I would like to buy Construct 2 personal from Steam, but only if I can be sure that I will not regret. Any help will be pretty much appreciated.

Hi and welcome artbava,

I actually think it's worth getting an original license. From my experience Construct 2 is very reasonably priced when you think about all the functionality it provides. The downsides of the steam-version are just too many:

• Steam must be running
• If you double-click on a capx-file or a project file, the 'free edition' will open (as it will not undergo the Steam License validation.)
• You can't open up a steam game while Construct 2 is opened
• The license cannot be exchanged for a normal one.
• And worst of all, the increased risk och stuttering, sluggishness and freezes. I have had the Steam version almost a year, and this bug has been there since that time (even though the freezes and slowdowns was dramatically reduced by switching off auto-save)
• No Auto-save (if your having the trouble described in this thread)

Steam version of Construct, at its current state, isn't running as well as the stand alone license. And even if it were, it will still have limitations that you can't get around. I think you will regret not buying the one here, even though it costs 25€ more. 25€ isn't actually that much, when you think about the downsides with the steam version.

Hope this will help you in your decision. I really love Construct 2, and I think it is one of the greatest 2D game creation tools out there. But unfortunately the Steam version should only be considered an ad for the product rather than the product. (Most of the downsides aren't even Scirra's fault)

I know that this thread is quite old, but I figured that I could share my experiences anyway. Frowm what I have gathered I believe this option I actually overrides the browser's "device pixel ratio". scaling the project to pixel ratio: 1.

For those who do not know how pixel ratio works I will try to explain it as simple as possible. Today many mobile phones have really high pixel density. The LG G3 has a resolution of 2560x1440 on a 5" display. If webpages were viewed with the pixelratio of 1, meaning that normal 12px text would be rendered as 12px. that would make it super tiny and unreadable. Instead a pixel ratio is assigned to browser/device in order to scale it according to the ratio. LG G3 has a pixel ratio of 3, meaning that 12px text will actually be rendered as 36px, same scaling will be carried out on pictures and web-elements.

The tricky thing with construct is that the canvas is assigned to the "windows size", let say you use 1024x768px on the project. The LG G3 will scale the canvas 3x, even though it will still be rendered in the full screen size, resulting in a resolution of 341x256.... Making the whole game look very low res.

I could be wrong with technicalities, but this is my experience of the option.

The trouble I'm having is that I can't actually achieve decent frame rates on the LG G3 with the "use high DPI display"-option set to yes. The only way is to have one or two layers, which is very different from the 12 layers I am currently using.

I would actually love to have this option within the game's graphics option, But I'm guessing that is pretty much impossible as it changes the way the canvas is initialized? Any ideas would be of great help though! Otherwise I need to create a new thread about that in the future.

So I'm pretty sure now it is the autosave function for me at least. But there is a little more I think I found out about it, in bigger projects it tends to slutter more. I guess C2 autosave creates some sort of "trash" every time it autosaves the project which leads to more sluggish behavior and freezing. (The more it autosaves in a session the more sluggish it gets)

1. Are you using a compressed .capx or do you save it as a project folder? (In my case project folder)

2. Do you have a dual monitor setup? (just curious about that, maybe C2 has issues with this kind of setup)

P.s. I still cannot explain why minimizing and reopening helps for me at least maybe it leads to some sort of "reset" but I'm not sure about that at the time.

Turning off autosave really helped me a lot, I worked with the engine the whole day, and it only froze after exporting the project. The freeze acted very differently than before and probably has nothing to do with the issue mentioned this thread. After autosave, I can see that Steam and Construct is stuck with 0.1MB/s of writes. perhaps it's slowly collecting trash over time? The experience we have would suggest it.

To answer you questions.

1. I'm using a project folder,

2. using both dual monitor setups and single screen, doesn't seem to do any difference.

Still disabling auto-save actually made the software working like a charm again, I won't say that this solves the issue, because it doesn't but it is a very good workaround for me at least.

I'm not sure about this but I think that autosaving might cause this, at least I enabled it and set it to every 5 min. and this issue for me at least seem to happen about every 5 min. I dont want to say that IT IS the autosave function but it might be? (I will test it and check if it is the autosave to make sure...)

