Poor performance on Steam version vs. Non-Steam

[Virtual Vaporeon!]

When loading the Steam version, the performance is unacceptable. I'm running the simulation at 5 FPS, when the same simulation with the same settings on the non-Steam version runs at a consistent 60 FPS. This is completely unacceptable, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong for this to happen. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Virtual Vaporeon!]

Right-click the game > Browse Local Files > powder.exe > right-click > Properties > Run As Administrator

I don't know why this fixes it. This was not necessary in the non-Steam version of the game. But it fixes it. I can't comprehend it, but I accept it.

[jacob614]

Please don't run TPT as administrator, I promise it isn't required and doesn't affect FPS at all. Running things as admin is a legacy hack from the old Windows XP days and doesn't help anything anymore, it's actually more harmful than helpful.

We got a lot of reports that the Steam version runs faster than the non-steam version. We also got reports that it runs slower. I did a lot of testing, and the end result is they are exactly the same (it was leaning towards steam being slower but 1% is within the margin of error so I'm saying they are the same).

I'd say try again by launching it normally. 5fps isn't something you'll ever see on a blank screen. If you see that, something else on your PC must be interfering.

[freeseacher]

I have the same story. 4.95 fps on a blank screen. it goes fine(57) when full screen mode enabled
after switching to 1x instead of 2x i have 9.84

[jacob614]

What OS are you using? Are you on Win 10 or maybe Win 11? I tested performance on both Win 11 and Linux.

Sounds like some sort of rendering issue if fullscreen resolves it. I haven't seen reports of anything that severe with the website version, so it makes me wonder if Steam or Steam Overlay is somehow causing it.

[freeseacher]

windows 11, amd cpu, amd gpu(nit quite sure it is relevant), recent updates for everything
non steam 97.0 work fine

[RuiFPB]

I know this is kinda late, but found the solution to the issue. There seems to be an issue with AMD Driver when launched using steam. Disable Anti-lag on AMD software