Tips for better optimization?

[IvanGogh]

What are the tricks and tweaks that can be done in order to achieve a smoother game? You guys can skip the "lower your graphic settings" option. Thanks in advance.

[bbc6rgf 57 ytty5 y xy w5gt]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von ZaidusRecon:

Ah ha: The Wayback Machine is a helpful resource with regard to the death of GPG.net.
Core Maximizer is here (though it's actual usefulness continues to seem unfavourable)
https://web.archive.org/web/20141220124732/http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=15556

Tydo, you ninja'd me ;)

If it was actually useful much more people would be using it.

[OceanGazer]

Well guys... Some useless info for you.
SC FA is a 32 bit program. So it can only use 4 GB of ram to begin win (This leads to lag on ANY system if too many entities are in play). Newer games all take advantage of the 64 bit architecture. sadly, this game engine was a few years too early.
Secondlyyyyy. It runs on a single thread. Most games nowadays can use at least 2 threads, usually more. (that's why most game suggest a quad core CPU. It may only use 1/2 cores... But it doesn't have to share those cores with the operating system or other background programs.)
So what does this mean for performance? Simple.
1. Having a system that has at least 6 GB of ram will be ideal. (4 (technically 3.5GB for 32 bit...) for the game, and the 2 or so that windows 10 wants. This way SC can have it's full allotment, and not lose any to the operating system.
2. Having a CPU that favors fewer, but more powerful cores. I could write a seven page essay on this subject. But long story short.... Intel CPU's are going to be superior to AMD due to their fewer, but more powerful cores. Do anything you can to boost that clockrate. (overclocking, turbo boosting) and finally. for laptops... Invest in some sort of external cooling solution. If your laptop gets too hot, your cpu will drop in clock rate. I guarentee that SC will cause it to throttle down. A simple cooling mat will help performance enourmously. Also. Ensure that the fans, heat sinks, and vents are all cleaned out. On the laptop front, cooling is everything.

Hope this was informative! Cheers!

[Tydo]

You really work hard to live up to your name, don't you. Or are you just so messed up that it comes naturally.

[OceanGazer]

^^ ????

[Ceejay]

Yep the core maximizer did very little, infact windows 7 onwards, pretty much does what core maxmimizer did, it shifts backgroud programs onto other cores, freeing up the core the game is trying to use. xp was terrible at moving tasks about, 7,8,10 are quite good natively at it. It never actually made the game use more than one core.

Depending on your i3 it could be dual core anyway, so even if core maxmizer worked even better than intended you may not have any spare cores anyway.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Window Licker:

long story short.... Intel CPU's are going to be superior to AMD due to their fewer, but more powerful cores.

Just to say I hate this being raised all the time, as its not quite true, like for like yes intels are far more efficient (and the gap widens as the generations get newer, at least till ryzen came out), but not all intels are faster than all amd's, people just assume oh you have an amd its crap at single core, no, its just not as fast as the equivelent intel.

Just becuase someone has an intel, does not automatically mean its going to outperform an amd. An AMD, will still outperform quite a few intels that are lower clocked. For instance an 8350 core is running at 4.2ghz, so while not as efficient as the equivelent intel, its still a 4.2ghz core which will gernerally outperofrm any intel less than 3ghz, through granted anything above will kill it, and yes there are a lot, but there is also alot of intels that are slower.

So its not quite b/w, you need to take all cases different, but otherwise yes your right having a CPU that favors fewer, but more powerful cores is better for this game, regardless if its AMD or Intel.

(I know you were cutting a long story short, so I am sure you already know all that, but I just though I should point it out for others, as this get thrown around a lot and it grates after awhile).

[OceanGazer]

Fact still remains that Intel is going to be the better CPU for SC ;)

[OceanGazer]

Wanna hijack this thread and do an AMD vs Intel debate?

[cszolee79]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Ceejay:

...

TL;DR
In short: single core IPC is what makes this game roll. And currently - if I'm not mistaken - i7-7700K has the highest single core IPC. Or any i7, really. AMD is meh, even the new Ryzens in this regard.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Window Licker:

Well guys... Some useless info for you.
SC FA is a 32 bit program. So it can only use 4 GB of ram to begin win

32bit (desktop) Win can use 4GB RAM. 32-bit application can address 2GB of memory. Even on 64-bit systems unless application is Large Address Aware. Might be worth a try to modify the game exe to be LAA to see if it can use more.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/639540/how-much-memory-can-a-32-bit-process-access-on-a-64-bit-operating-system

[deltaagent26]

@cszolee79

making a 32bit program LAA... will still only allow it to use up to 3.1 GB of ram.
and that usage of 3.1GB of ram includes ALL BACKGROUND processes.
so you have to take into account the OS, security software, steam itself, and
every other running process that is using ANY amount of memory.

This was a big problem with SKYRIM.
Even making it LAA, it still crashed when the game reached the 3.1 GB memory cap.
Which was very easy to do if:

1.) you had a lot of texture entensive, or fidelity entensive mods that used hi-res textures
2.) you spawned large amounts of NPCs.
3.) Even with LAA, you still had to change how the game allocated memory...
there was a bug in the coding of the game that did not allocate the first block of memory properly, or that made it too small, rather. which is where the need for SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender) came from.

[Ceejay]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von cszolee79:

TL;DR
In short: single core IPC is what makes this game roll. And currently - if I'm not mistaken - i7-7700K has the highest single core IPC. Or any i7, really. AMD is meh, even the new Ryzens in this regard.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Window Licker:

Fact still remains that Intel is going to be the better CPU for SC ;)

At a risk of being trolled. No its not fact, that is my point, it all depends on the model and generation of the cpu's you are comparing. If your comparing top of the range or the higher clockspeeds then yes intels are faster, but just saying intel is faster is not accurate, if someone has an older intel or a low clocked intel an amd could well be much faster at running this game. Its all about what model and generation Amd and Intel your comparing. not just the brand. (granted up until ryzen the gap was getting much much wider in favour of Intel)

All I am saying is just because someone has an intel, does not make it automatically faster than an AMD. Again like for like intels are indeed faster, but not every one who has an intel is running a top of the range or the latest generation ones.

[rob.devilee]

Is this topic for Skirmish games of for online games?
If it's for Skirmish, you can try my mod that should fix a few bugs in the AI that slow the game down.

[Mr Noseybonk]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von rob.devilee:

Is this topic for Skirmish games of for online games?
If it's for Skirmish, you can try my mod that should fix a few bugs in the AI that slow the game down.

Have you a link Rob?

Wait.... found it, http://www.moddb.com/mods/ai-base-monitor-fix