Vid Card issuses.

[Zycot]

I bought a new 9600xt. I had a voodoo5 5500. With my new card i get real -*BAD WORD*-ty framrerate around safe zone tiles. I use the same settings.. anyone ever have this problem.. i don't get why the old ones better :/.

[Bargeld]

drivers, color depth of the game, software emulation, avoid page flipping

Try changing each of these one at a time to see if one of them will fix your problem.

[Dav]

make sure your resolution is reasonable, high res = lower rate

[Jimster]

reinstall Direct X 9.1b, Get the drivers off the the VGA cards Chipset manfac eg nvidia.

[Dav]

for some reason safe areas cause this on my system as well, i alterd my res to the same as my TFT moniter is rated for and its ok. If your using TFT i suggest you do the same.

[Bargeld]

TFT/LCD Monitors require a lower refresh rate... which would cause improved FPS.