Diablo 2 runs VERY slow!!!

[falcompsx]

ok, i've tried 3 different OS's, windows 98, 2000 pro and XP pro and it doesn't make a difference. the game just runs very slow for me, at times dropping to like 8fps...any thoughts, ideas??

my config:
A7V133
athlon 1.0ghz@1080(tried NOT overclocking, no help)
512MB Crucial PC133 CL2 memory
SB Live!
Linksys nic v2.0 board
27 gig 7200rpm maxtor diamondmax hard drive.
Toshiba 16x dvd
plextor 16/10/40 cdrw (tried having the play cd i both drives)
Geforce 2 GTS @ 210/380(also tried not overclocking, still no help)

[Mr.Goodbytes]

Is this a local game, or a battlenet hosted a game? If it's online, then that may be the problem. I don't see a modem listed in your hardware, so I'm guessing you are using broadband. If you're online and that's not the case... problem identified. But if this is even happening locally, I'm not sure what to say. Ask DPUTiger, he's the master of Diablo 2.

[Dputiger]

Thanks for the comment, Goodbytes. :)

I do know a lot about how the game functions, though--I mod for it quite a bit.

So let me know if this is a single-player or multiplayer problem.

[falcompsx]

the problem is persistent in single and miltiplayer. it is not really a lag related problem it that was your thought, that's a whole other problem :)

[Praetorian]

Geeze! You've got a lot of RAM but are you sure something isn't eating up your memory resources?

[Dputiger]

Given your large amount of RAM, I'm inclined to suspect other things. A few questions:

1) Have you installed the VIA 4-in-1 drivers?

2) Do you have FSAA turned on, and are you running in D3D mode? That could potentially hit your frame rate, as D2 is very poorly coded for D3D--my GeForce2 Pro could run D2 in 4XFSAA, but the game would lag at points without question.

3) Are your hard drive and CD-ROM sharing a single DMA cable? This halves data transfer between each and could also be hurting you.

4) Do you have DMA transfers, IDE Burst Mode, and 32-bit access all activated in BIOS?

5) Do you have DMA transfers enabled in both Windows and BIOS?

6) Have you copied the D2music.mpq file to your Diablo II directory? This will also help boost performance.

Check those out, report back.

[jkrohn]

Is this D2 or d2: LoD, what resolution are you running at? If at 800 x 600 this causes slowdowns on my p3 900 Voodoo5 512 ram setup so i'm not suprised if you're seeing slowdowns in D3D with a geforce 2. Also i've noticed that me fps in Multi player (battle.net) are usualle about 130 but in single player im lucky to get 45. Just me 2 cents

[falcompsx]

1) Have you installed the VIA 4-in-1 drivers?
Yes, version 4.33

2) Do you have FSAA turned on, and are you running in D3D mode? That could potentially hit your frame rate, as D2 is very poorly coded for D3D--my GeForce2 Pro could run D2 in 4XFSAA, but the game would lag at points without question.
FSAA is forced off, i thought of that...

3) Are your hard drive and CD-ROM sharing a single DMA cable? This halves data transfer between each and could also be hurting you.
ALL my drives are masters on their own cable.

4) Do you have DMA transfers, IDE Burst Mode, and 32-bit access all activated in BIOS?
yes, all DMA, burst mode and 32-bit are enabled.

5) Do you have DMA transfers enabled in both Windows and BIOS?
Yes, in both places

6) Have you copied the D2music.mpq file to your Diablo II directory? This will also help boost performance.
D2 regular yes, but the LOD music is not copied, i'll try copying the LOD music file and see if it helps.

[falcompsx]

to be more specific, it drops in framerate right around the steps around malah is one VERY noticable spot, then the game speeds up to hyperspeed to catch up from the lost frames...it's really strange... and VERY annoying.

[jkrohn]

Everytime you're by malah? (She's the one in town that sells pots and scrolls right?) That is strange as nothing should be loading there.

[falcompsx]

yeah by malah, it's really wierd, and it's always walking on the steps. anyway another update is that single player runs at a constant 25fps and says 24-25 skip....BUT as far as visuals go, it looks perfectly smooth. no glitches or anything....

[falcompsx]

::edit::

[Dputiger]

Ahhhh.

Thanks for the update.

