Lagging.. can someone help?

[unmerged(289190)]

Hi guys,
I have a problem with the game, it is lagging no matter how I change the graphic setting.

First of all, here is my laptop specs:
XPS i7-2720QM up to 3.20 Ghz
8GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

Then in the game, I put the lowest graphic to 1024x768 32 bit, "use system cursor" is on, "HDR lighting" is off. But still the game is lagging.
Anyone know why??

I dont know if this also important to know or not, I downloaded the game from amazon.

 

[ElvinDrude]

Try this site to see if it thinks you should be able to run the program or not: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/

Failing that, try updating your DirectX version to the most recent, and your graphics card drivers?

 

[unmerged(289190)]

Okay, I did try the test and it said that my laptop does not support Hardware T&L.
However, I try another game that I currently play, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and it gives the same result. It said I cant play the game because my video card does not support hardware T&L.
Until right now, I can play Battlefield Bad Company 2 smoothly.
My directx is already the most recent one.

The weird thing when I try to play cities in motion is it run smoothly until the main menu. But soon after the game started, it is starting to lag.

Any idea or solution to this problem?

 

[douglasrac]

You specs are really good. i7 and 8Gb of ram. But your graphic card is class 2. Who built this computer?
I'm no expert on hardware, but computer are like an assembly line of an industry. If you have a machine faster and one in front of it slower, everything will be slower. Then you have a gap. The hardware computer should also be balanced. Most probably your processor is all the time waiting for other things, because he is too fast.
Also for ram you should check speed not only size. Hard drive the same, speed not only size. Otherwise you are wasting your processor capabilities while overwhelming the other components.

Some games, can run very nicely with low graphics card. Company of Heroes is one of them. It's 3D and requires a lot of processing but still runs in cheap intel graphics card. Maybe Bad Company is one of them, but probably most games you can't run with a good fps rate.
You processor is most of the time sitting in a bench, resting, while your graphics card is sweating to keep up. Your hardware need balance.

What is the memory size of your graphics card?

You didn't say if you have the last DirectX version. Although I don't know if CiM use DX11. Maybe DX9 is enough.
What about the drivers of your graphics card? Try the drivers that came with the card and test the game. If not, try with the latest drivers. The latest are not always the best ones.

Try updating the game until the last patch. .14.

And try registering your game in the forum, so you can access official Tech Support and have the devs to help you.

 

[unmerged(289190)]

My laptop is Dell XPS L502x (the newest xps one) and my graphic card is 2048MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT540M. I checked my laptop it's DX11 already from "dxdiag".
I also download the last patch .14.
I just register my game and I will post my problem on official tech support.

I am not very good about hardware too, but thanks tho for trying to help

 

[douglasrac]

That's really horrible. I thought you built your computer, buying each piece and putting them together. Dell shouldn't sell a computer like this. XPS is a serie that is suppose to be for gaming use. With this processor and memory ram they shouldn't put a graphics card without Hardware T&L.
That's why someone buy a read to use computer, to not wory about those details. Otherwise you can just buy each piece separately.

Makes me worry. I'm planning to buy an Alienware, but unfortunately Dell bought it and they can use the alien brand to push their horrible computers.

When did you bought your laptop? CiM is not demanding, I would sue them.

 

[unmerged(289190)]

I preordered the laptop on february 28 and it supposed to arrive on March 23 but I got the laptop March 11 which is quite fast. Until now, no one reply my thread but I will wait for couple days.

Actually my friend just bought an Alienware M15x about one and half months ago, it seems he is doing fine.
Back to Hardware T&L issue, actually many people have complaint about this graphic card. This is not Dell's fault but NVIDIA, people who buy from ACER also got the same issue. This graphic card supports 3D image on your TV but with no Hardware T&L, it can ruin you when you want to play certain games like mine. The NVIDIA M-series, just launched last 2 months and I believe a lot of issues are coming out. In my personal opinion, if you want to buy a new laptop, not only the brand of the laptop but the important component such graphic card is something you need to check it out. For now, it's better to wait.

For now, I will just wait if CiM can solve my problem or this is just hardware problem.

 

[douglasrac]

I know it's NVidia card. But there are several graphics card on the market. The ones for gamers and the ones for other uses. What I meant is that Dell shouldn't choose this graphic card for a gaming laptop. Nvidia produce several types of graphic cards. Imagine if Dell sells this laptop with a onboard Intel GPU? Is it Intel's fault, or bad design of Dell?

