CoX uses ALL the cycles of the GPU

Yeah, I know I had a thread earlier that CoX was not employing the GPU at all. Blame my system monitor, I don't know why it said zero percent. Turns out the problem is that, after the 8/31 update, the program uses everything, 99% (which is as high as it gets) of the processing power of my video card.

The graphics are just not good enough to justify that. Age of Conan with everything maxed only uses 88%-90%

Fix the patch that broke the game, darnit!

Well yeah, within seconds of me starting up the game, I can hear my fan kicking it up a notch signifying that it's reaching 60+ Centigrade.

And that's on the character select screen.

Well whatever they broke, they better fix it fast. For some reason CoX now runs at a whopping 7 or 8 frames per second. Age of Conan is butter smooth, but CoX is unplayable. Something's wrong with this picture.

Instead of ranting a problem not everybody is having, how about actually taking some steps to troubleshoot the problem:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219502
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=231628

Let me make this clear: I am not getting the behavior you describe on either my Nvidia or my AMD graphics systems. This tells me that the problem is with your computer configuration, not the video game itself.

I'm not getting this behavior on my Intel/nVidia system either. It runs smoothly and doesn't force the fan on high.

So as je_saist said, this is a problem with your specific configuration, and it might well be the video card driver, or a program running in the background, etc.

I'm not getting this behavior either.

As a side note, AoC is a DirectX game. CoH is an OpenGL game. Comparing how the two games operate on your system is much like comparing Oranges and cuts of beef. Not even close to the same thing so comparisons are irrelevant.

like one of the stickies in this section says, post a CoHHelper and HijackThis report.

Nothing in this configuration has changed, nothing on the entire system has changed, and it was running CoX fine one day and then the next it dropped to 10 FPS or less, so I don't know what good this will do, but here we go.


---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at September 5, 2010 14:23 (-07:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: Aurora
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 6144MB
.Net Memory Report: 3287MB out of 6134MB available
Page File: 8966MB (3301MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A0 ATA Device) 725050MB out of 953866MB (76%) free
D Drive: (ST31000528AS ATA Device) 577700MB out of 953867MB (60%) free
E Drive: (ST3750330AS ATA Device) 279408MB out of 715402MB (39%) free
F Drive: (ST3400633AS ATA Device) 187025MB out of 381551MB (49%) free
G Drive: (PLDS DVD+-RW DH-24AAS ATA Device) zero-size drive
I Drive: (MBEVO YFWDINC9E7KL SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
J Drive: (MBEVO YFWDINC9E7KL SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 480
Video Memory: 4063 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.12.5932
Driver Date: 8/5/2010 4:27:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Creative SB X-Fi)
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1323
Driver Date: 7/29/2009 2:18:40 AM

Sound Device Description: SPDIF Out (Creative SB X-Fi)
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1323
Driver Date: 7/29/2009 2:18:40 AM

Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (HDMI) (2- High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 5:07:00 PM

Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (HDMI) (Creative SB X-Fi)
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1323
Driver Date: 7/29/2009 2:18:40 AM

Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (2- High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 5:07:00 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Alienware
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: 04VWF2
Motherboard Version: A01
BIOS Manufacturer: Alienware
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: ALWARE - 20100427
BIOS Release: 20100209000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1920x1148
3D Resolution: 1920x1148 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: Yes
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: Very High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 32x
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Ultra quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: High


World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 2.000
Entity Detail Level: 2.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (5)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: Ultra quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: Yes
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: High performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.151
Music Sound Volume: 0.099

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 82837 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1850.201007290124.24T2
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Enhancements has 38 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Pet_Command has 9 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 1244 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers\ALTERNATE-1 has 26 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers\ALTERNATE-2 has 10 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 32 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files



Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 2:25:32 PM, on 9/5/2010
Platform: Windows 7 (WinNT 6.00.3504)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16385)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienwareAlienFXController.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\acrotray.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienFusionController.exe
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienFXHook32Mngr.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trillian\trillian.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\HiJackThis\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O2 - BHO: ContributeBHO Class - {074C1DC5-9320-4A9A-947D-C042949C6216} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\/Adobe Contribute CS3/contributeieplugin.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: IE to GetRight Helper - {31FF080D-12A3-439A-A2EF-4BA95A3148E8} - C:\Program Files (x86)\GetRight\xx2gr.dll
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Conversion Toolbar Helper - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: SmartSelect - {F4971EE7-DAA0-4053-9964-665D8EE6A077} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe_ID0EYTHM] C:\PROGRA~2\COMMON~1\Adobe\ADOBEV~1\Server\bin\VER SIO~2.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Acrobat_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Acrobat Assistant 8.0] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Acrotray.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [CtxfiReg] CTXFIREG.exe /FAIL1 (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [CtxfiReg] CTXFIREG.exe /FAIL1 (User 'Default user')
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O8 - Extra context menu item: Append Link Target to Existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Append to Existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert Link Target to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECaptureSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download with GetRight - C:\Program Files (x86)\GetRight\GRdownload.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Open with GetRight Browser - C:\Program Files (x86)\GetRight\GRbrowse.htm
O16 - DPF: {F6ACF75C-C32C-447B-9BEF-46B766368D29} (Creative Software AutoUpdate Support Package) - http://ccfiles.creative.com/Web/soft...5112/CTPID.cab
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: acaptuser32.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe Version Cue CS3 - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Version Cue CS3\Server\bin\VersionCueCS3.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Alienware Fusion Service (AlienFusionService) - Alienware - C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienFusionService.exe
O23 - Service: ##Id_String1.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762# # (Bonjour Service) - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Audio Engine Licensing Service - Creative Labs - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Creative Labs Shared\Service\CTAELicensing.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Audio Service (CTAudSvcService) - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative\Shared Files\CTAudSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Dragon Age: Origins - Content Updater (DAUpdaterSvc) - BioWare - C:\Program Files (x86)\Dragon Age\bin_ship\DAUpdaterSvc.Service.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: ESET HTTP Server (EhttpSrv) - ESET - C:\Program Files\ESET\ESET NOD32 Antivirus\EHttpSrv.exe
O23 - Service: ESET Service (ekrn) - ESET - C:\Program Files\ESET\ESET NOD32 Antivirus\x86\ekrn.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: FLEXnet Licensing Service - Macrovision Europe Ltd. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
O23 - Service: GoToAssist - Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems, Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\GoToAssist\514\g2aservice.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Performance Service (nTuneService) - NVIDIA - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\nTune\nTuneService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: SiI31xx HBA Wakeup Utility (SiHbaWakeupService) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Silicon Image\SiI31xx HBA Wakeup Utility\SiHbaWakeupService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service (Stereo Service) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\3D Vision\nvSCPAPISvr.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Update Center Service (UpdateCenterService) - NVIDIA - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\System Update\UpdateCenterService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 10017 bytes

One thing I see immediately that has occasionally caused trouble is the Steam service. The overlay sometimes interferes.

Looking at your other services, there are an awful lot of "missing file" errors. And some that just plain don't need to be running all the time, but I don't see, offhand, any major issues.

I'd try checking out the latest version of the video drivers direct from nVidia.com rather than going through the Windows 7 updater or Alienware/Dell. Sound drivers seem a touch out of date, but sound shouldn't be causing graphics stalling.

I don't recognize ESET NOD offhand, but I have the feeling it's an anti-virus/anti malware program.

I also notice you're running nVidia's stereoscopic vision service. I've never seen that one before, so I don't know how it reacts with the game.

You have anti-aliasing at max; try turning it down a notch or two, you should see some instant performance improvements, and your video card, which is notorious for running hot, will probably cool some too.

One suggestion I'd have would be this:

Yeah, I know I can turn the graphics way down and get better performance. What gets me is that it was running fine with all those levels at maximum just a few days ago. I've not changed anything of my configuration.

Ah, you have a 480. Have you run any benchmarks on your card after the problems started cropping up? Perhaps your card's turned into a lemon?

Also, are you getting this type of GPU usage in Praetoria or elsewhere as well? In my opinion "ultra mode" is coded pretty poorly, especially involving Praetoria environments. Things lag there, plain and simple. My 5870 can't handle full 60fps there - and that's with, I think, 8x antialiasing. With your settings, I doubt even SLI 480's could get constant 60fps in that locale.

What's with the strange 1920x1148 resolution btw? Are you running in a window?

1980x1148 is definitely windowed mode.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with the op on this one, here's why:

Within the last week both my computer and my son's computer have begun experiencing video problems. He and I both have nVidia 8800GT's with the G92 GPU. He is running Vista 32bit and I am running Win7 64bit. His video card is an EVGA and mine is a Gigabyte. The "nvlddmkm.dll" issue was a problem for us like thousands of others but immediately after installing the Going Rogue expansion we both started experiencing a problem that we had never experienced before.

