I have been reporting some technical/performance issues to activision in regards to the PC version of the game. For the most part, it runs at 60fps with max settings, there are many parts like the start and 1/4 chapter 2 that the game falls to the 20fps level. In some parts of the "Pirate Seas" adventure level, I drop to 10-15fps. I have a killer rig, like I listed below in a post I made at the DarkSpyro Message forums.
If any has any ideas I can try, I would appreciate it.:
Well, I have sent Activision my DIAG file for them to look at as they requested. They then replied to try 720p vs. 1080p and this did nothing. The only way to sustain 60fps in Chapter 2 and the Pirate Seas Level is to drop the quality level to "Middle" vs. High. For reference, I have a Intel 2600k CPU, GTX-580 3Gb GPU (x2), 8gigs of Ram...basically I can run every game known at 60fps at the highest settings @1080p, but with this game, the only way to sustain 60fps in all areas is to have it set to "Middle" or "Medium" in the game menu. Changing Shadow levels has no impact. The odd thing is that for most of the game, it does play at 60fps, except for Chapter 2 in most areas of the Pirate Seas level. I am sure since I am early that will also dip in other areas as well. The sad thing is that the game is only utilizing 15-20% of the GPU when it drops to these absurd frame rates. Even when running at 60fps in other areas, it is still only using max 40% of the GPU.
Lastly, I find it annoying that I cannot force any AA of AF in the game as the game clearly has some jaggie areas. The funny thing is, when running in Medium or Middle, the game actually looks better. The only thing that I can tell and this is just through some testing is that High add's blades of grass into the visuals, where in medium/middle they are flat grass textures. Because the game does not allow any AA or AF, in high with the grass blades, there is alot more aliasing going on. Ideally, the best scenario is for them to fix the performance issues and then allow the ability to add AA and AF to improve the image quality.
As of right now, I am thinking of just shelving the game for a little until they can fix it..but if they don't I am not sure what I am going to do. I have every character that has been released, I have the 3pack Legenday Set and I have the 2 Adventure Add-on's, so I have invested alot into the game. While I still can play at "medium", ther eis no reason why this game is not running at max frame rate at full setting with the rig I have.