I actually noticed this during beta 4, but it was the first time I noticed buildings, on my new laptop, so I thought they just needed some optimizing, which would be done for the release.
I get a constant max framerate (limited to 90 in my case, for example) over all the map, on a bare ground, units for example are ok. But as soon as a small 3D object enters the field, it decreases. A tree in the corner? 45 fps. A city (not a big one, just the first settlement) visible? 15 fps.
I tried to change the various settings, deactivated soft lighting, AA, shadows, resolution, it's still doing the same. It works good on the cloth map, without a problem, though, as there are no such elements.
Now I would understand such thing on my older laptop, but I'm surprised to see this on the new one. Specs:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~1.6GHzMemory: 8192MB RAMVideo Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
So I'm guessing there is somehow a problem with drivers (though latest ones from ATI), or at least some incompatibility somewhere. Because the objects are nice, the cell shading effect too, but it's hardly something to bring this computer to its knees.
ps: I understand that a game like this doesn't need to run at 90fps. But 15-20 is actually unpleasant on the long term.
Edit: To make a complete (more or less) analysis, I tried at a high and low configuration, similar effects:
LOW Settings:
- Video Configuration
- Over a city: 20 fps
- Without objects: 138 fps
HIGH Settings:
- Over a city: 18 fps
- Without objects: 80 fps
So it doesn't seem to be related to the video settings. I also tried windowed, same.
It is really related to these 3D objects, as shown by these two other screenshots:
- Full zoom, empty ground: 99 fps
- Same place, just a bit higher to have one tree in the view: 29 fps
So far, the only thing which seems to improve performance is to force the game to run only on one core (physical one, so two virtual cores on Core i3/5/7), as suggested by thebigJ_A in this answer.
It should be the other way around, clearly, so maybe it's giving a hint on where the problem could be. Note that this doesn't solve the performance problem, there is still a big decrease on framerate when passing on cities, but less than when the game is authorized to run on all cores. I noticed however that doing this since the 1.05 version makes the sound choppy, probably because it was expecting to run on a different core to begin with.
OK, after playing some more, it seems like setting the affinity only helps. It doesn't eliinate the problem. I'm still getting slowdown around cities.
Unrelated, I'm also getting slowdown on this thread! It's weird, whenever I come back to this, the page hitches up. Weird.
I have the same problems. Updated to 1.01 but it did not help. Chaning affinity speeds up a little (from 10 fps to 16 fps). My computer is Core 2 Quad 2.66 GHz with ATI Radeon 5770.
haha yeh this thread goes really slow as well lol its funny cuz its like its being affected by the same thing as the game, but yeh i get the same problem, massive slowdown around cities to pretty much unplayable levels even when the graphics is set to absolute minimum, running AMD Phenom 8450 Triple-Core and ATI HD4870 with the 10.7 catalyst drivers on Windows XP 32bit
Got the same problem even with 1.01 it is memory leak issues dont worry they will fix them!
A memory leak is when you put objects in the memory and don't free the memory space when you don't need them anymore, repeatedly, making the program take more and more memory that it doesn't need. This is another issue, in my opinion.
Map editor works great though So it's definitely the 3D stuff like cities for me (and many others I guess...) I think I'll be honing my map making skills now...
Yup same thing for me, all other aspects of the game work fine...except for..well the actual game.
Hm, well, running a Phenom ii X3 @2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, HD4870 512MB and WinXP32bit I get around 15 fps when 'normally' zoomed in on just my starting character, or the starting city, or any other 3d object. Alt+tab to check activity monitor - all three cores appear to have been excercised(at around 50% each). Check GPU-Z - GPU load@ 0%, just like the majority of the time I spent playing. Some peaks at 33%, otherwise just 0. What? GPU-Z correctly shows load from other apps.
Alt+tabbing only worked the first three times however, now it just gives an error message along the lines of "Invalid DXcall" and terminates Elemental.
Performance & looks-wise, this is an nwn2 flashback. Still, tactical combat gives 50+ fps.
Almost seems as if the processor tries to render the 3D objects instead of leaving that to the graphics card, for which it should be a much less intensive job.
Just brainstorming, I'm not at all very technical - just a long-time gamer. I've seen instances where games did that.
That would explain a lot at least... But can't believe it could be true.
Well, I can't believe it is done intentionally of course. But I've seen instances in games where it was simply bugged and it was fixed in subsequent patches.
Same issue, i have a post with the debug file attached. Hopefully it helps support debug this.
1.05 patch, still having framerate issues. Was at 50fps, then the second I built the first town of the campaign, 25fps. My PC has no issues with any other game currently out, AoC at max, SC2 at max, my hardware is definitely not the problem. There is a serious issue going on in Elemental
Just tested, I get the exact same fps with max details as I do with min details. If I am viewing normal terrain my fps is 50-100, but the second I even get near a town it drops to 25 or below.
Patch 1.05 did not solve anything. I am very disappointed by the performance of the game. This is a turn based game which has nothing to do but draw a view of city and it does so at 12 fps !!! All other games run very smooth, i.e. Company of Heroes at 60 fps. If i had known that i would never have bought the game.
Yup. No improvement with patch 1.05.
I was having the same problems as a lot of people in this thread earlier today, with the inexplicably low performance on a quad core, especially when zoomed in near towns, and even occasional crashing. Then I did two things, and since then I've been running fine and perfectly stable all night.
1)I added the entire Elemental Folder to the exception list in my AV
2) I started running in windowed mode at my desktop resolution, instead of fullscreen.
It could be one, both, or neither of these, but I thought I would share, because the difference has been very significant, and seemed to just sort of happen at once. Been running well all night now.
same I have no difference between 1.01 and 1.05 ........
I zoom in on a town, and FPS drops from 90 to... 10.
No difference here either with the new patch
I'm having issues too.
Windows XP 32bit, Intel Core Duo CPU 2.26GHz, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS 512 MB
In my current game, I get 30+ FPS on the cloth map or when I'm zoomed in on a single mostly-empty tile, but zoomed out as far as I can get on the 3D map gives me about 5 FPS, and zoomed in on a city tile is around 10. I can get it down to as low as 3 if I set the viewing angle low enough to see the horizon. It's basically unplayable if I don't spend 95% of my time on the cloth map. Tactical battles seem to run fine.
High or low video settings are 100% irrelevent, except Anti-Aliasing which I leave off anyway. Changing CPU affinity does nothing. Windowed vs. full screen does nothing. The patch didn't change anything.
I checked the task manager and noticed that Elemental's CPU usage is never above 50%, which doesn't sound right. Also, my debug file is pretty much nothing but a thousand warnings and errors, mostly telling me that various objects are "leaked", which sounds even less right.
http://pastebin.com/sdLAbbQz <-----Pastebin of my debug.err file, if it helps.
Performance is slightly better. Honestly, right now the thing making the game the least enjoyable for me is the performance.
Well... now instead of getting single digits when viewing large cities, I get 10 fps...
Seriously this isn't a problem with my computer as every other modern game runs without framerate issues... it's something wrong with the engine...
Same as above unfortunately. After playing for several hours even combat becomes laggy and animations slow to a crawl. Whatever other issues the game may have I'd say this performance problem is definitely the worst.
If the 1.05 patch made any difference I'm not feeling it.
Yep, FPS problem persists. On late game I'm practically forced to play on the cloth map.
Have any of you guys tried LOWERING the resolution?
Every debug.err I see here shows you running at very very high resolutions. Go to options and try lowering the resolution first.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
