Terrible performance in PC version

#1 Edited by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

I bought Alpha Protocol on Steam recently and have just gone to try it out only to be halted by the extremely bad performance that casuses the game to stutter and lag even when just idling at the main menu (It's even worse in game). Now you might think I just have a bad computer, well here is some information:

Intel Core i7 Processor
ATi HD5870 Graphics Card
6GB RAM
Windows 7 64 bit

This game should NOT be lagging at all on this machine! I've even turned down all the graphics options to low and set the resolution to 1024 x 768 windowed to no avail. I am pretty annoyed about this since I really wanna try this game out. Anyone have any suggestions?

#2 Edited by AlexW00d (5425 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise)

#3 Posted by Raymayne (1265 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@AlexW00d said:

" Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise) "

Beat me to it.

#4 Edited by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@AlexW00d: @Ramboknife: Well I'd expect it to be at least playable!

@Ramboknife: I don't really know what else there is to tweak. I've gone through all the options available in the menus and turned them off/switched them to low. I don't really wanna start going through the Unreal Engine config files unless I know what I'm looking for.

#5 Posted by AlexW00d (5425 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking: Well it was playable for most people, just buggier than it should have been. Maybe you need to update your drivers or something? Or just stop being snobby? I dunno.

#6 Posted by Gizmo (5382 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

You'd be best of getting RadeonPro, locking the framerate to 30 frames, and playing with a controller from 6 feet away.

#7 Posted by PrivateIronTFU (3874 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Sometimes it IS your computer. I just go through and update all of my firmware and drivers, and sometimes it significantly helps games run better. I went through the same thing with Far Cry 2 on my computer.

#8 Posted by Chris2KLee (2253 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking said:

" I bought Alpha Protocol on Steam recently and have just gone to try it out only to be halted by the extremely bad performance that casuses the game to stutter and lag even when just idling at the main menu (It's even worse in game). Now you might think I just have a bad computer, well here is some information: Intel Core i7 Processor ATi HD5870 Graphics Card 6GB RAM Windows 7 64 bit This game should NOT be lagging at all on this machine! I've even turned down all the graphics options to low and set the resolution to 1024 x 768 windowed to no avail. I am pretty annoyed about this since I really wanna try this game out. Anyone have any suggestions? "

I got the Direct2Drive version, and seemed to run fine on a system way lower than yours. That said, there is a thread over at the official sega forums that has basic trouble shooting info for people having trouble running the game. I think someone else on the forum also posted having trouble with the steam version, might wanna search and see if they found a solution.

#9 Posted by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@AlexW00d: I'd hardly call it snobbish to expect a game I buy to work properly so I can play it.

@PrivateIronTFU: My graphics drivers are up to date but I shall have a hunt around for sound drivers as well.

#10 Posted by Jimbo (8837 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking: I vaguely remember something about this. Are you playing with a mouse?

#11 Posted by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Jimbo: Yes I am. I do have a 360 controller as well though.

#12 Posted by Jimbo (8837 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking: Does it still lag as bad using the controller?

#13 Posted by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Jimbo: Yes, it doesn't seem to make any difference unfortunately.

#14 Posted by Azteck (7329 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@AlexW00d said:

" Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise) "

Ehm, it ran great on my 360? According to your achievements, you haven't even played the game. So just stop hating a game for the sake of hating it.

#15 Posted by AlexW00d (5425 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Azteck said:

" @AlexW00d said:
" Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise) "
Ehm, it ran great on my 360? According to your achievements, you haven't even played the game. So just stop hating a game for the sake of hating it. "

Dude you're an idiot, this game was on my frigging GOTY list. It ran fine on my PS3 too, but with noted issues, issues I have heard of on all systems.

#16 Posted by PrivateIronTFU (3874 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking: Well what I ended up having to do was uninstall and then reinstall all my drivers. That ended up doing the trick. Not that that's the case with you, but just a suggestion.

#17 Posted by Jimbo (8837 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking: Try this maybe:

"Also, if Alpha Protocol is stuttering and running very slow, here are some tips to optimize the game’s performance:

1. Find the APEngine.ini file in the My Documents folder (C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config) and make the following changes:

MinSmoothedFrameRate=20
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=30
"

#18 Edited by FritzDude (2206 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Sounds like a driver issue to me. Same thing happened to me in Empire: Total War. Apparently i got a month old driver, so i downloaded the new CCC 10.12 ( I think) for ATI cards and it worked like a charm afterwards.