I tried it out this evening and once I disabled to autosave it actually works like a charm! (though still under evaluation) The autosave frequency could be an explanation to the different "stages of sluggishness" that I am experiencing.

Please continue and share your experiences with this problem. Try out the "disable autosave"-workaround and share your thoughts about it, perhaps we can help Ashley isolate the bug.

Well, actually, if the issue is with the Steam client, the issue likely should be taken to Steam support ! This is not an issue with C2, it is an issue with Steam, different product, different company.

Standalone licenses are not compatible with Steam license and inversely as well. They are issued by two different entities and are not compatible.

Thank you kryatic for clearing things up with how the licenses work. Unfortunately, I don't know if this is a "steam"-specific issue as I haven't been able to isolate the bug. And I can see your point Kyatric. But as a consumer I still think it is Scirra's responsibility to solve this issue with Valve/Steam. If I went to Steam Support now, they would probably redirect me to you guys and it will be an endless blame-game in which I am caught up in the middle. The only thing I know is that I have bought Construct 2 and it doesn't work very well. (unfortunately)

Because Scirra choose to use Steam as a license- and purchasing platform, (and if it is a steam-related bug) I still think it's their responsibility to solve the bug with Valve. Not the consumer. However, I am willing to do everything I can to help fixing this, because this is an issue that is in my, and many others, interest.

Hello friend, I tell you the whole truth.

I also have this problem with the sluggishness and others who DO NOT report this problem also has ..

This problem is related to the release of steam and neither STEAM nor Scirra want to solve the problem.

More specifically the problem is the executable file (Construct2.exe) that the version of Steam is modified and added a dll injection (steam.dll) to work with Steam Launcher and therefore this slowness occurs in the program.

I also regret much for purchasing the Construct 2 by Steam.

Thank you for your comment Reinarte. That actually clear things up really well, and it sounds like a legitimate reason for the sluggishness and freezing. If this is the case I really hope that Scirra will take responsibility for the problem. If there is no solution in sight I wish they would offer a reduced price for a normal license to all those that are unfortunate enough to experience the sluggishness and freezing. I would love to buy a new license if it allows me work normally with Construct 2 again, but I would feel kind of cheated if I need to pay full price twice.

The thing that bothers me is what C2 and/or Steam are acually doing to cause this issue?

I mean a license check or something like that cannot cause so heavy lags or even freezing can it?

I'm not sure about this but I think that autosaving might cause this, at least I enabled it and set it to every 5 min. and this issue for me at least seem to happen about every 5 min.

I dont want to say that IT IS the autosave function but it might me? (I will test it and check if it is the autosave to make sure...)

Really nice that you're sharing your experience TheRealDannyyy. Ideas of how to reproduce the bug is great way of helping Scirra isolating the bug. I will try it out as well as soon as I get home. If it the autosave function has a part of the sluggishness/freezing , perhaps we could at least find a workaround for Construct 2 to behave a little better than it currently is...

As you have now determined that the issue is likely the Steam Client, maybe Ashley can investigate further.

That would be wonderful. I would really like to help in every way I can. The only problem is that I don't know how to get in touch with Ashley. He has disabled PMs (which is completely understandable)

I have the same issue still in the recent r212.2 version of C2. To be honest it never really annoyed me "that" much, I usually minimize and open the C2 window and the lags or freezes are mostly gone after doing that.

The thing is that I can't get rid of the slowdowns. The only way is to either try to close the application down, or force it to shut in Task Manager. I wouldn't bother that much about it if the program was fully functional and operable. And well, it actually is, at stage 1, when it goes into stage 2 of sluggishness it's completely inoperable, on three different hardware platforms.

