Game runs slow on my PC. What else can I do?
 

I did the following steps to try to speed up the game, but it is still running slow.

My initial configuration.

Dell Inspiron 5150
Windows XP SP2
3.0 GHrz processor
512 MB RAM
32 MB 3D graphics card – GeForce FX Go5200
DirectX 10
40GB 10GB free disk space
Broadband Connection - FIOS
Wireless card 11MB

My computer generally ran slow so I did the following….

Ran Quick Clean from McAfee (A good thing for all computers)
Ran Disk Defragmenter from Windows

I made the following hardware changes to my PC

2 GB RAM
64 MB 3D graphics card – ATI Radeon 9000
Broadband Connection - FIOS
Connect to the Hub 400MB


My computer is lighting fast with other apps, web browsing and so on, but I still am running slowly on POTC. Now if no other character is near my character, then I can run fine with a bit of a lag, once every 5 five seconds for 1 sec, but once two or more character are close by, I slow to a crawl.

My IMB Think Pad T61, running on the same hub lags on once every 10 to 20 seconds and the lag time is ½ second at worst.

Any ideas?

Check the game options. Set the Memory Conservation to "Default". It's probably "Aggressive".

yea it might also be a vid card issue

Did that, no effect.

I have had two different ones in my system, I believe they were both approved my Disney.

I upgraded to 2GB, still an issue.

I see 2 things that would help.

1. Memory, you got 512mb. Your system is a 3.0 ghz, so will probably hold more. Memory is not too expensive at all.

2. Video memory. System requires 32mb, you got 32mb. Pop in a video card with more memory will help. You can get a 128mb video card at walmart for about $30-$40.

Always check the specs on your computer before buying new stuff, you may already have the maximum memory the system can hold, may not.

NVM, isee you already upgraded. Is there a certain time when it runs slow? Certain areas you enter or tasks you do? Are you on a quiet server? You may go to dslreports and run a speedtest on your connection to see if there's any slow downs there.

I generally run slow when other players are on my screen.

Have you upgraded your video card drivers?

I'm having the same problems, and I get so laggy in like 1 and a half hours. I'm way above the requirements, and I'm still getting it. I've looked at what has been said here, and that hasn't seem to help me.

~Cpt.Sea

If it gets bad after about that long, just reboot, i reboot about 2 or 3 hours after playing, to clear up the memory. Guess there's a memory not being cleared by potco.

I am also experiencing these problems? When I first signed up for POTC in ran like a champ. I experienced no lags at all. Now it lags a lot, especially in areas where that are a lot if other people. It is also slow in displaing the buildings and other stuff. My wife's computer, which has less RAM but a little more power in the CPU runs well. I have thought about uninstalling and reinstalling to see if that helps.

yea i do that when playing for long periods of time i find it useful to do a compleat system re-boot in other words re-start your computer

Would you be more specific on exactly what kind of processor you have? 3GHz could be a LOT of different ones. An easy way to find out is to click on Start > Run, and then type in "dxdiag" without the quotes. A dialogue should pop up asking if you want the utility to scan your drives. Press "Yes," and it will bring up a new window listing a whole bunch of computer specs, including your processor type!

Also, a 64MB video card was powerful in 2000...By today's standards, it's pretty, well, substandard. I agree with a previous poster in recommending going up to at LEAST 128MB. I'm also guessing that it's either a PCI or AGP card, and that your motherboard does not support PCI-E cards, but without knowing your motherboard it's hard to say.

I've yet to crash *knock on wood*, and I've ran the game for hours upon hours at a time. Here are my specs:

OS: Vista Ultimate
CPU: AMD Athlon64x2 3800+ (2.5 GHz)
Video: nVidia 8800GTS 640
RAM: 2GB
Sound: Audigy2 7.1
HDD: 250GB SATA II

Good luck!

-Eloricth

get more ram... 512 is the minimum needed and it is already being used partly to run the computer.

Hello, I realize this may be old, but I have the same problem. I have 512 mb of Ram, and a Mobility Radeon 9000 on my laptop, but it goes really slow most of the time even on lowest settings. Should I upgrade my Ram or what? Thanks.

Yes. I would recommend AT LEAST 1 gig of RAM for any current system, even a low-end machine.

-Elo

Do you have the Mobility with 32, 64, or 128MB of on-chip RAM?

Additionally, I'm willing to bet it's still caching part of it's load to system memory (check your system stats to make sure).

Remember, 512 is the minimum recommended. Most systems run the OS just fine with 512MB. But apps tend to run slower because it's competing with the OS itself for access to memory, causing more swapping to the hard drive (which has access times over 500-2000x higher than system memory).

With Windows XP, 1-1.5GB is the sweet spot (where you get maximum OS performance). 2GB it the sweet spot if you're using the system to game (unless you're talking something really heavy like Crysis).

I just upgraded my PC and the game runs great most of the time. You cannot turn on all the other graphics in the game unless you purchase a really expensive game card.

My computer now has 4GB ram, a EVGA Graphics card which gives me game abilities focus of 1GB. I still can't be on Abassa server with out lagging out after about 30 minutes but the picture is nice. I changed the resolution back to basic last night.

You must set everything on low unless you have a lot of visual memory.

"Did that, no effect": Sometimes reseting your computer and/or restarting the application helps speed things up to. Pick quiet servers as well if you already don't."

"I have had two different ones in my system, I blieve they were both approved by Disney.": Disney would approve your card if it was made out of chocolate. As long as it gets you to put time into playing.

"I upgraded to 2GB, still an issue.": If It continues I'd consider trying A: Finding another computer to play it on, B: Upgrading AGAIN, or C: Stop playing POTCO.

Remember to close all other applications and stop all computer processes you don't need to run your computer when you play POTCO. If nothing works go with option C.

i have noticed increased mem leak as wellperticulary after the updates -- i find it useful to cut some backround processes that are not needed and snooze those active security scans-- just make sure u scan after log off and do reboot... has been a pain latley especially in big graphical battle and boss

but hey its the norm cause all my friends are doing the switch server, log off shuffle pretty regularly

Ive also had an increase in memory leaks causing a reboot. It works for me though.