![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Saturday , March 08, 2003
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
UT2K3 Benchmark Utility v2.1
Updated OpenGL/D3D UT2K3 benchmark utility! Version 2.1 fixes some bugs that the you guys helped us find. If you want to run benchmarks in OpenGL correctly you will need to download this new version.
Introduction
On February 17th we introduced version 2.0 for mass public use. This new version introduced many new features over our original release of this program. We have received tons of feedback on version 2.0. There were some bugs in version 2.0 that have now been verified and corrected in this newer version. First a little introduction.
Unreal Tournament 2003 can be used as a great benchmark tool since it is an actual real game that people play. It has built in benchmark functionality. However, with its current setup we found that it could be improved upon to make it incredibly easy and functional for people to use this game to compare performance on their own system or with others. To that extent we developed a benchmarking tool that uses the built in files of UT2K3 to run flyby benchmarks in maps. This produces a low/average/max frames per second results that you can use. One of the changes that we had made however was to build our own INI files that are tuned for a very High Quality setting and a very Low Quality setting all built into the benchmarking utility. We also gave you the option to change resolutions. We also included a CPU Test that tested one map in very low quality with T&L disabled so that the CPU would do most of the work to make good CPU comparisons. That was all in our original release of the program.
v2.0 added the option to benchmark with the full version game or the demo of UT2K3. It also allowed you to benchmark in Direct3D or OpenGL along with more resolution options. We also introduced a Custom Test that let you select one map at a time and enable or disable sound and the option to use your own INI file for comparisons on your own system. This was all good but we discovered some bugs, one major one, that required us to create a new version and thoroughly test it to make sure it is working correctly.
Bugs Found and Fixed
There was a bug in version 2.0 where the OpenGL INI files were not executing correctly in UT2K3. Therefore the D3D renderer was being used instead of OpenGL when OpenGL was selected. This problem has been fixed in version 2.1 and OpenGL is now working correctly in the Full Version and the Demo.
The problem stemmed from this unknown fact at the time. There is a line inside the ut2003.ini file that states: FirstRun=1000. This is the default value for that line; this indicates a default safe mode run of ut2k3 and uses the default D3D renderer. All our ut2003.ini files use this setting, which was fine at the time when we just had the D3D renderer executing. But now that we were using the OpenGL option we needed to select a version number for this line. So what we did is change this to FirstRun=2136 and that caused it to use the correct renderer in the full version game and the demo regardless of version of the game. So OpenGL now executes correctly when you select OpenGL from the benchmarker.
We found out, thanks to Daniel Vogel at Epic how to check for this to make sure that OpenGL was executing correctly in version 2.1, and you can easily do this at home too. I learned about the D3DResources command. While in a game, or a benchmark, bring down the console ~ and type in d3dresources and then hit enter, it will show you info about textures being used etc... If this comes up then you are running in D3D mode. If instead you get a message that says "Unrecognized Command" then you are in OGL mode, or non D3D.
The next bug was that some people were having an issue where they would launch the benchmark and it would load up the maps but the flyby would not execute. It would just sit there and allow you to manually flyby. This has been fixed in this version as well; the maps will now do their proper flyby.
The next bug was that for some people who extracted the benchmarker they would try and run the application and it would throw back a UT2K3 generated program error about initializing the engine. This was due to not having also extracted the INI files in the same directory structure that we had built the benchmarker on. We have fixed this problem by packing in the INI files to the EXE. Therefore all that is needed to run the benchmark now is the single .EXE file. The help file is still a separate HTML file.
One other change we made was that we increased the Gamma from 0.800000 to 1.000000 which will brighten up the dark maps so that you can see them better as the flyby is running. This does not effect performance.
The Package
Version 2.1 package contains HardOCP UT2k3 Benchmark.EXE (the program itself), help.html (the help file), logo.gif (to use if you wish to use a graphic indicating the use of our benchmarker), and a folder called comdlg32 (copy these files into your ...\Windows\System32 folder if you get an error message about missing COMDLG32.OCX when you click on the "Custom Test" button).
Conclusion
Keep in mind while testing in OpenGL mode that this mode is only in UT2K3 for compatibility testing according to Epic. The game is meant to be run in Direct3D, therefore OpenGL may give you some odd behavior. In fact in my own testing I had problems with lockups running a flyby benchmark in Suntemple and Face3 maps and some graphical errors in Bitfrost. If you have such lockups it may be better to use the Custom Test to just run one map at a time in OpenGL mode, that way you can see which ones will work for you. They may behave different with different video cards and drivers.
This is all that is different in version 2.1. All options remain the same from version 2.0. Therefore if you want a rundown about how to use the benchmark utility you can read our preview article on version 2.0. You can also read the help file associated with the utility once you download for a full description.
If you experience any problems at all please let me know. We do hope more people will pick this up and use it as it can greatly assist in making benchmarking both easier on you as well as providing real apples to apples comparisons for people and for publishing on the web when using UT2K3 as a benchmark.
Happy benchmarking!
Download UT2K3 Benchmark Utility HERE!
310KB dl
Editor's Note: Just to be clear, anyone is allowed to use this utility and publish results with it. Please share it with whomever you wish, via mirror or any other means. Feel free to direct link it as well.