Extreme Lagging

[Faustmouse]

Hi,

I started a GEM with V28 and the first session was very good. In the 2nd session, the game is extremely lagging. If you scroll over the map, the new picture needs very long to be shown up. And if I load normal BTS, after all the adds and the preview, the opening music is already there, but the screen is black for 20 to 30 seconds until it shows the main menu.

Any idea why and how to fix it?

 

[Koshling]

Hi,

I started a GEM with V28 and the first session was very good. In the 2nd session, the game is extremely lagging. If you scroll over the map, the new picture needs very long to be shown up. And if I load normal BTS, after all the adds and the preview, the opening music is already there, but the screen is black for 20 to 30 seconds until it shows the main menu.

Any idea why and how to fix it?

That actually sounds like a graphics hardware (or maybe firmware state) issue. Does it persist across a cold reboot (full machine power cycle)? How about other graphically intensive games? I have certainly seen something like that occur, but for m it's always been due to over-heating...

 

[sp00n]

I agree that this may point to a graphic card problem.
There are various tools out there to monitor and test your graphic cards, the ones I prefer are
1) GPU-Z, which will display information about your GFX card and show its temperatures (if the sensors are available)
2) FurMark, which will stress-test your card. Do note however that if your cooling is not working properly and your card does not have a throttling mechanism, this might actually damage your card physically (due to overheating)! Though any other graphically intense game might just as well in that case...

As far as the temperatures goes, in general GPUs are more lenient than CPUs. Anything around 80°C should still be fine, although I try to stay below that even at 100% load in my silent system.

In my old laptop the card did not begin to downclock until around 100°C (really bad cooling solution), which is generally considered to be the maximum as well, so depending on your card that might be fine even at that range (although it's certainly not too helpful for the lifetime of the components).

 

[ls612]

That actually sounds like a graphics hardware (or maybe firmware state) issue. Does it persist across a cold reboot (full machine power cycle)? How about other graphically intensive games? I have certainly seen something like that occur, but for m it's always been due to over-heating...

I've had it happen to me only once with my good computer, and that was when I was doing LOTS of disk I/O in the background (creating some virtual hard disks). A full reboot fixed it though afterwards, as it persisted for some reason after the disk intensive process was finished.

 

[Faustmouse]

Thanks!
Yes, I tried it the morning after that, so that card was definitve cool. I will clean my PC and if this is not working I try one of your analyse tools. Regarding other graphic intensive games, I don't think I have any I think Civ 4 was the newest game I bought. Maybe Command and Conquers Generals is a bit graphic intense, I will try that

 

[Faustmouse]

Ok I cleaned my PC and when I open Civ when the PC was cool, it still laggs as hell. Can't really play. I tried and started a new game, but this games laggs right after the beginning. I have no programs open in the background and I haven't changed anything on my PC for the last 2 Weeks where civ surely runs very smooth (Just pops in my mind: I haven't tried normal Civ 4 yet). My PC doesn't even have connection to internet, so there is no new programm I am not aware of.

On other games, my graphic card works well.
But I have two operating systems:

Win XP where I play all my games except Civ
and Win 7 Ultimate 64Bit, where I play civ.

Could this be the problem? I don't really think so, since it's been like that for at least a year without problems.

I checked my graphic card informations, maybe you can see the problem there?

It's a geForce 8800 GT

-DirectX 11.0 (but it says "supports DirectX 10.0". Do I have to "downgrade" it?

-Driverversion: 295.73

-storage cycle (not sure if its the correct term. In german it would be "Speichertakt": 920 MHz (1840 MHz Bitrate /or Data rate)

-german: "Kerntakt", should be core cycle: 700 MHz

-"Shadertakt", should be Shader cycle: 1715 MHz

-CUDA Cores: 112

-approved System Storage: 2815 MB


Is there anything helpfull in these informations? :/
I'd REALLY like to play C2C again

 

[sp00n]

Your graphic cards information looks fine, I have the same card. Though it'd be interesting to know the temperature. And you don't have to "downgrade" DirectX, the card only supports dx10, but that's already included in dx11.

"approved System Storage": What's that in German? Speicherauslastung? Where do you get that information?

How much RAM do you have? It could be that you've used up all your RAM and are now forced to use the page file, which of course will heavily impact your performance.


// Edit
By the way, Takt is translated clock, just to avoid future confusion.

 

[Faustmouse]

approved System Storage was "Freigegebener Systemspeicher".

Internet said takt=cycle but from now on I will use clock, thanks.

I don't think it's because of the RAM. I have 8GB I think and I never had troubles with that. Even a GEM in the late industrial Era ran smooth. It just changed from one day to the next. Maybe a RAM is broken? Would the PC even start if this is the case?

And do you really think the card overheats in the first 5-10min since I started the PC? Maybe even earlier, because it takes 20 seconds to "load" the main menu from vanilla civ after I ended the preview (which don't lag btw).

 

[sp00n]

Just download GPU-Z and you can monitor your temps. It can overheat (and thus throttle) in seconds if the cooling doesn't work.
You'll also see your current clocks there (if your 8800 GT has anywhere near the same sensors as mine does).

 

[Faustmouse]

Ok, I let GPU-Z run while opening Civ. I barely could see any changes, at least not fatal ones to me. See Attachment.

And btw, even normal Civ is lagging as hell. Maybe it has something to do with Win7? But HOW since I haven't changed anything? Games on Win XP run smooth, I try to launch Civ from the 32 bit Win XP later.

 

[Faustmouse]

Ok, I tried to start Civ from my XP version and there is no lagging. But, since it's only 32 Bit, I get MAFs when I do ANYTHING (Yes, Viewpoints 40x40 on). I tried a games on duel and I can play it, however, when I was editing the map via Worldbuilder, I got a CTD with no error popup. Starting from the Win 7 version still laggs like hell.

I am completely confused

 

[sp00n]

You could try to update your drivers (motheroard, chipset, graphic card, maybe even sound card).
Or, if you're using Win7 just to play Civ4, I'd suggest re-installing it (and then install the newest drivers ).

Your temps and clocks look perfectly fine btw.

 

[Faustmouse]

Thx, I will try this. I'm just wondering, why it worked perfectly well and on the next day it's a mess...