How to improve performance in late game?

[Cw 4life|COBR@]

Hello Everyone,

Can anyone advise me on how to minimize or avoid late-game performance drops?

I have many hours in X4 and love the game. However, when I get to the late game and unlock Boran sectors, the game starts to lag, no fps drops, it just lags, and slows down. I don't have many assets, only one small station ( under 10 modules ) just for docking and storage and less than 50 ships total.

This would be possibly my 50th new game start , because lag gets uncomfortable in late game. So is it because :

1) i explore the entire map + boron sectors ?
2) or is it because i deploy advance satellites in sectors ( 4 - 6 per sector ) ? ( i turned them off at one point did not feel any change )
3) or its just game gets crowded by AI ships and stations ? and it is game engine limitation ?

i want to complete all faction story lines in one game play without heavy late game lag.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

My PC specs :

i9- 13900k
RTX 4080
M2 SSD
64 GB ram

PC is dedicated to gaming no malware or bloatware on it.

[ArcticISAF]

Nah, I have a lot weaker gaming system than that, 6 days in-game, good fleet/station and my performance is decent. No lag in clear quiet space like Earth (75 FPS), or small-medium stations (60, 30 or something). Definitely ~30 modules, maybe <300 modules it’s mostly good, 900 modules on HQ it gets a bit laggy and FPS is meh there, 15-22. Most sectors coated in Adv satellites.

There’s another thread currently at the top here ‘Performance’, might be worth a shot reading. My first guess is to make sure the game is actually using your graphics card. I first booted up X4 eons ago and the lag was bad but somewhat functional still… well it wasn’t using my graphics card :P. Popped it over in the Nvidia control panel I think it’s called, in the bottom right of the tray. Although likely not that if you’re in late game I suppose lol.

Basically I recommended there going to a quiet spot (I like Earth), away from stations or anything. It *should* be smooth and slick there, and start playing with settings there as a baseline.

Oh yeah, also may be worth checking your CPU temperature. It will start throttling and potentially lagging if the temperature is too high, in order to protect itself. The better CPU may cause a higher level of heat, as I’m sure X4 likely sucks up whatever it’s able to, to run the simulation. Most other games are not so CPU intensive. Perhaps also detectable if there’s no lag initially when you load up a game and over time it gets laggy. Not sure if correct, but a thought.

[Donauwelle]

Yeah using I7-12700KF + Asus strix 4070TI + 64GB Ram + all 7.000m/s Nvmes...
FPS something between 90-30 with all settings maxed / MSAAx2 / WQHD
with 90 beeing new save + empty sector
and 30 beeing lategame with some action on screen.....

Satalites and Lasertower indeed impact performance, however rather mildly.
100 Lasertower infront of a gate will ofc drop your fps rather hard.
4-6 per sector.... well depends on how many sectors we talk about.
4-5 ok, 10-20 rather not....

The AI has a Actorlimit, so they wont just build more and more and more.
They just "keep" the limit with new-build ships.

Performance wise you might get something out of changing AA from MSAA to FXAA if you want to squeeze 5-10 extra frames out.
Usually i wouldnt reccomand this as fxaa is clearly inferior in cleaning up edges and tends to blurr but honestly....
you spend the majority of time in cockpit or on map....
You barely notice any difference here, its more visible on stations "close up", landing, station interrior and so on...
Sure kinda su**s but again your most of time in space looking at skyboxes or on map looking at numbers sooooo what ever...

However im kinda fine with performance and FXAA is just awefull to look at as it does a poor job with edges and especially roundings so i keep MSAA to not kill myself while standing on a Station / Bridge etc.


Ingame
Get rid of Small and Medium ships.
Especially M Miner and Trader are lategame just leeching your performance.
Use fewer L`s to reduce ships.
Those also usually dont need escorts or patrols so get rid of those aswell.
Also all S/M`s wich you dont use yourself or on your "favourite carrier"

Destroyer doomstacks are a bit boring but do performance wise a great job when you plan to "paint the map"

[isemados]

this waste of resources is not a german attitude. consider x4 from and for ausländer only.

we have a better culture and it will rise again... as it must.
I consider x3 and x4 as depricated as this is not being addressed for more than 10 years now...

and the dev as iron sure information about this is being insane high expectations from themselvs.

