Game makes laptop HOT

[Banquet]

I'm running a 8600m GT card on a laptop and it's fine for me

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

I bought an Antec Notebook cooler for my Dell FPS (they run hot) which has a nVidia 8600M GT in it. It works rather well in keeping it down to the lower than 80 range. I may get ToW this weekend, I'll let you know if I experience similar stuff.

SoM

I've been looking at buying one of those laptop coolers. The one I like has two USB fans in it and props the laptop up about 7/8" inch. $30 is what I found it to cost. I don't remember the name of it now as I have it bookmarked on my laptop and I'm at the desktop. [:(]

EDIT: Here is the link for this laptop cooler:
Laptop Cooler

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: oldspec4

I have a related problem w/ my video card running much hotter w/ this game. A vanilla Nvdia 6800 that stays generally under 75c at load is running at 93-94c after 15 minutes here [:(].

I don't see the graphics demand of this game to be excessive but its definitely pushing my card.

I'm not alone finally. [:)]

[LarryP]

I was playing ToW tonight on the laptop and after 1/2 turn I had to exit. Too hot!

Next I went right into RtV and played it for quite a while, cool as can be. Fan never even turned on.

Seems that for a turn based game, it should run cooler.

Has the development team run a profiler on the code? I really like this game and I want to play it at night on my laptop, but right now I can't. [:(]

[Anthropoid]

I had a Dell laptop that finally died from gaming: hot all the time. Mobo finally fried. I worked with it for months with those "laptop cooler" devices. Went through at least two of them, maybe three. The gaming I was doing at tha time was almost entirely Civ3, not the version with the hot graphics, it was still 2d at that stage.
 
Then I heard guys telling me stuff like the dude above, blamO is saying: laptops are not really suitable for gaming, use a tower with more fans, better case to move air, biggest power supply you can manage, get a mobo that is upgradable and has a bigger Front serial bus, don't get a 'cheap' chip, but no need for the fastest, and get a decent vide card, rest is a matter of taste . . ."

[oldspec4]

ORIGINAL: LarryP

I was playing ToW tonight on the laptop and after 1/2 turn I had to exit. Too hot!

Next I went right into RtV and played it for quite a while, cool as can be. Fan never even turned on.

Seems that for a turn based game, it should run cooler.

Has the development team run a profiler on the code? I really like this game and I want to play it at night on my laptop, but right now I can't. [:(]

FYI..played the game for an hour on my desktop. As I noted in my post above, the video card runs hotter w/ the game. But also checked system ambient temp this time. Ambient normally at 49-50c after gaming use. Ambient up to 60c after one hour of gameplay; and now back to 49c.

I'm not redlining my temps but does seem strange for a 2-D game.

[doomtrader]

What I can say is that we will take a deep look at the optimization of the GPU for the first patch.

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: Anthropoid

I had a Dell laptop that finally died from gaming: hot all the time. Mobo finally fried. I worked with it for months with those "laptop cooler" devices. Went through at least two of them, maybe three. The gaming I was doing at tha time was almost entirely Civ3, not the version with the hot graphics, it was still 2d at that stage.

So those laptop coolers may not be all that great?

I have had all the Civilization games and Civ3 should not be one to heat a PC I would think. Any turn based game should not accelerate heat in a game like I have been seeing. I have one other game that heats my laptop up like ToW, but it's a RTS which makes more sense and has a ton of calculations constantly.

Which Dell laptop did you fry?

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: oldspec4

FYI..played the game for an hour on my desktop. As I noted in my post above, the video card runs hotter w/ the game. But also checked system ambient temp this time. Ambient normally at 49-50c after gaming use. Ambient up to 60c after one hour of gameplay; and now back to 49c.

I'm not redlining my temps but does seem strange for a 2-D game.

I'm afraid to play this for an hour. I get about thirty minutes in and it's too hot then.

I may have to resign myself to the fact that this laptop, even though it's got an excellent CPU and a great video card, it may not be suited for a lot of games. Games like OOTP-10, RtV, and TOAW3 run perfectly and they are great games. I wanted to buy the Dell XPS laptop, but that was $1,000 more and I didn't want to spend that much. That is more suited for laptop gaming. Live and learn. [:(]

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: doomtrader

What I can say is that we will take a deep look at the optimization of the GPU for the first patch.

Thank you!

[oldspec4]

ORIGINAL: doomtrader

What I can say is that we will take a deep look at the optimization of the GPU for the first patch.

Sounds like a plan [:)]. BTW, the GPU issue aside, I'm havin' fun w/ the game.

[Anthropoid]

It was an Inspirion, can't remember the number, but it would have been a brand new computer in about 2001. Fried after about three years, AND they did not honor my extended warranty. I know they don't like to get negative round here, but over at a Civ site where I have been active for years, I wrote a quite long slam/review recount of the whole xperience. PM me if you want me to try to find it and link you to it.

