Chapter 1: Horde Fortress Level 2 is REALLY Slow

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(I now know the meaning of the word excruciating...)

On the level with Krunter, the Decanter Goblins, and the Fire Beetles, the game slows down to a crawl. When I go back down a level, it's fine, but it slows down again whenever I go to level 2. It's also fine if I pause, but the actual gameplay slows down when I unpause.

As to how slow it gets, it goes normal speed long enough for a character to take ONE STEP, then freezes up for a second or so. Unless it's happened to you, you don't know how much it hurts to see the characters go into seizures every split second; it slows the game down to about 1/4.

 

I had the same problem. To counter it, I would pause to make all my character actions, then go back to "real time." It only lasts a little while though...Only two rooms or so.

 

What, it goes on in the next room too?!? Dang it...

Oh well, thanks for the input/warning.

 

It goes away after you've killed 10 or so monsters. It happens a couple other places in the game where there are large groups of monsters or a clip that needs to run, it's just your CPU taking a hit.

 

Yup. How prevalent this issue is depends entirely on your hardware specs. I only had a slowdown issue at one point (the guardian) and then only with the party that used tons of summons and buffs for that fight.

Didn't they release a patch for certain video cards that were having this problem alot?

 

To help this problem, it is always wise to configure your game for a little slower system than you actually have. I have a 433 MHz processor and a 8 Mb video, but I always put the slider one notch down in the Config program. This seems to help me a lot in all of IE games - IWD, BG2, IWD2.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, I'm going into my config file right away!

 

on my game it was running jumpy for the whole for the whole warrens. I tried to set the bars lower, but it still didn't work. Once i got out though,it was fine.

 

Yep, that level with the Decanter goblins was a pain for me too (I mean the slowdown). I also thought it was the excessive number of characters on the level, but the problem remained even after I killed everyone, even the cows and chicken (just to check that theory) except the decanter goblins and those guarding them. I also noticed that those goblins were being animated at short intervals, doing big movements with sound all at the same time. Perhaps this is what causes the slowdown. Plus there's a large number of animated torches on that level too.
I also encounter momentary slowdowns when I cast a fireball, especially if one or more other spells are being animated at the same time. And I have a P4 1.7GHz. Didn't think a 2D game would need that much power, if it is programmed efficiently. Hell, it uses up 100% of the CPU when it's in the background! I sometimes have to set its priority to "below-normal" to be able to surf the web simultaneously.

So not to worry, you're not alone

 

That's the truth. Everybody seems to be having this problem. The developers know about this 'issue' and hopefully it will be fixed with the official patch.

You can read/learn more about it here: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/index_tips.php
Just go to the Icewind Dale 2 technical FAQ or here's the direct link to the same thread:
http://feedback.blackisle.com/forums/showthread.php?s=130565&threadid=54635

It's the very first question, so you can't miss it

 

"everyone" is a rather major exaggeration, but it does affect a significant minority of players and is getting appropriate attention.

 

True. 'Everyone Seems' to be having this problem I suppose is an exaggeration. I guess I could have phrased that better ... yeah right. Anyway I was just trying to give the so called 'minority of players' who ran into this problem a heads up.

If the developers are devoting time and giving this problem 'appropriate attention' as you say, wouldn't you think that a lot of gamers are running into this 'issue'.

IWD2 has been in stores for well over a month and a half now, yet no official patch has been released. They must be working damn hard to fix some 'bug'. Do your homework son, most official patches for IE games were released slightly over a month or so after the game(s) went gold. What other major issue could they be working on. I haven't run into any other problem than this slow down issue in the warrens. I finnished the game the other night without a hitch. So please do enlighten me on any other major bug or issue that the team may be worknig on.

[ October 09, 2002, 12:37: Message edited by: Thorongil ]

 

I just tried that slowdown fix by Extremist and Quint (Dragons Eye was leading me to the brink of insanity) and it worked like a charm.
You guys are the best. Thanks.

 

I have never encountered such a big slow down. (Dell Dimension P4 1.7, 256 RD-RAM, 64 MB Geforce2 MX 400, IWD2 version 2.01)However, sometimes the game seems to be slowed by large groups of monsters and too many spell animations which is annoying for a 2D game.
But there are some major bugs that the programmers might be working on.