City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Unplayably slow, any help?

CommPlex

By CommPlex,
Posted on: 2009-03-24 19:07 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs

 

Posted

My knowledge of computer specs isn't exactly expansive, but I have a:

Dell Inspiron 530
Processor: Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40Ghz
Memory: 1.99 GB
Storage: 288GB (209GB free)
Graphics/Sound card etc., are Inspiron 530 standard, not sure how to find out quite what that is.

My previous inferior PC ran C/O/H with few/no problems when I used to play a couple of years back, my current PC runs World of Warcraft without the slightest hitch and decent graphics. I've just rejoined C/O/H however and although it can run smoothly for a few minutes in certain areas, it can stop for ages and be unplayably slow, making the character unable to move or even turn.

I downloaded a RAM optimizer and ran that in the background, I've cleaned as much other stuff of my PC as I can (209/288 free as above), I've set the graphics in the game significantly lower than the default and I've tried re-installing twice, I've manually allowed everything C/O/H related in Norton, I'm out of ideas and I can't understand why it ran fine on a weaker PC, and this one can soar through WoW, yet this is such a problem.

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Thank you.

 

Posted

Hello and welcome back

can you give us a bit more detail, firstly...

What operating system are you currently using.

Secondly, It sounds like your using the bog standard ( integrated )graphics/audio?
If so ....methinks you may need to upgrade there, I suggest an Nvidia graphics card, doesn't have to be an expensive one either...I recommend any of the Geforce 8 series cards...there very cheap ( good budget cards ) and will run COH rather well. ( well enough to play on recommended graphics settings )

 

Posted

Hi CommPlex and welcome back to the game.

According to Dell, your Inspiron 530 contains either of the following graphics...

* Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
* 128MB ATI® RadeonTM HD 2400 Pro graphics card
* 256MB ATI® RadeonTM HD 2600 XT graphics card
* 256MB ATI® RadeonTM HD 3650 graphic card

If it's the 3100, this is an abysmal graphics chipset and is only any good for running Windows itself, and business programs. It's rubbish for gaming. My laptop has the same chipset, and whilst it does run CoH, it's slow and ugly as hell.

If it's either of the others, it should run CoH fine, though you should update your video drivers.

To find out which, click on the Start menu, go to Run, and type in DXDIAG. That will take you into the DXDiag program and that should identify your video card.

Everything else about the Dell seems fine though.

Oh, one more thing. RAM optimizers are a complete and utter lie, so don't bother to run one. They claim to be able to get back RAM, but not one of them is actually capable of doing any more than the RAM management already built in to Vista, and in fact, usually degrade performance as they try to deallocate RAM that the OS is actually USING.

Vista's memory model is totally different to earlier versions of Windows, and it's MEANT to be "using" as much as the available free RAM as it can... To speed the OS itself up! This "used" RAM is actually just having programs cashed into it, ready for use, and will be freed up instantly if any other actually running programs require it. Anyone who tells you any different is an idiot and should NOT be listened to, as they clearly don't have a clue.

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Posted

I'm using Vista 32-bit. I actually have an NVidia 8 series (or something quite close) in my old PC, that I bought specifically for WoW, but assumed this would have something equal or better built in.
The first on that list of four graphics cards does ring a bell. I don't seem to have a Run option in my Start Menu, I know what you mean but it's not there lol.

I will move my other GFX card into this PC and see what happens, thank you both very much for your help, is greatly appreciated!!

 

Posted

Just hold down the Windows key and press R to bring up the Run dialog.

And you're welcome! Helping others is what some of us do best.

@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

Posted

Okay, new problem lol.

I used to have an Advent and when I installed the GFX card on that it was easy, the motherboard was at the back and the GFX card and sound card were completely seperate entities near the front that could be swapped hassle-free.

Upon opening my Inspiron, it would appear that the GFX and sound cards are all part of the motherboard (that may sound stupid if you know better). Anyway, does anyone have a good experience of this that could offer me a how-to guide?

I've discovered "safe mode" on the CoHUpdater which is allowing me to play but with shocking graphics and an 800x600 resolution which I am no where close to happy with long-term.

Any detailed assistance would result in me being permanently endebted to the advisor!

Thanks again

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, new problem lol.

I used to have an Advent and when I installed the GFX card on that it was easy, the motherboard was at the back and the GFX card and sound card were completely seperate entities near the front that could be swapped hassle-free.

Upon opening my Inspiron, it would appear that the GFX and sound cards are all part of the motherboard (that may sound stupid if you know better). Anyway, does anyone have a good experience of this that could offer me a how-to guide?

I've discovered "safe mode" on the CoHUpdater which is allowing me to play but with shocking graphics and an 800x600 resolution which I am no where close to happy with long-term.

Any detailed assistance would result in me being permanently endebted to the advisor!

Thanks again

[/ QUOTE ]

Should be possible to buy a graphics card and disable the one on motherboard by altering the bios.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Okay, new problem lol.

I used to have an Advent and when I installed the GFX card on that it was easy, the motherboard was at the back and the GFX card and sound card were completely seperate entities near the front that could be swapped hassle-free.

Upon opening my Inspiron, it would appear that the GFX and sound cards are all part of the motherboard (that may sound stupid if you know better). Anyway, does anyone have a good experience of this that could offer me a how-to guide?

I've discovered "safe mode" on the CoHUpdater which is allowing me to play but with shocking graphics and an 800x600 resolution which I am no where close to happy with long-term.

Any detailed assistance would result in me being permanently endebted to the advisor!

Thanks again

[/ QUOTE ]

Should be possible to buy a graphics card and disable the one on motherboard by altering the bios.

[/ QUOTE ]

These days you don't even have to do that. If you install a new gfx card it will automatically take over. Get a cheap card that is ok with COX and run it on that.

