Why does this games run slow on my top of the line gaming rig?

[nx02nx02]

I am playing Silent Hunter 4 1.4 on my computer and it seems like when the game has to load an animation it slows down for a second. Like when I torpedo a big ship, a heavy cruiser or battleship and maybe other ships it kind of feels like the game pauses for a second while it is loading the explosion animation. Is this the games fault or my computers fault? I get over 100FPS ingame max settings with this computer.

The explosion animations aren't perfectly smooth. The whole game pauses for a second and stutters while they are being loaded.

Computer:

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel E6850
2 Gig Crucial Ballistix
Windows XP SP2
Seasonic M12 700 Watt
EVGA 8800 GTX 169.21
WD 500GB SATA
max game settings
1024x768 res

[AVGWarhawk]

Mine does the same but I have nowhere close to the juice you have to play the game. Reduce the damage effects and see if that helps. Personally it does not bother me this happens.

[SteamWake]

Theres something in the water

[nx02nx02]

I have a feeling that my hard drive is at fault. It just isn't fast enough to smoothly load the animations when the game calls for them.


Do you think it's the hard drive or is this just a normal thing for Silent Hunter 4?

The computer and game seems to work ok other then this.

[McBeck]

Yeah...I have basicly the same setup on do not get that kind of slowdown.
I used to on my old PC, so its quite possible that something on your does not perform like it should.

Have you defragmented?

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

I have a good system and no such problems. Maybe you should defrag your hard drive.

[Rockin Robbins]

Well, not very often anyway. I agree with you that it's a hard drive caching effect. I also agree that it doesn't ruin the game. But your hard drive looks fine there. Have you looked into other processes? Sometimes an antivirus program will insist on scanning that explosion before you get to see it.

We're living in a world where security is king. In an ideal world nothing at all would work but it would be very, very secure.

[nx02nx02]

Actually the WD500GB SATA is my new hard drive and that is with a fresh format and install of windows. I also tried it on my older WD 80GIG PATA100 hard drive and it does do it there too but that is a slower, older hard drive.

The best way that I could explain it is kind of like the whole game stops, pauses while it is waiting for the hard drive to catch up. The game plays super fast, smooth until the game asks for the explosion animation from the hard drive, the whole game stops what its doing (kind of feels like the game locked up) for about 1 or 2 seconds then it resumes and continues to show the explosion animation.

[TDK1044]

I believe that the game uses 1.3 Gigs of RAM during career mode, so even with a 2 Gig system, you need to shut down unnecessary background programs and defrag often.

I have a mid range rig and the game runs like a dream...I do my housekeeping to keep it that way though.

[nx02nx02]

This happens with a fresh install of Windows XP SP2 with all available tasks that can be shut down, so when I run the game there is 18 tasks running, (just all the essential windows tasks) and no antivirus or anything like that running.

[AVGWarhawk]

This is strange. When an explosion happens on my computer it is a split second if that it will stop. Sometimes not at all. My rig is a 3200+, 2 gig ram and GF 7800 OC card. I run this through a 200 Mhz FSB motherboard .

[capthelm]

i am on a high end machine as well, the sim is demanding ,

try lastest drivers imo dont use beta drivers..

[capt_frank]

Check out the Nvidia tweak sticky thread in this forum. There's slots of good stuff in there regarding video setup, etc.

[walrusbomb]

It could be your audio! The explosions can wreck a cheap audio-chip. Are you using your motherboard's onboard audio? Serious gamers should always disable their onboard audio in their BIOS and buy a quality soundcard.

18 processes is good.

How tidy is your registry?
Did you recently replace older video drivers (corrupt registry)?
Have you run 3DMark06 and compared your scores online to similar rigs?
Get any heat warnings? Automatic shut-downs?
Have you run any 72-hour torture tests to expose chinks in your armor?
Stock RAM timings? Perhaps the RAM is overheating?

p.s. I won't play any game until my rig passes several 72-hour torture tests.

p.p.s. Capthelm, stop saying it's demanding when 99% of the time it's PEBKAC.

[nx02nx02]

I too have thought it might be the audio. I am using the onboard audio on the P5B Deluxe.

I will test that out and post back with the results.

Registry is clean and this is the first drivers for the card that was installed.

3DMark 06 score is 11,700 which is right about where it should be compared to other systems like this one.

No overheating or blue screens or shut downs.

I haven't actually done any stress tests yet.

Stock Ram Timings.

Thanks for all the help. I will go test the audio and post back.