click scan.
http://i.minus.com/j7X8NMu2Nm0JH.png (http://minus.com/l7X8NMu2Nm0JH)
Once you've done that, the initial deep care process will begin, it's going to do all the steps that we just checkmarked and each will help your computers performance in its own unique way, this process isn't necessarily the fastest, but shouldn't take more then 20 minutes, even on a fairly slow PC. During this process it's smartest to close all programs on your PC (yes even SA:MP) such as chrome, and even those running in the taskbar like uTorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/) and Skype (http://www.skype.com). You will know when each unique step is done because it will be marked via a check mark or a number representing MB of junk files erased, or problems fixed, as seen in the image below.
http://i.minus.com/ji4PsKYsSvMTo.png (http://minus.com/li4PsKYsSvMTo)
We aren't actually done with the sweeping process after this step unfortunately, ASC6 will now echo to you a report of your PC's performance and repair needed (as shown in the image below), we're going to click repair and let the actual cleaning process happen, this usually takes longer than the report.
http://i.minus.com/jvfDNBXVdtqEa.png (http://minus.com/lvfDNBXVdtqEa)
You can see in the image above I'm being told I have 1800 issues / problems that ASC6 will fix, it may seem a bad thing to have a high number but usually the higher the number the more noticeable effect afterwards. Now we wait for repair to happen. I don't have a picture of mine being but it's pretty easy to tell as there's green check marks by everything and a new button appears.
Step 3: Now Wut?
We're about done here, this 3-step equation is finally starting to take affect. Go ahead and click the turbo boost tab on ASC6. You will land here
http://i.minus.com/ibflJdf8KtNSMO.PNG
Go ahead and click configure, then you will be taken to a screen like the image below:
http://i.minus.com/ibnVW88rqzxveA.PNG
Go ahead and click game mode then next, like in the picture. You will be forwarded to a screen similar to the one below, it's fairly safe to check all of them but you should always read through because sometimes, but rarely, your trackpad / mouse input will be on this list and by turning on this mode you will disable it.
http://i.minus.com/iJOD0LnmOlbo2.PNG
You are pretty safe to also check off all of those in this next list, but make sure no program you want to use is running in that list.
http://i.minus.com/ibh43UD6GT0zr5.PNG
You can also check all the background applications, and if you're taken to the power plan option choose to use it. Now once you've seen a screen similar to what is below you are done, yay!
http://i.minus.com/iqLoag8JJEGLk.png
Step 4: Am I Done?
Pretty much, I'd advise you to a deep clean of your pc once a week from here on out, and use the game mode featured in ASC6. Capping the pictures, typing this thread up, and making it look pretty took me about 2 hours so I would really appreciate it if you gave me some feedback and rated this thread! I'm aware that there is a sticky on this exact topic but I don't think it's as good or goes even 1/10th as far in depth as I've (no offence to it's creator, the tutorial is old and outdated).
Step 1: Getting Started
Having a higher FPS rate is useful in pretty much every situation, who doesn't want smoother gameplay? I'm going to start by fine tuning your San Andreas settings, you should set them to something similar, if not identical to this (You will get to this screen by pausing, going to options > display > advanced):
http://i.minus.com/jT7gyEXwMjVJL.png (http://minus.com/lT7gyEXwMjVJL)
A breakdown of each setting can be seen below in the spoiler, the only one you shouldn't copy is my screen resolution as it's accustomed to my PC screen size.
Draw Distance - This is similair to render distance in minecraft, it sets the distance in which objects will be loaded on your screen, the lower the setting, the longer it takes for that building in front of you to appear, ergo less intense on your process = higher fps fo you!
Frame Limiter - I'm not sure what the limits at for this specific game but this pretty much cuts the number of FPS you gain to a certain number, I've found I get smoother gameplay with it off, you can feel free to tweak with it to fit your PC.
WideScreen - You should know what this is already, and widescreen sucks so keep it off :p (unless you really want it).
Visual FX Quality - The basic quality switch (as with almost every PC game), with a buffered up name, if you're experiencing heavy lag on any other setting keep it at low.
Anti Aliasing - I've never completely understood this, and I don't want to go in depth explaining it, if you really want to know what it is go here - http://www.ransen.com/articles/Anti-alias/Default.htm , I keep it off, it's worst quality but faster gameplay.
