How do I slow down the framerate of a game?

[aimeeandbeatles]

One of the games I was having trouble with on my old computer isn't choppy anymore -- but the framerate is too fast! (It makes playing the game difficult, and some funny shapes that kept popping up at choice moments, and things that were supposed to be joined together kept seperating then snapping back into place). I know it's too fast as the video card exceeds the recommended requirements. The quality and resolution is high as it'll go. Googling just got me stuff on slow framerates. Any other suggestions? (I'm not too keen on underclocking.)

P.S. Any suggestions for a framerate counter for NVIDIA cards? I used to use the one that came with ATI Tray Tools, which put a coloured number in the top right hand corner which would change color depending on the framerate (I think low was red, medium was yellow, and high was green). I don't know the name of it, but I found it unobtrusive.

Thanks

EDIT: I tried to get a screencap but for some reason it didn't show the funny shapes....

 

[Speedo]

One of the games I was having trouble with on my old computer isn't choppy anymore -- but the framerate is too fast!

This is a fundamental problem with the program in question. There are some hackish solutions you can try to make it work - these articles are probably a good starting point.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4905047_old-pc-games-fast-computer.html
http://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/intro

Any suggestions for a framerate counter for NVIDIA cards?

Fraps.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

One of the games I was having trouble with on my old computer isn't choppy anymore -- but the framerate is too fast! (It makes playing the game difficult, and some funny shapes that kept popping up at choice moments, and things that were supposed to be joined together kept seperating then snapping back into place). I know it's too fast as the video card exceeds the recommended requirements. The quality and resolution is high as it'll go. Googling just got me stuff on slow framerates. Any other suggestions? (I'm not too keen on underclocking.)

P.S. Any suggestions for a framerate counter for NVIDIA cards? I used to use the one that came with ATI Tray Tools, which put a coloured number in the top right hand corner which would change color depending on the framerate (I think low was red, medium was yellow, and high was green). I don't know the name of it, but I found it unobtrusive.

Thanks

EDIT: I tried to get a screencap but for some reason it didn't show the funny shapes....

DosBox it?
You can use Fraps or RivaTuner for FPS display. RivaTuner can do all other sorts of handy things like change fan speed on desktop gfx cards and monitor temps, core/shader speeds, etc.

 

[Till]

The problem most likely is that the programmers used system message polling in the control loop. This leads the programme to hog up CPU time, and makes the game run much faster than necessary. If that is the case, this hack might fix the problem (it hijacks the message polling function and replaces it with one that waits for something to actually happen). I wrote it for Civ2, but it should work with most applications.
It's a hack, though, so weird bugs might occur.

 

[GVBN]

I think Fraps only works on OpenGL and Direct3D surfaces. There are some programs that limit CPU usage but eh, I tried one when I was playing Anarchronox and it was pretty much unplayable

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

thanks, I'll try them after school today.

P.S. It's an NT-based game, and also I have a dual-core processor, could that be anything?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I tried playing with the CPU thing, even tried double-opening it as I have a dual-core, no luck. I think it's a graphics issue. I checked the temperature of everything while it was running, it's normal. (GPU's about 50C, I googled it that's normal) And I'm not sure how to explain it, the "artifacts" are like.... lines and shapes pop up when they aren't supposed to, especially my character which is moving, and sometimes things get seperated (e.g. it's a horse game, so the saddle keeps getting seperated from the horse, it looks funny)

I tried taking screencaps, but for some reason, the artifacts don't show up in those. Could it be a monitor issue?

Another Edit: Hmmmm....I did some savegame hacking, the artifacts aren't as bad when it's NOT RAINING....

 

[LucyDuke]

What game?

/curious

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It's called Horsez 2.

Here's the specs from the back of the box. I tried finding it online, no luck.
Supported OS: Windows XP/Vista (only)
Processor: 1.2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon (2.0 Ghz Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon recommended)
Video card: 64 MB DirectX 9.0c-compliant (128 MB recommended)
RAM: 512 MB (1 gig recommended for XP and required for Vista)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compliant
DirectX version: DirectX 9.0c (included on CD)
DVD-ROM: 4x DVD-ROM (This isn't much a big deal as you don't need the disc to run it)
Hard Drive Space: 6 gigs
Peripherals supported: mouse and keyboard

Supported Video Cards At Time Of Release:
NVIDIA GeForce 4/FX/6/7/8 series (GeForce 4 MX not supported)
ATI Radeon 8000 series/9000 series/X600-X1900/HD-2400-2900

(Stuff about laptop cards might not work properly and these are the only supported cards, blah blah)

Here's my PC specs, at least the ones that matter:

OS: Vista Home Basic
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4200+, 2.20 GHz
Video Card: NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS
RAM: 4 gigs
Sound is integrated but I don't have trouble with that

 

[Speedo]

A game that new shouldn't be having the kinds of problems that most of us have been thinking about. Is it patched to the latest version? It is presumably (hopefully) still supported, so you really contant the company's support if patching and etc don't fix the problem. I would suspect it's probably a driver issue.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It was released back in '07 and there's no patches. I remember because it was one of the first XP games I got after my new computer. I know Ubisoft is the publisher.

 

[Macha]

There's often an option for game speed somewhere on newer games. Try looking for one.

<- Runs C&C3 at 80% speed when playing single player.

 

[Zelig]

A game that new shouldn't be having the kinds of problems that most of us have been thinking about. Is it patched to the latest version? It is presumably (hopefully) still supported, so you really contant the company's support if patching and etc don't fix the problem. I would suspect it's probably a driver issue.

The game is called Horsez 2. Consider how much development effort a game with that name likely received.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

There's often an option for game speed somewhere on newer games. Try looking for one.

<- Runs C&C3 at 80% speed when playing single player.

Not often there isnt.

 

[Comraddict]

vsync on option in nvidia control panel or in game itself will lock frame rate to 60.