problem: slow game

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Yes, but i set it all the way down, and it's not really under the minimum specs if you check.

And i just said in the previous post that it drops the same amount when spellcasting and then bounces back to 30 FPS. Same with Chahopek (that is where i test, that's why i bring it up) - drops to 7 FPS when he appears and stays here untill something happens and it starts working - then it jumps up to 24-25 FPS which, i said, is what the system can pull at best in this scene.

Oh, and BTW, if you check the Readme or on the net, the Recommended System Requirements are
System: PIII 500 or equivalent
RAM: 128 MB
which is exactly what i have.

And besides that, i didn't say the game doesn't run smoothly in the first place. On the contrary, it runs very well on a system on which i can't even play CS unless i set it to "software render", it's just that it does the same thing.

It's a real shame that neither ATI or nV are looking into these problems theirselfs. And it's a crying shame that BIS isn't around anymore for a fix. It's really annoying to find yourself in a big battle and you can barely move the mouse. I have a hard time pushing the buttons!

PS : Like i said - maybe my savegames have something... It is really pointless starting a new game and checking if it runs nice, as i have to reach a pretty high level so i get acces to more powerful spells, that i know slow the game down.

 

Yes, you are right, but you're completely besides my point. The game runs and plays great except when certain spells are cast, then it drops the same amount as on any of the above machines that i've tested. I get 7 FPS in the scene that i've chosen on everyone of those sytems, including this one, with the exception of MY current system (that 3800+) on which i get 5 FPS.

And, i ran it at 16 bit, of course on this P3/Matrox. I know what this Matrox can do, as it was chosen for 2D quality rather than 3D performance, where it utterly sucks.
This is an old system, a system on which you say the game should run nice. And it does for the most part.
It meets the RSR, though i played with everything on low and every other "nice" effect the game has, unchecked.
Again, maybe my copy of the game has something, but that is highly unlikely... but, who knows?

 

Yes, that could be possbile. I mean about the copy.

Maybe i'll try my friends copy when i can get hold of it.

About the mobo - it's unlikely... We're speaking of different platforms here, ranging from Athlon XP's Socket A and Socket 370 to Socket 939 and LGA775.

Another thing i could try is check out someone elses savegame. It could just as likely be that mine have something, as i don't really remember having so much framerate problem when first playing the game. I may not remember well, but who knows.

So if someone can give me a save at Chahopek, i could try it out. I prefer Chahopek cause i see one of the biggest framerate drops there. Or one just before the teleportation to the final battle with Isair and Madae. Again, i see huge drop in framerate there, when you get teleported.

 

To fix this issue, go to start, run, type in dxdiag. Go to the display tab. Disable directdraw, and restart the game. I know it's a pain in the butt, but it will fix the performance issue.

 

kmansp - Oh.My.God.
I did what you said and it does not drop under 30FPS under any circumstance!

It is unbelievable. I have never seen Chahopek move fluently untill now

I tried all my "spots" and it worked just flawlessly.

So, i guess DirectX has something to do with this, as i have recent versions (pre game i mean) for every computer i tested it with.

I'll have to remember this, so i can share it with other people having the same problems.


EDIT : Taluntain can you please make a sticky with this fix, as i really don't think i'm the only on to have this problem.

 

Hello everyone...
Could someone tell me if this slow down problem occurs to computers with ATI graphic cards?
I have Radeon X1600 and it seems sometimes it runs well and sometimes it slows down...I don't know what's happening...
I don't think turning off DirectDraw is a good choice,it ruins other games with 3D graphics and I don't feel like turning on and off whenever I wanna switch to other games...

 

Excuse me could anyone tell me why after I turned off the DirectDraw does the mouse in game begins to flicker?Despite good performance ,it is very umcomfortable!

 

Someone please help me if you know the issue above!

 

So it's a driver issue, more specifically related to DirectX. Disabling Directdraw acceleration fixes the slowdown quite effectively but makes the pointer flicker and does make screen scrolling seem a little flickery at times. It reminds me of scrolling in a web browser on a PC with just the basic VGA video driver installed, though not nearly as bad. But that makes a lot of sense given that both are cases of running an application sans the expected drivers.

I really wish there were a real solution to this, but since BIS is no more and the game is 3+ years old now the only way it would likely get fixed is by a 3rd party. For most gamers reverting to old drivers is simply not an option because our other games will stop working correctly.

As for why the problem even exists. Well old games do sometimes have problems on newer hardware/driver setups. IWDII is not that old a game, in fact I have even older games that work just fine. However, the Infinity engine is an old engine at it's core. Personally I consider IE games the very pinnacle of 2d game design, sort of equivalent to the huge steam locomotives built in the first half of the 20th century as diesel was becoming the dominant propulsion system. Even back when BGI was released 2d computer games were in decline. IWD2 worked fine on the hardware available in 2003 but probably just barely. Add another 3 or 4 years of age and the tweaks that made the IE viable on then current hardware stop being applicable. The core code of the engine was not written with DirectX 9 or Geforce 6800s in mind, and the revenue potential is simply not there to make hiring a coder to update it worthwhile.

Oh well, at least the choppiness is not game breaking thanks to the pause key and there are some options out there. Maybe someday Bioware or ex Black Isle employees will see it fit to release the IE source code to amateur modders. A guy can dream can't he?

 

Ive been running it on a Duron 1100 with a Raedon 9600, 512Mb RAM and a 2.3Ghz PIV with a Quadro3, 512Mb RAM. On both computers I have no problem and i have it set to maxed out levels

 

I've played the game on a P2 400 with 196MB RAM and on my Pentium M 1.7GB laptop with 1GB RAM. I've never had any problems with the game (excluding the slowdown in the horde fortress which was fine after the fix). I have not finished the game but I have gotten as far as obtaining the Holy Avenger so I can't vouch for it all the way through. Also, despite the shortcomings on the P2 this game ran great. I didn't even have to bottom out the performance on the game config.

 

I've been reading this thread and seen some hints to a patch that will help with certain slowdown issues. What issues is it for, and where can I find it?

My problem - with both IWD 1 and IWD 2 - is that in certain areas, the game sort of stops for a couple of seconds and then runs for a second or less before stopping again, making it impossible to move without using the pause key and the ctr-J cheat to move the characters.

While playing IWD 1 I thought there was something wrong with the game, but now that I get exactly the same problem in IWD 2, I realise it must be something else. Is the aforementioned patch working for this issue? Would anybody be able to give me a link to it?

(Ive tried to look for it on the resource pages, but a very persistent ad takes over EVERY time I try to open that page - it covers half the page, launches multiple download windows that open again every time they are closed, and the ad cant be removed - so its impossible for me to see the menus in the sidebar to look for patches or anything else there. )

 

If I remember correctly this was an identifyed bug which was worked on. I think they have a patch for it but I'm too tired to dig it up.

 

My game worked fine, until the second floor of the goblin warrens leading to horde fortress. It is so impossibly laggy there. Turning the graphic and other options to minimum didn't decrease it. Any help?