[FIXED] Poor performance in Doom 3

[PalZer0]

I wanted to play some Doom 3 on Steam after finding a possible method to get surround sound working but I'm getting terrible performance.

I'm running a Core i5 2500K @ 4GHz, 4GB RAM and an Nvidia 560Ti running the latest beta drivers (304.79).

I've tried verifying my game files and disabling the Steam overlay but neither has helped. I've also tried Prey and Quake 4 which use the same engine yet there's no issues with those games.

EDIT: Fixed by rolling back my Nvidia drivers to 304.48. Something in the 304.79 drivers is killing performance.

[v4moose]

by terrible performance are you talking frames per second? or bad surround sound performance? what's the trick you used to get surround going? was doom working before you applied the trick?

EDIT: are we even talking nvidia surround? or surround sound?

[PalZer0]

by terrible performance are you talking frames per second? or bad surround sound performance? what's the trick you used to get surround going? was doom working before you applied the trick?

EDIT: are we even talking nvidia surround? or surround sound?

Terribad FPS (even in the menus and id intro).

Also, this poor performance was present before I applied the trick (typing s_useOpenAL 1 into the console then restarting the game).

[-Slayer-]

I'd be looking at reinstalling it again, it may have been corrupted by something you have done or a bad install.

Your computer should rock that in easy, I can play it on full settings with a Q9400 quad core @2666 MHz, with a nivida GTX280 DDR2-800 ram x 8gig.

So try a reinstall and start again.

[PalZer0]

I'd be looking at reinstalling it again, it may have been corrupted by something you have done or a bad install.

Your computer should rock that in easy, I can play it on full settings with a Q9400 quad core @2666 MHz, with a nivida GTX280 DDR2-800 ram x 8gig.

So try a reinstall and start again.

Now that you mention it, I was asked once to convert it to Steam's new downloading system when I launched the game. Something probably went wrong with that.

[steve_rogers42]

Make sure your DX9 files are up to date, maybe update drivers and tweak the nvidia control panel global settings for vsync etc.

might be able to get some frames back.

[PalZer0]

Well an uninstall and reinstall didn't work. Still getting crappy FPS.

Will try updating DirectX next. My GFX driver is already up to date.

[-Slayer-]

Bugga, did you do a complete un-install including deleting the folder where it was installed into, (backup key controls first) you may have a video config or some other settings saved that keeps reapplying on a new install, just an idea.

Have you checked in task manager that the game is using all cores, and how many process you have running, even though its a way old game it should run sweet on your system specs.

[PalZer0]

Just updated DirectX and it's still borked.

I did an uninstall through Steam (clicking "Delete game content" on the right-click menu for the game).

I had a tip on the Steam forums (where I also posted my issue) that it may be an issue with the 304.79 drivers. Might need to do a driver rollback to see if it's true.

For the record, I checked the game options and they said Vsync was off. Checked the NV control panel and it leaves Vsync to be handled by the game. I did note that threading optimisation was set to "Nvidia recommended" though. Changing that to use the global default (at first Auto then On) did nothing.

[PalZer0]

Completed rollback and performance is back to normal.

OP updated.