Game Slows as I Play

[spoony]

Hey, guys! Just bought Recettear and loving it. Unfortunately, I'm having a strange issue.  The game will run really smoothly for about the first twenty minutes of gameplay, then all of the sudden (and, as far as I can see, unprompted) it will slow WAY down and stay that way the rest of the time I'm playing. I've tried lowering a bunch of the controls in the config section that are supposed to improve game speed but nothing has changed.

Does anyone know why this might be happening and how I might fix it?

I'm typically a console gamer so I'm afraid I don't know much about running games on my computer. ^^' Here's some info on my system that might be relevant:

HP Pavilion dv2700 Notebook PC
AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 2.00 GHz
4.00 GB RAM memory
64-bit operating system
NVIDIA MCP67M video card

I know laptops aren't the best gaming computers, but I'm away at college so it's all I have. :/

[BDR]

Click Start, select Run, type in dxdiag, and there'll be an option to get a text file with system information. Copy that info here and then all of the relevant info will be available instead of just some of it.

[SpaceDrake]

Have you tried updating the drivers for your video card? You should be able to find new drivers at www.nvidia.com.

Also define slow way down. Do you know the framerate? Does it stay consistently low? Does it spike?

[spoony]

Thank you both very much for responding!

Have you tried updating the drivers for your video card? You should be able to find new drivers at www.nvidia.com.

Also define slow way down. Do you know the framerate? Does it stay consistently low? Does it spike?

I didn't try the drivers, I'm downloading that right now. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks!

Sorry, I wasn't very specific. The framerate is around 30 when I start the game, then it drops to about 10 and stays there until I quit the game for a while.  It varies slightly but nothing I'd call a spike.

Click Start, select Run, type in dxdiag, and there'll be an option to get a text file with system information. Copy that info here and then all of the relevant info will be available instead of just some of it.

That's a lot of information. ^^' Do you want ALL of it? Here's the system and display info, let me know if there's something else that would be helpful to include.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 9/16/2010, 20:38:20
Machine name: KYLIE-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.100608-0458)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP Pavilion dv2700 Notebook PC
BIOS: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.1     
Processor: AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 TL-60 (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 4030MB RAM
Page File: 1718MB used, 8259MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode


---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA MCP67M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0531&SUBSYS_30D6103C&REV_A2
Display Memory: 1068 MB
Dedicated Memory: 61 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: nvd3dum,nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2um, nvwgf2umx
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.5671 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/8/2007 22:21:00, 4943872 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4671-11CF-AB65-DD1002C2CA35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0531
SubSys ID: 0x30D6103C
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Revision ID: 0x00A2

[Dogi]

Does this happen with any other games? I'd chalk it up to your GPU overheating most readily.

I personally have something of a slowdown problem myself but it only shows up after having the game up for several hours. and usually when I go browse for a bit then go back to playing, my frame rate drops to a steady 20 or so. kind of jarring when playing as Charme in a dungeon, but manageable.

[SpaceDrake]

Yes, do make sure your laptop is well-cooled. Ensure the air intakes and whatnot aren't blocked as you play, and this goes for any game really.

Also, in custom.exe, you may want to set your frame limit to 30 or even 20; it'll limit the number of frames the game renders at once while avoiding "slowdown" due to slow rendering. It'll make things choppier but you should notice a much reduced effect from any heat problems you have.

[spoony]

Ah, the heating thing makes a lot of sense, since it tends to work for a while and then stop until I let it "rest." I'm not sure how to get my computer any better-ventilated than it already is, though. ^^' Maybe if I vacuum out the vents? I'm not blocking any of the intakes. :/

Like I said I don't play computer games much. Now that you mention it though, I DO have problems when I try to watch high-quality video files (mostly .mkvs and some large .avis) on my computer.  They'll run fine for a while and then get really choppy. I'll bet it IS the same problem!

I already have the game set to 30 fps but I'll try going to 20. I guess I'm ok sacrificing some quality if it makes the game run better. Thanks for the suggestion.

I installed updated my video card and no difference in the way the game runs, unfortunately. I do think it made the pictur eon my monitor a bit better though, so thanks for that unexpected perk! XD