[Anraz]

This issue also has been addressed in the hotfix - so please report if there is a change.

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: Anraz

This issue also has been addressed in the hotfix - so please report if there is a change.

I am excited you addressed this issue. [&o] I'm testing it now and will be back within 30 minutes...

EDIT:
Laptop only.
AI setting on high.
It does run cooler, no doubt. It took 20 minutes for the fan to go to high speed. Although the fan was on high, it was not as hot.

I turned the AI down to the lowest setting and exited and came back after the fan turned to low . It made no difference that I could tell. I still had to exit the game after about 15 minutes with the fan back on high. So the AI settings make no difference in heat.

If what you did was doubled, that would do the trick. It's about half way to where I could play it unlimited. It IS better though, thank you! [:)]

[oldspec4]

ORIGINAL: Anraz

This issue also has been addressed in the hotfix - so please report if there is a change.

Haven't had a chance to play much today but will test it ASAP

[Kurak]

ORIGINAL: LarryP
I am excited you addressed this issue. [&o] I'm testing it now and will be back within 30 minutes...

EDIT:
Laptop only.
AI setting on high.
It does run cooler, no doubt. It took 20 minutes for the fan to go to high speed. Although the fan was on high, it was not as hot.

I turned the AI down to the lowest setting and exited and came back after the fan turned to low . It made no difference that I could tell. I still had to exit the game after about 15 minutes with the fan back on high. So the AI settings make no difference in heat.

If what you did was doubled, that would do the trick. It's about half way to where I could play it unlimited.

Try this: open file fpslimit.txt (with Notepad) from the game's installation directory, remove it's content and insert "30" (only the number, without quotation marks), save and close file and then run the game.

[oldspec4]

Initial look at desktop GPU temps after hotfix is very good...temps seem back to normal for my system.

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: Kurak

Try this: open file fpslimit.txt (with Notepad) from the game's installation directory, remove it's content and insert "30" (only the number, without quotation marks), save and close file and then run the game.

That did the trick. I even went down to 25 and it displays fine. I have had the game running for one hour and the fan stayed on low. Before, 10-15 minutes and the fan went to high.

However, I have another problem that may be related to lowering the frame rate. When the "Unit upkeep summary" dialog displays, and I click the mouse, it blinks real fast and locks everything until I click again. If I did not click again it would blink forever. It did this before changing the frame rate, but it never locked up. It just blinked fast until I clicked.

Thanks for all the help! [;)]

[JFalk68]

I'll throw my 2 cents in

First I am very glad to hear to OP got his problem fixed !

I think the first problem is that the PC is a dell. I had a desktop from Dell that suffered from over heating problems and at 14 months the GPU was fried and it affected other parts of the system that was causing frequent BSOD and memory problems as well. Dell wanted to sell me a new computer but after doing some research with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and reading about the parts and construction of Dells I decided never,ever again will I buy a Dell.

I found a company called Digital Storm that builds PC's with an A+ BBB rating and United States based tech support along with a rock solid 3 years parts and labor warranty. They are a little pricey but if you can afford to go that route in the future I would highly recommend them!

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: JFalk68

I'll throw my 2 cents in

First I am very glad to hear to OP got his problem fixed !

I think the first problem is that the PC is a dell. I had a desktop from Dell that suffered from over heating problems and at 14 months the GPU was fried and it affected other parts of the system that was causing frequent BSOD and memory problems as well. Dell wanted to sell me a new computer but after doing some research with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and reading about the parts and construction of Dells I decided never,ever again will I buy a Dell.

I found a company called Digital Storm that builds PC's with an A+ BBB rating and United States based tech support along with a rock solid 3 years parts and labor warranty. They are a little pricey but if you can afford to go that route in the future I would highly recommend them!

I'm glad Digital Storm has USA based support. I hate that Dell subs theirs out to places like India, it's horrible.

There is only one reason I use Dell and I can't say why here. I have bought several PC's from them without incident and have recommended many to family and friends also without incident. I guess I am overdue for trouble. [:(]

I have a friend that bought Alienware, the top end laptop they had to offer, and it fried with a stupid do nothing game. Go figure?! He spent about $4,500+ on that mistake.

When I bought this laptop it was my first. I could have spent $1,000 more for better cooling, but I didn't want to. I had planned to use it for turn based games and the other normal menial tasks. I don't expect to run King's Bounty or Fallout-3 on it, nor do I care to. I have the big desktop rigs that run anything and everything for that stuff. When this WW2-ToW turn based game heated the laptop up to the highest fan speed, I figured that something could and should be done. And because of great developers that listen, it has cooled down a lot. [:)]