FM2005: Why is my game so slow?

[streetballer22]

I have a 1.8gh processor with 256 MB DRAM and I am running just six league in my game. Every time I hit the 'Continue' button I am waiting at least three minutes for processing. Saving takes a good five minutes as well.

Any ideas on how to speed it up?

Thanks

[Blackadar]

256MB of RAM? That's a joke...512MB is the minimum you should have with a 1.8 and 1G is preferable.

[streetballer22]

So basically I'm not going to have any luck with my laptop?

How about on a 2.1 Gh, 448MB or RAM?

[Bee]

You could probably run 1 or 2 leagues with 256 MB.

[MikeVick7]

Yeah the 256 is the problem.

[FrogMan]

I have 256 and I never ever takes 3 minutes when I hit the continue button, but I'm playing with only England, from the bottom and up (6 leagues in one nation). It does take a while to save, but I'm up into 2012 and my save file is up to 230Mb, so I'd say it's more a thing of writing the thing to disk moreso than memory...

FM

[FrogMan]

dola, to add that my machine is an Athlon 2000+ running at I think 1.67G

FM

[RPI-Fan]

I never seemed to be able to find the right number of leagues for my specs.

I have a P3 (laptop), 1.8 GHz, 512 MB RAM -- my career with England (all divisions) runs at a totally acceptable speed (Normal DB, I think)... OTOH, using Italy, Germany, England, Spain, Holland, France (about 3 divisions per league, and all in Italy), with Small (IIRC) database, things were simply too slow for me.

So I need some balance between these two, but don't really want to start a new game only to find out it is too slow for me to enjoy.

Thanks for any help!
~rpi-fan

[streetballer22]

Putting it on my higher powered desktop has made all the difference.

[Passacaglia]

I'm having the same problem. I forget my laptop specs at the moment, but I think it's something like 900 mHz, 128 MB of RAM. I'm currently running a game with England, Spain, and Italy, all leagues open, with one manager in each country. They're all starting at the bottom, and are working their way up to the top, until they meet in Europe -- hopefully. It goes mega-slow.

If I make room on my hard drive, will that help speed things up at all?

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I'm having the same problem. I forget my laptop specs at the moment, but I think it's something like 900 mHz, 128 MB of RAM. I'm currently running a game with England, Spain, and Italy, all leagues open, with one manager in each country. They're all starting at the bottom, and are working their way up to the top, until they meet in Europe -- hopefully. It goes mega-slow.

If I make room on my hard drive, will that help speed things up at all?

I can't imagine that will speed things up. I think 128MB RAM is pushing the specs to run the game itself, let alone all those extra leagues.

[streetballer22]

Stupid question but how can I make my team auto-sub? I'm trying to learn the game, both FM and the game of soccer, and don't want to have to make too many choices for myself.

Thanks

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I'm having the same problem. I forget my laptop specs at the moment, but I think it's something like 900 mHz, 128 MB of RAM. I'm currently running a game with England, Spain, and Italy, all leagues open, with one manager in each country. They're all starting at the bottom, and are working their way up to the top, until they meet in Europe -- hopefully. It goes mega-slow.

If I make room on my hard drive, will that help speed things up at all?

I'm sorry Pass, but who the hell still has 128 MB of RAM? Go out and buy a 512 MB stick for $50 or $75 or whatever it is. When the newer video cards have more memory than your entire PC, it's time to upgrade.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by streetballer22

Putting it on my higher powered desktop has made all the difference.

Ditto. I can't believe how fast the game is running on my high powered desktop even though I'm running almost three times as many leagues.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

I'm sorry Pass, but who the hell still has 128 MB of RAM? Go out and buy a 512 MB stick for $50 or $75 or whatever it is. When the newer video cards have more memory than your entire PC, it's time to upgrade.

Apology accepted. I'll have to check it when I get home. Maybe it is 256, I don't remember. Whatever it is, it runs really slowly.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Apology accepted. I'll have to check it when I get home. Maybe it is 256, I don't remember. Whatever it is, it runs really slowly.

Even 256MB is tough for a CPU/memory intensive game like FM.

I remember getting U9. It said it would work on 64MB but it was virtually unplayable. I dropped in another 64MB and it helped quite a bit. Of course, it couldn't help the other bugs or gameplay, but that's another story...

[FrogMan]

Pass, I'm thinking that having a game running with three living managers would make it having three separate countries in full details, that could explain a big part of the slowness of your game. Just a thought...

