Fluctuating performance

[dcmetro]

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this; I was directed to the forums by the support team.

When I first started playing V3, the game got pretty slow by the 1860s or so, and I tended not to finish games. I realized later that I had my computer on power-saving mode; upon changing it to 'balanced' mode, the performance increased greatly, to the point where I could complete a full hundred years before the slowdown became really apparent. Recently, however, it changed back to the same slow speed as before. It wasn't a gradual change -- it was as if I put the computer back on power-saving mode, even though I didn't touch that or any other settings. Having played at the faster speed, I'm finding it frustrating to have to go back to the worse performance of before.

My task manager says I'm using 100% of my CPU while playing, but the windows Game Bar says I'm using less than half of my CPU and around half of my GPU power. However, both agree that I'm using about 55% of my RAM. It would make sense if I wasn't using all the processing power, but I don't know how to fix that.

Has anyone else had this issue, or something similar? And are there any other general tricks or mods besides reducing the graphics settings to increase performance? Thanks!

 

[AndrewT]

Right click on victoria3.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.
Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode, Vsync off, cap refresh rate at 60.


If those don't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/pdx_settings.json .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log

 

[dcmetro]

Right click on victoria3.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.
Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode, Vsync off, cap refresh rate at 60.


If those don't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/pdx_settings.json .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log

I tried these steps with the support, no luck. When I showed the support member those logs, he suggested downloading some C++ Microsoft libraries and running a Windows System File Checker scan to repair files; I did both of these and neither seemed to work. Sorry, should have included that in the initial post.

There are some errors, but I don't know if these are impacting performance. I haven't downloaded any mods or messed with the game files myself.

 

[AndrewT]

Those first errors are normal, everyone gets those. I don't know what all those last ones refer to though, you'd almost think that was a corrupted installation.

Please do a full clean re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-Vic3
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/Victoria3 AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3 folders - In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam Victoria3 or Documents Victoria3 locations, before installing again.
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add Victoria3.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.
- start the game with no mods active and test with a new unmodded campaign, NOT any existing one


If you get the same problem, please attach all those files I asked for - thanks.

 

[dcmetro]

Those first errors are normal, everyone gets those. I don't know what all those last ones refer to though, you'd almost think that was a corrupted installation.

Please do a full clean re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-Vic3
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/Victoria3 AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3 folders - In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam Victoria3 or Documents Victoria3 locations, before installing again.
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add Victoria3.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.
- start the game with no mods active and test with a new unmodded campaign, NOT any existing one


If you get the same problem, please attach all those files I asked for - thanks.

Tried this, still about the same speed. Files are attached.

 

[AndrewT]

While your Intel Xe Iris video system is above the minimum requirement of the Intel HD 630, it is still an integrated video system with almost no memory of its own, and the CPU does all the video work as well as the processing work. I imagine that is what is triggering this difference:

My task manager says I'm using 100% of my CPU while playing, but the windows Game Bar says I'm using less than half of my CPU and around half of my GPU power.

In fact there is no GPU involved.

Your 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 CPU is not much over the minimum requirement, the Intel® Core™ i3-3250 .

So I don't know there is a lot you and I can do about this. You can unload any other apps before starting the game, and reduce the game's video quality settings as much as you can stand. May as well check with Lenovo and intel for an update to the video driver.


As your Windows desktop is at 60hz, and Vsync will ne on, I imagine you won't be seeing fps over 60 in the game, is that right? We may as well check the temperatures though:

Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (not sure if it will display separately on not on your rig)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 30 minutes' play.
If your PC's vendor has given you no way of reading temperatures, install
SPEEDFAN http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

 

[dcmetro]

I installed an Intel graphics driver that I was apparently missing, though I'm not seeing any huge changes in performance.

Normal temp is around 40 degrees C, and it's at around 80 degrees C after about a half hour of playing.

I've attached the performance tab from the Intel Arc Control app that came with the driver download, not sure if it helps. I know my computer is capable of decent performance because I played three full games where the performance was noticeably better, I just have no idea what changed.

 

[AndrewT]

I installed an Intel graphics driver that I was apparently missing, though I'm not seeing any huge changes in performance.

You had a driver installed, but it was a year old - I was just suggesting seeing if there's a newer one for you. Is that what you refer to here, or a second different one?

Normal temp is around 40 degrees C, and it's at around 80 degrees C after about a half hour of playing.

I take it that is the CPU temp? If so, 80c is exactly where such problems start IME, so we do need to deal with that. The hardware starts throttling down the clock speed to save itself from overheating.
Is the game limited to 60 fps or less? It should be with the settings you have. If so, it should absolutely NOT be getting up to those temperatures!

Clean out all air vents it has (compressed air cans are good for this). Make sure airflow to them is not blocked by anything like walls, books or whatever.
If that doesn't drop the temps enough, you probably have a faulty fan or a heatsink/thermal paste problem. You may need professional help at that point.

 

[dcmetro]

You had a driver installed, but it was a year old - I was just suggesting seeing if there's a newer one for you. Is that what you refer to here, or a second different one?


I take it that is the CPU temp? If so, 80c is exactly where such problems start IME, so we do need to deal with that. The hardware starts throttling down the clock speed to save itself from overheating.
Is the game limited to 60 fps or less? It should be with the settings you have. If so, it should absolutely NOT be getting up to those temperatures!

Clean out all air vents it has (compressed air cans are good for this). Make sure airflow to them is not blocked by anything like walls, books or whatever.
If that doesn't drop the temps enough, you probably have a faulty fan or a heatsink/thermal paste problem. You may need professional help at that point.

I think I remember the fan getting really loud during the period when I was able to get good performance -- louder than it gets now, even when I've been playing for a while. Could that be the problem, that the fan isn't running at max speed for some reason? And if so, do you have any recommendation for how to fix that? It's otherwise unobstructed.

 

[AndrewT]

If your system is not running the fan up to top speed when it is overheating, either there's some setting adjustment needed in the bios, or something's faulty - the fan perhaps, or a temp sensor.