SO you are only seeing skips in a few places--not in general?

I DO know what's happening around Malah, generally.

The game has certain 'trigger' points at which it loads new data. I'm not sure WHAT gets loaded, but Malah is a trigger. I beta tested LoD and it has always been this way.

For a less dramatic example, go back to Act III. You'll notice right as you are crossing the docks from the ship to the dock that the game will pause. That pause is data loading.

Its quite normal. Is that your only problem?

[sns]

I notice you have a n/w card. Have you specified an IP address or does it assign one automatically?
I had lockups for about 10 seconds then bursts of activity (catch up) on my new PC while playing multiplayer with my son on his (my older) pc. someone in the Networking & Internet forum (I think) suggested to 'specify an IP address' to stop the card (system?) from doing a search every now & again which causes lag while it does its thing.
Someone will reply if I am typing rubbish but I havent had the problem since I did as suggested.

[stooge007]

wow that must really suck! duablo 2 (expansion) is really awesome! (besides that, its my life ;-0)

[falcompsx]

well that's not the only problem. it also just seems to run kinda slow when i'm fighting, even with only like 3-4 guys on the screen. i expect it to slow down in huge melees, but in just rather undramatic routine killing too? is this b.net causing it? another place i've noticed slow down like next to malah is right after you kill duriel when you walk across the bridge to talk to tyreal...is this another trigger point?

[Dputiger]

In general, yes. Do you have fewer slow-downs off Battle.net? Is the game playable off of B-net (ie--in single player)?

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I've noticed similar things, usually when there is high activity (Diablo's chain light of death) and sometimes in game. haven't had it happen in single player though (Duron 850/768Mb/V3) I think this is caused by lag, I even get that with TCP/IP games over the net. at random parts.

[falcompsx]

well it's hard to say about singleplayer...i never play it. i've tested real quick(only part of act 1) and it ran perfectly consistent throughout. but the reported fps is 25 constant...i'm guessing it's lag...

[prttybean]

A lot of people are complaining about lag. I have not really noticed a slowdown except in the "trigger" places and if I end up in a game with 3 sorcs and a necro or a lot of melee fighting.

Thank you Dputiger for the explanation about the pauses.:)

[Comage]

Let me have a go: How many virtual icons have you got in your taskbar? It may be that that's slowing down your game performance.

What about other games? Does it slow down unexpectedly?

[falcompsx]

all other games, like max payne, and other 3d games run perfectly smooth, with no choppiness at all. i'm very please with the performance of other games. just if d2 would run right...

[Ruahrc]

Aha! I'm not the only one who suffers from the stairs of Malah? I have a new super (well pretty-super) gaming rig and was dismayed to see this slowdown. The worst is the stair-path from Malah to Larzuk. I also saw the slowdown in Act3, in the jungle areas in certain spots like on the edges of some rivers, bridges, etc.

Also I think when I was fighting D2 it was kinda slow as well.

Realm play, on a 28.8 modem (Ooooh yeah) but it's not the lag it's the choppy on the PC.

Tbird 1.333GHz
GF3
512MB RAM
No FSAA

Why does it slow down so much? Poor coding? Even on high end systems it slows down.

Ruahrc

[falcompsx]

it isn't lag, i have a high end computer too, sort of, and a cable modem. my ping to the b.net servers is between 20-30ms...so i don't think it's lag too much. i think it's just the most craptacular programming ever...

[Dputiger]

Falcon,

If you run Win2K tab out of D2 sometime and check your memory footprint. Its probably close to 100 meg or higher. D2 uses an absolutely huge amount of RAM, and frankly, you aren't going to get away from those pauses. They are inherent to the game.

[Mr.Goodbytes]

i think it's just the most craptacular programming ever...

Well, shucks... With all the time it took them to release the expansion pack, let alone simply getting D2 to the public, you think they would have gotten it correct. But as popular as the game is, they must have done some things right.

[Dputiger]

You see lag or pausing for a very important reason.

One of the major gripes about original Diablo was load times--people hated them. They were too long, broke up the game, etc.

So, Blizzard found a solution. The solution, however, involves loading massive amounts of the game into RAM.

Bingo! No load times.

BUT....

it means that the game must hold a huge amount of data in RAM. (note--when I say 'load times' I mean for an Act).

