Siege Lag, Pls need help

[Cados]

Yoo,

I always played medieval 2 without any problems.
Lately I reinstalled the game, but now i have problems with sieges.
It lags like hell.
Custom games work properly and the campaign map aswell.
You guys have any idea how this is possible?

thanks in advance

[FactionHeir]

Firstly, since you reinstalled, its likely that you may not have the same settings as before, so your first choice would be tuning down graphics.
Also, unit sizes impact the fps a lot.

If it still lags with everything disabled or on lowest, you might want to consider following one of the links in my sig which should cure your problem.

Its of course also possible that you may have (junk) programs running in the background that use processing power and memory, so its advisable to turn everything off unless you really need it. That means, even if you are using say p2p, you want to have it turned off while playing M2TW unless you have a dual core.

Defragging sometimes (although rarely) helps too.
Any other queries really should go to the apothecary.

[rebelscum]

Please post your machine specs memory, CPU, graphics card, and your current graphic settings.
Also look around on the net for a site that will give you better gaming performace, free up memory.

[Daveybaby]

Settings -> Graphics
Turn down city detail.
Helped a lot for me.

[khaos83_2000]

i remember there's a mod that provides a lower resolution of the city/castle buildings which effectively reduce the lag.
But i can't find it now.
anyone has any idea?

[FactionHeir]

i remember there's a mod that provides a lower resolution of the city/castle buildings which effectively reduce the lag.
But i can't find it now.
anyone has any idea?
That particular mod's effect is the same as turning your building details to low actually. It was intended for those who want to keep the building detail elsewhere on high but otherwise in siege battles on low. So it wouldn't really help the OP.

[Cados]

thanks for the replys.

As for the low settings it don't worked.
I think my computer is blocked by something.
Already defragmented my disc. and used a spyware remover it didn't help.

My computer specs:
Time of this report: 8/30/2007, 15:03:15
Machine name: CADOS
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_qfe.061219-0311)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: VIA
System Model: K7VT4A+
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 358MB used, 1334MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode
Videocard: Ati Radeon 9600 series 256 mb

[Sir Clive Sinclair]

Happens with me too, fine during field battles, even with citadel seiges with full stacks on both sides is OK.

But the problem occurs when seiging cities, Im convinced its the rising smoke from buildings.

Anyone know if there's a way to turn off smoke???

Thanks

[FactionHeir]

Third link in my sig removes that and a lot of other ambient graphics for most people.

[Daveybaby]

Cados, I think your machine is just getting on a bit (as is mine).
You have the same CPU and memory as me, (and probably similar memory speeds). Mine does lag a bit in siege battles (still a teeny bit with settings turned to low).
Point is, my system's over 3 years old now and its getting pretty creaky on current games. This is, unfortunately, to be expected.

But i think your main problem is your graphics card. Its 2 generations out of date, and the 9600 wasnt top of the range even then. Even though its probably got enough texture memory IIRC everything on the card ran at a lower clock speed than the 9800 and you had fewer pipelines to play with. I've got an X800pro and that struggles a bit, and thats (roughly, vaguely) 4 times as powerful as the 9600.

Presumably your system is AGP. You can pick up AGP versions of the ATI X1950pro for around £100, which is by far the most powerful AGP card out there. Seriously considering doing that myself, in lieu of a complete system upgrade. Alternatively you could spend £50 and get an ATI1650 or Nvidia 7600 series, and still have something far more powerful than what youve got now.

But basically, if youre trying to run games on a system 3 years older than the game, youre going to start to have problems.