Topic

Game is running so slowly, it's almost unplayable...

This is really a bummer, not sure where to post this or what (if any) solution there is. 

Ever since the game went live, it runs so slowly as to be really, really frustrating and almost unplayable for me.  Maybe it's my computer -- but I never had this problem during Beta!  It's because there are SO MANY people in every street in every world.  I have the "spinning beach ball" constantly, even in my house.  It's so frustrating, and honestly it's just not fun to play right now... sucks, because I really love this game and paid for a Moly subscription.  If it's going to be like this from now on I'm not really sure what to do...

If anyone knows how I can get this to run better... if anyone else is having this frustration... chime in please :-)  Maybe it will calm down after it's been open for a while... but right now I'm super bummed out.

Posted 15 months ago by Clarabelle Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Hmmm. I've been getting a bit of lag here and there, but it's definitely playable for me. Doesn't seem much different from beta in my world.

    What computer/browser are you using? If you close down your browser and restart, does it get any better (even temporarily)?
    Posted 15 months ago by wurzel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Groodle is probably crowded, It's not bad in outer areas. :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Tibbi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You may have already done this, but maybe empty your computer's cache?  I do that often and it helps me with all games that I run. 
    I myself am not having the slow game issue, so I don't know what other advice to give.
    Good luck!  :-)
    Posted 15 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I often have this problem, usually clearing cache and flash cache will help a little. My connections slow anyway, so I've come to expect sites like this to run slow for me anyway, but clearing the caches works for me.  I hope something works for you too. Loads of luck :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Ebil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm also having this problem.  I'm using a Mac PowerbookPro with 2G of memory, OS X 10.6.8, Chrome browser.  I'm not running any other apps, and I've not had much problem with lag previously (except in Ajaya when very crowded and in rook egg quest).   I've tried clearing cache, rebooting computer, etc.  Things go well for a while, then slow waaaay down.  This might be due to running some of the Greasemonkey scripts -- not sure about that and not really motivated to do systematic testing.

    Might help, though, if those experiencing unusual lag would provide information about their hardware, OS, and browser.
    Posted 15 months ago by Splendora Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Splendora, some of those scripts do slow you down big time.  
    I didn't realise until the other day, was having problems and a friend said uninstall locations checker and achievements checker and I did and... wow, what a huge difference that made! 
    Posted 15 months ago by Ebil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For people dealing with game slowness, there are a few things you can do to help with this. 

    Make sure you're using one of our recommended browsers and flash versions (more detailed info on that here), and that the game client is the only window open in the browser you're playing on - best to save the rest of your internet browsing for a separate one. Also, refresh your browser completely if this occurs after you've been playing for a long time. If none of this helps, go ahead and submit a bug report so we can have more specifics on what's going on. 

    And, keep in mind that extremely crowded streets are going to be slower than others. We've been introducing new start streets to help distribute players more evenly around the world - and it's something we'll continue to keep an eye on. 
    Posted 15 months ago by Blanky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Splendora, when I have problems with Chrome running really slowly to a crash, I open background pages and kill Flash. That helps out a lot.
    Posted 15 months ago by Caesura Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wow -- great tips here!  I will disable all the greasemonkey scripts (hadn't thought of that) and restart -- and see if that helps.  I'll also clear out my caches.  I usually do that regularly, but maybe I haven't in the last few days :)
    Thank you all -- hopefully this will help!
    Posted 15 months ago by Clarabelle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've had a similar problem with a 2Gb MacBookPro running Chrome.

    I find re-starting Chrome or, worst case, re-starting my machine fixes the problem for me.
    Posted 15 months ago by geekybird Subscriber! | Permalink
  • 2GB RAM isn't going to be sufficient for this type of game. Flash consumes a ton of RAM. I have an almost-brand-new computer with 8GB RAM and I got an 'out of memory' message earlier when playing. If you can squeeze it into your budget, upgrading your RAM will pay off in a lot of ways.

    Chrome also has a bad habit of not actually 'quitting' when you close all the windows, at least on Windows. You'll have to go to task manager and kill it. Firefox does not have this issue--I know a lot of players have switched.

    Also, if you're using Firefox, make sure you have the latest version. 7.0.1 is out now and uses a lot less memory. Go to Help->About to see what version you're running; if it's older than 7.0.1, definitely upgrade.
    Posted 15 months ago by Mackenzie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've done everything suggested in this thread and I've still had a lot of issues trying to play the game.  And I agree, that it is unplayable and I'm quite disappointed about it.  My computer froze up on me just after I cleared the cache during the street project and I wasn't able to contribute as much as I would have liked to.  (Hopefully, I will next time though!)  

    I have two machines that I am use most of the time.  One is a macbook the other a macbook pro (I sometimes use a MacPro too).  I used chrome on all of them and I'm not running other programs in the background, their caches are cleared, only one has one greasemonkey script that isn't running, etc..  I've tried restarting my browser and machine and I still find that I have a lot of issues.