Within minutes of logging into the game the screen would become pixellated and then the computer would lock up. A reset of the system would bring you back to the Windows login screen but curiously the keyboard would be dead. Within a couple of minutes the keyboard would regain "consciousness" and all would appear to be good again. But logging back into COH/V would repeat the result.

I considered several possibilities:

1) A very recent Windows update might not be playing well with CoH/V - A good possibility since I had reformatted my computer just prior to updating to "Going Rogue" and did a clean OS install with all the latest updates. But when I checked my son's computer it had not been updated since September 2009. Thank goodness for antivirus programs.

2) The latest graphics driver's might not be playing well with CoH/V - I obviously had the latest Forceware driver's but my son's computer was several revisions behind.

3) The video cards might be failing - The odds of 2 different cards, from 2 different manufacturer's, at two different locations failing at the same time are pretty darned low but not out of the realm of possibility. But as the cards had no problems when idle, when surfing the net, or when playing WoW I knew the cards were not failing.

But it definitely pointed to "Going Rogue" as being the cause of the problem.

So I downloaded GPU-Z and monitored my system at idle and observed my GPU temp to hover right around 65 degrees celsius. Immediately after double clicking on the CoH icon and arriving at the login screen my GPU temp started to rise. The rise continued once I logged into the game despite the fact that I was doing nothing but standing beneath Atlas in Atlas Park with only two other heroes jumping around in front of me. When it reached 85 degrees celsius within a couple of minutes I decided to log out of the game and after doing so watched the temperature drop to the original idle temp of 65 degrees quite quickly. For the heck of it I conducted the same test in Warcraft and only saw a very slight increase in GPU temp (approx. 5 degrees)

I conducted the same test on my son's computer and noted the exact same results with the exception that the point of failure on his computer is apparently lower than my own as the screen pixellated and the computer froze at about 80 degrees celsius.

Clearly this was an issue of GPU overheating as a result of CoH. Since this did not occur prior to updating to the Going Rogue expansion I think it safe to presume that there is problem with the expansion.

To be fair my testing also indicated a problem with both video cards, specifically the bios' of the cards as GPU-Z showed that despite the rising GPU temperatures the fans on the cards were not automatically ramping up to deal with the rising temps. In fact both computers reported fan speed at a constant 30%. I did locate a third party bios update on the EVGA forums for this apparent "bug" with his video card and after flashing it repeated the test. I re-experienced the immediate rising temperatures as I had in the prior test but this time the fan on my son's card was responding to the GPU's rising temperature. I ran the test for an hour and monitored it the entire time. At no time did the system experience instability. GPU temp at the conclusion of the test was 90 degrees celsius with the fan operating at 90%.

Everyone should come away from this discussion knowing that even if you aren't experiencing a problem presently, your GPU is working quite a bit harder under this expansion than it had under the previous, and it might be a good idea to download GPU-Z and see for yourself how your graphics card is handling the load. Let's face it the majority of us just tend to turn on the computer, log in to our favorite game without even thinking about what might be going on under the hood. There is no bios update for my card so I'm using EVGA's precision tool to control the fan on my card. So far so good, I was able to play CoH for a bit today but have not had the time to put it through an adequate stress test. If anything further developes I will post it here. If you don't hear from me, consider no news to be good news!

Well for what it's worth (as I have a five year old system with a 7800 GS), I've always found that my GPU gets very hot whenever I play CoH (I prefer to not play when the GPU is idling much above 50c, as at that temp, it means that in most instanced maps it will go as high as 60c, and in certain maps as high as 65c). What I've done to help that problem is to:

* 1: Put a lot of fans in my case; there are 5; two exhausts in the rear, two intakes on the side and one intake on the front.

* 2: Throttle the max FPS of the game to 30.

It sounds as if your son's PC may have had one of the seriously bugged NVidia drivers that came out about a year ago.

They wouldn't allow the GPU fan to go above about 30% and on at least one version they actually reduced fan speed as temperatures rose! There were several cases of people who burned out their graphics cards because of this and it was reported on the forums of several games at the time.

