New Player Please Help

[DoomCarrot]

Hey, so I just bought this game on steam yesterday. However, the game is HUGE and I don't even know where to start

I basically just created a normal single player world where I could figure things out. I figured out how to build a basic ship and flew away. However, I was virtually unable to control the ship and couldn't figure out how to slow down to visit asteroids. I crashed into a pirate station and died lol.

So, I tried logging on to the lowest ping server, but I got stuck with a connecting screen for like 5 minutes straight....

So, the questions I have from my noob experience are:

1. Why does the game lag so badly? I have about 3000 mb of memory, and I allocated all of it to the game, but I still get about 7-15 fps in a single player world.

2. How do you steer a ship? I figured a 3 block ship should be easy to control, but I could not figure out how to slow down or manuever for my life (the lag didn't help).

3. Does it normally take +5 minutes just to log on to a multiplayer server? Or is this actually a problem?

Thanks!

 

[kupu]

Hey, so I just bought this game on steam yesterday. However, the game is HUGE and I don't even know where to start
-
Thanks!

1. Remember to allow memory for your operating system and background services. If you have 4gb or less system RAM, you should probably only be allocating 2048mb. (This is just RAM, not the graphics card's dedicated VRAM).

7 - 15 FPS is not normal for a new single player world. If you could share system specifications we can adjust settings to fix this.

2. Firstly make sure you are in Flight Mode. Pressing the Z key will toggle between Flight Mode and Build Mode once inside a ship core.

Moving the mouse will adjust the pitch and yaw. Shift will decelerate the ship. Q and E will roll counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively.
Space bar will ascend the ship "vertically". Control will descend the ship "vertically". Both are relative to current positive.

To realign to a universal "right side up" press the C key.

3. No. This would indicate a problem. Make sure the "compatible versions" toggle is on in the server browser.


You can access video tutorials on the basics by pressing F8 in game, controls are listed in the Options menu or can be toggled as an overlay by pressing the / key.

 

[Lukwan]

There may be a helpful computer guru willing to advise, but you will need to quote some system specs of your computer.

I suggest starting in single player mode until you get the kinks worked out. A three block ship should be nimble and easy to steer/accelerate: check your key-bindings. It should not take that long to load into a basic MP server.

Sounds like you are having some lag-issues causing other problems as well. Make sure your OS is not blocking SM & check memory allocation. If you are running a slow computer lower some graphics setting, like view distance, bloom etc. Many good tutorials in-game, on the dock and on YouTube. Good luck.

 

[Batavium]

I was virtually unable to control the ship and couldn't figure out how to slow down to visit asteroids. I crashed into a pirate station and died lol

The smallest ship is a Ships Core + Power Reactor Module + Thrust Module

If the ship has no Thrust Modules then it won't move. If it has no or not enough Power/Fuel then it will act like it's drunk and become very hard to steer. To slow down you need to apply thrust against the direction you are going.

There is an option that allows a ship to slow down when you are not applying thrust. The default setting while your in the Ships Core is off.

There is a menu bar on top of screen. When your in the Ships Core you can select a drop down menu called Thrust. In here you can turn auto slowdown on.

How do you steer a ship?

In space all movement comes from applying thrust into the direction of travel. You need to check your keybindings as i use very old ones and they may differ from yours. Use WASD forward "faster", left, backward "slowdown", right QE down, up ZX roll left, roll right.

Performance wise we need you computer specs and game settings but i can say a few things.

In the options disable all shadows, use the lowest setting on textures 32, use simple lightning, limit the view/render distance.


Welcome to StarMade. It's a great game but the learning curve is steep. Just look at this post trying to explain basic movement. But if you get through that than it's amazing.

Schine please have auto slowdown ON by default and not just out of the ships core but also while your IN it.

 

[DoomCarrot]

Thank you everyone for the speedy replies! I have learned quite a bit from these responses.

I did not know you could slow down a ship with the shift key. This helps me not fly past asteroids at 200km/hr

As far as the lag problems, I have tweaked the shadows and lighting settings and now get about 15-20 fps in my single player world (unless pirates are attacking me or I am near a planet). I could probably get 30+ if I lowered the draw distance and texture res. My specs are not good, I am running this on a potato, so that is probably my main problem. Here are my specs:

• Sempron 140 processor (single core... but a good one at that. Gets 2.7 ghz, can overclock to 3+ ghz, which is much higher than the recommended processor speed)
• Nvidia GT-610 video card
• About 3 gb ram

I feel like the processor is honestly not the problem, so I am thinking about just finally buying a decent 8gb ram stick. However, would it really be worth investing in a solid dual or quad core processor to run this game?

 

[Batavium]

I feel like the processor is honestly not the problem

I feel like honestly the processor is the problem. "sorry about that i could not resist "

This game runs mostly on the CPU. The Graphic Card just deals with the eye candy. In your case more cpu cores would really help. Since a sempron is the lowest possible AMD processor. Look up what kind of CPU your motherboard can hold and get a second hand quad core. It's Black Friday you might get a good deal. Not just StarMade will like it your whole PC will get a kick out of it.

Good call on the Shift Key i forgot about that one. I think StarMade will run now for you. Not the highest fps but for now it's playable so go and have fun with it.

Ps. I am running it on a low voltage dual core AMD proc and it plays fine with the eye candy turned down. So get at least one core extra it really needs it.

