FPS capped at different game speeds

[iosappsrock 0]

I'll try to make this as concise as possible.

 

VERY frustrating problem: My FPS in Sim City is typically around 350FPS. However, that is only if I'm moving the camera around. As soon as I stop moving the camera, the FPS is capped depending on what speed the game is at. I don't remember the fancy names for the speeds but it's 30FPS paused or normal, 20FPS on the fast speed, and 15FPS on the fastest.

 

Now, this is NOT due to the game running out of memory. This is on an empty map, with nothing going on, and only when the camera is still. As soon as I move the camera, everything jumps back up to around 350FPS, which is the exact opposite of what would happen if the game were actually lagging.

 

I would like to find a potential fix for this. 30FPS is annoying, but bearable. 20 and 15 are not acceptable to me though. I have tried many command-line/launch options. I have reinstalled several times now. I have messed a lot with Hardware vs. Software rendering, and using my Nvidia card vs. my integrated graphics. All the same result - game runs fine, but is capped at a certain FPS only when the camera is still.

 

There must be some config to fix this?

 

I am running the Steam version of Sim city 4 Deluxe. Newest update.

All my drivers are up to date, as well as my OS (Windows 7 64x)

GPU: Geforce GTX 765m

CPU Intel i7-4700MQ

RAM - 8GB

 

Thanks in advance for any help. This has been a very frustrating problem, and it seems I'm not the only one. I'd like to find a definitive solution for this.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The faster you run the simulation the less resource (CPU) it has for the display.  I believe there is a throttle in the code.

[iosappsrock 0]

The faster you run the simulation the less resource (CPU) it has for the display.  I believe there is a throttle in the code.

Yes, that's what I'm interested in finding out. My guess is the limitation was put on to prevent older hardware from locking up, because it couldn't handle the faster simulation. My hardware, obviously can. Someone must know how to remove this cap. I'm sure it's in a file somewhere, I just cannot find it.

[iosappsrock 0]

Another thing I've noticed: When I move the camera around, the in game timer stops. Stuff keeps going on, sims move, etc., but the time/date ceases to move. That definitely can't be right, as that would break the balance of the game...

[Cool_Z 1,547]

the automata are not strictly following the game mechanics flow. They are just a representation of it.

[SimCoug 5,972]

Another thing I've noticed: When I move the camera around, the in game timer stops. Stuff keeps going on, sims move, etc., but the time/date ceases to move. That definitely can't be right, as that would break the balance of the game...

 

The time/date will pause for periods during gameplay to allow the simulator to 'catch up'.  You will start to notice this more as your city becomes larger. I can be especially noticeable when you run at high game speeds - it usually runs for a month or two and then his the breaks for a few seconds, and then continues on again.  This is just something you will have to get used to - remember this game is over 10 years old.  

[iosappsrock 0]

 

Another thing I've noticed: When I move the camera around, the in game timer stops. Stuff keeps going on, sims move, etc., but the time/date ceases to move. That definitely can't be right, as that would break the balance of the game...

 

The time/date will pause for periods during gameplay to allow the simulator to 'catch up'.  You will start to notice this more as your city becomes larger. I can be especially noticeable when you run at high game speeds - it usually runs for a month or two and then his the breaks for a few seconds, and then continues on again.  This is just something you will have to get used to - remember this game is over 10 years old.  

 

 

This would make sense, except that I am playing on an empty city. There is nothing there - just landscape. And it doesn't stop from "time to time". It stops the counter every time I move the camera. As soon as I stop though, the counter resumes, and my FPS plummets down to the hardlocked 30, 20 or 15.

 

It's just.. Weird. :|

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Every time you move the "camera" you invoke many redraws of the screen.  This is not a 3D game with an infinitely movable camera.  It is limited to 5 projected POVs and an extra magnifier that is not really rendered.  So, while the redraws are in process the visible timer will freeze if there are too many moves.  I don't scroll with the mouse much any more.  Mostly I move by clicking on the mini-display in the GUI.  This reduces things to a single redraw.  For a local shift you can right click in the main screen or move the mouse and hit the space bar.

[APSMS 1,892]

I noticed this too. Lately automata have been choppy in motion, and audio is hit-or-miss. Sometimes it will work fine, and other times it will be choppy.

 

When I scroll around using the RMB, all the automata lagginess suddenly stops. I already knew that the game timer stopped while scrolling, but I'm not sure why the stop-motion behavior of the automata (doesn't matter the game speed) suddenly ends when I scroll around. I followed a train that kept jumping forward when I was still, but when I tracked it manually, it became very smooth.

 

It would be nice to stop this behavior, or find the cause so I can avoid it in the future.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I noticed this too. Lately automata have been choppy in motion, and audio is hit-or-miss. Sometimes it will work fine, and other times it will be choppy.

 

When I scroll around using the RMB, all the automata lagginess suddenly stops. I already knew that the game timer stopped while scrolling, but I'm not sure why the stop-motion behavior of the automata (doesn't matter the game speed) suddenly ends when I scroll around. I followed a train that kept jumping forward when I was still, but when I tracked it manually, it became very smooth.

 

It would be nice to stop this behavior, or find the cause so I can avoid it in the future.

