Matrix Games Forums

Playing against the AI, I am finding that after about 2 turns the speed of the combat resolution and the response to my scrolling and mouse clicks becomes unbearably slow. My machine has a 1.3 GH celeron and 384 MB RAM, yet it is slow as a dog by about the 3 turn. I have to shut down the program and restart. Is this normal???

I guess the only way to go is PBEM. Then you end up restarting after every turn. [:'(]

Not true, I keep it up as I will turn 3-4 turns a night.

It does get slow by the last turn, but nothing like you describe.

Its not so bad. Just remember Frag's "Z/Esc maneuver". ("I haff invented a manuuuver...)

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

Its not so bad. Just remember Frag's "Z/Esc maneuver". ("I haff invented a manuuuver...)

And what, pray tell, is that??

Things that speed up turn execution:

Set message speed to 0.1 sec. Set most of the other speeds (ship to ship combat etc) to no more than 0.6 sec.

Hitting the "z" key will also set message speed to 0.1 (I think) at least until the next combat. At any rate it speeds up execution a lot.

"Esc" also speeds up execution. It seems to work like "z" except occasionally you miss a battle because the Esc applies to the combat animation.

I'm going to assume that your machine is the bottleneck. Try running the game at 800x600 resolution if you're not already and see if that helps. If you are already at that resolution, 640x400 probably wouldn't improve things, if fact you'ld probably be less than happy with that setting.

Your machine is towards the lower end of the system requirements and 384meg of RAM isn't alot if you are running XP. Celerons also don't have a math coprocessor and this game is pretty intensive in that department. Adding more memory will also help speed things up a little. You can also try turning off any extentions that aren't absolutely required to help free up RAM. Check your virtual memory settings also and if you have enough hard drive space, increase the VM setting to 512meg or 1gig. If you don't have an "always on" internet connection then you can try disabling any virus protection software like Norton's or MacAfee. Make sure your internet connection is off first. The fact that restarting the game (but not the computer) tells me that the most likely cause of the slow down has to do with the game's memory management. Giving it more memory to play with may just solve the problem.

Chez

Also try running defrag. If it still runs like a dog disable the sound folder in WITP.

Run without sound by renaming the sound directory, e.g. to NO_SOUND. You might find this suggestion somewhere in the support directory.

ORIGINAL: ChezDaJez

I'm going to assume that your machine is the bottleneck. Try running the game at 800x600 resolution if you're not already and see if that helps. If you are already at that resolution, 640x400 probably wouldn't improve things, if fact you'ld probably be less than happy with that setting.
....

resolution of this game is fixed to 1024x768 and can not be changed ! [8D]

you can switch off Combat Animations (F5) and Combat Summuries (F8) eventually

all combats you can later review from combatreport

Go out and buy a new AMD 64 system. I had an old slow machine with win 98 before I got this baby and it's like night and day. [&o]

I started playing this game on my desktop PC with a 1.5 Ghz and 512 MB Ram. It ran very slow. I have since quit that game and downloaded it onto my laptop which is a 3.2 Ghz with 512 MB Ram. I can run 2 or 3 turns for every one from before. I can also play it at work now too!!!

I think that it's the speed of the RAM that matters most. My desktop is an Athlon 2500+ with 512MB of PC133 RAM while my laptop is a Centrino 1.4 with 512MB of newer RAM (sorry, can't recall which version - I didn't build the laptop myself like I do my desktops). Turns process a lot quicker on the new computer. On neither computer have I had it get slower and slower as I play, it's just that the laptop processes the AI faster.


Thus, I am tending to agree with my compatriot from down the raod, Chezdajez, in that the specific problem Cap is having is probably related to his virtual memory. Try adjusting that first, making sure that you have enough empty hard drive space. I like to leave 10% of the hard drive free in addition to the virtual memory setting. If all that doesn't work, then you might try increasing the amount of RAM installed in your computer. With a system that old, the RAM should be cheep (if you can find it).

Playing against the AI, I am finding that after about 2 turns the speed of the combat resolution and the response to my scrolling and mouse clicks becomes unbearably slow. My machine has a 1.3 GH celeron and 384 MB RAM, yet it is slow as a dog by about the 3 turn. I have to shut down the program and restart. Is this normal???

Sounds like a problem with sound Cap.

Apart from turn #1, the other turns should be roughly the same speed no matter what. If it gets progressively slower and slower each turn run then there is something else going wrong.

Please follow the support notes anchored in the support forum for a dxdiag dump.

I get progressively slower with each turn as well. I'm in the habit of saving, quitting the game, and reloading every 3 turns. By turn 3, execution of the turn is downright painful, and notice moderate slowdown in the UI.

1.2 Athalon, 768MB, XP Professional

I turned off sound and renamed the directory. That seems to improved things tremendously. But I like my sounds![:(]

I will look at the support forum as you suggest.

resolution of this game is fixed to 1024x768 and can not be changed !

Oops, forgot about that. Probably wouldn't have made a difference anyhow as the game is designed to work with only an 8meg video card.

Chez

Frag, need some more input.

I went to the support forum. Ran DXdiag. Everything checks ok. But I don't have a sound card. Next I looked at that thread dealing with sound. I am now downloading the 22hz patch. I don't know if I need to install this or not. I just bought the game so it is at version 1.4. Does that use the 44hz version? Should I go ahead and apply the 22hz patch even though that appears to have been meant for version 1.2? Will sliding my sound slider to the left in DXdiag help speed things up?

Please take this in the jest that it is meant,

But you do realize that, you can probably find a better PC by simply rummaging the dumpster at Circut City... I've got TV remotes that are smarter than some of the boxes y'all are trying to run this game on.

-F-

ORIGINAL: Feinder

Please take this in the jest that it is meant,

But you do realize that, you can probably find a better PC by simply rummaging the dumpster at Circut City... I've got TV remotes that are smarter than some of the boxes y'all are trying to run this game on.

-F-

My Win98 Celeron 500 runs just fine thanks very much. [:D]