Game's fps drops when u alt-tab.

ngkk · #1 February 3rd, 2007, 08:56 AM

Hi all,
I have a problem with low fps after i alt-tab out of a game. These games are
Scions of fate and Voyage century.

Scions of fate requirements:
Minimum Sys Requirements
CPU : Celeron 500MHz
RAM : 64MB
HDD : 300MB
OS : Windows 98 / ME / 2K / XP
VGA : 3D Accelerator
SOUND : none
NETWORK : 56kbps MODEM

Recommended Sys Requirements
CPU : P3-700MHz or higher
RAM : 128MB
HDD : 500MB or more
OS : Windows 98 / ME / 2K / XP
VGA : 3D Accelerator
SOUND : 6bit Sound Card
NETWORK : Cable Modem / DSL

Voyage century online requirements:
Minimum system requirements
• Intel Pentium III 500MHz or equivalent processor
• NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX400 video card
• 128 MB RAM
• 3.5GB free hard disk space

Recommended system requirements
• Intel Pentium IV 2GHz processor
• NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti4200 video card
• 256 MB RAM
• 3.5GB free hard disk space

I've met all the criteria i believe and if i do not alt-tab to MSN messenger/bitcomet, my game runs smoothly.

I've already installed the lastest gfx driver from ATI.

Thanks for any help/advice.

My sys Specs:
amd x2 64 athlon 3800+
2x 1.0GB ram 533/667
radeon x1950 pro
windows xp OEM sp2

Ed Williams · #2 February 3rd, 2007, 01:37 PM

after you alt-tab and your back in the game, after a few seconds does it run smoothly again?

ngkk · #3 February 3rd, 2007, 03:21 PM

sometimes.. sometimes it doesnt.. and restarting the game doesnt help. i have to restart my comp.

Ed Williams · #4 February 3rd, 2007, 10:52 PM

hmm. only thing i can think of is, maybe you have to much stuff running in the backround? maybe instant messengers or anti-virus?

no0b_wun · #5 February 5th, 2007, 12:07 AM

That happends to me, you can't really avoid it except close everything in the background.. but basically you just got to let your computer catch up.. after a few rounds or something.. it'll come back on pace.. if anything.. save your progress and restart your computer. Long period of usage of your computer for the day can overwhelm the computer.. think of it if you were working in the office 24/7 with no break. Computers need breaks too

even if it is designed for overtime. Disk cleanup is good too.. a tidy office space helps get jobs done faster, so a tidy computer helps search files faster

oracle128 · #6 February 5th, 2007, 12:43 PM

Simple - don't Alt+Tab out of games. Many games don't support it and may glitch up, and the others don't like the idea of losing control of system resources. When you minimize a game, it'll usually get shoved into virtual memory - transferring the game into there, restoring the desktop and apps from there, then later transferring the desktop into it, and restoring the game into physical memory again isn't a trivial task, especially on slow IDE hard drives.

cHiNgY1788 · #7 February 6th, 2007, 06:24 AM

one game that glitches up after alt+tabbing is red faction
when you try to go back in, the screen stays on desktop, the mouse is unresponsive
you have to ctrl alt del out (even then its glitchy, only use keyboard to navigate through a screen flashing between the game and the task manager...)

if you leave the comp on for days or weeks on at a time, it will start slowing down, best to restart or shut it down once in a while...

ngkk · #8 February 6th, 2007, 01:44 PM

Oh i See.. i realised i have a couple of stuff running in background, like bitcomet, antivirus, msn, and free download manager.. lol.

PCCam · #9 February 6th, 2007, 07:13 PM

Of course its dropping because Alt-Tab switches programs.

ngkk · #10 March 30th, 2007, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PCCam

Of course its dropping because Alt-Tab switches programs.

weird... my friends just have 1gb of ram.. but his fps doesnt drop
and he have like msn, skype, p2p, amounting up to 7processes

i have 2gb of ram... but i switch on just free download manager and my game fps drops... and my game start to like lag.

does that mean my rams has problems?

wilson44512 · #11 March 31st, 2007, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngkk

weird... my friends just have 1gb of ram.. but his fps doesnt drop
and he have like msn, skype, p2p, amounting up to 7processes

i have 2gb of ram... but i switch on just free download manager and my game fps drops... and my game start to like lag.

does that mean my rams has problems?

his pc can be a lot different then yours

if your playing a game why would you have a download manager running?

if you have any thing running while playing. like yahoo messenger. msn. ts. things like that can slow you down. if your using a program to show your fps. that could even do it.
and it could be your internet connection to.

ngkk · #12 April 1st, 2007, 02:37 AM

so how can i verify this? what that fps programme?

ngkk · #13 April 1st, 2007, 07:28 AM

i tried fraps software at fraps.com.. it shows tat my average fps ranges from 37-44 fps when it's running smoothly, but it hits a constant 3 fps when i switch on free download manager.. actually i want to download and play at the same time, taking advantage of my available ram as well. so wad issue is this??? my friend's system can take it but i cant.

ngkk · #14 April 6th, 2007, 12:34 PM

can some1 please help

**smurfy** · #15 April 6th, 2007, 12:52 PM

What sort of internet connection do you have compared to your friend.
If you are playing online games and trying to download (download manager and bit torrent client?) guess what is going to use up the bandwidth?

That said, I still think you are dreaming trying to run games and other tasks simultaneously.
In spite of the power of the modern PC, most games are programmed to utilise 100% of the computing/memory/graphics/bandwidth/power available to them. Take any of those factors away mid-game and performance will suffer.