FM09 Slowness

[crouchaldinho]

I know I've been going on and on about this lately but I just find FM09 so slow and unresponsive compared to the previous incarnations of the game.

I have recently revisited FM08 and not only is the responsiveness of the user interface superior and the general processing about 50% faster but it actually takes me half of the time to load and play through a match than it does on FM09.

I realise that with advances in the game FM will become slower and require better PC specifications. It's just that FM09 feels like it has far too much going on.

It's not even so much the processing times but the match day experience. I only play in 2D classic (with 3D disabled) and it seems to take ages to set up the match. My laptop fan whirs and whirs during each game. This didn't happen on FM08 and before anyone asks, my laptop meets the specification.

So, my big wish for FM10, is better responsiveness of the user interface and a quicker match highlights loading time for those of us who just want to play in 2D classic.

Anyone else having the same experience with FM09?

(Apologies for sounding like a broken record. I hate being a moaner. )

C.

[Insert_Goal_Here]

I had slowness beofre the last patch, but since it's been a lot better. I was 30seasons in on 08 so i got used to the slowness. But i second better responsiveness for 10

[heathxxx]

FM09 seems to be fine on my PC, though I did recently put in an additional gig of ram, a new graphics card (to play Crysis, GTAIV & Fallout 3, etc on high detail) and a new 750w power unit.

Still, overall I would say it's perhaps slightly slower responsiveness than FM08 was before my upgrades. So anything that can be done to make things smoother for people in general, gets my vote.

[michael4u]

FM 09 on graphics have more diffiently compare tham FM 08
We will Pay more money to change our computer.

[cornwallgunner]

Playability is slow all round, too many pre-match screens as well IMO I take 2 hours just to get through a couple games! Tedious, it's put me off. I'll probably go back to FM07, I just hope SIgames can get a game as playabale as FM07 when they produce FM10. FM07 was light, quick, playable, intuitive.

[Monty_9]

Im in 2015 and i feel it is slowing up...but im wondering as its because of how far i have gone in the game...? Is this a known issue...?

[postal postie]

the last patch has speeded up the match day generation. although ididn't find it overly slow to start with.
every now and then, clicking buttons stops responding. but after awhile it whirs back into life.

obviously the further in you go the more data there is so it will slow down. if you have lots of leagues and a slowish computer then it will be more noticable.

[JamesB]

Im in 2015 and i feel it is slowing up...but im wondering as its because of how far i have gone in the game...? Is this a known issue...?

It's not an 'issue', it's common sense. The further you go into the game the greater the amount of in-game history that will need to be stored. Hence, as in every FM game, the further you get into the game, the slower the game will go. I'm in 2023 and it's still running at a good pace for me.

[postal postie]

can anyone confoirm how we speed it up? i keep asking this and never get answered. before we covuld delete kpm files or something to speed it up. but i dont hear anyone mention it anymore.

[RENO24]

I know I've been going on and on about this lately but I just find FM09 so slow and unresponsive compared to the previous incarnations of the game.

I have recently revisited FM08 and not only is the responsiveness of the user interface superior and the general processing about 50% faster but it actually takes me half of the time to load and play through a match than it does on FM09.

I realise that with advances in the game FM will become slower and require better PC specifications. It's just that FM09 feels like it has far too much going on.

It's not even so much the processing times but the match day experience. I only play in 2D classic (with 3D disabled) and it seems to take ages to set up the match. My laptop fan whirs and whirs during each game. This didn't happen on FM08 and before anyone asks, my laptop meets the specification.

So, my big wish for FM10, is better responsiveness of the user interface and a quicker match highlights loading time for those of us who just want to play in 2D classic.

Anyone else having the same experience with FM09?

(Apologies for sounding like a broken record. I hate being a moaner. )

C.

dude, i thought you put 09 back on the shelf?

[hamilton162]

Take a look at this, should help to make the game quicker

[SSGTroyer]

Stangely enough, I've seemed to have noticed that skin choice effects responsiveness, i.e. buttons not responding when pressed. I'm running Klasa 1.1 now, and, though I still get unresponsive buttons at times, it seems less than when I was running Myskin...

[Wakers]

In general, no, there's not much you can do.

However, bloated skins do slow the interface down a lot.

[peter-evo]

It was inevitable that it is going to happen; as with each new incarnation comes the need for a better system.

The amount it has increased this year is the real issue. It does seem that, even on a brand-spanking new laptop, the game isn't as fast as you might expect. The processing, on occasion, seems really slow and the game feels unresponsive. This probes the question of 'why is it that the processing is so extensively more resource intenisive than last year?' So far, we haven't had an answer.