The 'lag' you see is caused by the game retrieving a large chunk of data. Perhaps--and I have not tested this--the game might run faster and with less lag on a P4, due to its superior memory bandwidth. It'd be a rare case for a game to run faster w/P4, but this could be one of them.

[MistralBurn]

DPUTiger is correct in that Diablo2 is very poorly coded for D3D. In fact, in my studies of the DirectX API, I found that the only reason D3D is an option, is for the Perspective option. My friends and I never use perspective. So, i told my friend (P3 550, 256MB RAM, GeForce2) to run his in DirectDraw rather than Direct3D. He said it ran extremely smoothly no matter where he went in the game. When I went to his house, sure enough, the game ran smoothly whereever you went. Couldn't even detect those data load triggers. So definitely give DirectDraw a try.
Since my GeForce2 is underpowerd, it lags, no matter what I use. So, I installed my Voodoo2 so I can run all of my games in 3DfxGlide. If you have a voodoo2 laying around, definitely considering installing that to run D2 in Glide.

Hope this helps, good luck:)

[Dputiger]

Absolutely true.

My Voodoo5 is clearly outperformed by my GeForce2 Pro in almost any game.

But, in Diabo II, I can run the game with the V5 in 4XFSAA, forced-32-bit color FASTER than my GeForce2 can run it with 4XFSAA, 16-bit color.

MUCH faster and smoother, to boot.

[AuraEdge]

A Few things
First thing - I think that FSAA in D2 only works in glide. I played it with FSAA4x without any noticible difference in graphics or speed.

I have the same problem, most notably by the malah stairs (the ones to the left of her) and also the stairs between the bloody foothills and the first WP in act 5. This happens in playing with or without perspective. (2D or 3D)

Relavant system parts
Abit KT7A-RAID (Via 4.33, also happened with 4.31's)
AMD Duron 750@1Ghz
Crucial 256MB PC133 CAS2
D2 and Windows on RAID0'ed 45GB IBM 75GXP's (7200RPM, ATA/100, DMA on, both masters)
NVidia Geforce2 GTS 32MB DDR @ Default (DetXP's, also happened with Det3's, No FSAA)
SBLive! 5.1 (LW3)
Win2k SP2
D2 - 800x600, Perspective on (also happened off), 3D Sound, high lighting, high detail, etc.

And my D2LOD is no cd cracked, so its all running off the harddrive, for optimal speed.

I had first thought it was either my lack of L2 Cache, or lack of RAM, but you have an Athlon and 512MB, so that crushes my theory.
So your telling me its RAM retreival time? I never really thought of that as being a factor. I wonder if anyone with DDR can give a shout here to see if they suffer from the same thing. If not...bullseye...

[Dputiger]

FSAA works in D3D. I ran a GeForce2 Pro using it and there was a clear difference.

I would recommend you attempt a full and total driver de-install (namely, delete the NVIDIA files by hand), then reinstall D2 and re-run the video test. I promise you, however, FSAA DOES work in D3D mode--I've used it on three separate machines with NVIDIA cards including my own (I am not using my GF2 Pro at the moment, hence the V5).

I will have a VIA KT266A reference board on Monday and if I have time with it I will try D2 out for a spin and let you know.

[AuraEdge]

Can you give me a suggestion of a place to look at to definitly notice the difference?
I was basically looking at the staff one of my sorcs use, and I still saw jaggies and no halftones in squares that were on the edge of it, as FSAA is supposed to do.

I tryed Counterstrike in D3D 800x600 FSAA4x, and It worked there, so i dont think theres anything wrong with my drivers.
I deleted Nv*.* by hand before i installed the DetXP's when they first came out, so that was done recently (Maybe a week or 2 ago).

[MistralBurn]

I understand what FSAA is used for, but, I myself thought it kind of useless for a game like Diablo 2, because it seems to me that all of the images are prerendered. Could the use of FSAA be for lighting effects?

[Dputiger]

FSAA functions just as well in Diablo II as in any game. It renders the entire game including enemies, your own character, etc, more smoothly.

The only card I have observed NOT functioning in D2 with FSAA on is the Radeon DDR--and this, I believe, is due to poor drivers on the Radeon's part. Anyone who has USED an ATI card probably won't find this too hard to believe. ;)