[Question] Tweaks and mods that lower system requirements?

[Th13f]

Ok, I have a really low end netbook (Aspire One 722 with an AMD C-60 APU at 1.3 GHZ, Radeon HD 6290 VGA and 2 GB of RAM). I tried the demo and the framerate on lowest settings is fairly acceptable (25-30 fps) in the VAB and outside the KSC. However, even with an external cooling pad, the temperature of the VGA and CPU go up quickly to 75 Celsius, so I dare not build anything, for fear my tiny machine will go up in flames.

I've watched a lot of videos on Youtube about this game and I would very much like to buy it and play it. But before I spend money on it, I need to know if there are any tweaks which may help me lower the system requirements to something that does not overheat my machine. Also, are there any mods out there that lower the number of polygons and the texture resolution?

I also suppose that some kind of physics tweaks would be necessary. If so, what are they and where do I find them? Also, anyone else with an Aspire One 722 out there playing KSP? How did you get it to run without overheating your system?

I apologize if this is the wrong section of the forum for this question, I am new here (first post) and unsure whether such a question goes in General or Support.

[EvilotionCR2]

No,there aren't any sorry.

[shand]

Unfortunately its just not feasible. even a high end netbook is simply not designed to do anything more exciting then run office and explorer.

They are optimised for this low usage by having pretty rubbish cooling - mine used to hit 85 degrees playing online flash games (and then promptly shutting down), you can do a variety of things to your machine to improve general performance. downloading a fan speed controller allows you to run the fan either at max -which will slow the raise of temp, or emergency* - which will significantly shorten the fans life. Next stop using it on your lap - set it up on top of a smooth desk (irony intended) if required raise the device up a tad.

Next you can underclock your CPU - yes that will give you a performace BOOST (in some cases). some netbooks rely so heavily on passive cooling that they throttle down the CPU if it gets hot, by underclocking your CPU you control that throttle so can maintain a higher throttle for longer.

Another idea is to run it on battery (assuming your power config is set up right) the additional heat from charging the battery will be preventing cool down, either running off battery OR better yet AC without the battery in - will minimise heat and increase performace.

Of course the number one thing here is if you want to play anything more intensive then low end flash games buy a machine that is designed for it. a desktop ideally - but a "media" laptop is fine.

I had an ASUS EEEEPC, i used to run ksp on it with the aid of dry ice... what... i wanted to launch my space station and it kept over heating!

[lammatt]

75C is fine,

my cpu and gpu are almost always at higher temp than that,...(when i do video processing)

as long as the motherboard doesnt cut the powersupply because of the overheat protection, it's ok

---

ya, i agree underclocking is a good way to lower the temp, (try to tune down the voltage when you underclock too, as long as the system still runs stable)

Edited August 19, 2013 by lammatt

[rryy]

Go into the settings file and look for this:

PRESET
	{
		name = Low [depending on your terrain settings, this can also be Default or High]
		PLANET
		{
			name = Kerbin
			minDistance = 4
			minSubdivision = 1
			maxSubdivision = 6
		}
		PLANET
		{
			name = KerbinOcean
			minDistance = 4
			minSubdivision = 1
			maxSubdivision = 6

You want to change the maxSubdivision of the KerbinOcean down to 1. This should lower the lag when on Kerbin.

[User Unrelated]

My Macbook pro runs comfortably around 80*C, and there are no issues while playing games such as KSP. Mobile systems are designed to run hotter, so they can be made smaller and lighter.

If I remember correctly, the chipset in my notebook can operate up to 125C without permanent damage (of course, it'll have a kernel panic and shut down before it gets that hot)

Your computer will shut itself down before damage can be done by heat.

You want to change the maxSubdivision of the KerbinOcean down to 1. This should lower the lag when on Kerbin.

What exactly is this doing?

Edited August 19, 2013 by User Unrelated

[rryy]

What exactly is this doing?

In the game, planets with oceans (Kerbin, Laythe, Eve) are really two planets overlapping, the ground and the ocean. This causes a lot of lag when looking at the surface, and you will notice that planets without oceans have little to no lag, so by lowering the detail of one of them, you should get less lag.

[arq]

Going into 'Kerbal Space Program\settings.cfg' and set 'FRAMERATE_LIMIT' to 20 or 30 will likely lessen the GPU load (though 75C isn't awful - just try to keep it below 90ish). The lowest this can be set using the in-game interface is 60. Note that every time you edit the settings through the in-game interface, it will reset this value to -1 (unlimited) and you will need to exit KSP, change the value back, and restart KSP.

[User Unrelated]

In the game, planets with oceans (Kerbin, Laythe, Eve) are really two planets overlapping, the ground and the ocean. This causes a lot of lag when looking at the surface, and you will notice that planets without oceans have little to no lag, so by lowering the detail of one of them, you should get less lag.

That's nifty. I might have to do that. The only thing I ever do with the ocean is crash into it anyway, so I bet that'd help my game performance during those stressful wiggly station launches.