RMB?  Define please.

 

Also, please state what machine you have.  What are the parameters on your call line (shortcut target).  And what settings do you have on your GPU?

 

Remember this is a legacy game and most running this program on a modern machine is like taking a sledge hammer to a gnat.  It requires quite a lot of TLC to get this program to run at all on newer hardware.

 

I do not get this problem, but your machine is probably faster than mine.  What background processes do you have running?  Is your graphics driver up to date?

[APSMS 1,892]

RMB=Right Mouse Button.

 

i7-2760qm (laptop)

Win 7 Pro

I'm pretty sure I have updated graphics drivers. I have a BIOS update I need to install, but I doubt it affects graphics.

My GPU has custom settings. I have experimented with this and have found that certain anti-aliasing settings on my NVS4200m (nVidia, low level, eq. to a GT520) run the game smoother, despite the typical advice to leave everything "application-controlled".

 

Running windowed custom res (1366x768) with no intro and CPUcount:3. For reference my processor has 8 logical cores. Did full screen for a while, but alt-tabbing out of full-screen causes more problems than just switching to a different window with the taskbar. I am aware of the extra overhead this causes, and I'm willing to try something else, but I doubt it's the cause.

[iosappsrock 0]

RMB=Right Mouse Button.

 

i7-2760qm (laptop)

Win 7 Pro

I'm pretty sure I have updated graphics drivers. I have a BIOS update I need to install, but I doubt it affects graphics.

My GPU has custom settings. I have experimented with this and have found that certain anti-aliasing settings on my NVS4200m (nVidia, low level, eq. to a GT520) run the game smoother, despite the typical advice to leave everything "application-controlled".

 

Running windowed custom res (1366x768) with no intro and CPUcount:3. For reference my processor has 8 logical cores. Did full screen for a while, but alt-tabbing out of full-screen causes more problems than just switching to a different window with the taskbar. I am aware of the extra overhead this causes, and I'm willing to try something else, but I doubt it's the cause.

 

Yup, you're experiencing exactly what I'm getting! The animations look choppy when you're still because they're capped at 30FPS, 20FPS, and 15FPS respectively, depending on the speed the game is running at. As soon as you move the camera, the FPS cap is removed, and everything looks smooth again. I would really love to find a workaround to this, as I'm almost certain this framecap could be removed by a skilled individual.

 

At fast speed, when I move the camera view, everything is smooth and gorgeous looking. However, as soon as I stop and focus on one fixed camera point, everything drops down again to the capped FPS, and looks really choppy. Especially cars, which jump along the road instead of glide.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Windowed mode adds a layer of overhead.  What happens in full screen mode (not jumping out)?

[iosappsrock 0]

Windowed mode adds a layer of overhead.  What happens in full screen mode (not jumping out)?

 

Same for me anyhow. Windowed or Fullscreen. As I said, before, I truly believe it's a programmed cap, and has nothing to do with not having enough power to run the game. Even on one CPU core, and my integrated graphics card, I can get 60+ FPS in the game. My dedicated GTX 765m blows the game out of the proverbial water. But, no matter what card I use, it's still capped... :|

 

I'd be really interested if other folks wouldn't mind installing FRAPS or some other FPS monitoring tool, and seeing if it's not just me. I think most folks don't notice, but probably have this issue without ever knowing.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, I don't have noticeable stuttering until my city gets over a certain large population threshold and then I know it is a lack of sufficient CPU cycles.  This type of simulation will eat your processors for breakfast and look for a second helping as well.  It is totally CPU intensive and runs the time slice out regularly when not doing I/O.  If you've set the game to high-priority, stop doing that, it isn't necessary.

[zombie615 9]

I'm sorry but did you say you are running the game at "350fps" or did you mean to say "35" cause I was dumbfounded. I'm like holy crap my computer must blow for sure lol

[NCGAIO 562]

If you have patience to wait a time for pages to be displayed then read this stuff that was on the official website and will understand a little more about the limitations. 

 

  - http://web.archive.org/web/20061019084204/http://simcity.ea.com/about/inside_scoop/3d4.php

 

Known configuration parameters for the game are on file "graphics rules.sgr"  and are widely described in this and other sites of the SC4  just search..

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

FPS will drop dramatically if you have Shadows set to medium or high in the graphics options.  They are incredibly CPU-intensive, but SC4 was not designed to use multicore processors, so top-of-the line Intel Cores do little to help.

 

Another possibility is that your graphics card is new enough that SC4 doesn't recognize it.  There's a thread somewhere about forcing it to do so.

 

And the game automatically pauses all simulation when you move the screen.  It's in the code.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

A good SC4 hardcore gamer machine would be a fast monoprocessor, overclocked to death. 

[iosappsrock 0]

I'm sorry but did you say you are running the game at "350fps" or did you mean to say "35" cause I was dumbfounded. I'm like holy crap my computer must blow for sure lol

Yes, I did in fact say 350FPS. Yeah, it runs that fast. In a massive populated city, I might drop down to around 170FPS at the lowest. That's why I keep trying to tell everyone that it must be a programmed limitation. My computer has no problems whatsoever running this game, even with a massive city, everything maxed out graphically, with additional AA enabled via Nvidia control panel. 

