Lag on RTW on new Windows 8.1 Computer

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 04, 2014, 05:17 PM

Hey everyone,

So I've played RTW for many years on and I recently got a new computer and unfortunately it just lags horrendously. My previous computer was windows 7 and this new one is windows 8.1. I won't bother listing the specs because it's to no question that it's more than the recommended, it's a new Asus G750 and my previous one is an Alienware M14x the specs of which are all lower than my new one. I can run recent games like Dragon Age Inquisition and Shadow of Mordor with high-ultra settings with no problem. Any ideas? :/

**irishron** · December 04, 2014, 05:28 PM

Nothing like a ten year old game programmed to push every bit of data including graphics through one core of your processor. That's the way programmers did things then. They had no idea about "optimization".

http://www.asus.com/us/site/g-series/G750/ Which model and which options?

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 04, 2014, 06:47 PM

I've got the G750JS, with all the same specs listed except RAM (I have 8 GB) and HDD space I've got 1.5 TB.

**irishron** · December 04, 2014, 07:11 PM

Nice notebook.
Do you have Windows' Power Options set to Maximum Power?
In Nvidia Control Panel, do you have the game's profile set to Maximum power?

If "yes" to both questions, there is not much more that can be done. Odds are even if the game is using 100% of your cpu, and 2.4GHZ is more than fast enough, the gpu if being used is only about 50%. Be aware the notebook may also be throttling to combat heat inside the case. Being XP/32bit, it has a ram ceiling of 4gb including graphics. Nothing we can do anything about this ceiling.

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 04, 2014, 07:25 PM

Thanks, I did try playing while it was on high performance but that seemed to have no effect. If by maximum power in the control panel you mean it's using my dedicated graphics card then yes initially it was using the integrated one but when I switch to the Nvidia card nothing changed I'm afraid. Sucks if this can't be rectified, guess I can always play RTW on my previous notebook.

P.S.: I thought it worthwhile to point out that my video options in-game are quite odd, anti-aliasing is locked to off and I have no other options. The max resolution I can set the game to is 1024x768 32bit whereas on my previous notebook I had none of these issues and I could set it to the resolution of my screen. I have been able to bypass this using preferences.txt but there's really no point due to the lag.

**irishron** · December 04, 2014, 07:48 PM

In answer to your P.S., it seems the game is not reading the dedicated card and not switching to it.
Have you tried "Run as Administrator"? How about compatibility set to XP possibly SP3?

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 05, 2014, 05:25 AM

I'll check that now but just a side question, physically I believe my notebook has two HDDs (750GB each) however in This PC they are separated into four (the first being called OS and the others just having letters like D: and E: and F). Does it affect anything as to where I install Rome?

Edit: So I tried those two things and nothing changed unfortunately. I find it odd for the game to be using the integrated card even if I specify for it to use the Nvidia one in the control panel.

**irishron** · December 05, 2014, 06:04 AM

In some notebooks, yours not sure, but the integrated chip can be disabled in the BIOS. Maybe even Device Manager.

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 05, 2014, 06:28 AM

That seems to have partially done something (hasn't solved the problem though), but when I ran the game the resolution had become 1920x1080 (my resolution). But the game still lags and in the video settings when I open the drop down menu for resolution settings it's literally empty, and things like anti-aliasing are still locked to off.

**irishron** · December 05, 2014, 06:50 AM

The rest is beyond my knowledge. Sorry.

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 05, 2014, 06:58 AM

Oh well thanks much for your time anyhow. I'll probably just play it on my previous computer.

**Shmanky** · December 05, 2014, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by irishron

Nice notebook.
Do you have Windows' Power Options set to Maximum Power?
In Nvidia Control Panel, do you have the game's profile set to Maximum power?

If "yes" to both questions, there is not much more that can be done. Odds are even if the game is using 100% of your cpu, and 2.4GHZ is more than fast enough, the gpu if being used is only about 50%. Be aware the notebook may also be throttling to combat heat inside the case. Being XP/32bit, it has a ram ceiling of 4gb including graphics. Nothing we can do anything about this ceiling.

Any idea if both your CPU and your GPU aren't being nearly utilized to their potential? Like, I'm talking 30-40% CPU usage and 20% GPU with 15-20 FPS ..

**iLeeT_PeeP** · December 06, 2014, 01:16 AM

Use an older operating system.

I was still on Windows XP in 2012 and now I am finally on Windows Vista simply to take advantage of 64-bit architecture.

I have found that XP and Vista are BEST (as far as compatibility) for playing older/classic games which is what I mostly play.

I went from a Single Core P4 in 2012 (was still working great) to a Quad Core Phenom II.

I only upgraded because the components I had long desired had become so cheap considering the improvement in output rendered I would notice because they were now considered "outdated" themselves.

I saw them as being time-tested and proven!

So I went for it...

But yeah, try an older OS.

I have heard rumors about older OS's being more vulnerable... which may or may not be true.

However, just make sure you secure your PC well and you should be fine.

Hope this helps...

-iLeeT_PeeP

**Rhaenys Targaryen** · December 07, 2014, 05:44 AM

Originally Posted by Shmanky

Any idea if both your CPU and your GPU aren't being nearly utilized to their potential? Like, I'm talking 30-40% CPU usage and 20% GPU with 15-20 FPS ..

It seems the game isn't utilizing my CPU and GPU to their true potential as you said. Because when I run RTW not even the two cooling fans that I have become quite audible and it's not like I'm running a game.

Originally Posted by iLeeT_PeeP

Use an older operating system.

I was still on Windows XP in 2012 and now I am finally on Windows Vista simply to take advantage of 64-bit architecture.

I have found that XP and Vista are BEST (as far as compatibility) for playing older/classic games which is what I mostly play.

I went from a Single Core P4 in 2012 (was still working great) to a Quad Core Phenom II.

I only upgraded because the components I had long desired had become so cheap considering the improvement in output rendered I would notice because they were now considered "outdated" themselves.

I saw them as being time-tested and proven!

So I went for it...

But yeah, try an older OS.

I have heard rumors about older OS's being more vulnerable... which may or may not be true.

However, just make sure you secure your PC well and you should be fine.

Hope this helps...

-iLeeT_PeeP

Yes I agree that using a previous OS is a solution, I'm still keeping my previous notebook (as I mentioned earlier an Alienware M14x), which has Windows 7 and RTW runs perfectly on that. Interestingly I installed M2TW on my new notebook yesterday and the game runs perfectly. It seems that it doesn't suffer the same issue as RTW when it comes to Windows 8.1.