Problem Odd FPS Problem

[DanScall]

Wotcher folks,

I've really, really been enjoying orbiter. But I bought a new laptop, and it is now unplayable, which upsets me very much. Oddly, this laptop is far better than the last, so I see no reason why orbiter shouldn't play.

The problem is pretty simple, upon starting Orbiter, everything is swish, works fine. About 20 seconds in however, the FPS drops dramatically to an utterly unplayable level, and I have no idea why. I have tried running a completely clean install, running in compatability mode, and all that jazz, but IM still getting 20 seconds of perfection and then that ridiculous drop.

My specs are as follows:

OS: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.13GHz 2.13GHz
RAM: 4GB
Graphics is an NVIDIA Geforce 230M GT, which is a real doozy, runs Crysis and the like without a care in the world.

Any ideas? Pretty please? With a SHEDLOAD of sprinkles.

 

[Artlav]

For me a similar problem was fixed by disabling aero, font smoothing and similar bells and whistles. Although, i had bad FPS from start, not after some time.

 

[francisdrake]

It could be an energy saving setting, which reduces the (graphics?) processor speed when idling. It could be that this energy saving software does not properly detect when Orbiter is running, and consequently throttles the speed.

Things I would try:
- Set the energy options (control panel) to 'balanced' or 'maximum performance'
- Try running Orbiter in windowed mode.
- Try a different graphics setting in the Orbiter launchpad, with enabled "Always enumerate devices"
- Have a look a the graphics cards control panel, if there is a fancy energy saving option.

Try one after the other, not all at once
Come back if these suggestions do not help.

 

[Loru]

Try [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3891"]Vista Boost[/ame] - it should improve your performance.

 

[TSPenguin]

Make sure you are using a T&L renderer and check your temperatures. It sounds like your processor is throttling down. I can't really imagine anything else that would kick in after a few seconds and kill your frames.

 

[DanScall]

Thanks chaps,

Loru, Vistaboost had the best result and seems to have solved the problem completely, so thanks very much!

The processor throttling down sounds odd, that certainly makes sense and ties in with what's happening, but I can't find any setting that would cause it to be doing that.

 

[TSPenguin]

The throttling down when overheating is hardwired in the chip. You can not prevent it as this is a safety feature to prevent it from dying completely. Disabling subpixel AA (with vistaboost) certainly freed up a lot of the CPU.