Fix for DirectX 9 Games Running in Slow Motion (Radeon)

Recently, I tried playing some older games that are not demanding, only to find out that they were running half as fast as they should be. And I'm not talking about running at a poor frame rate; games ran in slow motion.

Games with this problem include:

• Death Ray Manta SE
• Escape Goat
• Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved
• Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls

These games use DirectX 9. Geometry Wars 3 is a 3D game (with 2D gameplay), while the other three seem to be 2D games.

This problem is specific to Radeon graphics cards. At the time of this post (August 2022), the problem affects driver version 22.5.2, the most current driver version that is available to me.

The Fix

If your computer uses Radeon graphics, try this first:

1. Open Radeon Adrenaline
2. Enable 'Radeon Enhanced Sync' in Global Settings (Gear Icon -> Graphics tab) or game-specific settings (Gaming tab)

This will work for some games, but not for others. Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls and Geometry Wars 3 are fine, but Escape Goat runs far too quickly. If your game runs too fast, try this:

1. Download and install MSI Afterburner (or Rivatuner Statistics Server by itself).
2. Open Rivatuner Statistics Server - an icon should appear on your taskbar
3. Right-click on taskbar icon, click 'View'
4. Set 'Framerate Limit' to 60, either in the global profile or a per-game profile

Rivatuner Statistics Server needs to be running while the game is open. You can minimize the window, but do not close it.

Restrict Windows 8.1 'Everywhere' Search

Windows 8.1 (and Windows 8 before it) has a nifty feature: press Ctrl + Q to launch an 'everywhere' search. This makes it really easy to find files, open programs, and access system options. By default, the 'everywhere' search includes a few locations, including your entire user folder. This means that you will be searching through all music, videos, and documents on your computer.

That's usually a good thing. However, it can be very slow depending on the number of files. So you may want to turn this off for some directories.

1. Find 'Indexing Options'. It's in the Control Panel, but it also shows-up in the Ctrl + Q 'everything' search.
2. Click on 'Users' in 'Summary of selected locations'
3. Locate and deselect whatever folders you don't want to look through

May 24, 2014 Update: Tweaked article contents. Added search description. Mention performance problems w/ searching through too many files.