Please don't go messing around with the internal workings of your OS. It's not worth the risk.

Amen to that!

Very wise words indeed. :up:

How does one underclock the cpu, and/or the video card processor?

Easiest for CPU is lower the multiplier in BIOS, for GPU you'll need a tool to lower the freguency. Most videocards have a 2D mode (lowered clocks) when not running 3D apps, might be possible to just force 2D mode through driver or app (I use Rivatuner to control manually, play less demanding games with all clocks at 50%).

Why would you want to though? :06:

I have a terrible mouse lag; I can play the game at 100% graphics or at o% graphics and have the same frame rate for both (very good) but I get the same mouse lag.
I have tried everything I can think of to improve, but no joy.
I have Windows7, 64 bit, intel dual core, 4Gb of DDR3 RAM, 9800 GTS with 1Gb of ram and the latest driver.
I have tried using 8Gb of readybooste. I have messed around with the affinity settings, have used AlacrityPC, have run the game on one core of the CPU, and have installed the latest driver for my mouse. I have used a program which sets the affinity of the game to high and lowers all other processes.
I know mouse lag is usually a RAM problem, but I really have enough. I have tested my RAM and it is good.
I don't know what else to try.

Try this one:
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j.../prerender.jpg

Not sure if you need to lower or increase it to get rid of the mouse-lag. Default is 3, so try 1 and 5 to see which is better, then fine-tune. Probably better to make the change in the game's profile instead of global. Not sure if the profile thingy works right in Nvidia control panel; I've been using Nhancer for ages as a replacement. (good descriptions on options, pretty nice to have alongside Nvidia CP)

*ah right, as in the description, making it smoother can cost some performance. Just something to note.

See if that helps, maybe we can think of another solution if it doesn't. ;)

Thanks for the reply. I will experiment with the different settings to see if it helps. I have used nHancer also.

Missed the description myself. :doh:

Says to lower it for quicker response.

actually, lowering to 1 made the problem slightly worse; settings 2-5 were all the same. I tried the windowed mode and the mouse lag was a whole lot worse.

*sigh* figures it doesn't play by the rules. :-?

Got any overrides in CP? Might try checking everything is set to application controlled and make sure "optimizations" are off. Think in Nhancer you can just select tools > activate profile > best quality.

*could still try 0 setting, but doesn't seem like it's gonna help.

Arclight, thanks for your help. I'll try Zero to see if it helps. I used Lasso to set the game and mouse to above normal and also high but no go.
I note on the internet that there is a problem with the mouse in Windows7 with a lot of lag. I tried some of the suggestions but they didn't help. The general consensus of the gurus is that some of the (?mice?) have a problem with the drivers, and the manufacturers have not and will not update the drivers on the older units. I am not sure this is my problem as I have no lag in any other applications.
Anyway, thanks for your help, I really appreciate it:know::salute:

No problem, just wish it was of more use. :-?

For the record, I think everyone has the mouse-lag in SH5; for me it was particularly bad in the control-room, as the frame-rate dropped. 1.2 patch helped a bit in that regard.

Probably something in how the mouse-cursor is rendered; noticed a few times how the software pointer (how it looks in-game) chased the pointer as it is in windows, lagging behind. Noticed that while working on mod, with the game running windowed. Probably just another thing that could do with some optimization, or just a result of the way they pieced this engine together.

This won't improve performance fps-wise, but it will avoid glitches like missing harbors or crashes on 32bit systems, where virtual memory for a process is limited to 2GB (and sometimes SH5 needs a little bit more than that).