100% CPU usage on Linux

Rain-Slick Episode 2 constantly uses 100% CPU (all of one core) on my Gentoo Linux box.

Sometimes the game is playable, but it tends to degenerate into fairly frequent shudders and jumps which make the special attack minigames essentially impossible.

Also, after quitting the game, the RainSlickEp2_bin process continues to run. "kill" and "kill -9" have no effect, but sometimes the process ends on its own.

Changing the resolution and graphics settings doesn't appear to have any effect.

Some specs, if they might be helpful:
AMD Athlon X2
4 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9600.

Same issue here. NVidia 7800 GTX; Debian Lenny.

Can you please email support@hotheadgames.com, along with the information requested here:

http://forum.playgreenhouse.com/jforum/posts/list/1007.page

Thanks! Sorry about the frustration.

Done. It's attached to my self-reply about the other issue I'm having with the game demo (dual-monitor display).

Hi,
it seems that I have exactly the same problem, are there any news about this or should I contact the technical support too?

I'd suggest contacting support. More reports = more data, which is generally a good thing. Also, they've released an update to PA:OtRSPoD, Episode 2 so you might try that.

I have the same problem, at full-screen resolution (1680x1050 in my case), with an AMD Athlon64 3000+ (2 GHz). Episode 1 had the same problem, but to a lesser extent, which is why I didn't complain about it then. I should note that the gameplay is so choppy that it makes the hard minigames practically unplayable (especially Gabe's en The Player's hard attacks, which require accurate timing).

Running at a lower resolution "solves" the problem, but I need to turn it down considerably (e.g. to 800x600) and not only does the game then look pretty blurry (TFT scaling sucks) but the view is windowboxed too. So I'm seeing an ugly image with a big black border all around; not really a solution i.mo.

I know my CPU is not the newest, but it's still twice as fast as the recommend minimum requirements, so I don't think I'm asking too much that I can play the game at full resolution (with graphics quality set to "normal", not "high").

Update: on Windows XP, the game runs fine, so it's not a hardware issue per se.

Soultaker wrote:(with graphics quality set to "normal", not "high").

FWIW, when I experience these problems (which is most noticeable during the Hat Spider fights, and generally not much of an issue outside the Sanitorium), I've noticed that I actually have better performance on High than I do on Normal. When I'm wandering around the Sanitorium, not in a fight, switching to Normal appears to make the game more fluid, and it seems more fluid during the fights too, but it turns out that doing the top-level special attacks become much more wobbly and difficult to pull off, when on Normal. The game looks choppier on Hard, but the attacks are actually a bit easier to pull off, because it's a consistent choppiness, if that makes sense. On Normal, Gabe's arrows kind of jerk around and speed up / slow down seemingly at random, whereas on Hard they're consistently jerky, but it's a bit easier to get a feel as to when you're supposed to hit the buttons.

Just my two cents, anyway... Here's hoping the next update will take care of these issues.