#19 Edited by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Jimbo: That didn't appear to work either.
@FritzDude: I updated my drivers to that latest version and I'm still getting the same issues.
@PrivateIronTFU: I might give that a go tomorrow if nothing else works.

#20 Posted by Mars_Cleric (1562 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Kung_Fu_Viking:
i bought the game on steam and it worked fine for me just as long as i use the xbox controller since the mouse and keyboard controls are terrible

#21 Posted by Azteck (7329 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@AlexW00d said:

" @Azteck said:
" @AlexW00d said:
" Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise) "
Ehm, it ran great on my 360? According to your achievements, you haven't even played the game. So just stop hating a game for the sake of hating it. "
Dude you're an idiot, this game was on my frigging GOTY list. It ran fine on my PS3 too, but with noted issues, issues I have heard of on all systems. "

You said performance wise though. Bugs =/= performance problems.

#22 Posted by Geno (6479 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Update to latest drivers? Game runs fine, just like all other UE3 games on the PC. Your hardware should be sufficient.

#23 Posted by Bloodgraiv3 (2661 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@AlexW00d said:

"Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise) "

This.

#24 Posted by AlexW00d (5425 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Azteck said:

" @AlexW00d said:
" @Azteck said:
" @AlexW00d said:
" Dude. Its Alpha Protocol. ALL the versions are terrible. (Performance wise) "
Ehm, it ran great on my 360? According to your achievements, you haven't even played the game. So just stop hating a game for the sake of hating it. "
Dude you're an idiot, this game was on my frigging GOTY list. It ran fine on my PS3 too, but with noted issues, issues I have heard of on all systems. "
You said performance wise though. Bugs =/= performance problems. "

And issues = / = bugs.

#25 Posted by Stahlbrand (828 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

I played it on this computer:

Intel i7 860
ATI 5850 512mb
16 gigs ram (no kill like overkill)
win7 64bit

I ran the game at 1920x1080 with all settings 'high' and it ran trouble free. I bought it from the holiday steam sale, beat it twice and got halfway through a third playthrough before switching games. Throughout my play I had nearly no problems - other than the janky mouse controls which would get a little jacked up when the game set a checkpoint.

There was also some cosmetic clipping wierdness on Michael and other high-detail character models (SIE, mostly) when shown at medium distance their eyes and necks would be visible through layers that should cover them. This was a trivial issue during some cutscenes.

All I can say is check your drivers, maybe you have bad luck, but my computer and yours sound very similar and I had no serious trouble playing the game for more than 35 hours.

#26 Posted by Geno (6479 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Would just like to add that I've had no problems with this game whatsoever, not even the clipping or mouse hitching issues mentioned by others. The only issue that I can name is how dialogue text disappears when supersampling is forced, but that's not really an issue with the base game (and I tend to always pick the left option anyway). Liking it so far, it's like Mass Effect 2 set in a modern day espionage yarn.

#27 Posted by Stahlbrand (828 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

@Geno: Yeah, I forgot about that. I had to turn AA off in order to see the dialogue option text as well. It wasn't a big deal at the resolution I was at, but if I had to run the game at a low or moderate resolution and couldn't turn AA on, I would have been annoyed.

#28 Posted by EvilNiGHTS (564 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

A little surprised that I just inserted the 360 version and it booted without even trying to install a patch. Not exactly dogs and cats living together but a little odd.

#29 Posted by Meltac (1890 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Just go through this thread, it sorted all of my problems. Made it look better, and made it run a lot smoother. There's a couple of pages, and not all of the fixes are necesarry (for example the ones regarding the way he walks), but when you're done, it should give you a much better experience.

Oh, and remember to use Notepad++ when editing the .ini files.

#30 Edited by Kung_Fu_Viking (608 posts) - 2 years, 4 months ago

Well I figured out the issue I was having. Due to having done some DirectX 9 development not too long ago I had DirectX 9 set to full debugging and validation mode which causes the graphics libraries to run incredibly slowly. I just had to switch it back to retail mode >.<. Oops.

Alpha Protocol

Control rogue agent Michael Thorton as he tries to unearth an international conspiracy in the near future (where everybody seems to have a hidden agenda or two) in this third-person action RPG.

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