Medieval 2 lagging since some time

[Kyren]

Good afternoon!

I hope my thread title won't automatically end in my hardware being too low for Medieval 2 [Kingdoms, newest patch], because I'm quite certain that this isn't the problem :/ (Unfortunately I didn't find fitting words for that in the title though, seems like I'm not at my best with english vocabulary when computer problems are the topic )

I've been playing Medieval 2 Kingdoms since some years on this computer, also with different mods, and I've never had any lag problems with it, not even in big battles, or with higher unit scales like in Third Age total war, having my settings around high, especially the Unit detail, because I don't care so much about the rest.

Well, when I got my computer back from the repair centre around here, it also worked fine at the beginning. (My graphic card was broken, they replaced my old NVidia GeForce 9800 to a NVidia GeForce 9800 GT)
So, I was happily playing some weeks, and some day my game performance dropped. I had lags on the campaign map, if there were more than some settlements displayed on it (for example, I encountered laggs on the Iberian peninsula, but not in other less populated regions, with Stainless Steel). Also, there are lags and bad sound quality (the sound is lagging) now, when I have to select if i want to auto-calculate battles or fight them on the battle map.

I've been reverting my graphic card drivers already to a older version, which slightly helped, and updating my sound drivers, which also slightly helped.

But still, I don't reach the old performance anymore.

Here are my system specifications:
Windows XP, Service Pack 2
Intel Core 2Quad CPU 6600 @ 2,40 GHZ (4 CPUs)
3072 RAM (1 1Gb Stick, 1 2GB Stick - Yeah, the configuration is strange, I didn't choose it )
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB


I might not be able to reply today anymore, but thanks for all your help and time beforehand!

[irishron]

When you get a chance, first run Microsoft Update manually, and install all software options. XP SP3 has been out for years.
Second, run disk cleanup, and defrag your harddrive.

I have the same graphics card with no problems.

[Kyren]

Thank you a lot, so far

I've done the Microsoft Update via their Update website, and tomorrow I should have some time for doing the disk cleanup here as well. (Altough I defragmented my computer not long ago.) I didn't have the the Service Pack 3 before these problems either, but I'll give it a try, I'll try to download it via one of my schools PC's, as my connection here is rather bad.

Update: Service Pack 3 is installed, and the disk cleanup done. So far there's no change in performance I've tried messing around with the video settings a bit, and when I clicked on Auto detect, Anti-Alising was put down on 0, and the resolution a lot lower as well, I somehow get the feeling that medieval may be trying to use my onboard graphic card, or some information left over from the old one, but that's just a amateur guess. In any case, I'll reinstall medieval 2 + kingdoms these days and see how it's working then again. With some luck I'll have it done around wednesday, I'll actualize here then!

[Kyren]

Good afternoon!

Well, I've reinstalled medieval 2 + kingdoms today (+ the 1.5 patch) and now it's working just fine again, seems like that was the last needed part after the disk cleanup and some windows updates here

Thank you a very lot for your help Irishron! Now I can finally play properly again

[irishron]

You're welcome.