Game Speed

[Groucho]

I know this is an issue I have touched on before but in another forum, it still seems to be unresolved. I was having trouble getting the game to run in a reasonable speed (it was taking 50 minutes to go through the movement phase) and with the help of another member I thought I had it fixed.

The first turn, or so, it worked fine. The, I get to September 1914 and the movement execution becomes s-u-p-e-r s-l-o-w again.

Is this an issue with anyone else? If so, what can I do to correct this?

My system is not the issue as I have a 512MB video card and 4GB of RAM. Should I try running it in a different screen resolution or are there some other settings I can tweak to optimize performance?

I really like this game and would like to play it but, 50 minutes or so just to resolve movement seems a bit ridiculous.

[calvinus]

Go to the Options window and adjust the "Movements on Map" slider to a low value. The tooltip clearly says: "Move this slider to set the delay time for Map movement animations. The higher you set this slider, the slower movement animations are performed on the map."

[Groucho]

Go to the Options window and adjust the "Movements on Map" slider to a low value. The tooltip clearly says: "Move this slider to set the delay time for Map movement animations. The higher you set this slider, the slower movement animations are performed on the map."

I have already done that.

I did that before I posted here.

It still does not fix problem.

After August, it slows down again.

[calvinus]

I think the cause is external to the game. Check the task manager if there is some process that takes too much CPU while the movements are executed.

[Anthropoid]

In order to get this game to run relatively smoothly, I have to go into my Taskmanager and turn off as much stuff as I can.

I don't consider that to be a long-term acceptable situation, but during this early phase while the game is still being patched up and fixed it seems okay.

[patrat]

1.06a is running fine on my nearly 6 year old computer.

somthing is definatly wrong if its running slow on a such a powerful computer that is way better than mine.

with 1.06a i dont even bother to shut off my normal background stuff anymore.

note: im running no sound and low deapth color. also no v sync. i do have AI memory checked.

you dont have AI take full time checked in game do you? i have that unchecked.

[calvinus]

The 1.06A runs smootly. With 1.06B I added some improvements in Military AI speed (no deadlocks in Decoy placements) and Fog of War update. But the amount of slow-downs you are reporting seem caused by an external cause. I really can't investigate every single cause, altought I'm already doing it in some manner... For example, I'm testing Avira Antivir and the Google Updater (two programs reported by JMass as giving problems). But I repeat, I do not know all programs you have installed on your PCs.

[tagwyn]

Luca: Hang in there!! God bless you. t

[Anthropoid]

You know what, it seems that I DO NOT in fact have to turn off as much stuff as possible in Taskmanager to get this baby to work.

I played for about 2.5 hours today with everything running default settings (about 67 things running in Tskmnger).

The game did eventually lock up, causing me to lose about 45 minutes of game play since I last hit Ctrl-Save, but game speed was reasonable until that happened. Maybe -slightly- slower than with everyhing possible in Taskmanager shut off, but nto unreasonably slower.

[calvinus]

I suggest you do as follows: launch the game with all processes running in TaskManager. As soon you reach a situation when the game runs slowly (mouse lags and similars), open the TaskManager and kill processes, one by one, cheking the improvements every time you have killed one process. So you will find the process(es) that really make the game run slow. Even if you/we find the concerned programs, I'm not sure to be able to intervene properly... Probably there's some antivirus that interferes with the game activities: you should simply configure it... Or a firewall... But I repeat: first we have to find out what is the cause of such slow downs.

[Big Muddy]

how to open taskmaster

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Big Muddy]

Truthfully, If you don't know, it's probably not advisable to mess with it then, or you can really screw up the background operating programs.

I can't play WWI due to mouse lag, it's been a while but I used to shut down BOP I just don't remember calling it taskmaster.

[AndrewKurtz]

I can't play WWI due to mouse lag.

My brother, who has a new powerful computer (for example, 6GB RAM), reported that the mouse lag was so bad he couldn't play either. I'd love to find a solution to this for him.

[Big Muddy]

My brother, who has a new powerful computer (for example, 6GB RAM), reported that the mouse lag was so bad he couldn't play either. I'd love to find a solution to this for him.

If you do find a solution please let me and other players who share this problem know, it's very frustrating.