That might be your problem, maybe is something about ur steam doing to it... as for C2 itself its designed to run on 128 ram memory(i think but it can run on 64 also i guess) and 512 hdd space... im using it on a home computer... low spec... never had problems technically... only my own mistakes.. and reaching the computers capabilities to render stuff, but if you timed it and the memory usage is the same as the steam,.. then steam is possibly to be doing it ... sometimes happens.

the computer im using for C2 and indie game dev stuff is a dual core 3.5Ghz intel x64 2 gb ram and 1 gb gpu card... old gig i have for a while now, that i use to test stuff for fun, and its filled with a lot of stuff running multiple software's in same time with c2, like blender for rigging and in same time the browser with different previews of the 3d games im playing with in C2, Photoshop, Audacity and other stuff, all in 1 shot and it never freezes i mean its always as optimal can be for the spec it has(my cpu usage is always at 60-80% and ram almost 60% ) some applications freeze cause the memory isn't enough, but it never happened to C2 unless i over flood it , but if id be using same stuff on my rigging machine, and freeze for 1 sec id be mad >.< ... so im pretty sure its not ur Computer, its a Software problem, something clutches it.

P.S i know my C2 Rig is awesome (20 years outdated) ha ha ha ... it has its moments... i can go nuts on it.... )

Hahaha, well and that's what I have figured out as well! You can have a really crappy system and Construct will work just fine.

I have tried it out on three different platforms, on all three platforms the "free edition" downloaded from scirras webpage work flawlessly, but the individual license I got from Steam have this issue on all three platforms. Task Manager clearly shows that Construct has a lot of leg room performance-wise. Now I just need to get a hold of Ashley

Thank you guys. Buying Construct through Steam was probably the worst thing I could've done. I can't open a game while having Construct up 'n running. I can't start Construct without starting Steam, which is depressingly limiting. I wished I could've traded my Steam-license for a normal one. But unfortunately that seem impossible.

I would actually buy a new personal license through Scirra store if I knew that it would solve the matter at hand

I installed Windows 10 on the laptop this evening. Unfortunately that didn't resolve the matter either, same issue through the Individual License (Steam) and a completely new project, still no problem with the "free edition" both with a new project and the project I have been working on.

I can't be the only one experiencing this issue? or am I?

Update: I have tried 212.2 free edition for about 2 hours now. Works flawlessly. I have loaded my larger project in the free edition and it doesn't show any sign of struggle (except the lack of functionality). Could it have something to do with Steam- or individual license?

the only time i had problems with C2 having problems loading files or after a while to get sluggish, is when i was doing very weird and large event sheets, or have over 500 objects in the editor... while you are using C2, is there a chance that in those 10-15 minutes to add to many stuff in the visual editor? and maybe have like 1 event sheet that contains a very big amount of actions in it? like above 200? 500 ? and all on same condition like OnStartOfLayout lets say? even if its not running if you copy to many actions into 1 conditions, when youl open that project youl experience a very slow editor mode performance.... and for the objects in the editor, i think its more about the GPU not being updated... but if those are not your problem... then it might be a bug caught with ur last installation if you interrupted it, or reinstalled it wrong something might happen... i dont know really ... just saying hope it helps you

Thank you for your reply gamecorpstudio. I actually only have three event sheets within the project. Two of these are empty but both include the third event sheet, which has 56 events in it, and about three times more subevents (with actions). The eventsheet is is created for character movement as well as Keyboard-, touch- and gamepad controls. (with a couple of extra things for run-toggle, wall-jump etc)

It really doesn't matter which layout I have active, this sluggishness happen anyway. It can get sluggish even if I don't interact with the level editor or add items. At the time being I use a maximum of ~200 graphical instances per layout, and a total of 111 graphical objects within the whole project.

I started a new project. Zero events within the event sheet, added about 5 graphical objects, 25 instances of these objects on two layers. I timed the issue and it took 18 minutes. same thing. The only difference now was that it wasn't a two-stage phenomena, it went from silky smooth to almost a complete application freeze. (I was able to save and close, but it took a couple of minutes). Task manager tells me 0% CPU 137,9MB of Memory usage, 0,1MB/s of disk-writes (that's a bit odd, but Steam is showing the same amount of disk writes).

I will try on my desktop computer when I get home in about two days, and see what I can find. I will install a fresh "free" version of Construct 2 tonight on the laptop, and see if I can come across the same problem with a different license. I will install Construct on a third system this evening as well. A Pentium G3220 with Radeon 7870.

I usually upgrade to the latest graphics drivers, and in light of this, the issue has been ongoing for several months and over several iterations of graphics drivers and Construct 2 versions. (I haven't used Construct that much, I am currently focusing on creating graphical assets, but I use the engine to see how everything fit together visually).

