Insane Framerate Drop/lag Surface Book 2

[AleahEevee]

Does anyone play on a surface book 2? Any tips on how to get smooth play? Trying to play with my kid and the game is basically unplayable. The crazy thing is that this thing will play newer games with no problem. How is a game this old causing such crazy lag?

[Glacier Peak]

2 minutes ago, AleahEevee said:

Does anyone play on a surface book 2? Any tips on how to get smooth play? Trying to play with my kid and the game is basically unplayable. The crazy thing is that this thing will play newer games with no problem. How is a game this old causing such crazy lag?

Might be a better question for the Help and Support sub forum, but I will take a stab -

1. How much and what kind of memory does this Surface Book 2 have? Looking at the specs online, there's either an 8GB or 16GB version using LPDDR3 at 1866Mhz frequency.
2. What processor does it have? There are a number of CPU variations, but most appear to be 8th Gen Intel CPU's with integrated GPUs.
3. Does it have an onboard GPU?
4. What kind of internet connection are you using?
5. Do you have other processes running in the background?
6. Does your system's firewall allow connection to the game client?

Of course, it should go without saying, but any number of things, in addition to what I listed, could be the cause of the issue you are describing. 

 

[Lunar Ronin]

IIRC, Surface Book 2 doesn't have a discrete graphics card.  That's the issue.  City of Heroes is a very old video game, but it still really requires a discrete graphics card.

 

If you use the Homecoming Launcher, click the gear at the upper right, and then go down to "Homecoming."  Where it shows "Extra launch paramaters," put in: -usetexenvcombine

 

Try that.

[Glacier Peak]

@AleahEevee, try reading through the below guide for more details:

 

 

[GM Tock]

11 hours ago, Lunar Ronin said:

IIRC, Surface Book 2 doesn't have a discrete graphics card.  That's the issue.  City of Heroes is a very old video game, but it still really requires a discrete graphics card.

 

If you use the Homecoming Launcher, click the gear at the upper right, and then go down to "Homecoming."  Where it shows "Extra launch paramaters," put in: -usetexenvcombine

 

Try that.

 

It depends on the model.  A good number of them don’t.  

 

Models with what used to be called the “Performance Base” keyboard on the high end had NVidia GeForce 1060 discrete chips, but it was the worst way to do it: the chip had no driver features at all in Control Panel short of color calibration and video playback.  The video output went through the Intel GPU no matter what before it reached the display because the tablet can be separated from the NVidia chip when the keyboard is removed.  So the 1060 is very diminished in performance.

 

A visit to Settings and the System panel should show if it has one or not.

[AleahEevee]

On 2/4/2024 at 12:48 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

On 2/4/2024 at 12:48 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

IIRC, Surface Book 2 doesn't have a discrete graphics card.  That's the issue.  City of Heroes is a very old video game, but it still really requires a discrete graphics card.

 

If you use the Homecoming Launcher, click the gear at the upper right, and then go down to "Homecoming."  Where it shows "Extra launch paramaters," put in: -usetexenvcombine

 

Try that.

 

 

[AleahEevee]

Thank you everyone for your help! Lunar Ronin, your suggestion fixed the game! You are amazing.