Ok the subject might seem like an obvious and completely noob thing to say, so let me at least try and explain why i ask this....

There is a bug for TFT monitors that stops them running over 70fps, so any game that could run on a PC with a TFT monitor, must not run faster than this in fullscreen...

I have hunted around for a way to fix this, to no avail. Potentially any game made could be ran on a TFT. So do we have to add a warning on the box, This game will not run on systems with a TFT monitor correctly? Or do we have to set the max fps to 70 and build all our titles around this?

If that is the case I will have to source another engine, bcz to use physics and other time based elements at only 70fps gives me serious problems...

I have ran different things that claim to fix the XP FPS issue, but so far nothing has fixed this. I am guessing that anything faster might damage the TFT, but in window mode I can run it over 400FPS ....

TIA for any help, advice and clarity on this

cant confirm. my tft (notebook) gives me 60fps and i dont have problems with it

You do not have access on the monitor refresh rate out of your game, no matter how high your FPS are.

I've got an TFT screen, I ran test levels with more than 200 FPS, but the graphics card sends 60 updates per second as the settings are (otherwise it would be sensless, imagine 5 FPS on a normal screen -> black screen)

Yep, I can run over 200FPS on my TFT screens. Actual refresh rate varies depending on the quality of the screen, but I can't see individual frames at more than 60 per second anyway.

In fact, there aren't any screens other than TFT screens on sale in Japan anymore. I had to specially order my 22" CRT screen -because some other forum members said how much better they were. Turned out to be crap, TFTs are better. Expensive mistake.

Quickly going the same way with plasma screens. Far more are being sold than the bulky old screens, and they are set to be completely phased out within five years. Last I saw, I could get a 50" for $3,000.

TFT is much better.

- No X-Ray
- Less Graphics power needed (60 Hz instead of 100 or so)
- Better for your eyes
- Maybe even less electricity consuming

My TFT also limits the framerate. But this is normal behaviour, it has nothing to do with Acknex. My old CRT does the same - the frequency is higher though (does not(!) mean the TFT is worse)

Windowed mode gives me the "real" framerate.

Apart from that, I rhink framerates above 100 are not so good, as "time" gets less accurate the smaller its value is.

Firoball is correct. In Windowed mode for my experimental level (that is otherwise empty), I get 200+ fps. Running the same level in Fullscreen mode, I don't get past 60 fps, which happens to be my monitor's refresh rate. I use a CRT though as I'm not going to spend 3 times as much on a TFT that supports 1600x1200 as does my CRT.

Thanks for your comments guys.

I have been playing around with the physics engine, which seems to be linked into the FPS very closely, and performance between full and window modes is very different. In window mode the FPS can run very high, 300-400fps with not a lot going on screen, and yet the exact same view in window mode can only reach 69fps.

To get some kind of consistancy between full and window I would need to use some FPS MAX and Lock FPS options based around this 70fps.

As far as I understood this, it was due to a limitation in XP for TFT monitors, but from what ulillillia says, this also happens on CRT monitors???

In short, if the 70fps problem for TFT's is real, this surely means you either have to fix all games to not run faster than 70fps, or detect that its a 70fps limited machine and either warn the user or inform them it will not play properly? Especially when using physics. My recent experience shows that fixing FPS in this way can lead to some strange behaviour and speeds of movement when things get busy on the screen....

I didnt really want a debate on what is the best monitor, simply to find out if this 70Fps problem was a bigger problem than i thought. From the sound of what you guys say, the 70fps is a genuine problem and there is no fix for it....

Very worrying as our concept proof is a physics based title, and it needs to perform the same on all PC's, and to limit all titles to 70fps max will create a plethora of problems for us.

Is there an alternative engine that doesn't suffer from this problem? I presume there is no way to fix it with GameStudio?

TIA guys

i don't get your problem. the monitor refresh rate (no matter if tft or crt) isn't directly related to the game frame rate (there only can be some influence if v-sync is on) and according to the manual (ph_fps_max_lock) the physics frame rate is supposed to be totally decoupled from everything else (physics has its own thread) so if you are experiencing some strange differences i would ask marco about it.

Already did, also sent him a resource about it, he can see my problem but is unsure of what is the problem as the physics code appears correct.

When I limit the FPS using lock and so forth, to this 70fps maximum, the objects fall at a slower rate, presumably because the PH_FPS_MAX in conjunction with the FPS max and lock settings.

I will check my v_synch settings with catalyst in case something is preventing it here, but at the moment a window view of 200fps only reaches 70fps in full screen mode and physics objects move slower then...

I will keep hunting for an answer but I am running out of things to look at