 

[DoomCarrot]

Hmmm. than perhaps I should finally invest in finally getting a processor. Fallout 3 and skyrim will probably appreciate it.

 

[MChain]

Thank you everyone for the speedy replies! I have learned quite a bit from these responses.

I did not know you could slow down a ship with the shift key. This helps me not fly past asteroids at 200km/hr

As far as the lag problems, I have tweaked the shadows and lighting settings and now get about 15-20 fps in my single player world (unless pirates are attacking me or I am near a planet). I could probably get 30+ if I lowered the draw distance and texture res. My specs are not good, I am running this on a potato, so that is probably my main problem. Here are my specs:

• Sempron 140 processor (single core... but a good one at that. Gets 2.7 ghz, can overclock to 3+ ghz, which is much higher than the recommended processor speed)
• Nvidia GT-610 video card
• About 3 gb ram

I feel like the processor is honestly not the problem, so I am thinking about just finally buying a decent 8gb ram stick. However, would it really be worth investing in a solid dual or quad core processor to run this game?

I have quad AMD A10-4600M 2,3Ghz and 8 Gb RAM, but it still lags sometimes... Maybe cause it's a laptop with Radeon HD 7660 G + 7670 M Dual Graphics video card (damn those 18 salvage beams). Seems you need an upgrade
And yes, it seems to be the best space sandbox for today, so if you're in this kind of games, you should definitely invest in your PC.

 

[DoomCarrot]

Your specs seem pretty powerful, I am surprised that you still lag with that!

Would a phenom II x4, or athlon II x4 series processor be powerful enough to run starmade well, do you think? If anyone is running on either of these, how does your game run?

 

[Calhoun]

Computer guy reporting in. Looks like you're running with an AM3 socket. I'd suggest a 6-core Phenom if you can find one, And make sure to upgrade your RAM! You'll need about 8GBs of DDR3 memory, which shouldn't be too expensive.

Have a look at this link to see an Phenom X6 compared to your current processor: Link

 

[Lonnehart]

I guess I'll toss this Amazon link if he wants a 6 core processor. It's the cheapest I could find...

AMD FX 6300 Black Edition 3.5/4.1 GHZ (turbo mode)

If possible on your board, I suggest turning off Turbo mode or you will have one hot processor on your hands (thanks to my experience with the FX 8350)...

 

[Calhoun]

I guess I'll toss this Amazon link if he wants a 6 core processor. It's the cheapest I could find...

AMD FX 6300 Black Edition 3.5/4.1 GHZ (turbo mode)

If possible on your board, I suggest turning off Turbo mode or you will have one hot processor on your hands (thanks to my experience with the FX 8350)...

I think you've got a bit mixed up Lonnehart. His Motherboard is an AM3 socket which is not compatible with the AM3+ socket processor you linked. AMD have a whacky socket naming convention!

 

[Dannage]

Technical gubbins aside, plenty of tutorials available which are better than about 3 years ago, and several people have various forms of guides in their sigs... Mine could be mistaken for such a thing, but t be honest, my thread is to make noobs feel better about themselves and their building skills.

 

[DoomCarrot]

Correct, my motherboard has AM3 socket.

I am kind of afraid to get the phenom II x6, as I have a pretty simple cooling system (small fan + heatsink), and it looks like it runs on a very high power (125 w). If I got a six-core, would I also have to get a more serious cooling system? Or would disabling the turbo feature be enough to not melt my computer?

 

[StormWing0]

Oh might want to change the key for getting into and out of build and flight modes to some other key because it conflicts with the left roll key.

As for the low FPS thing go into graphics options to set everything that you don't want as low as it can go. Especially if you have less than 8gb of RAM to use on your computer as a whole. Starmade runs best when you have 4gb or more allocated to it but if you only have 4gb you should only give it about half.

I get about 40 or so FPS unless near a large number of blocks or at least looking in the direction of a large mass. XD

 

[Batavium]

I am kind of afraid to get the phenom II x6

You don't need to max out. Because your power supply has to keep up to. I had a Phenom 3x 90w and downgraded to a 2x 65w Athlon to lower my energy use. Over a whole year those numbers add up. If you have a simple power supply then look for an 2x 65w Athlon as well. Second hand they are very cheap and offer a serious upgrade over the Sempron. The Sempron doesn't have the on chip cache of the Athlon.

If you think the whole system still gets enough juice then try looking for a three core or four core. They are much easier to find then the six core and offer more than enough calculation power to play StarMade.

Your load times are probably because your still running of an old harddisk. A cheap small SSD just for your games will help a lot there.

 

[Lonnehart]

I think you've got a bit mixed up Lonnehart. His Motherboard is an AM3 socket which is not compatible with the AM3+ socket processor you linked. AMD have a whacky socket naming convention!

Ah. Didn't notice that it didn't have that plus sign there. My mistake.

Maybe this? Sorry about the font. For some reason the forum sets them for me...


AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8 GHZ

 

[Madman198237]

Please do not get confused yet. So, you've discovered the most important basics of SM: Flight, power (Did you?), pirates (Those things hurt at first), the respawning system (Next time, use an undeathinator!), enemy weapons (Maybe you should get your own?), potato-computer-effect (NEW COMP, NEWB), connection issues (We don't serve their kind here), and, most important of all, the importance of brakes (Now do you understand why cars always have brakes?).

 

[Panpiper]

I actually started writing this for you, but then it just grew out of hand. New Player Advice...