Low frame rate in multiplayer co-op campaign

[skelbley]

Hi, I'm just having an issue with Men of War. I purchased the game and it's expansion through Steam, and I've run into an issue I've tried playing the game on two computers, and both times I've hit the same issue. It runs fine in single-player, but when trying LAN or Internet I hit a snag. On my quad-core desktop, a single core (the fourth) will spike to 100%, and the frame rate will fall to 30fps. On my dual-core desktop, neither the processor nor the graphics card will max, but I will still fall around 25-30 fps. Here are the two systems:

Desktop:
Intel Core i5-750 @ 2.67 GHz
BFG Nvidia GTX 260 Core 216
4GB DDR3
Windows 7 Professional x64

Laptop:
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.5 GHz (OC)
Nvidia GTX 260M
4GB DDR2
Windows 7 Home Premium x64


So far, I've been unable to find any solutions. Turning all of the settings down to bare minimum won't even work. I know the issue isn't hardware, as I have plenty of power on both, especially the desktop. Again, the issue only occurs in the multiplayer mode. The firewall is set to allow, the router (as far as I can tell) isn't blocking any ports, and the person I'm trying to play against has an almost identical desktop, save for a GTX 465, so they're not the limiting factor. Lastly, I've verified the integrity of the game files in Steam.

Any ideas for this? I find it strange that the game lays heavily into the fourth core on the i5, spreads evenly on the C2D, yet has the exact same issue on both. Thanks for any advice, sorry for such a long-winded post :-p

[Korsakov829]

Windows 7 and Steam have obvious issues with Men of War. Could be bad internet?

[GemCollins]

This could be a conflict with other software you're running. Join a multiplayer game, alt+tab and check out Windows task manager and see if there are processes with extreme memory usage.

Also compability mode might do the trick

[skelbley]

Thanks guys, I'll check now and see if either of those do it for me. As for the internet, I've got a 15 Mpbs connection with very little jitter, and the LAN is 1Gbps, so the issue definitely lies with my computers somehow. Will post shortly with my findings.

[skelbley]

Hmm, had my friend look at his i5 machine as well (although he has it OC'd to 3.2GHz from 2.6). Runs his 4th core at max as well, processor is literally at 25% usage from the time the game starts. His performance is better, but likely the result of the OC. Having the same issue though. Here are some screenshots of task manager. As you can see, the other cores are being utilized, but not NEARLY as much as the last.


CPU Usage:
http://buvlwa.bay.livefilestore.com/...CPU.png?psid=1

Running Processes:
http://buvlwa.bay.livefilestore.com/...man.png?psid=1


Interestingly enough, the second mission (what with all the infantry and tanks at once) still runs flawlessly in single player, but over LAN/Internet we both have terrible frame rates (all the way down to <5fps in some instances).

Also, I tried compatibility mode, no dice. And while Steam is the second highest memory user, my RAM usage is still nowhere near enough to cause a problem. Does this game just have problems with the i5? We even have different motherboards, myself a stock Intel and he a mid-level EVGA.


Thanks again for the help.

[GemCollins]

Just taking a quick guess, the multiplayer engine probably can't handle or isn't optimized for multi-core CPU's (doesn't have proper multi-threading support), and because of that it can't use your processors' full power (3.2GHz). If it can only handle single or dual-core architecture, you'd be using (2 threads/cores x0.8GHz=) 1.6GHz of processing power.

*Minimum* is 3.0Ghz solo or 2.33 GHz dual-core... just my two cents, but if I'm talking bullshit, let me know!

Confirmed?

[...]
problem on MoW is the non multi-core optimized Engine , it uses only one core and the <video card> isnt really fast at all , when using only one core.

http://www.digitalmindsoft.eu/forums...p=83485#p83485

[skelbley]

Originally Posted by GemCollins

Just taking a quick guess, the multiplayer engine probably can't handle or isn't optimized for multi-core CPU's (doesn't have proper multi-threading support), and because of that it can't use your processors' full power (3.2GHz). If it can only handle single or dual-core architecture, you'd be using (2 threads/cores x0.8GHz=) 1.6GHz of processing power.

*Minimum* is 3.0Ghz solo or 2.33 GHz dual-core... just my two cents, but if I'm talking bullshit, let me know!

Confirmed?

http://www.digitalmindsoft.eu/forums...p=83485#p83485

Uhm...
Read this:

http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/quad_core/

[Adr3naline]

I have low fps issues as well and my system hardware definitely passes recommended requirements. I use Windows 7 and also have a quad core at 2.6ghz not overclocked.

Im going to alt tab while playing and look and see if its being limited to one core or what

[Korsakov829]

Windows 7 does not pass minimum or recommended requirements.

[Adr3naline]

I fail to see how Windows 7 relates to a dramatic fps drop. I have used XP with MoW and had the same results using windows 7. Also, many of my friends play MoW using windows 7, and say it runs perfectly smooth. Although their PC specs differ.