Gaming Can't get Hollow Knight running well

[invaderyoyo]

I bought Hollow Knight on Steam a few days ago and I can't get get it to run well. I've been reading stuff online and tweaking the settings, but no dice. It's playable, but it stutters at the worst moments. It's super annoying. These are my specs:

I know they're bad specs, but this game uses freaking sprites, it should work. I tried turning down the particles and resolution. I also tried turning off v-sync and using a frame limiter, nothing.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[migles]

I tried turning down the particles and resolution. I also tried turning off v-sync and using a frame limiter

if this didn't help at all probably is a cpu bottleneck...
you are using the GPU right? laptops can have the problem of the GPU not kicking in...
the game kinda looks it's using flash? like the first binding of isaac, theese usually even with plenty of power they make the pc struggle..
run the game in window and check in the task manager if the CPU percentage in that process is stuck at 25% or 50%, if the game properly uses multi threads, you will see 100% cpu usage..

i also recommend to check Vram usage... (i think you can use msi afterburner for this?)

 

[Deleted User]

if this didn't help at all probably is a cpu bottleneck...
you are using the GPU right? laptops can have the problem of the GPU not kicking in...
the game kinda looks it's using flash? like the first binding of isaac, theese usually even with plenty of power they make the pc struggle..
run the game in window and check in the task manager if the CPU percentage in that process is stuck at 25% or 50%, if the game properly uses multi threads, you will see 100% cpu usage..

i also recommend to check Vram usage... (i think you can use msi afterburner for this?)

Hollow Knight doesn't use flash.

 

[invaderyoyo]

if this didn't help at all probably is a cpu bottleneck...
you are using the GPU right? laptops can have the problem of the GPU not kicking in...
the game kinda looks it's using flash? like the first binding of isaac, theese usually even with plenty of power they make the pc struggle..
run the game in window and check in the task manager if the CPU percentage in that process is stuck at 25% or 50%, if the game properly uses multi threads, you will see 100% cpu usage..

i also recommend to check Vram usage... (i think you can use msi afterburner for this?)

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I'm using the GPU, otherwise it turns into a slideshow. You might be right about the cpu usage. Looks like it's not using much. Any way to fix that?

Spoiler

 

[migles]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I'm using the GPU, otherwise it turns into a slideshow. You might be right about the cpu usage. Looks like it's not using much. Any way to fix that?

i mean, if the cpu is stuck at a percentage (since you have 4 threads, it can be 25, 50, or 100) it means the cpu was bottlenecking..
if the cpu is not doing that, it can be your graphics card, in which you should check with msi afterburner if your gpu usage is at 100% or Vram full...

btw, double check if your laptop is in power saving mode, change it into performance...

 

[invaderyoyo]

i mean, if the cpu is stuck at a percentage (since you have 4 threads, it can be 25, 50, or 100) it means the cpu was bottlenecking..
if the cpu is not doing that, it can be your graphics card, in which you should check with msi afterburner if your gpu usage is at 100% or Vram full...

btw, double check if your laptop is in power saving mode, change it into performance...

It's definitely in performance mode. I'm not sure what I'm looking for in msi afterburner. I'll read up on it.

Spoiler

 

[migles]

It's definitely in performance mode. I'm not sure what I'm looking for in msi afterburner. I'll read up on it.

go to settings, change the skin into default msi afterburner V3 skin.
that way you can see the graphs easier..
check if GPU usage is at 100% or Vram is full
in monitoring tab in settings you can also enable on screen display so thisn info is displayed above the game
if your GPU usage or Vram is full, this means the graphic card can't keep up with that game..
but it's weird the game requires so low specs.. it should run fine

 

[invaderyoyo]

go to settings, change the skin into default msi afterburner V3 skin.
that way you can see the graphs easier..
check if GPU usage is at 100% or Vram is full
in monitoring tab in settings you can also enable on screen display so thisn info is displayed above the game
if your GPU usage or Vram is full, this means the graphic card can't keep up with that game..
but it's weird the game requires so low specs.. it should run fine

Couldn't figure out how to display VRAM, but this is what I got while fighting a big enemy. The CPU usage does go pretty high.

Spoiler

 

[jDSX]

It may be something else, did you recently update drivers on your laptop old ones they can hold you back considerably also check on your HDD make sure it's not failing because that sounds bad

I have a laptop (dell 5440) with the 4210u and just intel hd graphics with windows 10 and I booted up hollow knight just to see if I got the same issue as you are having, and it runs fine.

 

[invaderyoyo]

It may be something else, did you recently update drivers on your laptop old ones they can hold you back considerably also check on your HDD make sure it's not failing because that sounds bad

I have a laptop (dell 5440) with the 4210u and just intel hd graphics with windows 10 and I booted up hollow knight just to see if I got the same issue as you are having, and it runs fine.

Hmm, I recently reset my computer. It might be the drivers. I was having trouble installing the newest one for the GPU.