Really slow?

[kirsch 0]

Hello, I'm having severe problems with the performance: * When I zoom in, it takes an awful lot of time * When I scroll, houses are removed * The mouse lags when my city is kinda big, ~70 000 pop * Zoning lags, everything lags. And this is on a pretty decent computer: gfx: ATI X1600 256 MB Mobile cpu: Intel Core Duo 2 GHz ram: 1 GB And I'm running far below maximum settings... what might cause this? It's unplayable... Help!

[Constantina 5]

Hi,

I would check if background programs are running. Some of them take a lot of memory even if their windows don't show up. If you're XP, press CTRL+Alt+Delete for Task manager and go to the processes tab.

Do not end the folowing processes:

explorer.exe

Processes labelled 'SYSTEM', Network and local service.

[Spinmaster 75]

cpu: Intel Core Duoquote>

From what I've read so far, that's a suspect. There are a few other threads devoted to these multi-core/hyperthreading cpu's and how much Sim City seems to hate them (they weren't even sketches on pizza boxes back when the game was developed).

Do also check those background processes though as Constantina advises, SimCity is a memory-hog, especially when you add in a heap of wonderful plugins from the STEX and other sites. And also make sure your video drivers are up-to-date. Someone else would've chimed in with that eventually, but rightfully so, it's always sound advice. If not for your dual-core cpu, that would've been my first suspect.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Running on a laptop is always chancy with a program that take CPU's to 100% as SC does.  You could be slowing down due to CPU overheat.  This is a feature of Pentiums.  AMD processors will run until they melt.

Dual core can cause a problem.  Set the affinity for SC4 to run on only 1 CPU.  This is a legacy game and may fall over its own feed in a multiprocessor environment.

If you are running XP, force your swap file (virtual memory) to 4096MB initial and maximum.  Do not let the O/S manage this space, they do a lousy job.

Your graphics card is irrelevant.  Just make sure that all advanced options are set to application selected..  If you are having graphics trouble, you can test that by changing the game graphics to Software Rendering.  This cuts the graphics card features out altogether.

Don't get excited about other processes running in the background.  The second CPU will handle them, and with 4GB of swap space, they shouldn't be a problem.  However, if you are running Norton AV or Zone Alarm, you might want to disconnect from the net and shut these down.

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: kirsch Hello, I'm having severe problems with the performance: * When I zoom in, it takes an awful lot of time * When I scroll, houses are removed * The mouse lags when my city is kinda big, ~70 000 pop * Zoning lags, everything lags. And this is on a pretty decent computer: gfx: ATI X1600 256 MB Mobile cpu: Intel Core Duo 2 GHz ram: 1 GB And I'm running far below maximum settings... what might cause this? It's unplayable... Help!quote>

 

I am guessing you updated the ATI drivers, some of the ones in the last year causes your symptoms.

Try using an older driver...

[i haven't tried the very latest driver, so I can't speak about it..

[kirsch 0]

I selected the software renderer and everything was MUCH faster, but I'm also only at the same performance level as my 6 years old Pentium 4. :/ I've been looking for drivers for the X1600 mobility, but I can't find any! Other games run perfect.. Battlefield 2 for example. I'm fairly sure it's the graphics card that is to get the blame, I don't run any anti-virus or firewalls (except for the one in XP). I've tried setting the affinity, that didn't do much for the performance.

[tungston 19]

Did you check the ATI site for the drivers, I found the Radeon old drivers link on the latest update page. It's a real trade off for the newer games, to use older drivers. I have more than one computer, so I can have one with older drivers. I had to use older drivers for the X800, and the X850, I haven't gone back to older drivers for the X1900 XT, so the game is unplayable with that computer.

[jabezscratch 159]

kirsch -- I'll bet you it's your relatively new ATI card. For some reason, these cards conflcit w/ SC4 in some way. I know -- I have one: 1900. I MUST play in software rendering mode. The game drags like crazy in hardware mode. Also, if it's w/in your budget, jump to 2GB of RAM. I just went from 2GB to 4GB just for SC4 and it helps. This game craves two things: CPU power and RAM (lots of it).

[kirsch 0]

Well I won't download older drivers just to play sc4, not worth it... And I'm getting my laptop replaced for free (with a Core 2 Duo 2.33 ghz, 2 GB RAM, hurrah!), we'll see if it'll run better.

[tungston 19]

If you don't want to use older drivers, like javezscratch mentioned, you probably will be stuck with software rendering.