Interface extremly slow

[Crazer]

Hi all!

Just tried the demo, impressed with the depth of the game, but the overall slugginess of the interface makes the game almost completely unplayable for me. I disabled Limit map loading option, but it was of little help. Then I lowered the textures size--same result. The map lag is acceptable (though still present), but what I observe is generally slow reaction of almost every interface element. For exampe, when there's a unit detail window on the screen, there's a button to hide half of that window with ranges table--when I press it it takes almost 10 (TEN!) seconds for that part of the window to slide to the right and hide.

I started FRAPS to check what's going on. Generally I have around 20-25 FPS with no windows open (a tad low for a 2D game, no?), but when I open a window with lots of textual information--it suddenly drops to 10 or even 5 FPS!

Whats' even more surprising, if that window is not full of text or numbers (like colonial map, for example)--FPS may even go up a little (+5 FPS)! But when I open provincial census screen with all that stuff in it, game shows 4-5 FPS and interface buttons become barely clickable.

Any ideas what may slow down the graphics so much? I have pretty decent machine, Core2Duo 3,3 Hhz, 4 GB of Ram, HD6850 (1 gig) video, Win7 ultimate and run many modern games with no problems. Even Shogun2 shows 30-50 FPS in most heavy battles.

PS. Also, I do own RUS. There's no such problem. Map is a bit laggy, but still fully playable.

[marcusjm]

Do you have any other heavy processes running? Even Firefox can be demanding.

[Crazer]

No, I have nothing running in the background. I'm an experienced PC user, so I'm sure there's nothing else eating system resources. I've even tried to uninstall third-party codecs pack, hoping it would help, but still no luck.

[AndrewKurtz]

I experienced the same on my laptop.

[Ironchancellor]

Hello ive noticed the same as well with the demo, but its not too bad.

[Jajusha]

Try removing "Limit map Loading" in the game options. For both me and alot of demo users this was what was causing the lag.

[Nikel]

Also happening here.

The problem seems to be related with multicore processors as Franciscus reported with WW1, yes I know this is a different engine, but setting the affinity to 1 core in the laptop with core 2 duo solved the problem, perhaps Pocus can comment?

[Crazer]

Try removing "Limit map Loading" in the game options. For both me and alot of demo users this was what was causing the lag.

I did that (see the first post), sure it reduces the map lag (although not eliminates it completely), but its not only the map lag, its overall game performance that is causing trouble.

[Athens]

Also happening here.

The problem seems to be related with multicore processors as Franciscus reported with WW1, yes I know this is a different engine, but setting the affinity to 1 core in the laptop with core 2 duo solved the problem, perhaps Pocus can comment?

WW1 problem was tied with multithreading . I run without problem WW1 with 2 cores, just by avoiding one of these 2 cores being a fake core ( multithread). With 2 real ones ( ie the 2 physical cores of a dual core processor), the game runs fast.

[Czert]

Any solution to this from devs ? Limiting map loading works only in few cases.

[Ironchancellor]

Hello it seems to work a bit better now. But whats the idea of that option anyway?

[marcusjm]

Well they said about twenty percent more speed was to be expected with the first patch.

My tip is a bit different, use the mini map to move around,much faster. Most behemoth sized maps have scroll issues so you have to be more patient.

[Crazer]

Just curious, people, how much time it takes on your machine for a unit detail window (brought by clicking on any unit element) to scroll half-way to the right, when you click the button with double arrow and it hides ranges table? I'm sure it shouldnt be 10 seconds like it does on my machine, cause it looks like slo-mo effect.

And more, no matter what I do (change resolution, run in window, lower textures, run compatibility mode, change affinity), Regional Census screen instantly brings my game to stable 5 FPS.

[Nikel]

WW1 problem was tied with multithreading . I run without problem WW1 with 2 cores, just by avoiding one of these 2 cores being a fake core ( multithread). With 2 real ones ( ie the 2 physical cores of a dual core processor), the game runs fast.

OK, sorry

And more, no matter what I do (change resolution, run in window, lower textures, run compatibility mode, change affinity), Regional Census screen instantly brings my game to stable 5 FPS.

Yes, you are right, it is not affinity nor multicore support. Most of the times I am getting 5 fps, and a few times 25 fps, but I do not know why. The first time that tried changing the affinity got 25 fps, but I am not able to reproduce it, so it is other thing

[Pocus]

Try reinstalling DirectX 9.0C, even if you are in Dx10 + ... It seems people with only Dx9 can run the game faster than the ones with the most recent DirectX.

[Crazer]

Try reinstalling DirectX 9.0C, even if you are in Dx10 + ... It seems people with only Dx9 can run the game faster than the ones with the most recent DirectX.

How do I do that? AFAIK, reinstalling an older dx version over a newer one wont do anything, as it wont overwrite newer files.

My general impression is the same, people with older videocards can run the game much smoother.

[marcusjm]

Full game is faster anyway and I have all the DX versions.

