PC Psychonauts lag

[enzo matrix]

I've been having the strangest trouble with this game lately. The system requirements are rather low but I have been getting, intermittently low framerates to what looks like 5FPS. Occasionally it will speed back up. It occurs in this game only. I've also noticed the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychonauts

-CPU usage at 25-30% on Athlon IIx4 even when game paused.
-GPU usage indicated at 0% in CCC
-Ram usage slowly creeps up from 800MB to 1600MB
-Problems persist to the same degree when settings are lowered to 640x480 with AA disabled
-Doesn't seem to be affected by the amount of activity on the screen.

I've been playing in the same level for some time. It's not a particularly demanding level (Gloria's mind), nor what I would consider large.
I've searched around and not been able to find any information. I noticed a slight lag when I first started playing the game, but it went away after I changed from 1080p without AA to 720p with AA. Until now.

System specs:
Windows 7 64-bit
Athlon IIx4 620 at 3.225GHz
HIS radeon 3870
2GB DDR2 memory
Asus M4A785-M
Hahaha. Top of the line performing parts for when this game was released.

Thanks in advance.

isamuelson: Thanks for the reply. I got it on CD. I'm hoping to leave reinstalling as a last option. And I defragged a few weeks ago.

 

[isamuelson]

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game? Also, did you purchase it on CD or via Steam?

If you got it on Steam, sometimes, repairing the Steam install helps if you got it on Steam. Also, right click on the game in Steam and check if the game itself is fragmented. If so, you can have Steam try to optimize the game for you.

Speaking of defragging, when was the last time you defragged your hard drive? That might help as well.

 

[enzo matrix]

No one else? That was a good answer but my problem remains unsolved.

 

[Guest]

I got the same problem in the exact same level.

 

[enzo matrix]

Update: I've recently upgraded to 4GB of ram and am temporarily using a GTX295. Only played through it once for maybe 30-60 minutes. Ram usage went up to 2.5GB. Didn't experience any problems though. I'll keep you informed svinepels. What's your system specs?

 

[RabiesTurtle]

For those who might still be looking for the solution to this:

My theory is that is CPU load. You are showing 25-30% load but that is overall across your four cores. If you look at each individual core, one is going to be nearly maxed out. This game doesn't seem to have any multi-core support and for some reason is taxing enough in some areas to max out the single core. Add in that many multi-core processors have weaker individual cores and there you go.

 

[enzo matrix]

Oh wow I forgot about this thread. Ok so a couple months ago I ran this same game on an old Athlon 2600+ and an ATI radeon 8500. I think with 1GB of ram in windows XP. It ran smooth and had no issues. That's right. The Athlon 2600+ from 1999 NOT the Athlon 64 2600+.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

For those who might still be looking for the solution to this:

My theory is that is CPU load. You are showing 25-30% load but that is overall across your four cores. If you look at each individual core, one is going to be nearly maxed out. This game doesn't seem to have any multi-core support and for some reason is taxing enough in some areas to max out the single core. Add in that many multi-core processors have weaker individual cores and there you go.

25% should be right for a quad core as the game is not threaded so windows is deviding the load of 1 processor across 4. sounds more to me like a memory leak with all the ram its using.