Performance is not good

[mkjhartmann]

OK,

I have a laptop with 512 Meg, 3.06 Mhz P4 and an 80 meg drive. I have NEVER had a game load so poorly. It takes me about 5-7 minutes to get to the actual game. I mean this thing is only maps, no fancy 3D. Is the programming so poor that it is so incredibly slow.

I am very dissapointed and in this game and wish there was a way to get the $50 I just spent, and possibly wasted, back.

Not a happy customer.[:-]

Mike

[Gil R.]

(I moved this thread to the Support sub-forum, since it concerns a technical issue.)

At 512MB RAM you're going to need to play at low-animation and with sound turned off. The way to do this is discussed in more than one thread, but can most easily be found in the "Temporary Fixes and Essential Modifications" thread in the main forum. So the slowness has nothing to do with poor programming: it's a function of the game being very large and requiring an enormous amount of memory to run. But if you make that modification, it should work.

[Temple]

And not to be grumpy, but it does say on the product page (see link) that you need 1GB of RAM.

[ericbabe]

The code just makes calls to standard C++ libraries -- fstream, in particular; I didn't program these, they are standard ANSI routines that most programs written in C++ use for file I/O.  It loads very slowly on low memory machines because of virtual memory (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory.htm).  3D graphics do not necessarily consume a lot of memory, because they are typically low resolution textures and lists of polygon coordinates, whereas large maps and mugshots of generals do consume a lot of memory.

[mkjhartmann]

At the risk of sounding equaly crouchy the purchase page says 512 Megs. If it said 1 Gig flat out with no reference to 512 Megs I would have saved myself the money. [:@]

Mike

[Gil R.]

The purchase page says "1GB RAM (512MB for Low Animation) required," so I'm not sure what Matrix did that was misleading.

That said, have you tried it after lowering the animation? You'll lose some graphical effects, but the game should be playable.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

The purchase page says "1GB RAM (512MB for Low Animation) required," so I'm not sure what Matrix did that was misleading.

That said, have you tried it after lowering the animation? You'll lose some graphical effects, but the game should be playable.

It might have helped a little if low animation was an option from the main menu rather than needing a manual change to the config file which, as far as I can see, isn't documented in the manual.

That said, Mike, how does it actually run for you in low animation mode and no sound (you won't miss it, just stick some suitable music on the hi-fi)? If it's playable, and those loading times are cut down to something reasonable I don't see any real grounds for complaint. If it isn't there may be.

[freeboy]

One thing that helps if you get some ram and want animations in detailed combat is to use fast slide and no shadows..

[quikstrike]

I have a Gig of RAM, 2.8 GHz processor, a 128 MB video card, and the game is horribly slow.  And then it crashes on me.  I can't get a game to go past April of 1862.  At that point, the game will crash during the Execution Phase, and when I load up the autosave file, it crashes again during the Execution Phase.  This was not just one bugged game...I made a fresh start on a campaign THREE TIMES!  Also constantly have to restart the puter as memory gets extremely low.  I really hope that a patch is due out soon to fix this problem.  I've told my friends who are wargamers/history buffs just what fantastic potential this game has....but do not buy until the issues are resolved.

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: quikstrike

I have a Gig of RAM, 2.8 GHz processor, a 128 MB video card, and the game is horribly slow. And then it crashes on me. I can't get a game to go past April of 1862. At that point, the game will crash during the Execution Phase, and when I load up the autosave file, it crashes again during the Execution Phase. This was not just one bugged game...I made a fresh start on a campaign THREE TIMES! Also constantly have to restart the puter as memory gets extremely low. I really hope that a patch is due out soon to fix this problem. I've told my friends who are wargamers/history buffs just what fantastic potential this game has....but do not buy until the issues are resolved.

DirectX dialog file please.

[quikstrike]

Sent to you via PM.

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

That said, have you tried it after lowering the animation? You'll lose some graphical effects, but the game should be playable.

Gil, I'd like to as well but isn't there a bug with Low Animation? Something about cities going missing?

I've moved my game over to a 1G laptop with 128Mb integrated graphics. But I'm lucky I have this option.

[Gil R.]

I forgot about the vanishing cities bug, but I think that's just in the July scenario. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) That should be fixed soon, though.

[mkjhartmann]

OK,

I've tried the "low graphics" and "no sound" changes to the INI file and it does improve things. Load time is now in the 3 minute neighborhood.

Scrolling is very jerky, but it sort of seems to work. I would recommend killing some of the graphic overhead, such as pictures, as an option. I don't know those guys anyway, and they all have the same weird beards[:D], so I really wouldn't miss those pictures at all if that freed up some RAM.

Seriously, from a marketing perspective assuming everybody has a Gig of RAM, even in the days of upcomming Vista, is a very sales limiting assumption. I'd recommend cutting back on some of the non game critical overhead and making that an option as opposed to assuming the game is so great that everybody will buy more memory. Just my 5c.

Mike

[mkjhartmann]

With the "low graphics" options you cannot see where any cities are in any scenario making the game completely unplayable.  Sorry guys this this thing is not ready for prime time, and to charge $50 for it is not fair.  I really wish I could get a refund on this turkey; or at least a super fast patch for this bug.

I love Matrix products and have a bunch of them, but this one has disappointed me despite looking so promising.

Mike

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: mkjhartmann

With the "low graphics" options you cannot see where any cities are in any scenario making the game completely unplayable. Sorry guys this this thing is not ready for prime time, and to charge $50 for it is not fair. I really wish I could get a refund on this turkey; or at least a super fast patch for this bug.

I love Matrix products and have a bunch of them, but this one has disappointed me despite looking so promising.

Mike

As reported elsewhere, the missing cities is indeed a bug, and it's about to be fixed. Hang in there...

[mkjhartmann]

Gil,
 
judging by your quick responses you guys must be a small company dedicated to your products.  Congrats.  I work for myself and appreciate this kind of quick response, even more so if it is to a less than laudatory thread.
 
Ok,  I will hang in there and wait for the patch.
 
Thanks.
 
Mike

[jchastain]

In THIS thread, TimoN has some suggestions to further lower memory use that might be worth investigating further.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: mkjhartmann

Gil,

judging by your quick responses you guys must be a small company dedicated to your products. Congrats. I work for myself and appreciate this kind of quick response, even more so if it is to a less than laudatory thread.

Ok, I will hang in there and wait for the patch.

Thanks.

Mike

Thank you for your patience. We'll get things in working order soon...

[mkjhartmann]

YEAH,

this fixes it. Much smoother scrolling and cities. Thanks so much. No Video, No Sound, No Music, is the trick.

Mike