General Game Performance - Anyone Else Feel The Way I Do?

[Riv]

I wouldn't say the game is stressful at all. I tab out to do all kinds of stuff and i never even turn off my anti virus. Then you have people that run two instances of the game on the same machine with minimal problems. I think most of the "problems" you are describing are just the way the game is made.

[captainpicard]

I wouldn't say the game is stressful at all. I tab out to do all kinds of stuff and i never even turn off my anti virus. Then you have people that run two instances of the game on the same machine with minimal problems. I think most of the "problems" you are describing are just the way the game is made.

I would agree. I can run two instances on my machine, and they both run equally 'good' or equally 'bad' depending upon how you look at it, in other words, I don't really take a performance hit in either instance from running two or said another way, running two doesn't run any worse than running one.

The thing that is noticeable is how bad a single instance is. It becomes really obvious when you can run 2 instances side by side, and see it has nothing to do with the machine, but its the game code that is the root cause of poor performance, rather than a lack of system resources.

[oberonQA]

I wouldn't say the game is stressful at all. I tab out to do all kinds of stuff and i never even turn off my anti virus. Then you have people that run two instances of the game on the same machine with minimal problems. I think most of the "problems" you are describing are just the way the game is made.

Or the way he put his computer together. I don't mean to offend him or anyone else, but if you got a computer that can't play music in the background while playing this game, there's a 90% chance the problem is not with the game, but with the computer... either via a hardware or software issue. Ok so he spent $1200 on a gaming rig... and he claims he can run any game out there. But yet, the only games he talks about playing (found by browsing his post history) is this and Starcraft 2... and Starcraft 2 isn't the most demanding game out there.

Not that I am disputing the game has issues... and some of those issues are in the optimization department. I'm simply suggesting that from what he is describing, the issue sounds like the game is taxing his hardware in a manner which is interfering with multi-tasking capabilities (which would only occur if the processor was at 80-100% utilization across all cores and memory usage was at 75% or higher)... something which shouldn't be a problem with a decent dual-core, quad-core, or hex-core system that has been setup properly and is equipped with 3-4GB's of ram (read: memory timings of the memory modules have been set properly) and is operating within normal operating temperatures (read: not being thermal throttled).

If it's due to temperature, the fix could be as simple as reapplying the thermal compound. About a month ago I noticed my computer was reaching 60 degree's C while playing a browser game (flash-based). Obviously there was something wrong, as there's zero reason for a processor to get that hot while playing a browser game. So I took the computer to the table with a can of compressed air, blew out the vents and heatsink... and then decided to pop the heatsink off to check the thermal compound. Sure enough, the compound had all but disappeared. 10 minutes later, the computer was back together and running fit as a fiddle... idling at 35 and hovering around 50 under full load... and said browser game barely made a dent, bringing the processor to a barely noticeable 40.

If it's due to the memory timings not being set properly (or even the memory modules not being placed in their appropriate channel sockets... such as putting a 2GB stick in channel 1A slot and another 2GB in channel 2A slot instead of putting the sticks in channel 1A and 1B slots), then the memory modules won't be operating at their designed specifications. Most motherboards won't properly configure aftermarket memory module timings... and if this is the case, his memory may only be running at 25-50% of their specs. And if he didn't install the modules properly, then he has created a memory bottleneck, since dual-channel mobo's are designed to utilize two modules per bank... and if you only use one module per bank and you use two banks, you end up cutting down memory bandwidth by 50-75%.

I don't buy the "the game is making my computer work so hard I can't listen to my music!!" argument. There's more to the story... whether the OP is intentionally leaving that out or he just isn't tech-savvy enough to realize there's more to the story is inconsequential.

[nasomi]

I wouldn't say the game is stressful at all. I tab out to do all kinds of stuff and i never even turn off my anti virus. Then you have people that run two instances of the game on the same machine with minimal problems. I think most of the "problems" you are describing are just the way the game is made.

For the love of god how can i run 2 instances?? I want nothing more than to play ffxiv on my main monitor while having a mini ffxiv on a second monitor to check prices of stuff on market and listen in uldah.

[Coldfire]

For the love of god how can i run 2 instances?? I want nothing more than to play ffxiv on my main monitor while having a mini ffxiv on a second monitor to check prices of stuff on market and listen in uldah.

Google is your friend.