G4 Running Slowly (Windows)
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| Author | Topic: G4 Running Slowly (Windows) |
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Councilor
Member # 6600
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written Sunday, February 11 2007 17:57
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After about five minutes of playing G4 (a rough estimate), the game slows to a crawl. I have tried everything in the forum header but still have this problem. I can get the game to run without problems by messing with the virtual memory settings but I have to mess with them again every time I want to play, which is incredibly annoying. I'm running Windows XP on a Dell INSPIRON 600M using a 1.6 GHz Pentium M. Anyone have any ideas on what's wrong and how to fix it? Dikiyoba also has problems with the A4 demo (and Dikiyoba isn't the only one), though G1, G2, and the Avernum Trilogy are working fine. Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 7887
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written Sunday, February 11 2007 18:05
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My first guess (and only, for that matter) would be a background process and GF4 not getting along too well. Close out any background processes you aren't using and then try running it. If that doesn't fix it, you're not missing out on much. Posts: 22 | Registered: Thursday, January 11 2007 08:00 |
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Dollop of Whipped Cream
Member # 391
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written Sunday, February 11 2007 21:07
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i never did fix this problem in A4, and I am also experiencing it in GF4. -------------------- "Tyranicus is about the only one that still posts in the Nethergate Forum." —Randomizer Spiderweb Chat Room Shadow Vale - My site, home of the Spiderweb Chat Database, BoA Scenario Database, & the A1 Quest List, among other things. Posts: 562 | Registered: Friday, December 14 2001 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 2759
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written Monday, February 12 2007 10:41
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I had that problem with Avernum 4, to begin with. Defragmenting my hard drive, and deleting all the crap, greatly improved matters. Geneforge 4 runs like a dream. -------------------- "I can't read this thread with that image. But then, that's not a complaint." -Scorpius Geneforge 4 stuff. Also, everything I know about Avernum | Avernum 2 | Avernum 3 | Avernum 4 Posts: 1104 | Registered: Monday, March 10 2003 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 1688
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written Monday, February 12 2007 12:57
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See if installing the latest revision of DirectX 9.0c helps. (Confusingly, there are 11 different versions, all called 9.0c. Well done Microsoft!) Posts: 60 | Registered: Wednesday, August 7 2002 07:00 |
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Dollop of Whipped Cream
Member # 391
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 09:04
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I have the latest DirectX version, and I'm not defragging because people with hard drives that are 500 GB or more can only defrag if they set aside a week in which to do so. :P [ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 09:06: Message edited by: Tyranicus. ] -------------------- "Tyranicus is about the only one that still posts in the Nethergate Forum." —Randomizer Spiderweb Chat Room Shadow Vale - My site, home of the Spiderweb Chat Database, BoA Scenario Database, & the A1 Quest List, among other things. Posts: 562 | Registered: Friday, December 14 2001 08:00 |
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Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 10:07
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quote:What do you mean by "messing with virtual memory settings"? If memory is the issue, closing all other programs is the best solution. (Yes, that includes your web browser and MP3 player. :P ) If that is not enough, use Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services (or the equivalent for your version of Windows) to shut down everything you don't need. (I wouldn't recommend shutting down anti-virus while your computer is connected to the Internet, but many other servicies can be shut down safely. Defragmenting hard drive is also helpful if you are using virtual memory, but it's better to not need virtual memory in the first place. [ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 10:08: Message edited by: Zeviz ] -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 7472
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 10:42
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Unfortunately, most of us don't have enough memory to bypass VM altogether. Actually, with the way games are designed nowadays, I don't even think that's possible. -------------------- I tried to think of something witty to put here. Needless to say, I failed. Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00 |
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Dollop of Whipped Cream
Member # 391
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 12:50
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You can turn virtual memory off, but it causes a major slowdown on most modern computers. Starting with Windows 2000, virtual memory page files have become standard. -------------------- "Tyranicus is about the only one that still posts in the Nethergate Forum." —Randomizer Spiderweb Chat Room Shadow Vale - My site, home of the Spiderweb Chat Database, BoA Scenario Database, & the A1 Quest List, among other things. Posts: 562 | Registered: Friday, December 14 2001 08:00 |
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Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 13:07
