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CaptainSR91 4 Sep, 2021 @ 4:29pm
High CPU usage after exiting Saints Row the 3rd The Full Package (Non-Remastered version)
Hi all, I've noticed that whenever I finish playing and exit the game, my cpu usage will still be high (60% shown in task manager), like it's still running even though it's not showing up in processes, and the only way to fix this is to restart my PC, and it's weird cause I've never had this issue with any other games I play, only Saints Row. Has anyone else ever experienced this before?? The longest I've seen this happen was for 20 minutes, when I would try to wait for the usage to go down, and when it didn't I restarted, only then did the usage and temps go back to normal.

I use an I5 4590 (an older cpu as I built my PC back in 2016, but still runs all the games I play on High or Ultra settings 60 FPS), 16GB DDR3 ram, EVGA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, and Windows 10 Pro in case anyone is wanting specs.

Also, has anyone ever experienced some major eye strain after playing SR3 for an hour or more?? I don't know if it's the color scheme or what, but my eyes start hurting after like 2 hours, and I have to stop. I still love the game though, just might not be able to play it as much.
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Originally posted by Jurassic Fart 1:
Have you thought to verify that the game is indeed out of process after exiting? Using Process Explorer (more versatile than Windows' Task Manager), I have had to kill some GFX-intensive games after exiting, because sometimes they would stay in process after exiting, hogging memory and processing resources.
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CaptainSR91 11 Sep, 2021 @ 10:03pm 
Update: I found out that motion blur was causing my eyes to strain so badly, but fortunately a friend was able to help me with disabling it, so I'll post it here in case someone is dealing with eye strain too; first you need to browse the local files and look for the display config file, next you want to scroll down until you find the motion blur setting, and then change it to false, save it then right click the file for properties, and finally mark it as read-only otherwise the setting will revert back to true every time after exiting the game.

I unfortunately still ran into the high cpu usage after exiting the game, and having to restart to fix the issue; I even lowered the settings to medium to see if that'd help, but still no luck so I'm just going to uninstall and call it a day, since I don't know what else to do, and still stumped that Saints Row 3 is the only game I've ever had this problem with. I guess this game just doesn't work well with this cpu.
#1
Game1Retroz 13 Sep, 2021 @ 6:00am 
Originally posted by CaptainSR91:
Update: I found out that motion blur was causing my eyes to strain so badly, but fortunately a friend was able to help me with disabling it, so I'll post it here in case someone is dealing with eye strain too; first you need to browse the local files and look for the display config file, next you want to scroll down until you find the motion blur setting, and then change it to false, save it then right click the file for properties, and finally mark it as read-only otherwise the setting will revert back to true every time after exiting the game.

I unfortunately still ran into the high cpu usage after exiting the game, and having to restart to fix the issue; I even lowered the settings to medium to see if that'd help, but still no luck so I'm just going to uninstall and call it a day, since I don't know what else to do, and still stumped that Saints Row 3 is the only game I've ever had this problem with. I guess this game just doesn't work well with this cpu.

If you have Vsync off games will naturally use up more CPU power but shouldn't effect the system after the processes are killed.

Use resource manager and check your system/app and antivirus log files to see if that offers any further information on whats happening when and after you run the game.

Finally block all connections (inbound and outbound) to the games .exe in your firewall or antivirus software, the game will still run.
Last edited by Game1Retroz; 13 Sep, 2021 @ 6:01am
#2
CaptainSR91 13 Sep, 2021 @ 1:43pm 
Originally posted by Game1Retroz:
Originally posted by CaptainSR91:
Update: I found out that motion blur was causing my eyes to strain so badly, but fortunately a friend was able to help me with disabling it, so I'll post it here in case someone is dealing with eye strain too; first you need to browse the local files and look for the display config file, next you want to scroll down until you find the motion blur setting, and then change it to false, save it then right click the file for properties, and finally mark it as read-only otherwise the setting will revert back to true every time after exiting the game.

I unfortunately still ran into the high cpu usage after exiting the game, and having to restart to fix the issue; I even lowered the settings to medium to see if that'd help, but still no luck so I'm just going to uninstall and call it a day, since I don't know what else to do, and still stumped that Saints Row 3 is the only game I've ever had this problem with. I guess this game just doesn't work well with this cpu.

If you have Vsync off games will naturally use up more CPU power but shouldn't effect the system after the processes are killed.

Use resource manager and check your system/app and antivirus log files to see if that offers any further information on whats happening when and after you run the game.

Finally block all connections (inbound and outbound) to the games .exe in your firewall or antivirus software, the game will still run.

