[Objekt]

I don't know what the problem was, but it has pretty much disappeared with my fresh SCP install.  I moved my pilot over from my existing install, and have made progress in Blue Planet.

FWIW, that one Blue Planet mission that was causing problems had few to none with the fresh SCP install.  Load time was perfectly reasonable, and there was little to no in-mission lag.

I did notice one very weird thing: Some objects don't appear in the target view window when using FSPort with the new SCP install.  Specifically, throughout the Destiny of Peace campaign - which uses FSPort in addition to the mediavps - any Hercules fighter or asteroid would not be drawn in the lower-left target view window.  The actual object was drawn on-screen, though, so it was only a small annoyance.  Still, it's something broken that wasn't in my existing install, so I'm not sure what's going on.

[Herra Tohtori]

You most likely had some important files in your FS2_Open install fragmented, which can cause serious slowdowns as you observed. The Windows defragmenting GUI window doesn't always suggest to defragment if only some portion of the files is fragmented, but if it's concentrated to certain region it can cause problems like this.

Copying the files to new location probably moved them to clear area where they were written to the HD without fragmentation, and the result is no slowdowns.

Good thing it wasn't anything more sinister like the PC components going bad.

[Objekt]

You haven't recently toyed with overclocking your video card, have you?

No.  I wouldn't know how, and I'm not inclined to mess with it anyway.  Too risky for a few more frames per second.

I'm betting your problem is one of two things:
1.  An improperly configured or set-up install of SCP, OR
2.  A video card/driver problem.

Interesting that 3.6.10 is slow - I have a 9500Pro (essentially a lower-clocked 9700) and 3.6.10 did nothing but boost performance.  What graphics driverset are you running?

I'm using CATALYST 6.4.  It also says "2D Version: 6.14.10.6606" for whatever that's worth.  It has 128MB RAM onboard, which should be plenty -right?

Anyway, the performance problems are gone with the fresh install.  The drive both installs are on was never more than a few percent fragmented, so who knows what was causing the problem?

[Herra Tohtori]

Well, if you have a 100 GB partition that has two percent fragmentation, that means there's 2 GB worth of fragmented files on the partition. Considering the basic FS2_Open takes about 1.2 GB (without cutscenes) and MediaVP's take a little less than one GB, you can do the maths and see that even with low overall fragmentation, it's very possible that almost all key files (retail VP's, mediaVP's, possibly the FS2_Open build) can be amongst the fragmented files. Even if you have smaller partition/HD than this, the amount of fragmented data can be surprisingly big even with small fragmentation percentage.

In other words, with some bad luck, if the fragmentation happens to be consentrated in your FS2_Open installation directory it can obviously cause some slowdowns even if the Windows defragmenter keeps telling that the partition doesn't need to be defragged.

I'm betting this was the cause; the other possibility is that you had done something badly wrong in your previous FS2_Open directory that caused some massive conflicts and slowdowns, but I can't see what could cause this kind of problems. So I would put my money for a fragmentation problem in this case.

[jr2]

...Which is why I like using Power Defrag.  You can defrag just that particular folder, or a particular file, without doing the whole drive.  Or you can do the entire drive more thoroughly than the regular Windows Defrag.

[colecampbell666]

Sounds like a hard drive issue.  I had a HD starting to go bad, and it slowed everything to a crawl.  Unplugged it, and everything went like a dream.

I've also had slowdown issues with video cards starting to go, or bad drivers.

One thing that I've noticed is that my hard dive simply disappears and clicking the icons brings up a "searching for" window. Restarting my PC fixes this, but it is happening with more frequency. When it does work, I notice a big slowdown in everything run off of that drive. This may be your problem.

EDIT:

I'm using CATALYST 6.4.

Holy crap! Get 7.10!

[Objekt]

I've stuck with Catalyst 6.4 on the "ain't broken, don't fix it" principle, but perhaps it's time to reconsider.  Especially if you guys building SCP are taking newer video cards, and the drivers that go with 'em, into account, which it seems you are.

By the way, I'm thoroughly enjoying the Disk Optimizer defragger.  It's so much better than the built-in Windows one.  I tried it on the drive where I had SCP installed, and indeed, though the partition (30GB size) was only a few percent fragged, some of the files in the SCP directory were in pieces.  It seems to fix it whenever mission load times and/or in-mission jerkiness start to happen.  Being able to defrag only that folder saves a lot of time.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Think I ran into this same problem last night.  Everything worked just fine in TBP but when I tried to do a test in Taylors 3.6.10 10-22 release back in my FS2 folder it slowed down to 4fps and a second of gameplay took like 15 seconds.  Load times were fine.  It even happened just entering the tech room.This happened no matter what I set the graphics, mods, etc to.  Even when selecting default FS2 everything off.  I'll have to give it a try with 3.6.9 on that computer.

[colecampbell666]

I've stuck with Catalyst 6.4 on the "ain't broken, don't fix it" principle, but perhaps it's time to reconsider.  Especially if you guys building SCP are taking newer video cards, and the drivers that go with 'em, into account, which it seems you are.

By the way, I'm thoroughly enjoying the Disk Optimizer defragger.  It's so much better than the built-in Windows one.  I tried it on the drive where I had SCP installed, and indeed, though the partition (30GB size) was only a few percent fragged, some of the files in the SCP directory were in pieces.  It seems to fix it whenever mission load times and/or in-mission jerkiness start to happen.  Being able to defrag only that folder saves a lot of time.

The new ATI drivers don't break anything and will be supported on your card. After all, they're Canadian.
In my experience, it's only NVidia drivers that break things, and new drivers generally increase performance, although old ones will still work, as you've proven.

[Jeff Vader]

Just curious, but how exactly do you install new ATI drivers on a laptop? It seems I have 6.14 or something along those lines. If I go to the ATI/AMD/whatever site and browse the drivers, I get this executable that is supposed to determine if I can install the new Catalyst. Now, if I run this damn thing, it just says "Sorry, no can do. Visit laptop manufacturer site". And the laptop manufacturer site gives a link to a site that has absolutely nothing useful. Should I contact them via email, or is there a known method for installing new Catalysts on laptops?

[jr2]

Look for a workaround for your manufacturer on Google.  eg, "Dell ATi manufacturer driver workaround" or something.  There should be a way to do it, I've just heard a post from someone who supposedly did.  Ah, here we go... see if this has anything to help you: http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-19617.html

[Jeff Vader]

I'm a bit sceptic about that googling part since the manufacturer is Finnish and most of the time I can only find their products on different stores. So I think I'll try what they said behind that link. Thanks.

[jr2]

I got that link from Googling, except instead of "Dell" I put "OEM"   - which should work for general workarounds. 

[colecampbell666]

I tried doing it on my moms laptops. On her old Radeon 9000IGP, no can do - stuck at 6.11, on her new tablet - couldn't even find drivers on the NVidia site.

[Jeff Vader]

Maybe there's hope since I bought (meaning that daddy paid) this laptop in January, and the damn bugger has a Mobility Radeon X1600. Maybe not. But it never hurts to try. If I really **** something up, I always have RestoreIT.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Well I tried with 3.6.9 and there is no slow down.  Seems to just be a 3.6.10 thing for me.  I'll update drivers when I get time and see if that fixes the problem.