Hey all,

Been doing the usual, finding ways of stabilising FPS in game when it gets busy on screen. Anyhoo, I found this

To save you reading the whole thing if you're so inclined, here is the info pertaining to mat_queue_mode, a command that instructs the steam engine to make better use of multiprocessor CPU's. (sorry if this has been posted up previously)


Mat_queue_mode
Mat_queue_mode is a cvar that's been introduced to Half-Life 2: Episode 2 that allows multicore processors to take advantage of all the available cores when set to 2.

This causes many issues for players as their games crash near instantly. While it is true that this cvar is still experimental, the author has found that on many computer setups that this following configuration will allow you to run MQM 2 without a hitch:

mat_queue_mode "2"
cl_threaded_bone_setup "0"
cl_interp_threadmodeticks "0"
cl_threaded_client_leaf_system "0"
r_threaded_client_shadow_manager "0"
r_threaded_particles "1"
r_threaded_renderables "0"
r_queued_decals "0"
r_queued_post_processing "0"
mp_usehwmmodels "-1"
mp_usehwmvcds "-1"

The results received from users are mixed - some good and some bad, so as usual your mileage may vary. and use at your own risk. Also, certain people appear to have better stability when they use this in conjunction with host_thread_mode 1


The above configuration will disable all but threaded particles as some users may have changed variables that they shouldn't to try and get this to work. The instant crash itself stems from the mp_usehwm* variables which appear to not be compatible with multithreading but which gets enabled automatically when you have hardware that supports it. Valve are apparently working on an update to fix this, but it's estimated time frame is coming soon.

After you have tested this, feel free to enable any of the cvars that have been set to 0 and change them to 1 to see if they are stable and give you a gain in FPS. If in any case you start to get 'choppy' gameplay, you may want to try playing the game with a different priority in the Task Manager which you can then set permanently using the method mentioned in this guide or via Command Line. You might also get some success out of using fps_max 60 as Tyrael4 over at the Steam Forums has pointed out.

*edited colour*

Another config to try that I got from the Steam forum is the one below which might also be worth trying:

host_thread_mode "1"
r_threaded_particles "1"
r_threaded_renderables "1"
r_threaded_client_shadow_manager "1"
r_queued_decals "1"
r_queued_post_processing "1"
r_queued_ropes "1"
snd_mix_async "1"
mat_queue_mode "2"
cl_threaded_client_leaf_system "1"
cl_interp_threadmodeticks "1"
cl_threaded_bone_setup "1"

I'm gonna give them both a go and let you know how I get on.

3F.

Keep us updated, I'd like to make full use of my core2duo! Oh and yellow is a bit hard to read for those of us that use the silver theme

Yeah I used the above mat_queue_mode 2 settings for a while too (figured constant 100+ fps wouldnt hurt) and I didnt crash using it but it would just ..."chop" for 1-2 seconds every few minutes, not worth it for me with average 85 fps. If it doesnt crash for you though, probably a world difference.

Well I said I'd let you know how the configs went, so here goes.

I've really only used the first config, and have to say i do get a definite boost in performance, however, it has glitched out on me a couple of times with the whole screen freezing. I've since taken to setting mat_queue_mode 1, which has been much more stable on my rig, however i still get the occasional crash, which makes me think it might not be the config at all.

r00k13 has also used the 1st config and I've heard nothing but good things about it on his rig.

I've been trying to dig up the thread that covered this b4... thanks threefuries I'll have to give this a go.

Does anyone know if it only makes use of dual cores or all 4 on a quad?

The command doesn't take into account the number of cores, the values set how the materials system queues objects for processing. What I took from it was that it used whatever processing resources were available.

I had a list of all the console commands and their descriptions and now I've lost the bloody thing!

Here is a useful link but mat_queue_mode isn't in there annoyingly (sure it used to me :/)

More info:

The queue/thread mode the material system should use: -1=default, 0=synchronous single thread, 1=queued single thread, 2=queued multithreaded

I found these intepretations on the steam forums:

-1: Should be whatever your processor supports but because it's buggy, it's instead
0: Completely disabled, Source Engine performs its tasks like it always has
1: Most likely for HyperThreading CPU's and anything that can handle having something wait before it can load
2: True multicore support for both Dual and Quad cores.