OLD BETA patch 14413 - May 4, 2011(!!!) - do not install!

[TonyD]

I have found a general improvement with the graphic quality, and have been able to increase graphic settings slightly with no loss in frame rate. I decided to test this analytically, so I followed the recommended method of bench marking Black Death. A re-test with the tweaked settings produced identical results. The results were (avg., max, min, in-game counter):

Beta ver.14035: 36 82 15
Beta ver.14413: 38 83 13

These were run with full screen ‘on’, driver ver.11.4, CCC settings at default. A separate poster mentioned lower VRAM use, and this appears correct – there seems to have been a ‘streamlining’ of the graphics data, in that more now fits through the same ‘pipe’ than was previously possible. I noticed additional graphic detail in the BD track, without altering any settings (I tested this twice to be sure).

I checked cpu usage after a long low-altitude flight over Dover, and found it to be roughly 70%, 45%, 25% and 20%. Gpu usage was around 54%.

Thanks, team. I know each improvement may seem minor in isolation, but the change from its original state is fairly major at this stage, in my experience. The desire to upgrade my graphics card diminishes with each update, and is now on hold (at least until that ‘blue stripes thingy’ is fixed).