 

That's why I'm wondering if there's a way to remove the framecap. You'd think a modder would've attempted such a thing by now, because it's silly that a computer this powerful has to waste all it's potential because the game caps itself to subpar framerates...

FPS will drop dramatically if you have Shadows set to medium or high in the graphics options.  They are incredibly CPU-intensive, but SC4 was not designed to use multicore processors, so top-of-the line Intel Cores do little to help.

 

Another possibility is that your graphics card is new enough that SC4 doesn't recognize it.  There's a thread somewhere about forcing it to do so.

 

And the game automatically pauses all simulation when you move the screen.  It's in the code.

Once again, without sounding rude, you guys keep suggesting that the game is running out of processing power. That is not the case. With everything maxed out, with additional AA enabled via Nvidia, I still pull in between 170 - 350 FPS, depending on how large the city is. As long as I keep the camera moving/tracking, everything is buttery smooth. It's not my computer, it's the games programmed FPS cap. What I'm trying to find out is how can I turn this cap off. If they put it in, there must be a way to disable it... Of course, it might be more difficult than it's worth, but I don't know yet.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

Graphics have always looked silky smooth for me when the camera is not moving.  I don't know what's wrong with your version.  Where'd you get it?

[zombie615 9]

All I have to add on top of the "350 FPS" is what is the point in going any higher with a game this old lol

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

All I have to add on top of the "350 FPS" is what is the point in going any higher with a game this old lol

 

 

Lol nope he said in his first post this is the framerate when he moves around... when he does not move things are quite slower

 

I'll try to make this as concise as possible.

 

VERY frustrating problem: My FPS in Sim City is typically around 350FPS. However, that is only if I'm moving the camera around. As soon as I stop moving the camera, the FPS is capped depending on what speed the game is at. I don't remember the fancy names for the speeds but it's 30FPS paused or normal, 20FPS on the fast speed, and 15FPS on the fastest.

 

 

[zombie615 9]

Okay he is going around "350FPS" when he is moving around the city. When he stops in an area to actually build his FPS drops dramatically....

 

Even so with that problem I still don't understand why not just lower your FPS altogether.  I don't even see how you can tell a difference between an average 30FPS compared to 350FPS when this game was probably never thought of going beyond 30FPS lol

 

All I have is an A10 6700 Radeon HD 8670D an my SimCity 4 is silky smooth for the most part. Only when I move around the city my frame rate drops a little an is barely even noticeable. So if he is packing a punch in the graphics area he shouldn't be having any problems at all.

 

Have you done the custom resolution in the target line?

 

I have mine set to 1920x1080 an even with just an APU I'm playing the game with 99.9% no graphical glitches, errors, problems etc... On Max everything settings. Turned down the Automata just because I feel it's unnecessary when I speed things up to see the cars flying around. 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

thing is when you move around all simulation stops, then the fps is only limited by the graphic card. Once you stop the fps is more relevant to cpu speed I guess

[zombie615 9]

Good Point

 

Maybe his CPU is the cause of his problem. Maybe he is bottlenecking it somehow. Since this game only recognizes 1 core or whatever.

 

I'm a newbie with computer stuff but from what I've learned over the past few days. Here is all I got.

 

What is your Ram speed?

Do you have -CPU count:1" in the target line?

[iosappsrock 0]

Good Point

 

Maybe his CPU is the cause of his problem. Maybe he is bottlenecking it somehow. Since this game only recognizes 1 core or whatever.

 

I'm a newbie with computer stuff but from what I've learned over the past few days. Here is all I got.

 

What is your Ram speed?

Do you have -CPU count:1" in the target line?

 

I still believe it has nothing to do with my computer. It's hard locked/coded into the game files is the impression that I'm getting. Believe me when I say that know the computing prowess of my system, and this game is not causing it lag due to lack of resources. Also, if the game truly was lagging, you'd notice the framerate being variable. As in, it's drop down to 31, 29, 32, etc. It's obvious it's just capped, because it hits 30FPS, then on fast simulation, it hits exactly 20FPS, then on super fast simulation, it hits exactly 15FPS.

 

As to your previous question of why I want higher FPS - I do NOT want 350 FPs. What I do want, is somewhere between 30-60 all the time. I prefer 60FPS, as that is the max that my monitor supports, and I have grown used to it.

 

My problem is, as of now, the hard locked 20FPS and 15FPS limits for the different in game speeds. If it only ever went down to 30, I'd be content. But 20 and 15 are to low for me to enjoy.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I haven't looked at this list completely, but you may find a control there for this.  This details all possible command line options for SC4.

[iosappsrock 0]

Wow, well it looks like someone figured it out in a different thread.

 

 I'll post it here as well, in case anyone else with a similar issue finds this: While playing a game, press "Ctrl + X" to open the console command window. Then type "fps_max 100" and hit "Enter". That should unlock the framerate.

 

Note that every time you change game speed, you'll have to enter it again. Nevertheless, I can finally play the game with the full power of my GPU! Woot!

 

Thanks for all who helped in this thread. Cheers guys.