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I do not believe this game uses multiple cores, but if you have multiple cores the game should mostly "get its own" at least, and not compete with the other tasks as much.

Open the task manager (for instance by right clicking the task bar). In the performance tab you should see a cpu utilization graph for each core in the system.

If the game is struggling, and you only see load on one core (at all), it could be a sign that something is off.

That being said, I have never heard of the "single core only" issue before this.

If you look at those performance graphs in any game that stresses the CPU, you ought to quite easily see if the game is single threaded (uses only one core) or not.

My game runs alright.. I just want to have 300 ship size fleets late-game and fight the shaktur with smooth graphics framerate that's all....

this is my cpu while running the game.. but i'm not that late-game yet..

things to try on a laptop

run it off mains

add more ram

alter power settings to run at max (high performance and turn off all power saving modes) screen savers, and monitors that switch off at a given point / time)

disable all startup items, so a clean boot while playing, kind of like a clean profile maybe just for gaming, where everything that's not needed is disabled or not run on every boot etc, so free's more resources for the game etc.

max sure hdd is defragged, not needed with a SDD

All I have anymore are 10's, so I can't look at 8. What I found on Microsft...

"Open System Configuration (in Win7 it was called MSConfig) and click on the Boot tab then click on Advanced options. Check the box for Number of Processors and below it select the number of virtual processors on your motherboard. By default Windows uses just one processer during bootup. This will direct it to use all of them."

There are other articles as well. Apparently Microsoft OS defaults to the 1st processor. So you can have a super ship PC (I do now, I was upgrading like mad trying to get stuff to run! [:D] ), and still have things run like crud unless you tweak it. There are also Intel accelerators, but they can get difficult to work properly.

ORIGINAL: pumkinfacer22

My game runs alright.. I just want to have 300 ship size fleets late-game and fight the shaktur with smooth graphics framerate that's all....

this is my cpu while running the game.. but i'm not that late-game yet..

The world changed a bit in Windows 10...

Right click the (main) graph and select "Change graph to logical processors" to see each of the multiple cores.

Lot of good info guys. My computer has always run well with DW's and WITPAE, but I think some adjustments to speed up my machine is a good idea. However I can't find my MS Config file. Is it found in the Control Panel?....GP

ORIGINAL: General Patton

Lot of good info guys. My computer has always run well with DW's and WITPAE, but I think some adjustments to speed up my machine is a good idea. However I can't find my MS Config file. Is it found in the Control Panel?....GP

In older systems in the Run box just type msconfig, the GUI will pop up. It's hidden in System Configuration in 10.

Thanks Lecivius, I found it. But nothing there about the cores. So I dug a little and found that they are all on[:)]....GP

It doesn't matter how godlike your computer is, the game is 32 bit and single thread by default. That's your limit and there is no way around that unless you want to make a whole name game designed for computers that were built in this century.

Is there any way to force DW to run off of an unused core rather than trying to use those that are running other processes?

Google is your friend. I have no clue if it works (or matters if it does), though:

https://www.howtogeek.com/121775/how-to-force-windows-applications-to-use-a-specific-cpu/

Look into what background programs are running; antivirus programs especially can slow things down
Look at what programs are starting automatically with Windows and reset those you dont need not to run
The key element with DW is not how many cores you have but how fast the individual cores are
Also game speed will impact on the CPU considerably so play at slower speeds

VS is the #1 culprit I have when it comes to slowing the machine to a crawl. So long as VS is not running, the game runs well for me.

ORIGINAL: Shark7

VS is the #1 culprit I have when it comes to slowing the machine to a crawl. So long as VS is not running, the game runs well for me.

what "VS"is .. ??? [&:]

I assume VS is virus scanner.

And if so, I'm kinda curious, what VS are you using, and what are your PC specs? Cause I haven't had to turn off a VS to improve performance in over 15 years. Something doesn't sound right.

VS = Virus Scanner, or Anti-Virus Software.

ORIGINAL: SeanThornton

I assume VS is virus scanner.

And if so, I'm kinda curious, what VS are you using, and what are your PC specs? Cause I haven't had to turn off a VS to improve performance in over 15 years. Something doesn't sound right.

AVG and since the latest updates its really gotten sluggish. Bear in mind I still run Win 7, and obviously software is now being optimised for Win 10.

But I do have an I7 core 3.5 ghz with 16 RAM. I think the main thing is system age, is over 5 years old.

thank you both [:)]

ps: I play Distant Worlds: Universe with a 11 years old pc with only 2 GB RAM.. [:(]

Just in case anyone ever even reads this thread again, The only thing I've found helpful to Distant Worlds is CPU tuning (like Overclocking or Intel Exteme Tuning Utility ** Do not overclock unless you really know what you are doing!)

The other Safe thing that only helps with loading times of save games is Runing it off of SSD or even a Ramdisk. But if you have SSD, it's pointless to setup Distant Worlds on a RamDisk..

Sure you can Turn off your Virus Scanner and any other programs for a Clean boot, but it runs down to a fast video card, fastest CPU in the World, and for loading/saving games, the Fastest SSD.


This game is not 64bit, so memory is stuck at what it is. Having 16 gigs of Ram doesn't help a single thing.

That's my result.

ORIGINAL: Blabsawaw22

Just in case anyone ever even reads this thread again, The only thing I've found helpful to Distant Worlds is CPU tuning (like Overclocking or Intel Exteme Tuning Utility ** Do not overclock unless you really know what you are doing!)

The other Safe thing that only helps with loading times of save games is Runing it off of SSD or even a Ramdisk. But if you have SSD, it's pointless to setup Distant Worlds on a RamDisk..

Sure you can Turn off your Virus Scanner and any other programs for a Clean boot, but it runs down to a fast video card, fastest CPU in the World, and for loading/saving games, the Fastest SSD.


This game is not 64bit, so memory is stuck at what it is. Having 16 gigs of Ram doesn't help a single thing.

That's my result.

I'm not sure that the RAM isn't an issue. All I can say for sure is that with this newer computer with 16 gigs of RAM versus the old one with only 4, I do not have crashes when trying to load save games. The 4 would always give an 'out of memory' error when trying to load a large saved game, the 16 has never given me that message.

While the game itself can't use the additional memory, with 16 available, all the memory the game needs is available to it, while the other 12 runs the Windows/AVS/Etc stuff in the background.