Rome 2 Total War

[ThronedFlame]

Hey guys I need some help figuring this out. I am getting terrible animation stutter on Rome 2 total war, but I am not sure if it is my computer or just the fact that Nvidia hasn't released a driver that supports Rome 2 yet.

The game runs perfectly smooth on extreme settings all the way up until the point where the units actually start to fight each other, then terrible animation stutter. I have tried asking on the Total War forums but they are a mess right now. Also, if you helped me last time with my issues, I would appreciate the help again!

 

[MilkyWay]

I have been playing it myself, i get those issues. Sometimes it will stutter (more like halt) like its trying to process something and then it will work smooth again. Its something to do with the game, theres a patch coming out soon so i hope it fixes it.

Its not a driver issue i don't think.

EDIT: Yes i'm fairly sure its just bad optimisation as it happens on various low to high end rigs.

 

[ThronedFlame]

I have been playing it myself, i get those issues. Sometimes it will stutter (more like halt) like its trying to process something and then it will work smooth again. Its something to do with the game, theres a patch coming out soon so i hope it fixes it.

Its not a driver issue i don't think.

EDIT: Yes i'm fairly sure its just bad optimisation as it happens on various low to high end rigs.

This really sucks. Still holding out hope then that it's just optimization. I mean I can run napoleon on almost all ultra with large unit sizes so I don't see why I wouldn't be able to run this

 

[ShiBDiB]

Napoleon is extremely old by game standards..

But total war devs have a notorious reputation of releasing broken games.. Wait a month or 2 and go back to it. Theirs no quick fix to your problems because alot of people are having them.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Ugh it's very annoying... The worst thing for me is the GPU is only 50/60% load and 40/50 fps on campaign map with medium and even ultra settings!
I mean.. I even turned on SSAO and the FPS took a small hit of 3/4 frames and the GPU load is actually underclocking my GPU now... and 40/74% load?!?! also.. the GPU is only 40c! lowest I've seen on a modern game so far?????

IS it even possible to force my damn GPU to FULL load no matter what?? I hate this constant underclocking and frame rate dropping and regaining itself randomly?!?!?!?!

Patch done nothing either :/

 

[freeboy]

I have a lower rated card but perhaps a faster chip.. your id does now say if you are OC..
I have not experienced this stutter, BUT, when the single core gets loaded it might stutter...
hopefully the devs come up with a better use of multi core for Rome 3.
Are you using more than 20 units per army.. ie thousands of troops on map at one time?
of course you could lower your settings, one suggested the
AA settings is a tough one on graphics... again good luck!

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

I hope they improve the performance swifty! Would you say that it's my processor?? Surely my CPU is more than enough for this game?! Like it's overclocked to 4.4Ghz too!

The performance doesn't really change much when I mess around with the settings... turning shadows and SSAO on ultra runs very well and when I turn them off.. it only gains 3-4 fps!
I actually get a decent 6fps going from Ultra terrain to Very High. Kinda surprised with that considering I don't even notice the difference.

On the campaign map I only get 50FPS while the GPU is only 65% usage tops.. Like if it would run at 90% surely I would get better performance? But the GPU refuses to load anymore?!?!?!

It gets worse while on the battlefield with usually only 2-3000 units on the field. it just lags while fights start :?
Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?? Is there actually anyway to force my GPU to 100% full load instead of the GPU deciding for me?

 

[freeboy]

Yes it's your processor because no ones proc can carry he lad as most of the work goes to one core!
So my 4.8 OC runs little better and fast mem too, BUT the game is the issue!
I tested this on ultra settings with S2 FOTS, ran great both with video card, a fast OC gigabyte 660 ti, think 670, and the nice on board graphics... Everything looks great and my 15 k troops in foggy rain are happy running around shooting etc, until I zoom in and it stuttered briefly. Looking at the CPU utilization one core was at max ... Too bad really. Maybe some smart person will figure out core optimization for the "engine". So running a little faster chip I'm not yet seeing this but R2 battles are smaller. So, if its killing you try lowering AA. Then maybe go through the various settings.
One nice thing CA has done is allow lots of fine tuning. That's your short term fix... Sorry to say.

What kind of temps, almost sounds like you cpu is thermal throttling, where it lowers its speed?

 

[a_ump]

i love total war games, but i'm guessing my celeron g1610, equal to pentium G850 for those that see celeron and think slower than Pentium 4, won't run it too well XD.

 

[freeboy]

Things u can try
If you can run shogun you can run R2
Turn down resolution
All vid stuff off

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Its mostly CPU limited for everyone complaining about lower GPU utilization thats actually normal and honestly im tired of having to point that out

This game is still based primarily on warscape so alot of data is processed on 1 core, while multi threading has been improved the problem still exists.

Unit animation stutter is a CPU limitation

turn Shadows off / lower unit size from Ultra to High and the stutter should go away for the units, If you want Campaign hitching to stop then use an FPS limiter and limit the game to 30 FPS and the problem vanishes.