[Crazer]

Full game is faster anyway

Didn't notice that, sorry. Same performance as in the demo. Yes, the game is playable, but I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it run much smoother, as I fail to understand how some simple text tables over a 2D map manage to bring my machine on it's knees or why expanding message log takes sooooo loooooong. Metro2033 or Crysis2 on max settings didnt manage to drop my FPS down to 5. PoN does that easily. Should be some real incompatibility somewhere, whether it's ATI card, DX version or whatever...

[Athens]

How do I do that? AFAIK, reinstalling an older dx version over a newer one wont do anything, as it wont overwrite newer files.

My general impression is the same, people with older videocards can run the game much smoother.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9930efa6-9f7b-4c8a-aea2-97dd6ab307a2&displaylang=en

[Crazer]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9930efa6-9f7b-4c8a-aea2-97dd6ab307a2&displaylang=en

Will check that when I get home, thanks.

[Pocus]

Didn't notice that, sorry. Same performance as in the demo. Yes, the game is playable, but I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it run much smoother, as I fail to understand how some simple text tables over a 2D map manage to bring my machine on it's knees or why expanding message log takes sooooo loooooong. Metro2033 or Crysis2 on max settings didnt manage to drop my FPS down to 5. PoN does that easily. Should be some real incompatibility somewhere, whether it's ATI card, DX version or whatever...

For the defence of PON, and without disparaging the great games you cite, PON is rather computation intensive. Not for graphics things, but for the rest.

That, or the fact that even the courriers boys of the studio doing the game you cite are more numerous than the entire PON team. So this is easier for them (not the courrier boys, but the actual developers ) to optimize every single code line of their game. (not that we don't try our best to optimize... )

[Nikel]

Try reinstalling DirectX 9.0C, even if you are in Dx10 + ... It seems people with only Dx9 can run the game faster than the ones with the most recent DirectX.

DirectX 9 is up to date here, just checkd it.

Tried a bit with power options in the laptop, Crazer, are you using a laptop?

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Crazer]

For the defence of PON, and without disparaging the great games you cite, PON is rather computation intensive. Not for graphics things, but for the rest.

Here goes the picture with a little yellow number in the upper right corner. Can you explain what's so intensive going on on that screen to cause such a low FPS? Is AI calculating something during my turn?
Don't get me wrong, I like AGEOD games very much, but I thought that engine is quite polished and I'm really surprised to see such graphically simple game being so slow.

PS. Installed DX9 redistributable, it changed nothing.

[Athens]

Here goes the picture with a little yellow number in the upper right corner. Can you explain what's so intensive going on on that screen to cause such a low FPS? Is AI calculating something during my turn?
Don't get me wrong, I like AGEOD games very much, but I thought that engine is quite polished and I'm really surprised to see such graphically simple game being so slow.

PS. Installed DX9 redistributable, it changed nothing.

you're using Fraps. Fraps is known to lower in-game FPS. Have you tried MSI Afterburner? It has a FPS measure tool less intrusive than FRAPS. In any case, you should try to run game with a lower resolution to see if FPS raises or not. It will give some clues about the trouble.

[Athens]

other idea: there 's a program named "game booster" from iobit which deactivates backgroung processes. I believe Iobit has a demo version. So maybe you could try it and see if it improves.

Note 25FPS in AGE engine is normal: in any game I've had this FPS rate, whatever the spec of my laptop ( and currently Sandy Bridge 2630, 8 GO of RAM, Geforce 460m with 1.5 GDDR5 GO, SSD intel...)

[greenalien]

Well I just played the demo and I am a little bit surprised by how poorly my computer (intel core 2 duo 2.2 Ghz) is performing, considering the requirements say even Pentium IV should be able to run it.

I've read this thread through and through for suggestions, lots have been offered, but did any of those actually improve the interface performance?

PS: Here's my stats:

Intel Core Duo T6670
RAM: 3 GB
32-bit Vista
Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon 4300

[Nikel]

I have a significant lag most of the times in the laptop, but no lag in the desktop and I do not know why

Both nVIDIA graphic cards, the laptop a Core2 Duo, the desktop a quad.

You can see the fps displayed by PON itself in real time, go to options and system, check error logging.

With lag I get 5 fps without lag 25 fps, in both cases with some normal oscillations when you move on the map, click, zoom,...

[greenalien]

Thanks for the tip! The FPS I get in game seems to be around 6-8. The turn processing is of course also very long. It's a shame because the game seems otherwise really interesting. In menu I get the standard 25 FPS.

[AndrewKurtz]

I have a significant lag most of the times in the laptop, but no lag in the desktop and I do not know why

Both nVIDIA graphic cards, the laptop a Core2 Duo, the desktop a quad.

You can see the fps displayed by PON itself in real time, go to options and system, check error logging.

With lag I get 5 fps without lag 25 fps, in both cases with some normal oscillations when you move on the map, click, zoom,...

FYI, I'm experiencing exactly the same. Laptop (a good one) is the issue. Deskop is fine. Both 64-bit Windows 7 and plenty of memory.