[griffon67]

Hi,
Since I reinstalled the game on my new computer, I'm having little problem playing.
When I play I have small freezes every 1-3 seconds. I checked the box to see my FPS in game and then noticed then during less than 0.1sec it shows me 40 FPS while the rest of the time i have 60. It don't prevent me from playing but it's quite annoying to play a game when it's not fluid.

for information I'm running under Vista,
with 2Go RAM
dual Core processor (more informations this afternoon)
Geforce 8600GS

I also noticed than turning off mediavps and all graphics at the lowest made these freezes less frequent but they were still there.
Rebooting my computer make these freeze disappear for 1-2 missions, they reappear after that.

does someone have any idea where it could come from ?
Thanks in advance

[Jeff Vader]

You might want to check the core affinity. FreeSpace might have performence issues if it is run on more than one core.

[ShadowGorrath]

Are you running on OpenGL ? And try switching off those counters, like the FPS one.

[griffon67]

I'm using OpenGL config.
I have these freeze even with the lowest configuration possible (without counters etc.....) in the launcher's features tab

how can freespace be run more than once when I reboot my computer and launch it just once ? could it store something in the memory during missions ?
curiously, when I put the maximum config option (even with antialiasing) i still have freeze each 1-3sec, I though it would be unplayable but it's the same. Could it be that it's not hardware related ?

Could a bad vista config do something like that ? (yeah I know I should install XP or linux)

[Jeff Vader]

Ihow can freespace be run more than once when I reboot my computer and launch it just once ? could it store something in the memory during missions ?

Nonono. What I meant is that since you have a dual-core processor, FSO may be running on both cores. And that can cause slowdows. Fiddling it to run on only one core just might help. Do the following: start up FreeSpace, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del (and possibly do something else in addition) to bring up the Task Manager. Open the Processes tab, find the fs2_open_whatever.exe, right-click it, select Set affinity. On the window that opens, tick Processor 1 on and Processor 0 off, for example. Hit OK and resume the game.

There was some software that could be used to permanently assign certain processes to certain cores but can't remember where to get it.

[griffon67]

when I disable one of the core in the task manager i get 30-40 FPS in game (which is unplayable).
more ideas ?

I'm using a 3.6.9 build

[colecampbell666]

Update your drivers.

[MP-Ryan]

Turn on Vsync.

And 30-40 fps should not be unplayable.  60 is optimal, but 30 fps is certainly useable, particularly in SP.

[colecampbell666]

Turn on Vsync.

And 30-40 fps should not be unplayable.  60 is optimal, but 30 fps is certainly useable, particularly in SP.

I get like 20 FPS and I can play fine. Of course I've had time to acclimatise...

[griffon67]

I tried D3D instead of openGL and I can play full detail (even with antialiasing) without a single freeze (60FPS), but then I have some graphical bugs whenever I pause the game :/
is there smething special about OpenGL on vista ? is there a bugfix for D3D ?

[colecampbell666]

NONONO! D3D is not supported by FSO anymore, it leads to a host of problems, including the bugs you experienced.

If at all possible, use OpenGL.

Try different GPU drivers.

[griffon67]

until I find my problem with OpenGL I have no choice than using D3D :/ these small bugs in D3D are nothing compared to my problems with OpenGL.
I'm currently looking for solution, if I find one,I'll post it.

[colecampbell666]

Okay.

[ShadowGorrath]

Try to disable the . . . cooler ? Or whatever it is. Dunno why, but it increases performance on my friend's laptop.

[griffon67]

disable the cooler of the graphic card Oo ? or another component inside the computer Oo ? that's a bit risky isn't it ?
I'm trying to reinstall completely my graphic card, we'll see if it fix the problem.

[colecampbell666]

I wouldn't listen to Shadow, he doesn't seem to be to sure of what he's talking about.

Did you try the drivers?

[ShadowGorrath]

I don't think I'm sure myself. Once I get back, I'll ask my friend on what exactly to do.

[Jeff Vader]

Let's just say that if you disable a component called cooler from a computer, something will most likely burn.

[griffon67]

reinstalled latest drivers from nvidia, no changes :/
I'm trying to resintall the whole game (3.6.9 version)

[Jeff Vader]

Before you do that, you might want to try a newer build.