FM

[streetballer22]

Any ideas on the Auto-Sub?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by streetballer22

Any ideas on the Auto-Sub?

no clue, but can't you set your assistant as the one managing the team (the games anyway) then when you get screen with the games of the day, click the dash in the middle (where the scores will appear once the games are played) and I think it will switch to "view" or something like. But I may be very well very deep on the left field on that one. Simply stuff to try...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

I'm sorry Pass, but who the hell still has 128 MB of RAM? Go out and buy a 512 MB stick for $50 or $75 or whatever it is. When the newer video cards have more memory than your entire PC, it's time to upgrade.

I'm loving your indignation over people's lack of RAM.

As for FM, reduce the database size. That has the largest impact on processing speed. So if you've got 128MB or 256MB, then run on Small for sure.

[wbatl1]

Originally Posted by streetballer22

Any ideas on the Auto-Sub?

I don't think there is an auto-sub option. If you want to make it really easy for you, just sub people in for the position they are listed when the guy they will be repacing is under 70% in most games.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Pass, I'm thinking that having a game running with three living managers would make it having three separate countries in full details, that could explain a big part of the slowness of your game. Just a thought...

FM

I've thought about that. The game was still kind of slow with just all the leagues in England, so I'd like to do anything I can to increase it. My hard drive is full, so I'm trying to clean it up just to do what I can.

[streetballer22]

Thanks FrogMan and wbatl1

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I'm loving your indignation over people's lack of RAM.

As for FM, reduce the database size. That has the largest impact on processing speed. So if you've got 128MB or 256MB, then run on Small for sure.

Sorry, I'm just amazed that some folks run with that little RAM. It's such a small investment to keep your PC running "acceptably" for another year or so. Best Buy is selling a 256MB PNY 2700 RAM stick right now for $40 - before rebates. For someone running a 1.5G processor, a RAM stick (to get to 512MB) and a decent video card will let them play virtually every game on the market.

Of course, I've been playing the CM/FM series for a few years now and know how much of a memory hog it truly is. I couldn't imagine trying to play FM with 128 or 256.

I'm not trying to be indignant or put anyone down...so my apologies if anyone took offense.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Sorry, I'm just amazed that some folks run with that little RAM. It's such a small investment to keep your PC running "acceptably" for another year or so. Best Buy is selling a 256MB PNY 2700 RAM stick right now for $40 - before rebates. For someone running a 1.5G processor, a RAM stick (to get to 512MB) and a decent video card will let them play virtually every game on the market.

Of course, I've been playing the CM/FM series for a few years now and know how much of a memory hog it truly is. I couldn't imagine trying to play FM with 128 or 256.

I'm not trying to be indignant or put anyone down...so my apologies if anyone took offense.

I didn't take offense because I know I'm stretching it with my 256M. I also know that if I want to play FM2006 with a bit more leeagues (say a few more countries in addition to England) that I will have to add some memory before they release the new game...

For now, it's acceptable the way it is, could certainly be faster, but FM2005 is the first version of CM/FM that I'm really addicted to so...

FM

[Desnudo]

I didn't mean to sound like I was scolding you. I genuinely was enjoying it, tbh. I was really hoping someone with 64MB would pop in, just to see what would happen.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I didn't mean to sound like I was scolding you. I genuinely was enjoying it, tbh. I was really hoping someone with 64MB would pop in, just to see what would happen.

I'd have yelled at them, called them noobs and sent them pictures of tubgirl and goatse for good measure.

and NO, YOU CAN'T POST THOSE HERE!

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

I never seemed to be able to find the right number of leagues for my specs.

I have a P3 (laptop), 1.8 GHz, 512 MB RAM -- my career with England (all divisions) runs at a totally acceptable speed (Normal DB, I think)... OTOH, using Italy, Germany, England, Spain, Holland, France (about 3 divisions per league, and all in Italy), with Small (IIRC) database, things were simply too slow for me.

So I need some balance between these two, but don't really want to start a new game only to find out it is too slow for me to enjoy.

Thanks for any help!
~rpi-fan

Ok - quick guesstimate for you ...

Try England, Italy, German, Spain, Holland, France - Small database (don't stress you'll get a load of players with that many leagues active) and use non-full detail on all the leagues you aren't managing in (if you switch to a non-full league by taking a job there it'll switch to 'full' automatically).

Finally if you aren't planning on taking a job in some countries consider stripping down the number of levels you have active in them.

The reason things are slow is normally due to the number of players in the db (which is most noticable on machines with (relatively) low amounts of memory and high game settings). The basic database settings determine how many players are retained in inactive leagues and how many minor players are retained in active leagues - running a lot of multiple leagues* with medium database or above is going to 'slug' a bit unless you've a decent PC setup.