[calvinus]

I assume you are playing with 1.06A. My advice is to test without sounds & musics and/or to try disabling the antivirus/firewall. Try both manners and either two, just to verify if the cause is the Sound Engine and/or the Antivirus. If the problem persists even with both the two solutions applied, move to the Task Manager and examine carefully the list of all processes, searching that one which is grabbing more CPU %.

[Big Muddy]

I assume you are playing with 1.06A. My advice is to test without sounds & musics and/or to try disabling the antivirus/firewall. Try both manners and either two, just to verify if the cause is the Sound Engine and/or the Antivirus. If the problem persists even with both the two solutions applied, move to the Task Manager and examine carefully the list of all processes, searching that one which is grabbing more CPU %.

Yes playing 1.06a, turned off intro, also all sound & music, the problem still persists. At load screen the mouse works fine, once the game starts thats will the mouse problems start.

How exactly do I find the TaskManager?

[Anthropoid]

Yes playing 1.06a, turned off intro, also all sound & music, the problem still persists. At load screen the mouse works fine, once the game starts thats will the mouse problems start.

How exactly do I find the TaskManager?

Ctrl-Alt-Delete

BEWARE! If you turn off something that is essential to your system, it can cause your system to shut down. MIGHT even cause irreparable harm to your system that would require a complete reformatting of your entire machine . . .

Also: HIGHLY recommend you disconnect your machine from ANY networks (wireless, dialup, DSL, cable-modem, LAN, etc.) BEFORE you start turning stuff off in your Tskmngr. If you turn off a component of your security applications while you are networked, you could get attacked by malware while and suffer a total system corruption.

To my knowledge, when you restart, it will resume running whatever was set to run by default.

As far as I know, turning something off in Taskmanager will not cause something to permanently stay off even on a subsequent restart . . . but I could be wrong about that. There coudl be adverse consequences to turning stuff off about which I am not aware, so play with it at your own risk.

Use it at your own discretion and at your own risk.

Usually what I've found is that processes that have simpler names (e.g., "crss.exe" or "svchost.exe") or names that are actual words (e.g., "explorer.exe") tend to be the more 'essential' programs that can either cause the machine to shutdown or turn off things you need. Things that have garble-looking titles (e.g., "Xcfg1.exe") seem to be more optional processes that do not cause negative consequences when you shut them off.

I've noticed that the way my rig is currently configured, I usually have about 67 processes running, depending on what applications I have activated. Most applications can fine with that basic default set of 67 running in the background, including some pretty big energy hogs (Powerpoint, Systat, Excel, Civ4, various Matrix games, etc.). But before the 1.06a patch, I could not get WWI to play smoothly without turning off stuff in the Tskmngr. I never did diagnose if it was some particular process or if it was just the sheer number of processes.

In experimenting, I accidently turned of my Systray once (the little bar across the bottom of your screen that has the various controls on it, including the start TAB. I also turned off something that caused the system to shut down at least a couple times. But by experimenting a bit, I figured out what I could manage to turn off a LOT of stuff (mostly the stuff listed under "My Name" as the process domain. Stuff under "System" tended to be more critical). I think a couple times I got it down to only about 30 processes running.

In any event, mine seems to run okay now (slightly slower, but not unreasonable) even with all 67 default background processes running.

[calvinus]

To my opinion, the most threats for WW1 come from:
1) Antivirus that spies the WW1 job, making it slow, because considering the game as a possible threat;
2) Spybots (as per 1);
3) Peer-to-peer file sharing programs;
4) Automatic updaters...

I believe the quickest way is to see the processes that grab most CPU %.
If no particular process rather than WW1 grabs a high amount of CPU %, that probably means the antivirus is slowing down WW1.

[Big Muddy]

Thanks for the info you provided Anthropoid, I think I'll take Grey's advice and leave this alone. I'm sure that this issue will be resolved eventually (I hope).

[calvinus]

Thanks for the info you provided Anthropoid, I think I'll take Grey's advice and leave this alone. I'm sure that this issue will be resolved eventually (I hope).

I think it's better you first simply look at the list of processes in Task Manager. The issue will not be resolved by itself. I do not know what programs you are running on your PC, so I cannot help you. So open the Task Manager when the game is running, and examine carefully all processes that grab more CPU %. Also work on your antivirus! Disable it temporarily and run the game just to see how it works.

[AndrewKurtz]

Thanks for the info you provided Anthropoid, I think I'll take Grey's advice and leave this alone. I'm sure that this issue will be resolved eventually (I hope).

