Unstable framerate and low FPS in MP, high in skirmish:

[Cmdr_Shaffer]

So I technically have two questions, but I believe the two are related somehow. In skirmish mode (in FAF or regular FA) I get framerates anywhere between 45-60 FPS. Fairly reasonable, I would think. But then, each time I *do* anything, be it scrolling, selecting, or zooming, the framerate drops to 15-25 for the duration of the action. So everything fluctuates wildly, and I'm wondering how to make it more stable.

Secondly, while in skirmish mode I get high framerates just about no matter how many units I have on-screen, everything falls apart when I play multiplayer against another human even with comparable CPU ratings, the framerate drops immediately, even when I switch to minimum settings.

I'll check this thread frequently and provide any asked-for updates or additional information--Supcom is my favorite game and I want to make things work as well as possible.

MY SETTINGS:
Resolution: 1024x768
Render Sky: On
Fidelity:Medium/High
Shadow Fidelity: Low
AA: None
Texture Detail: High
LoD: High
VSync: Off
Bloom: Off

MY COMPUTER SPECS:
Windows 7 Ultimate
1TB HD
8GB RAM
3.2 GHz ATI II x2 270 Regor Dual-Core CPU
AMD Radeon HD 6450 1GB Graphics Card

Thanks for all your help in advance, guys.

[E8400-CV]

When I play multiplayer, sometimes the framerate stays down (~15 fps) initially as well, only to catch up after ~three minutes, after which is goes straight to 60 fps.

A Radeon HD 6450 is a rather weak card though. It's basicly the 2nd cheapest AMD you could get... three years ago, with the performance being about equal to a 1/4th of nVidia's topcard of early 2009 (GTX 285).

[Cmdr_Shaffer]

I know it's a poor card. I didn't do enough research when I was building this rig, and now I can't upgrade for a while. But that's what I'm planning to do as soon as I have the funds to. But like I said, skirmish mode still runs fine save for the few hiccups, and the FPS *doesn't* pick back up after a few minutes, unfortunately. It only slightly "recovers" when I set settings to minimal, and even then I don't get much improvement...

*QUESTION* Why is the synonym for "poor" that starts with "c" considered a spam word? Just out of curiosity.

[BushMaster]

Honstly you should start with a process of elimination. check your cpu and gpu usages for each scenario, regular skirmish and online. also make sure to use the same map for testing, different maps with different sizes different amounts of decals and props ect... all have different performance impactts.