*I'm a speed freak I'm afraid, so anything over 4 equates to a lot for me, uncle Dobs at SI on the other hand tends to run all 50 with a huge database ... which would drive me nuts personally.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Ditto. I can't believe how fast the game is running on my high powered desktop even though I'm running almost three times as many leagues.

If your PC is hyper threaded that helps a fair bit as it means it can play multiple matches at the same time which speeds things up considerably (if you've a TRUE multi-processor system then it'll fly, I dream of getting a quad-processor system one day and then maybe I'll venture beyond running 4 nations at once in my own games ).

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

If your PC is hyper threaded that helps a fair bit as it means it can play multiple matches at the same time which speeds things up considerably (if you've a TRUE multi-processor system then it'll fly, I dream of getting a quad-processor system one day and then maybe I'll venture beyond running 4 nations at once in my own games ).

I've got a Multi-processor system. It is amazing.

[Desnudo]

I'm trying not to player hate right now.

[Passacaglia]

Well, I checked, and it's 192 MB. There's a Best Buy right near where I work...Blackie, maybe I'll stop by and see if you were right about 256 MB being available for 40 bucks...

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Well, I checked, and it's 192 MB. There's a Best Buy right near where I work...Blackie, maybe I'll stop by and see if you were right about 256 MB being available for 40 bucks...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1051384633514

[Passacaglia]

Thanks. That one is for desktops. The one for notebooks is $45, which isn't too bad. Although, now I need to find out if my notebook takes SD or DDR.

[FrogMan]

If there's one thing that the corruption of my FM savegame might have pushed me to do, it's get some memory. As of last night, about 9pm eastern, I'm happy to report that I now have 512MB in my PC, WEEHEE!!!

Swapped the existing 256MB stick for one brand new 512MB stick. The operation went like a charm

I'm now looking forward to start a new career with more than simply England running. As a comparison, I simply took a look at the recommended game setup last night. With 256MB, it recommended a tiny England only game, from only League Two and up, so 4 leagues. With 512MB, it's now recommending England (L2 and up), and the top level of Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Spain, for a total of 8 leagues in 5 nations. I'll stretch that a little to maybe go to 7 or 8 nations, for a total of 10 or 11 leagues...
FM

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

If there's one thing that the corruption of my FM savegame might have pushed me to do, it's get some memory. As of last night, about 9pm eastern, I'm happy to report that I now have 512MB in my PC, WEEHEE!!!

Swapped the existing 256MB stick for one brand new 512MB stick. The operation went like a charm

I'm now looking forward to start a new career with more than simply England running. As a comparison, I simply took a look at the recommended game setup last night. With 256MB, it recommended a tiny England only game, from only League Two and up, so 4 leagues. With 512MB, it's now recommending England (L2 and up), and the top level of Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Spain, for a total of 8 leagues in 5 nations. I'll stretch that a little to maybe go to 7 or 8 nations, for a total of 10 or 11 leagues...
FM

Congrats on the upgrade

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

If there's one thing that the corruption of my FM savegame might have pushed me to do, it's get some memory. As of last night, about 9pm eastern, I'm happy to report that I now have 512MB in my PC, WEEHEE!!!

Swapped the existing 256MB stick for one brand new 512MB stick. The operation went like a charm

I'm now looking forward to start a new career with more than simply England running. As a comparison, I simply took a look at the recommended game setup last night. With 256MB, it recommended a tiny England only game, from only League Two and up, so 4 leagues. With 512MB, it's now recommending England (L2 and up), and the top level of Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Spain, for a total of 8 leagues in 5 nations. I'll stretch that a little to maybe go to 7 or 8 nations, for a total of 10 or 11 leagues...
FM

On my 512MB RAM, 1.x Ghz laptop, I'm running England (L2+), Germany (B.2+), Spain (2nd Div.+), Italy (C1+), France (2nd Div.+), and Belgium (3rd Div.+).

Processing times have been very reasonable -- really seems like a perfect set-up for me. And now that I look like I might be moving out of the Belgian 3rd Division, I'll get more interested in all these other leagues I've got running, looking for players are potentially job opportunities!

~rpi-fan

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

On my 512MB RAM, 1.x Ghz laptop, I'm running England (L2+), Germany (B.2+), Spain (2nd Div.+), Italy (C1+), France (2nd Div.+), and Belgium (3rd Div.+).

Processing times have been very reasonable -- really seems like a perfect set-up for me. And now that I look like I might be moving out of the Belgian 3rd Division, I'll get more interested in all these other leagues I've got running, looking for players are potentially job opportunities!

~rpi-fan

That's an interesting setup. I assume it runs on your 1.8Ghz machine you described earlier in this thread, right? and alsot that is a new career, not the one you complained was too slow, right?

