just got the game, performance issues

[sargexmy]

Hey all,

so just got the game and started the first German campaign.
but I was a little annoyed bc the time it take to simulate the 40 second turns seem to take forever (like > 1 min).
I dunno if my comp suppose to do this; its pretty fast for all the other games i play.

Specs:
toshiba p100-st9752 notebook
T5600 1.83 Core 2 Duo
3GB DDR2 667 RAM
Geforce Go 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3
game runs of external 10000rpm WD raptor 74GB HDD connected via eSATA

any input appreciated.
thanks

[Erik Rutins]

Depending on scenario complexity and processor speed it can take a while on some systems. Normally though, it runs pretty quickly on Core 2 Duo systems. A turn on that scenario takes about 20-25 seconds to calculate on mine. Just to confirm the obvoius, since this is a laptop you're talking about...

1. Are you sure you were plugged in and that no speed-throttling features related to power-saving are turned on? These can severaly impact performance.

2. Do you have any other software running in the background or taking up significant CPU cycles or using the hard drive constantly?

[sargexmy]

hi erik, thanks for the reply,

this laptop is my gaming computer, so its always plugged in.
i also made sure to disable most of the services and start up program in vista ultimate.  my ram usage is 20% when idle, and vista actually frees up more ram when i run a game.

yeah i dunno, but the kind of long simulation time is taking away from the game.
also my fps is around 20 (high 30s, low 14 15 ish) after a battle starts.  in the beginning before, fps can hit high 40s.

Thanks

[Stridor]

Sargexmy,

What are your power settings in control panel set to?
What is your experience index in vista (can you please list out each component as well), hopefully that will tell us more.

If a scenario is large with many units then it can take some time for the AI to do all its calcs.

[Erik Rutins]

FPS will definitely drop while it's calculating, but should pop back up during the actual replay and while you are putting in your orders. I actually have another system very similar to that, in that it has the same processor and a GeForce Go7600. I'll load Kharkov up on that and see what calculation times I'm getting so we can see if you're in the same ballpark.

One of the biggest reasons for calculation times is lots of units all doing relative (i.e. individual) spotting. The fewer units and the fewer that can see each other, the less the calculation time should be.

[sargexmy]

my power settings are custom. basically its like always on except with allowing the cpu to lower its speed when not in use.  i also have stuff like hard drive spin down in 20 min idling, screen turn off in 5 min of idling, etc. etc the normal stuff.

my windows experience is:
processor: 4.8
RAM: 4.5
graphics: 5.9
gaming graphics: 5.8
HDD: 4.3 (note here I am not using the internal HDD, my game is run off a external WD Raptor 74 GB attached via eSATA)

also i noticed this after playing for a while (+ 1 hour), that each time I click on a new unit, my mouse would freeze for 1 second or so.  Seems like my computer is freezing just to process the unit selection.  This goes the same for every mouse click, i.e. using a new order from the menu, click in a empty spot to deselect.  Is my computer going dieing??? I only has this thing for 3 months!!

also would you think spending 400 upgrading to a 2.33 GHz core 2 duo would be worth it??

Thanks.
P.S. i'll try to get a stop watch next time I play and see how long it takes to from clicking the play button to the replay.

[Stridor]

Sargexmy,

That all appears to be in order.

It would be faster obvisouly if you run on internal HD (I have a slow 5400 drive on my laptop and get 5.5)

Just as a test, try setting your power settings to be full power all the time with no idling what so ever and then see if that makes any difference.

I have a penryn 2.6 C2D in my lapop and get 5.5 for cpu for reference. I don't think it is worth upgrading to a faster proc unless you play many games that need it (although PCK *is* CPU intensive and does benefit from more cycles more than say a FPS would).

I am just trying to work out if you have a problem or if it is all working as in intended and you are unhappy with the speed of the processing.

Just for your reference.

I load up a new german campaign from the menu (German Kharkov stock) pick all the units I can. Press go to move out of setup to get to the first turn and then press go to simulate the first turn (all this without touching anything, giving no orders). It takes 25 seconds to simulate that first turn (ie from pushing play to when I get to see the replay of the turn).

Hopefully that helps.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Stridor
Just as a test, try setting your power settings to be full power all the time with no idling what so ever and then see if that makes any difference.

I would recommend this too, just to see if anything is shutting off when it shouldn't. Try a new custom profile with everything at max and no power down/stand by/shutdown whatsoever at any time. Give it a try and let us know if it helps at all.

Regards,

- Erik

[sargexmy]

hey,
so i did some analysis.
I updated my gfx drivers from 169.04 to 174.74.  make sure all powersavings is turned off through vista control panel, etc.

i loaded up my saved game (battle 1 of the 1st german kharkov campaign), its the beginning of turn 14.  from clicking "play" to the start of actual replay, i timed it at 35s (stop watch used, error +/- 1s).

The fps counter shows 15 to 19 fps if im zoomed out looking at most of the map and my units.
If i zoom in to a single unit, the fps goes up to 49 to 52.

Also I have a question regarding settings.

I cannot tell the difference b/w "very high" and "high" details; what does that refer to and how is it diff. from the texture setting, which only goes up to "high"  (if its in the manual, can you point to me which page and ill read it).
I also cannot tell the diff. b/w 16 bit and 32 bit.  Is there suppose be a big difference in terms of graphics quality??

If these two settings affect performance a lot, I'd be happy to turn them down since I don't notice a difference during gameplay.

Thanks!

[Stridor]

I get the feeling that you are probably in the right ball park timings-wise for your rig, so I don't think there is anything wrong, if you got 35s for a 40s simtime then you are faster than realtime [;)]

In terms of your other settings if you can't see a different then by all means turn them off. I personally can see a dif and 16bit gets banding on my machine as you would expect.

You can try turning off vsync in the nvidia drivers, as that has helped some folks as well. It may or may not help you on an LCD however.

Enjoy

S.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: sargexmy
i loaded up my saved game (battle 1 of the 1st german kharkov campaign), its the beginning of turn 14.  from clicking "play" to the start of actual replay, i timed it at 35s (stop watch used, error +/- 1s).

I think you're in the right ballpark now. I think I was averaging around 30 seconds for that scenario on a similar system. The calculation time is heavily CPU-dependent.

The fps counter shows 15 to 19 fps if im zoomed out looking at most of the map and my units.
If i zoom in to a single unit, the fps goes up to 49 to 52.

This is largely video card dependent and I think that's close to the right ballpark for your system too, though the low side seems a bit low. Are you counting fps during calculation? If so, that could throw your range off.

I cannot tell the difference b/w "very high" and "high" details; what does that refer to and how is it diff. from the texture setting, which only goes up to "high"  (if its in the manual, can you point to me which page and ill read it).
I also cannot tell the diff. b/w 16 bit and 32 bit.  Is there suppose be a big difference in terms of graphics quality??

16 and 32 bit look different for me here but YMMV. Changing it to 16 bit will not dramatically improve performance as far as I've seen.

The High and Very High affect the distance at which objects are draw and at what point the lower detail models are substituted in. Going down to High or Medium will help FPS when zoomed out by a decent amount. Another big item that can help performance on some systems is turning off Shadows in the in-game options.

Regards,

- Erik

[e_barkmann]

You can try turning off vsync in the nvidia drivers

FWIW - this made a big difference for me in terms of FPS in the game.  Very smooth now.

cheers

[jomni]

I only have slowdowns when there are a lot of smoke.
Of course I put my detail on Very High. [:D]