Returning to base takes forever!

[Trav_R]

On the way to my mission area, which has been near japan for my first three patrols, I can crank the time compression up max, which is around 8000, and the game still runs pretty smooth. On the way back, however, I can brely get it over 1024 without it completely bogging down my system. This makes the return trip suck pretty good, it takes around 20-30 minutes go get back home due to the low time compression I'm stuck with. Does anyone know what is wrong and how to fix it?

[SnowCajun]

On the way to my mission area, which has been near japan for my first three patrols, I can crank the time compression up max, which is around 8000, and the game still runs pretty smooth. On the way back, however, I can brely get it over 1024 without it completely bogging down my system. This makes the return trip suck pretty good, it takes around 20-30 minutes go get back home due to the low time compression I'm stuck with. Does anyone know what is wrong and how to fix it?It does that to me also when I'm based in Pearl Harbor, but not when I'm based out of Fremantle .. Believe me I know what you're going through, I've dealt with it also.

SnowCajun

[RENEGADE-623]

how amny times have you resupplied and how much tonnage did you sink? I think that may have something to do with it because i have the same problem but only after i resupplied and sunk a lot of tonnage. and again only out of pearl

[Capt. Shark Bait]

i tihnk it's cuz of all the data that's been accumulated on your return as compared with the out bound run. in other words, the current game file just got a helluva lot bigger:smug:

[STEED]

I do a lot of saves and when I get back to base delete all but the last one and when the career is over delete the lot.

[Trav_R]

Glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem. I will have to try the deleting saved games thing, and if that doesn't work I'll switch to another port. To Renegade: I've topped off once at Midway on the way out, and sunk about 65,000 tons of merchants and shot down a handful of planes.

[ICApproval]

Timely post as I was also going to ask about time compression. Same problem for me - takes forever to cover long distances. When I crank up TC it seems to bog down just over 1024 and will not move more than 5-6 min per movement of the clock hands. I thought maybe my computer was not up to snuff but I think I am ok - 3GHZ, 1.5 GB ram, 256 MB video card. I had to go from the coast of Japan to Midway and it took sooooo long. I will be interested to hear how this discussion goes.

[SteamWake]

Actually there is really nothing wrong. Most everyone has some stutters in excess of 1024 espically when you have dozens of contacts and entries in your log.

Personally I have never been able to 'warp' back to base without running into at least some planes or ships interrupting the 'boredom'.

The developers made the decision to omit the return to base button in order to add to the realisim. Realisim is there were long boring journeys. Wether or not this was a wise decision is open for debate. Remember your trying to compress literally a week or two worth of sailing into a few minutes.

Ive said it before Ill say it again this is not a game you can sit down and play for a few minutes before dinner.

[Trav_R]

I don't see how a few extra bytes of data in my log file from ships sunk, etc would blow my machine away when it ran at 8000 TC just fine on the westbound leg. There's got to be something else going on, I'm currently trying to figure out which of my saved games is the most recent one so I can move the rest to another folder to try that method, I'll let you guys know if it works.

[Trav_R]

Thanks for the suggestion about the saved games man, but unfortunately it didn't help. I moved all but the latest saved game to a different folder and restarted SHIV, the game was still very choppy at high TC.

For the record Steam, I didn't ask for a "Return to Base" button nor would I use it if it existed. Also, there *is* something wrong; if I can head to my patrol area at 8000 TC, I should be able to head back at 8000 TC, no two ways around it. I understand the concept of high traffic areas and that I won't be able to achieve high TC levels in those areas, but unless the game waits until I reach my patrol area before it decides to blanket my return route with invisible ships, then this has nothing to do with traffic.

Also, I don't see how the amount of tonnage sunk and refits could have any effect on performance. I go places, I do things, these are recorded in a handful of bytes. Heck, the entired saved game is barely 4.5 MB, if this is what is impacting my performance so much then it is a coding problem that needs to be addressed by the developers.

In the meantime, I'm more than willing to try workarounds, I have tried the following so far with no luck:

Deleting/moving all saved games except for the most recent one and then reloading the game.
Editing main.cfg and changing the three debug lines from "Yes" to "No"
Loading the saved game, exiting to main menu, reloading saved game.

If anyone has any other suggestions or enlightenment, I'd be very grateful.

[SteamWake]

Never said you asked for a RTB button. I was simply pointing out that it was not included. If it had you would not be now looking for work arounds. Again that one is up for debate. I would not be supprised to see it inclueded in an upcoming patch as many people have asked for it.

As far as bits and bytes slowing down your machines performance frankly I have no clue how exactly the game handles data, save games, statistics, renown, sunken ships, active ships, fleets, aircraft etc. and why these things impact performace in the 2D map screen. Fact of the matter is that they do.

What I was trying to point out is that nearly everyone experiences the stutters and performance depreciation at high rates of time compression and the 'work around' you seek does not exist.

Personally I rarely run at rates higher than 1024 and it really only takes perhaps 10 to 15 minutes to get back to perth. Yup its a boring 10 to 15 minutes. As I said before more often than not Ill get 'interrupted' by something or other during that trip.