Minimal requirements for larger maps

from SorcererKing Forums

I found the minimal requirements online:

 

Windows PC. 64-bit is not required for Sorcerer King. The full system requirements are:

  • OS: Windows 8 / 7 SP1 / Vista SP2
  • CPU: 2.2 GHz dual-core
  • RAM: 2GB
  • Video Card: 512mb, DirectX 9-compatible
  • DirectX: 9.0c
  • HDD Space: TBD

I have more ram than that and my video card is a 6870 radeon with 2 gb of memory. My processor is about that CPU though.  I played the new large map and I had chugging issues between turns and a wait of almost 10-20 seconds. A lot of times it seemed like it was waiting for the doom counter or towers graphics to fire. It reminded me of when the doomcounter was causing a lot of trouble back a couple patches ago.

Did something change or do the larger maps realistically require more of the computer. I know logic says yes but still like to ask.

I have not tried an arena map yet - which is normally what I play.

7,576 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Yeah I'm pulling a no-no and replying to myself but I'd really like to know if anyone else has had any trouble with the new large map or larger maps in general since last update. 

Also I checked random-map arena size and it works great still

Just wanted to know if anyone else had the same trouble

Reply #2 from SorcererKing Forums Top

I'll ask around and see if we've done any Large Map, Min Spec testing and see what the QA guys say.  They're swimming in test boxes, so I'm sure one of them is close to yours.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Thanks Scott

I suspect it's just my old CPU that just barely meets the minimum but thanks for the extra checking too. Appreciate it.

Reply #4 from SorcererKing Forums Top

I keep looking at this thread and wondering about it. If you look on the GC3 forums you might, if you go back far enough, find that some people had trouble with the minimum required RAM there as well (4GB RAM). Some people said to turn off the swap file, but that caused worse problems.

 

As I look at the 2GB minimum RAM requirement for SK and the amount of RAM that gets allocated when I boot my PC (2.7 GB on Win8.1 with 64 bit addressing), I am further puzzled. Granted, a lot of the operating system can get paged out to the swap file, which might be enough to allow SK to play on 2GB RAM, but there would be page swapping delays at times while this happens. It would be worse if the OS allocated the swap file expansions in small chunks. (Many on GC3 with low amounts of installed RAM noticed delays that looked like hangs when zooming in or out on the main map.) The size recommendations from MicroSoft for the swap file

(also called the "virtual memory" settings --- control panel -> system -> advanced system settings -> performance: settings -> advanced -> Virtual memory: Change)

are, minimum size (or initial size) = 1*RAM, maximum size = 3 * RAM, or to allow the OS to handle it all by itself. I have a suspicion the OS doesn't handle game requirements well on its own, but someone with only 2GB could check this out (I have 16GB, -- two 8GB sticks -- so I can not do this) and let us know what they find.

It should also be noted that the OS uses the swap file for more than just backing up virtual memory.

Reply #5 from SorcererKing Forums Top

8G, i5 Intel vid.

tiny-med maps ;  no problem

Large; game quickly goes to a slow crawl. (no crashes but it was painfully slow and quit ~turn 30)

Reply #6 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Lucky Jack,

I'm a founder on GC3 and I can't play it really. It just hangs up so badly after 25 turns that I have to stop playing or just build a few influence buildings and hide in city screens. No zooming out like you said.

Yeah I suspect it a virtual memory thing as much as anything but I'm glad others checked the large map. I'd hate to see this issue after 1.0.