[Ddoge]

you have a very nice system and should not be experiencing excessive lag with those assets. This game makes CPUs run hot, and these late intel chips run hot, so definitely try to confirm its not throttling due to heat. If you haven't cleaned out your case recently, give that a try.

[Cw 4life|COBR@]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, i appreciate it!

Originally posted by ArcticISAF:

Nah, I have a lot weaker gaming system than that, 6 days in-game, good fleet/station and my performance is decent. No lag in clear quiet space like Earth (75 FPS), or small-medium stations (60, 30 or something). Definitely ~30 modules, maybe <300 modules it’s mostly good, 900 modules on HQ it gets a bit laggy and FPS is meh there, 15-22. Most sectors coated in Adv satellites.

There’s another thread currently at the top here ‘Performance’, might be worth a shot reading. My first guess is to make sure the game is actually using your graphics card. I first booted up X4 eons ago and the lag was bad but somewhat functional still… well it wasn’t using my graphics card :P. Popped it over in the Nvidia control panel I think it’s called, in the bottom right of the tray. Although likely not that if you’re in late game I suppose lol.

Basically I recommended there going to a quiet spot (I like Earth), away from stations or anything. It *should* be smooth and slick there, and start playing with settings there as a baseline.

Oh yeah, also may be worth checking your CPU temperature. It will start throttling and potentially lagging if the temperature is too high, in order to protect itself. The better CPU may cause a higher level of heat, as I’m sure X4 likely sucks up whatever it’s able to, to run the simulation. Most other games are not so CPU intensive. Perhaps also detectable if there’s no lag initially when you load up a game and over time it gets laggy. Not sure if correct, but a thought.

RTX 4080 is set to primary and temperature wise i have my computer case configured for a good ventilation , on a full load from msfs2020 and x4, cpu does not go above 80c same with gpu. System wise computer is running great, and when i start a new game , even in busiest sectors , the game runs perfectly , it just something happens in a late game and it starts to lag, if i go to empty sector fps works well but game feels lagging.

Originally posted by Donauwelle:

Yeah using I7-12700KF + Asus strix 4070TI + 64GB Ram + all 7.000m/s Nvmes...
FPS something between 90-30 with all settings maxed / MSAAx2 / WQHD
with 90 beeing new save + empty sector
and 30 beeing lategame with some action on screen.....

Satalites and Lasertower indeed impact performance, however rather mildly.
100 Lasertower infront of a gate will ofc drop your fps rather hard.
4-6 per sector.... well depends on how many sectors we talk about.
4-5 ok, 10-20 rather not....

The AI has a Actorlimit, so they wont just build more and more and more.
They just "keep" the limit with new-build ships.

Performance wise you might get something out of changing AA from MSAA to FXAA if you want to squeeze 5-10 extra frames out.
Usually i wouldnt reccomand this as fxaa is clearly inferior in cleaning up edges and tends to blurr but honestly....
you spend the majority of time in cockpit or on map....
You barely notice any difference here, its more visible on stations "close up", landing, station interrior and so on...
Sure kinda su**s but again your most of time in space looking at skyboxes or on map looking at numbers sooooo what ever...

However im kinda fine with performance and FXAA is just awefull to look at as it does a poor job with edges and especially roundings so i keep MSAA to not kill myself while standing on a Station / Bridge etc.


Ingame
Get rid of Small and Medium ships.
Especially M Miner and Trader are lategame just leeching your performance.
Use fewer L`s to reduce ships.
Those also usually dont need escorts or patrols so get rid of those aswell.
Also all S/M`s wich you dont use yourself or on your "favourite carrier"

Destroyer doomstacks are a bit boring but do performance wise a great job when you plan to "paint the map"

Thank you for your suggestions. i actual did the same with miners in my older game play , i had like 200 of them.

Originally posted by Ddoge:

you have a very nice system and should not be experiencing excessive lag with those assets. This game makes CPUs run hot, and these late intel chips run hot, so definitely try to confirm its not throttling due to heat. If you haven't cleaned out your case recently, give that a try.

Thank you for suggestions. Yeah its not heat or PC itself. I think i am gonna go through my new game and if this still persists , i will just email my savegame to devs and maybe they can take a look if they can.

