Serious Graphics/Scrolling Stutter while ALT+Tabbed out of games in XP

These aren't huge resource eaters, its games like Civ4 and Galactic Civilizations 2. It seems like when you alt+tab out none of the graphics cards resources get given back to Windows - XP in this case - scrolling now is done by the CPU which lags at it a lot. Scrolling down a web page such as this one takes 50-60% of the CPU on my system and is extremely jerky. Shouldn't Windows be able to function at near normal levels if you push the game into the background? CPU usuage goes down to the normal 3-5% of an idle system, it's only the graphics card that seems to be stuck in a loop...

I still have 1 GB+ free of RAM when this lag occurs...I have no idea what's causing it or if it is an ATI or general problem. Am I the only one seeing this type of thing with these and other recent games?

Any replies are greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Cat

 

I have a similar problem, I dont know what it is either.

 

Didn't we already answer this? Seriously. Your notebook only has so many resources for graphics memory. Both 2D (the Windows desktop) and 3D (your game) use the same graphics resources which are NOT reported in the memory usage in the Task Manager. Sometimes the game may not give up it's memory usage (the program's still running, and still "owns" that memory), so you're getting what you see as "lag". Windows also uses your graphics card's functions to speed up how things interact and scroll and such, and when you can't switch the card out of 3D mode, it can't access those functions (ever see the Hardware Acceleration slider in the "Troubleshoot" tab of your advanced graphics configuration?). That's just the way it is, there is no fix, there is no workaround except for not alt-tabbing out of games.

And Civ4 is actually quite resource intensive. Just because it's not a fast, FPS style game doesn't mean it can't chew up a lot of resources. I run it at full detail on my machine, and it starts getting a little choppy on some of the larger worlds towards the end of the games. I just looked up GalCiv2's requirements, too... they require only a GeForce2, but that's minimum. They recommend a 9800Pro or better. Which is just a bit below what your system has in it as far as graphics performance. So if you're running it at high details, you're still stressing your system.

 

The problem is that XP's desktop and default graphics are rendered using GDI, which uses CPU time. Your GPU is just sitting there twiddling its thumbs while CIV4 eats up most of your CPU and Windows desktop and your browser fights for whats left. With the beefy system in your sig, I'd say give Windows Vista a try.

 

You can try adjusting system for 'best performance' and/or turning down some settings in game.

Then you might not lag in the game.

Defraging disk, cleaning up desktop, turning off anti-virus scans, deleting anything in the task bar that takes up memory space, etc.

 

Strange though, the CPU is idle, only 1-3% usuage. It only increases when you actually scroll in which case it rises to 50-60%. The post I made in the other forum ended with no rpeplies from anyone with anything but an ATI graphics card - and with almost everyone saying it was a RAM issue. Mobility Radeon X1600 is much better than a 9800Pro.

That's why my question is whether its something with all graphics cards or if it's ATI specific - if nVidia cards don't have this problem for instance I could look at getting it fixed. But no one with an nVidia card is actually saying they see it.

I'm set to Best Performance, it being an issue with not being able to change from 3D to 2D I could understand - Civ4 ran fine on my Mobility Radeon 9000, but also had this ALT+Tab issue of severe stuttering (which I took in stride since it is older hardware - only 64mb of VRAM total instead of 256/512 w/HyperMemory).

So if someone with a different model from ATI can confirm they see this too then I'll let it drop.

Thanks,
Cat

 

Well, i noticed for me it only happens in some games.

 

Same for me - I think it may be just those that say 'Full 3D' which lends credence to Pita's statements. But I found a workaround for it. If after I alt+tab out I go and change some setting in the ATI CCC, such as 'Support DXT Textures' the screen blacks out for a sec then everything is smooth in Windows. When I restore the game it's the same, and Windows is smooth through 2 or 3 alt+tabs after that (And I can also disable, then re-enable the option to make sure it's not breaking the game). It's clumsy I know, and annoying to have to do it but it's a test and it shows something...

