DiRT Showdown - Working SLI profile for those that want it

[Darren Hodgson]

The DiRT Showdown profile included with the current v30x.xx drivers does not work properly with SLI as it shows poor scaling (25-50 fps in-game @ 1920x1200, Ultra, 8xQCSAA on my system).

It contains what I believe are two errors:

1. It doesn't include the showdown.exe and showdown_avx.exe executables

2. It has the incorrect DX1x SLI flag setting of 0x080100f5 instead of 0x081000f5

This is my profile which you can edit into a profile text file exported from NVIDIA GeForce SLI Profile Tool or use NVIDIA Inspector (the easiest option IMO):

Profile "DiRT Showdown"
ShowOn GeForce
ProfileType Application
Executable "showdown_demo.exe"
Executable "showdown.exe"
Executable "rp6.exe"
Executable "showdown_avx.exe"
Executable "showdown_demo_avx.exe"
Setting ID_0x00a06946 = 0x080100f5
Setting ID_0x00a06946 = 0x081000f5 UserSpecified=true
Setting ID_0x00b82343 = 0x00000002
Setting ID_0x1033cec2 = 0x00000002
Setting ID_0x1033dcd3 = 0x00000004
Setting ID_0x10ecdb82 = 0x00000001
Setting ID_0x701eb457 = 0x2241ab21 InternalSettingFlag=V0
SettingString ID_0x7049c7ec = "웭ꑢ쫐₰" InternalSettingFlag=V0
SettingString ID_0x7051e5f5 = "籭鸙" InternalSettingFlag=V0
SettingString ID_0x705fafec = "웭ꑼ쫑₂쁰₢Υ¢婋籯鸹灰땁᥿厈䃈ޡВ뽉襂" InternalSettingFlag=V0
Setting ID_0x708db8c5 = 0x239978f1 InternalSettingFlag=V0
Setting ID_0x709a1ddf = 0x4b1cd968 InternalSettingFlag=V0
SettingString ID_0x70b5603f = "榻鳈⏹ꢗ" InternalSettingFlag=V0
Setting ID_0x70edb381 = 0x24208b6c InternalSettingFlag=V0
EndProfile

I've tested this in over 8 events and the scaling works better than the default giving me a constant 60 fps with v-sync on using the same settings I posted above. It has also been confirmed to work by two other people, one on the Steam forums and the other on the Codemaster's forum.

Just thought it might save someone some heartache trying to get the game running properly. The game is actually pretty good fun with demolition derby events and an overall light-hearted arcade feel to it. The demo does it no favours really.

[VultureX]

Ah, I didn't know about the second bug.

Thanks!

[Ade 1]

Thanks Darren. I noticed an update yesterday through nVidia update (which can be anything from SLi profiles to 3D Vision updates). Just really annoys me that when you click on details it doesn't list what's been added or changed. Hope they can provide it in the future.

[Darren Hodgson]

@ Ade 1 and VultureX - Can you both tell me if it is the 0x081000f5 flag that works better or if it's the default 0x080100f5 one please as a few people claim the former fixes SLI scaling and at least one person, with GTX 580 SLI, claims the latter setting works. Very confusing.

All I know is that if I use 0x080100f5 then DiRT Showdown runs at an appalling 25-50 fps in-game whereas with the 0x081000f5 it never dips below 60 fps. The 0x080100f5 flag also kills SLI in DiRT 3 as well, another game that uses the same engine.

[Darren Hodgson]

Originally Posted by Ade 1

I noticed an update yesterday through nVidia update (which can be anything from SLi profiles to 3D Vision updates). Just really annoys me that when you click on details it doesn't list what's been added or changed. Hope they can provide it in the future.

Yeah, it is annoying to not know what profiles have been added/updated, I agree.

I believe the update last night only updated the DiRT Showdown profile by adding the two missing executables (showdown.exe and showdown_avx.exe).

I'm assuming the ghosted out Global Illumination setting is designed to work with the showdown_avx.exe file as that option is greyed out in my game. I can force it but when I tried it with the borked SLI profile it tanked my framerate - the benchmark returned a staggering ave. of 22 fps and a min. of 12 fps! Haven't seen framerates that low in a game since I owned an HD 3850!!!

[yosef019]

1 gtx 680 not enoght?

[Darren Hodgson]

Not when I can have two, no!

[VultureX]

Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson

@ Ade 1 and VultureX - Can you both tell me if it is the 0x081000f5 flag that works better or if it's the default 0x080100f5 one please as a few people claim the former fixes SLI scaling and at least one person, with GTX 580 SLI, claims the latter setting works. Very confusing.