[Sel Und Irae]

Originally posted by Cw 4life|COBR@:

Hello Everyone,

Can anyone advise me on how to minimize or avoid late-game performance drops?

I have many hours in X4 and love the game. However, when I get to the late game and unlock Boran sectors, the game starts to lag, no fps drops, it just lags, and slows down. I don't have many assets, only one small station ( under 10 modules ) just for docking and storage and less than 50 ships total.

This would be possibly my 50th new game start , because lag gets uncomfortable in late game. So is it because :

1) i explore the entire map + boron sectors ?
2) or is it because i deploy advance satellites in sectors ( 4 - 6 per sector ) ? ( i turned them off at one point did not feel any change )
3) or its just game gets crowded by AI ships and stations ? and it is game engine limitation ?

i want to complete all faction story lines in one game play without heavy late game lag.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

My PC specs :

i9- 13900k
RTX 4080
M2 SSD
64 GB ram

PC is dedicated to gaming no malware or bloatware on it.

Short answer? Genocide

Long Answer? Don't use any mods & lower settings.

X4 with mods (Specifically VRO) Does not perform well later on, Letting the A.I Go unchecked isn't the best move.

People complain that Xenon steamroll if the player doesn't help but Xenon are the only thing keeping late game from being a nightmare, Xenon are basically the Galactic Ram Preservers that keep the universe running.

[Cw 4life|COBR@]

Originally posted by Sel Und Irae:

Originally posted by Cw 4life|COBR@:

Hello Everyone,

Can anyone advise me on how to minimize or avoid late-game performance drops?

I have many hours in X4 and love the game. However, when I get to the late game and unlock Boran sectors, the game starts to lag, no fps drops, it just lags, and slows down. I don't have many assets, only one small station ( under 10 modules ) just for docking and storage and less than 50 ships total.

This would be possibly my 50th new game start , because lag gets uncomfortable in late game. So is it because :

1) i explore the entire map + boron sectors ?
2) or is it because i deploy advance satellites in sectors ( 4 - 6 per sector ) ? ( i turned them off at one point did not feel any change )
3) or its just game gets crowded by AI ships and stations ? and it is game engine limitation ?

i want to complete all faction story lines in one game play without heavy late game lag.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

My PC specs :

i9- 13900k
RTX 4080
M2 SSD
64 GB ram

PC is dedicated to gaming no malware or bloatware on it.

Short answer? Genocide

Long Answer? Don't use any mods & lower settings.

X4 with mods (Specifically VRO) Does not perform well later on, Letting the A.I Go unchecked isn't the best move.

People complain that Xenon steamroll if the player doesn't help but Xenon are the only thing keeping late game from being a nightmare, Xenon are basically the Galactic Ram Preservers that keep the universe running.

Very good points, thanks. Especially about xenon doing population control. Forgot to mention , I have no mods installed or scripts, just all DLCs.

[Wolfsblut]

hello there, i just had that issue in the past..

after reinstalling windows 10 it fixed that for me. issue came with nvidia driver after some days of playing.

you might try DDU and another one which you hopefully still have around. or might get newer who also might fix it.

idk what can cause that issue... its rather odd suddenly appearing for no reason and hard to get it lost. (as for me only got rid of it as said by clean windows 10 installment)

[Bozz 💀]

It's always funny to see people whith those specs have bad performances, I mean unless you have 20.000 ships and a few thousand stations something definitely is wrong with your computer and not the game.

I don't claim the performance is great in the game but I have played on 4 different Setups over the last 5 years and I don't remember ever having to restart a game because of lags or bad performances.

Now I have a pretty comfortable setup, all the best stuff you can get and even with my current moded game (over 78 mods lastly) with mods adding thousands of ships to every faction and mods adding like 200 new sectors clamed by factions etc...

I still get good performance even in my 900h long games

Sometimes it's your apple that is rottent my friend.
It's easy to jump on the game.

[Cw 4life|COBR@]

Originally posted by Wolfsblut:

hello there, i just had that issue in the past..

after reinstalling windows 10 it fixed that for me. issue came with nvidia driver after some days of playing.

you might try DDU and another one which you hopefully still have around. or might get newer who also might fix it.

idk what can cause that issue... its rather odd suddenly appearing for no reason and hard to get it lost. (as for me only got rid of it as said by clean windows 10 installment)

Thats good to hear!

