Laggy Nav Map

[Austin]

I don't recall the Nav Map being so laggy. Any advice?

[Vice]

Not a lot has changed in that aspect over the years. Overall, the most significant factor in nav map performance is system performance (primarily CPU and memory speed as nav map systems mostly consist of data loading/transfer operations). But you can also check for things that might be tasking your system in the background and/or optimized settings for performance (proper memory pairing, BIOS settings, etc).

[Marvin]

Forgot to ask ... which game?

[Vice]

I've moved it to the relevant forum (EL).

[Marvin]

Okay. I'll see if it lags on the old laptop.

[Marvin]

Normal view. Enlarged view. Zooming in and out. With "The Glitch" quest loaded and not loaded. Jumping out of Vonari space using wormholes then checking the map. Flipped Top and side (Rear) views. All without any lag at all. And I have a few programs either running in the background or (at least) loaded on the task bar. Including the dreaded ASUS Live Update.

What I don't have (and never will) are any social programs running. Discord is installed but doesn't play well with others on the laptop. So I launch it from the desktop computer or my wife's old iPhone. Yeah, I have email. But no twitter or zoom or zap or facebook or whatever. Oh, and I always disable the music while playing games. You might try doing that.

[Austin]

Thanks Marvin. Sorry for the delay. The game is Legacy, up-to-date. The only notable programs I have running in the background are Steam, Corsair Link and Nvidia GeForce. The lag doesn't make it unplayable but is just annoying.

[Marvin]

How about the in-game music? I don't have it enabled in EL but I do have music enabled in Uboat and, when the radio officer has it tuned in, I get lag in water texture. So maybe .... (Btw, when you mention nVidia GeForce, which part of it do you mean? IIRC, there's one GeForce program you should stay away from.)

[Austin]

The music is not on. I know composers take much time and effort to make in-game music for setting the mood... but It breaks my immersion in all games. If I'm make a long trip I'll play a YouTube playlist but obviously on Auto-pilot there is no need to access the Nav-map. The particular Nvidia program running is GeForce Experience.

[Marvin]

The particular Nvidia program running is GeForce Experience.

I think that's the program but Vice would need to chime in with actual facts. As for not playing the music, your reasons sound just like my own when discussing the pros and cons with Denny and the rest of our squadron last Sunday.

[Vice]

I wouldn't anticipate that GeForce Experience would impact nav map performance in such a way, but perhaps it may be a minor factor considering issues it has caused in other games in the past (usually stability related though, iirc). Otherwise, if the CPU is near/at 0% utilization when nothing is running on the system, performance will primarily be linked to the data transfer speed capabilities of the system (CPU clock, memory speed, bus speed, etc).

[Austin]

Disabling GeForce Experience didn't resolve the issue. It's not the meanest monster out there but my PC is not a slouch. I'm going to try what should have been a default solution tomorrow. Uninstall and re-install. I'll drop in with the results. Thanks again too both.

[Marvin]

It's a weird one. I've had to update my graphics driver once or twice to resolve other issues. But the maps have never been a problem.

[Marvin]

Btw, just a shot in the dark but do you run Legacy via Steam?

[Austin]

No. I purchased it through Steam but I downloaded from SW and used my Steam Key.

[Austin]

I re-installed EL but still have the same issue. I'ts a minor inconvenience so I'll just deal with it. Thanks for the help pilots

[matchbox2022]

Try opening it in complete open space devoid of everything.
Faster?
SLOWER?

If no effect then Im on the wrong track.
Any Mods? That might take some loading inpact.

[Raptorrdude]

Does this happen when the nav window is up and your moving your mouse around without clicking places? Or does it 'pause' when scrolling out or maybe clicking different solar system map locations?

I did notice from my 55-60fps (can check by holding ` down after scrolling/moving mouse around on the nav window.) it drops around 50-40fps when spinning my pointer around and swiftly checking FPS via `. But there is also a delay pause when selecting different solar systems. But i think that's pretty normal.

[Austin]

Thanks for the reply's. Been busy with work making materials for facemasks and other endeavours. @matchbox No it still has it's ... stuttering lag in devoid space far from anything. The only mods I use are hud changes using Vice's Mod Kit, which I have the same result's when I delete the files. @Raptorrdude It does happen when my Nav Map is up and I'm just moving my mouse around. Which for me was bothersome moving around the top down map. A real new install going on though, hopefully I find that solution and the lag will be gone

[matchbox2022]

Do you notice that you're entire experience lags? Does the fps (hold tilde "~") drops when nav map is opened?
Only other thing I can think of is that the game is single-threaded for the most part and you might be maxing out a core.
Might want to have task manager in the background, try devoid space again, zoom out and in a bit / move map and see if there's a relation to the task manager via a CPU spike (it will be balanced across all cores, so if you have 4, look for a 20-25% spike roughly).
The game's pretty single threaded from my PoV so that would help point out if it's a CPU limitation or the engine itself.

It'd help to know what CPU you're using and clock speed. Mine's pretty old but can handle the game.
CPU Overclocking does show significant improvements on my end (Even turning the HUD overlay off gives me a few more fps I noticed).

Slow memory if you don't have enough VRAM will also slow things down without seeing a maxxed out CPU or GPU core.

I also notice the lag within the map itself, but for me it's when there's a lot on the screen moreso.

[Vice]

... It does happen when my Nav Map is up and I'm just moving my mouse around. Which for me was bothersome moving around the top down map. A real new install going on though, hopefully I find that solution and the lag will be gone

That is an interesting result and could further confirm the issue is with the system's base performance. I have an old record from you of a Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 (a 2008 era motherboard) with an AMD Athlon dual core processor, which would have memory speed options of 667, 800, and 1066 MHz. If that still applies, it could explain such a performance issue when the nav map is called up and its systems can't be processed at the needed rates. On a positive note though, the game is designed to turn off all of the nav map operations when you close the console for maximum performance, so any limitations would only apply while the console is open.

[Austin]

That info is a bit dated.
Currently running a M5A97 R2.0 motherboard with a quad-core AMD FX-4150 at 4ghz (with the option too but not overclocked) and 24gb of DDR3 ram. And yes, when I'm not in the nav map everything runs perfect well sorta... see another post for controller issues O.o

Edit: The fresh install didn't solve it either.

[Vice]

That's better/newer (Windows 8 era). Might be worth checking to verify that the memory is properly paired and running at the right speed in BIOS (probably all is). Memory could be anywhere from 1066 to 1866 on that board. Additionally, that era of Asus board might include a built-in performance setting option in BIOS you could try to gauge if it helps at all with performance. Also, considering rendering elements with the map, I'd also check into the GPU you are using as it might also be a potential bottleneck.

[Austin]

I've tried the tilde key while just boosting. Pressing tilde removes the Nav screen and allows the game to run smooth. I'm not sure how to have the TM up at the same time as the game. I can have it running in the back ground, but not sure how to check spikes. I only use TM when something needs... persuasion, if you get me. But my current gpu is a RTX 2080 4gb.

[Vice]

I'd certainly say that any potential bottleneck there would be with the motherboard/memory/bus then

There is a performance tab in the task manager that will provide line graphs for each category that will record performance elements. You can also optionally open the resource monitor from there for additional details. Odds are though, you will see high utilization on the CPU indicator (higher with the nav map open) while very little on the GPU (since the video card wouldn't likely be any kind of bottleneck).

Probably not much that could be done then, outside of onboard/BIOS settings that might help things a bit.