All I know is that if I use 0x080100f5 then DiRT Showdown runs at an appalling 25-50 fps in-game whereas with the 0x081000f5 it never dips below 60 fps. The 0x080100f5 flag also kills SLI in DiRT 3 as well, another game that uses the same engine.

For me the original flag works only partially. At some gymkhana events I experience some fps drops and when there is water in the picture, which can be fixed by turning water quality to medium.

However, with your proposed new flag, the game runs silky smooth all the time with everything maxed out! I can definitely recommend it, if youre having issues with the default profile.

[Darren Hodgson]

@ VultureX - Thanks for replying.

Do you see any flicker during the loading screens with the 0x081000f5 flag? The game runs fine for me at first without flickering but after a few events the loading screens start to flicker, though it's only mild and doesn't occur in-game. It's the same issue that affects DiRT 3 as well.

[Valerys]

Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson

Yeah, it is annoying to not know what profiles have been added/updated, I agree.

I believe the update last night only updated the DiRT Showdown profile by adding the two missing executables (showdown.exe and showdown_avx.exe).

I'm assuming the ghosted out Global Illumination setting is designed to work with the showdown_avx.exe file as that option is greyed out in my game. I can force it but when I tried it with the borked SLI profile it tanked my framerate - the benchmark returned a staggering ave. of 22 fps and a min. of 12 fps! Haven't seen framerates that low in a game since I owned an HD 3850!!!

I tried the game with avx on a Sandy Bridge processor and is still greyed out. I can't understand what is the 'thing' with this option, it is greyed for everyone.
I can confirm that running the game with avx gives a boost of 30-40% in fps when turning on the advanced lighting. In rest it doesn't make a difference.

[Darren Hodgson]

After further testing with the 0x081000f5 flag I've found it does work for my GTX 680 SLI and scales great but I eventually get flickering during the loading/end event/results screens though it never flickers in-game. This is the same issue that DiRT 3 has during its loading/end race/results screens too.

The default profile's 0x080100f5 flag does NOT flicker at all though but gives negative scaling on my system (literally 45-50 fps during more events despite scoring an ave. of 101 fps in the benchmark.

I found out though that I can use the default profile and its 0x080100f5 flag if I force DX10 mode (the game still shows as running under DX11 in MSI Afterburner's OSD because of DX11's backward compatibility mode). To do this just change the <directcx forcex10="false" to "true" in the Users/Documents/My Games/DiRT Showdown/HardwareSettings/Hardware_Settings_Config.xml file. The game will then run at 60 fps without any flicker but obviously DX11 features such as tessellation and advanced shadows are disabled. To be fair the game doesn't look much different in all honesty but downgrading to DX10 is not really ideal for a high-end system.

To further compound the confusion, people with GTX 580 SLI are saying the default profile works fine for them once the executables are added but for people like myself with GTX 680 SLI it doesn't; the game has negative scaling during the game (oddly the benchmark is not affected though).

[VultureX]

Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson

@ VultureX - Thanks for replying.

Do you see any flicker during the loading screens with the 0x081000f5 flag? The game runs fine for me at first without flickering but after a few events the loading screens start to flicker, though it's only mild and doesn't occur in-game. It's the same issue that affects DiRT 3 as well.

Yes I did, must be some problem with some incorrect buffer that is being used. Can't fix it >.>

[RoadKillNL]

Things like these keep me from going SLI/Crossfire ever again

[VultureX]

Originally Posted by RoadKillNL

Things like these keep me from going SLI/Crossfire ever again

99% of the games works just fine. I'm having your performance with 2 cheap cards. There's hardly any trouble nowadays. The Dirt Showdown problems were all related to a tiny profile screwup from nvidia's side.

[---TK---]

Sli 580 is a joyous experience for me. Still kickass since around launch time late 2010. There are only minor setbacks like the one in this thread, and they do provide fixes rather rapidly. The exception is the vsinc issue with Kepler and that needs some testing first before driver fix.

[Darren Hodgson]

Originally Posted by VultureX

The Dirt Showdown problems were all related to a tiny profile screwup from nvidia's side.

Actually the missing executables from the profile is not the real issue here as even with the corrected profile, automatically downloaded via the driver updater, the game does not scale correctly with GTX 680 SLI. At least it doesn't for me. However, GTX 580 SLI owners are saying it does work.

That in itself is worrying if the same profile works for one generation but not the other as NVIDIA only release unified drivers!

