Frame Rate Lag with DOW2

[intensivekerr]

Hi,

I am getting frame rate lag with my setup in DOW2: Chaos Rising.

Using FRAPS I get a framerate of 40 FPS... 2 minutes into the game this slows to 2-3 FPS. It does occasionally recover for a few minutes, only to commence again.

This also occurs during the character screens and mission selection before I get into the full game map.

All I can notice is that the pagefile.sys on my system is very busy.

I have checked my power settings, tried to force vsync, tried to force SLI mode, none of which work.

This is a newly installed Windows 7 system.

Operating System: Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: Rampage Formula
BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/05/08 20:41:59 Ver: 08.00.12
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9450 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 1380MB used, 4759MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

[Pulse.r]

Can you try an older video card driver release and post if that makes any difference? Maybe something from early 2010?

[intensivekerr]

Hi Pulse,

I tried with 197.45, still having the same issue.

Thanks,
Dave.

[Pulse.r]

What about http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_wi...7.13_whql.html ? Do you have any anti-virus software installed? If so, does temporarily disabling it make any difference?

[Quozzo]

i'm just throwing this out there but do you have 2 graphics cards?

There is a 2GB cap in most programs unless they have a "2GB+ aware" flag set in the program - some games have this already (Sup com: forged alliance, for example) but many others do not, and therefore cant use more than 2GB regardless of how much address space is available - if they try to, they crash (usually mid game)

Under a 32 bit OS, you have 4GB total (OS) and 2GB per application.

Under a 64 bit application, 32 bit apps are still capped at 2GB - but if its large address aware (the 2GB+ flag i mention above) then it can use upto 4GB of ram/address space per program.

Under a 32 bit operating system (XP, vista 32) you have 4GB of address space available. Address space is different to the amount of memory in your PC.

The reason a 32 bit system can only use 3GB (or 3.25GB, or whatever number you get) of system ram is because it doesnt have enough address space left. Video cards are the most important part of a PC that uses address space.

If you had 4GB of system ram and a 1GB video card under a 32 bit operating system, each individual program could only use 3GB of that system ram (due to the video card using 1GB of address space) However there is something else most people are NOT aware of.
Under DirectX 9.0C (and lower) video card ram must be duplicated into system ram. That means if you're running on the highest settings with your new shiny 1GB video card - that 1GB of video memory must be duplicated leaving you with only 2GB left for your game.

You just went from 4GB to 2GB, only considering a single 1GB video card. Things only get worse in SLI and crossfire.

Under 64 bit you wouldnt have lost that initial 1GB of ram to the address space, so you'd have 3GB of usable ram, with 1GB used in DX9.0C games. All of a sudden those modern games which border on 1.5-2GB of ram usage are playable, without your system running like a dog.

Side note: It should be noted that DX10/10.1 does not duplicate video memory into system ram. DX10 actually helps to alleviate this issue, if your system is powerful enough to run games in DX10.

Side note 2: There is more than just video card ram that affects this. System page file uses address space, as do various parts related to the BIOS (RAID cards, sound cards with onboard ram, etc) - this is why with a 512MB video card your 32 bit OS may report 3.25GB of ram - 256MB was taken away for everything else

32 bit
4GB system ram
1GB video card
3GB system ram usable, 2GB left in games once video card ram is duplicated.
So that this makes sense: if your game used 512MB of video ram, you'd only have 1.5GB of system ram for the game.
If its a modern game like modern warfare 2, that game can use 900MB of video ram - hence why the game crashes on many 32 bit systems when there isnt enough ram for game and video ram.


2GB system ram
1GB video card
1GB system ram usable, The last 1GB would fight with the video card ram here. If you dont lower texture settings, resolution, and AA you'll get pretty nasty stuttering as you run out of ram.

4GB system ram
2x1GB video cards (SLI/crossfire)
2GB system ram usable, 2GB left in games once video card ram is duplicated.
(SLI and crossfire only use one video cards ram. Because ram isnt additive in SLI/Xfire, only one cards ram is duplicated)

64 bit
4GB system ram
1GB video card
4GB system ram usable, 3GB left in games once video card ram is duplicated.

2GB system ram
1GB video card
1GB system ram usable, The last 1GB would fight with the video card ram. This kind of PC is the one where people claim vista x64 has no real advantage, or slower due to 64 bit using slightly more ram than 32 bit in windows itself.

4GB system ram
2x1GB video cards (SLI/crossfire)
4GB system ram usable, 3GB left in games once video card ram is duplicated.
(SLI and crossfire only use one video cards ram. Because ram isnt additive in SLI/Xfire, only one cards ram is duplicated)
[/spoiler]
3GB system ram usable, 2GB left in games once video card ram is duplicated.

32 bit applications can only have 2GB total for the entire application, regardless of the amount of available ram and system-wide address space. so even if you have 4GB of ram and 3.5GB showing as available, if you've got a 1GB video card in a 32 bit OS you're in for a world of hurt on high settings on modern games.

source: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=91260 (with even more cited sources!)

[shiwen]

I am also having issues similar to op. except I get massive stuttering and lag immediately after it finishes loading and press any key appears on the screen. at this point hard drive activity goes crazy, and i can hear the hard drive being accessed constantly during play or benchmark, until i quit out to mission select or main menu. This happens even with all settings set to low.

I recently changed graphics card from 4850 to gtx 460, and haven't played in a while since before 2.3.1 update, so i don't know where the issue lies whether it be hardware, driver, or game update. I had no issues running DOW 2 on 4850 and 2 gigs of ram. I have no issues like this with any of my other games.

os - Windows 7 32 bit
cpu - amd 965
memory - 2 gb ram
graphics card - gtx 460 768mb

[Pulse.r]

2048 MB Physical Memory, 925 Mb Physical Available

You might want to close some other programs.

Do you have any 3rd party applications running, such as FRAPS, XFire, Asus SmartDoctor, EVGA Precision, etc?

[shiwen]

not a memory problem. Uses less than 480mb at max settings. Like i said, no problems when I was running it on the 4850 with a bunch of programs running in the backround. It seems to be a problem with the pagefile like the op said, but not sure what's causing it. Unfortunately only the newest driver from nvidia officially support the 460, no betas or older drivers to test it with.

[Mac_Bug]

what happens when you turn texture detail to the lowest?

[shiwen]

the exact same thing.

[Pulse.r]

Can you answer my question about the 3rd party programs I listed?

[G-man]

Can you answer my question about the 3rd party programs I listed?

hi, i'm having the same issue.. 3rd party doesn't seem to be the matter.. it's just the screen resolution... i can't set it to 800x600.. it stays arround 1200x"7xx" or something like that... any tips? thx in advance...