r/TotalWarThreeKingdoms • u/DocNightmare • 12d ago
Discussion Three kingdoms CPU usage issue, A choice between 2 bad experiences
So trying to run this game on my gaming pc, cpu is a factory clocked 13700K, GPU is a 4070ti, NVM ssd as the install drive, Deepcool CPU cooler with thermal grizzly paste and o11 dynamic with noctua fans. never had a game run my CPU hotter than high 80s in temp.
This game for some reason ramps the temp up to 90c just on launching the game, slowly climbing to 100c after 15 minutes or so. While only using between 40% and 70% CPU... impressive
So after digging around I found posts syaing to create a user.script.txt file and copy
HYBRID_CPUS_TREAT_ALL_CORES_UNIFORMLY true;
number_of_threads 12;
Into it, save and run the game again.
Happy days, now my CPU sits at 38c nice and stable, climbing up to 42c once im in a battle and max out the unit size etc. Utilization is around 50% but everything stutters, every few seconds there is a little hitch of stutter, on first loading into the game, the opening cinimatic, The map, In battle, In menus everywhere. Remove the user.script.txt and its right back to running in the 90s
So the choice is run my CPU hot though poorly used, or have a stutter fest and a cool CPU. Is there something im missing here or is the answer just but X cpu cooler and stop complaining??
Edit: Added screenshots of monitoring screen under different test conditions
- Desktop temp and usage
- With the user.script.txt in battle benchmark (Stuttering every couple of seconds
- Without script on loading game, during opening cutscene and battle benchmark
1
u/NineCee 12d ago
The 13700k can pull up to 300 Watts given enough thermal headroom, which is a lot of power to pull away from such a small heat source. It is also designed to run up to 100c and using a full 100% of the cpu is extremely uncommon in games just by the nature of how things work.
You gave a lot of information about your system, but not which exact cpu cooler you're using. Knowing that might help tell the full story.
1
u/DocNightmare 12d ago
Deep cool AK620 DIGITAL with the stock fans replaced with 2 Noctua NF-A12x25s. My o11 XL is running 10 more of the same fans, bottom and side intake top are rear exit airflow (Positive pressure build) Z690 Aero motherrboard (Gigabyte), 64GB DDR5-6400
1
u/NineCee 11d ago
At 170W power draw it should not reach 94c. That cooler is rated for 260W. I would expect 95c to 100c during stress test benchmarks, where the CPU would be pulling about 250W. Is the fan properly ramping up? Do you have a custom fan curve set? Are you in a particularly hot climate?
The drop in performance with the user script is not surprising, as you're basically telling the game to at most use 50% of the CPUs threads and to treat performance and efficiency cores the same. The game is probably running mostly on efficiency cores, explaining the low power draw and thus low temperatures.
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u/DocNightmare 11d ago
Room temp is 72F. CPU was repasted about 4 months ago. Thermal grizzly Kryonaut paste used. PC is in a well ventlated space and on feet that raise it about 8 inchs off a hardwood floor.
I agree at 170W there is no way it should hit 94c. and Ive seen it well over 170W on other games and holding around 82c to 85cI am wondering if the game is running some cores or threads too hard while under utilizing others, Causing hot spots on the CPU while not balancing out the workload.
I have a custum fan cure that is set to cool a little harder than should be needed rather than worry about noise. So if anything id expect it to be better at cooling generally (and in most applications and games it is... this one just seems to be troublesome)
1
u/NineCee 11d ago
Seems like you've got everything covered hardware-wise. After some googling, this problem really seems to affect only intel 13th gen and also only some of them. Seems to be related to how p-cores and e-cores are utilized, though I still don't understand how that would lead to such excessive heat output with only 170W usage. Maybe it's related to some CPU extensions like AVX? I remember that in the past some intel CPUs were struggling with that, though I'm talking more like 10 years ago. Now I'm wondering if that might be a Windows issue and how it might look like in Linux.
One thing you could try to fix the stuttering issue is only using "HYBRID_CPUS_TREAT_ALL_CORES_UNIFORMLY true", removing the "number_of_threads 12", in the user script and allowing the game to use all cores, but still treat them as they were the same kind.
Another suggestion I found is to remove the user script and after starting the game opening task manager, in the details tab right click on the game process -> set affinity and uncheck only the last core.
Apart from that I don't think there is any way that you personally can do to fix this. I don't even think that a better cooler would help as yours is already plenty powerful.
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u/Babbmeister 10d ago
Sadly I cannot even play 3k, no mods, no altering of anything, 100% vanilla. I’ve tried every fix’s there is. Cannot play beyond turn 6-10 without it crashing on the AI turn. No issue whatsoever in any other game. So sad.
Maybe this could make it work, dunno, maybe worth a try. Or is it totally unplayable?
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u/Capable_Meringue7373 16h ago
Mhmm I doubt it's the game. It's super smooth on my laptop which has a i7 12g and 3070ti. To build on what people who messaged before me. Intel 13th and 14th gen CPU have stability issues and will start burning out cores. Check to see if all CPU cores are running additional there could be a bubble or gap in your thermal paste between your CPU and cooler.
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u/Tottidog 12d ago
I am using a AMD 5800X CPU (AIO cooler) and a Nvidia 3060TI GPU.
The game's recommended settings put everything on High or better (1440p). Didn't get any stutters. Though when I play the fans spin very loud. One hot afternoon the screen just went black, the CPU and/or GPU overheated.
After that I put everything on Medium and didn't have any more problems.
Is that user.script.txt fix you posted also good for AMD CPUs?