A question about Engine-Updates

Lord Schnitzel · February 2011

I'm really excited seeing all those new feature find their way into NS2. Great job, UWE!
However I have a question about the development / updating process (and this is a neutral question, i have no intend to flame/whine!)

If the game is unplayable (framerate of 3-5 fps on lowest settings, looong loading times, etc.) at the current state of the beta, is there any hope that a patch in the forseeable future will increase the performance? Or is it a "Sorry, dude. You really should get a new computer or you will not have any fun with NS2"?

As said before, this is intended to be a neutral question. UWE is doing a great job and I'm looking forward to the day I can finally play it - be it later in the beta or when I can afford a new rig.

Deagle2 · February 2011

The system spec is quite low, I can tell you that wether I play on low or high settings, the game laggs the same way, wich means that it's engine issues for me.
Although I still have more fps than you, so either you are unlucky and there is a bug specific to your config, either you do have a too low config, but if you want us to tell you wether it's one or the other, you should give us your system specs ;)

Zuriki · February 2011

Performance updates are to be expected, as well as ironing out compatibility and performance issues on drivers/hardware. It's been stated that there are parts of the LuaVM which can be adjusted to optimize the processing of scripts. The scripts themselves can also be optimized for a small boost.

I personally adjusted the Garbage Collector speeds so they are approximately 2x more frequent. Though it had minimal effect on my FPS it did remove some of the "hitching" (where FPS drops to 0 for a brief moment). (http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=112484&st=13, adjusted link to start at post 14 where the optimization I used is noted). <b>I will warn you though, the game is more likely to crash with this adjustment due to the sheer volume of garbage the game generates cannot be cleared fast enough, however when the game isn't crashing, it plays much smoother!</b>

But yes, optimizations will be included. They have to be because even mid-top end computers (ones that can run the likes of Crysis on Very High without so much as a hitch) can sometimes struggle to make stable 60fps, I myself have an ATI Radeon 4890 HD, pretty powerful card for the price it was at, I get an average of 40fps but it does drip quite often.

Asraniel · February 2011

performance will be better. don't worry. not saying you will be able to run it on a netbook, but it will get better

ScardyBob · February 2011

What are your comp specs?

UWE has been increasing performance every patch. I suspect that if your computer can handle any major modern game (Bioshock1/2, Dead Space 1/2, CoDMW1/2, etc.) you'll be able to play NS2 with a decent framerate.

Squeal_Like_A_Pig · February 2011

There are many more optimizations planned, and there will continue to be performance improvements (large and small) with upcoming patches, all the way up to release.

--Cory

mokkat · February 2011

3-5 fps? My dell laptop from 2007 can run it at 13 fps in combat, which is pretty much unplayable...

Can you run older tech games like Half-Life 2 or Killing Floor reasonably well?

Lord Schnitzel · February 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Feb 18 2011, 12:41 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1832987"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>There are many more optimizations planned, and there will continue to be performance improvements (large and small) with upcoming patches, all the way up to release.
--Cory</div>
You guys rock!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Can you run older tech games like Half-Life 2 or Killing Floor reasonably well?</div>
I played Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect 1+2, Mafia 2, Prototype, Singularity, etc. on this rig. Not on high settings, but all games were playable.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The system spec is quite low, I can tell you that wether I play on low or high settings, the game laggs the same way, wich means that it's engine issues for me.
Although I still have more fps than you, so either you are unlucky and there is a bug specific to your config, either you do have a too low config, but if you want us to tell you wether it's one or the other, you should give us your system specs ;)</div>
I didn't plan to hijack this thread for troubleshooting, but maybe somebody can acutally help, so i'll give it a shot:

My rig:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
2048MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (512MB)
Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
You can find the <a href="http://pastebin.com/LTEnqdxN" target="_blank">complete DxDiag here</a>

I'm running NS2 in windowed mode at 1600x900 on "ridiciously awful".
Loading a map takes ~2 minutes (there might be a short "connection problem detected" message when the ready room is finally visible). It takes the game quite a while to actually put me on the team and spawn the player after using a team portal or typing j1/j2. The games runs quite smooth(-ish) for ~4 Minutes, then the framerate drops to 1-3fps and will not recover.
I'm not that much into the tech stuff so I really can't say if it's the game, my rig (and if it is, what component), moon phase,...
The only game I remember having a similar behaviour on my machine (slowdown to 1-3 fps after some time of smooth gameplay) was Supreme Commander FA. (The AMD Dual Core Optimizer is installed btw.)
If anybody has an idea how I can figure out where the problem is for my NS2 (maybe some monitoring tool to see what component causes the slowdown?), i'm all ears for suggestions.

