Cannot switch GPU - 540m

[Jinjin87]

I've seen a couple of threads on the subject, all has been about the Nvidia 540m, none has gone past the FAQ answer. I do believe that there are more people with the same issue specific to the 540m, and thus I started this thread.

The problem;
I have made it so kenshi.exe uses the 540m gpu, but the launcher refuces to see it! The only gpu i can use is my inteHD, the 540m isn't even in the list. It looks like it would work if i could get around the launcher since everything else is running fine.

Yes I have directX, and to clarify, yes i added kenshi.exe to nvidia highperformance, as i do with all my indie games.

Looking forward to better fps and actually trying out this odd game!

Thanks!

[PnzrNorm]

I'm assuming you did a google search for fixes, but if you didn't, this link says just disable the display adapter that is not the Intel HD Graphics and restart.

http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-card ... ymore.html

[Clawdius Talonious]

If what PnzrNorm suggested didn't help, I can tear into the issue for you, although mostly one of the other suggested fixes has worked previously.

[Jinjin87]

I'm assuming you did a google search for fixes, but if you didn't, this link says just disable the display adapter that is not the Intel HD Graphics and restart.

http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-card ... ymore.html

The problem he is having is not even close. It's the game launcher that refuses to see the card. While on the subject, I have tried that once before for another game, and it fucked my computer. I do not recommend that "fix" since it's not really a fix for anything.

@ Clawdius Talonious: That would be effin sweet man! What I want is for the launcher to somehow recignize my card. I have had this problem with other games. Surely there must be a way of getting around the launcher?

[PsychoSyd]

I also have a laptop with 2 video cards. At startup the game only recognizes the crappy on-board card (Intel HD Graphics 4000) , but does not list the good one (see below).

I've followed the instructions as listed in the bug report thread, but it regretfully didn't solve my problem.
What happens, is that once the game fires up, the fans kick in and are on full speed once the game starts! I'll play BF3 (on my laptop) and the fans will kick in every few minutes, but not the whole time.
It's a major buzzkill
Any help would be appreciated!

Specs:
Alienware M17XR4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
Inten Core i7-3740QM CPU @2.70GHz
12 GB RAM
64 Bit OS (Windows 7)

[Vomusu]

Yeah, i have the same problem - the game only sees intel hd graphics 4000. My graphics card is radeon 7670m

[Clawdius Talonious]

Went ahead and merged these two threads.

Alright I'm going to have to have feedback to diagnose and hopefully help the people with this issue, although I can't make any promises for AMD card users hopefully the issue should be effectively the same and when I address one it will help anyone. Again, as I don't have access to a laptop with Intel and an alternate video card I'm going to have to spitball and see what sticks.

First, it seems probable that the Nvidia profile may not be properly applying itself (going by this thread https://forums.geforce.com/default/topi ... -graphics/ ) to the correct .exe files. Add _Core.exe and while you're at it I suppose Launcher.exe or Kenshi.exe if either aren't present, when you run Kenshi it launches the _Core.exe process but it may send calls to launcher and if the Nvidia profile in Manage 3D settings is only trying to apply itself to Kenshi.exe and not the other two this could be the root of the problem. The thread I linked has some pictures to point you in the right direction if anyone with this issue hasn't already set up Kenshi and specified the card they want to use as is covered in the Known Issues thread.

It seems all of these issues revolve around the Optimus switching software, for the ATI user it seems that occassionally some flavors of ATI cards have been known to lock up and force the use of the Intel graphics card. However because I am generally unfamiliar with the ATI software control panel, having been out of IT for a few years and preferring to work with Nvidia, I can't give you anything step by step. For an Nvidia user this procedure if you're unfamiliar with it can be effectively found here: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questio ... intel-card and if you're not able to apply the same technique I can poke around and find some step by step instructions to do the same thing with the ATI software. Again, you'll want to make sure that _Core.exe as well as Kenshi.exe and Launcher.exe are all seen as part of the program.

If none of that seems to work I wonder if you're using your laptop in a place where you're plugged in? Optimus seems to be stingy from what I've read when you're functioning off of battery power, plugging the machine in and setting everything to high performance has cleared up some issues in some software in the past from what I've read.

Hopefully this will help someone, if not I'll endeavor to persevere, it isn't easy without the appropriate hardware to test ideas out on.

