Translations:Troubleshooting Guide/16/en

• Lower the quality settings in the Graphics options. Really. Lower them right down, make sure performance is OK at low settings, then increase / re-enable individual settings to see if the performance you want can be maintained.
• In the Graphics options, the game can run slow if the resolution is higher then 100% (check that first!) High view distances, God Rays, SSAO and high quality shadows all have a big effect on framerate.
• The game might be using the wrong videocard. Make sure your monitor is connected to the dedicated graphics card on the back of your PC.
• Modern laptops generally run everything faster if they are plugged in; if unplugged, they slow everything down to conserve the battery.
• On a laptop with both Integrated and High-performance GPU (e.g. Intel and Nvidia) make sure it is using the High-performance GPU. There may be Nvidia Control Panel settings for this. See also NVIDIA Optimus Profile.
• On a Windows 10 laptop, make sure the Windows battery / power mode setting is set to 'Best performance'. Click the battery icon to see this. Especially do not use the 'best battery life' setting, this overrides most other settings on your computer and causes Vintage Story to run very slowly.
• Ensure your system meets the minimum requirements
• Windows Update or Windows Defender might be active in the background doing updates or scans
• You can control a lot of the (possibly unwanted?) background actions of Windows 10 using this tool OOSU10
• Antivirus/anti-malware/firewall programs may be affecting performance
• Close other programs to free up resources. Force unnecessary background programs to exit (or don't let them start at all...)
• Please ensure the system is sufficiently cooled as some systems slow down if they get too hot. (Make sure air vents are not covered and cooling elements and fans are free from dust; if you have a laptop, raise it off the desk slightly so it has better airflow underneath it; do not use a laptop for gaming on a bed or other soft furnishings which hinder cooling!)
• Please ensure a sufficiently rated power supply is used. Gaming on battery power is not recommended on laptops as they might choose to run slower in a lower power mode. If you need to play on battery mode, you can extend the playable battery life by reducing the Max FPS to 30 fps and using VSync mode 'On + Sleep' in Vintage Story's graphics settings.
• Mods can use additional resources: fancy shader mods really need a high-powered gaming rig.
• Check that the system is not overheating or thermal throttling - see Framerate and Performance.
• Please do not run the game from an external drive or network share.
• Running on a virtual machine (VM) may also cause performance issues.
• The game requires 4GB of free memory (RAM) - or perhaps more like 6 GB if playing on a laptop with integrated graphics. You can look in Task Manager how much you have before you start the game. More RAM than that will not help greatly (except by ensuring that other system processes do not impact on Vintage Story's memory needs). Exception: if you want to run a local Vintage Story server on the same computer - which can help performance - then you need 8GB of free memory.
• Some people have reported that Windows 10 update version 2004 causes lag issues in games (especially in "Game Mode" in Windows Settings); if you have the choice, we recommend Windows 10 version 1903 as the most stable Windows 10 version for gaming.
• If you're playing multiplayer, it's best to be in the same geographic region as the server you are playing on. See next section below.