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I know that VM shouldn't be turned off. What I meant to say is that since accessing hard drive is orders of magnitude slower than accessing RAM, you should try to get as much free RAM as possible for the memory-hogging games. -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 7331
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 14:58
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Maybe a new graphics card is in order? [ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 14:58: Message edited by: Sarasaphilia ] -------------------- You Shall Die Laughing: http://www.worfthecat.ermarian.net/converted The Roost: www.roost01.proboards104.com. Birds of a feather flock together. Posts: 794 | Registered: Thursday, July 27 2006 07:00 |
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Councilor
Member # 6600
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 17:11
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I already had the latest version of DirectX, I close out of all the other programs before I play, and defragging the hard drive didn't help, unfortunately. Originally by Zeviz: quote:Making the initial VM size smaller. Dikiyoba. Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00 |
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Dollop of Whipped Cream
Member # 391
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written Tuesday, February 13 2007 18:48
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quote:I highly doubt it. I've got a GeForce 6800LE that handles powerful 3D games, which Geneforge 4 is not. :P -------------------- "Tyranicus is about the only one that still posts in the Nethergate Forum." —Randomizer Spiderweb Chat Room Shadow Vale - My site, home of the Spiderweb Chat Database, BoA Scenario Database, & the A1 Quest List, among other things. Posts: 562 | Registered: Friday, December 14 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 7331
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written Wednesday, February 14 2007 11:36
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If you were on a Mac, you could go to the Activity Monitor utility and shut down all un-nessessary processes, hidden or not. But I doubt you are. If Windows has the equivalent of Activity Monitor, I would check that out. -------------------- You Shall Die Laughing: http://www.worfthecat.ermarian.net/converted The Roost: www.roost01.proboards104.com. Birds of a feather flock together. Posts: 794 | Registered: Thursday, July 27 2006 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 7472
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written Wednesday, February 14 2007 11:51
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Of course! Task Manager! You can use task manager to end unnecessary processes, or, if GF4 is running at the moment, set it's CPU priority to High! -------------------- I tried to think of something witty to put here. Needless to say, I failed. Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00 |
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Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
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written Wednesday, February 14 2007 14:55
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quote:It's better to shut down processes (as opposed to applications that appear in the first tab of Task Manager) by following the steps I've described in my earlier post, to decrease the chances of stopping a process you shouldn't mess with. quote:That doesn't sound right. I'd assume that increasing amount of swap space improved performance, but if it has to be decreased to work better, there might be a bug in the game. (Civ4 originally had a bug in graphics code that caused the game to run worse on machines with more RAM, so this might be something similar.) -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 7472
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written Wednesday, February 14 2007 21:47
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quote:Actually, this is completely feasible. Virtual Memory is created by using the Hard Disk as RAM. The problem is, Hard Drives are nowhere near as fast as RAM, which means that it takes longer to load something into or out of Virtual Memory. And if you have a larger Page file (or in my case, three page files varying sizes), it further aggravates the problem. Actually, I may have a bit of an advantage with having three page files (there is a page file for each drive; I couldn't support one larger page file on a single drive). One page file is one drive C:, an unpartitioned disk. The other two are on Drives E: and F:, which are two separate partitions on the same disk. Because of that fact, my computer can probably access VM faster because it has two disks working on it instead of one. I'm not exactly sure about that, though. -------------------- I tried to think of something witty to put here. Needless to say, I failed. Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 7331
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 10:31
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With Mac, you can shut down any process you like, it'll only restart the computer if you did something wrong. -------------------- You Shall Die Laughing: http://www.worfthecat.ermarian.net/converted The Roost: www.roost01.proboards104.com. Birds of a feather flock together. Posts: 794 | Registered: Thursday, July 27 2006 07:00 |
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Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 11:38
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quote:In case you didn't know, Virtual Memory is used only when computer runs out of physical RAM. So having more virtual memory shouldn't cause any slowdowns, unless there is a bug in the program that causes it to eat up as much memory as it can, using up all physical RAM and filling Virtual Memory to the limits. -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 14:25