    @ Staff - My boyfriend is a professional programmer and he says that if I run the debugger to send better bug reports that the problems I'm having will get worse.  If it gets worse than it is, I won't be able to be in the game at all and I already feel that way somewhat because it's freezing up on my so frequently and I'm logging in and out on a regular basis.  I guess it beats watching TV, but it's still pretty frustrating. 
    Posted 15 months ago by Reba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Reba, try Firefox 7.0.1 with your computers. Also, I don't agree with what your boyfriend said (and I've been around the block a few times...15+ years of professional tech experience and currently a tech company CEO.) But I would agree that using the debugger version probably won't help your issue.

    Of the three computers you mentioned, the Mac Pro would be the fastest (unless it's a really old one.) See if you can do a memory upgrade on all your computers. Like I mentioned above, 2GB really isn't enough RAM. The Mac Pro should support at least 8GB or 16GB, and you can buy memory online fairly inexpensively. It takes less than 10 minutes to install memory in a desktop computer like the Mac Pro. (Maybe 15 minutes if you've never done it before. It's a good learning experience!)
    Posted 15 months ago by Mackenzie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm working on 2 GB ram, and I have to restart my computer from time to time, but it mostly runs ok, as long as I don't have too many other things open at the same time, especially other things working on flash.
    Are those of you with older macs restarting your whole computer and not just the browser? that helps a lot for me even though it's a hassle. I also have been avoiding groddle altogether (I even moved my house from the Heights to Andra) to avoid crowds that I know my computer can't handle.
    Posted 15 months ago by Niqster Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Clarabelle & Reba: really sorry to hear you are having problems!

    The number one piece of advice (and this really can't be stressed enough) is that playing Glitch in a browser OTHER THAN the one you are using for everything else on the web will make things much faster. If you have a bunch of tabs open with youtube videos and web mail and google docs and pages with lots of flash ads and Glitch running in the same browser, it will run slow no matter what your machine is like.

    The second thing: clearing cache probably won't hurt performance over the long term but it will mean that the browser has to download more stuff so it'll be slower at first AND IT WILL NOT IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE GAME. I don't know where this idea came from, but it is often repeated by players and we definitely do not recommend it.

    Finally, we are constantly monitoring performance (the game clients send their rendering speed back to the servers so we can do analysis) and constantly working on performance tweaks and fixes. Anyone who has been around Glitch for a long time knows that the general trend is towards speed. Of course, it is sometimes "two steps forward, one step back" (and the growth in population post launch means that some people are running slower) but there are some upcoming changes in the next version of Flash which give us some hope for a nice speed bump as we continue to optimize.
    Posted 15 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Mackenkie - I'm a professional audio technician (15 years experience) and have quite a bit of experience swapping out Ram and hardware.  So, I agree with you that it's a GREAT learning experience for those who haven't done it and I appreciate the advice all around, I'll try Firefox (again) etc..  I posted more to let the devs know because I've been around the block too.  ;-)  (Although, when it comes to debuggers and code, I stick to DSP's and stay away from this kind of stuff.)  I just logged on and didn't have any trouble, so we'll see how it goes.  

    And I paraphrased what my boyfriend said to me last night abut the debugger, so don't quote me on that, please.  ;-)  Again, I just wanted the devs to know... and I wanted to hear what they would have to say about his opinion.  (He is reading this thread and said, "I said it *might* make *Glitch* run slower because it contains extra execution instructions and therefore has the potential to make Glitch run slower...")  He also has been programming for more than 25 years and is a CTO.  Professional opinions are always better than laymen's but don't always agree, as we all know.  ;-)  
    Posted 15 months ago by Reba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Running the debugger version of the Flash player will *probably* make things run a bit slower for the reasons your boyfriend mentioned, Reba. Though, the thing is with Flash: you never know! It's inscrutable, magical and ever-changing ;)
    Posted 15 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've found that Chrome (on the Mac) and Flash have interesting interactions, especially with chat.  It tends to drop characters, and generally slow things down. So I'd use any browser over Chrome.  FF7 definitely is an improvement over 6 and below when it comes to running Flash. If you're tolerant of Safari, that one does decently too.
    Posted 15 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Actually, I tell a lie, I forgot my husband upgraded the memory on my Mac Book Pro last Saturday (for work!) so I've had 4Gb since the site went live. I shudder to think what it would be like with 2Gb.

    As for upgrading to 8/16Gb - my MBP is only a few years old but it won't take more than 4Gb. Luckily I am planning on getting a new machine soon but people shouldn't need the latest hardware to play the game?

    I tried using Safari and didn't find that any better but I'll definitely check out the latest version of Firefox.
    Posted 15 months ago by geekybird Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, if Glitch ran on a native Windows client with DirectX there wouldn't be a need for so much RAM, as the DirectX libraries have direct access to the video card hardware. Flash runs everything through the main system memory, so it's just excruciatingly slow to render polygons. (It's slightly better with Flash 10, but still pretty terrible.)

    This is why most video games go with straight Windows clients. Even if you're on a Mac, running Windows in a VM + a direct Windows client would likely still be better than Flash. That's how much Flash stinks.

    Building for Windows has its own set of issues, namely, that you'd have to download a client, and it's just not feasible on computers you don't own. Still, I hope Tiny Speck considers this as a real option--especially for computers that don't have a lot of memory.
    Posted 15 months ago by Mackenzie Subscriber! | Permalink