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Posted

OK it sounds like the old Geforce 8 series card you have from the Advent was a plug and play....but your new PC doesn't support plug and play cards.

Nearly all graphics cards ( besides the plug and play format ) plug directly into the motherboard so it does look like you do need a new card.

As I said before find yourself a cheap non plug and play geforce 8 series card ( if you find a cheap 9 series even better).


Installing new cards onto the motherboard isn't a big deal really, you should get instructions with a new card anyway and if you don't...well there are lots of home made guides on the net.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
OK it sounds like the old Geforce 8 series card you have from the Advent was a plug and play....but your new PC doesn't support plug and play cards.

Nearly all graphics cards ( besides the plug and play format ) plug directly into the motherboard so it does look like you do need a new card.

[/ QUOTE ]

????

Virtually every Mainstream Graphics card you can buy since the "Windows 95" Era has been "Plug and Play"... "Plug and Play" is just a protocol used by the Windows Operating System to detect if a new piece of hardware has been attached. It's got nothing to do with Graphics rendering issues.

The problem is nothing to do with "plug and play". The problem's to do with a poor on-board (integrated into the motherboard) graphics chipset. Dell's bog-standard line of PCs are notoriously poor at Gaming. Great for MS Office, but shockingly bad whenever you ask them to do anything that requires 3d Acceleration.

Take the old card from the old PC and bung it into the new one. The Dell site lists available ports for that model as 2x PCI, 1x PCIe and 1x PCIe x16. So unless it's an AGP card in the older PC it should fit OK.

The graphics card being "at the front" rather than "at the back" suggests your old motherboard used an extra circuit board as a "bracket" to physically shift the graphics port around. This is fairly common in some of the more compact pre-built PCs, but if you give us a make/model number of the PC we can likely narrow it down for you. The card itself should likely be an industry-standard PCI-E or AGP card (depending on the age of the PC - if it's a NVidia 8 series it'll likely be PCI-E).

http://www.pchardware.co.uk/install-...card-guide.php

Once physically installed, you'll need to install a set of Vista-compatible drivers for it. Once that's done, it should pick up both the on-board video card and the plugged-in video card and use both concurrently. I'd just disable the on-board one via the Device Manager in Windows' Control Panel (to avoid any wierd conflicts - having two different graphics adaptors running at once can cause wierd rendering issues).

----------------------

As an aside, I strongly suspect that WoW is using Software Rendering if it's playable on that PC.

CoH doesn't use software rendering unless you specifically tell it to (I think Safe Mode might use it in addition to setting all the graphics/sound sliders at minimum levels, can't remember offhand).

What "Software Rendering" does is use your computer's CPU to do all the heavy graphics work rather than your computer's video card. The CPU on that Dell PC is pretty decent, but the Video Card (the one that's "on-board", integrated into the motherboard) is pants. Software Rendering is usually OK for low-to-moderate graphics settings in games, but it bogs down the CPU a lot which slows your game down. It's usually just used for compatibility purposes since it's normally far faster to let the video card do the work.

 

Posted

Bah...never mind me...i was going by information I gained from another source, which now makes no sense to me at all....my bad I apologise and sorry if I confused the issue.

 

Posted

Figured out the physical installation part but I'm thinking it is AGP as it won't fit into where it should, meaning I'm still going to have to buy a new card lol.

This game is determined to put up a fight!

All your help greatly appreciated, however, now off to spend more than I wanted to I guess

 

Posted

Yup that would work, it's a nice little card.

 

Posted

Am nearing a nervous breakdown.

Went and bought this: http://www.inno3d.com/products/graph...500gt_ddr2.htm

(Inno3D GeForce 9500 1GB HDCP DDR2 PCI-E)

Have done the physical installation and then when I run the installation disc it offers no installation for Vista 32-bit, even though it should be compatible with it and has installations for Vista 64, Vista 86 and XP/2000.

I got the driver pack from Guru3D for Vista 32 and when I run it, it claims I don't have Vista 32 and won't install when I know full well that I do.

Any advice before I throw CoH and the PC out the window, lol?

 

Posted

Now I downloaded the drivers from nVIDIA, and it say there aren't drivers compatible with my current hardware.

I'm at a loss, do I need to remove the drivers for the built in GFX card or something? But surely nVIDIA could see and overwrite them anyway?

 

Posted

NVIDIA drivers should install in theory... have you plugged the monitor into the new card, or is it still into the on-board socket? When you boot up you should get an "unknown video device" show up in control panel.

Try the "Vista 86" install. I imagine that's short for "8086", which will be the 32-bit version.

You shouldn't need to remove the drivers from the old card, but disabling it might be an idea if it's still not picking up the new one (right-click on the old video device in control panel and "disable" it). The new card should work before you install any drivers, albeit with very basic resolution/colours.

If it's still not picking up the new card, I'd try disabling the on-board video card within your BIOS (this is the "setup" screen you can choose to go into when you first turn on your PC). It could be that your on-board video card is using resources that your new card needs (The PCI Express slot that you've plugged the card into could "already be used" by the on-board video card).

Since the NVidia Utility is claiming it can't see any compatible hardware, I'd probably try disabling your on-board card within the BIOS first. It's easy to turn it back on again if it turns out not to be the culprit. Once that's done, plug your monitor cable into the new card, boot into windows and see what happens. The proper NVidia drivers (or at least your installation CD) should get it going.

 

Posted

While you're in the BIOS it might also be worth seeing if there's an option called something along the lines of "Primary Video". Older boards had the option of making the primary video card PCI or AGP, so you might have an option that says "PCI-E" or "Onboard"

If you disable the onboard card completely of course, this option might gray out anyway. Worth a look though.

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