Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Technical problems even opening dev. ad jumps/stutters!

I need some help here. I just got the Steam version, and I have 4 gigs of ram, with 1 gig Nvidia card, so it can't be my system specs. Even the developers initial startup ad jumps and stutters and takes forever. The gameplay is choppy too. Videos/cutscenes are unwatchable, and it makes no sense to me. I tried messing with the graphics and a few other suggested fixes, but it's pretty much unplayable at this point. What should I do? It's got to be a common enough problem, but this is the first game I've had problems with on this machine. I can't continue like this, so please help me someone!

What did I pay fifty dollars for if I can't play the game and I can't get any help on the official forum? I'm trying to remain calm, but I rightly expected a response within minutes. I don't consider buying a game to be a gamble, and I get frustrated when that turns out to be the case. Will I get a quick moderator reply if I say the word "shit?" How about I drop an F-bomb next to see how quickly I get some attention. I see my topic has not been flushed out, hasn't even moved in hours, so you can't be overwhelmed. Why have a Technical Problems section if there's nobody to help?

Choppy game - possible fix

For people with stuttering graphics

First Aid : when Div2 does not start or crashes


Even if the developers actively monitored the forum, it was the middle of the night in Belgium when you first posted (another 2 or 3 hours and they should be getting up). You can also email them at support@larian.com, and/or check the Steam forums (if you haven't already) to see if anyone there has any suggestions.

I appreciate the response, but I've already seem those topics, and nothing has helped. Are you telling me that they released a North American version and didn't have English speaking moderators and techies ready to help? What kind of business model is that? I emailed Steam after jumping through a bunch of their hoops, but I'm not expecting much from their end. I guess I'll email Larian and see what they have to say. I will post a solution, though one is not likely to fall in my lap until it's in the form of an official patch (how long will that take?). Have the Euros been having this trouble? They have the same hardware as me, so why is mine a mess and not there's? It seems it's been out in Europe for a while, so where's the British forum so I can search that? Please tell me this is not it. Thanks for the help anyway.

Silence is a virtue....and speaking is a crime - Hawkwind "Psychosonia"
http://www.kovideo.net/lyrics/h/Hawkwind/Psychosonia.html

(PS: I do not have the issues you describe, so maybe more info from you on what you have done, what you have, etc...will help)

?

P.S. I bought a game on Steam and started it up after it downloaded, from the very first second it started it was choppy and shuddering. Even the opening developers advertisements jump out of control, including the sound. That is a first for me. I have done very little, as in my experience if I randomly mess with too many things I'm unfamiliar with it's hard to remember what I've done and undo the mistakes. By pulling up the task manager in-game I noticed that it tends to run at 100%, and that's not right.

Recommended:

OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: 2.6 GHz Dual Core processor
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card with 512 MB memory supporting DirectX 9.0c and shader model 3.0 (NVidia 8800 series / ATI 3800 series)
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c (XP), DirectX 10 (Vista)
Hard Drive: 9 GB free hard disk space
Sound: Sound card supporting DirectX 9.0c

My system:

OS: Windows Vista 64-bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P7500 @ 2.26GHz 2.27 GHz
Memory: 4.00 GB
Graphics: 1 GB dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (Downloaded from Steam with the game.), DirectX 10
Hard Drive: Hundreds of free GBs
Sound: NVIDIA High Definition Audio, IDT High Definition Audio CODEC

Let me know if there is any more information that might help you. It's probably a compatibility issue, or maybe Steam didn't get the DirectX 9.0c right?

Tell us like it is

What OS
What video card
What Processor
What version of driver
What steps have you taken to fix the issue so far

All I saw on you first post was your signature, then I saw the edit so I edited mine. My specs are listed 2 posts above.

Well, I see TON's of issues with your setup already.

#1. Your listing says "Processor: 2.6 GHz Dual Core processor" but go lower and the rating is "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P7500 @ 2.26GHz 2.27 GHz" ...do you see the issue? And when I go to look for your CPU, it shows me it is rated @1.6Ghz.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Duo+P7500+@+1.60GHz

Note how it performs versus many of the other CPU's. It is definitely NOT a powerful machine at all.

#2 Your video card...ouch. Look below to see how it ranks versus todays hardware. Even a 9600GS last generation card is rated faster.

http://service.futuremark.com/hardw...ularChipsetIds=515&popularChipsetIds=529

The 5750 is a good card and runs Divinity 2 just fine...yet, look at yours and the rating.

