Introversion

Right, I realise that this is likely the eight billionth post on lag in this forum, but having trawled through the various threads, I can't find a definite answer to my problem. I'm hoping that by starting a thread of my own, I can get the solution I'm looking for. I recently downloaded DEFCON from Steam (so we know I have the latest version, at least). When it was fully downloaded, I started it up, and immediately noticed a lag issue. It's difficult to describe without it actually being seen, but I'll do my best.

Straight after loading, even on the menu screen, the lag is noticeable. It's as if the graphics run smoothly for a few seconds, then suddenly pause for a half-second or less, then smooth out again. This happens constantly - it was most noticeable when scrolling right on the tutorial, effectively circling the world. This "stutter" lag makes the game nigh-unplayable, and I would like to know what's causing it so I can get it fixed.

Firstly, I'll post a rough summary of my system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ (~2.2GHz)
2GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 8800GTX (169.21, latest drivers)
Windows XP Professional SP2
DirectX 9.0c (freshly updated)

Now, you can see there that my system is not wanting for graphical ability. Sure, the processor could be a little bit faster, but it has no problem running games like Unreal Tournament 3. There shouldn't be an issue here, but there is. I believe I read something about there being an issue with DEFCON running on multi-processor machines, or that previous graphics drivers may not have been uninstalled correctly. I'd appreciate any help I could get regarding this. If anyone wants some extra information (like my DxDiag or other info), then just ask. Would like to play the game some time soon.

It's certainly not a hardware power issue, and I remember reading about this problem, and I think I was experiencing it on Windows myself at one point... be damned if I can remember the solution though :/

Try this:

* Start DEFCON
* Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
* Go to processes tab
* Right click on defcon.exe -> Set Affinity...
* Untick everything but CPU0, hit OK

Not sure, might help.

Thanks for the reply - I tried what you suggested, and it actually made the problem worse. The stutters doubled in frequency. I tried ticking only CPU 0 first, then only CPU 1. Both had the same effect. When I ticked both processors again, it returned to the normal every-few-seconds stutter.

Anything else anyone can suggest?

In the task manager, sort the processes by CPU usage and check if any process get abnormal CPU usage when playing defcon.

Update sound and video driver?

After updating, post a dxdiag?

1)'Start' windows button
2)'Run ...' or the search bar in Vista
3)Type 'dxdiag.exe' in the 'Open' textbox and press the 'Ok' button
4)Once the 'dxdiag.exe' dialog is up, click the 'Save All Information ...' button.
5)Choose a destination for the file (ie: your desktop) and a name for the file (ie: 'dxdiag_info.txt')
6)Post the content of the file here.

Like I said in my original post, I already have the latest drivers, but I can easily post my DxDiag for you.



Thanks again for any support anyone can provide.

Have you looked at the task manager (don't forget to check the 'Show processes from all users' checkbox)?

It seems to be using between 40 to 50% of the CPU, but bearing in mind that I have it split over two CPUs, this might be more or less.

When I run it on just CPU 0, it takes up... yeah, just like I thought: 20 to 25% on only one CPU. I don't think this is abnormal usage.

And no other process get up some CPU?

Just the system idle process, with Steam getting a couple of percent every now and then.