Game run really slow at later stages

[tuore]

In the long run Paradox will get a bad reputation for being the company selling slow laggy games...

No, they won't. I imagine they'll do a few expansions to their games, then they'll do the next-gen engine, which will support multicore.
And strange, GTA 4 and the EFLC expansions were one of the worst optimized games I've ever played, and yet Rockstar is considered as an awesome game maker. But maybe it isn't correct to compare Rockstar to Paradox.

[webbrave]

Yes, a definite game-killer for me. It is almost manageable when you are at peace, but during war or when you have to put down multi rebellions I am really close to demanding my money back (this despite the fact that, slowness aside, this is a great game!). And, the sad thing is, don't think this is something that can addressed in a patch.

[Sovetskysoyuz]

People who are experiencing lag: what speed are you running the game at?

I use the middle setting, dropping to one below it during wars (to avoid missing something). I've made it past 1900, and the lag doesn't seem noticeably worse than it was in 1850 and can always be fixed by alt-tabbing out of the game, then alt-tabbing back in. Britain just DOWed the US, and I didn't notice much of a slowdown even though they have 1400 brigades to play with.

2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
GeForce 9600M
Win XP

(i.e. my computer is just a bit above the minimum requirements)

[webbrave]

People who are experiencing lag: what speed are you running the game at?

I use the middle setting, dropping to one below it during wars (to avoid missing something).

I am trying to play at maximum. Are you suggesting it will be faster if I move to slower speed? Seems a bit counterintuitive.

[Sovetskysoyuz]

I am trying to play at maximum. Are you suggesting it will be faster if I move to slower speed? Seems a bit counterintuitive.

It won't be faster, but it will be less laggy. Your computer, like anyone's, can only do so much work per unit time. With the game at maximum speed, the CPU is tripping over itself trying to spew out numbers, and is too busy to update the interface properly or accept new commands without lagging. Playing at slower speeds, the game will take longer per day than at max speed, but the interface will be much smoother and the game will be more responsive.

Of course, most of my playtime has been with GPs, where there's always two or three things to be doing. If you're playing a smaller nation, I could see playing on slower settings becoming boring.

[Yzzycz]

People who are experiencing lag: what speed are you running the game at?

I use the middle setting, dropping to one below it during wars (to avoid missing something). I've made it past 1900, and the lag doesn't seem noticeably worse than it was in 1850 and can always be fixed by alt-tabbing out of the game, then alt-tabbing back in. Britain just DOWed the US, and I didn't notice much of a slowdown even though they have 1400 brigades to play with.

2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
GeForce 9600M
Win XP

(i.e. my computer is just a bit above the minimum requirements)

Well i'm using E6600 2.4@3.0/ EVGA 460 GTX/ 6GB RAM/ and i run it at speed of two arrows. It was unplayable at the end but i finished it

[Doppelsoldner]

It works pretty well until about 1850's... At this point, it goes from good to really bad within about a minute. Have any of you had this problem?

EVGA 8400 GS
E4500 Intel
3 Gig DDR2

[Blxz]

Same here, I think its to do with some big wars breaking out worldwide. I find that it tends to improve after a bit. And sometimes slowing the speed down makes it less jerky and more playable while running at essentially the same speed.

[Van Diemen]

Also later in the game, there tend to be more military units active and sometimes also some more countries. Furthermore as the pops grow and move across the globe they tend to require some additional calculations (not to mention the industrial expansion).

[rmdsc]

That really depends on what you consider mainstream. At that point new mid to high end computers were dual core, I consider that to be mainstream. Designing an engine which was to be used going forward at that point should have allowed for multicore processors.

IIRC the engine was developed quite a while before the first Core 2 Duos were released. I don't think it's reasonable to call dual cores mainstream before that.

[Iwin123]

It isn't so bad for me. I think paradox should decrease maximum speed so the interface is less laggy.

[Crerar]

We can only wait and hope Paradox can optimise Vicky like what they did for HoI3. Although, your descriptions sound really bad; I'm on a 4 year old machine and it doesn't feel like it gets that slow.

They fixed HOI3?! I played it for about an agonizing 20 minutes before I left the game for good. Then I went back to playing Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 on full settings.

