game slows down

Here you can get help resolving Transcendence-related issues.
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TheJasper
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Love this game but this version has one problem for me. It runs fine to start but after a short while it slows down. It seems to happen after visiting a station. I'm running on windows 7 with version 1.01. I saw a thread about .99 which seemed to have a similar problem. I don't know if it's related.

The game is still playable but it does get a bit frustrating. Otoh, aiming is a lot easier.
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alterecco
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are you seeing any output in your Debug.log?

You can also try to run 1.03. Quite a lot of issues have been fixed since 1.01 and it is generally regarded as very stable. You will find a download link in the Commonwealth forum.
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Aury
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In windows 7? I've never had that problem here (or on XP, or anyother OS for that matter) - only with vista before.
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ThePrivateer
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TheJasper wrote:Love this game but this version has one problem for me. It runs fine to start but after a short while it slows down. It seems to happen after visiting a station. I'm running on windows 7 with version 1.01. I saw a thread about .99 which seemed to have a similar problem. I don't know if it's related.

The game is still playable but it does get a bit frustrating. Otoh, aiming is a lot easier.
I used to have this same problem...but that was on XP with Trans 0.99....

Are you on a netbook? Or a really underpowered computer?
My copy of Trans 1.03 slows with lots of thermo explosions on-screen...but I've never had this.
Maybe George knows?

BTW: I do reccomend upgrading to 1.03. Not publicly released yet, so get it from here: http://www.neurohack.com/downloads/Trans103.zip
TheJasper
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No interesting output at all in the debug log.

I mentioned it happened after visiting a statio but this isn't true. IT just so happens I tend to quit the game on my way to a station so one of the first things I do is dock. I get about a minute of normal play and then things slow down. Its very annoying when docking with things you just shot because this can sometimes take quite a while.

I have a very powerfull laptop whose main problem is overheating and a busted usb port. I don't think either apply. The graphics card may be more suited to cad but that still shouldn't make a difference for transcendence.

I'll try 103. Thanks for the hint, I was sort of hoping there would be a new release soon. Though I'll wait till my current character gets blown to bits first. I hate losing characters so I'm certainly not gonna do it on purpose.
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Overheating can produce exactly the symptoms you're reporting on a laptop. The clock rate can be limited by an internal thermostat to mitigate the overheating problems that come with the compact form factor. If your CPU is idling before the game starts the core temperature may rise and reach the threshold to cut the clock rate about a minute into gameplay every time.

Try setting up a temperature monitor.

If it is heat try placing your computer on a baking rack for better airflow.
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Atarlost wrote:Overheating can produce exactly the symptoms you're reporting on a laptop. The clock rate can be limited by an internal thermostat to mitigate the overheating problems that come with the compact form factor.
Ditto. Overheating is terrible, and could cause serious problems.
Atarlost wrote: Try setting up a temperature monitor.
Can't help you with that I'm afraid.
If it is heat try placing your computer on a baking rack for better airflow.
Works every time for cooling a hot laptop. Prop up the back of the laptop with an eraser and the PC will pump out hot air and get the space it needs to bring in cooler air.
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Song
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I personally just use 4 blocks of wood, one under each corner.

There's also a utility program called "Speedfan" that can monitor temperatures and (to a degree) control the fans (although you can wreck the computer if you screw with the wrong settings)...there's probably a few others.
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TheJasper
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I shouldve been clearer. My laptop overheats but there is no way transcendence ever causes this. I do monitor the core temps at times and transcedence is not a problem.
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Atarlost
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You're the only one having this problem and it's unlikely your computer is the slowest the game's being played on.

You're getting neither errors nor unusual behavior apart from slowdowns.

The slowdowns correlate with starting the game, not with anything happening in game. Slowdowns are expected when lots of explosions are being processed, but that situation is unlike your complaint.

If it were a performance bottleneck other people would be reporting it. If it were a compatibility problem or memory leak it would be crashing.

Somehow the game isn't getting as many CPU cycles as it should. The thermostat controlling your clock rate may not be the same one reporting core temperature to your monitoring software.
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Aury
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Atarlost wrote:it's unlikely your computer is the slowest the game's being played on.
I think I hold the record in that regard, having played T on a 256MB ram 333Mhz celeron computer. ^^ It lags with all the ships that are in the game now, but it does not cause symptoms like this.

I would think that atarlost's hypothesis is correct.

Also, what happens if you set the priority of the process to be 'above normal'?
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alterecco
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TheJasper wrote: I mentioned it happened after visiting a statio but this isn't true. IT just so happens I tend to quit the game on my way to a station so one of the first things I do is dock. I get about a minute of normal play and then things slow down. Its very annoying when docking with things you just shot because this can sometimes take quite a while.
I remember having some similar issues some time ago... I mostly run T on liux through wine though, so I have always put it down to that. You can also try running with some of the switches... maybe /nodx or /windowed will give you better results?
TheJasper
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Atarlost wrote:You're the only one having this problem and it's unlikely your computer is the slowest the game's being played on.
I'm running on a Fujistu celsius moblie 270. Core 2 Quad processor. If Transendence is using significant resources on my machine it would be very surprising to me. BTW, I do not recommend anyone buy this machine as I am not hapy with it but I do not think this is the problem.
Atarlost wrote: You're getting neither errors nor unusual behavior apart from slowdowns.

The slowdowns correlate with starting the game, not with anything happening in game. Slowdowns are expected when lots of explosions are being processed, but that situation is unlike your complaint.

If it were a performance bottleneck other people would be reporting it. If it were a compatibility problem or memory leak it would be crashing.

Somehow the game isn't getting as many CPU cycles as it should. The thermostat controlling your clock rate may not be the same one reporting core temperature to your monitoring software.
Besides temp monitoring I can listen to the cpu fan. This machine sounds like an airplane taking off if I am really using it.

You have4 described the problem accurately. It just slows down to annoying but not fatal levels. It is a constant slowdown. HAs nothing to with things happening afaik.

I'm going to reinstall the whole machine sometime soon anyway. Perhaps Mcafffee is the problem, maybe some service I didn't know I had. If I'm the only one then I have to look to my machine. If I find anything I'll post it but I jst discovered Minecraft so I may be delayed for a while.
TheJasper
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I am pretty much convinced at the moment this is a driver error. I recently experienced a driver crash. Transcendence wasn't running at the time. The driver recovered automatically and afterwards transcendence no longer displayed the slowdown problem. Now I have the problem that I got used to being able to aim accurately. Oh well, I never live much past Charon anyway. Yeah I suck.
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