Resolution Lag?

[stick d00d]

I just recently came back to SO after not having a computer for a few months. I got a netbook and the highest resolution is 1024 x 600. I notice on certain games, like Stick Oline, I have fps lag. I think it may be because of my resolution? It tells me at the beginning I should change my resolution but I can't.

[ARTgames]

No, having low resolution does not make it more laggy. It actuary has the opposite effect. Also your not missing any pixels the game can show to you. The stick online box is the exact same height as your screen and your screen is a bit wider.

If you want to run stick online on a netbook I would suggest to close everything down. Then open task master to make sure your cpu usages is around 1-5% and stays that way for at least 30 secs. Then boot stick online.

You don't have much resources on a netbook. AV software, fancy IM software, web browsers, windows update, windows media player with visualizations or any media player for a fact, videos, moving big files, heavy use of the usb ports. There are some of the most commend things that will slow you down. Basically on a netbook you can really only do one thing at a time at ok speed.

I run stick online on a netbook and I can get a good 30fps most of the time. Unless there lots of people fighting a boss or a lot of items on the ground.

[Meiun]

What brand of Netbook do you have? I had an Asus Eee PC one that had that resolution, and as long as I set the hybrid engine to high performance (which it typically did automatically when plugged in) and didn't have things throttled too hard by the windows power management settings it ran perfectly. Also, if the resolution is a bit off you can try running it in fulscreen by hitting F10. That should scale it all down to fit whatever screen resolution you have (even if it may look a tad distorted in doing so).

[ARTgames]

All atom netbooks (which most of them are) are basically the same when it comes to hardware if its younger than 1 and 1/2 years. But for the most part a netbook from the past few months should be just fine. Min is years old and can do just fine (pretty much the lowest end when it comes to atom netbooks). Also windows power management does not matter if your in Win7 or XP. If for some reason your netbook came with vista then I would look at windows power management.

If your netbook comes with win7 and for some reason "windows aero (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Aero)" is on I would suggest turning it off. That could hurt it. Also keep you netbook cool. When it gets hot it will slowdown the game. I would suggest to keep it on a hard flat surface.

[Meiun]

What I was referring to in terms of the hybrid engine is more or less a software based under/overclocking system that Asus uses on some of their Eee PC's to help extend battery life, and can make a pretty serious impact on performance. As for the Power management thing, we might be thinking of slightly different things. What I was referring to is on both Vista as well as Windows 7, and is officially called "Power Options" for laptops/netbooks, and can be modified by clicking on your battery meter via the task bar, then selecting "more power options." These settings can impact your system pretty heavily even on Windows 7 depending how they are configured (and how they are configured usually differs from computer to computer, often based on what the computers manufacturer recommends). For instance, most the battery savings, and even some of the balanced performance plans (depending on your manufacturer) often throttle your max CPU speed if you are running on a battery, as well as usually slowing down your GPU with the PCI Express Link State power Management. All of these settings can be modified in the Advanced Settings section under Power Options. I definitely recommend checking these settings out for anyone who ha a Vista/Windows 7 based laptop/netbook. Some manufacturers have some pretty ridiculous recommended settings.

[ARTgames]

I did not know about the Asus power under clocking. That is good thinking. He should check that out. Also from what I have seen windows 7 does not have an option for underclocking like on vista.

I will say I am not using a OEM install vs of win7 on any of my laptop. So it could be something they added in. Also another suggestion you may want to try is dissabling speedstep if you on Intle in your bios.

You may also want to try to run something cpu intensive (to get past speedstep) and take a look at your clock speed with a program like cpuz. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

If the clock speed you get is the one advertised (dxdiag.exe to take a look at most of system specs) in your system then your running at max speed there.

[Meiun]

Windows 7 definitely does offer the same sortof stuff as Vista in terms of power management and throttling etc.

[ARTgames]

Oh wow lol. I did not see that. Thanks, my bad. : D I just ignored those links down there.

But I did try all 3 default settings on 3 different laptops and they all let you use up to 100% according to it both on battery and plug. So he should be ok if he is on Win7. But I know that's not true on vista.

[Meiun]

In most cases it should be ok by default, but like I was saying, a lot of the time it depend on how the manufacturer (company that makes the computer) sets it up. A lot of them use some custom power plans that they themselves put on there, some of which have some lousy settings (especially when it comes to when your running it on a battery vs. plugged in). Also, I'm pretty sure you should look at the PCI Express settings and make sure the Link State Power Management is set to "Off" if you want maximum graphics card power.

[ARTgames]

I agree. Those are great things to look at. I don't think that last part will help here (: P) but good to know for other people. Its funny because I just did that (the PCI Express settings thing) and then when to go see this topic after words to see you said to do that.

Any way i think if he follows what you and I said I'm sure he should be ok. How does stick online work on your netbook meiun?

[Meiun]

It worked really well as long as I had the settings right. Before it got stolen at least >_<

[stick d00d]

Thanks for the help dude. I changed the PCI setting and i get 30 fps now thanks man.

[Freeforall]

I can't play in Full Screen well.
My laptop has a huge screen and my Res is set at 1366x768, and my screen just goes really blurry on full screen.