[SpaceHole]

Ok, I have a really low end netbook (Aspire One 722 with an AMD C-60 APU at 1.3 GHZ, Radeon HD 6290 VGA and 2 GB of RAM). I tried the demo and the framerate on lowest settings is fairly acceptable (25-30 fps) in the VAB and outside the KSC. However, even with an external cooling pad, the temperature of the VGA and CPU go up quickly to 75 Celsius, so I dare not build anything, for fear my tiny machine will go up in flames.

I've watched a lot of videos on Youtube about this game and I would very much like to buy it and play it. But before I spend money on it, I need to know if there are any tweaks which may help me lower the system requirements to something that does not overheat my machine. Also, are there any mods out there that lower the number of polygons and the texture resolution?

I also suppose that some kind of physics tweaks would be necessary. If so, what are they and where do I find them? Also, anyone else with an Aspire One 722 out there playing KSP? How did you get it to run without overheating your system?

I apologize if this is the wrong section of the forum for this question, I am new here (first post) and unsure whether such a question goes in General or Support.

Never buy netbooks. Its neither a PC nor a Notebook nor a Tablet and most of those are pretty much useless.

Even Notebooks are bad yet there are some rather good and "cheap" ones.

On your problem:

- Look up all your graphic-settings in windows - turn them down and turn things like vsync etc. to always off

- Clear up your desctop, dont use a wallpaper

- look up all your power-saving options and turn them to high performance

- try to lower the resolution and turn down all settings in KSP (also try to play arround with the config files if there are some)

- try to have almost nothing running in the background

- defrag your hd

- use a registry cleaner

Maybe works:

- force older direct x versions (you can force them it sometimes can help but i have no idea if it is a good idea with KSP)

Last but not least never buy a netbook again if you want more than an expensive paperweight

[Th13f]

I understand. This netbook is something I received as a gift after my desktop died (Third generation i-7 CPU, GT 680 GPU, 8 GB RAM DDR3). Currently, I don't have the money to buy a new one and computer parts/computers in general are extremely expensive in my country for some reason (most stores have a price that is up to 30-50 times higher than the international one). Also, online purchase is not recommended, too many times the secure connection got hacked and people's bank accounts got emptied (welcome to Romania).

Unfortunately, right now, building even a low-mid end desktop with second hand parts (mid-range means 2.2 GHZ dual core CPU, some 3GB RAM, an Nvidia 240GT graphics card in my country) costs around 5.000 euros. Building a new one would probably go up to 40.000 euros (more than a new car), cuz of a new environmental tax they've added, which ups the price by about 1000% on all things that so much as have a battery or lightbulb in them.

So, it looks like I'll have to wait until next year, when I leave Romania, to get this game, or hope that they get rid of that stupid eco tax, which doesn't do any good anyway.

[shand]

Last but not least never buy a netbook again if you want more than an expensive paperweight

This whole post rings true.

i got my netbook as a portable internet connection - my iphone is now better equiped and more responsive. (and i now have a proper notebook)

OP:since its a gift you'll have to accept the limitations it imposes. i'd be interested if secure connection hacking is really as common as it seems. I can't imagine that being country specific anyway - are you sure it isn't just your government trying their hardest to stop you buying online? also certain services have fraud protection, so even if your details were stolen and money stolen you get it returned in short order. (credit card companies often have this feature, banks sometimes do)

[espm400]

I understand. This netbook is something I received as a gift after my desktop died (Third generation i-7 CPU, GT 680 GPU, 8 GB RAM DDR3). Currently, I don't have the money to buy a new one and computer parts/computers in general are extremely expensive in my country for some reason (most stores have a price that is up to 30-50 times higher than the international one). Also, online purchase is not recommended, too many times the secure connection got hacked and people's bank accounts got emptied (welcome to Romania).

Unfortunately, right now, building even a low-mid end desktop with second hand parts (mid-range means 2.2 GHZ dual core CPU, some 3GB RAM, an Nvidia 240GT graphics card in my country) costs around 5.000 euros. Building a new one would probably go up to 40.000 euros (more than a new car), cuz of a new environmental tax they've added, which ups the price by about 1000% on all things that so much as have a battery or lightbulb in them.

So, it looks like I'll have to wait until next year, when I leave Romania, to get this game, or hope that they get rid of that stupid eco tax, which doesn't do any good anyway.

How did your desktop die? Rarely will a computer be completely unusable when it fails. Unless it was submerged in water or subjected to a massive power surge, usually you can get away with just replacing a single failed part.

[rottielover]

I found that by going from "Full Res" to "Half Res" I don't crash to desktop nearly as often. (This is with a ton of mods installed )

[katesp]

I'm on a pretty dumpy computer too. Keeping the camera away from anything solid helps a lot. Other than the obvious stuff, I think that changing Max delta-v physics time per frame (probably messed up that name) from .1 to 1.0s (is that right? I moved the slider all the way to the left) helped me a lot also. FWIW