#3 Nvidia High Def Audio? I assume from the video card? HDMI audio is never a good gaming solution.

And I will not even go over the many "edited" parts of your DXDiag (? Hard Drive: Hundreds of free GBs ? - lol)

I am sorry to say this, but YES it is your system specs.

Turn off as many features as you can (HDR, Shadows, AA) and hope for the best.

I didn't say it was a powerful machine. It is an HP laptop I bought this summer. I have to disagree with your assessment that it is my system specs, because even though it's not as fast and powerful as this month's self-built desktops it exceeds the recommended specs and it plays all of today's games just fine except for Divinity 2. I have played more recent and demanding games than Divinity 2 (since it's been out for a while outside the US), and it makes no difference if I turn all the graphics to the lowest or the highest. The issues are the same whether or not there is grass or shadows. Maybe it is my system, and if so then why is this the only game with problems. Focus on the fact that even the opening Larian ad is jumping and maybe you will think of something else. Changing the graphics does not change the opening ad does it? Why would the opening video ads have more graphical issues than the gameplay set to the highest? It makes no difference in gameplay or the videos when I change graphics. There is some other issue regardless of how my system compares to today's self-built desktops. If you can't help then that's fine, but I don't want to get into a fruitless debate with you over this. I need suggestions as to what the issues might be, not insults to my machine.

Ok...I understand your "belief" that your system is not the issue. But, your first fallacy is the "recommended specs".

The MINIMUM specs are

OS: XP or Vista
CPU: 1.8 GHz Dual Core (boom, first issue. Your CPU is rated 1.6, even though it is overclocked. So you are running MINIMUM specced anyways...not a good first sign)

Ok, so, lets look at "RECOMMENDED"

OS: XP or Vista
CPU: 2.6 GHz Dual Core (almost double what yours is rated)
RAM: 2 GiByte (this is fine, but does not help when the CPU is under rated)
HDD: 9 GByte free hard disk space (I know your specs say hundreds of GB's, but I can also erase and write what I wish in specs)
GPU: 512 MiByte and Shader Model 3.0 (Nvidia Geforce 8800 series/Ati Radeon 3800 or better)

The last one, GPU, is the real issue. I redid the ratings spec on the video card comparisons to include the NV 8800 and ATI 3800...and take a look at your vid card.

http://service.futuremark.com/hardw...ularChipsetIds=323&popularChipsetIds=529

Your are almost rated OVER HALF the performance of the RECOMMENDED cards.

Sorry, but I AM trying to help, and the facts remain. The system cannot handle this game...period (heck, we won't even touch on the fact it is a Laptop, where the hard drives are usually rated MUCH lower than desktops, so, you will also get stuttering there)

I cannot help your video playback issue, but game wise, turn all features to their lowest possible settings and hope for the best...but, it will not be good...period.

Cheers

Well F me then. I guess you're probably right, but the game doesn't look that good for having such high demands. Fallout 3 looked almost like reality compared, so how is it that Larian can come out with a game that has higher demands than a more advanced game like Bethesda's Fallout 3? It's like Neverwinter Nights and Bioware's too high demands for the intensity of the actual gameplay. What is actually requiring all that power? It just doesn't make sense to me.

P.S. Could I get into the .ini file and turn some key areas even lower? I've done it before, with older computers, but does it help with every game?

I have looked for an .ini file, with no luck. As to higher demands than Fallout...the issue is developing with an engine you are not comfortable with...Larian did that.
It is the same graphics engine, but uses PhysX and a few other tools to make for realistic visuals...

But, it was not done well.

I have an ATI 5870, I5-750 and 4 gigs of DDR3 1600 and STILL have some areas of slowdown. Wish it worked better, but it doesn't.

