FPS drops after loading save games in-game

[biggles]

Hiya folks,
I've got the infamous fps drop problem after playing a while on the Steam version. PC is high-end (core i7 920, 6 gig ram, vista 64, ati 4890). Vista is fully patched, drivers are fully updated. Framerate is fine until I get killed and load a savegame (or after an auto-save). Then, framerate drops to a crawl in open areas (framerate stays ok for indoor areas). I've reinstalled Steam twice complete with restarts and removal from the registry. Do I need to reinstall Dark Messiah before or after the Steam reinstall? Can I keep my savegames?

Here is a link with other stuff I've tried:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... p?t=901641

[Blín D'ñero]

Hello biggles, welcome.
You must take the solution in [POST 4] error =3= litterally, so

-backup your game(s) using the Steam backup function
-uninstall Steam and manually delete remaining files and folders
-defragment your hdd(s)
-clean your registry from Steam
-Use CCleaner to get rid of the last crumbs you may have missed
-reinstall the current version of Steam (redownload from Valve: on this page click " Free Download Click here to install now!")
-restore your game(s).

Do I need to reinstall Dark Messiah before or after the Steam reinstall?

How is before even possible?
Since you have the Steam version: after you installed new Steam of course.

But first make sure you have no disk copying cloning emulating software installed as Securom will take measures. Maybe even the newer Securom (built in Steam) slows games down, i'm not sure but it could be. So: unmount virtual drive(s), and uninstall software like Deamon Tools, Alcohol 120%, MagicISO, etc before you install latest version of Steam.

Btw, i just read the posts in your link. The third guy is writing nonsense: the DVD version does NOT require Steam at all, it's standalone (singleplayer that is; multiplayer is Steam only). Who has installed the dvd version AND has Steam installed, can choose to allow Steam to 'adopt' the game into Steam. But it's not needed, and i keep my Dark Messiah outside Steam.

And:

• Huge slowdowns and "The memory could not be read": Virtual Memory fragmentation. Make sure your game is patched (1.01 and 1.02), they contain a fix to help preventing that.
  But still Virtual Memory fragmentation can happen if you never defragment. So: defragment. (Windows XP: Diskeeper Lite (freeware); Vista and Windows 7: Auslogics Defrag 3 (freeware)).
  To defragment virtual memory: disable Paging File (virtual memory) / reboot / defragment / re-enable virtual memory.
• Singleplayer / multiplayer: make sure you have enlarged and fixed the Paging file to 4096MB min and max. See Enlarge and fix your Page File (virtual RAM) to 4096MB min and max .

If you need more help, please post your dxdiag and mm key export (see this post item =4=).