That gives you many leagues/levels...
England - 4
Germany - 3?
Spain - 2
Italy - 3?
France - 2
Belgium - 3

So about 6 nations and 15-17 leagues/levels, right?

What database size? Did you go small like Marc V seemed to think was reasonable, or did you go normal?

I'm thinking about running 8 nations with only Spain and England having anything more than the top level. Spain will be the full thing, as I plan to play there, maybe as Real Sociedad, and I want my B team to play, and for that to happen, you need to go to Second Division B, and England will be from Championship and up, so two levels. Other nations with only top level would be: Germany, Italy, Brazil, Scotland, France, Holland. That would give me 8 nations and 11 leagues/levels. Anybody thinks it's an okay setup for a 512MB RAM, 1.67Ghz Athlon machine?

Would you recommend small or normal database with a setup like that?

FM

[RPI-Fan]

FM:

Yes, this is the same machine as listed earlier.

It is a new career. I did do Small database, which is probably making a big speed difference.

Honestly, at this point, I kind of wish I'd run the two Dutch divisions as well (since I'm playing in Belgium). The game goes plenty fast for me, but keep in mind that I am always watching TV while I play, which makes the delays in the game less noticeable for me.

Good luck!
~rpi-fan

[Critch]

That's fairly close to what I'm running (top 2 in England/Spain/Germany/France/Italy, top only in Scotland/Belgium/Portugal/Austria/Switzerland/Greece/Turkey/Holland = 18 leagues in 13 nations) and it runs nice on my 2ghz, 512mb ram machine, so you should be ok.

I'd recommend small db, you don't really lose very much. You'll have so many nations active that there'll be plenty of players to pick from.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

FM:

Yes, this is the same machine as listed earlier.

It is a new career. I did do Small database, which is probably making a big speed difference.

Honestly, at this point, I kind of wish I'd run the two Dutch divisions as well (since I'm playing in Belgium). The game goes plenty fast for me, but keep in mind that I am always watching TV while I play, which makes the delays in the game less noticeable for me.

Good luck!
~rpi-fan

Thanks for the info on database size. While I don't watch TV while playing, I'm used to to play slowly anyway, so I bet I'd be okay with it.

Your wishing you'd have put in the Holland lague is also a good indication that you could have probably put more in there.

Thanks again!

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Critch

That's fairly close to what I'm running (top 2 in England/Spain/Germany/France/Italy, top only in Scotland/Belgium/Portugal/Austria/Switzerland/Greece/Turkey/Holland = 18 leagues in 13 nations) and it runs nice on my 2ghz, 512mb ram machine, so you should be ok.

I'd recommend small db, you don't really lose very much. You'll have so many nations active that there'll be plenty of players to pick from.

That's a bit more nations & leagues that I had in mind, but it's encouraging.

What year are you up to?

I'm thinking at this point I could squeeze in Sweden and maybe Portugal. You think it'd still be all right?

I'm asking all these questions because once I get into a career, I get so involved I think it'll be my last career until FM2006 comse out I played that first career for about 6 months, so it's not entirely impossible, and I wouldn't want to get to say 2007 and find it unplayable...

I also think I'll go with the small database now...

And what about "full details" is it ticked on at all?

FM

[Critch]

I'm halfway through the second season, only just started a week or so ago. GTA:SA on the PC has taken most of my time.

You should be fine with another nation or two in there. Portugal is a good choice if you're aiming to have the top leagues in, Porto won the CL a couple of years ago, Sporting in the UEFA Cup final this year, Benfica a good sized team too.

From what I understand of 'full details' it's on for any league you are managing in, so I left it as off for all the other nations. Got a feeling it will slow things down a great deal.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Critch

I'm halfway through the second season, only just started a week or so ago. GTA:SA on the PC has taken most of my time.

You should be fine with another nation or two in there. Portugal is a good choice if you're aiming to have the top leagues in, Porto won the CL a couple of years ago, Sporting in the UEFA Cup final this year, Benfica a good sized team too.

Yeah, I think Portugal would make sense and Sweden has been recommended in many posts regarding good leagues in Europe.

Originally Posted by Critch

From what I understand of 'full details' it's on for any league you are managing in, so I left it as off for all the other nations. Got a feeling it will slow things down a great deal.

So you got it off for every league, right? And you still can see details in your league, right? That's what I'm planning to do, just want to make sure...

FM

[Critch]

Yes, I've got it off in every league. You can still see the details in the other leagues too, I believe that the only difference is that the match engine is slightly quicker in the other leagues which don't have full details, so you can't see the 2d replays from those leagues. But everything else is available.