lagging on new computer

[crimsonalucard]

Hi I have a laptop with the intel gma 965 X3100 integrated video running windows vista. Its a core 2 duo at 2.2 gHz with about 2 gigs of ram.

This game is lagging like crazy, the performance number says 130. For some reason during the menu and intro everything is fine but as soon as the game starts running everything slows down to a crawl. The game is unplayable in this state.

Has anyone tested this game on vista and the intel gma 965?

[Fleon]

I have the same problem. I saw this on Steam last night and was excited for some old-school RPG fun, but this is a bit too slow to play..

I'm also using the x3100 Intel integrated graphics card.

Any solutions yet?

[BasiliskWrangler]

Hmm, 130 is abysmal performance for a newer computer. We do not use Intel graphics here in the studio, but this is certainly not the first reported problem from Intel chipsets.

Have you tried OpenGL mode, selected from the launch menu?

[edit] Also, I always hate to mention this, but are you using the latest video drivers? Note that sometimes the drivers you get from the laptop manufacturer (for example, Dell) may not be as recent as what you can get right from the chipset provider (Intel).

[Fleon]

I've got the latest drivers both for Vista and for Win 7. I'm currently on Win7, and Intel has basically no OpenGL currently- honestly, OpenGL and intel have never gone well...

Whenever I remember to switch back to Vista, I'll try OpenGL and see. I don't remember it helping much, if I recall correctly....

[CrazyBernie]

Tested on my dad's laptop... it's a Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz w/2GB DDR2 running XP Pro, graphics chip is intel GMA965.

Starting a new game and walking out of the house, I get a 20ish rating in DirectX and 25ish in OpenGL.

The engine seems to rely heavily on video card performance, which I do find interesting for an Isometric game.

My old 2.4GHz P4 laptop with 1GB Ram and an ati 7500 graphics chip gets better performance (15-17)... it does dip whenever there's a lot of trees or buildings though.

[Timberella]

I'm having a similar problem on my desktop. Here are my specs:

OS - XP Home SP3
Proc - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz
RAM - 2GB DDR
Videocard - ATI Radeon 3870 OC
If the rest is important, tell me.

Anyway, I'm pretty anal about keeping my drivers up-to-date, to the point where I use both PC Pitstop AND DriverAgent to keep things running smoothly. Sure, I don't have a top end processor, videocard, RAM, etc., but it handled Fallout 3 just fine...and yet, this game runs like molasses in January.

Nothing would make her happier than to support "the little guys", especially when giants EA push Dragon Age: Origins back for bizarre, iffy reasons (sorry, tangent). but when a game with this level of graphical technology runs like Crysis on my system, I have to ask "why?"

As Dr. Cox once said on Scrubs, "Help me help you."

[CrazyBernie]

Have you tried both the DirectX and OpenGL modes?

I found in XP that DirectX mode runs like poop while OpenGL seems to sprint along (odd considering ATI's general OGL weakness in their earlier cards), and I'm running an even more venerable HD2600 XT.

[Timberella]

Crazy Bernie, you're not so crazy. Going against everything I knew about AMD and OpenGL, I tried your advice and voila*! It runs much more smoothly. Of course, I ran right into some dang needle brush, but I'll take 3 hp of damage if it means moving faster. I think I see a game purchase in my near future...

* Voila? Viola? How about eureka? Badda bing? Yoinks? Okay, I'll stop.

[CrazyBernie]

Crazy Bernie, you're not so crazy.

Shh... don't be spreading that around... it'll ruin my cred.

[boo_radley]

I wanted to say that changing to Open GL solved slowdown on my XP laptop as well! ..

[BasiliskWrangler]

Yes, I fully recommend OpenGL on all older systems. It's just much faster on most hardware. The DirectX driver used on Book 1 is based on DirectX 7 for maximum compatibility, which means it's slower. We've experimented with a DirectX 9 exclusive driver (on Book 2's engine) which seems to be as fast as OpenGL, but it is not as compatible as the "7" driver and it does exhibit some graphic errors on certain chipsets.

If I had my way, we'd drop DirectX support altogether and just run the game in OpenGL...but then there are some chipset/driver combos that just won't run OpenGL at all, so we need the DirectX driver option to stay.