Morrowind runs like a dog on a system that should rock it out!

[markjs]

1 don't get it....Morrowind will work fine right after I start it after a reboot, but the more I play the more it runs like crap. I get pauses and it phases in and out of choppy slideshow performance after a while. My system is:

Athlon XP 1700+
ECS K7S5A Mainboard
512MB PC133
Onboard SiS AC97 Sound
Onboard Lan
ATI Radeon 8500LE 64MB
Realtek PCI NIC
Western Digital 40GB and 20GB 7200RPM ATA 100 hard disks
Running Windows XP Professional Service pack 1

I have tried substituting the 512MB of PC133 for 256MB of PC2100 DDR but it works better with the SDRAM, as it has to use the paging file less. I get about 7200 3D Marks in 3D Mark 2001SE with the PC133 and about 7500 with the DDR. I don't get it at all....Morrowind should run flawlessly with this hardware. Is it yet another example of game developers being in Nvidias pocket? I know this card can kick some ass....it runs UT2K3 at very acceptable framerates on Default settings, so Morrowind should be a slam dunk.....why isn't it? I have a friend with a Duron 750 and a GF1 SDR that runs the game better than I do....only other difference is he runs win98 and I run XP
I have tried many suggestions I have gotten and tried running the morrowind fps optimizer all to little avail. I am not running other programs in the background, the only thing going on is this computer is the gateway to the internet for one other computer and that one is almost always idle anyway.....I am at wit's end....I am ready to trade for a GeForce 3 if any has one.....anyone? One of you tech heads has got to have some idea....thats why I post here, thanks in advance!

 

[Wolfsraider]

morrowind has bugs

some were addressed in the patch (a lot rather)

but i don't have many issues with it since i patched it

get it here

 

[markjs]

At the risk of sounding snippy, do you think I am a fool? I have the latest patch, the latest chipset drivers, the latest vidcard driver.....thanks for trying to help....honestly thanks, but the help I need is beyond the obvious. The only thing I don't have updated is DirectX I have 8.1 and I fear installing 9 in case it messes with old games (I buy them after they are $20 or less) and the fact that once you do DX9 you can't go back....

 

[CubicZirconia]

Morrowind should run flawlessly with this hardware

I'm not saying there isn't a solution to your problem, but I wouldn't say the above statement is necessarily true. My system (2000+, ti4400, 512 pc2100) never ran Morrowind all that great. Granted, it was more than playable, but it was far from perfect. Just realize that morrowind runs like sh!t on basically all systems.

 

[JellyBaby]

MW is very CPU bound and you have a mediocre CPU.

 

[markjs]

When I say it should run flawlessly I mean run acceptably. I have seen it run nicely on a 750MHz Duron CPU at 1024x768 with default view distance. This is what I base the assumption on.

 

[markjs]

DOH! Crown me king of the dipshits! I recently installed Windows and forgot to install the IDE drivers DOH! It was running in PIO mode. I could still use help if anyone knows anything cuz it does the same thing still, but it isn't nearly as bad....still I am interested in any Morrowind performance tweaks peaople might know because it honestly did run better on my friends 750 Duron system at the same res and settings (1024x768 default everything). I know there has to be a way to make it better....if not at least it isn't as bad now.

LOL looks like I was a fool....but at least I can admit it and get a chuckle at my own expense.....

 

[Bovinicus]

Morrowind's engine isn't efficient. Also, I somehow doubt that Morrowind was running faster on the Duron system unles something is really wrong.

 

[markjs]

It seemed faster at least......I saw that months ago and am comparing it to now so it is a rough estimation at best.

 

[xSauronx]

itll run playable o a duron with the graphics relatively low and the view distance quite short
my bro has a duron and a radeon 8500, its quite playable, but the grpahics arent near high, and the view distance is the MOST limiting factor, that damn game is full of objects just waiting to thrash your system, hell, on my box i can crank the graphics up pretty good, but then the view distance cant go much past half or it starts to stutter, intense game if i ever saw one

 

[JellyBaby]

Morrowind's engine isn't efficient.

LOL put as much complexity into Quake 3's design as you see in Morrowind and it will be just as slow.