Performance Issues - Come on EgoSoft...really?

[Prax]

I have some minor issues I would like to post here, along with a request for EgoSoft.

RIG:
QX9650
Striker II Extreme
4GB RAM
Dual-SLI 9800GTX 512MB
4x500GB 32MB Cache SATA2 RAID 0+1
Crysis = No FPS Issues, No Stutters, No HDD Lag

Issues:

-Poor framerates in combat / cloudbase SE / several other sectors
-Constant lockups in busy sectors w/ lots of textures

Solution:

Textures - Medium


So far the only solution I can find is the lower the textures to Medium..but then you lose out on a lot of the brilliance of the games look and feel.

Now I personally find this unacceptable for a new(ish) game.

Reasons for the Problem:

- Too much HDD access. Even with RAID 0+1 the game will occasionally lock up in order to read the hard drive. This is because the game is not 64-bit and cannot utilize more than ~1.5 GB of RAM at one time causing the game to have to constantly load and re-load textures from the Hard drive / swap file. Come on! Even HL2 has 64-bit support.

- No Multi-Core Support. I mean really? Come on! Even the developers are saying that for this game the cpu can become a bottleneck. Well then please program the game to support multi-core so that we don't have to all run O/C to 4.5GHz just to play a game.

In my view, this game could be so much better.

Egosoft, this is a fantatic game, one of the only ones I haven't stopped playing after 2 days.

I ask, please update your game to support multi-CPU and 64-bit so that the game can be enjoyed in all its graphical bliss and glory.

Thank you.

[palm911]

upgrade your videocards
ican use high settings on my system

qx9650
8gb patriot ddr3 1600mhz
790i sli (evga)
2x GTX280 (evga)
4x raptors 150gb raid 0
i could not run this game in max setting with 1 GTX 280 so i added the second one.

so far its playable but at 25-35 FPS in combat situations.

terran space 19 FPS.

but i say, there is a problem, such an old engine putting a system like this to its knees.. hmm

[ezra-r]

Add me to the request, I also ask for this.

It is a must for such a demanding game.

I was sadly surprised when it was released and saw no "multi-core" sticky in the game.

[CBJ]

Sorry, but there is simply no way to just add 64-bit or multi-core support into a game engine that isn't designed with those things in mind.

If you are having performance problems then feel free to post the information requested in the very first thread in this forum in the existing performance thread that best matches the symptoms you're experiencing.

[Prax]

Also, I disabled SLI and did not see any measureable FPS change between having SLI on or Off.

I get about the same framerates as your GTX 280s, The thing is that I know the video cards aren't limiting it because they aren't even heating up much. Compared to Crysis where my GPUs run at ~68-70 degrees, this game barely even bumps me passed 56 (51 Idle).

I just ran some tests, and the primary performance issue is that the CPU core that the game is using is maxed out, causing the game to slow to a crawl.

The HDD access time was low, the GPU was hardly being used, but the one core that the game has access to was maxed out (30% max CPU usage while playing the game, consistantly maxed out with small dips)

The only thing thats gonna fix this game is 64-bit and multi-core support.

[Prax]

Sorry, but there is simply no way to just add 64-bit or multi-core support into a game engine that isn't designed with those things in mind.

Well perhaps that should have been taken into consideration before trying to improve things on an old outdated engine. Would you Turbo-Charge a Pinto? Probably not, although I am sure it has been done.

As for your offer for further support, thank you, but you know as well as I do that no amount of support will make this game run any better. The game is limiting its own performance on anyones multi-core machine with 4+ GB of RAM and/or 512MB-1GB of Video RAM.

The only other way would be to attempt to "cut the fat" from the code and make it more efficient, but I am guessing that since the engine is old, thats already been done.

It might not be easy to add 64-bit support and/or multi-core support, but really you have to ask yourselves, are you making games to make GREAT games, or just to make games?

Good Luck. Hopefully you guys re-write your engine prior to another release. At least its semi-playable.

[Snatcher42]

There must be some sort of bug here, because why include a setting unplayable on all hardware due to limitations of the engine? If that's the case, they should have just made "medium" textures the maximum option.

[munkor]

Sorry, but there is simply no way to just add 64-bit or multi-core support into a game engine that isn't designed with those things in mind.

with this in mind, and knowing that people with far superior pc's are having the same problems as I, it seems the bottlenecks/freezes from overloaded CPU (singular) will never get worked around.

I didnt pay 30£ for a brand new game, to play it on Medium textures (so it looks WORSE than two/three year old Reunion) when I know full well my pc is capable of better

I am inclined to get a refund at this point.

Sorry Egosoft, you disappoint me.

[BugMeister]

- have you tried the ReadyBoost option..??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

[Little]

*HDD loading
*Seta Lag
*Combat mini - freezes

we're all experiencing performance issues. All of us.

seriously though, shouting refund is going a bit far and it does little but get peoples backs up. and the people on this forum are awesome; as are the germans that somehow managed to create this entire thing from an idea.

The point: It's dawned on myself and a couple of others that a large number of the common problems such as the three above, are showing signs of being a result of the tiniest glitches in AI behaviour or scrpiting. (See AI clustering around gates???) But Thats a good thing.