Regards,
Schnitzel

Lord Schnitzel · February 2011

I ran Riva Tuner Hardware Monitor in the background while playing NS2 (windowed, 1600x900, awful) hoping to find some clues on why I get these framerate drops. I attached the graphs and marked the point where fps dropped from 20-30 to 1-5. I'm no hardware expert, maybe some of you guys can see if the reason for the problem is my hardware? To me it seems like, while the rig is working close to it's limit, at some point a few minutes in the game NS2 just says "ok GPU, that's enough for today, go to sleep"

<a href="http://www.imgplace.com/viewimg140/7193/91hardwaremonitoring.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.imgplace.com/img140/7193/91hardwaremonitoring.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>

1stToast · February 2011

my machine runs 234 FPS on the lost coast stress test. Depending on the server I run 40 FPS or less.

Skiddywinks · February 2011

Are you seriously using the Source engine as a comparison? Against an unfinished game no less?

The bottom line is they are working on it, and are probably more pissed off about it than anyone else.

spellman23 · February 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lord Schnitzel @ Feb 19 2011, 07:07 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1833636"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>My rig:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
2048MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (512MB)
Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
You can find the <a href="http://pastebin.com/LTEnqdxN" target="_blank">complete DxDiag here</a>

I'm running NS2 in windowed mode at 1600x900 on "ridiciously awful".
Loading a map takes ~2 minutes (there might be a short "connection problem detected" message when the ready room is finally visible). It takes the game quite a while to actually put me on the team and spawn the player after using a team portal or typing j1/j2. The games runs quite smooth(-ish) for ~4 Minutes, then the framerate drops to 1-3fps and will not recover.
I'm not that much into the tech stuff so I really can't say if it's the game, my rig (and if it is, what component), moon phase,...
The only game I remember having a similar behaviour on my machine (slowdown to 1-3 fps after some time of smooth gameplay) was Supreme Commander FA. (The AMD Dual Core Optimizer is installed btw.)
If anybody has an idea how I can figure out where the problem is for my NS2 (maybe some monitoring tool to see what component causes the slowdown?), i'm all ears for suggestions.

Regards,
Schnitzel</div>

Yeah, that's pretty much my rig, and I get around 20fps, which is nigh unplayable when I want to bite people's knees properly and dodge bullets.

I'd say that there's hope for our systems by release to get decent performance. But until then, we're kinda stuck. The currently posted Source Game Specs (i.e. Pent 4, etc) I think are optimistic, but who knows how well they can churn out optimizations.

Right now they're in bug fixing mode with a little optimization on the side.

Arcizzy · February 2011

So...... I can run the game at 70ish fps on max setting. That isn't good enough, if the game isn't able to be played at 120+ fps, 120 being the minimum it will be a sad day. I have a 120hz moniter and u can notice anything less than 120fps. I have a nice rig i7QuadCore and 12gigz of triple channel ddr3 and a gtx260. I can play any game out right now on high-max settings with no less than 120 fps. I know they say they will fix it and we have to give them time to do it, its just a little unsettling that even with a rig like mine I can't get a steady 70+ let alone 120+fps. I am rooting for UWE.... I played NS1 since the beginning. I played competitive on some of the best teams and led some of the best teams, NS2 isn't a better NS1 and I know that but it still has some pretty big shoes to fill either way you look at it as it is a sequel. FIX FPS JESUS!!!!!!!!!!! :P

NurEinMensch · February 2011

Sir I would like to have your problems.

spellman23 · February 2011

sounds more like trolling

A question about Engine-Updates

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