So doing that seems to clear up whatever hold the game has on the system, while the game still restores just as quickly and works just as well as before. So this really has me wondering if it's some kind of memory leak...or if there could just be some easy program out there that you could just click a button and free the resources. From what I observed the game doesn't need as much in the way of resources as it's taking....

Cat

 

So it's ATI specific so no one with nVidia or other cards has this issue?

 

Cat, I was playing CIV4 the other day and I noticed the memory leak you speak of. Scrolling and unit/city actions in the game becomes really slow, and alt-tabbing is sluggish. This is a CIV4 problem, I don't know if the developers have made a patch for it yet. If you simply save and reload the game, you will trigger some sort of memory purge and the game will operate smoothly again for 1-2 hours.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, especially the trials with games Gator and usapatriot that's really appreciated . I guess this just goes to show that it's only the ATI users here who aren't too snobbish to take 2 minutes to try something and post about it - thank you . All the rest of you, especially nVidia users, you know who you are and feel free to prove you aren't snobs any time .

The thing is though, I'm not even playing Civ4 now - but Galactic Civilizations 2. It exhibits the same problems for both games, and it doesn't have anything to do with how the game responds when you are playing it - just when you are alt+tabbed out of it.

It's like Windows doesn't get the resources back from the game on the alt+tab, but there are workarounds like above which forces it to be given back. After using that workaround, Windows responds as usual and when you restore the game it responds just as well as if you hadn't done anything. Since it is a problem with more than one game and it can be fixed outside the game I'm thinking it might not be the fault of the game but XP or the ATI graphics driver.

Thanks,
Cat

 

I can confirm that this doesn't happen on my system when I Alt+Tab out of Oblivion. Unlike the other games though, it keeps playing the music from the game when back in Windows, and it's very fast to return...

But there are many games where this does occur, still no word on whether it is an ATI only issue or one shared by nVidia and Intel as well...

Cat

 

I dare not try to alt+tab with F.E.A.R (sorry!), but with PES 6 (40% CPU and 300mb ram used) it will lag and hang for about 5 minutes if I try it. But if I set it in windowed mode, it will minimise fine. I can then change songs in foobar, browse firefox a bit then return to a match. Those system uses include firefox and foobar running at the same time Puzzling. Not a particularly taxing game, but the difference between full screen vs windowed is strange

Sorry, this thread will remain unresolved

 

Thanks for the reply, it is greatly appreciated - Actually one guy said he'd ask some people about it with nVidia systems, not sure if he did but I'll follow up with him . Now that I'm playing Oblivion I don't notice it, though Oblivion crashes after ALT+Tab 1/5 times. Not sure if I coud live with windowed mode...but I definitely could never survive being stuck in a game for my entire gaming session.... DOS used to drive me nuts that way. I'm too much of a multitasker

Civ4 though and GalCiv2 and a bunch of other games this is really major, still suprised how little people care - unless it is limited to only a minority of users.

Thanks ,

Cat

 

i think it's a problem with your video card driver. i have an asus S96js which is basically the same laptop as you but with a lower res screen and no bluetooth. anyway i found an upgrade to the catalyst 7.8 driver and counter strike source went from nearly unplayable to averaging 80 fps with everything set to high.

try this link and get the updated driver from here. the driver on asus website sucks.

http://www.x-drivers.com/component/option,com_remository/itemid,36/func,fileinfo/id,22337/

 

Dude, seriously, really old thread. I don't think that member is still around here.

 

Thanks man I handn't tried upgrading lately, I haven't had time to play any games really for a long time. But I'm coming up to a break this weekend and I'm planning for some fun and gaming - I'll definitely give it a shot and let you know - thanks so much sticky__racing for signing up to post that suggestion it is greatly appreciated

notebook_ftw, this is where thread subscriptions and pms really come in handy

Thanks ,
Cat

P.S. I also just opened up the case on my lappy again today, upgrading to my new WD25000BEV 250GB Drive