Resolution - This actually can affect FPS, it's the size the game runs at on your laptop / PC Monitor, each computer is different with this setting and you should remember your default, but if you haven't try tweaking around with it and see where it gets ya.
With these settings alone, as long as you weren't already set similar you'll have to see at least 5-20 fps increase. But I'm not quite done yet.
Step 2: What's an IOBit?
Now, onto my favorite part, IOBit Advanced System Care 6. Long name, amazing results, the people at IOBit have managed to pack pretty much the most efficient / useful PC optimization tools into one program. After running this program (especially if you don't tune-up your pc regularly) I would be surprised if you didn't notice a difference in the slightest on your PC. Now here's the tricky part, the program costs $30 and while I'm sure ALL of you are going to actually buy it there's a great website where pirates bay (thepiratebay.se) and I'm sure of you were to you know, search Advanced System Care 6 and sort by Seeds (highest first) you would find it, not that I'm telling you to or even encouraging it because you know this is for educational purposes and what not. Anyways once you've bought (torrented) this beautiful software go ahead and launch it. Start by verifying that you have the full version by seeing if there's a "Manage License" or "Upgrade" button, there should be one of two and it's located as shown in the picture.
http://i.minus.com/jbgUnh0Cju2q9U.png (http://minus.com/lbgUnh0Cju2q9U)
Once you've a setup similar to the image above we're good to go, now we're going to start by making sure all the tasks in the care tab are checked, and once they are go ahead and click scan.
http://i.minus.com/j7X8NMu2Nm0JH.png (http://minus.com/l7X8NMu2Nm0JH)
Once you've done that, the initial deep care process will begin, it's going to do all the steps that we just checkmarked and each will help your computers performance in its own unique way, this process isn't necessarily the fastest, but shouldn't take more then 20 minutes, even on a fairly slow PC. During this process it's smartest to close all programs on your PC (yes even SA:MP) such as chrome, and even those running in the taskbar like uTorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/) and Skype (http://www.skype.com). You will know when each unique step is done because it will be marked via a check mark or a number representing MB of junk files erased, or problems fixed, as seen in the image below.
http://i.minus.com/ji4PsKYsSvMTo.png (http://minus.com/li4PsKYsSvMTo)
We aren't actually done with the sweeping process after this step unfortunately, ASC6 will now echo to you a report of your PC's performance and repair needed (as shown in the image below), we're going to click repair and let the actual cleaning process happen, this usually takes longer than the report.
http://i.minus.com/jvfDNBXVdtqEa.png (http://minus.com/lvfDNBXVdtqEa)
You can see in the image above I'm being told I have 1800 issues / problems that ASC6 will fix, it may seem a bad thing to have a high number but usually the higher the number the more noticeable effect afterwards. Now we wait for repair to happen. I don't have a picture of mine being but it's pretty easy to tell as there's green check marks by everything and a new button appears.
Step 3: Now Wut?
We're about done here, this 3-step equation is finally starting to take affect. Go ahead and click the turbo boost tab on ASC6. You will land here
http://i.minus.com/ibflJdf8KtNSMO.PNG
Go ahead and click configure, then you will be taken to a screen like the image below:
http://i.minus.com/ibnVW88rqzxveA.PNG
Go ahead and click game mode then next, like in the picture. You will be forwarded to a screen similar to the one below, it's fairly safe to check all of them but you should always read through because sometimes, but rarely, your trackpad / mouse input will be on this list and by turning on this mode you will disable it.
http://i.minus.com/iJOD0LnmOlbo2.PNG
You are pretty safe to also check off all of those in this next list, but make sure no program you want to use is running in that list.
http://i.minus.com/ibh43UD6GT0zr5.PNG
You can also check all the background applications, and if you're taken to the power plan option choose to use it. Now once you've seen a screen similar to what is below you are done, yay!
http://i.minus.com/iqLoag8JJEGLk.png
Step 4: Am I Done?
Pretty much, I'd advise you to a deep clean of your pc once a week from here on out, and use the game mode featured in ASC6. Capping the pictures, typing this thread up, and making it look pretty took me about 2 hours so I would really appreciate it if you gave me some feedback and rated this thread! I'm aware that there is a sticky on this exact topic but I don't think it's as good or goes even 1/10th as far in depth as I've (no offence to it's creator, the tutorial is old and outdated).