Optimizing performance for low end machines

from Elemental Forums

My glorious uber-computer has recently died a horrible death ( :( ), and I've had to roll out its less glorious predecessor. That machine is on the lower end of Elemental's system requirements, but I still had to buy the game, how often do ambitious strategy/RPG games comes out? It runs on my older machine, but even with all the graphical settings turned down as much as possible, the performance is pretty choppy, in particular if you are zoomed in, a slight tap on the edge of the screen results in a massive screen jump (Yeah, I turned edge slide speed down). And the clothmap mode, while a nice addition, just takes too much away from immersion for me. Now, I am not complaining or anything, as with my low specs, I knew what I was getting into, but I was just wondering about something. It seems to me (and i could be wrong of course) that most people who are into TBS games are the kind of people who might not necessarily play graphics demanding games likes first person shooters. Most offerings in this genre are either really old or not very demanding graphically (Master of Magic, Age of Wonders, Heroes of Might and Magic, etc). So with that said (or assumed), while I realize Brad and Stardock are buried in things to do with Elemental right now, are there plans down the line, once you guys get some breathing room, to make Elemental more accessible to people without newer machines, but not strictly in clothmap mode? Perhaps figuring out ways to turn down/disable more graphical options. I am sure the graphical performance optimizations coming soon for everyone will help those people too, but they might not be enough for people on the low end.

elemental
5,426 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

The game doesnt run well on *high end* machines right now.  All SD games are designed with scalability and low end machines in mind. The game simply isn't (or shouldn't be) that graphically demanding.  When they start tracking down these optimization issues, people should see performance increases across the board.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I assume when they've done proper optimization passes, low end machines will be doing pretty well. I did notice there's an absence of control over the graphic options though.

Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

If you want really good performance right now, enable the option for Cloth Map Only. It runs a LOT better on the cloth map.

Granted there's no eye candy, but it's fully playable that way until they get performance improved.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Yep, that's how I will be playing it on my low end PC. Until Stardock releases a performance patch.

I actually don't mind the cloth map, I find it really unique.

However I would expect even my low end machine to run Elemental better than in its current state. Seeing that I can run TES IV: Oblivion at full graphics with 20+ fps in most places. I know that Oblivion is a few years old and probalby isn't the graphics gold standard it once was.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Resolution plays a big factor. So use a smaller resolution will help. Full screen may help a little. Turn off AA. Disable the particle effects.  Disable DOF. Cap the frame rate at 30. Max texture six the smallest. 1 Level of mipmapping, No shadows or ground cover. And you can mess with lighting.

 

However, Elemental is mostly a CPU and memory bound game. There honestly isn't a lot of hard GPU work going on. However, it does need to track a lot of stuff. Smaller maps will help and less AI.