Month: June 2024

Since I have thousands of other programs and games running fine in my Windows 11 installation, I would generally rule out a damaged OS, and repair just because of one game not working would be a bit too much.

Anyway, my assumption that it is related to the Epic Online Services was correct.

So here is what I have done:

I did uninstall Epic Online Services as Epic Player Support suggested.

Then iObit Software Updater 2 reported that my Epic Games Launcher is outdated and there is an update:

Done that while verifiying the Fall Guys files in Steam again so it would reset the install script so it would reinstall Epic Online Services as you suggested.

The update installation of Epic Games Launcher halted at 56 % at the last step during “waiting for Epic Games Launcher to initialize its settings”.

I then force killed the setup via Task Manager and restarted Windows.

Upon restart, I did start Epic Games Launcher which completed the update installation successfully.

Then I start Fall Guys via Steam again, it did execute the install script but I would get an error message in Fall Guys colour screen (so cyan blue and purple) saying “program exception”, it would black out my 2nd Monitor and halt WIndows. Had to power circle my PC.

Upon Windows 11 having been booted up again, I did start Fall Guys via Steam again, the Epic Online Services install script was executed a second time and I saw a new task in task manager that has been missing previously called “Epic Online Services local application”:

Now the game runs successfully!

So somehow the outdated Epic Games Launcher caused the issue, despite everywhere it is said it is not connected tho the Epic Online Services at all!

Being a PC gamer since the 90s, my 386 from 1993 outgrew my gaming needs quick, so by 1995, I did have a Pentium 100 and 16 MB of RAM, by 1997 a Pentium MMX 2000 and by year 2000, a Pentium III/866 Mhz.

The last computer I built together myself is from 2012, the same machine I am currently using to this day.

Granted, a BIOS update in 2013 made it possible to turn the AM3 socket into a AM3+ socket and double the supported DDR3 RAM amount from 16 to 32 GB.

The Pilediver architecture is known to be very inefficient when it comes to power consumption and produced heat. But an AMD FX-8370 is the max it can handle, and with its 8 Cores, 8 Threads @ 4Ghz, 2K Gaming is slowing pushing the limits.

While, in the 90s and early 00s, if your PC didn’t match the system requirements, the game simply wouldn’t run, nowadays, you sometimes squint your eyes and bend the truth a bit 😀

The disadvantage of using an AMD platform from 2010 as a base, is the incredible power consumption, also given I still use a midi tower case 4 x 5.25″ & 2 x 3.5″ drive bays on the front, and this includes a whopping 8 x HDDs/SSDs in this machine, as well as using all the PCI and PCIe slots the motherboard can offer, the range of 700 watts PSUs I can use is very limited, as many do not offer enough juice on the combined 3.3v + 5v rails.

According to the outervision PSU Calculator, recommended is a PSU with 209 W on the combined 3.3V/5V rails, i.e. 13.6 A on the 3.3V and 32.7 A on the 5V rail.

32.7 is utopic! 20-23 A is the max I can find, and even those are an exception of the rue.

This means, this rail typically has combined wattage of the range of 100 to 130 watts – sounds edgy yes, but it works. One way to find out, is running Discord, being in a voice or video call with a person while playing PUBG. It causes enough load on this rail, that if there is not enough juice, the other party will report loss of hearing you clearly, and you will get constant ping spikes as well as “network lag” warnings.

Another topic we shall tap into is cooling. As mentioned earlier, Pilediver is a piece of sh* when it comes to this regard.

when upgrading from 6 core to octa core, I had to get an ARTIC Freezer A32, and add a 2nd fan to it for more efficient cooling.

I’ve found a screenshot I made in November 2017 when I freshly installed the cooler and 2 fans:

by installing the 2nd CPU inverted by accident (sucking warm air from one side of the heatsink rather than blowing on it), not only is the CPU 4°C cooler (74°C now vs 78°C then) than back in 2017 with stock installation, but also the HDDs and SSDs are cooler now.

(taken May 2024)

Both temps screenshots were taken under normal operating conditions, not under heavy load.

Now let’s talk about, what I mean by saying “System requirements today are not what they used to be”.

Back in August 2020 when Project Cars 3 was released, I barely could run the game. there would be framerate dips and after that, the game would speed up uncontrollably for seconds afterwards, to catch up – hence constant crashes into the wall, and as a consequence losing the race and ranks.

The game was poorly optimized on release, I even emailed with AMD asking what can be done.

Here is an excerpt of their reply to me:

If I have understood you correctly, Project Cars 3 is the only game that stutters on your PC. So let’s compare the minimum requirements of the game with your hardware configuration.

Your processor is a FX-8370, minimum requirement is a FX-8350, so your processor is just above the minimum requirement
Your graphics card is a GTX 1050ti, the minimum requirement is a GTX 680. Since the GTX 680 is about 20% more powerful than the 1050ti according to independent comparison tests, the minimum requirement is not met here.

It is quite possible that the game stutters due to the CPU, as the FX-8370 is only slightly faster than the FX-8350, which is the minimum requirement to be able to play the game at all.

In the long term, many new games will probably run better if you install a newer processor, not just Project Cars 3.

A few updates down the road, the game no longer had those issues on my then GTX 1050ti although still 20% below the minimum system requirements.

When Bethesda invited me to the presentation of “Starfield” to the press (thanks Bethesda!), I knew I had to get the game once released.

What I didn’t pay attention to were the system requirements once again.
A Ryzen 5 2600 which has 18% more effective speed than an FX-8370
And a GTX 1070 Ti which has 119% more effective speed than my GTX 1650 at that time.
I’ve managed to play the game in HD resolution just fine though. Not the highest details setting of course, but it was not having frame drops or other issues that made it unplayable.

Nowadays with the same CPU but a GTX 1070 Katana, it plays nicely on 2K res, despite still being 17% slower than the system requirements.

Surprisingly, Robocop Rogue City plays better in HD on my setup, than many players with their Ryzen CPUS and their 4090s! 🙂

Where the age of my CPU clearly showed was FIFA23, which requires an AMD Ryzen 5 1600 which is 13% more effective in speed than my FX-8370.
I had to put all the graphic settings to the lowest (which isn’t easy as they aren’t many to fiddle with), and to a HD resolution as max to make the frame dips bearable and the game playable.

Latest example is Star Trek Resurgence, where a GTX 1080 is required, which is has 18% more effective speed than my GTX 1070.
I did suffer from stutters and as this fellow here calls it – “teething problems”, but I have managed that by moving the game files from a HDD to a SSD.
The GPU is pretty permanently on 100% load, though.
(While for Robocop Rogue city, the GPU is on 90% load but the temps in their 90s°C, as well).

Once again: System requirements today are not what they used to be.

Question is, how much can I still push the envelope, until it no longer is sufficient?