I know brand doesn't mean much. I pointed Alienware because they are meant to be for gamers. It's built for gamers, so you expect to get high end specs in every components. I have Asus G51. It's Republic of Gamers serie. So it's suppose to be for gamers. I'm happy with it. It runs anything in high setup (GTA IV, SC2, Crysis 2, etc). I checked everything before buying it. Graphic card for laptop you can see here (http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-540M.41715.0.html - by the way this link is for your card). As you can see it's Class 2. With i7 and 8 Gb i would expect Class 1 GPU. I have 4Gb and Dual Core and Class 1 GPU.
Anyway, you check general things, like this, but not very specific things, like Hardware T&L? Didn't even know what this is until I read your post. Those are things the manufacture should worry about to make you have a good experience with their product. It's not like you bought a HP or a general Dell, its XPS!

Anyway, good luck with it. I hope you find a way around this problem.

 

[unmerged(273319)]

There's a lot of BS in this thread. Hardware T&L has been standard in every card since 2002. The game is poorly optimized and even the strongest of the strongest systems can chug along when there are a lot of vehicles on screen.

It's not your system, it's the game. GT 540M is one of the better mobile chips out there as well, performance-wise equal to desktop Radeon 4850 or so.

 

[douglasrac]

There's a lot of BS in this thread. Hardware T&L has been standard in every card since 2002. [...]

You might wanna read the whole thread before jumping in with statements.

 

[Yuxi]

Have you tried installing or reinstalling the latest video driver? I would be *very* surprised if the 540M physically doesn't have Hardware T&L - it's been part of integrated graphics for years, not to mention dedicated GPUs.

 

[unmerged(273319)]

You might wanna read the whole thread before jumping in with statements.

Just because a dumb site says it doesn't have it, doesn't make it so. T&L been standard (if not obsolete) tech for ages.

 

[unmerged(289190)]

Yuxi, actually I just check Dell website, on March 27, they released a new update for the driver. So, the Hardware T&L issue might be true.

Now, it's a lot better compare to the last one. But still the game is a bit slow. For example if I complete one of the task in tutorial game and get rewarded, in the screen will come out a word or two saying that "Rewarded $800.00" right? This words appear a bit slow, like almost 1 minute from the first time come up (like shadowy thing) to solid shape. The cars also are not moving smoothly, I dont know how to say the right word, like stagnant?? Motionless? This is the same thing like when you are trying to rotate the camera.

Since there is an improvement from the update, would this another hardware issue? Or, the game issue because Dell just give an update for my driver?



For people who have issues with GeForce GT 540M or any new M-series, check updates from the website of your laptop manufacture like mine is Dell, NOT nvidia.com. Unless you buy the graphic card separately and installed it to your laptop or dekstop.

 

[unmerged(289190)]

I know it's NVidia card. But there are several graphics card on the market. The ones for gamers and the ones for other uses. What I meant is that Dell shouldn't choose this graphic card for a gaming laptop. Nvidia produce several types of graphic cards. Imagine if Dell sells this laptop with a onboard Intel GPU? Is it Intel's fault, or bad design of Dell?

I know brand doesn't mean much. I pointed Alienware because they are meant to be for gamers. It's built for gamers, so you expect to get high end specs in every components. I have Asus G51. It's Republic of Gamers serie. So it's suppose to be for gamers. I'm happy with it. It runs anything in high setup (GTA IV, SC2, Crysis 2, etc). I checked everything before buying it. Graphic card for laptop you can see here (http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-540M.41715.0.html - by the way this link is for your card). As you can see it's Class 2. With i7 and 8 Gb i would expect Class 1 GPU. I have 4Gb and Dual Core and Class 1 GPU.
Anyway, you check general things, like this, but not very specific things, like Hardware T&L? Didn't even know what this is until I read your post. Those are things the manufacture should worry about to make you have a good experience with their product. It's not like you bought a HP or a general Dell, its XPS!

Anyway, good luck with it. I hope you find a way around this problem.

Okay, first thank you for trying to help.
But it said in the game requirement:
"Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800/ATI Radeon HD 3850 or higher 512 MB RAM, OpenGL 3.0"
In other words, are you saying my video card, GeForce GT 540M, is lower than this? And GeForce 8800 is much better than GT 540M?

I just want to get this straight because I really really dont have any idea with it. If my video card lower than the game requirement, maybe that's the reason of this issue.

 

[unmerged(273319)]

GT540M is much better than 4 year old 8800 series card.

And yes, you should NORMALLY get your drivers from nvidia.com, even if they are mobile cards. Dell usually just repackages nvidia drivers anyhow and they are usually months behind nvidia. I know that cause I have an old XPS laptop as well, with nvidia dedicated chip, and I gave up on "dell drivers" long ago.

HOWEVER...

Sadly, it seems that nVIDIA themselves dont have an official driver for your GPU right now, since it is so new. So you gotta use what came from Dell, for now. There are a lot of pissed of people without an actual driver on official nvidia forums. (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=195897) I mean, that f***ing sucks, how can they sell a laptop without proper drivers.

You can also (at your own risk) try installing the latest nvidia driver anyway.

Also try this site, they usually have specially modified drivers for new laptop chips (http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/) YOUR BEST BET IS THIS SITE!

