Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Technical Problems 30-40 FPS in XP x86; 10 - 20 FPS in Vista x64

I seem to be getting at least double the framerate in XP x86 than I do in Vista x64 for some reason. I have the latest drivers for everything. I am dual-booting XP and Vista, so I have tested Beyond Divinity in both operating systems on exactly the same hardware.

Anyone with the same issue?

p.s. I can run Bioshock at 40-60 FPS (max details) and Lost Planet - Extreme Condition at 20-40 FPS (max details except shadows = medium) in DirectX 10 mode at 1920 x 1200 using Vista x64.

Akasa Eclipse 62 | Enermax Galaxy 1KW | Abit IN9 32X-MAX | Intel Core 2 DUO E6700 | Crucial 4GB DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz "Tenth Anniversary" Edition | BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC | BenQ FP241W 24" | 2x WD Raptor X 150GB Raid-0

[color:"orange"]I seem to be getting at least double the framerate in XP x86 than I do in Vista x64 for some reason.[/color]

I've seen reviews of a 30-50% framerate hit just in switching from XP to Vista (32bit). I'm not sure what the average is for DX9 games, though, or if the 64 bit version is any better or worse.


[color:"orange"]p.s. I can run Bioshock at 40-60 FPS (max details) and Lost Planet - Extreme Condition at 20-40 FPS (max details except shadows = medium) in DirectX 10 mode at 1920 x 1200 using Vista x64.[/color]

Does either game support DX9 / XP? If so, do you get better performance in XP?


Does the game resolution make a big difference with the frame rate?

If you start the game, do you notice any significant performance differences between XP and Vista, or any slowdowns or stuttering in either? Even if the configuration test gives a lower fps in Vista, there may not be much noticeable difference in the game itself.

[color:"orange"]I've seen reviews of a 30-50% framerate hit just in switching from XP to Vista (32bit). I'm not sure what the average is for DX9 games, though, or if the 64 bit version is any better or worse.[/color]

I've tried a few other games that were designed for XP (32-bit) in Vista: Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines, S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl, X3 - Reunion, Eve Online and The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion. All seem to have similar performance to XP (well, no noticable difference, anyway.) Beyond Divinity's performance problems in Vista are glaringly obvious, however, if you compare it with all my other games.

[color:"orange"]Does either game support DX9 / XP? If so, do you get better performance in XP?[/color]

Yes, they both support DirectX9 and 10. Bioshock gives me about the same performance with both versions. Similar story with Lost Planet, except the framerate goes through the floor if you turn the highest-quality shadows on. Not as bad as Beyond Divinity, admittedly, but I think performance suffers too much with ANY hardware if you enable high-quality shadows on Lost Planet at this point; but I digress.

[color:"orange"]Does the game resolution make a big difference with the frame rate?[/color]

It does slightly. A 10 fps increase on average with 1024 x 768 instead of 1920 x 1200, but my LCD screen looks terrible in anything other than it's native resolution (1920 x 1200) so I wouldn't want to leave it like that. I'd expect to be able to run a game like Beyond Divinity at a reasonable framerate when compared with Bioshock, etc. at that resolution.

[color:"orange"]If you start the game, do you notice any significant performance differences between XP and Vista, or any slowdowns or stuttering in either? Even if the configuration test gives a lower fps in Vista, there may not be much noticeable difference in the game itself.[/color]

The configuration test is a joke on any OS in my opinion. It's only displaying a 2d graphic with some lighting effects. I get a constant 60 FPS in that test (which is my monitor's refresh rate, so it looks like v-sync is enabled) in both XP and Vista, but nothing close to that in the game. Basically the game's FPS in XP is playable, and Vista x64 plays at a fraction of the framerate. That's all I can say, and I've tried 2 display driver sets in Vista now, which play all the latest games and most other older games fine, and all my other drivers are up to date.

Nobody else has mentioned a performance drop in Vista, so it may only happen with certain combinations of hardware / drivers / software.

Did you try setting BD to Win98/ME compatibility mode?

A few people had sound problems with Divine Divinity on multi-core systems which in a couple cases could be fixed by setting the game to run on a single core. It can't hurt to try this for BD.
see; Sound errors with static - maybe fix found!

Before I even dared to post here, I tried a few basic things in an attempt to get the game to work at a reasonable framerate, including forcing the processor affinity to CPU 0 only. I also tried disabling Vista's aero theme with transparency, to see whether it was causing adverse performance with <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> and that didn't help either. Running <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode also didn't seem to alleviate the problem.

Nothing has worked, and I haven't had to use any special tweaks so far in order to get my other games playing at their normal framerate in Vista x64. That is what leads me to conclude that it is, in fact, the game at fault rather than any hardware / software conflicts. Perhaps nobody else has spoken up about it because they haven't made the switch to Vista yet and tested <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" />, or perhaps they are using Vista x86 (I'm not sure how well the game performs on that version of the OS.)

