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I have recently bought an Toshiba Satellite P855-32X laptop.
Firs thing after I did launch this laptop is ofcourse update all drivers to the newest ones. Configure everything I needed and it works like a charm.
I can play all the newest games without problems, but when running a game called "Dark Reign 2" [DirectX 7] it runs at 25 FPS / ~20 FPS max (no matter if settings are lowest @ 640x480 or highest @ 1366x768), while on my older laptop with an i3-370M and a AMD Radeon HD Mobility 5740 [512mb gddr3 vram] it runs at 120 fps. (however I always limit it in-game to 60)
My laptop has an RMB option on applications which allows you to specify with which GPU to run an application with:
But after launchin DXdiag with this option, or the second, I always get this screen:
I tried looking into the NVidia CPL but it doesn't have as much options.. as it should?:
I also made sure my "default GPU" is set to the NVidia GPU. Yet still the problem persists.
I tried disabling my Intel Integrated HD Graphics:
But when I tried to run the game it gave me an error the there is no Harware Acceleration support (for a game from 1999 hehe)
So I looked it up in DXDiag:
And what suprises me here is that there is absolutely no GPU/manufaturer name and the default windows drivers are used..
All my drivers are up to date, all VC++ redistributables, .net frameworks, windows updates, dependencies and DirectX End User Runtime (DX9) are all up to date and installed.
I really don't know what the problem is and I really hate it that I can't play an old game at more than 25 fps yet all the new games (2005+) on a more playable framerate.. yet, on an older laptop the game runs like a charm.
What is going on and how can I fix this? I really don't understand this.
I suspect my Geforce is "connected" to the motherboard with the Intel Chipset -in between- ? Is there any way to circumvent this if this is true?
Edit: I forgot to mention I did run the game with "use integrated GPU" and the results were the same. (game running on 25 fps max)
Do you have Windows 8 on your older laptop or Windows 7? Can you please try running the game with compatibility mode set to a lower Windows Version, perhaps playing with the other setting you have there? – None – 2013-04-22T19:46:46.677
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Under the "manage 3d settings" tab in the nvidia control panel, you should be able to navigate to your game's .exe and specify which GPU to use from there. Sometimes the context menu entry doesn't work properly if the shortcut triggers some kind of launcher instead of the game itself. Finally, you can use the Optimus Test Viewer tool to determine with certainty which GPU is being used for each application.
– Fopedush – 2013-04-22T20:01:56.723@Fopedush At last, some useful info. :) – None – 2013-04-22T20:05:57.210
I'm certain there is no launcher, the application is open source.. – None – 2013-04-22T20:18:25.087
I did download the Optimus tool and it does show the game (dr2.exe) is rendered by the DGPU, when I uncheck the option there are no processes – None – 2013-04-22T20:20:39.113
If the optimus tool indicates that the game is being rendered by the DGPU, then it's being rendered by the DGPU. I suspect there is some other problem. It is still possible that the presence of the optimus architecture is causing a performance issue even if the nvidia gpu is being used. – Fopedush – 2013-04-22T20:59:29.010
1One more thought occurs: Your screenshot of the nvidia control panel shows one hardware output connected directly to the nvidia frambuffer (it appears to be a d-sub). You might try connecting a display to that output (verify in the nv. control panel that it shows up connected to the nvidia card and not the Intel one), then run the game on that display. Doing this will remove the IGP framebuffer from the equation completely, and may give you a hint as to the source of the trouble. – Fopedush – 2013-04-22T21:05:46.313
Well, check your BIOS as well. BIOS often carries GPU priority sequence. As far as the game is concerned, I am quite puzzled. I believe Intel HD Graphics is more than enough for games as ancient as this one. – tumchaaditya – 2013-04-23T13:15:10.520
hm I tried connecting another display and setting the screen to only second display, bot tried on vga and hdmi, still 25 fps.. – None – 2013-04-23T13:37:43.493
@The Pet: In that case, I can only conclude that despite running on the nvidia card, the game is only managing 25fps for some other, unrelated reason. – Fopedush – 2013-04-23T21:39:12.020
well it's not "the compiler", I finally made the program compile in the newest version of visual studio and run without crashing. Well, no avail. Will try to dual boot 7 anyway... For Red Alert 2 I fixed the low FPS problem by downloaing a DirectDraw wrapper and enabling DirectDraw emulation there. – None – 2013-05-22T21:20:52.563