FPS Problem - 6FPS Problem

[Plage]

The game runs in the foreground with only 6FPS, if I move the game to the background via Alt-Tab and then click on the taskbar with the mouse, it runs with 30FPS. If I then click back into the C&C window, it immediately drops back down to 6FPS

No mods, no ini settings and starting the game in windowed mode, nothing helps. Genpatcher doesn't help, GenTools doesn't help.
I'm beginning to think it's Windows 11?

My PC:

CPU: - I7 8700K @5GHz All Core -
GPU: - Gainward RTX 4080 Phantom -
RAM: - 32GB DDR4 @ 3600MHz -

PS; The internal GPU of the Intel CPU is deactivated via Bios.


EDIT:

I reactivated the integrated Intel GPU in the bios for testing, changed the game to the Intel GPU in the graphics settings in Windows 11 and since then I have had no more FPS problems.

Then the game seems to have a problem with the 4080. Can anyone confirm this?

[animal_PLANET]

I am assuming this is a display driver issue. Since you are using an 8700K with a 4080. Im assuming you recently swapped out an older GPU. So your drivers are most likely conflicting.

The quickest and easiest things to try and troubleshoot this issue would be to do a clean boot and run DDU to clean out display driver. Than install latest from AMD.

Running DDU will remove previous driver completely and ensure a clean install of newest display driver. Like its being done for the first time on a newly installed OS.

Here is link to DDU. Make sure to read/follow guide if unfamiliar. https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4876

A clean boot will remove any potential conflicts with other software running in background. Disable all non essential services, programs and tasks from starting with PC. So use services (services app or system configuration app), tasks (task scheduler app), and startup items (task manager) to disable them. Check all 3 areas. If anyone is enabled that software will run and could be causing conflicts with games. This will also help free up system resources in general.

Lastly, since this game is CPU bound and you are using a 4080. You are def bottlenecking the GPU with only a 6 core CPU. Hence the poor performance. You will also not be getting full usage out of the GPU for other titles as well.

[Plage]

I have had the 4080 since it came onto the market. I just haven't replaced the 8700K yet because I'm waiting for "Arrow Lake".
For 4K @ 60FPS (capped via driver) the 8700K Stocked is also sufficient. You can still play everything, well except for games that have a port that comes from hell (I'm looking in your direction "The Last of Us" and Hogwarts Legacy)

The CPU, GPU or even the bottleneck shouldn't really play a role in this game.

Your idea that it could be the driver is a good one, I had that too, but since I just refreshed Windows 4 days ago by reinstalling it, I don't think it's the driver.

Thanks for your help anyway.

[animal_PLANET]

Originally posted by Plage:

I just refreshed Windows 4 days ago by reinstalling it, I don't think it's the driver.

Thanks for your help anyway.

How did you install Win 11?

[Plage]

Originally posted by animal_PLANET:

How did you install Win 11?

Using a bootable USB stick

[Vovin]

Yeah it's definitely not a game problem. I have pretty much the same PC but with a 3080 and it runs great. Using windows 10 though.

[animal_PLANET]

Originally posted by Plage:

Originally posted by animal_PLANET:

How did you install Win 11?

Using a bootable USB stick

Ok cool. Just to check. You deleted the partition/s and installed clean?

Have you tried running generals.exe in compatibility mode?

Have you tried a clean boot? Even though you installed fresh windows. You may have a program/software running in the background causing a conflict.

[Plage]

Originally posted by Vovin:

Yeah it's definitely not a game problem. I have pretty much the same PC but with a 3080 and it runs great. Using windows 10 though.

Jip. Maybe.

A friend of mine has an older PC:
- 1080
- I5 4xxx
But he also runs Windows 10 without any problems.

As I said, maybe the game has a problem with the 4xxx Nvidia GPU series and/or with Windows 11.
But I think it might be a combination of both.

Otherwise I can't explain why the game runs on Windows 11 but only with the integrated CPU graphics unit

Originally posted by animal_PLANET:

Ok cool. Just to check. You deleted the partition/s and installed clean?
....

Yes, I deleted the partition and started from scratch. I also did not restore the settings via Onedrive.

Yes. I running generals.exe in compatibility mode.
Windows Xp with Service Pack 3 and Windows 7 compatibility

Hm, now that you mention it... I haven't tried a clean boot yet. I'll do it quickly in a minute and get back to you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:

Phew. Funnily enough, the game is now running. Both with the integrated GPU and with the 4080.