I have deleted old save file , cloud save including configs. Basically the whole Egosoft folder in documents. Started new game (young gun ), so far so good. before i used to start with custom start , maybe something got messed up in config files. Will see once i have 5-6 in game days.

Originally posted by Bozz 💀:

It's always funny to see people whith those specs have bad performances, I mean unless you have 20.000 ships and a few thousand stations something definitely is wrong with your computer and not the game.

I don't claim the performance is great in the game but I have played on 4 different Setups over the last 5 years and I don't remember ever having to restart a game because of lags or bad performances.

Now I have a pretty comfortable setup, all the best stuff you can get and even with my current moded game (over 78 mods lastly) with mods adding thousands of ships to every faction and mods adding like 200 new sectors clamed by factions etc...

I still get good performance even in my 900h long games

Sometimes it's your apple that is rottent my friend.
It's easy to jump on the game.

That's good that you do not have any problems. There is nothing wrong with computer hardware/software wise. I run complex scenarios in Arma 3 and fly MSFS2020 in VR on ultra settings, computer works perfectly.

[Bozz 💀]

Originally posted by Cw 4life|COBR@:

Originally posted by Wolfsblut:

hello there, i just had that issue in the past..

after reinstalling windows 10 it fixed that for me. issue came with nvidia driver after some days of playing.

you might try DDU and another one which you hopefully still have around. or might get newer who also might fix it.

idk what can cause that issue... its rather odd suddenly appearing for no reason and hard to get it lost. (as for me only got rid of it as said by clean windows 10 installment)

Thats good to hear!

I have deleted old save file , cloud save including configs. Basically the whole Egosoft folder in documents. Started new game (young gun ), so far so good. before i used to start with custom start , maybe something got messed up in config files. Will see once i have 5-6 in game days.

Originally posted by Bozz 💀:

It's always funny to see people whith those specs have bad performances, I mean unless you have 20.000 ships and a few thousand stations something definitely is wrong with your computer and not the game.

I don't claim the performance is great in the game but I have played on 4 different Setups over the last 5 years and I don't remember ever having to restart a game because of lags or bad performances.

Now I have a pretty comfortable setup, all the best stuff you can get and even with my current moded game (over 78 mods lastly) with mods adding thousands of ships to every faction and mods adding like 200 new sectors clamed by factions etc...

I still get good performance even in my 900h long games

Sometimes it's your apple that is rottent my friend.
It's easy to jump on the game.

That's good that you do not have any problems. There is nothing wrong with computer hardware/software wise. I run complex scenarios in Arma 3 and fly MSFS2020 in VR on ultra settings, computer works perfectly.

That's part of the probleme, I mean you can't say I run this game and it's perfectly fine so my computer is good to go.

My last computer was crashing only when I was playing Transport fever on very big maps, I never figured out why so I stoped playing the game, after a while I started having crash in another game so I went to do a diagnostic of the whole thing and it appears one of my RAM barres was not working properly, replaced it and now I can play Transport fever with no crashes.

It's unfortunate but PC gaming can sometimes be very ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up, It's not normal to have lags with your setup, so you should definitely try to run some kind of diagnostic.

Unles of course you have way to many ships, then even NASA would have problemes.

[Epathos]

this game can be played with out many of the settings on and still look good.

any thing that relates to shadows and "My" perfer AA is MSAA... to many game use the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ new taa and its horrible.

of course its gonna guzzle memory and cpu like my truck gets 5miles a gallon.

but realistically any thing higher then 60+ fps is just a waste. ive topped leader boards agaisnt players that have them "ultra" rigs. and im still using a 2070 rtx super.

i'd play with your shadow setting's, make sure v-sync is off if you have a gaming monitor.
cap your fps 4 frames below your monitor refresh rate. trust me :)

[Tiberius]

Turn off shadows, reflection, and fog

[builder680]

Get dynamic wars mod and set everyone to war. Cuts down on ships. Although you might leave the Terrans at peace unless you want them to conquer everyone.

[Witch ~]

Originally posted by builder680:

Get dynamic wars mod and set everyone to war. Cuts down on ships. Although you might leave the Terrans at peace unless you want them to conquer everyone.

its funny how OP the Terrans are.