X3TC - X3AP - Menu Lag and Stuttering [Fixed by change of OS]

[Sinxar]

DXDiag @ Pastebin.com

Hello. I have been having issues with X3:TC and X3:AP. I am getting extreme menu 'lag' or stuttering. It only occurs with the maps (sector and universe) and menus such as station ware list where you can select items with the mouse.

I recently built a new PC (i7-4790k, 16GB DDR3-1600, R9 280 3GB, Asus z97-E) in hopes the problem would just go away. This also happened with my old setup (Phenom II X4 820, 8GB DDR3-1333, R9 280). The new PC has helped the issue a lot but these games are still very difficult to play with this problem as there is a lot of menu use in the games as you know.

I have tried various things from putting a DLL file in with the game (Worked on Vista, does not work on anything newer - causes the launcher to crash) to using a tweak tool to unlock the framerate and override options not normally exposed (this worked but had to be retweaked every time I wanted to play for some reason and caused new issues).

I went so far as to installing Vista onto an old SSD just to play X3 but switching OSs got old real quick.

I have been reporting this issue to AMD since I first encountered it (aprox July 2014) an nothing has yet been done.

Is there anything I can do to play my beloved X3 games again other than buy a nvidia graphics card?

BTW X3:Reunion is unaffected by this problem.

[Informer]

Hi,

I had the same problem, also I have almost the same system as you.
The only thing that solved the problem for me was the program RadeonPro.
Download this version of RadeoPro, older versions doesn't work for you card.
http://www.radeonpro.info/2013/11/new-b ... -r-series/

I copy/paste the instructions from the original tread for you (thanks to dome123) (link: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=367380)
Follow these instructions and you won't believe how fast you in-game menus going, and also the lag in the in-game maps are gone. (if you building a station for a example.)
Hope this helps. Let me hear if you still have any questions.

Instructions:

Create a profile for the x3ap.exe , just click the tab with the green cross in it at top middle and browse down to your x3ap.exe. I use steam so mine is in d:\steamapps\coomon\x3 terren conflict\x3ap.exe. Yours is probably on the c: disk somewhere.

Ok now click the Tweaks tab. Tick the "Lock Frame rate to monitors refresh rate". Change the "Display refresh" rate from 0 to (Your display rate) 60hz most monitors display at this but some do not so go into windows display properties and check yours if you are not sure.

Move down to Misc Tweaks. Tick Disable Aero, Tick Force Process High Priority. Untick Cpu 0, Cpu 1 Cpu 3, leave Cpu 2 ticked ( There are reasons for this , Don't complain JUST DO IT SOLDIER!) if you have 2 cores then just leave cpu 1 ticked , if you are lucky a enough to have 8 then untick 7 of them making sure that cpu 0 is one of the unticked ones.

Now this should fix your menu problem however as I'm a don't touch it when its fixed kinda guy, I can't say for sure that these are the tweaks that fixed it only probably are in my opinion. So I'll tell you what else I change just in case I'm wrong, either way the changes i have made where to improve game performance so it can't hurt to do the same. (I take no responsibility for damaged software or hardware as a result of this post Wink)

So ... moving on , click the visual tab. Tick Anti-Aliasing drill down the box to Override application setting and select 8xEQ .... woooowa ! if you have a powerful card like 290x then 8xEQ , if you have an older card just set it to 2xEQ you can always set it higher later. Remember fix Menus first !

Now tick the Anisotropic Filtering box and select 16x ......... or lower if you have a older card, like maybe 4x to be on the safe side.

Tick the Tessellation Control and slide the the bar one slot along to "Application controls Tessellation Factor" ... not AMD Optmized.

Lastly tick the Vertical sync Control box and move slider to "Always off".

And that's all folks!! Hope it works for your menus too, and also I hope it speeds up your game a bit as it has for me.

[Sinxar]

I have tried this in the past and again just now for good measure. It does nothing.

[Alan Phipps]

"I have tried various things from putting a DLL file in with the game (Worked on Vista, does not work on anything newer .."

Putting the Catalyst 12.8 version of atiumdag.dll into my Steam X3TC gamefolder solved all my menu and map stutters with X3TC/AP using Win7 x64 and the later AMD drivers. It worked fine for me but then I have a Radeon HD6870 and not a R9 series card. That may be the problem as with here.

[Sinxar]

Yes I have tried that as well. In fact before posting I did what you said and put it in the 'addon' folder first to see if that worked. It didn't. Putting it in the main folder (with the game executable) causes the launcher to crash.

I have tried downgrading as far as I can. To the point of manually installing drivers that are incompatible with my graphics card (12.1 -> 13.4 WHQL versions).

It is technically possible the DLL is corrupt, but it seems unlikely multiple versions from different drivers and different OSs (and different PCs) would all be corrupt with the digital signature intact.

This isn't the first time I've tried to fix it. I've been working on it since I first found out about it (when i got the new gfx card). Was hoping somebody knew the ultimate fix or Egosoft would fix their game or AMD would fix their drivers.

Since none of those things are true, are there any other options other than using a separate install of Vista or buy a Nvidia graphics card?

[Informer]

I had the same problems with the old driver and dll solution. I find out this solution is not working for the new R amd cards.

Are you sure you did use the latest Radeonpro version? Because if not, it will not solve the problem. Only the latest Radeonpro is compatible with your card and will solve the problem.

Also when you configure the CPU in RadeonPro, what CPU did you use?
the best result in my case I did get was, when I picked CPU 2.

Hope this helps.

[Sinxar]

Turns out it is a Windows issue apparently. I finally broke down and bought Windows 8 x64 (was using Windows 10).

It now works flawlessly with the same hardware and same drivers with no tweaking needed. An expensive solution but it is still cheaper than buying a new graphics card.

Can finally enjoy some X3 again with the side effect of having a properly working updated OS.