FPS issue make this game unplayable.

[SgtPotato]

Everything was fine since I bought this game, plus the addon, and three days ago, I added the GFM. The FPS was great, somehow in between 90 to 140 fps. Yesterday, Something went wrong. When I went to the external view, it went to 30 fps between 19 fps. I tried to go to the map room and I tried to speeding up the time. It dropped to 1 fps. Also, I exited the game to windows and I got the crashing error.

I tried uninstall and reinstalling it after I make the backup for save files. No luck. So, I tried to look up in this forum and found out about the killer ploygon/evironmental effect issue. I tried to turn it off and still the same problem. Any ideas?

My spec is:
Video Card: ATI Raedon HD4870 1GB
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
RAM: 4094MB RAM
Hard Drive: 300 GB
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.lh_sp2rtm.090410-1830)

[Akula4745]

It is probably not your system... it sounds like to me you might have some mod soup going on there... I did the same thing at first when I started using mods. Mod soup will drive your graphics card absolutely crazy... are you using a bunch of mods?

If so try removing them all. Get a clean install. Then add big mods first and minor ones last... check after adding each one to find the culprit. Good luck.

[SgtPotato]

I used only Game Fixes Only Mod (plus the GFO Snorkel Name Fix) and that's it.

[XTBilly]

30 fps with the 4870 1GB????:nope:

I'm getting 120-200 fps with the same card...:hmmm:

Does this happen at a specific location, time?
Have you tried reloading the game in port?

[Arclight]

Since the FPS gets killed with TC, I'd guess something's up with the CPU. If it doesn't run properly without mods, try running it on just 1 core (you can set "affinity" for the process in the taskmanger).

You running 64 or 32 bit OS? Is the game installed in program files (default folder) or somewhere else?

[Armistead]

Did you make a back up or your original game data files? If so, wouldn't take long to switch it out and see what happens.

I ran GFO for a week with less of a system with no problems.

Pain as it is, I would try running the original game first and see what happens.

Have you tried other games with any problems?

[Rockin Robbins]

I've had no frame rate problems with any of the major supermods, and I have a vastly lesser system with my 7600GT based system. I vote for mod soup somehow.

It's usually not worth trying to figure out how the mod soup happened. Rebuild and play. The problem will be mysteriously fixed. It's like rebooting your computer. You have no idea what was wrong but you fixed it which makes you a genius!:D

[SgtPotato]

I'm using the 64-bit and I bought this game from Steam, so it is in the steam folder where the games are. It just happened when I was in japan for a patrol, near tokyo.

[SteamWake]

You dident hit a spot wit dozens upon dozens of ship textures loading did you? If so it should pass eventually.

also as mentioned above it sounds like some process is hogging cpu cycles try looking at what or how many processes you are running and try to thin it out a little.

Lastley its entirely possible your video card is going bye bye. Do other games and or bench marks show poor performance?

[Arclight]

I'm not sure, but I seem to recall that SH (3 or 4?) can act up if it's installed in the "program files" folder when running 64-bit Win. I'm guessing that's where Steam defaults to for install as well. :hmmm:

RR, you know about this? Is it a possibility besides mod-soup? I'm not too familiar with SH troubleshooting to be honest. :oops:

[irish1958]

Try AlacrityPC (www.alacritypc.com) to turn off everything not needed to run the game.
If that solves the problem, something is hogging your CPU.
If it doesn't, run a new install of SHIV; if OK it is a mod mix.
If not OK, price new video cards as it is probably the problem

[Rockin Robbins]

I use EndItAll when I need to terminate processes in one keypress. But I'm able to run SH4 at decent framerates with a truly scary list of programs running in my tray.

It's not impossible for another program to steal enough clock cycles to kill your framerate, but it's likely to be a single application doing that. Tell you what.

Alt-tab out of SH4. Press ctrl-alt-delete and bring up your task manager. Choose the processes tab and check out the CPU column, which shows the percentage of CPU utilization by process. System Idle Process is not a true process, but unused clock cycles, so disregard this. Is any other process hogging your CPU? You can terminate it right from Task Manager. Chances are you won't find any guilty parties there and will be back to eating mod soup. Yum!:D

[SteamWake]

I use EndItAll when I need to terminate processes in one keypress. But I'm able to run SH4 at decent framerates with a truly scary list of programs running in my tray.

It's not impossible for another program to steal enough clock cycles to kill your framerate, but it's likely to be a single application doing that. Tell you what.

