STALKER not detecting dual core?

D

dbaldus

Gawd
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
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So I'm having problems with STALKER running very jerky (lots of framerate hitches, almost completely unplayable at medium to high settings, 1400 x 900, with object dynamic lighting) on the machine listed in my signature (an Opty 165 @ 2.6Ghz). I watched my CPU Usage on my other monitor while playing the game and noticed that one core is completely maxed out while the other core is near 0% usage, so I think this may be the problem. STALKER's Readme specifically states that the game should recognize a dual core CPU natively and that it is actually one of the best ways to increase the performance of the game.

I'm running STALKER v1.0001, if that makes a difference. Anyone else having this problem? What did you do to fix it? I have not had to install any sort of "Hot fixes" for dual cores or anything yet because all of the games that I play work fine without them. Suggestions??
 
I've heard similar problems. I'm no expert, but from what I've heard it sounds like other people (myself included) have had this problem. Are you running on Vista? If so, that's a potential cause for the problem, I've heard issues with Vista and dual core users for STALKER in particular. Beyond that, I'm not sure what exactly the circumstances are for improper recognition of dual core processors by STALKER, but I'm sure there'll be a fix for it shortly, whenever that big ol' patch comes around.
 
there is also an AMD dual core patch... might want to think about installing that...
 
Denki said:
there is also an AMD dual core patch... might want to think about installing that...
Click to expand...

Yes, I have heard that that can potentially cause problems for other games though. Since I have had no issues with other games thus far, I don't really want to install the patch, mess up a bunch of my other games, and then *potentially* not have it help STALKER, too (just a lose-lose situation). Also, is it possible to "uninstall" the dual core patch? I had heard that it was not so I was worried about that...
 
I've only heard of Stalker using 50% of each core or 100% of one regardless of what's in the readme.
 
One Vista, with driver 100.59 the highest my second core ever got was 13%.

With 100.65 and now 100.70 --both include a "Threaded optimization" option in the CP -- I have witnessed it climb to 30-40%. This is still not as the developer proclaims or natively supported by the game only, nor suitable (IMO), but it seems to kinda work with some of the processing. Unfortunately, right now on 100.70, I have other fish to fry. And oddly, I seem to be the only one atm..
 
Well, on one core with dynamic lighting you will hitch alot. Its hard enough to run DL with 2 cores and a decent card. I suggest you go the tweakguides and try to tweak the game, since you dont want to run the amd dual core patch. You may be able to compensate running on one core by doing other tweaks. I haven't had any issues with mine, but I'm running a intel proc. Not saying its an AMD problem.

Here is the link to the tweakguide: http://www.tweakguides.com/STALKER_1.html

Also, check out the sticky at the top of this section.;)
 
I got mine to run smooth by using 1600x900 res on my 1680x1050 monitor, and also reducing the lighting to static lighting. I can max the AF and use a little AA (in game not driver settings) and high but not max details.

And now I'm averaging 40-60 fps with vsync/triple buffering forced on.

Try lowering your lighting details to static, see if it helps.

Do go to the AMD site and get the processor utility. It might help and can't hurt. Our systems are similar and if mine can do it yours can :)

Edit: you are using 1GB of RAM....could be a potential issue.
 
polive said:
Do go to the AMD site and get the processor utility. It might help and can't hurt. Our systems are similar and if mine can do it yours can :)
Click to expand...

Is it really true that it cannot hurt? I thought, from skimming the sticky mentioned, that getting that patch could potentially harm performance in other games while helping in others.

Or did you mean that it cannot hurt STALKER more than it already has been? I'm not really worried about hurting STALKER anymore, I'm more worried about installing the AMD patch and then having it mess up other games that have been working fine thus far (which is all of them that I play).
 
polive said:
I got mine to run smooth by using 1600x900 res on my 1680x1050 monitor, and also reducing the lighting to static lighting. I can max the AF and use a little AA (in game not driver settings) and high but not max details.

And now I'm averaging 40-60 fps with vsync/triple buffering forced on.

Try lowering your lighting details to static, see if it helps.

Do go to the AMD site and get the processor utility. It might help and can't hurt. Our systems are similar and if mine can do it yours can :)

Edit: you are using 1GB of RAM....could be a potential issue.
Click to expand...

WTF.. you might as well just drop all the sliders, because that's the kind of difference that setting the lighting to static does in STALKER. It looks TERRIBLE compared to the dynamic lighting. So yeah, it's no wonder that it runs smooth with static lighting... :rolleyes:
 
I would think the hitching is due to only having 1GB of RAM, nothing to do w/ the CPU.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
WTF.. you might as well just drop all the sliders, because that's the kind of difference that setting the lighting to static does in STALKER. It looks TERRIBLE compared to the dynamic lighting. So yeah, it's no wonder that it runs smooth with static lighting... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Haha... very true. It looks absolutely TERRIBLE with static lighting. It really doesn't even look like the same game!
 
Just trying to help you out man. With any lighting other than static I get 20-30 fps even on lower slider settings. It just runs too choppy. I'm not denying my video card is a little older than a 7900GT but just giving advice on what MY system does for this game.
 
polive said:
Just trying to help you out man. With any lighting other than static I get 20-30 fps even on lower slider settings. It just runs too choppy. I'm not denying my video card is a little older than a 7900GT but just giving advice on what MY system does for this game.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I understand, and thanks for the tips. I was just commenting on how different the game looks.

Looks like I can get about 20-30 fps with medium to high settings on everything and object dynamic lighting (NOT full dynamic lighting), but it runs very choppy. Just ordered a second gig of RAM... we'll see how that goes over. I've been waiting for an excuse to get a second gig for quite awhile now anyways...
 
I think the best option for both of us is a new video card! hehe, anybody have $500 I can borrow?;)
 
This game needs 2 Gigs of ram. I've got 2 of very fast ram and the little disk symbol (anybody else get that?) was still fluttering all the time.
All in all though, I found I could run the game @ 1280x960 with every single thing on the highest level. 1600x1200 with highest settings was just a tad too choppy here and there. For me, rather than dick around with a bunch of settings, and since I have an excellent CRT, I'd rather drop it down a notch and leave everything on high. Game looked great.

rig in sig
 
wrangler said:
This game needs 2 Gigs of ram. I've got 2 of very fast ram and the little disk symbol (anybody else get that?) was still fluttering all the time.
All in all though, I found I could run the game @ 1280x960 with every single thing on the highest level. 1600x1200 with highest settings was just a tad too choppy here and there. For me, rather than dick around with a bunch of settings, and since I have an excellent CRT, I'd rather drop it down a notch and leave everything on high. Game looked great.

rig in sig
Click to expand...

Yeah, I notice the flashing "floppy disk" in the bottom right corner of the screen. What is that about? It's not a hardware warning is it? Why would they put that in the GUI of the game? I have no idea what it is. I have 2 gigs of RAM, system in sig.

The game is perfectly playable and fun, always above 40, usually at 60 fps with vsync/triple buff on, high/medium settings on most sliders, and it looks great with static lighting even. Yes I realize dynamic lighting would be better, but I don't have the hardware yet for that. Waiting for a real game revolution ie Crysis.

:D
 
The disk in the bottom corner is the game dynamically loading data. The tweak guide mentioned above has a command line switch for helping out with the dynamic loading. I think it is -noprefetch or something along those lines. I've been using it the last few days but haven't noticed much change, except possibly the load times.
 
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