Major FPS drops in single player.

Blín D'ñero · Post by **Blín D'ñero** » 24 Aug 2010, 12:27

Yeah i know it is not funny how sometimes problems seem to persist but i wouldn't solve any problem if i didn't go over every step again with a magnifying glass, starting all over. I can't replicate the issue on any of my machines, but i do have the testimony of item =3= in the troubleshooting thread from other players that it turned out to be a Steam issue which they solved as described.

But your problem still could have another cause.
When you said "fresh format" that was not a quick format but a full format, right?

In your dxdiag i notice all your hddrives as SCSI Disk Device, why? WDC WD75 01AALS-00J7B is a Black Edition SATA; in dxdiag they should show up as 'ATA Device'. The drives should be connected to the SATA controllers. And there's a setting you can change in BIOS but in any case before OS installation. Unless setting up a RAID array, you're supposed to have them set to IDE mode. Which i think by default it is.

Delfofthebla · Post by **Delfofthebla** » 25 Aug 2010, 02:40

Yes, I used a full format and not quick format. I wasn't aware you could even do a quick format for win7.

As for the hard drives, that's super weird. I didn't change them via the bios, and they are connected via sata cables. (With the exception of the external.) What's the difference?

Blín D'ñero · Post by **Blín D'ñero** » 25 Aug 2010, 02:54

It's probably the nVidia chipset doing that. It's weird but don't worry about it, shouldn't be a problem.

Which Bios version do you have? So you don't have

P10
BIOS Date : 01/20/2010

but which do you have?

Also, try changing your default audio device which is C-Media USB, to High Definition Audio Device which is onboard.

Delfofthebla · Post by **Delfofthebla** » 25 Aug 2010, 13:02

1/16/08
Sony - 42302e31
Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

(Just grabbed this from the SystemBiosDate/Version from the registry, not sure if you needed the last part.)

I'll try running it from the onboard sound later today.

Blín D'ñero · Post by **Blín D'ñero** » 25 Aug 2010, 13:19

No that's not your motherboard's bios version. You cannot grab it from Windows registry. (what you have there is the version number of the bios software manufacterer, not the cmos contents which is the actual bios data)
The BIOS version is displayed at the top of the first page of POST (power on self test). The first white on black letters you see when starting the PC. It should probably look like a "P08", "P07", or similar.

Other suggestions to try:
Then go into BIOS and try disabling Legacy USB support, maybe that helps.
Also try running only 2 RAM modules instead of 4, be sure to follow manual's direction, probably slots 1 + 3. Maybe that helps.

On the other hand, even if it works, running a 64-bit OS with only 2 GB RAM isn't such a good idea.
I'm guessing the memory controller on the board and Windows 7 don't go well together. You had no problems on XP. It's an old board, i would put XP back, and assemble a new PC for Windows 7 x64.

Delfofthebla · Post by **Delfofthebla** » 05 Sep 2010, 11:18

Sorry for not replying back sooner. Had finals that upcoming week so I was kinda busy. After wards I simply stopped caring and decided to just give up. Dark Messiah was an amazing game, but was unfortunately coded like crap. I appreciate all the help BlindNero, but I honestly don't think it's worth the time to try and fix it anymore.

Blín D'ñero · Post by **Blín D'ñero** » 05 Sep 2010, 12:47

Delfofthebla wrote:Dark Messiah was an amazing game, but was unfortunately coded like crap.

Are you a programmer? Have you read the game's entire code and determined that it's caused your problem? I don't think so.
And why doesn't everybody have the same issue?
The game running in slowmo on your machine is a clear indication that something's not right on your system, but you give up trying to solve it before you even started; to you it's even too complicated to find the actual bios version (it's in post screen, not in Windows Registry...). I hope for you no other game will be triggering the same issue.

rditto48801 · Post by **rditto48801** » 06 Sep 2010, 15:24

This topic caught my eye, as did something else when I glanced at the dxdiag.

