Don't truly understand what is going on, but I ran the game today on 2 different systems and it pushed both Nvidia video cards to 90% or more.
This is way too high for a 2D game. One system was barely a year old and had 32Gb of Ram.
Some serious GPU optimization is needed.
These are the in-game graphic settings. I actually have the OS video resolution turned down to 1920x1080, instead of the 3k x 2k settings I typically use.
Actually Galciv is a 3D rendered game not a 2D game.
You have not mentioned what Nvidia cards you have as that will make a big difference.
You seem to have vsync disabled so you are asking the game to draw as many frames as possible and so use either 100% CPU or GPU depending on which one is the limiting factor which seems to be GPU on your machines.
Yes, I am aware of how DirectX 11/12 works.
These were pretty much the default settings.
I did enable VSync afterwards and even went in to Nvidia console and limited FPS to 20. This did help to reduce GPU usage to around 75% - still too high for a 2D game.
There is more graphics being rendering in Civ VI and never notice these issues.
Nevertheless, the OP is correct. This is a very high priority for 2.2 which comes out in a couple weeks.
The cause is the nebula and how they're done. There is a great deal of overdraw. Those of us running on laptops know the pain.
Thank you.
Sorry to highjack but on the topic of gpu usage;
One of the things that was great about gc3 was when the game was minimised, it basically used 0% gpu and appeared to 'suspend' or something. This was good, as I like to tab in and tab out between coding and gc3 turns which reduced temps on my laptop and freed gpu usage for my own gamedev.
I have noticed that gc4 just uses gpu even when minimised. Is this something that can be brought back into gc4?, or has the engine evolved beyond that?
Thanks
I know the pain and have used MSIAfterburner lots.
Hi,
I haven't seen/noticed any improvements in 2.2.x. Were there any GPU perf enhancements or are there any coming out soon?
I stopped playing GC4 SN IE because of the intense overheating issue.
I am playing a cartoonish 4X game and the max temps are at least 10C lower.
I can't afford to cook this laptop like I cooked the prior one playing GC4 SN IE.
Amazon has many Laptop cooling pads for under $35 that have 4 1/2 stars on a minimum of 1500 reviews might look into one.
Well what do you say?
I have a Lenovo LOQ and I replaced my Klim Ultimate with a Thermaltake Massive 20 RGB but it has not provided a noticeable decrease in the max temps as shown by the Core Temp app.
This is after playing 60+ minutes of the cartoonish 4X game.
This is after 25 minutes of playing the latest Insiders Edition of GC4 SN.
I just started a new game and played for 26 minutes and the highest max temp was 76.
My problem is GPU maxing out and the game slowing to a crawl. But I did have heat issues.
I point a desk fan at my laptop (from the side) so the air flows under and behind it, and clean the laptop intake vents every few weeks (crazy pollen/dust issues). Those two actions have solved my heat issues.
As a quick note if high temperatures are causing a problem with your pc when not using external cooling then I would recommend contacting the manufacturer as it would appear to have inadequate cooling for the hardware specification.
I believe Brad has posted in this thread about the performance and suggested some tweaks are coming but please do remember different games use hardware differently and sometimes little things use a lot more GPU than might first be expected. Also generally low end GPUs will be worked harder.
Finally vsync is something I would personally always recommend on a laptop as it reduces load on the system assuming it is fast enough to render quicker than the screen refresh rate.
Hi,I haven't seen/noticed any improvements in 2.2.x. Were there any GPU perf enhancements or are there any coming out soon?
There are some improvements but not all of them made it past QA.
There are work-arounds if it's an issue on your machine as it the cause are the way the nebula are drawn. If you played with less nebulas in the game or alternatively had the nebula turn to icons faster (options->interface) this would help.
For reference, this is my setup just reading this forum post:
i.e. my machine runs hotter than yours just sitting largely idle. Your CPU temps are fine.
Those aren't particularly high. The CPU is warmer than the cartoon game because GalCiv is a multithreaded game.
It's NOT the CPU that is the issue anyway. It's the GPU. Take a look at your GPU temp. That is what you hear the fans going on about.
I now keep my CPU and GPU at 40 or below.
I used my Advanced power options in W11 to have my CPU only work at 15% and in apps the game only uses my integrated GPU.
The problem is multi program running do not like it and the game turns are slower. and mouse movements are slow.
Temps are a big thing to me so I live with it.
Why though? Modern CPU's and GPU's are built to stand the heat. Both can handle averaging 80 - 85 degrees while gaming and not have any damage done to them.
Additionally, if you are going to get powerful specs like a 8 core + cpu and a top of the line gpu it would be silly to undervolt those as they are built powerful to begin with. As long as you are not approaching the actual danger zone with heat then your hardware should be enjoyed in my opinion. If your are seeing constant temps at 85 or more degrees then yes undervolting is probably a good idea.
Thanks for the reply.
Under interface there are two Nebula options. How do I set less nebulas and what should these be for 'best' perf 0 or 100? A pop up tool tip would be useful on the settings.
Nebula icon zoom
Nebula opacity
Thanks for the reply.Under interface there are two Nebula options. How do I set less nebulas and what should these be for 'best' perf 0 or 100? A pop up tool tip would be useful on the settings.Nebula icon zoomNebula opacity
Nebula IZ sets the point where the on map nebula that can contain Thulium or elirium never can remember which can be seen.
Neb Opacity controls the background clutter that has no function in game set to zero it is gone set to 100 it is there blasting your eye balls.
Get the idea I dislike N.O.?
Thanks for the info
The game requires way too much in the way of GPU usage (2D or 3D). When I play a game, I like to sometimes stream some Netflix shows instead of Spotify. The video stream gets very choppy and lags behind the sound stream. GalCiv4 is the only game that creates this adverse situation. Stellaris doesn't even come close.
As you can see in the screen shots, I am playing the game with the following equipment:CPU: Intel i9-13900KGPU: NVIDIA RTX 4090RAM: 192 GBSSD: Western Digital SN850X (1TB)My temps are not an issue. I use a Corsair 240 mm AIO and 10x Corsair ML1230 RGB Elite fans.
This is a screenshot of my game after I simply open the game.
This is the usage tracking. On the left of the image is the GPU usage upon opening the game to the screen above. The middle of the image shows GPU usage after loading the video options menu. You'll see that as soon as I close the options menu, the GPU usage rockets back up to 93%+. I have even moved the map at all, and there are hardly any items to draw in the above screen.
This image shows my graphics options (chosen and not chosen).
Icon transition zoom : 0
That setting seems to have turned off all the ship animation.
I made the change this morning and the almost unplayable game (~260 turns in) seems so much faster.
Thought AI ship tracking was another selection choice, anyway glad it helped.
I’ll play around with stuff on the c++ side and see what I can come up with.
@Willivan, obviously I will need you to ship me your machine. I can assure you I will spend the next several months optimizing the game with it…
Hey Willivan0706, looking at that screenshot the first things that comes to my mind is: have you tried setting the grid option so that it turns off when zoomed out far enough ? Under the interface menu, it's the "Show Grid When Far", it should be unchecked. See what happens. Also, you should turn on Point Lights on a 4090! Graphics are gorgeous with it on.
Besides, I'm eager to see what Frogboy may come up with on this front...
You can press the g key to toggle grid behaviors too.
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