SH3 time compression "slow downs"?

[prowler3]

Whenever I start a patrol I can usually get 512X (and sometimes 1024X) time compression without any "choppiness" or hang ups. As the patrol progresses, however, my ability to use time compression AND have smoothness diminishes until, on some patrols, I can barely get 2X on the final run back to homebase? Any idea why this happens...or how to alleviate it?

Vic

[johnno74]

Generally the smoothness at high TC is related to how many units are close enough to you for the SH3 engine to be a bit more precise about what they are doing - its the exact range is 32km from you IIRC. The AI of anything outside that range is very simple, anything inside that range is "cleverer". So, its normal to struggle at high TC when close to any port...
But I've never had any noticeable slowdowns at below about 64x TC. How much ram have you got? What is your HD doing, is it mainly idle or is it grinding away? If SH3 has used all the available ram and is paging to disk then that will completely kill your framerate.
If your HD is very busy, then make sure you shutdown all other apps before you start SH3.

[Reverie]

Whenever I start a patrol I can usually get 512X (and sometimes 1024X) time compression without any "choppiness" or hang ups. As the patrol progresses, however, my ability to use time compression AND have smoothness diminishes until, on some patrols, I can barely get 2X on the final run back to homebase? Any idea why this happens...or how to alleviate it?

Vic

Johnno really hit the nail on the head first try. Your TC is slowing down because there is / are vessel(s) activity in your range of response. If no target is visible, then perhaps a dive for hydrophone check is required. :up:
Reverie

[danlisa]

The above is the most likely but such a drop in FPS is unheard of except in this example.....

How 'dirty' is your map? Do you have large amounts of plot lines on your Nav Map?

It has been shown in the past that long/many plot lines/information/scribbles on the map can & will bring your game to its knees.

There is also a situation where shipping sunk in shallow water is not completley un-rendered by the SH3 engine. This means that even though you can't see them anymore, the engine is still tracking/rendering them. No fix for this though.

More likely my first suggestion. As it explains the gradual slow downs the further you get into the patrol.

[prowler3]

Stutters is the word I was looking for. It isn't caused by T/C settings close to shore, docks etcetera as I have that adjusted in SH3commander. This is a very drastic stutter which is non-existent at the beginning of a patrol but get's worse at the end. I also use SH3Gen which adds a LOT of info to the map...but that adds info one time to a patrol and I can still use 512X or (sometimes) 1024X after running SH3Gen (always after being at least 200 km from port, of course). Other than my "course", I delete any markings I have made on the map when no longer needed. On my latest mission I returned to Kiel up the Kiel Canal and as I approached it got so bad I could not run 4X without major, seconds long stuttering.

Undoubtedly the added WAC traffic made the problem worse but, as I said, I had no problems leaving Kiel with WAC traffic? The only thing anyone has mentioned is that sunken ships may be causing the issue? This is the only thing I can think of, in terms of data, that would increase during a patrol and possibly slow down the game more and more as the patrol went on? I should mention that at 1X speed I notice no difference between the beginning and end of a patrol...FPS seems constant at 1X.

It may be too much for my system to run the full WAC but I can tell you that I ran into the same problem with a pure vanilla install of SH3...but not as drastic. I would be restricted to, say, 256X or 128X, by the end of a patrol. I think the problem is only magnified by WAC's harbor traffic...but it's a result of something SH3 is doing.

What do you think?

Vic

SH3Commander, SH3Gen, WAC.

Intel Pentium 3.4
2gb Corsair RAM
RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition

[Heibges]

It sounds like a memory leak.

Maybe try saving the games more often.

Shut you computer down, rather than restart as this makes sure the memory is fully purged.

The turn you PC back on and start playing again.

[prowler3]

It sounds like a memory leak.

Maybe try saving the games more often.

Shut you computer down, rather than restart as this makes sure the memory is fully purged.

The turn you PC back on and start playing again.

I used to use a Registry setting which would empty the pagefile on every boot/reboot? Are you saying shutting down and restarting accomplishes the same thing? I have my doubts as the Registry entry would take a LONG time to shut down the system...leading me to believe it was actually purging the pagefile. Just shutting down the system, without this registry entry, acts no different than a plain "restart"...at least for me.

More to the point...what can be done about this "leak"? Your suggestion, while it has some merit, requires the long wait everytime I reload the saved patrol. I might just be better off letting the darn sub drive itself home, at 2X, while I drink a beer and eat a sandwich! :rotfl:

Vic

[johnno74]

It sounds like a memory leak.

Maybe try saving the games more often.

Shut you computer down, rather than restart as this makes sure the memory is fully purged.

The turn you PC back on and start playing again.

Nope. When you shut down an application or game windows frees *all* of the memory that was used by that application. No need to restart, or shut down. This is true for windows NT, 2000, XP and vista but not 95, 98, ME.

Memory leaks in windows do normally require a restart to reclaim the memory but they are very rare. There is pracically no difference between restarting, and shutting down and turning on again. Other apps that you have running on your system tray can leak memory, but its possible to restart them manually. Or be brutal about what is running in your system tray. Do you really need junk running 24/7 to alert you there is an update availalbe for Java, Acrobat, Flash, Quicktime and everything else? Use Autoruns or MSConfig to disable that crap.


I used to use a Registry setting which would empty the pagefile on every boot/reboot? Are you saying shutting down and restarting accomplishes the same thing? I have my doubts as the Registry entry would take a LONG time to shut down the system...leading me to believe it was actually purging the pagefile. Just shutting down the system, without this registry entry, acts no different than a plain "restart"...at least for me.

That setting is a security thing, its nothing to do with freeing memory.
It makes windows overwrite everything in the pagefile with zeros on shutdown - otherwise whatever data was last on each page stays there until the page is needed again, then it is overwritten.

Hope this info helps

Cheers
Johnno

[The Milkman]

i usually find this when im close to port or a convoy, its normal.

[Heibges]

The memory leak is the phantom of the software industry. :lol:

Like Bigfoot and Nessie (and Champ!) it is often talked about, but seldom seen for sure.:ping:

[prowler3]

Johnno,

LOL...I have 3 things in my "tray"...volume control, LAN, and the "safely remove hardware" thingy. I have a seperate Hardware Profile I use for gaming that has the bare necessities (services) running and nothing more.

Whatever the SH3 cause of the "slow down", it is definitely aggravated by WAC and , perhaps, SH3Gen. So...since we can't really pin it down I guess I'll do some experimentation (full WAC and no SH3Gen data, "light" WAC and SH3Gen, etc.).

I know my 3+ year old Alienware is in need of replacement...but I just can't justify the expense every time technology takes a forward leap!!:roll:

Vic