[bigchunk1]

I can't say exactly when it happened, but in the past week my performance runing freespace took a massive hit. Every game I play, no matter the mod, no matter the build seems to end up being a slide show. Individial frames at times take more than a second at a time, it's horendus and unplayable.

I checked my c drive and there appears to be plenty of storage in there. All other games I play run smooth as silk. Progress seemed to slump ever since I downloaded that shadow build. I can't blame it though, because things ran fairly smooth until the time I played after that.

I played using retail and here's the debug log. It's 'Surrender Belisarius!' I fly around for a minute or so and then quit.

If there's anything I could do to fix this issue please let me know! I... must... freespace!

[niffiwan]

This might be too recent to be the cause, but perhaps this should be in its own mod folder?  Or at least removed from your base fs2 directory?

Code: [Select]

Found root pack 'C:\Games-2\Freesace2  - 3.6.12\FreeSpace2\sathanas_bobbtmann_4096.vp' with a checksum of 0x5beeef1e


[bigchunk1]

Probably right, but the issue persists without it.

[niffiwan]

Hmmm... do you have any extra *.sdr files installed under data/effects?  I think the shadows build needed some new *.sdr files, perhaps they are the cause somehow?  I don't have any other ideas...

[The E]

Have you tried updating the driver? Seems you're using a somewhat old version of the Catalyst pack.

[bigchunk1]

I found some .sdr files lying in the mediavps folder as well as updated my drivers. I don't know which one it was, but things are up and runing now. Thanks a bunch!

[bigchunk1]

Hmm... ok. I thought this problem went away but it's back now. I want to blame battlefield3 for this but i'm not positive. It seems when I update my drivers the problem goes away... until the next time I play battlefield3. Do you think bf3 'optimises' my graphics card thus screwing how it behaves with all other games?

[jr2]

1) Create system restore point

2) Play BF3

3) Do System Restore

If the problem disappears after system restore, I'd say it's either BF3 or perhaps your GFX card software optimizing itself for BF3, then not reverting to default settings when another program uses it.

Bonus, I don't think doing a system restore will kill your game progress.

[Aardwolf]

Maybe your computer is overheating, and activates CPU-throttling? Happens to me whenever I play certain games.

[bigchunk1]

Now I'm certain battlefield3 causes problems for freespace2. When I play bf3 and play freespace2 afterward I get the choppy framerate, but after I reinstall latest drivers the problem goes away. It's a hassle to go between bf3 and freespace2 but at least it's workable. Before I play freespace2 I just need to reinstall the latest drivers. I bookmarked the page to the latest drivers on my graphics card.

[jr2]

Hmm, FWIW you could of course save the file to your desktop to save on download time.

[Parias]

Sounds like it's just a memory leak or anomalous unload condition from BF3. But you've tried simply rebooting rather than going for a full-blown driver reinstall each time, yes?

[bigchunk1]

It's not a memory issue as restarting the machine fixes nothing. I think bf3 just fudges some of the driver settings when I run the program.

[Aardwolf]

What about my CPU-is-overheating theory?

[KyadCK]

What about my CPU-is-overheating theory?

Not only would a restart fix that, just closing out of BF3 would fix it, CPU overheating only throttles the CPU untill it cools down again. Which in the computer world, is pretty much the instant the load goes away.

[jr2]

...unless there's a nice, thick layer of dust by the CPU heatsink insulating the CPU and keeping nice 'n toasty...

[KyadCK]

...unless there's a nice, thick layer of dust by the CPU heatsink insulating the CPU and keeping nice 'n toasty...

When you have enough dust to have the CPU idle at 62C+, let me know. That's the throttle point on an AMD, Intel is even higher, and laptop CPUs even higher then that.

Besides, if a driver reinstall fixes it then this line of logic is, well, illogical.

[Aardwolf]

Not only would a restart fix that

You assume he has tried restarting. Maybe he's just skipped to "drivers need reinstalling" every time.

Which in the computer world, is pretty much the instant the load goes away.

No it's not. When my laptop overheats from playing games, it doesn't get back to normal speed for a few minutes. Do we know how much time has elapsed between playing BF3 and playing FS2?

Edit: Ok he said he has tried restarting it. Usually for me that fixes CPU-throttling too. Bleh.

[KyadCK]

Not only would a restart fix that

You assume he has tried restarting. Maybe he's just skipped to "drivers need reinstalling" every time.

Which in the computer world, is pretty much the instant the load goes away.

No it's not. When my laptop overheats from playing games, it doesn't get back to normal speed for a few minutes. Do we know how much time has elapsed between playing BF3 and playing FS2?

Edit: Ok he said he has tried restarting it. Usually for me that fixes CPU-throttling too. Bleh.

Then take a can of air to it, if your cpu (even in a laptop) is overheating to the point of throttling (even at 100% load) then there is something wrong. If has been doing this forever and ever since you got it, then you got a bad laptop and should look into replacing it if at all possible.

Seriously, think about it for a moment... Your cpu is designed for a certain speed, and if when going at that speed has to slow down, something is not right.

[jr2]

Is it an eMachines?  They are always revving up the fan, and IMHO, they prolly have insufficient heatsink thermal transfer capability.  Perhaps after trying everything else, replace your heatsink / fan with a nice aftermarket one.