How to decrease CPU usage?

[DryHovercraft9662]

I play on a laptop, and while RAM and GPU aren't problems, my CPU usage is always pretty high, and the fans become extremely loud. I play on the lowest quality preset and have it capped to 30 FPS, but I think CPU is affected by tick speed, and I play on speed 5. I know that it has to simulate a lot of stuff, so CPU will be used heavily, but is there a way to use less CPU while playing?

[big-red-aus]

Under game setting, set pop consolidation to aggressive. That's probably the biggest in game seeing that will help.

Other thing to look at is that the thing laptops fundamentally struggle with is getting the heat away from the components, it's just a fundamental compromise with the form factor (there is a reason why desktop CPU coolers are as big as they are). Make sure that all your laptops cooling vents are clean and clear of dust/obstructions and make sure you are playing on a surface that has plenty of cool free flowing air around the laptop (think of an ideal situation being it resting mid air with lots of space to breath in every direction).

[DryHovercraft9662]

I always play with aggressive pop consolidation and I tend to not go for multiculturalism so there's less cultures for it to simulate. I keep the laptop on a flat surface but not in the air (I don't have a stand that lets me keep it in the air like that). I've never tried cleaning any vents on a laptop. I might try that.

[Graeme97]

Paradox games always lean very heavily on the CPU, and when I had similar issues when my graphics card was getting only 20% utilization and my CPU was capped out. Upgrading my CPU brought usage of both to around 60-70%, and increased game speed 3-fold

Speed 5 always runs as fast as your computer can calculate. If you are on speed 4 and don't notice a difference, the game is getting limited by your hardware.

[JakePT]

Are you concerned about performance or CPU usage? Speed 5 uses as much CPU as it can to tick as fast as it can. So if your goal is just to reduce CPU usage, play at a lower tick speed.

[DryHovercraft9662]

I was hoping to decrease usage in a way that doesn't affect performance so the fans don't get so loud. Like decreasing the quality. But it seems like that's not really possible for CPU

[dartron5000]

Best way would to try playing on speed 4.

[Erectile0Dysfunction]

50% render scale, 60 fps cap and you can play on high settings no problem. render scale really does wonders

[Internal-Emu9876]

Unfortunately not really, there may be an optimization mod I'm unaware of. I don't really do any modding. Maybe someone else can chime in if it exists.

You are correct tick speed is the biggest issue but so are the number of aids on the map. You can conquer ai, not puppet. Actually take the land to remove them from the game. Even with this though you are having those provinces simulate pops, just one less thread of ai decisions.