[Wakers]

It was inevitable that it is going to happen; as with each new incarnation comes the need for a better system.

The amount it has increased this year is the real issue. It does seem that, even on a brand-spanking new laptop, the game isn't as fast as you might expect. The processing, on occasion, seems really slow and the game feels unresponsive. This probes the question of 'why is it that the processing is so extensively more resource intenisive than last year?' So far, we haven't had an answer.

Ive been saying for a while that most of it will be due to poor optimisation of the code, which comes from having short release cycles and the constant updating of old features.

On my main desktop - AMD X2 6000+, 4gb Ram, Server08 x64, ati x1950 (good, but not a beast anymore) the game often becomes unresponsive (FREEZING issues aside, ahem) and sluggish, whereas FM08 didnt do it on the same spec.

[peter-evo]

Ive been saying for a while that most of it will be due to poor optimisation of the code, which comes from having short release cycles and the constant updating of old features.

On my main desktop - AMD X2 6000+, 4gb Ram, Server08 x64, ati x1950 (good, but not a beast anymore) the game often becomes unresponsive (FREEZING issues aside, ahem) and sluggish, whereas FM08 didnt do it on the same spec.

My laptop: 2.0ghz 4gb Ram, HD 3470 isn't that much better than my old desktop was on FM08.

[crouchaldinho]

Still, overall I would say it's perhaps slightly slower responsiveness than FM08 was before my upgrades. So anything that can be done to make things smoother for people in general, gets my vote.

I have my fingers crossed.

Heathxxx - have you always been a moderator and I just haven't noticed or is this new? If, so congratulations, I'm sure you'll make a good mod.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Im in 2015 and i feel it is slowing up...but im wondering as its because of how far i have gone in the game...? Is this a known issue...?

Unfortunately, it will get slower as you progress due to all of the data.

Playability is slow all round, too many pre-match screens as well IMO I take 2 hours just to get through a couple games! Tedious, it's put me off. I'll probably go back to FM07, I just hope SIgames can get a game as playabale as FM07 when they produce FM10. FM07 was light, quick, playable, intuitive.

You can turn off the pre-match screens, I believe, by going to preferences and unticking 'match experience'. Someone will hopefully confirm this as I am not 100% sure.

It was inevitable that it is going to happen; as with each new incarnation comes the need for a better system.

Good point peter-evo. FM has always needed a fairly good system to get the most out of it. I think it is the graphics business that is annoying me the most though as that has really slowed things down for me. I only want my 2D classic back like it was in 08!

The processing, on occasion, seems really slow and the game feels unresponsive. This probes the question of 'why is it that the processing is so extensively more resource intenisive than last year?' So far, we haven't had an answer.

Another good point Peter. In fact, FM08 was faster than 07 if I recall correctly. Perhaps they will be able to optimise FM10 for responsiveness and speed. It is currently one of my pet hates about FM09.

C.

[heathxxx]

crouchaldinho - It's a new thing. They really scraped the barrel this time.

[crouchaldinho]

Take a look at this, should help to make the game quicker

Very good article. I have tried all of those things though.

Well, apart from this one: Running Football Manager 2009 in Compatibility Mode with Windows XP. Does that really work and if so why? I thought FM09 was made for Vista? I also thought this was only something you do for working with older games?

C.

[crouchaldinho]

crouchaldinho - It's a new thing. They really scraped the barrel this time.

Well, I better stay on the right side of you. I haven't had an infraction yet and I don't want one. I want to be like Gary Lineker in that respect - no yellows or reds for me.

C.

[peter-evo]

crouchaldinho - It's a new thing. They really scraped the barrel this time.

Yes, yes they did

I think that it should be in the priorites for FM2010 as there have been many, many complaints about the speed of the game. I can not help but feel that the sudden inclusion of 3D meant that the game slowed down and there isn't a fat lot they could do about it. I doubt a major feature like that is coming in this year so I see no reason why they will not attempt to optimise the code.

[crouchaldinho]

dude, i thought you put 09 back on the shelf?

RENO24 - I don't play FM. It plays me.

In all seriousness, FM09 has come off the shelf recently (as has FM08) for a much needed football manager fix. I still have a lot of issues with FM09 though and I'm not sure it will ever permanently come off the shelf for me. As I've said on a few other threads, it might well get dusted down occasionally though, when I start to get the shakes from being away from the game for too long. What have SI done to me? FM addiction is for life!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Yes, yes they did

I think that it should be in the priorites for FM2010 as there have been many, many complaints about the speed of the game. I can not help but feel that the sudden inclusion of 3D meant that the game slowed down and there isn't a fat lot they could do about it. I doubt a major feature like that is coming in this year so I see no reason why they will not attempt to optimise the code.

