Stuttering on large maps since the version 6 update. (SMT \ core count issue)
Ever since the version 6 update, the game doesn't run on speed 3 anymore on large maps. Medium & small ones are completely fine.
However, the issue is limited to large maps and already appears if the map is completely empty. The odd thing is, neither the CPU (not a single core with full/100% utilization) nor the GPU (<15% utilization), nor the RAM are under pressure.
Playing on Linux via Proton, but the issue appears independent of the proton version and only emerged after version 6 was released ...
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23 Nov, '24
MetronHighlighted comment
I switched from an intel i9 13900kf to an amd 9800x3d and this problem disappeared.
Some bios let you disable the ecore feature of intel processors. That might help. I also had some improvement by changing to the performance power profile.
I suspect that the problem is frequency scaling on multiple cores but I have no explanation for why the 9800x3d is so much better. I've gone from 3 fps to 200. -
09 Jul, '25
Jcheung Admin PinnedTry this https://www.protondb.com/app/1062090#jGYlOcr7qJ and report please if it helps. Not sure though if we can do more if it doesn't.
JUN 2025 Edit:
Disabling SMT also might help
Windows players could try this Steam launch option to limit game to a number of cores:
cmd /c start "Timberborn" /normal /affinity f %command%
"f" here is a hex string representing allowing cores, e.g. f = 4 , 3f = 6 -
09 Jul, '25
Jcheung Admin PinnedFull breakdown:
cmd /c start "Timberborn" /normal /affinity f %command%
cmd /c: That's command prompt. The /C tells it to kill command prompt once the command finishes.
start: an internal command of command prompt for starting programs with advanced options. You can't call it without cmd /c.
"Timberborn" So... start assumes that the first string it sees is the window name... that's a problem for %command% if it contains spaces.
/normal Priority level of the task, controls how much CPU time it gets when you start getting multiple things running at once.
/affinity f Sets which cores the program can use; the argument is a hexadecimal number where each bit represents an individual core. If the value is 0f (0000 1111), then only cores 0-3 would be allowed.
%command% This is where Steam injects the standard launch command. IF NOT INCLUDED, Steam will assume that everything on the options line is after %command%.
by @Piisfox -
01 Nov, '24
Gin Fuyou AdminTry this https://www.protondb.com/app/1062090#jGYlOcr7qJ and report please if it helps. Not sure though if we can do more if it doesn't.
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01 Nov, '24
Maximilian SchererPartially. Using 8 cores doesn't work (-c 0-7), neither does 3 cores. Only 2 cores work - which is kind of odd. FPS counter shows ~60/30.
It appears to be related to the amount of water on a map. For example, 2 cores on "Lakes", "Planes", and "Helix Mountain" work, but 2 cores on "Thousand Islands" does not work (with the latter having much more water; FPS: ~3). It runs slow on "Terraces" with ~15-20 FPS (all on 2 cores).
Also, it appeared as if zoomed out focusing the camera on large bodies of water was more likely to cause a slowdown that looking at land or being zoomed in. -
02 Nov, '24
Gin Fuyou AdminUhum, thanks for details. Is it generally playable for now? I'll relay it to developers, but since linux is not official platform (hopefully - yet) no guarantees here.
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02 Nov, '24
Gin Fuyou AdminAh, also if you share your player.log with system information it might be useful. Instruction are in the pinned topic.
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23 Nov, '24
JayI have the same problem. Limiting to 8 cores helps but speed 3 still lags a lot on large maps e.g. Helix Mountain. Before update 6 it worked with no problems.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
64GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
Arch Linux -
19 Mar, '25
NLetovI had a similar problem with the experimental branch, not only for speed 3 but for all except pause. Unfortunately, core limiting didn't help me (game hasn't started). I found this report https://www.protondb.com/app/1062090#6zIIpZ0ytU and using WINE_CPU_TOPOLOGY helped to fix most of lags.
Now my launch options look like this:
WINE_CPU_TOPOLOGY=16 VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.x86_64.json %command%
Sometimes game lags a little bit, but it's fine most of play time
Playing from Steam via proton
proton version: proton-experimental
HW params
AMD Ryzen Thread ripper 3970X 32-Core Processor
128GB RAM
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Fedora Rawhide
I hope this might be useful! -
05 Oct, '25
ModhunterSimilar problem on Thousand Islands. Only presents during temperate & badtide seasons. Lack of water during drought seems to fix things.
Beaver movement is laggy/stuttering even when on x1 and zoomed in. FPS 60/5 to 60/59 (while paused).
Windows10
i5 -7500
24GB Ram
RTX 3060-12GB