Slow as Molasses!

[Heroquest]

Hey guys, I started a new thread because the last one was really about the installation and this one is about performance.

So, I'm running Manjaro Linux with EQ working...I'm past the empty server list and I'm past the needing to update my spells file.

The trouble now, is that it's completely unplayable due to the lag.
My Neofetch reports that I'm barely using my 8GB ram when running Everquest and my sensors indicate that I'm well below any overheating concerns. So if my cpu/ram/and cooling are fine for the game and the internet is functioning well. Where do we go from here?

I've looked through the forum search and it's not really pinpointing anything useful for me. It's telling me about windows tools for adjusting framerates and the like, but I don't have that option in my options settings.

A few things:
As soon as I launch the game in Character creation/selection, for instance, I need to literally hold my button down for a couple of seconds for it to register in the game that I've made a selection...so it would seem to me that it's server side as the game itself is not even loading up zones or anything at that point.

Once I actually went through the labor of creating a character and logging him in, he's so choppy and slow that it's entirely unplayable.

What can I do? I'm using the "p99-login-middlemand-master" script so that I can see the two servers.

That's another question, but are there only 2 servers? I thought there were supposed to be more..but I could be mistaken.

If you have any insight and can provide a link or suggestion, that would be fantastic! :-)

[Heroquest]

BTW, it only runs in windowed mode (is that unusual?)...
Also, this is my first WINE program...I went through the winecfg but didn't see anything special there except different windows compatibility modes, which I've tried changing.

[Heroquest]

I've went through win xp to win 10 and no noticeable difference. I can alt+enter to full screen, but again, it still runs like a tortoise carrying a whale up an icy hill.
An additional weird thing, as the EQ client is loading at about 60-70% the song begins to stutter for a short period of time.

I've set my settings low and high (in game) and there appears to be no noticeable difference)
Hope something works out eventually...

[Heroquest]

So I've run P1999 through Wine in various compatibility modes...
I've run with low and high graphics settings...
I've determined that although my RAM is not being utilized very much; the single CPU core (as per the script I'm running, which reduces it to one core) is maxing out at 100%. I'm somewhat curious if the sound ALSA or PulseAudio are to blame for this...I'll need to figure out how to shutdown my sound card completely to test that idea out...If anyone wants to shed light on that, that'd be swell! I know I can systemctl stop pulseaudio etc....but is that sufficient? Or is it not low level enough?

Anyhow, whatever the reason, I'm not able to play this game at all due to the lag (using my single core at 100%). I'm not exaggerating at all. It's completely unplayable.

come on someone...there must be someone with some assistance out there! :-)

Anyhow, I'm gonna call it quits for tonight.

(Oh wow, im no longer a decaying skeleton, ive gained a level...at least in the forum, because in game it'd be impossible for me! lol).

[loramin]

Do you have the latest graphics drivers installed? If you don't that could totally cause the slowness you're describing.

I don't know Manjaro, but on Mint/Ubuntu/other Debian-like systems you can't get the very latest drivers using package management: you have to download them, then memorize some commands, close your GUI, and run those commands at the "real" command line (ie. CTRL + ALT + 1-6).

However, personally I didn't need the latest bleeding edge drivers, I was able to find a repository (maybe even the main one, I can't remember) with some "close to the latest" drivers, and they worked for me. Oh, and even then, I think I had some issues with the latest drivers on that repo, and had to use the ones one version back, so you may have to try a few versions if you're unlucky.

Hope that helps.


P.S. You don't happen to have a built-in (ie. on your motherboard) graphics card do you? I do, and at one point my computer was using the on-board one instead of my Nvidia graphics card. The performance wasn't as bad as you described, but if your on-board card doesn't have good 3D support then that too could totally explain it.

There's some way you can check, but you'll have to google it as I forget how off the top of my head (probably something like running "lspci | grep nvidia"). If you do have both, and your computer is using the on-board one, you can use your system's tool (Driver Manager on Linux Mint MATE) to switch to Nvidia drivers, which should force it to use the real card. If not Nvidia has an application called Prime (or sometimes "Optimus") which gives you more control which card your computer uses.


P.P.S. Is that "Heroquest" like the line of Sierra games that were later renamed to "Quest for Glory", or is it "Heroquest" like the old Milton-Bradley board game? Either way, nice name choice.

[Heroquest]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Do you have the latest graphics drivers installed? If you don't that could totally cause the slowness you're describing.

I don't know Manjaro, but on Mint/Ubuntu/other Debian-like systems you can't get the very latest drivers using package management: you have to download them, then memorize some commands, close your GUI, and run those commands at the "real" command line (ie. CTRL + ALT + 1-6).

However, personally I didn't need the latest bleeding edge drivers, I was able to find a repository (maybe even the main one, I can't remember) with some "close to the latest" drivers, and they worked for me.

P.S. You don't happen to have a built-in (ie. on your motherboard) graphics card do you? I do, and at one point my computer was using the on-board one instead of my Nvidia graphics card.

There's some way you can check, but I forget how off the top of my head (probably some variant of running "lspci" and grep-ing for "nvidia"). If you do have both, and your computer is using the on-board one, you can either use your system's tool (Driver Manager on Linux Mint MATE) to force it to use the real card, or you can use this Nvidia Prime (also sometimes called "Optimus") program to control which card your computer uses.

Great Suggestions, thank you!
I ended up staying up much later than I should have...you see, I found a product by Duxa. Duxa's All In One. And I needed the CPU thing from him. It worked like a charm!
Well, until it no longer worked that is. Then I had to do a partial reinstall, reconfigure a few things and start again! All of this work for a little trip down memory lane! lol

Now, I am able to play...however (hahah, always however) I cannot access the Froglock and VahShir characters...I don't even see a the dragon-type characters in my character creation screen....it says I don't have those (froglok and Vahshir) expansions...but I used the Titanium set which gave me like 25 expansions or something, no? Maybe I misunderstood something. At any rate, I guess I'll need to make a new post about that if you, or someone else reading this, doesn't have any suggestions.
Otherwise, it's great! I can make all the usual characters.
Again, thank you for your reply!

[Heroquest]

Yay, so even though it says i have 25/25 expansions, it's all good because this server doesn't operate on those expansions! This is great! Then it looks like all is well! whoo hoo! ;-)