But don't ask me what the problem is.

I deactivated all non-Microsoft services via "msconfig" and then restarted.
- The game is running
All services reactivated and restarted
- The game is running

Sometimes it's just "the ghost in the machine" :D

[Vovin]

Originally posted by Plage:

Originally posted by Vovin:

Yeah it's definitely not a game problem. I have pretty much the same PC but with a 3080 and it runs great. Using windows 10 though.

Phew. Funnily enough, the game is now running. Both with the integrated GPU and with the 4080.

You mean you're physically disconnecting your input cable from your GPU to your motherboard (HDMI or whatever)? Because if you're not doing that then it's always GPU. Or are you using a laptop? I'm not sure why it would be using a combination of both GPU and integrated.

[Plage]

No. But you can turn the iGPU off completely via the bios or turn it on again and then use both.

At MSI this is called: IGD Multi-monitor Feature
Initiate Graphics Adapter must be set to PEG

You can then switch programs to 3 modes in the graphics settings in Windows 11:

- Let Windows decide = Windows decides whether the dedicated graphics card is required, if not, the iGPU is used
- power saving mode = The internal graphics unit of the CPU is used for calculations (iGPU)
- maximum performance = The dedicated graphics unit is used

Those who do not need the hardware acceleration of the dedicated graphics card (browsers like: Brave, Chrome, Firefox or Edge) then use the iGPU. Saves the GPU and the PC consumes less power in the best case scenario
I don't know about the power consumption, but in any case I have a little more performance when gaming, because YouTube or other things don't consume any performance from the 4080 but use the iGPU instead

[Peeto]

mine is locket to 30 fps ... but I can play at 1440p fullscreen

[animal_PLANET]

Originally posted by Plage:

Phew. Funnily enough, the game is now running. Both with the integrated GPU and with the 4080.

But don't ask me what the problem is.

I deactivated all non-Microsoft services via "msconfig" and then restarted.
- The game is running
All services reactivated and restarted
- The game is running

Sometimes it's just "the ghost in the machine" :D

It may have been a conflict with one of those services. Since its fine after restarting them.

If the problem comes back on system restart at least youll know where to look now.

[Plage]

I will keep an eye on this but thank you for your support.

[animal_PLANET]

Originally posted by Plage:

I will keep an eye on this but thank you for your support.

Np! Let us know if you need any more help. GL

[Vovin]

Originally posted by Plage:

No. But you can turn the iGPU off completely via the bios or turn it on again and then use both.

At MSI this is called: IGD Multi-monitor Feature
Initiate Graphics Adapter must be set to PEG

You can then switch programs to 3 modes in the graphics settings in Windows 11:

- Let Windows decide = Windows decides whether the dedicated graphics card is required, if not, the iGPU is used
- power saving mode = The internal graphics unit of the CPU is used for calculations (iGPU)
- maximum performance = The dedicated graphics unit is used

Those who do not need the hardware acceleration of the dedicated graphics card (browsers like: Brave, Chrome, Firefox or Edge) then use the iGPU. Saves the GPU and the PC consumes less power in the best case scenario
I don't know about the power consumption, but in any case I have a little more performance when gaming, because YouTube or other things don't consume any performance from the 4080 but use the iGPU instead

So you're saying you can just have an output cable from your GPU to your monitor and the iGPU will be channelled through your GPU? I've never heard of that but it's interesting. I get that you still get display without GPU drivers but I assumed that this is just a basic GPU display, not the motherboard's iGPU being channelled through it, but I could be wrong.

Either way, in terms of Generals, motherboards can run it no problem lol. Generals/RA3/C&C3 were running just fine on a crappy laptop I got almost 10 years ago that only had an iGPU.

[Plage]

Nothing is guided by anything else. The iGPU simply takes over the hardware-accelerated calculations that you do not want to have on the main GPU.

The main idea was that while using the dedicated graphics processor, you could still use video ports on the motherboard. So if a Radeon or GeForce didn't have a VGA port, but the motherboard did, then you could connect the monitor to it. In this case, the dedicated GPU would still be able to render games and videos, but send the image for the VGA monitor to the Intel GPU.

Nowadays, things look different and this is used in much the same way as I have already written.

Or Another example:

If you're recording video and don't want to use your 3080 to play and record at the same time because you want 100% performance while playing, you can set "Intel Quick Sync" in OBS and then the iGPU will be used to decode the video.