The reason Rome II also stutters a bit more is due to even more background data getting crunched from the CPU theres more going on behind the scenes now. However like always

GPU drivers + Patches will iron out most issues as for stutter

put the game on an SSD / lower your settings / Overclock the CPU but since your on a laptop thats not possible.

 

[freeboy]

Not trying to contradict you but
Im not sure an ssd will change anything but load times...
good luck

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Not trying to contradict you but
Im not sure an ssd will change anything but load times...
good luck

It allows textures and everything to be loaded quicker, where I think most of the stutter comes from in Rome 2.

Crazyeyes correct me if I am wrong.

 

[freeboy]

K, Im not the expert, I just re call the twnet guys saying that in testing fps hd made NO difference, only affected load times

 

[MxPhenom 216]

K, Im not the expert, I just re call the twnet guys saying that in testing fps hd made NO difference, only affected load times

Depends on the game.

I have seen Crazyeyes prove the guys on the total war forums wrong multiple times. Crazy is the one to go to if you have questions about Total War and its engine and how things work.

 

[ShiBDiB]

The main thing to do is wait for more patches.. the game is all over the board when it comes to performance. And textures in tw are loaded at the beginning of the battle so an ssd won't do much of anything outside of load times for this game.

 

[freeboy]

I'm one of the happy few

 

[MilkyWay]

SSD does diddly squat to the stuttering, faster campaign load times but there's a LOT of factions in this game so don't be surprised if it is longer than expected to load a turn. I an OCZ Agility 3 so not the best SSD but not one of the slowest either.

The game generally runs okay but occasionally i get stupid AI glitches and slowdowns now and again. Now and again troops seem to do nothing even when given an order, AI is also not that great to be honest.

EDIT: I do enjoy the game a little.

 

[freeboy]

I'm enjoying the game, using buttons to control armies in battle, I'm doing 2 turns per year and still learning why stuff happens. No idea how to make populous happy and avoid continual slave revolts... But killing slave armies is an Easy way to add quality to your legions though.

 

[ShiBDiB]

I enjoy the game.. it could just be sooooooooooooo much better and will be once the mods start rolling (they already are) and patches come out.

 

[freeboy]

Agreed

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Freeboy, My laptop which is average plays every total war game very well which I was very surprised with! Of course this R2 is new and as usual it is the be expected to be pretty bad performance wise.
My CPU temps usually stay below 60c while until load so I'm sure that's fine?!

I will try use RadeonPro to put an FPS limit and hope for the best.

In order to avoid unhappiness you must convert the culture to yours and also use those veterans to make the region happier! I play on legendary mode and never had any unhappiness problems.
But you must toggle the tax region once you capture a foreign settlement as they be crazy people!

 

[Zen_]

I'm enjoying the game, using buttons to control armies in battle, I'm doing 2 turns per year and still learning why stuff happens. No idea how to make populous happy and avoid continual slave revolts... But killing slave armies is an Easy way to add quality to your legions though.

The major factors for population happiness are:

- Squalor, increases as you upgrade city size and most buildings.
- Culture, you need to assimilate provinces to your culture with buildings and characters. The latter of which can be accomplished with generals and deployed dignitaries.
- Taxes, lower is better obviously. As the game progresses you should be able to move to lower tax rates, with industry and trade providing more revenue.

I had the same problem with revolts all the time, but I actually kinda like the new system for provincial development compared to previous TW games. In the original R:TW game you basically had to periodically instigate rebellions in distant lands and then massacre the population. Empire and Napoleon were a mixed bag with resistance to foreign occupation forcing you to park armies in conquered territories for many turns. Now you can fine tune the growth of squalor and food consumption, and also have to consider diplomacy more. Factions with similar culture are easier to rule, but they are also easier to form treaties with due to initial cultural affinity.

I agree with the other opinions that this game has a lot of potential that won't be realized until it's patched and more mods are available. The two most annoying problems for me right now are the turn times and number of pointless auto-resolved battles caused by factions on the rope attacking with one unit in random locations every turn. I capped out the map last night with Rome, and finished with 54 actual battles fought and over 1,200 auto-resolved battles. Perhaps most annoying about the AI strategy though is that it will hardly ever defend, instead it will forced march and attack random territory somewhere else.

 

[freeboy]

I'm into the expansion period,
I've pretty much pissed off everyone of my treaty holders they all bailed, and all French Gallic tribes and others declared war within three turns, I'm almost at the next level of imperium, but only six armies it's tough. I'm getting ready to punish some of the closer at war tribes, pretty odd they all went to war at once... I have 16 settlements and just tarting to ramp up my economy. It's pretty accurate the quality of my armies pretty much rips through enemy. I'm tired of killing slaves. So are suggesting higher level culture building will lower slave revolts?

 

[ShiBDiB]

just don't take slaves... if u do ur gonna spend ur game fighting revolts

 

[freeboy]

Which is hinky

 

[entropy13]

Just bought this. Seems I get the EU version too...lol