Things to try if you have heat issues running some mods

[RubiconDecision]

Some time ago, I noticed with my aging Vista based dual processor that I couldn't run some graphic intensive mods very well. I had so much lag that it made the game unplayable. Other times I could play but my laptop got so hot playing the mods that it actually kicked out on overtemp (not a very comforting thing to happen as it merely shuts down abruptly). Of course people recommended a better fan and I found a decent one which helped a little but not enough to continue to play mods anymore. It was too risky.

Gigantus (I believe) suggested Advanced System Care (now in version 6.1) which is entirely free and this greatly helps reduce lag. It shuts down unnecessary programs and services which frees up a ton of memory.

If you're a Steam user, you can run it in "offline" mode and turn off your Wifi too. Then your laptop isn't drawing power for the Wifi modem which is also creating heat.

In addition, I looked into my laptop and found that the heat sink paste (sometimes called thermal paste which is made of nonconductive silver and sold at electronics stores like RadioShack in the USA for about $9) had seperated from the graphics processor (not the main processor) and the conducting metal to which the internal fan is located. For those of you brave enough, after discharging any potential static from your body (for the processor is very static sensitive as is every other chip inside your pc) you can replace the heat sink paste easily. It took me less than 45 minutes to open the laptop and replace the paste and close up the laptop.

What it looks like

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/images/replace-grease/apply-thermal-compound-01.jpg

How to apply new heat sink paste

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/apply-thermal-grease-laptop-processor/

Before I was monitoring the laptop's many temperature sensors with a program called SpeedFan which is also free.It looks at the processors, the hard drive, the graphics chip, and others. It was sometimes running as hot as 95 deg C. Now it is running calmly at 67 deg C under heavy load. Now my mods are not laggy and the processor is running cool too even in my old 2007 laptop.

If you have an older pc this might be your issue too. 'Hope this helps someone else.

Note: if you're the kind of player who uses the cheat codes like toggle_fow, create_unit, process_cq, add_money 40000, etc then you might not notice but each of those commands increases the drain on the processor and the graphics chip each time you do that within a period. When modding, sometimes you run those command during the play of a game in order to change outcomes to see what happens if another kingdom has more units for example. Doing this on an aging laptop can easily result in overtemp too. Of course the temperature will come back down if you stop issuing those commands but continuing to do them each turn especially after playing through battles (not autoresolving) and you could see overtemp conditions happen. If you don't believe me, try running MTW2 Kingdoms in windowed mode so you can watch the SpeedFan temperature indicators spike with cheat commands.

[irishron]

Good info.

Welcome back, RD.

[AngryTitusPullo]

Base on my experience Advance System Care need to be disable (or probably uninstall) if one need to reinstall Steam the first time. I almost bang my head a few times on the wall trying to figure out what when wrong with my new pc build when I can't log on to Steam the first time (the first time login with password, not auto-login the next time).

[RubiconDecision]

Base on my experience Advance System Care need to be disable (or probably uninstall) if one need to reinstall Steam the first time. I almost bang my head a few times on the wall trying to figure out what when wrong with my new pc build when I can't log on to Steam the first time (the first time login with password, not auto-login the next time).

Advanced System Care shuts down applications but mostly services on your computer. It can be configured for work or game applications. Regardless it never has affected my Steam operation. Shutting down unneccesary services or aps means knowing what many of them do, and for the most part the program explains precisely what they do so you don't deactivate something you might need. For example, on my laptop, it notices an audio manager that is providing equalizer alterations that enhance the playing experience, so I can choose to not shutdown that application. But it also will shut down things like file sharing or printing over the Internet which I don't need while playing Kingdoms.

If a Steam user of Kingdoms then you must use Steam to play, but if you choose to run it in "offline" mode then it doesn't need to communicate with the Internet. This helps with lag too.

So far, using the suggestions I described in my first post, I can literally run on the highest setting with normal sized armies with 20 units on either side and see no lag at all and also the temperature never goes higher than 70 degrees C. Before I had issues playing Third Age on very low settings, that mod being one of the most demanding. Deus Lo Vult with Taiji's minimod that uses very powerful battle AI always caused heat and lag before. It purred like a kitten this time and was incredibly responsive.

It's like my 2007 machine is brand new, in all honesty, after checking the heat sink paste and replacing it. Because many people do things liike overclocking (or used to) many laptops are made to easily get to the processor and graphics board by taking off minimal screws and checking the fan for dust. Since the fan is running at high speed quite a bit, it can easily suck in debris and cause heat issues as well.

Everyone should run a temperature monitor using some free ap if not already included with your software. See the SpeedFan link in my first post as you need some baseline temperature for routine operation, and then see how hot it's getting. It could easily be why you're having lag in a mod.