Yes, I hope you are right Peter. What I would really like, in particular, is to have a really basic 2D classic option for those who don't want 3D.

I think the increased processing times have to do with the new transfer system (there is a lot more going on under the hood now) and the improved match calculations (which are now supposed to be far more realistic for non-full detail games).

I can forgive the processing speed issue for those reasons. What I am disappointed with is the match highlights and the way that the user interface can just seem so unresponsive. I would like to play the game without my laptop whirring so much!

C.

[heathxxx]

Well, I better stay on the right side of you. I haven't had an infraction yet and I don't want one. I want to be like Gary Lineker in that respect - no yellows or reds for me.

C.

Don't often see much to worry about in T&TT as everyone is usually very cordial, so hopefully I won't need to do much actual "modding".

I wouldn't want to be like Gary Lineker either... dodgy toe!

Anyway, I've just set up a save with 12 counties, lots of playable leagues, plus loaded additional player data for about two thirds of all the countries available. Took ages to setup the game, but it seems to be processing ok so far.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Does your processor and/or graphics card have a power saving mode? Disabling this, or setting your power scheme to high performance may help out (if its a laptop make sure its plugged in).

You can try changing the processing speed in the preferences menu, match stuttering maybe due to the game trying to play to many matches at once.

Also defragging your hard drive or shutting down other programs may help.

[Wakers]

no one should ever buy into these registry cleaners.

The registry is a tiny tiny database (size wise) and anything that prunes it of old entries or 'defragments' it is more likely to do harm than good.

[crouchaldinho]

Does your processor and/or graphics card have a power saving mode? Disabling this, or setting your power scheme to high performance may help out (if its a laptop make sure its plugged in).

Yes, I've got it in high performance mode for everything (even when unplugged - mainly use it at my desk anyway).

You can try changing the processing speed in the preferences menu, match stuttering maybe due to the game trying to play to many matches at once.

I've got it on 'faster' I think it is. The level above is 'fastest' but I haven't found that significantly faster.

Also defragging your hard drive or shutting down other programs may help.

Yes, definitely true and I defrag regularly. I find that you need to defrag more often when playing FM, like once every few weeks if you are playing a lot.

As for other programs, I have CCleaner and have shut all non-essential stuff off. I usually play FM09 without virus software or anything else in the background.

C.

[hamilton162]

Very good article. I have tried all of those things though.

Well, apart from this one: Running Football Manager 2009 in Compatibility Mode with Windows XP. Does that really work and if so why? I thought FM09 was made for Vista? I also thought this was only something you do for working with older games?

C.

Yes, it speeds the game up by as much as 4 times on some PC's. No idea why it works though Ask Alan (ahmufcwafc) he will probably know

[ahmufcwafc]

XP compatibility mode on vista massively speeds up the game like hamilton said, but I've no idea why to be honest. There must be compatibility issues I guess, but like I said, it's only a wild guess.

[crouchaldinho]

I've just tried XP compatibility mode and fired up FM09.

Did a test holidaying the same week with and without.

Bizarrely, it was actually fractionally slower when set to XP compatibility.

Otherwise, took around about the same amount of time. So this hasn't worked for me.

Perhaps my machine is not one of those it works on?

C.

[hamilton162]

Possibly, it works on most PC's tbh. No idea why it doesn't work on yours What are your specs?

[crouchaldinho]

Intel Core Duo Processor 1.66GHz, 3 GB RAM, Vista, Mobile Intel Graphics Accelerator 252MB (which is probably the problem with the match highlights, even though I play in 2D classic).

On this setup, I could run 15-20 leagues with large database on FM08 and it flew by. Matches were quick and fluid too. Whole user interface much more responsive.

FM09, slower by more than 50% on processing speeds; often unresponsive; and matches take at least twice as long.



C.

[Zebedee77]

I know this may be an odd one and something you've tried out, but have you tried optimising Vista? I believe it has similar effects on system performance as Windows from all I've read (refused to upgrade to Vista until the hardware to run it properly is much cheaper). This link may be of use: http://techrepublic.com.com/2415-10877_11-91600.html

To give you an idea of the challenge facing your graphics card (I'm guessing something like an X3100?), it will get a score of around 400 on 3DMark, while even cheaper 'gaming' cards these days will hit a score of 4000.