Anyway, I hope someone confirms this soon or offers a solution that has evaded my attention.

Thanks for your attention, Raze.

Okay, I've discovered something strange. I just found out that I had a bad stick of RAM. I had 4 GB in total, which Vista can put to good use. After removing 2 GB (to allow the computer to continue running in dual-channel mode) the remaining memory appears to be okay, but more importantly, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> is running at full speed! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bday_jump.gif" alt="" />

Now I have to weigh up the pros and cons - a new set of 4GB RAM, or <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> at full framerate?

[color:"orange"]I just found out that I had a bad stick of RAM.[/color]

Did you test it or just get a memory error? Given your other troubleshooting you've probably tested it, but assuming you haven't;

I've seen RAM become a little loose (especially if the computer is moved around) and start giving errors, but work fine once removed and reinserted.

If you swap the memory still in the computer for what you removed, do you get a slowdown in BD again, or any other issues? The problem may be the amount of memory, rather a fault with a specific piece of RAM (unless of course you have already confirmed it is the RAM).
It could also be a problem with the RAM slots on the motherboard.

There are a couple memory testing programs you can try, if you haven't already;

Memtest86

MS Windows Memory Diagnostic


[color:"orange"]a new set of 4GB RAM, or <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> at full framerate?[/color]

Most RAM has a lifetime warranty, so you should be able to get any faulty pieces replaced.


I had to replace some RAM awhile ago (2 or 3 year old PC120). I brought it back to the place I purchased it because they used to swap RAM out of their inventory, rather than wait for the manufactured to receive it and ship a replacement. Unfortunately, they stopped doing that, but I stole the RAM out of my brother's (unused) computer to keep running at a whopping 512MB (no point in more than that for Windows 98). They eventually replaced the RAM with a better quality brand, but it conflicted with my other piece of RAM. I had to keep my brother's RAM and give him mine (any other combination of RAM in either computer would give memory errors). Dealing directly with the RAM manufacturer might have been faster (though the store didn't charge me anything for shipping).

Hi again Raze,

I did test the memory using the built-in memory diagnostics that are incorporated with the new Vista bootloader after I noticed that Windows XP failed to boot. I was able to dual-boot XP fine a couple of days ago, so the RAM must've gone bad very recently. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> was performing poorly on Vista x64 a long time before my discovery and at the time I could still boot into XP. I'm wondering if <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> simply doesn't like 4 GB of RAM whether the memory is bad or not.

I will try fiddling with / returning the RAM as you have suggested sometime. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary with the RAM at the time it failed. At the moment I'm quite happily playing <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> with 2 GB of RAM. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Okay folks, this is definately a memory issue. Everyone using Vista x64 with 4GB+ RAM will have their performance severely reduced in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" />. I have recently discovered a method of reducing the amount of RAM that Windows can see, without physically having to remove the memory.

1) Open a run box, type "msconfig" and press enter to open the System Configuration window.



2) Click the "Boot" tab and select "Advanced options..."



3) Tick the "Maximum memory:" box and type "3072" (without quotes).



4) Click OK on both windows to confirm the changes and restart your computer.

[color:"red"]WARNING![/color] You will be restricted to approximately three gigabytes of RAM for ALL applications until you disable the maximum memory limitation, which will require another restart.

After you have followed these steps, Beyond Divinity should be as playable as it is in Windows XP x86, assuming you have all the latest Windows Updates, DirectX version and Vista drivers for all devices.

Thanks for the update.

I want to confirm the memory > 3072 MB issue under Vista 64.

Before I came across this thread, I was dumbfounded to get ~19 FPS in vista 64 no matter what video settings I used (see machine specs below). I booted over to my XP-SP3 partition and was getting ~35 FPS (which is still WAY too low for my hardware but playable).

So, I limited RAM at boot to 3072 MB for Vista 64 as per original poster and suddenly got ~40 FPS @ 1440 x 900 4AA with fog enabled (still way too slow but better than under xp-sp3). Also of note, I just finished Divine Divinity, which of course supplied the engine for Beyond Divinity, and my framerate never dropped below 75 FPS @ 1440 x 900 with fog... looks like the engine was de-optimized!

Specs:

Q6600 @ 3.6 GHZ (quad core)
Asus P5Q Deluxe
ATI 4870 x 2 CrossfireX
4 GB Crucial Ballistics Tracer
X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro
etc...

My thanks to the original poster for figuring this one out!

I feel like I got entirely ripped off purchasing beyond divinity with a modern pc. I made sure to leave 1 star review on gog.com http://www.gog.com/gamecard/beyond_divinity#reviews=1 sort by most recent first.

Did anyone ever found a solution to this problem? running windows 7 and it's quite sluggish

I don't recall anyone reporting an alternate solution.
I had no problems with a relatively new, low end laptop running 64 bit Win7 and 6GB of RAM.

It was the comodo AV that was the problem (GOG version)