Extreme Lag on New PC

[heychrisfox]

I recently got a new computer, and tried to play some Stellaris, but I'm experiencing extreme lag. Once I get to the menu, the game lags and stutters nonstop. Even lowering the settings to their lowest doesn't help. I thought it might just be an issue with the menus, but it persists into the actual game. I've never had this problem before on my old rig (770 GPU, WIN 8). My new rig is a lot more advanced, so it's bizarre to me that it's experiencing any problems at all.

I've tried uninstalling mods, uninstalling the game and reinstalling, and switching which drive the game was installed to. Also GPU is fully updated, as is Windows. No luck in any regard.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
____________

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz 3.79 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Installed RAM: 32.0 GB (31.9 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

 

[AndrewT]

Our similar game Crusader Kings 2 is now free to play on Steam - does it have the same problem?

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/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log .

 

[heychrisfox]

I checked on Crusader Kings 2, and does indeed have similar issues throughout the menus.

Here are the related files. Thanks again.

 

[AndrewT]

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.


Also Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (GPU)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 10 minutes' play.
If your PC's vendor has given you no way of reading temperatures, install
SPEEDFAN http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

 

[heychrisfox]

Here is the DXDIAG report, as well as the CPU and GPU reports.

CPU before game startup: 43C
CPU After 10 minutes: 42C

GPU before game startup: 46C
GPU after game startup: 43C

 

[AndrewT]

It is very unusual for the temps to be the same or lower in the game than idle ... you might try using another app to cross-check those, such as Speccy.

I see you have some VR hardware active, can you try unplugging that as a test?

And you have a lot of LiveKernelEvent entries in that dxdiag's error list. They mean the machine is being downed or rebooted forcibly for some reason - are they associated wth this game? or something else?

If you run the Windows Update app does it find anything to apply? If so please do that and reboot.

And finally is any hardware overclocked?

 

[heychrisfox]

We found the problem!

There was a Windows update that I never received a notification for (21H1). I thought it was the recently announced update, so I was sitting on it for a few days to make sure it was safe to update. But I actually just didn't know it was an older update released in May, and it actually just went completely went under my radar. After updating Windows and opening the game, everything is buttery smooth.

Here are some more notes on the case, in the event it's helpful for similar future events like mine.

• No overclocking on the rig at all.
• I'm not sure what the LiveKernelEvent is. I do shut-down and reboot my PC regularly, so perhaps that has something to do with it.
• These issues were strictly related to Stellaris and Crusader Kings 2. Other games were working fine. I never opened up Cities: Skylines (which you all publish), so I'm unsure if it would have had similar issues.
• I didn't end up attempting to unplug the VR hardware, since the update fixed things. I have noticed some games have had weird conflicts with the VR permanently plugged in, but nothing as severe as the lag encountered with this particular issue.

All said and done, the issue seems resolved! Thanks a lot for the help and being patient with me.

 

[AndrewT]

I'm not sure what the LiveKernelEvent is. I do shut-down and reboot my PC regularly, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

They show after forced reboots or downings, a controlled shut down will not (or at least should not) register as one of those.


Anyway glad we got there, I have seen Windows updates that failed to apply cause this to our games but I frankly have no idea why.

All the best!