[Van Diemen]

They fixed HOI3?! I played it for about an agonizing 20 minutes before I left the game for good. Then I went back to playing Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 on full settings.

We all know that paradox games are pretty demanding (if you want to play on decent speed later in the game) on the CPU. Mass Effect 2, eventhough it is a demanding game doesn't require the CPU as intensive compared to Victoria II for example and relies more on the GPU. Also most games that were made with newer engines benefit from multiple core processors, paradox games made with the Clauswitz engine still don't.

But, yeah they did improve HoI3 considerably performance wise, though in most cases that improvement was due to fixing memory leaks and removal of unnecessary AI diplomacy and trade frequencies. Though for Victoria II I don't have high hopes that the game can improve further. It is currently very stable, might contain a few memory leaks but nothing compared to HoI3 and it seems that game only needs to have a more active AI in future patches, demanding yet more from the processor. I would already be pretty satisfied if they can improve the AI further without adding additional performance issues.

[Hagie Sophia]

Bah, Paradox games always slow down the further along they get. That's par for the course. It's to be expected. If you can't handle it, don't play Paradox games.

Now, having said that, there are some things that will help. I have also noticed that the next to highest speed setting runs a little smoother, so that's something you can do. I have also noticed that marathon play sessions don't help...so take a break, exit to desktop, go get a drink, reboot and things should be running much smoother. Also, I'm sure Paradox will come out with a few fixes here and there, tweaking performance. I have also gone back and played older games, such as Vic1 and CK on newer machines and they do run quite a bit smooother.

With games as complex as Paradox puts out, I'm more amazed that they run at all, at any speed. The sheer amount of data processed is mind boggling. Pop demands, moving AI armies around, calculating daily fluctuations in tax revenue, calculating interest on loans, deciding whether to pop a random event today or tomorrow, managing the world market, etc etc etc etc. All of these games, from EU1 to Victoria to Crusader Kings to EU3 to Vic2 are probably some of the most sophisticated and complex world models that have ever been put out, outside of government think tanks doing weather system simulations on IBM super computers or something. And they run on standard home PCs. That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.

[The_Tom]

There's a simple fix here.

Problem solved for me. No noticable lag as of 1903.

[minusthedrifter]

I am trying to play at maximum

Whoa. No wonder people have already played through several games! Ive played at the slowest speed since day one, and I'm still on my first game.

/offtopic

[Doppelsoldner]

Bah, Paradox games always slow down the further along they get. That's par for the course. It's to be expected. If you can't handle it, don't play Paradox games.

Now, having said that, there are some things that will help. I have also noticed that the next to highest speed setting runs a little smoother, so that's something you can do. I have also noticed that marathon play sessions don't help...so take a break, exit to desktop, go get a drink, reboot and things should be running much smoother. Also, I'm sure Paradox will come out with a few fixes here and there, tweaking performance. I have also gone back and played older games, such as Vic1 and CK on newer machines and they do run quite a bit smooother.

With games as complex as Paradox puts out, I'm more amazed that they run at all, at any speed. The sheer amount of data processed is mind boggling. Pop demands, moving AI armies around, calculating daily fluctuations in tax revenue, calculating interest on loans, deciding whether to pop a random event today or tomorrow, managing the world market, etc etc etc etc. All of these games, from EU1 to Victoria to Crusader Kings to EU3 to Vic2 are probably some of the most sophisticated and complex world models that have ever been put out, outside of government think tanks doing weather system simulations on IBM super computers or something. And they run on standard home PCs. That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Agreed. My PC is only about 2007 worthy and I just found out that my GPU was malfunctioning and causing the game to slow down. Not surprizingly, it was a marathon run. And probobly overheated the card.

Still, I agree completely, these guys know how to program a game, and I think how CPU intensive these games are, I'm amazed that they play at all as well.

Also surprizing is the fact that it is in RTS format rather than TBS, which also slows the game down.

Long live Paradox Interactive!

[Nachtwesen]

Sadly I have that problem lately with Victoria II and the WIP Mod. I player over 100 years and now the game runs extremly slow. Its sad :/

[Thracian]

disk defrag helps a little (but only a little)

[RedRalphWiggum]

Do not necro. Also, if your post is about a mod then make it in the appropriate sub-forum.