If the system is truly Vista (yours says XP/Vista, which looks...weird), then you can right click on the short cut for the game and try the fixes involving turning off these features under Compatibility

Disable Display Scaling
Disable Desktop Composition

And like I said, look at the video cards feature set and see if that helps (make everything application controlled)

Good luck

I appreciate the help, but I can't believe that my system is too weak to run even the devoloper's opening advertisements. What is the game possibly doing from the first moments that would require so much power. If you still care to take a look, here is a cnet breakdown of my exact computer:

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-hdx-x16-1370us/4507-3121_7-33697849.html?tag=psum

How could this jagged and cartoony game require more than what I have? I can actually play it on the max graphics and the lowest, it's just annoying as hell and a game breaker. It makes no difference to the jumpiness if everything is maxed or lowered, so signs point away from my specs. I just bought this damn computer a few months ago, and both my graphics and general RAM double the recommended amount. I can't be expected to run complete comparisons between my brand new system and the recommended ATI 3800. They say 512MB, when I have 1GB, that should be enough to go on. My CPU is 2.26Ghz and not 1.6, by the way. I could crank The Witcher and Fallout 3 too the max, but can't play a single video from Divinity 2? Something doesn't add up here. Please have a look at the cnet breakdown, and maybe something else will pop up.

Ok...first, if the game looks "jaggy and cartoony" then you need to apply the fixes I suggested about the shortcut executable and changing the options for Display scaling and Desktop composition.

Now, as to your system. I understand you may have had luck running these other games, but Divinity 2 is the game in question.

I read the specs and I see the data in your DXDiag was incorrect (it is a 7550 CPU, not a 7500), so yes, the Ghz is changed. It is hard to give correct info when the DXDiag is listing incorrect data.
But, lets move past the CPU, and go to the video card again.

Noting another sites specs, it shows your card ranked against 2 GENERATIONS of video cards.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-130M.13789.0.html

Your card BARELY beats a 7x series Nvidia card. So, this is still WAY BELOW recommended specs.

As to the starting video, there could be a lot going on here. For example, do you have any external video codecs installed? Xvid codecs for example? Those can cause issues.

I have tried my best to explain the situation, but as long as you are stuck on the fact that your system can run other games fine, you will only continue to have heartache here.

The game is not optimized very well, and YOU will have to make an effort to try some various tricks and changes to get it to run decently. But, based on that video card, I really do not expect much performance.

Sorry.

On this machine I don't remember installing any special codecs, but sometimes I have a little project I'm working on and download whatever I need to to get it done. As far as codecs on this machine I'm pretty sure I don't have any - I just use VLC player for AVI files. I have the Divx player installed too, but that shouldn't cause any problems. I know my machine isn't a 16GB RAM self-built gaming titan, but I really don't want to believe it's already outdated, that it was outdated by this game before it even came out for sale. Ignoring the gameplay graphical issues, how can I check codecs and compatability? Where do I actually look to see if I have this Xvid codec, and how do I make sure it's gone. I did the right click Composition and Scaling thing, by the way. Thanks for the help.

P.S. The machine is still selling for a Grand, and it's considered a "Gaming Laptop" on cnet, so what are these developers thinking by limiting themselves so much? I, like many people, require mobility of my machine, so what are these developers thinking when they produce these games? Why limit themselves to the self-building desktop community by under-developing the game? I say this because the graphics are not top-notch and yet still so demanding. I'm not a developer, and I don't have a clue about the difficulties in composing all the code, but I can compare one game to another, and I can be upset about spending money on something that malfunctions. On another side note, I played Dragon Age: Origins on high graphics just fine on this machine (though I hated the actual game), so what's Larian's problem? I can't wait for their neighbors to release Gothic 4, or whatever they're calling it. I bet I'll be able to play that just fine too.

I decided to just start playing regardless of the lag, and it seems fine now for some reason. I reiterate that it has not been my system. Videos are still unwatchable and the opening ads still stutter, so I'll have to guess as to the storyline and just deal with it. I just cleared that initial forest area of beholders and goblins, and it seems I'm invincible with a combination of sideways strafing and a bow. I hope everything isn't quite so easy to dodge and kill. Dungeon Siege come to mind for anyone else? Thanks for the help, and sorry if I seemed a bit defensive.

Everything works fine now. I have a habit of not restarting my computer, only using the hibernation mode. Last night I finally fully restarted Windows and BAM! It works just fine! Everything is fine now: The opening ads run fine, the game plays fine, the cutscenes play fine, everything. I can only assume it was the desktop shortcut right-clicking properties/compatibility solution that solved the problem, it just needed a genuine restart after the changes. Oops. Thanks for the help Openedge. Now to figure out how and especially why I should bother killing all these damn level 8 skeletons (not too impressed now it's actually working).