Lag Issue

[charlesobscure]

Was wondering if anyone could help solve the lag issue I have with my game, namely the slow performance. My computer is only a year old and I have all the settings at low, but the game is constantly slow and experiencing freezes, especially as I move around the map. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Jim]

Important information to help us evaluate your problem:

1. What OS are you running.

2. How much system memory.

3. Do you have a separate video card, and if so, how much memory on it?


-Jim

[Little Powell]

Also a few things to consider:

Trees and max draw distance are the big killers.

Try reducing the trees to 20 percent or less. Uncheck display off-map trees, make your Max Terrain Draw Distance Medium, Uncheck Show Off-map Terrain, and set your Max Units, Trees, and Objects down to 900 or so.

[charlesobscure]

1. Windows Vista

2. 2 GB

3. No

[Jim]

Well #3 may be your problem. Here is how to check.

* Click on the Start button and in the Search box type in: dxdiag.exe
* A window will popup with that listing, double click on the listing to run the program.
Click on the 'Save All Information' button on the bottom and save the file to your desktop.
* Double click on the icon to open the file. Scroll down the file a bit to find the 'Display Devices section, it will look like this:

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: NVxx
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0604&SUBSYS_050410DE&REV_A2
Display Memory: 1522 MB
Dedicated Memory: 499 MB
Shared Memory: 1023 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version: 8.17.0011.9621 (English)
DDI Version: 10
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail

Please copy this much and paste it into a reply.

-Jim

[charlesobscure]

Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A42&SUBSYS_02AA1028&REV_07
Display Memory: 781 MB
Dedicated Memory: 32 MB
Shared Memory: 749 MB
Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: igdumdx32.dll,igd10umd32.dll
Driver Version: 7.15.0010.1637 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail

[Jim]

The problem is memory, especially video memory. Your system only has 32 MB of dedicated video memory with the rest shared from system RAM.

In our systems specs page we specifically suggest that you do not use a shared memory setup. Here is the quote from the system spec's section of the game manual:

"256 MB Video Card with DirectX 9.0c or higher, video card should NOT be on motherboard, but should be separate, no shared memory."

If at all possible, I would suggest that you add a separate video card with at least 256 MB of video memory to your system if you really want to play GB. Your current system is just not going to play this as currently configured. I am a bit surprised that it ran it at all. Sorry for the news.

-Jim

[charlesobscure]

Well, that's no good...thanks for the diagnosis

[Colonel Dreux]

Little Powell wrote:

Also a few things to consider:

Trees and max draw distance are the big killers.

Try reducing the trees to 20 percent or less. Uncheck display off-map trees, make your Max Terrain Draw Distance Medium, Uncheck Show Off-map Terrain, and set your Max Units, Trees, and Objects down to 900 or so.

I think Uniform Res is the biggest thing... at least it is with my setup. Trees aren't a problem at High res Uniforms, but once I go up to "Best", changing the trees doesn't really help.

[charlesobscure]

Any recommendations for a video card, preferably something that would just get the job done at minimal cost?