Video Card and frame rates

[NTJedi]

Daryll

A quick fix worked for me as I had the frame rates also moving as what you were seeing.

Go into display properties and set your color settings into 16-bit (true color). This worked for me and got the frames moving great !

[Darryl]

NTJedi: Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't work for me. 16bit and it still goes about 1.192fps.

Saber Cherry: Went out and got a Radeon 9200 - same results. It says it supports OpenGL and even has a spot for it in the "Display" properties but Dominions battles run at the same slow rate. So I take it Dominions battles only run with a high end Video card? Or should the Radeon 9200 be able to show battles faster?

P.S. - I've been determining my frame rates using "benchmark" in the demo. If this is inaccurate please let me know, although with how slow everything moves (I can 'see' each frame independent of the others) 1.2 fps seems about right.

[Psitticine]

I have a worn old Voodoo 2 card in my older machine. The framerates are just fine (15+ fps with fairly good quality settings) on that, so I don't think you need anything high-end. I don't know what the problem is!

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Darryl:
Saber Cherry: Went out and got a Radeon 9200 - same results. It says it supports OpenGL and even has a spot for it in the "Display" properties but Dominions battles run at the same slow rate. So I take it Dominions battles only run with a high end Video card? Or should the Radeon 9200 be able to show battles faster?

No, that should be fine, those are more modern than my video card. The only thing is this: Did you update the drivers? First, go to www.ati.com and download the latest drivers (probably Catalyst 3.9), then uninstall the existing drivers, reboot (it will probably install default VGA drivers), and then install the new drivers.

Want a full description of what I'd do in your shoes? Ok! This is what you should do for unexplained problems in any game, in general. It will probably help in every game and every application, ESPECIALLY if you haven't done any of them in a long time!

1) Run scandisk (in XP, c: drive > properties > tools > check for errors)

2) Defragment (same location)

3) Go to www.windowsupdate.com, and fully update your computer. This may take multiple attempts... I suggest doing XP Service PAck 1 and any Internet Explorer service packs, alone, before anything else. But after those are done, MAKE SURE you have the latest Direct X Version (9.0a? 9.1? I forget) and all the critical updates. You can skip things that sound stupid, like "gives your computer .NET platform development blah blah." or "Lets you make Windows Media 9 movies." Reboot.

4) Install new motherboard drivers. I assume you have a Via-based motherboard? If so, go to www.viaarena.com and download the latest 4-in-1 drivers (probably 4.50), and install them. Reboot twice (rebooting once finishes installation, the second time makes sure it boots normally).

5) Install new video drivers: First, go to www.ati.com and download the latest drivers (probably Catalyst 3.9), then uninstall the existing drivers, reboot (it will probably install default VGA drivers), and then install the new drivers. Reboot twice (rebooting once finishes installation, the second time makes sure it boots normally).

6) Install new sound card drivers. If you use onboard sound, Windows Update may provide this for you... otherwise, try the manufacturer. For SoundbLasters, go to www.creative.com. Reboot twice (rebooting once finishes installation, the second time makes sure it boots normally).

7) Run scandisk again.

8) Try playing the game.

I give this a 90% chance of eliminating the problem, but it will be a lot easier to solve if you try all this and there is still a problem, so please repost, if so! This is all stuff I would suggest even if you DIDN'T have any trouble, as it is good maintenance, and should be done quarterly, or bi-yearly at a minimum.

-Cherry

[Darryl]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
No, that should be fine, those are more modern than my video card. The only thing is this: Did you update the drivers? First, go to www.ati.com and download the latest drivers (probably Catalyst 3.9), then uninstall the existing drivers, reboot (it will probably install default VGA drivers), and then install the new drivers.

I'll try that.

1) Run scandisk (in XP, c: drive > properties > tools > check for errors)

Do this a couple times a week. No problems as of earlier tonight.

2) Defragment (same location)

My drives are pretty carved up (drive letters go up to "L") for optimization of the hard drive. The most fragmented any drive is is 1.7%.

3) Go to www.windowsupdate.com, and fully update your computer.

Always been pretty wary of this one since things have spontaneously stopped working after this in the past. Plus I'm using Win 98 due to a pro soundcard that STILL has crappy drivers for XP.

4) Install new motherboard drivers. I assume you have a Via-based motherboard?

WAAAY to lazy right now to go and turn the computer on it's side, although I'm not sure this is the issue. TV works fine (got a separate TV Tuner card) and other 3d games (like NBA live) work just fine.

5) Install new video drivers: First, go to www.ati.com and download the latest drivers (probably Catalyst 3.9)

I'll try this.

6) Install new sound card drivers. If you use onboard sound

I despise onboard sound. Got 2 sound cards, a SoundbLaster Live and a Delta-44 (for pro audio recording). Both work just fine. I also run Dominions with sound turned off, so this couldn't be slowing the game down if sound is off in the demo preferences.

7) Run scandisk again.

Granted, haven't run scandisk in a few hours...

8) Try playing the game.

Haven't tried the new video drivers, but one thing worked...sort of. Pressing "w" in the replay gives the "wireframe" and takes out the background, but the battle speeds up. I'll try the drivers and let you know.

Darryl

[Saber Cherry]

The motherboard drivers are very important! I would say... that's the second most important step, after video card drivers.

To check, just go to device manager: right-click on My Computer, and under one of those tabs, it lists all the hardware in your computer. It's different in 98, and I forget the exact wording of the tab.

In the list of hardware devices, expand "System Devices" and there should be things like "VIA AGP to CPU bridge", on a VIA chipset. For an AMD chipset, it might say "AMD Irongate 751 AGP bridge" or something. And, if you have a VIA chipset, I strongly suggest you update the drivers - even if it doesn't help the game, it prevents things like HDD data corruption... quite important! But these drivers are integrally linked to AGP and PCI bus efficiency, as well.

-Cherry

[Darryl]

Ok, updated video driver for the Radeon 9200, updated the driver for my VIA motherboard, ran scandisk over a dozen times (I run it everyday anyway) and updated with Windows update. I'm up to 1.566fps, and I think that's because I set the frame rate to "low as hell" or whatever the Last choice is in the demo.

Is there something I'm supposed to set in the "OpenGL" tab of the display for my video card? Or am I the only one that has it running so slow? The only way I can get a decent battle going is to press "w" in the battle screen, which gives me the wire frame. Of course it's extremely difficult to differentiate the units with a black background, but it does run faster. I end up toggling back and forth with the4 background so I can either differentiate the units OR see them move normally.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Other drivers maybe? I'm using Windows 98 if I didn't mention that before. Anyone have it running ok on 98?

Darryl