[F3ckB9LL]

Darren Hodgson thanks that was a great help for my 590gtx ^^

I just have sum flickering but nothing very annoying :p ( I used teh 0x081000f5 setting ^^ )

( beta 302.59 here )

[unstrain]

Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson

Actually the missing executables from the profile is not the real issue here as even with the corrected profile, automatically downloaded via the driver updater, the game does not scale correctly with GTX 680 SLI. At least it doesn't for me. However, GTX 580 SLI owners are saying it does work.

That in itself is worrying if the same profile works for one generation but not the other as NVIDIA only release unified drivers!

Actually, I am running 3x GTX480 in SLI and the updated NVidia sli profile does not scale up for crap... It's a combined screw up from Codemasters and NVidia at this point. Not mentioning that with 3D Vision the game is borked… Everything on Ultra, barely getting 24 fps in average in the benchmark, but in the game is utters&*^it... And from when they decided to use avx extensions for a game, when I am using a core i7 970 (6cores) and I already have plenty of cpu power available to play any game? Two things that are bugged is the dx11 implementation for water tesselation, need to turn that to medium or below, until they will release a patch, and second: Advanced lighting: turn that off and frames double on my system with no visible graphic difference.
And do yourselves a favor: if you want a good racing arcade game at this point check Gas Guzzlers, and give codemasters the finger and a run for their money.

[---TK---]

dunno the game works fine with sli 580. fully maxed out at 1920x1080. I am using 301.42

[Darren Hodgson]

@ Unstain - Thanks for that info.

I've just tried the default Showdown profile (i.e. with the 0x080100f5 flag that doesn't flicker) and if I turn off Advanced Lighting, as you suggested, then the first event in the Showdown Tour runs at 55-60 fps instead of 25-50 fps. Other events maintain 60 fps better too, although not as well as with the 0x081000f5 (+ loading screen flicker) flag as they can dip to 55 fps. Still, that is much more playable than it was before.

Seems the Advanced Lightning is the real framerate killer as you correctly say. With it enabled I score an ave. framerate of 101 fps on the benchmark. With it disabled I score an ave. of 127 fps compared with 134 fps for DiRT 3.

[-Tj-]

Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson

@ Unstain - Thanks for that info.

I've just tried the default Showdown profile (i.e. with the 0x080100f5 flag that doesn't flicker) and if I turn off Advanced Lighting, as you suggested, then the first event in the Showdown Tour runs at 55-60 fps instead of 25-50 fps. Other events maintain 60 fps better too, although not as well as with the 0x081000f5 (+ loading screen flicker) flag as they can dip to 55 fps. Still, that is much more playable than it was before.

Seems the Advanced Lightning is the real framerate killer as you correctly say. With it enabled I score an ave. framerate of 101 fps on the benchmark. With it disabled I score an ave. of 127 fps compared with 134 fps for DiRT 3.

Hi,

AO-ultra and shadows -Ultra looked more demanding to me, i lowered both to high and left Advanced lighting enabled, 16xCSAA. Now i have few % free, otherwise i would hit gpu usage wall really quick.

And global illumination - off, its still to buggy and Codemasters said they will fix it in upcoming patch, with it enabled i get avg 25fps in benchmark., maybe that's why they disabled it

[unstrain]

Originally Posted by -Tj-

Hi,

AO-ultra and shadows -Ultra looked more demanding to me, i lowered both to high and left Advanced lighting enabled, 16xCSAA. Now i have few % free, otherwise i would hit gpu usage wall really quick.

And global illumination - off, its still to buggy and Codemasters said they will fix it in upcoming patch, with it enabled i get avg 25fps in benchmark., maybe that's why they disabled it

No patch will fix that for who does not have an avx enabled cpu… Instead of optimizing the code for multiple cores, they decided to go the easy way, implement vector accelerated instructions, only ivybridge cpus have. Lame.

[Darren Hodgson]

Originally Posted by unstrain

No patch will fix that for who does not have an avx enabled cpu… Instead of optimizing the code for multiple cores, they decided to go the easy way, implement vector accelerated instructions, only ivybridge cpus have. Lame.

True. And Showdown is certainly not a game worth upgrading to Ivy Bridge for either as it is shallower than a puddle IMO and shows no noticeable visual improvement over DiRT 3.

[swecarl]

Tried the game with the 302.71 drivers, still awful One of my gtx 680 runs at its max speed the other one chills at 324mhz

[andressergio]

i use drit3 profile but it flickers on menu only

is this profile better ?