Why does Dom 2 take up so much resources on my computer?

[Gandalf Parker]

I have multiple start-up icons for dominions. Two of them seem to apply here. One runs all the pretty stuff and another that turns all that off. No animations, no fades, low sound, no music, low graphics (there are multiple settings for this so go as low as you can stand it). For some reason, running in a windowed mode seems to help also. There is a file with all the switches. Should be
"C:\Program Files\dominions2\doc\command_line_switches.txt"

Plus in WinXP you can also set the icon to run in a "mode" and to limit the amount of memory the program gets. It lets you decide if you would rather feel the limitation in that particular program, but have the resources available to others.

right-click the Dom2 icon.
copy it
right-click a blank spot and paste it (paste, not paste shortcut)
right-click the new icon and edit the preferences

[ July 05, 2004, 15:08: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Ragnarok-X]

bad coding would be my guess...

[Thilock_Dominus]

I don't know if this would help you. It won't fix any problems, but it might get Dominions to run a little better.

In the Dominions folder (eg. C:/program files/Dominion2) make a new notepad file, rename it 'Run Dom2' then save it as a .bat[i/] file instead [i].txt file.
Now Edit the 'Run Dom2.bat' file
Write: start /ABOVENORMAL Dom2.exe
Then save it.
Make a shortcut to the desktop of Dom2.bat
Start Dominion2 through Dom2.bat


Thilock

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Ragnarok-X:
bad coding would be my guess...

heehee compared to what? How many games dont bother to NOT take all the resources it can get.
Its always ben up to the machine owner to create false ceilings for things you dont want to run as if it owns the whole machine.

[tinkthank]

Thanks much.

It is CPU which it is "eating" (according to the "task manager").

(When battles run, I could care less about fps, it always seems fine.)

Gandalf, I do not understand what you mean by right click it and edit the preferences. When I right click that little icon, what exactly should I do? (I do not know what a "mode" is, sorry.)

EDIT: I'd like to restress here that I notice ZERO problems whatsoever on my crappy little notebook running Windows 98 SE, so I bet it is some yucky Windows problem....
EDIT 2: This is windows 2000, not XP, if that makes a difference

[ July 05, 2004, 17:31: Message edited by: tinkthank ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Im not sure what you see when you right-click the icon. With WinXP I can see the line which calls dom2.exe and add switches on the line.

I also can select a mode such as telling it to run in Win98se mode (this gives it a Win98se environment to run in)