Help with game performance

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> Tech Support >> Help with game performance

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Help with game performance - 8/29/2012 5:57:10 AM

DaveDash

Posts: 9
Joined: 8/29/2012
Status: offline

Hi all.

I just picked up the game and I enjoy it, except:

The game for me runs in an unsatisfactory manner. It is still playable, but rather choppy and laggy.

Specs:
WIndows 7 X64
Intel i7 2.6ghz dual processors, four cores each
12GB of RAM
Standard SATA drive
GTX 580

Game version 1.7.0.16

I have tried all the suggestions that I have read on these forums, including the sticky FAQ. Nothing really seems to give a satisfactory boost to performance. In fact, changing graphics options doesn't seem to change framerate at all.

Zoomed all the way in, performance is OK. Zoomed far out, performance is OK. But there is a middle portion where I tend to use the most that gives dismal performance, especially with certain overlays (fleet postures) turned on. CPU's aren't being utilized heavily, the game is only taking up about 800MB of RAM, etc.

All my drivers are also up to date.

Now I've seen people play huge maps with large number of AI opponents. I just tried a normal size (700?) map with 12 AI and found it quite choppy. I couldn't imagine playing with larger numbers of AI and huge maps.

Is this the norm for this game, or is there anything I can do? Laggy performance in this game is somewhat ruining my enjoyment of it.

Post #: 1

RE: Help with game performance - 8/29/2012 9:32:00 AM

Raap

Posts: 404
Joined: 1/12/2011
Status: offline

Unfortunately it's something we all experience. The best way to increase performance is to increase CPU power; the game uses mostly just one CPU core, so the faster that core is the better the game will run. If you were to, say, overclock to 3.6ghz or so, you would see a huge performance increase.

(in reply to DaveDash)

Post #: 2

RE: Help with game performance - 8/29/2012 12:44:42 PM

DaveDash

Posts: 9
Joined: 8/29/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Raap

Unfortunately it's something we all experience. The best way to increase performance is to increase CPU power; the game uses mostly just one CPU core, so the faster that core is the better the game will run. If you were to, say, overclock to 3.6ghz or so, you would see a huge performance increase.

I thought this might be the case. I might do some overclocking and see.

If I do indeed get large gains, I'll report back here.

Cheers

Edit: I did notice an increase in performance at 3.6ghz. However it's still pretty clunky, especially at certain zoom levels with certain overlays on.

I guess I'll have to live with it.

< Message edited by DaveDash -- 8/29/2012 2:10:05 PM >

(in reply to Raap)

Post #: 3

RE: Help with game performance - 8/29/2012 7:07:34 PM

Erik Rutins

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline

Hi Dave,

It runs very smoothly here on a similar system, though perception of what is smooth could also be subjective. We have seen instances in the past where a particular driver or third party software could slow down performance despite having more than enough hardware. If you want to investigate further, I'd start by turning off all non-essential programs/services first and see if that makes any difference, including removing things like extra codecs, utilities that change the way the windows desktop works, etc. Anything that could interfere with video or audio. I would then try two or three different graphics driver revisions and try to change the settings in the drivers to make sure you try the defaults and then try forcing performance-oriented options on.

Regards,

- Erik

_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC

For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to DaveDash)

Post #: 4

RE: Help with game performance - 8/29/2012 7:53:52 PM

mbar

Posts: 492
Joined: 3/17/2010
Status: offline

Nebulae is low by default. I turn stars down because high stars look weird at warp when zoomed on a ship. I've also maxed out the mouse wheel zoom which give me a perception of better performance.

(in reply to Erik Rutins)

Post #: 5

RE: Help with game performance - 8/30/2012 4:28:06 AM

DaveDash

Posts: 9
Joined: 8/29/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Hi Dave,

It runs very smoothly here on a similar system, though perception of what is smooth could also be subjective. We have seen instances in the past where a particular driver or third party software could slow down performance despite having more than enough hardware. If you want to investigate further, I'd start by turning off all non-essential programs/services first and see if that makes any difference, including removing things like extra codecs, utilities that change the way the windows desktop works, etc. Anything that could interfere with video or audio. I would then try two or three different graphics driver revisions and try to change the settings in the drivers to make sure you try the defaults and then try forcing performance-oriented options on.

Regards,

- Erik

1. Set nvidia control panel settings back to default. A decent increase in performance. Certain layers however (such as the fleet posture layer) really slow the game down still at certain zoom levels.
2. Uninstalled old applications, focusing on audio/video apps. No noticeable improvement, however, it was good to clean out my computer.
3. Changed nVidia settings to performance. No improvement.

It definitely seems like the fleet postures overlay is a big killer on my system, and it doesn't look like there is much I can do about it at this point. It is running better though after some of these suggestions.

(in reply to Erik Rutins)

Post #: 6