Mass Effect 1 - horrible performance

[vj8usa]

I started replaying ME1 to have a save game to use in ME2, and the performance I'm getting is downright miserable in some parts. I could've sworn I was getting better framerates when I first played the game back under Windows XP with my X1900XT (as opposed to Win7 with a 4850 now).

The weird thing is, I seem to be almost entirely CPU limited - turning on/off 4xAA seems to do nothing to my framerates. My FPS routinely drops into the 20s, and at the very start of the game (on the Normandy) if I stand where Joker is and look towards the galaxy map, I drop to 10-15 FPS. Is there anything I can do to improve my performance other than get a new CPU?

P.S. - this is with the specs in my sig, E2160 @3+GHz and a 4850.
P.P.S. - wasn't too sure if I should've posted this here or in one of the hardware subforums, so mods can feel free to move it to a better spot.

 

[VashHT]

I started replaying ME1 to have a save game to use in ME2, and the performance I'm getting is downright miserable in some parts. I could've sworn I was getting better framerates when I first played the game back under Windows XP with my X1900XT (as opposed to Win7 with a 4850 now).

The weird thing is, I seem to be almost entirely CPU limited - turning on/off 4xAA seems to do nothing to my framerates. My FPS routinely drops into the 20s, and at the very start of the game (on the Normandy) if I stand where Joker is and look towards the galaxy map, I drop to 10-15 FPS. Is there anything I can do to improve my performance other than get a new CPU?

P.S. - this is with the specs in my sig, E2160 @3+GHz and a 4850.
P.P.S. - wasn't too sure if I should've posted this here or in one of the hardware subforums, so mods can feel free to move it to a better spot.

There is something wrong for sure, you should be getting much higher fps with that setup, and the game should not be CPU limited at all even if you had yours at stock.

The first thing I would do is remove any settings you are forcing via drivers. Second I would try disabling motion blur and vsync if you are using them, I think those can be big performance hits.

Your OC could be causing problems, so if none of that stuff works I would try removing your OC on your cpu.

Lastly, what version of the drivers are you using? Are you having any problems in any other games at all?

 

[Spoooon]

Runs fine on Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz. I don't remember what vid card I had at the time, but no problems.

Someone posted as I was typing this, heh. Check the drivers as I don't think it should be that bad.

 

[vj8usa]

I would've suspected the drivers, but my performance doesn't seem to be GPU limited at all. When monitoring GPU usage with RivaTuner, it's as low as 30% when my framerate is at its lowest. I even tried dropping my resolution to 640x480, which didn't change my framerate at all. My overclock's completely stable (I ended up dropping it to 3.0GHz to keep my voltage lower), and I don't have any issues with other games (GTA4 ran slow, but I fully expected that since the game practically needs a quad to stay smooth). The last two demanding games I played since going to Windows 7 were Borderlands and Modern Warfare 2, both of which ran incredibly well.

VSync was off from the start, and motion blur didn't seem to affect FPS at all (I left it off though since the blurring gave me a bit of a headache).

I'm using the newest ATI drivers at the moment as well. Thanks for the suggestions though, keep 'em coming.

 

[Spoooon]

Well, way back when I first played it using my other vid card (I'll have to find it, was nvidia), Mass Effect ran fine in terms of frame rate and stuff, but it crashed relatively frequently.

I assume the game is all patched up? Maybe you could try reinstalling it?

My latest card is an HD5870, everything else is the same except going to Windows 7 and adding ram.

Current system: E6750, IP35-Pro, 6GB RAM, HD5870, Win 7 Pro.

When I first played Mass Effect, everything was the same except playing with 2GB of RAM, whatever nvidia card I had, and XP Pro.

 

[VashHT]

Have you checked your CPU usage and temps while you're playing?

Another thing to try I guess is disabling sound and seeing if that does anything.

 

[AzN]

Mass effect is definitely strained by CPU. I only hover around 40-50fps or so but it doesn't dip hard as your system. Running win 7 as well. System below.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,645004/PCGH-Performance-Review-Mass-Effect/Mass-Effect/Test/

CPU scaling. Still you shouldn't be this low.

 

[vj8usa]

Oh yeah, about the patching, forgot to mention that I'm running patch 1.02 + both DLCs (Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station).

My CPU temps are fine (overheating doesn't seem to be an issue).

The sound's an interesting suggestion. The game had a "hardware sound" option that I enabled, and it shows an EAX logo in the menu. I turned that on since I have an x-fi, but maybe it's still hurting my performance? I'll report back after setting it back to software.

edit: setting sound to software didn't change performance at all.

 

[vj8usa]

Well, this is weird... I just made a new partition and put a clean Vista install on it (wanted to put XP on it, but the XP disc I had burned seemed to be corrupted). In the bridge where I used to be hitting 10-15FPS, I'm now at a solid 25-30FPS. On the ground during the first mission where I was CPU (?) limited at 20FPS, I'm now at a very solid 55-60FPS.

I have no idea what caused such a massive performance increase. Maybe it's because I haven't installed any audio drivers at all yet? Still, I can't see sound cutting performance in half. I'll see what happens when I install my x-fi drivers in Vista tomorrow.

 

[astrosfan315]

I notice a big boost in performance when I turn off the film grain. Game works great then on my 4800+ and 8800GT.

 

[s44]

The crashing was because of an incompatibility with old Nvidia drivers that was fixed around 182 or so.

I'm guessing it was the audio, since that seems to cause all the issues these days.

 

[vj8usa]

The crashing was because of an incompatibility with old Nvidia drivers that was fixed around 182 or so.

I'm guessing it was the audio, since that seems to cause all the issues these days.

Actually after installing creative drivers on the Vista install, performance didn't drop at all. I guess my drivers on the 7 install are screwed up somehow.