GR increased the graphics requirements if you want to use ultra mode although this isn't particularly noticible outside Praetoria as those other zones still use the same maps as previously (a few tweaks but nothing major)
Praetoria however is designed with UM in mind and so graphics are a lot more GPU intensive.

Actually the graphics driver was only a few revisions behind, and when I installed the latest nvidia driver the same issue occurred.

This is actually a two-fold problem.

First, the bios' on the 8800GT's are garbage, and the driver's written for Nvidia boards aren't much better. GPU-Z reports 2 different temperature readings... one from the driver itself, and one from a sensor onboard the card. On both systems there is a 7-8 degree difference between the two at all times (driver always reports the higher value). Both cards had their fan set to 30% (I'm presuming at the bios level) and temperature variations resulted in no change to the fan speed. As I stated in my previous post an updated bios from a link on eVGA's forums provided my son's card with a fix that resolved his overheating issue. But their is no fix available for my Gigabyte card other than a third party utility.

Secondly, it is apparent that Going Rogue needs some tuning to reduce stress to the video subsystem. It turns out that that OP was quite correct when he stated that the game was eating all of his GPU cycles. In my testing GPU usage/load increased as graphic quality settings were increased, and the increase in GPU load translated into increased GPU temperatures. Eventually both load and heat would reach a stable level and all would be fine. To me this is predictable behavior; more graphical eye candy and textures place additional demands on the GPU. What doesn't make sense however is how the cards respond when adequate cooling is not present. Even when standing still, in a largely deserted and sparse city zone the GPU usage/load begins to climb again as GPU temperature increases, eventually peaking at approx. 95%.

All of my tests were conducted with the Advanced Graphics Setting disabled. I used only the 5 predefined graphics settings within the game.

The following are my results using eVGA's Precision Tool as a comparison monitor to GPU-Z. Keep in mind that these numbers will be affected by the zone you are in and the graphical elements that need to be rendered.


-Minimum Graphics Quality & Performance Quality Settings

GPU Temp: 65C
Fan Speed: 61%
GPU Usage: 25%

With no additional impact on the system, Performance Quality should be the lowest setting used in the game.


-Recommended Quality Setting

GPU Temp: 65C
Fan Speed: 61%
GPU Usage: 38-41%


-Quality Setting

GPU Temp: 70C
Fan Speed: 71%
GPU Usage: 38-42%

-Ultra Setting

GPU Temp: 80C
Fan Speed: 81%
GPU Usage: 60-64%


I have no idea at present whether this issue affects all Nvidia cards or just the 8800GT's. An interesting sidenote however is that I have yet to experience an "nvlddmkm.sys" error since adding the utility to control my video adapter's fan. City of Heroes btw was the only game that has ever caused me that issue.

One last thing, my GF has a VisionTek Radeon HD4850 in her system. She has never experienced any problems playing City of Heroes but I thought I would run the tests on her system just for comparison sake. Going Rogue is extremely taxing on her system as well, causing a large increase in GPU temperature and GPU load. While her board's fan does respond to the temperature increase it is an extremely sluggish response that leaves the card at risk in my opinion. The Radeon reached a GPU temp of 105C with a fan speed of only 60% before I got nervous and shut the game down. Despite the temperature, no system or game instability was encountered. That tells me that the Radeon is far more tolerant of high temperatures than the Nvidia models. I have since used the Catalyst Control Center to adjust her fan speed and all is well.

I use MSI Afterburner to change the Fan Speed : Gpu Temperature curve. http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

It may or may not support your girlfriend's card, but if it does it will be a simple matter to tone down those temperatures.

Oh, and my card, an ATI 5870, it runs at 82% usage... ON THE CHARACTER SCREEN... Yeah, way to go programmers! In game? 95%+ And it doesn't decrease if I alt+tab, it actually increases to 99%.

I'm tired of people defending this new graphics engine...

If you are having issues with your computer while playing the game, CHECK YOUR TEMPERATURES! Don't assume they're ok.

Thanks for the tip kinaki.

I've noted the same effect btw at the character screen. There is literally nothing going on with the game at that point to justify GPU utilization at those levels.

My GF, my son and I do play one other game on our computers as I mentioned in my previous post. GPU load is 25% at that character screen and didn't go above 45% in game. GPU temperature never went beyond 65 degrees celsius. Mind you I didn't go into a dungeon or on a raid. In that case I would expect utilization to go up. But I didn't do any task forces in CoH either to justify those utilization rates. I just stood there lol.