KSP starting to lag a bit in FPS... what is the likely cause?

[Jimd0586]

Hey all. First post here and a KSP enthusiast albeit, a newb.

 

So to start off, I admit I have a weaker computer: a 2015 MacBook air with just 4 GB RAM and 1.6 ghz intel i5 I believe... possibly an i7. KSP ran fine at first with the usual expected occasional slowdown. I added a few mods over the last week:: EVE, Kerbal Engineer Redux, MechJeb, some other atmospheric graphic enhancements like planet shine, I can't remember them all right now but can get a list if needed. I also have placed about 10 satellites and space stations in various orbits. (I originally had three satellites for a geosynchronous orbit around Kerbin but had to increase it to 5 as a few started catching up on one another... although I thought they were are pretty good orbits).

That said, in the last two days I have noticed the game slowing down more and more. I cannot tell if it is the number of craft in various orbits in the game or the mods I have installed (or the computer but I can't upgrade at the moment). While the information I have provided is sparse, what is the bigger culprit you think? Number of craft I have flying or the mods?

 

Thanks! 

[Cavscout74]

With only 10 craft in orbit, I'd say mods are the culprit.  Having more craft to track does slow down the game, but 10 isn't very many.  Do you have a dedicated graphics card or is it relying on the CPU for graphics?  If you don't, I'd say the graphics mods are the main cause of your slowdown.  You didn't mention Scatterer but if you have it, it causes a big drain on resources even with a dedicated GPU.  It looks amazing, but it comes at a cost.  EVE on its own isn't too bad, but some of the other graphics mods that use EVE have very detailed graphics that can cause the game to slow as well.

Edited August 30, 2019 by Cavscout74

[Serenity]

4 hours ago, Jimd0586 said:

Hey all. First post here and a KSP enthusiast albeit, a newb.

 

So to start off, I admit I have a weaker computer: a 2015 MacBook air with just 4 GB RAM and 1.6 ghz intel i5 I believe... possibly an i7. KSP ran fine at first with the usual expected occasional slowdown. I added a few mods over the last week:: EVE, Kerbal Engineer Redux, MechJeb, some other atmospheric graphic enhancements like planet shine, I can't remember them all right now but can get a list if needed. I also have placed about 10 satellites and space stations in various orbits. (I originally had three satellites for a geosynchronous orbit around Kerbin but had to increase it to 5 as a few started catching up on one another... although I thought they were are pretty good orbits).

That said, in the last two days I have noticed the game slowing down more and more. I cannot tell if it is the number of craft in various orbits in the game or the mods I have installed (or the computer but I can't upgrade at the moment). While the information I have provided is sparse, what is the bigger culprit you think? Number of craft I have flying or the mods?

 

Thanks! 

What Cavscout said i just want to add that,

the biggest culprit for ''weak'' computers is the RAM(4gb is candy for modded Kerbal), the number of mods and especially the number of graphic enchancements mods.

The longer the game runs the more RAM it uses, so restarting often might help a bit.

Also make sure you have Persistent debris close to zero, cause they might cause some problems in big numbers.

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Boyster

[Jimd0586]

Thanks guys. All these suggestions helped.