So, as an NVidia user:
If I turn force vsynch on, I have long load times but slow-down in game
If I turn force vsynch to "let game decide", I have slow load times, but no slow-down in game.

What is a better answer to my predicament? Anyone know?

The load times are rather long by default, but apparently you're having issues with them becoming even longer.

Anyway, you could try replacing vertical sync with /setmaxfps 60. Don't know how it'll work out but it's woth a shot.

Well, it comes straight out of these boards, and it's true for my install. The fix for one counters the other, and I have both problems. Yeah, I'm having the epic 1-3minute loads times described as problem load-time. When vsynch is off I have ~15sec load times. I read somewhere that vsynch might be interfering with the framerate of the load screen, causing it to think slower somehow, because the game engine chugging is based on the fps. I'm nt enough of a computer person to tell if that makes any sense. I'll try /setmaxfps 60. I type that into console right?

I've also tried monkeying with triple buffering and threaded optimization in the NVIDIA panel.

Naw, setmaxspf doesn't help. so slow!

Has anyone with an NVidia card and dual processor solved a slowdown issue with Painkiller in a way besides turning on force vsynch? (or the other settings I mentioned above)

I love this game, but I'm stuck. If I play with vsynch on, the slowdown never occurs, but I just have to not die to avoid the 1-3min load times. Of course THAT's not a realistic strategy ;|.

Just a thought, no idea if this will make any difference though as I've just not yet gotten around to playing Painkiller, buthave you tried setting your CPU core affinity for the game to just use the primary core of your CPU?

Possibly in conjunction with vsync or setmaxfps.

OK, out of ideas. Have tried (alone and in combination):

- force vsync
- setting core affinity
- AMD Dual-Core Optimizer
- /setmaxfps 60
- upgrading all drivers

Giving up, unless someone has a solution I haven't tried. Thanks for the ideas already, two posters above.

Tried running the game as administrator or with XP compatibility?

Thanks Korell..

yes, already running as Administrator. Win 7 64-bit. NVidia GeForce 9800M GS 512MB, dual core Intel. I think I'm going to buy Duke Nukem 64 to hold me over till I get this sorted out.

Any other ideas! Thanks again for sticking with me.

I'm starting to run out of ideas now. :S

I have checked on Google and there are many comments about Painkiller's long load times, so it may be that you cannot fix it, though I have played it on a friend's computer and they have a quad core CPU with a budget mid-range nvidia GPU, and at least for the first 3 levels (that's all I played) the loading times weren't unbearable.

Just a thought, do you have much running in the background when you are playing? Things such as anti-virus programs or other running applications maybe? If so, you could try closing them beforehand and seeing if this makes any difference.


Oh, did you mean Duke Nukem 64 or Duke Nukem Forever? I've just got DNF and I have to say that the criticisms you find in the reviews are true, but if you are prepared for them and don't have too high expectations, then you can really have some fun with it. It's not a great game, and it doesn't seem to be very well optimized, but it runs okay and is a decent enough shooter.

Current list of attempted solutions:

- force vsync
- setting core affinity
- AMD Dual-Core Optimizer
- /setmaxfps 60
- upgrading NVidia drivers
- shutting down as many programs as possible
- Installing the Directx June 2010 runtime update

I've no anti-virus software or such on-board.

To clarify, my main problem is that the game begins to slow down into 'slow-mo' after 1-5 minutes of play. If I turn on vsync, it doesn't seem to do this, but the load times increase from a tolerable 10-20secs to an intolerable 1-2mins. Without vsync on, it also stutters a little, but that's small potatos at this point. Hopefully tech support will be able to help me out.

@Korell - I meant Duke 3d :). Don't know where Duke 64 came from!

I think I might be down to my last possible suggestions now.

Do you by any chance have a multi-monittor setup? If so, try disabling other monitors so that you are only using your primary monitor whilst playing Painkiller.

Are you running an SLI configuration? If so, disable SLI whilst playing Painkiller.

Anyway, the vsync-off stutter is probably to be expected. If your PC is fast enough to have seriously high framerate in the game (modern PC and older game will often result in this scenario) then you'll get framerate related issues like graphical tearing and possibly stuttering (simply because your graphics card is many frames ahead and your display has to catch up). So, often you need to turn vsync on to throttle back your GPU. Though as you say, this isn't the main issue itself. But moreso, Painkiller is an old enough game that it actually uses physics calculations based on framerate, so if you are running a fast machine with high framerate, you can jump higher and there is a rope bridge at one point which a high framerate will cause to bounce up and down way too much making it throw you off the bridge and thus be uncrossable, so really, you ought to use vsync or setmaxfps anyway.

My guess is that the vsync is going to be the 'solution' here. The lack of it lets it process the game faster for some reason so it loads levels faster but causes your slowdown. With it on your gameplay is perfect but loading times are too long. Now long load times are a known issue for this game and it may be that you have to put up with it (not ideal I know).

One last option, and I've no idea if this is even a viable solution as I don't know whether these settings only take place after a game is rebooted, is that you could try using your nvidia tools software to control the vsync for the game. Run the game in a window (even a full size window) so that you can Alt-Tab to other windows. When loading a game Alt-Tab to the nvidia tools and turn off vsync so that your game loads faster. Then once loaded, Alt-Tab back to the nvidia tools control panel and turn vsync back on so that you don't get slowdown in game and that the physics are back to how they should be.

Anyway, you mentioned an AMD optimizer. It just so happens that DNF installs an AMD optimizer (though I'm on an Intel Core 2 it still installs it) and for me the loading times for DNF are between 10-25 seconds (different levels vary in loading times). It uses a modified Unreal Engine 2.5. I wonder how your machine would get on with it?

Slightly off topic, but that's not true. With the high framerate the gravity is also increased. With over 150 fps you'll see a significant decrease in rocket jumps. I don't know what's the optimal framerate for jumping, though.

Oh, is it the opposite way around? I knew it affected jumping somehow. But still, restrict the framerate to keep the proper physics regardless.

For some reason I am able to have a nice frame-rate with Vsync off if I use the retail DVD version of the game.