Gameplay lag and low FPS

[ierynetra]

Just bought this today in the sale and I was shocked to find I have lag and low fps. I have a fairly low end PC with only a geforce g100 but I thought a game like this wouldn't be a problem.
I've tried adjusting the settings to windowed, non windowed, fast, beautiful and various resolutions and nothing seems to make a difference. The game plays lags out with even the music and sound effects stopping for about 2 minutes at a time then, for about the same time, it runs smoothly.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Windows Vista 32
Geforce G100
AMD Phenom 9650 Quad

[Randomacts]

That PC is old as hell.

Not sure if there is much you can do. :/

[ierynetra]

Thank you, that was helpful -_-
I can play more intense games on this PC, I'm playing through The Witcher Enchaned now so don't see why this game won't work.

[dragunrising]

I was going to purchase this game until I read your comment. Probably shouldn't bother with my Dual Core Atom processor with Ion graphics lol. My other option is PS3.

[a sad grrrl]

Same problem as first reply. I have a high-end gaming PC, and the game freezes for seconds at a time. Game is 'unplayable' (well, playable in the sense that it can be won, but is absolutely no fun whatsoever). Seeing as how I can play many, higher-spec games like Dota 2/HL2/TF2 on highest settings with no lag, I can only imagine this is an issue with the programming and not the graphics rendering.

[narF]

Are you using Big Picture? For me, Big Picture Mode made the game lag. Then I went back to regular Steam and the game runned fine at max settings.

[ierynetra]

I am soon getting a higher spec PC so will compare how this game works on the new machine. And no, I'm not using Big Picture, it doesn't work for me at all.

[jongleurx]

Duplicate of https://steamcommunity.com/app/220780/discussions/0/846958724660259253/...

[jongleurx]

I'm using Windows 10 and wanted to share a fix that worked for me. Navigating to Steam > Library > Thomas Was Alone > Properties > Launch options, then setting -winxp mode and relaunching the game seemed to do the trick.

[jongleurx]

I had trouble following my own instructions after seeing your reply...sorry for the confusion. I vaguely remember that I literally typed "-winxp" (without the word mode) into the "Launch options" dialog and accepting those settings. Buuut I can't seem to find any documentation that this is a legit option to set. Looking further, the website below has some tips that suggest that you'd want to type "set__COMPAT_LAYER=WINXPSP3" into the "Launch options" dialog, but I don't remember having done that.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=205118102

See the attached screenshot for my best guess...

https://www.screencast.com/t/KMYdWyq6Alyd

Alternative procedure involving changing properties of the EXE without using any special Steam options: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Thomas_Was_Alone#Issues_fixed

That said, in the 10 or so months since my post, somehow with the various updates that have happened to my computer (driver updates, Windows updates, etc.), I no longer have these horrible stuttering framerate issues anymore, even without any special options set. Thomas Was Alone itself doesn't appear to have been updated; my last modified date for the ThomasWasAlone.exe and the other supporting files is still November 27th.

Hope this helps.

[FoxyTheFoxer]

For anyone in the future, Jongleurx's tip worked. I had horrible lag as the game progressed (It starts out okay. My Windows 10 pc can EASILY handle the game requirements. But the fix is to go to your steam library - right click on the game - Properties - Set Launch Options. Type the following:

set __COMPAT_LAYER=WINXPSP3

[32BitPlayer]

For whatever reason, it seems like Jongleurx's fixes aren't working. I've had no luck with the "-winxp" or the above COMPAT_LAYER string in Launch Options, and it hasn't been any better going to the game's executable to adjust compatibility either.

There are two of us so far who are having problems with the lag again.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/220780/discussions/0/2251182852571252667/

Anyone else lately?

[aerotriangle]

if anyone's thinking of not buying this game because of your computer stats... i have a potato laptop (intel integrated graphics, i7, 8gb ram, windows 10 not pro) and it was auto set to fantastic graphics and ran super smoothly (no lag). hopefully this'll help you narrow down the issue?

p.s. if it is lagging too much and you have played less than 2 hours and bought the game less than 1 week ago, i think you can get a full refund from Steam? (for anyone else that's reading this later lol, i see when the last post was)

[Little Dragon Keeper]

Apologies for raising the dead, but I have a mid-high end pc that's capable of running vr perfectly fine, but when playing thomas was alone I'm lucky to get above 30fps. Whereas I was able to play this on a potato probably on highest quality settings and had no issues what so ever.

I tried both winxp and set__COMPAT_LAYER=WINXPSP3 but neither worked.

Well that's a shame, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game a few years ago.

[Simba]

For those for whom the solution of -winxp doesn't work, check your anti-virus / malware solution - disable it or allow it to run the .exe of the game without detection - it works! (found it from another similar forum).