Boy, does this game run SLOW

[Synpax]

Sorry; I posted this two days ago on the tech support board, but I don't think anyone reads that, and this is pretty busy..

I just bought the game. I was looking for some kind of space-based 4X game with diplomacy, colonies, ship design, etc. This seems like it. Other games I've liked are the GalCiv and Birth of the Federation - but I wanted something a little more modern.

However, when I set the game up and started playing it the way I wanted to, I've run into some problems.

Primarily, it runs really slow and is like a slideshow, especially in the mid and late game. It's unplayable and I'm inclined to ask for my money back.

I am using the largest possible universe with 19 other empires, plus the ability for independents to become empires. There are bunch of pirate factions as well.

I do not believe the problem is my system. Task manager shows the system is not anywhere near capacity with memory or processing I am running Windows8 with an i7 processor and 10gigs of ram. And when I'm running other apps with the game running (Outlook, Browsers, video, etc.), they run fine.

I've also noticed that I can't change the resolution in game and it doesn't look like that nice, wide-screen version of the game on the community hub web page.

Another problem is that it takes about fifteen minutes to save a game.... and I'm saving to an SSD. It also takes a really long time to load a game.

I just grabbed the update, but I believe - since I just bought the game two days ago - that I'm already running the latest version.

[Ri0Rdian]

You have very weird problems. My PC which is about 5-6 years old on average has none of the mentioned problems. I lack SSD but the saves are pretty standard, autosaves as well. Even endgame with multiple empires is no problem, and I even did a short game with max number of empires(36) and it went ok although I did not play too long. The only problem is carriers and fighter swarms mid-late game which require me to not issue commands when looking at the fights or just zoom out, cause those hundreds/thousands of tiny fighters are a killer :)

[Synpax]

How many stars did you have?

[foughthelaw&won]

Game is capped at 4 gigs of RAM because its 32 bit. Also, I have never seen it use more than 2 gb because I don't think it has large address awareness. I used a third party program to try and enable LAA but it hasn't shown any promising results.

[Shadow_Wolf]

It might be your system. I have a 5 year old, Intel 2.93 ghz processor, 6 gb ram and a SSD, a 1 GB Video card. No issues. It does start slow like about a minute or two to start but no problems. I have to at time click on the Fast Forward to speed up the game in between ship retrofits and invasions. Saving is not an issue.

[Jool]

If I have a game get really huge, THEN I turn on all automation the game will run slow as it makes thousands of orders and decisions for a while. After the AI gets through that it runs decently again.

My really huge games were getting a little tedious anyway, just took too long to win after winning was a sure thing, so I started using maps with 700-1000 stars, 8-10 sectors.

Is it literally 15 minutes to save a game? I've had long save times with really huge late games but not anywhere near that long. I have an i5 with an SSD.

[Ri0Rdian]

Originally posted by synpax:

How many stars did you have?

1400 stars, 15x15 sectors. Full manual control. PC got C2Q@3.2GHz and 4 GBs of RAM. Must be something interfering with the hardware that screws up the game.

[Synpax]

I think someone here pointed out two of the problems:

1) The game is OLD, runs 32 bit, and cannot access more than 2 gigs of ram.

2) I run with several things automated, including let AI run many fleets. In this particular game, I had one of the story lines on - the Ancients or something. And I waited a really long time to squash the bugs - they only had one planet - and then suddenly I was given all of the Ancient's property. This included 60 new colonies and about 2000 ships, IIRC.

Anyway, I started a new game and it's mostly going okay so far. If it starts to choke, maybe I'll post up the save game file and my system config and we can diagnose further.

It's really too bad, because in a lot of ways, this is the game I've been looking for for a really long time. I wish they'd give it a proper update or sequel.

[Jool]

I think it might still be the game you're looking for synpax. It really is awesome, as I mentioned the really giant universes just got too tedious for me anyway, I'm able to get the right level of challenge on smaller maps through the endgame without just getting to a point where I'm just going through the motions exterminating everyone.

I like clusters of 700-1000 stars with around 10-12 races. 8x8 or 10x10, things get too distant with the 15x15. Though I haven't tried it with the AI mod, which really raises the max warp speed.

[smidlee]

One thing I'd noticed if the messages are coming in faster than they can be scrolled at top it will slow the game down to a crawl. I had to unchecked certain massages like ships being retrofited. Another thing that slows the game down is trying to zoom in on a fleet /battles with a lot of fighters moving about.

[Caelus]

i play largest possible galaxy, with most empires, and mods with better graphics for ships. i can play through completely to end game no problems.

so playing it perfectly my system is:

1.8ghz dual core (wow such low spec! lol)
intel intergrated graphics (some mid to old version, celeron 2 or somthing)
6 gig memory
64 bit

^ my specs, runs perfect on absolute largest galaxy...... ALTHOUGH do note, that ever since shadows i have been disabling pirates, pirates now suck ass so not worth playing with..... maybe they break the game perhaps?

[AndrewG76]

Hello,

Thought I would add, if your running 1400 stars, you can do so as well on 10 x 10 map, 15 x 15 just adds more space between stars. I found this speeds up things a fair bit.

Turning off automation and playing the game without hving the game play itself makes for a smooth game. Automation is more of a handycap for new players who are still learning the game, it does chew a fair bit of CPU cycles to have things automated.

Other options you can turn down or off too, including some of the messages as you can always see them in the message centre when you need to.

The game is 32-bit so yes, it has its limitations.

[Hanalyd]

How did you get 10 gigs or ram?
Thats a strange amount to have...
That means they are two different brands/models.
And what graphics card are you using?

[Dark Thoughts]

Maybe you got an internal GPU on that i7 and the game uses that instead of your main one?

[Synpax]

re: 10 gigs. I have 10 gigs but I've run all kinds of intensive games (Battlefield 4, etc) with no issue. I use to have 20gigs but a DIMM went bad; this is not the problem, I'm pretty certain.

re: graphics cards. AMD Mobility Radeon HD5800 Series with 6 gigs of memory and an internal DAC of 400 mhz.

Internal CPU being used. Possible.

I've started a new game and it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue... yet. But I have a smallish fleet, instead favoring star ports for defense.

[Caelus]

ah, thats a thing..... how big do you run your fleets? maybe a factor

i run multiple fleets, small fleets of 6 to run around doing small tasks, like holding enemies for a while, then a few large fleets of maybe 20 at maximum to stay on guard at key areas until i need them...... but ive heard of people who run multiple fleets with 100 ships in each fleet! lol that will kill the game with lag for sure, so fleet size is usually a big factor i think :)