Graphics issue - please help!

[Djinn.ZA]

Hi there!

This is my first post here so firstly, hello

I recently bought empire and it's a great game but i was hoping i could get some help with a graphics\fps issue.

Firstly i have to run it with V-Sync on or else i get very bad screen tearing. Most of the time the game is smooth, but the problem is when the armies clash in melee, the game starts stuttering very badly and it really does spoil it for me. I tried forcing triple buffering using D3DOverrider but it did not seem to make the slightest bit of difference.

Now the setting that seems to make the difference is Unit Detail. I can enable everything else on ultra, AA on, HDR on etc etc. but as soon as I put unit detail on anything else above "Low" i get this terrible stuttering, even with everything else on their lowest settings.

My System:

AMD Phenom II X2 545 OC to 3.6Ghz
Radeon HD4890 1GB
4GB OcZ DDR2800 @ 4-4-4-12
Raidmax 730W
ASUS M4A78
Vista Home Premium 64-Bit
Samsung P2050 1600*900 res.

All latest drivers, BIOS, windows updates, disabled backround programmes etc. etc.

I can't play with low unit detail because on this setting the units look like ****. This really is a great game but this is really spoiling it for me so any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[Totalheadache]

What drivers are you on? I think 9.6 are the best for the 4000's series...I would also use driver sweeper in safe mode when changing drivers..

Use a program like msi afterburner to monitor your framerate. I would have thought with your current res and your gpu you should have no trouble with framerate..let me know what fps you are getting..

I also get some slowdown in melee (as low as 35ish) but that's rare and it isnt sluggish. (im using 9.12 hotfixes with a 5870, with no volumetrics as it's fubared).

[mkk]

The game normally triple buffers on its own, but I recall experiencing something similar a while back. It took a full reinstallation of the game I think to fix it. If that wouldn't help then I'd try uninstalling the graphics driver before installing the latest anew.

[Djinn.ZA]

Thank you for your replies.

@ Headache: I tried installing the 9.6's but it just tells me that my card is not recognised?! So I'm using the latest 9.12's now. My FPS goes from a solid 60fps down to 45 - 40 in melee on anything other than low unit detail, which doesn't sound to bad but the stuttering i get is unbelievable! Feels more like 10fps.

@mkk: I use driver sweeper every time i change drivers, and i've tried uninstalling and reinstalling every driver in my system (audio, chipset) as well as graphics. Also, I'm really reluctant to uninstall the game as then i would then have to download all the updates on steam again. This is bad for me because I am on 384K ADSL and bandwidth is expensive in my country. Is there any way to uninstall and reinstall without having to download all the updates again?

I also have another question, why is the campaign map so laggy? After so many patches they have not been able to fix this?

Thanks again for your help.

[mkk]

The game should do fine on your system, including the campaign map. Try tweaking the settings for a bit more, for instance have volumetric effects turned off. And CCC 3D settings as default.

[Djinn.ZA]

Well I'm at a loss. No matter what I do, the campaign map lags like hell and I can put every other graphics setting on high except Unit Detail. Even with everything else at it's lowest setting, i get this horrible lag if i even put unit detail at medium! And I'm sorry, staring at 2D sprites (which you pretty much get all the time on lowest unit detail) is not my idea of fun

[Demokritos]

Something is definitely wrong with the combination of your hardware/software parts, because I have a weaker system than yours (P4 single core 3GHz, GeForce 9600 GT 512 VRAM, 3 GB RAM, Windows XP at 1680 x 1050) and can still play at ultra settings across the board with no perceivable problem (I'm not even shutting down background programs). But wasn't there a problem with the latest type of graphics cards and large amount of VRAM? The latest drivers for it has also often been found to be a problem (although this may be restricted to Nvidia cards). And I think I read somewhere that Windows 7 might reduce those problems. You should use the search function in these forums to see how other people have fared in this matter, because you're far from alone here. Have you checked the stickied ATI Driver and General Help Thread for starters?