Alt-tab out of SH4. Press ctrl-alt-delete and bring up your task manager. Choose the processes tab and check out the CPU column, which shows the percentage of CPU utilization by process. System Idle Process is not a true process, but unused clock cycles, so disregard this. Is any other process hogging your CPU? You can terminate it right from Task Manager. Chances are you won't find any guilty parties there and will be back to eating mod soup. Yum!:D

Ummm its vista :cool:

[AVGWarhawk]

You dident hit a spot wit dozens upon dozens of ship textures loading did you? If so it should pass eventually.

also as mentioned above it sounds like some process is hogging cpu cycles try looking at what or how many processes you are running and try to thin it out a little.

Lastley its entirely possible your video card is going bye bye. Do other games and or bench marks show poor performance?

I would look here as well. For the game to just out of the blue start act like you describe I'm inclined to believe it is a hardware issue.

[SgtPotato]

The CPU is fine, but I noticed that it used 3.11 GB of 4 GB ram. Is that bad?

[AVGWarhawk]

No, Vista will use all kinds of RAM.

[SgtPotato]

Every time I exit the game and im kept getting the error said this game crashed for no reason. I think it has to do with the save files or not.

[AVGWarhawk]

I think you need a fresh install. Play the game and see how it goes in stock. Something is definitely screwed.

[SgtPotato]

Okay, I will try the fresh install. I've tried to play another games with benchmarks, the fps is good, somewhere in 70 to 200. So, it's not the video card, cpu, and even ram.

[Armistead]

The CPU is fine, but I noticed that it used 3.11 GB of 4 GB ram. Is that bad?


I would still tweak to cut off all those background services and programs, reload and try the stock game. You should be able to play fine with your system. Is it possible you had a program come on such as virus scan, ect. why you were playing?

[JREX53]

SgtPotato,

Another thing you should do is not install the game into the "Program Files" folder because of the EULA that Vista uses. Create a new folder such as "Games" or "Ubi", anyplace other than the "Program Files" folder.

[SgtPotato]

As you didn't know, I'm using the Steam version of SH4. How can I install this game to "Games" folder from Steam?

[Arclight]

Reïnstall Steam to a proper folder.

If you have multiple partitions/drives, don't install Steam (or other games) on the C: drive.

[kiwi_2005]

There could be a major bug in one of the mods and your the first to find it. Happen to me with a mod from here i think it was RSRD can't remeber as it was a while ago, everything was working okay then one day my FPS just plummeted to practically zero - turned out the mod would spawn to many convoys must of been in the 100's in the same area or whenever you reach that part in the game it triggered :) causing any system no matter how uber to crash.

If the problem is happening in the same area each time then its likely a bug in the mod and i would let the developer know about it so he can add a fix.

[Max2147]

I've noticed that I get a huge FPS hit on the bridge right around sunrise and sunset. I think it has something to do with the water reflections, even though I've turned all those graphical settings to as low as possible.

[SgtPotato]

Okay, I finished the fresh install and everything is fine. About 120 fps in the open ocean and 60 fps in dock. :DL I guess it had something to do with the graphic bug from GFO mod or corrupted save file caused the graphic went haywire. I don't know either. :nope:

[SgtPotato]

Guys, I discovered the problem with the fps drop rapidly to 30. It has something to do with the time compression. When you increasing the time compression, more than 2072 something, it caused the game overloading the graphic glitch and rapidly drop to 1 and remained 30 fps all the way. Lucky, I saved before I start the whole thing. It seem that Game Fixes Only mod don't work well with time compression. Maybe, will Webster look it up and update to v1.2? :06:

[AVGWarhawk]

Time compression always make FPS drop:hmmm:

[Armistead]

Time compression always make FPS drop:hmmm:


Yep, with every mod, not just GFO. You speed the game up 3000 times faster, your computer has to keep up with it.

Not a glitch Sgt....it happens to us all. I think Webster had a mod that dealth with slowdowns using TC near land where it can really drag down, but not sure if it works.

It will also happen if you get around many contacts. Run into a 50 ship convoy or go to Osaka and get 100 contacts and things can slow way down. Of course the more computer you have...the bettr off you are.

[Arclight]

I think he means the game remains at a crawl after he exits TC. Say you're getting 60fps, go to TC, drop out and fps is suddenly at 30, something like that... If I understood it right. :hmmm:

[Stormende]

What I've noticed about TC is that usually my system will have high FPS until I go over 4096, that seems to be the limit, after that the frames will drop reaching almost to 1. Sometimes at 1024 TC they drop only if there is a sound contact that my sonar man hasn't identified - reported. If I go to the sonar station and sweep, will find the source but it will say unknown. That's good because that way I can detect contact easier.

:D

[Sailor Steve]

I can understand not liking the lower FPS, but I have to question the use of the word "unplayable" in the title. I have a crappy old system, and when on the bridge in port or watching a sinking I'm getting 6-9 FPS, but I still play it anyway.

[SgtPotato]

Well, low FPS always annoying me out, when I'm using the high spec computer. :DL