[Jinjin87]

Thank you so much for taking interest! I'm trying to locate this "_core.exe" but I cannot find it. I'm using steam just for the record. My lappy is connected and I am 100% sure that it's this game that refuses to see my gpu. I have tangoed with this issue before with varying results.

My main gpu MIGHT be connected gamewise, it's just that the game launcher does not have it as an uption so I'm not actually sure. However, the game is running rather slow, even considering the crappyness of said gpu.

Again, thanks for the help man. Greatly apreciated!

[Clawdius Talonious]

_Core.exe would be in your main Kenshi directory, Steam will stick that in the Steamapps\Common directory so look in, like Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Kenshi....

Hmmmm, looking at my Steam install the only EXE the Steam version uses is Kenshi_Steam.exe, so if you have that added as the .exe associated with Kenshi in the Nvidia control panel then you should theoretically be good to go, as it isn't split into multiple .exe files...

[Jinjin87]

That's just it! I should be good to go, and yet the launcher sets it to intel gpu. Kenshi isn't the first and only indie game i've played on this laptop.

Again; I have set everything up as I do with any other program that doesn't resolve it automaticly, but the launcher refuses to acknowledge the gpu. To me it seems like if i could work around the launcher i would get around the problem.

[Clawdius Talonious]

Well, lets see if it's a Steam version issue, or if it's universal. I've read where some games will display as using the Intel graphics, and will still use the beefier graphics card due to some oddities about the Optimus. Download the game off the frontpage of lofigames.com, run it in and try to feed any .exe other than the construction set that isn't in the games profile into the profile. There shouldn't be an issue with your key from Steam working on that version if it clears up the problem and you could transfer over the quicksave folder if that works.

If it doesn't... Do you often travel with the laptop and run it off of battery power? Disabling the Intel graphics should at least allow you to tell quite quickly if the game performs better being forced into using the 540. But the downside of course is that your battery life when using the 540 for everything can be shortened significantly.

[Jinjin87]

Yeah I've had that on some occasions, usually fixed after a patch or two. Downloading the standalone now and will update later. Nope the lappy stays plugged in, but last time i dissabled a gpu on a laptop the system became borked and it took me a while to set straight again. Is it really safe to do that? If so, got a guide handy that you know works without wrecking things (i've come across a few bad tutorials for various things).

Well first of all I'm after getting the thing to work out of curiousity. Even if the game is using the 540 the launcher still doesn't recognize it, and I do not believe that is a feature.

Alpha testing ftw! *^_^*

EDIT: Well, I tried dissabling the intel card and uh, it basically didn't use the 540 either. It looks like the launcher gets it's gpu information from the desktop, and the desktop on this piece of crap doesn't recognize the 540 either. When i dissabled the intel card the computer ran without any gpu at all, even though the 540 was still active. However, it did work on the programs that it had worked on previously.

So yeah, I'm 100% that Kenshi does not properly recognize the 540m, even when everything else is dissabled. The servers are busy so haven't downloaded the standalone yet.

[Spazm]

I made a nVidia profile for the game aswell, using my 675GTX. The game does not load the gfx card when starting up. However, performance did improve even while kenshi doesn't recognize the nvidia gfx card.

I'd like to point out, that even while my game does not recognize the proper gfx card - it does seem to use the one I want it to. (As set in the profile.)

I would suggest to you guys (the ones trying to get it to work) to increase the graphical settings to a level where the integrated card can't handle it. And start playing. If the same applies to you - you will be able to play using the proper gfx card.

[Captain Deathbeard]

I just got an optimus laptop. I started up Kenshi and had your problem: crappy intel HD. For some reason I couldn't install optimus, but I fixed it by doing this in the NVIDIA control panel:

[Jinjin87]

I've tried everything, high and low. I could do the whole contrast principle, problem is, both my gpu's suck thus making it near impossible to actually know wether or not it's my intel card or 540m that's at work.

The reason I'm on here still is cause the launcher needs some sorting out. Various work arounds such as dissabling key components to my computer isn't really something i would consider "feature not a bug".

The problem isn't with optimus, it's with the software itself. The program might use the 540, but i have no real way of knowing, apart from the game running at around 20fps on everything at absolutely low. So far I have found no obvious fix, nor have I found a empirical proff of what card the game is actually using.

But uhm, is there no way of working around the launcher?

[Spazm]

My way does work around the launcher. Which is what chris shows in his image. But instead of using the global settings I made it application specific on the 2nd tab