The game lags and i can not figure out why or what to do to improve it.

My PC is old and i get that. but on the other hand it also surpases the minimum requirements.

i have Windows XP as an OS
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2,41 Ghz
4 GB RAM
Nvidia GT 730 - 2GB
plenty of disk space

Running latest drivers and directx 9c.

it starts off by game reporting that my drivers are too old and i need to update them.

after clicking OK it loads and recomends i use everyhtign on LOW settings running at resolution 800x600.

but the game stutters/lags. the only thing that helped it a bit was limiting FPS to max 30. this helped but only a bit.

eveytime there is lag/stutter, disk is running. so i am guessign it is loading from disk. what i do not understand is why? i checked the system resource usage and saw only 450-500 mb ram was being used. why not load into RAM?
and it doesn't look like it's a CPU issue as firefights, fire etc all work normally.

anyway the weird part is i can ramp up the settings to high and resolution to 1280 x1024 and then lag is the same. the only difference is that the map takes longer to load (probably due to my CPU and larger textures that need to be loaded to GPU). but the lag is about the same as it was.

which is why i can not figure otu what is causing it. also sometimes there would be no lag, when moving arround yet then it would suddenly appear. furthermore there is nearly no lag using the boat to move arround and a lot less lag when flying a glider. when measuring FPS they only go down in jungle a bit more otherwise they are at about 50 or 60 fps.

what else have i tried?
increase buffering on GPU, various vsync settings, limiting FPS, various tweaks i found on other websites...

everything i tried result is the same. and as i mentioned it doesn't matter if i increase or decrease the settings.

the only thing i could not do is to use that solution where it drops one frame or something like that. the tool that is supposed to help with that seems lost in the world wide web (link downloads a damaged file).

anyone has any ideas?

there is 2 GB video RAM on the GPU. it doesn't have any issues with other games. And card supports XP fully (old tech...). Perhaps i need to install linux and then play the game in Wine. still it is a bit odd that the RAM taken by game is very small and then disk is working like crazy. it is supposed to load more in RAM.

the thing is that lag really seems to be caused by bad buffering of sorts. at one point it would all work just as it should, no matter how many enemies. no issues with animations or anything like that. then it lags, then smoooth again for a while. completelly random. the only steady area where it lags (runs disk like crazy and lags until it finishes loading) is the area between Mikes bar and Pala, where there is a small lake with jumping area. it is the only part where it consistenly lags.

the least lagging is on the river, in savana and desert. the most in jungle, but again it depends.

like sometimes i can take a glider and it will gliede nealry flawlessly across the jungle scenery. other times it would lag unbearably. and by lag i mean disk running like crazy, while it is obviously loading something.

there must be a setting i am missing. a switch. it doesn't make sense that result is the same wheather i play on low or at medium-high setting.


Also (and offtopic) now i hit the 27% game breaking bug.

I have this problem with another game not here on GOG so know how irritating it can be.

I do not have Far Cry 2, yet, just thought more info would be helpful.

I kind of have Windows XP too but only in a VM on a Linux system but I hardly ever use it. It is strictly for offline gaming only.