There are people complaining about your chipset as well here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=339445 and here http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=194614 and here http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=191054

I know this is the last thing you wanna hear right now, but you`re screwed. With the current drivers, there are a lot of problems, and nVIDIA or DELL don`t seem to care.


If the newest video drive doesnt work (whenever it is released, it is up to nvidia right now), try getting the latest chipset driver and latest audio driver.

If that doesn't work, then the game just doesn't like your GPU. Sucks, but all you can hope for is a patch. Which, given Paradox's previous games history, is unlikely.

Sadly, it seems that nVIDIA themselves dont have an official driver for your GPU right now, since it is so new. So you gotta use what came from Dell, for now.

 

[douglasrac]

WOW! I can't believe NVidia put a card in the market without drivers!
Doesn't matter if it's new, it's suppose to have drivers before even going to production.
Nvidia just lost points with me.

Have you tried the tool to scan your card? Don't know if it will help, but it's suppose to: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=en-us

 

[unmerged(289190)]

GT540M is much better than 4 year old 8800 series card.

And yes, you should NORMALLY get your drivers from nvidia.com, even if they are mobile cards. Dell usually just repackages nvidia drivers anyhow and they are usually months behind nvidia. I know that cause I have an old XPS laptop as well, with nvidia dedicated chip, and I gave up on "dell drivers" long ago.

HOWEVER...

Sadly, it seems that nVIDIA themselves dont have an official driver for your GPU right now, since it is so new. So you gotta use what came from Dell, for now. There are a lot of pissed of people without an actual driver on official nvidia forums. (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=195897) I mean, that f***ing sucks, how can they sell a laptop without proper drivers.

You can also (at your own risk) try installing the latest nvidia driver anyway.

Also try this site, they usually have specially modified drivers for new laptop chips (http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/) YOUR BEST BET IS THIS SITE!

There are people complaining about your chipset as well here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=339445 and here http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=194614 and here http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=191054

I know this is the last thing you wanna hear right now, but you`re screwed. With the current drivers, there are a lot of problems, and nVIDIA or DELL don`t seem to care.


If the newest video drive doesnt work (whenever it is released, it is up to nvidia right now), try getting the latest chipset driver and latest audio driver.

If that doesn't work, then the game just doesn't like your GPU. Sucks, but all you can hope for is a patch. Which, given Paradox's previous games history, is unlikely.

Sadly, it seems that nVIDIA themselves dont have an official driver for your GPU right now, since it is so new. So you gotta use what came from Dell, for now.

You know what, I am happy that I know the reason I cant play the game but sad with that reason

WOW! I can't believe NVidia put a card in the market without drivers!
Doesn't matter if it's new, it's suppose to have drivers before even going to production.
Nvidia just lost points with me.

Have you tried the tool to scan your card? Don't know if it will help, but it's suppose to: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=en-us

Yup, I did. Wanna know the result? Here:
"The manufacturer of this system requires that you download the driver for your GPU from their support site."

Now, I have been using the update that dell provided but still, the game or "Can you run it" website cannot detect my video card. It is more than that, remember last time I said there is no hardware T&L? Now, I got different result. There are no hardware T&L, pixel shader or even vertex shader.

Okay guys, I finally get the game works. With the information that both of you give me, I know that there is a problem with my video card. I found that my laptop does not using GT 540M unless it is needed. Maybe got two video cards, I am not sure with it. Then, I also got information from NVIDIA that http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ is WRONG. I assume, the laptop do not use the GT 540M when I am trying to play a game. With that assumption I manually change the setting to use the GT540M in high performance. Then voilaaa!!!

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ said I pass the test and I can run Cities in Motion really smooth!
So it solved then, there is a problem with GT 540M that it cannot run automatically when it is needed and it seems Cities in Motion is a nice game to play

Thank you for both of you... cheers

 

[douglasrac]

Hard to find information about your laptop.
So you have a dual graphics card laptop. Thats to save battery. I don't know if its suppose to change automatically. On windows, depending on the laptop you need to press some keys. On Linux I know it's impossible. You can only change on BIOS or restarting the system.

Glad you work it out.

 

[unmerged(289190)]

Well, like I said I am not good at hardware things. Maybe I am wrong but the choice on the configuration of my NVIDIA control panel are GeForce GT 540M and the other one is Intel(R) HD Graphics Family. That is all I know.

 

[woz]

There's a lot of BS in this thread. Hardware T&L has been standard in every card since 2002. The game is poorly optimized and even the strongest of the strongest systems can chug along when there are a lot of vehicles on screen.

It's not your system, it's the game. GT 540M is one of the better mobile chips out there as well, performance-wise equal to desktop Radeon 4850 or so.

I would have to agree. I have a top system and it still struggle with CIM when you have a lot of vehicles. And it seems to happen more and more with new games which cant handle new computers.