Blín D'ñero, double check the dxdiag.
Under Display Devices.
This part

Display Memory: 2668 MB
Dedicated Memory: 877 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB <-- mainly this part
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (59Hz)

Is that Shared Memory bit a possible cause, or a sign of a possible problem?
Could the video card, or something relating to it such as on board MB video, be sucking up a huge chunk of system memory for use as video memory, leaving much less for the OS and applications?

If memory is the problem, the problem may have existed before, but not been noticed since 32 bit XP uses far less RAM than 64 bit Windows 7 does.

Blín D'ñero · Post by **Blín D'ñero** » 06 Sep 2010, 18:59

You may have a point there: Windows 7 x64 performs best with 8 GB system RAM. He has only 4GB, minus the shared memory. So the game might start useing the Paging File on the hdd which is slow.
The shared memory is what Windows does, it allocates system RAM for video.
His 'dedicated memory' is what's on the card itself, the VRAM.
But this is strange, he has:

from dxdiag Delfofthebla wrote:---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 260
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_05E2&SUBSYS_12553842&REV_A1
Display Memory: 2668 MB
Dedicated Memory: 877 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: ASUS VH242H
Monitor Id: ACI24F3
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
Output Type: DVI

2668 MB 'display memory' with a single card.

while i apparently have only 716 MB of it, with TWO cards...

from dxdiag BlindNero wrote:---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x6898)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6898&SUBSYS_0B001002&REV_00
Display Memory: 716 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2009 MB
Shared Memory: 2803 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell U2410(Digital)
Monitor Model: DELL U2410
Monitor Id: DELF015
Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.950Hz)
Output Type: DVI

rditto48801 · Post by **rditto48801** » 06 Sep 2010, 22:14

Random thought after doing some google searching.
on Yahoo Answers, someone also having similar performance problems.
The only answer asked if the drivers installed the proper ones to use for Windows 7 64bit.

I ran across this thread on this site about memory usage
One thing that caught my eye that might be related.

Have found the problem. It's a bios setting for the motherboard that reduces the ram
for 32bit or opens the full ram available for x64. The labeling for it is actually backwards just looking at the bios entry. have the proper setting and now I have the full 4GB available.

Also noticed this.

The answer is with Nvidia, however, they are awfully tight lip. Something about Nvidia drivers or cards that make them reserve a portion of RAM. Don't know why...

I am unsure if that is the same type of problem or not, but it seem related (I could be wrong)

Reports of slowdown on Windows 7, a few things suggested (some probably already done)
https://boi-forum.perfectworld.com/show ... p?p=790471

1. [1] Try visting your system manifacturer for recent graphics card updates.
[3] Run Windows up date to make sure that your divers are up to date.
[4] You can also try uninstalling the game and reinstalling it to have everything as default.
[5] Please also try running the game as admin since you are on windows 7.

I removed 2, since it relates to the game the post was for.

Another mention of lag, this time related to Windows 7 using shaders on anything other than low, even minor lag with shaders on low, and with having XP with no real lag even on max settings.
https://sc2pod.com/trackers/blue/battle-net/?id=5099

One thing I recall, Silent Hunter 5.
Use of shaders in that game would sometimes cause major lag iirc.

BlindNero.
I seem to have noticed that, more often than not, dxdiag I have run across seem to have Display Memory = Dedicated Memory + Shared Memory.

While poking around with google due to nothing else to do, I ran across stuff on that subject.
https://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/s ... 144&page=0

That seems to bean error. The display memory should be the dedicated + shared memory. It might be reported incorrectly because it exceeds 4 GB.

I looked up GPU-Z, mentioned in the thread as a reliable alternative for getting video card info.
I found a link for it on cnet. Seems simple and handy, it shows assorted info, and it shows stuff like GPU core and memory clock, temp, fan speed, etc.
https://download.cnet.com/GPU-Z/3000-20 ... 88513.html

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