I feel your pain crouchaldinho - I upgraded my graphics card to play FM09 (was previously using a 32mb integrated one ). It's made it playable with my p.o.s PC - although it isn't the fastest processing, at least the match engine doesn't glitch too much providing I turn off all background applications (Antivirus etc).

[crouchaldinho]

I know this may be an odd one and something you've tried out, but have you tried optimising Vista?

I regret to say that I've already tried it all. Good article though and thanks for posting it.

I got very fed up with Vista at first and then went through a similar process of turning everything off and disabling things.

To give you an idea of the challenge facing your graphics card (I'm guessing something like an X3100?), it will get a score of around 400 on 3DMark, while even cheaper 'gaming' cards these days will hit a score of 4000.

My 'gaming experience' score on Vista is 3.1.

The actual graphics is a 252MB Mobile Intel GraphicsMedia Accelerator 950. Standard low spec onboard graphics for a laptop. 3D didn't even work until the first patch.

I just wish I could go back to basic 2D classic.

I feel your pain crouchaldinho - I upgraded my graphics card to play FM09 (was previously using a 32mb integrated one ).

I won't be upgrading my laptop for some time now. I'll be sticking with it for some years to come. It has a decent specification and it's really just the graphics letting me down, I would guess. Like I say, I would just love to go back to FM08 'no-frills' classic 2d.

C.

[Zebedee77]

I just wish I could go back to basic 2D classic.

I won't be upgrading my laptop for some time now. I'll be sticking with it for some years to come. It has a decent specification and it's really just the graphics letting me down, I would guess. Like I say, I would just love to go back to FM08 'no-frills' classic 2d.

C.

That's something I'd love to see as an option. 3d does nothing to help me understand what's going on in the match so I usually play in 2d too.

Your integrated graphics gets a score of 455 on 3dMark05. My 30 quid upgrade for a desktop scores 2052 (Geforce Sapphire 9700 which was officially retired from regular driver updates a couple of months back) - top end cards can hit a score of 19000+ just to give the other end of the scale. That's quite a difference in performance which is obviously going to mean games are going to get tougher and tougher for us both to play as the demands on the graphics card continues to increase sadly.

[crouchaldinho]

That's something I'd love to see as an option. 3d does nothing to help me understand what's going on in the match so I usually play in 2d too.

Quite right. 2D classic is tactically better and it looks superior and more like football. Also, it adds the imagination factor, which 3D takes away.

I might have to start a campaign for basic 2D classic in FM10.

Your integrated graphics gets a score of 455 on 3dMark05.

Take it that is really bad?

games are going to get tougher and tougher for us both to play as the demands on the graphics card continues to increase sadly.

I don't play any other games - just FM. I've never been interested in graphics for that reason and I don't want to have to buy a 'gaming' laptop or PC to play FM.

I can't understand why selecting 2D classic on FM09 still causes the highlights to be so slow and jerky.

C.

[CrashOverride]

XP compatibility mode on vista massively speeds up the game like hamilton said, but I've no idea why to be honest. There must be compatibility issues I guess, but like I said, it's only a wild guess.

I initially discovered this as a solution for the game freezing and sitting on not responding when playing in windowed mode. I dont really understand either why it makes the game run faster or better but I know it works for most people.

Crouchaldinho - Im sorry this isnt working for you.

[Zebedee77]

Quite right. 2D classic is tactically better and it looks superior and more like football. Also, it adds the imagination factor, which 3D takes away.

I might have to start a campaign for basic 2D classic in FM10.

If SI can put in an option to divorce the two views, then that would be awesome if unlikely

Take it that is really bad?

To be honest, it's very bad. It's not really a graphics card to play games with, and as you say it wouldn't be an issue but for the shift to 3d in FM and the need for the graphics card to do all the graphics work.

I can't understand why selecting 2D classic on FM09 still causes the highlights to be so slow and jerky.

C.

I remember the discussions over at Paradox over why their 3d map view for EU3 required a good graphics card for the game not to run like it was stuck in mud. They explained that they'd shifted all the work required by the graphics onto the card. So if the match is being rendered in 3d even if you're watching in 2d, just in case you should wish to change views at an instant's notice, all those calculations would still be carried out, and with a worse than average graphics card you'd not get the benefit of your graphic card doing all the work and your system would then start to strain as stuff which the graphics card should be doing is now being done by your system in a much more inefficient way.

At least that's how I understood why pig ugly graphics required a fairly modern graphics card