Thank you very much for the reply, I'll reinstall and give it another go with resource monitor on the 2nd monitor.
#3
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Jurassic Fart 1 20 Sep, 2021 @ 2:29am 
Have you thought to verify that the game is indeed out of process after exiting? Using Process Explorer (more versatile than Windows' Task Manager), I have had to kill some GFX-intensive games after exiting, because sometimes they would stay in process after exiting, hogging memory and processing resources.
#4
CaptainSR91 20 Sep, 2021 @ 12:05pm 
Originally posted by Jurassic Fart 1:
Have you thought to verify that the game is indeed out of process after exiting? Using Process Explorer (more versatile than Windows' Task Manager), I have had to kill some GFX-intensive games after exiting, because sometimes they would stay in process after exiting, hogging memory and processing resources.

Hello, and no I've never even heard of Process Explorer, but I'll check it out and give that try too. Thanks a lot of the suggestion.
#5
Jurassic Fart 1 21 Sep, 2021 @ 11:36am 
Process Explorer is friggin' GREAT. You can opt to replace Windows Task Manager with it, but I prefer to leave defaults as are; Windows Task Manager works well in a number of circumstances, but if you need greater flexibility, you can always call up SysInternals Process Explorer when you need it. It's free, and the GUI is quite intuitive, easy to understand. One of the things that Windows Task Manager is needed for is killing COM Surrogate processes that lock "file in use" errors, so keep it.
#6
CaptainSR91 22 Sep, 2021 @ 1:44pm 
Originally posted by Jurassic Fart 1:
Process Explorer is friggin' GREAT. You can opt to replace Windows Task Manager with it, but I prefer to leave defaults as are; Windows Task Manager works well in a number of circumstances, but if you need greater flexibility, you can always call up SysInternals Process Explorer when you need it. It's free, and the GUI is quite intuitive, easy to understand. One of the things that Windows Task Manager is needed for is killing COM Surrogate processes that lock "file in use" errors, so keep it.

I downloaded the portable version of it from Microsoft last night, and it's already proven its worth; Discord was still running in the back ground despite me logging out and exiting, and so I used Process Explorer to close it for good, and yeah I'm not gonna replace anything. I'm gonna reinstall Saints Row now and hopefully this will help solve the problem. Wish me luck.
#7
Jurassic Fart 1 22 Sep, 2021 @ 7:12pm 
Good luck, bro. Happy gaming. I can't stress enough about COM Surrogate processes in Windows Task Manager: Many times, when trying to delete a no-longer-needed directory or file, you'll get a "file in use" error when you know for a FACT you're not using it, that it's no longer in process...except, Windows is kinda screwy that way; even though you may have closed a file or directory, Windows still "thinks" it's still in use, but all you have to do is kill all open instances of COM Surrogate.

Also, sometimes, when you exit to desktop from a game, SUPPOSEDLY taking it out of process, the application may in fact still be running, albeit in a frozen state. On rare occasions, I have to switch to a different user on my PC and kill a frozen game from THAT account, so I can get my damned desktop back again.

With Saints Row, about the only problem I get every now and then is the game will crash to desktop, but that's no biggie. I'll lose maybe ten minutes of play, that's all.
#8
CaptainSR91 23 Sep, 2021 @ 2:15pm 
Originally posted by Jurassic Fart 1:
Good luck, bro. Happy gaming. I can't stress enough about COM Surrogate processes in Windows Task Manager: Many times, when trying to delete a no-longer-needed directory or file, you'll get a "file in use" error when you know for a FACT you're not using it, that it's no longer in process...except, Windows is kinda screwy that way; even though you may have closed a file or directory, Windows still "thinks" it's still in use, but all you have to do is kill all open instances of COM Surrogate.

Also, sometimes, when you exit to desktop from a game, SUPPOSEDLY taking it out of process, the application may in fact still be running, albeit in a frozen state. On rare occasions, I have to switch to a different user on my PC and kill a frozen game from THAT account, so I can get my damned desktop back again.

With Saints Row, about the only problem I get every now and then is the game will crash to desktop, but that's no biggie. I'll lose maybe ten minutes of play, that's all.

Hey, I think I figured out why there's high cpu usage after exiting SR3; Process Explorer is showing high usage from system idle process between 60-80%, but I don't understand how it's spiking after Saints Row. The good news is that my temps are going back to normal though, so at least I can play Saints Row again, just need to figure out why System Idle Process is using up so much cpu afterwards.

Edit: After looking up that System Idle Process, it's apparently supposed to be high like that, as the high percentage shows how idle the cpu is, and apparently the higher it is the better, so I guess that solves the mystery; since my temps have gone back down to normal levels, I'll just have to make sure to close SR through Process explorer to be safe. I'm gonna go change my review from negative/neutral since my problem is solved, and thanks again to you both for helping me out. I really do appreciate it.
Last edited by CaptainSR91; 23 Sep, 2021 @ 2:30pm
#9
Jurassic Fart 1 30 Sep, 2021 @ 8:14pm 
Process Explorer makes it far easier to identify and deal with problems like this than Windows task Manager can; all too many times, WTM says, "Screw you" when you want to kill an application. Where I come from, when you are done using an application, you are DONE.

Glad you found a solution, bro.
#10
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Date Posted: 4 Sep, 2021 @ 4:29pm
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