I really love the way Construct 2 works, but this issue is killing my creative spark.

Problem Description

A Strange problem which I have always had with Construct 2. I have bought it through Steam, and it doesn't matter which project I am running, or which computer I use. I usually tend to use two computers, an overclocked i5 4Ghz with a nvidia GTX 960. The other computer is a slightly under-powered laptop with an AMD A4-5000 APU. The result is always the same. At first, Construct and the level design tool works flawlessly at ~60fps, after a couple of minutes (10-15) it becomes super slow. the core i5 with GTX960 is still manageable at the first stage of slowdown, while the AMD A4-5000 APU is having trouble producing a responsive environment. after a while Construct goes into the next stage which is make the i5 sluggish, almost unusable. While the A4 freezes the environment with momentary responsive states. (I have managed to save the project by clicking the save-button constantly during a time span of 1 minute)

UPDATE - Workarounds

Throughout the discussion in this thread a couple of workarounds have surfaced.

turn off the auto-save function. Risky thing to do, but as long as you save your work often manually it shouldn't be a problem. Disable Steam In-game Overlay either, even though I haven't experienced any improvement. Minor slow-downs in the front-end is seem to get solved by Minimizing and maximizing the main window

UPDATE II - Problem solved?

I can see that many turn to this thread whenever there are UI performance issues. However, I think they derive quite a bit from the original behavior where Construct 2 as a editor became increasingly sluggish until a state of complete "freeze". From my experience, this issue is fixed. Ashley's latest replies state:

Well I think we can chalk this one up to the icons and Windows GDI weirdness then. If you have a large project and the editor becomes sluggish after a while, it seems the new icon caching mode is a workaround.

Does the new option to completely disable unique icons in r229 help? (it reverts all Sprite/Tiled Background etc to their plugin icons)

It might be GDI playing up again. It's a pretty crappy part of Windows.

So far so good, no sluggishness at all.

It seems to work better now but I will still give it some time and share the results at the end of the month again.

Ashley thanks for this surprising update, I really didn't expect that.

Attach a Capx

I know that a capx is a must, but this issue is not related to a specific project

Description of Capx

none

Steps to Reproduce Bug

I know that this is the worst kind of bug to reproduce, I would love to have some guidance on how to give you more information on this matter. The strange thing is that the same bug occurs in similar manners in two completely different hardware environments independent of project and project size. The problem has been around since I bought Construct 2 through Steam. I think it was release 186. I'm thinking of downloading the free version and install it stand alone in order to see if I can reproduce it outside my steam license. I have actually managed on working with my game by saving and closing the application every 10 minutes.

• Step 1 - Open the level designer and populate designer with 2D objects and drag them around
• Step 2 - Wait and do nothing during a period of 10-20 minutes. Pan around the layout in order to determine when the slowdowns begin
• Step 3 - Continue to wait, in my experience the sluggishness starts in two stages that are quite distinguishable in terms of speed/sluggishness

Observed Result

The application freezes, When looking at the task manager, the application doesn't show any excessive CPU-usage, no unexpected I/O-operations or excessive RAM-usage. The only thing that is looking odd during freezes is a 0.1MB/s disk writes from both Steam and Construct.

Expected Result

That the application should work flawlessly.

Affected Browsers

Chrome: NO, FireFox: NO, Internet Explorer: NO

I use chrome as my default browser and haven't witnessed any difference using the others.

Operating System and Service Pack

Windows 7 (latest updates) tested by TheRealDannyyy

Windows 8.1n 64-bit (Latest updates)

Windows 10n 64-bit (Upgrade from Windows 8.1n)

Construct 2 Version ID

Version 212.2 (64-bit) Personal License (Steam Version)

I would love to have more options in the profile section for social details i.e. Instagram, Vimeo, DevianArt,Soundcloud, Linkedin (and more) You often use as many channels as possible these days to spread your game creations. It would be nice to have them available on your profile here at Scirra.

— - you can use the "anchor" behavior along with a 0,0 parallax to keep your controls on the same relative spot on the screen. It's quick and easy.

PSI That's an even easier strategy. Thank you for sharing!