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I run Windows 2000, and have had no performance issues at all with G4. I surprised that this slowdown did not appear during beta testing, as it seems to be specific to the most common operating system. So, did any of the beta-testers see this? A bunch of folks as smart as this ought to be able to eliminate quite a few possibilities and figure it out rather easily. I heartily recommend being very wary of ZoneAlarm and memory intensive applications. On more than one occasion it has blown up while I've been editting graphics in Adobe PS. Standard caveat applies, regarding connectivity and such. -------------------- quote: Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Board Administrator
Member # 1
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 15:07
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All I can say about this problem is that it is rare, and none of the beta testers had it. I'm also not getting complaints about it by E-mail. Because it seems to afflict only a small portion of machines, I kind of doubt it's my fault. I strongly recommend doing all the regular things. Uninstall-reinstall. Defragment. Shut down other processes. Reinstall drivers and directx. And if anyone can track down the piece of software that is interfering with my games, I would hugely appreciate it if you'd let me know. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Board Administrator
Member # 1
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 15:07
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All I can say about this problem is that it is rare, and none of the beta testers had it. I'm also not getting complaints about it by E-mail. Because it seems to afflict only a small portion of machines, I kind of doubt it's my fault. I strongly recommend doing all the regular things. Uninstall-reinstall. Defragment. Shut down other processes. Reinstall drivers and directx. And if anyone can track down the piece of software that is interfering with my games, I would hugely appreciate it if you'd let me know. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 7331
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 15:12
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I shall track down all and any programs that interfere with your games, O Fearless Leader! Or perish in the attempt! But I'm fairly sure since you say this problem is limited to several machines, it is going to be a hidden process, not a piece of software. Easily traced by either Activity Monitor or Task Manager. -------------------- You Shall Die Laughing: http://www.worfthecat.ermarian.net/converted The Roost: www.roost01.proboards104.com. Birds of a feather flock together. Posts: 794 | Registered: Thursday, July 27 2006 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 7472
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 15:32
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quote:False. Virtual Memory is used well before you run out of RAM. In fact, most programs will use Virtual Memory alongside RAM so the actual RAM doesn't get burned through with a single application. quote:Virtual Memory essentially consists of one large file being used as a storage program. The slowdown with more Virtual Memory comes in because: A) The computer has to sift through a larger pagefile to locate the data it's trying to find. B) The computer has to rewrite the pagefile when it deposits new data or gets rid of old or unneeded data. Fortunately, you can usually set the pagefile so that it starts out small, but will expand as needed. Sort of like a sponge. quote:Windows is pretty much the same way, only there are certain processes it won't even let you touch. EDIT: Pared down on the quote pyramid. [ Thursday, February 15, 2007 15:38: Message edited by: Nioca ] -------------------- I tried to think of something witty to put here. Needless to say, I failed. Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00 |
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Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
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written Thursday, February 15 2007 19:21
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Summary for people not interested in university-level computer design discussion: Nioca is wrong. Under normal conditions, it's better to have a single large swap file than to let a small one grow. quote:You are right that I was oversimplifying. My point is that I haven't heard of any OS that sends more memory pages to disk just because a larger swap file is there. quote:It seems you have no idea about how Virtual Memory is implemented. When application tries to access a page of data, the computer checks the page table to see where (in main memory, or on disk) the page is currently located. The page table itself is stored in main memory, so the lookup time is negligible. (Accessing main memory is about 1000 times faster than accessing hard drive.) If the requested page is on disk, the corresponding block will be read into main memory. This is the time consuming part and it takes the same amount of time regardless of the size of your page file, because only the required chunk of data is read. quote:This is also completely wrong. Read the above paragraph for an explanation of the page table. When new data needs to be written, only required blocks are overwritten. When the data is no longer needed, no disk writes are performed at all. The space is simply marked as free in the page table (stored in main memory), so new data can be written into it if necessary. quote:This is a very bad idea, because it will cause fragmentation of swap file. (Fragmentation means that parts of the file are stored on different parts of the disk.) Fragmentation is bad because the time it takes for reading heads to find the right track (seek time) and time it takes for disk to rotate to the right position on the track (rotational delay) is much longer than the time required to retrieve the data itself. If your file is a continuous chunk of disk space, you will waste a lot less time positioning the heads than if you have to go to a different part of disk for every block. [ Thursday, February 15, 2007 19:25: Message edited by: Zeviz ] -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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