Is you main problem with game speed the mouse? Just want to confirm that the issue you are chasing matches my brothers. He and I have a lot of computer experience, so perhaps the two of us can try to figure out what app (if any) is causing the conflict.

[Big Muddy]

Is you main problem with game speed the mouse? Just want to confirm that the issue you are chasing matches my brothers. He and I have a lot of computer experience, so perhaps the two of us can try to figure out what app (if any) is causing the conflict.

Well to be honest, game speed is not the problem. Calvinus mentioned mouse lag, so I brought up my mouse problem. Maybe I should have started a new thread.

Anyway, I have no problems untill I'm actually in game, then the mouse is very un-responsive. I tinkerd with the mouse settings, and it's somewhat better, but not good enough. I'll just keep trying different settings until I can at least have it under better control. For example in the settings in WWI, precision is needed, it would take me forever just to do that.

I hope you guys can solve the problem you're brother is having.

[Bern]

As a matter of course, before I run any resource intensive application I always kill all processes which are not absolutely essential to the program I am using. It is perfectly possible to do it yourself, however, if you are not comfortable with the ins and outs of your operating system, there are programs which will do the job for you.

A good one, which is also freeware, is AlacrityPC by a chap named Ken Salter. Google it if you are interested. Originally this was developed for use with flight simulations programs where losing extraneous processes is essential, but the latest version will work with any application.

I do not use it myself, but I've heard very good reports about it.

Bern

[Groucho]

I think it's better you first simply look at the list of processes in Task Manager. The issue will not be resolved by itself. I do not know what programs you are running on your PC, so I cannot help you. So open the Task Manager when the game is running, and examine carefully all processes that grab more CPU %. Also work on your antivirus! Disable it temporarily and run the game just to see how it works.

I did as mentioned, and went into my task manager and began shutting down processes in the hopes of speeding up the game. (I have not yet tried shutting down my anti-virus.) But, it has dawned on me that I play every other game I have without having to do this. Some of them are quite demanding. War in the Pacific, World of Warcraft (which I just quit playing), Fallout 3, and many others. I have yet to have the need to go into my task manager to shut down processes or turn off my anti-virus to play them.

Using that process of elimination I have come to the conclusion that the problem lies in the game or I don't need to be playing it. I don't mean to sound rude but, when I fork out over 70 bucks (after shipping) for a game I should not have to go mucking about my system shutting things down to play it. I don't have that need with my other games.

I really like this game but I feel like I wasted my money.

Lesson learned.

[calvinus]

Dear Groucho, what I can do is to install the same antivirus you are using and test the game to see if it's slow like on your pc. Which antivirus do I have to install?

[Gen.Montcalm]

found a way to lessen mouse lag, go into the game configurator and activate load maps at startup or something like that (my game is in french) it's the option above vertical sync, helped me a lot, i droped to low quality colors too (still look very good in game) hope it helps

[Groucho]

Dear Groucho, what I can do is to install the same antivirus you are using and test the game to see if it's slow like on your pc. Which antivirus do I have to install?

PCCillian Internet Security

[calvinus]

Ok Groucho I will test the game with PCCillian on my poor 512MB RAM laptop, where I already have installer OfficeScan and Avira together. Also, if you have slow downs with one save only in particular, do not hesitate in posting it here. Otherwise no need if you have slow downs with any save/scenario.

Thanks for your patience,
Calvinus.

[calvinus]

I finally installed Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 edition, and after some slow downs (even with the development environment), I launched the game and the antivirus asked me if WW1.exe is trusted. I answered yes, and the game ran fine and smooth.

So I suggest to do so:
- Open the "Main Console" of the anti virus
- Select the "Virus & Spyware Controls"
- Now click the "Prevent Unauthorized Changes" tab
- Click the "Exception List" link, a popup will appear...
- If the WW1.exe application is not listed, ADD IT by clicking on the "Add Program" button (you will have to select the path and file)

I hope this will help...

Anyway I must say that this antivirus is giving me a lot of side problems. The Main Console freezes 9 times over 10, the access to Internet is often freezed and several other applications do not run.
Probably this is because I had to install also Avira Antivir and I already have AVG Antivirus... but this Trend Micro is causing now major slow downs...

Thanks for your patience,
Calvinus.