U
Unlucky Pirate
Guest
Well, the game seems to work perfectly except I have painfully long chug/lag issues when I click to go to the map. It takes a long time to load the map (about 16
seconds) and then clicking on anthing else once there will take another 16
seconds before you can see the result of the click. The lag happens the most
frequently immediately after pressing 5 on the numpad to initiate a ship battle. It
also occasionally happens after talking to the barmaid (because she displays a
route on the map for you with a moving graphic). I've also noticed it when
transferring to land from ship and back, and as you get a dialog box telling you
you're Far Out To Sea. In contrast, once the ship battles start, the game is
perfectly smooth. And I can visit various people in the ports with ease even
between menus. It seems as if the game only lags at certain points in the game.
Sailing and maneuvering in the open seas shows no lag at all nor do the actual
battles once you're in one. I have experimented with the graphics settings, but
setting them to `all-high` and then to `all-low` does not seem to affect the lag in any
way, so I'm wondering if there might be some other conflict or even if this is the way it's supposed to be because my processor isn't fast enough. I have performed all
the things I can think of try to combat this problem, though maybe it's just a
hardware limitation of my system (though I can play `Half-Life` 2, Doom III,
`Eve-Online`, City of Heroes, Mafia, Desert Combat, Call of Duty and UT 2004 with
no similar lag problems on the same machine). I have installed current video card
drivers, have installed current sound drivers, I have service pack 2, Windows is
defragged, I have unneeded programs turned off, I've reinstalled the game, I've
tweaked my video card for Performance and made sure all Anisotropic and
Antialiasing are Off, have the right version of Direct X, I've checked to make sure the `cd-running` light isn't on during
this chug thinking it might have been the cd drive doing the chugging, and I really
can't think of any thing else to try. What's weird is that the game really looks,
sounds and plays fine, even at the highest settings, EXCEPT for key moments
like using the map. The chug on the map page is so bad that it is basically
unusable. Clicking the Zoom In or Zoom Out button means a 16 second chug for
every click. I have Windows XP Home, Service Pack 2, AMD Athlon XP with 1GB
dual channel DDR400, plenty of hard drive space, 128 MB GeForce 4 TI 4600
with current drivers, SB Live! with current drivers, 52/24/52X `CD-RW` drive, and
my operating system generally runs smoothly and with few problems. I'm also
using antivirus software, firewall, etc but it doesn't seem to make a difference
when they are turned off. When I run the game in Safe Mode, it does the exact
same thing with the chug just with Safe Mode's settings this time. I love this game
and will continue to play it regardless of the chug, I just wish I could find a
`work-a`-round. I love it when you conquer a ship with a lot of treasure and your see
your `coinage-meter` going higher and higher and you hear that nice coin
sound....the feeling at that moment is reminiscent of `end-of`-level coinage in Sonic
the Hedgehog. Very satisfying. Heh. I also love to blow ships apart. The graphics
in the battle sequences are astoundingly good, especially pieces of ships
smashing apart and little sailors flying through the air with their painful little cries.
Great game, I agree with PC Gamers' rating, I think they gave it a 91%. It is also charming and fun and has good humor.
seconds) and then clicking on anthing else once there will take another 16
seconds before you can see the result of the click. The lag happens the most
frequently immediately after pressing 5 on the numpad to initiate a ship battle. It
also occasionally happens after talking to the barmaid (because she displays a
route on the map for you with a moving graphic). I've also noticed it when
transferring to land from ship and back, and as you get a dialog box telling you
you're Far Out To Sea. In contrast, once the ship battles start, the game is
perfectly smooth. And I can visit various people in the ports with ease even
between menus. It seems as if the game only lags at certain points in the game.
Sailing and maneuvering in the open seas shows no lag at all nor do the actual
battles once you're in one. I have experimented with the graphics settings, but
setting them to `all-high` and then to `all-low` does not seem to affect the lag in any
way, so I'm wondering if there might be some other conflict or even if this is the way it's supposed to be because my processor isn't fast enough. I have performed all
the things I can think of try to combat this problem, though maybe it's just a
hardware limitation of my system (though I can play `Half-Life` 2, Doom III,
`Eve-Online`, City of Heroes, Mafia, Desert Combat, Call of Duty and UT 2004 with
no similar lag problems on the same machine). I have installed current video card
drivers, have installed current sound drivers, I have service pack 2, Windows is
defragged, I have unneeded programs turned off, I've reinstalled the game, I've
tweaked my video card for Performance and made sure all Anisotropic and
Antialiasing are Off, have the right version of Direct X, I've checked to make sure the `cd-running` light isn't on during
this chug thinking it might have been the cd drive doing the chugging, and I really
can't think of any thing else to try. What's weird is that the game really looks,
sounds and plays fine, even at the highest settings, EXCEPT for key moments
like using the map. The chug on the map page is so bad that it is basically
unusable. Clicking the Zoom In or Zoom Out button means a 16 second chug for
every click. I have Windows XP Home, Service Pack 2, AMD Athlon XP with 1GB
dual channel DDR400, plenty of hard drive space, 128 MB GeForce 4 TI 4600
with current drivers, SB Live! with current drivers, 52/24/52X `CD-RW` drive, and
my operating system generally runs smoothly and with few problems. I'm also
using antivirus software, firewall, etc but it doesn't seem to make a difference
when they are turned off. When I run the game in Safe Mode, it does the exact
same thing with the chug just with Safe Mode's settings this time. I love this game
and will continue to play it regardless of the chug, I just wish I could find a
`work-a`-round. I love it when you conquer a ship with a lot of treasure and your see
your `coinage-meter` going higher and higher and you hear that nice coin
sound....the feeling at that moment is reminiscent of `end-of`-level coinage in Sonic
the Hedgehog. Very satisfying. Heh. I also love to blow ships apart. The graphics
in the battle sequences are astoundingly good, especially pieces of ships
smashing apart and little sailors flying through the air with their painful little cries.
Great game, I agree with PC Gamers' rating, I think they gave it a 91%. It is also charming and fun and has good humor.
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