- I downloaded Afterburner as you recommended and it was quite strange, two things 1. It says both my 1050ti AND the intgrated graphics card are being used 0-o. and 2. From loading the game on start to sitting idle on the main menu for 15 minutes, the ram usage and pagefile usage (was being used ) did not change and both were really high, RAM was constant (a literal straight line on the graph) at a little over 6Gb being used constantly, and pagefile usage was like 15500mb constantly (a literal straight line as well)
So I'm assuming because you put the detail about your graphics cards in the point about using Afterburner that you may not know how to manage your Nvidia hardware. That's ok, it took me an unbelievably long time to figure it out too, partially because Windows 10's search function is actually awful.
Hopefully, using the proper graphics card will resolve your issues, so I'll go through a quick overview on how to make sure your PC uses the right hardware.
(Click spoiler to see images)
Given that this is installed as part of your computer's base hardware, hopefully your filepath will be the same as mine.
This PC > OS > Program Files
(not x64) > NVIDIA Corporation > Control Panel Client
The indicated file, once opened, will look roughly like this:
#1 - If the screen doesn't look roughly like this, make sure you're viewing the "Manage 3D panels" menu as indicated on the left.
#2 - Clicking the drop-down menu, make sure you select "High Performance NVIDIA Processor" (exact text may be slightly different, I don't know if it varies on other systems. Either way, pick the option that IS NOT "auto select" or "integrated graphics")
#3 - Remember to hit "Apply".
Now, your PC will default to using your GPU instead of the Integrated device within your main processor. Even in the event that this doesn't resolve your Starsector issues, it means your computer is now properly using the tools it has available and you should see improvements throughout.
If you're paranoid like me, you'd be interested in finding out how to be
absolutely certain that a given program is using the hardware you want, so I'll go through the steps to assign a specific processor to individual programs now too - you can do this for anything you want, even telling your PC to go back to using integrated graphics if needed for certain things:
#1 - looking to the indicated tabs, switch to "Program Settings". This is where you can assign specific settings to specific programs, and make sure that programs are using the global setting we just assigned. Sometimes programs don't automatically set themselves to follow the global setting, so if you ever have problems with a program down the line (or you just want to make sure right now) you can go here to check them.
#2 - Dropdown menu for the program. Currently shown is what my personal Starsector installation filepath looks like, with the logo to make it easy to recognize. If you can't find Starsector in this dropdown menu, look to #3. If it's already there, feel free to skip to #6.
#3 - "Add" a program to the list of programs known to your Nvidia control panel - this will open this image:
#4 - If you don't find the program in this menu, click "Browse" to search your normal windows explorer to find the .exe file you have installed for Starsector. If you're uncertain what file this is, have another screenshot:
#5 - Click "Add Selected Program" to do so, returning you to the first screenshot of this process and step #6.
#6 - If the indicated dropdown menu does not already read the same as the global setting that was set previously (High-Performance NVIDIA Processor, probably), make sure to select that setting in the dropdown, then press "Apply" to finish off.
Once all of the steps are done, restart your PC to make sure they apply correctly, then test Starsector and any other programs you wish to test.
Good Luck!