Game won't surpass 30 fps

[Campusanis]

Hi everyone,

I never experienced any trouble with the WA betas on my old PC, but today I tried to bring the game on to my shiny new notebook and I had figured before that it wouldn't be that easy.
My problem is simply that I never get over 30 frames per second in-game (the menu runs perfectly at 60), no matter which resolution I try, that is, both widescreen and non-widescreen. I also played around with graphics drivers, but it looks like there's some sort of limit set to 30 fps (only I've already double-checked that there isn't :p).

The thing I don't understand: The problem doesn't occur when I turn the background environment to minimum (using the [insert]-key in-game). I can "colour" the background and the next press of [insert] lowers the framerate while nothing seems to be added to the background.
I hope you understood this part. I can play with a tuned-down background, but I'd still prefer it to be like it's always been.

Campusanis

Edit: btw, I'm using the most recent beta and Windows XP with latest drivers.

[pisto]

be sure the worms name and health is not transparent (alt+canc). anyway, low fps usually happens when you have a bad cpu or hd reads. maybe your notebook is using some low-power profile that decreases the cpu speed

[Campusanis]

Checked that, even with full performance, nothing changes. Computing power shouldn't be an issue.

[franpa]

nah, the transparency is just done rather poorly and/or inefficiently possibly just a issue with the version of direct draw thats used in the game., try running from mains power (not battery), turn off transparent names.

pushing insert again made the background have a gradient effect.

[Campusanis]

True, the gradient seems to be the problem. Everything's fine when I scroll up to the (single-colour) sky, the more gradient you see the lower the framerate drops.

Any suggestions?

[SilPho]

My laptop is similar (ATI Graphics by any chance?) I've yet to find a definate solution to the problem other than opting for a 30fps (which isn't really that bad) or leaving the background as black or a basic gradient.

You might be able to play with the settings for the graphics card and see if one of them will enhance the experience, but that's just a guess.

[franpa]

hurrell, its not a "basic" gradient, its just several bands of colour.

[Campusanis]

ATI X700 to be exact. ;)
Well, err... Just "solved" it! The simple solution for me was turning off V-Sync and giving full power to the X700 (that is, no PowerPlay savings through the driver). I now get some 90 fps with a full background and about 1000 without the gradient. At fast scrolling I get the typical torn-image effect because of the lack of V-Sync, but it's still much smoother. Maybe you're lucky with this as well, Hurrell?

Oh, and while I'm at it. Maybe I didn't realise this with my centuries-old PC monitor, but on this supersharp LCD, the water is really edgy and no Anti-Aliasing whatsoever can smooth it out. I can totally live with that, it'd just be the last touch...

[SilPho]

I also have an ATI X700, disabling V-Sync brings back the front end problem with the stars going at break neck speed (tweaks folder to the rescue), and then in the game the frame rates seem fine. So it does work.

But then during the game X700 does emit a fairly high pitched, but barely audible whine, you can hear it hard at work, and I'm not sure if that's really very good for it.

The last thing I want to do is kill my graphics card, but for anyone else experiencing this problem, there is a solution for you. (At least with X700s)

[Campusanis]

But then during the game X700 does emit a fairly high pitched, but barely audible whine, you can hear it hard at work, and I'm not sure if that's really very good for it.

I was wearing earphones yesterday, but now that you mention it, I can hear it too. :-/
Since I always play safe with my notebook, I'll leave it like it was before. And the warranty has just expired...

[SilPho]

Is it an Acer by any chance? I've had to send mine back for repairs twice now, both in the warrarnty period but now that it has expired I do wonder how much use I have left.

[Campusanis]

Okay, another solution, this time without beeping noises or similar side effects.

I was having another problem (my X700 is full of them, really) and found this (http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool/). With this tool, I could easily mod the newest ATI desktop drivers to working Mobility ones. Usually my notebook, an Asus A6VA by the way, doesn't like new drivers which aren't officially made by Asus (and the newest ones on their site happen to be from 2005), but I'm having no problems with these modded ones.

The point is that I can now leave VSync on (using a shiny new Control Center) and still get full performance, even with all the background stuff enabled.