[0.16.51] CPU usage skyhigh so player is responding with lag

[Feltcherab]

Hi,

When playing Factorio it seems as if the keypresses are lagging from time to time. This causes the player to annoyingly wander off continuously into a direction for a few seconds, while I'm no longer pressing wsad into that direction. This is super annoying and I'm hoping someone can help getting this solved.

It's likely that my CPU is a bottleneck as performance monitoring shows that it is frequently hitting 100% (and the GPU isn't). So I've tried to reduce the load by changing the graphic settings to the lowest possible, producing a super pixelated game. But I still get this keyboard-lagging effect, even on a brand new map. Also the FPS and UPS are on a stable 60/s. I've noticed that the lagging effect is greater when zoomed out. My CPU is an i5-7300@2.60GHz with 8 GB RAM and integrated GPU (Intel HD Graphics 620).

Are there any other settings I should try? Or simply give up and buy a new laptop?

Appreciated!

[Zavian]

Large factories do get quite demanding on both the CPU and system RAM. However if you are still on 60 ups + fps, then I'm not sure that this is a performance issue. So general suggestions.

Open task manager and check whether any other process is using significant amounts of CPU. Is the system under memory pressure? Try closing as many other programs as possible. Is the CPU thermal throttling? Is the laptop running in a low power mode because it isn't plugged in? Is it possible that one of your keys is getting stuck? Any mods that could be adding an autorun functionality? (Also just to confirm, you are experiencing this problem in single player? If it happens in multiplayer, then I would be thinking about high ping times, and/or dropped packets).

Also see the performance issues section of the technical help FAQ (viewtopic.php?f=49&t=4400). I also recommend providing the information and screenshots requested in viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3638#p299295, as that will help diagnose the issue.

From the specs posted, your current laptop looks fairly recent and quite capable. (Although I would choose more than 8 GB of RAM). For reference I play on a 9 year old desktop with an i7-860, and a HD 5770 gpu with a total of 12 GB of RAM. I have never seen the type of lag you seem to be describing in single player. (I have experienced lag in multiplayer from high ping times/bad connections to the server, and frame drops from factorio struggling to keep up with the server. In extreme cases that also leads to multiplayer lag, but that is always accompanied by low fps).

Unless it is thermal throttling your CPU should be better than mine, and your integrated graphics should also be adequate for at least normal resolution. (Although note that since it is using system memory, that a large modpack with lots of addition graphics will use a lot of system RAM, and that could contribute to the OS paging heavily, which might cause performance problems).

Since your current laptop is fairly recent, I wouldn't even consider buying a new laptop until after you understand what the cause is, so you know what you need to look for in a new purchase. (Also as a general rule, you will get better performance for similar money from a desktop system).

[Feltcherab]

Thanks for your reply! My loptop is from my employer (i am allowed to play games on it, if legally bought), and as a consequence, I don't have full ability to stop every process like virusscanner. I've just restarted again and stopped as many processes as I could, and this does seem to help. But even on a freshly generated map, I still run into the input-lag issue on occasion where the player keeps running into a direction whiol I'm no longer pressing any keys.

I guess that I'll have to live with it, or buy a new laptop/pc.

Much appreciated!