Because that means its fixable...

And history here shows that Egosoft has fixed things that are fixable. I remember Reunion lagged like you wouldnt believe on this very same machine. Its now perfect... granted it took like 8 patches to get there though!

[(----____JEFF____----)]

There must be some sort of bug here, because why include a setting unplayable on all hardware due to limitations of the engine? If that's the case, they should have just made "medium" textures the maximum option.

Sorry to pop your bubble, but take a look at Crysis. There was no pc that could run the game at full settings and even todays average pc has trouble running it. So there is no reason to take out a very high option if todays pc's can't run it.

That said though, Egosoft should really try to find a way to cut down the memory usage. I know only a few games that reach over 1,5Gb ram usage and sadly X3:TC is one of them.

[Snatcher42]

Sorry to pop your bubble, but take a look at Crysis. There was no pc that could run the game at full settings and even todays average pc has trouble running it. So there is no reason to take out a very high option if todays pc's can't run it.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: all hardware, current or future. There are PCs out now that run Crysis just fine, but if the starter of this thread is correct, then X3:TC will never run correctly due to the limitations of it's own engine. It would need to be re-writen to take advantage of that future hardware. Why include a setting that is functionally broken, and always will be? Of course I don't actually believe this is the case, that's my point. There must be a bug or some other issue at play.

[Manddrack]

- have you tried the ReadyBoost option..??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

well when i see his computer he should be able to play ALL max without having framerate issue, i don't think ready boot in his case will really do anything.

Sorry, but there is simply no way to just add 64-bit or multi-core support into a game engine that isn't designed with those things in mind.

i have to agree that adding multicore support to a soft that wasn't designed with that in mind is impossible without rewriting the whole code, however add 64 bits isn't impossible and could allow the computer to use more than 2 GB of ram making the game faster, this could be an optional patch.

But yes i can understand that then you would have 2 game to support making this not really manageable

[(----____JEFF____----)]

Sorry, I should have been more specific: all hardware, current or future. There are PCs out now that run Crysis just fine, but if the starter of this thread is correct, then this game will never run correctly due to the limitations of it's own engine. Why include a setting that is functionally broken, and always will be? Of course, I do not believe this is the case, that's my point. There must be a bug or some other issue at play.

I agree with you on that one That's why I said the thing about the memory usage, I only get slowdown when it gets above 1,5Gb or so. I think there still is a memory leak somewhere or perhaps it's just poor management, either way there has to be a way to cut down that usage.

[CBJ]

Once again, this is the Tech Support forum. If you want to discuss whether or not you are happy with the game then please use the main X-Universe forum (there's even a thread there for people who are "disappointed"). If you want technical help with your game then post the information requested in the very first thread in this forum, though there are already a couple of decent threads for people with performance issues which include a number of suggestions and also some useful feedback on the specifics of those problems.

[Poobah]

I'm kinda bemused. I'm seeing you both posting about systems costing easily in excess of a thousand pounds and the game still isn't smooth? I'm playing with a single 2.5 gig processor a gig of ram and a graphics card below the minimum requirements and I can get things going O-Kay, even kill stuff in combat.

It ain't 60fps or anything but it's playable as long as I don't look at those horribly over-compensatingly ginormic terran buildings. I won't be entering any large scale combats or anything without an upgrade but still, I was impressed with the fact that I could get the game running.

I'm planning to buy a whole new computer around christmas and was rather hoping to get some awesome preformance for my capitol investment. There's no chance in hell I'm going to splash out on a GTX 280 or 8 gigs of ram, a quad core or any of that - your system is miles outside of my budget Palm. This thread and others are really making me concerned that I may well be wasting my money if people like you with great systems can't manage to get great preformance

[smbh]

Did you try editing the exe to be LAA ? I did it on mine, no stability issues so far, eats up to 2.4Gb RAM and is much smoother in regard to hd access. Granted I still have what I think is crap FPS on my 4870x2 but this game seems to favor fast CPUs so there's not much more I can do for it.

[BugMeister]

- must admit the regular start on my humble PC isn't good - there's something about those textures..

- a start as Humble Trader puts you in at the original X-Universe - which I reckon runs a bit better..

- I've deliberately avoided the Terran sectors so far due to performance issues

- but the new sectors to the south around Pontifex's Seclusion seem to be OK

- I'll try another start using the normal game, when the fixes start to arrive..

[ezra-r]

Sorry, but there is simply no way to just add 64-bit or multi-core support into a game engine that isn't designed with those things in mind.

If you are having performance problems then feel free to post the information requested in the very first thread in this forum in the existing performance thread that best matches the symptoms you're experiencing.

/me cries

[Poobah]

- must admit the regular start on my humble PC isn't good - there's something about those textures..

- a start as Humble Trader puts you in at the original X-Universe - which I reckon runs a bit better..

- I've deliberately avoided the Terran sectors so far due to performance issues

Yeah, its the huge high res terran buildings that are super nasty. I don't play in terran space with my under specifications system, though I chose the Terran start after a little experimentation, I got the hell out of dodge double time.