Anyone have performance issues since build 246?

Gwydionn · May 2013

So i didn have any performance issues in build 245, had an average of 35-40fps in lategame.
but now that build 246 is released my worst case FPS is about 9 and out of fight ~24, while the highest fps in early game is about 50, which used to be 60-70 pre patch.
also i need to state that i am now running on lowest graphic settings @ 1650x1050 and textures on high, since i have 8gb ram and pre patch i had almost everything turned on except for shadows.

i do have a quad-core cpu (intel) and a ATI HD 5770 graphics card(OC) and 6gigs ram(overclockable but what for?)

so basicly i just wanned to know if anyone aside of me is also having similiar issues since build 246

sincerely Gwyn

ritualsacrifice · May 2013

I've been getting lots of weird "freeze frame" kind of things going on... i'll be in the middle of combat and it'll freeze on one frame for a second or two then next thing i know i'm either dead or running into a wall on the other side of the room xD

ijustpwnedu96 · May 2013

Pre-patch I had 15-20 fps in late game. Now I get 5-10 fps late game...

Oni and exos teleporting everywhere

Desther · May 2013

No noticeable difference in FPS for me since the patch

Robotix · May 2013

Desther wrote: »

No noticeable difference in FPS for me since the patch

^

Kro55f1r3 · May 2013

I got just a big freeze when i use 15 drifter against a marine *
They said Improve the AI , but they decreased the performance ingame . FPS = 26 going to 3-5 when my drifter get the attack order !

Shaker · May 2013

I have had a lot of performance issues since this patch as well as the return of many crashes.

Res · May 2013

no issues here, same performance.

Lúst · May 2013

Some fps issues. Lots of network issues. Last night this lerk was lagging so hard he was jumpin gup to 3inches on my screen between frames.

wiry · May 2013

Since 246? No, since build 1.

yuckfoo · May 2013

I've seen some fps variance in different areas of certain maps since recent patches-

Mineshaft- Deposit, looking towards the door to Sorting (Brew Room) causes a big dip in frame rate.

Docking- Generator dropping cysts, another huge dip.

Of course, running the game on max settings (even without max infestation) is pretty taxing regardless.

Ghosthree3 · May 2013

wiry wrote: »

Since 246? No, since build 1.

Surely build 1 performed amazingly, there was nothing in it to make it lag!

Desther · May 2013

I've had a lot of stuttering even early game in the last few games I've played. East junction in Veil in particular.

DC_Darkling · May 2013

Yes, I see playtester infront your name wiry.. Surely you even saw build1........

As for all who experience problems.
r_stats 1 (fps and rendering)
net_stats 1 (choke & rates)
net_log all (logging)
loadtimes true (loading models)
profiler (spikes, more advanced)

hard to fix stuff without info.

IronHorse · May 2013

Moved to tech support.

Like dc said we need to know the culprit in order to fix it.
Please try the commands he listed and if you need help using any of them feel free to ask.

You helping diagnose the problem will get it fixed for you and everyone else.

Just an anecdotal observation : I've noticed that there is a trend with aggregate patches that will lessen performance on some machines, despite there being no engine / feature changes (like this patch for instance... Should be no change at all that would impact performance)
My guess would be something to do with shaders. So attempt deleting your shaders by deleting your "cache" folder in your hidden %appdata%/natural selection 2/ folder.
Unfortunately this will make you "compile shaders for the first time" .. Taking 10 minutes.

If this doesn't help, nuke from orbit by completely reinstalling.

If none of that helps then it's time for profile and p_logs
(but please try the prior steps first even though they're annoying, so i can confirm my theory on aggregate patches)

baconbits · May 2013

My performance has been steadily dropping every patch since about 4-5 patches ago I even bought another 5750 to crossfire, still lags like a bitch. This recent patch actually improved things a little but my frames are still aweful. Heres my specs.

Windows 7 x64
Sapphire radeon HD 5750 x 2 crossfired
8g of RAM
AMD phenom II x3 720 2.8ghz overclocked to 3.3

Im running the game at minimum graphics 1024x1028
texture streaming ON
multicore rendering ON
Frames 2-30 avg 16-20

As you can see graphics and ram aren't a problem, my processor is kinda meh but I don't see how it justifies frames of 2-20 let alone under 40. I'm even running a program called razer game booster which temporarily pauses other processes and the windows UI so your computer can almost fully focus on running a game. It's definitely improved my frames but not enough. I'll try and post my console command results tonight when I get more time to game. In the mean time does anybody have any ideas why a computer that passes recommended requirements is severely struggling to run NS2? Oh and heres the link to the razer page if you wanna try it out. It's improved my performance for several games. http://www.razerzone.com/gamebooster

Rich_ · May 2013

Bacon, you're not even using the 5750's full potential with that processor. Crossfire wont do anything but waste money with that 3 core 2.8 phenom still in ur pc.

edit- pretty sure the same socket on that motherboard can support something like a phenom 965 BE, which you can push upwards of 4.0ghz and is a quad core. Those are goin for about 90 bucks new if you can find them in the right place, and would support crossfired 5750's. If you overclock a 965 enough, you've got a budget intel 2500k on your hands.

baconbits · May 2013

Ya I figured the processor was bottle necking my machine but take a look @ the game's recommended settings. I exceed those settings by far. My crossfire is just the cherry of reasons on top of the mystery cake of why my fps is so awful.

*Also check how much better my computer is than the minimum requirements cuz that's what my graphics settings are at when I'm getting 2-20 frames. Something isn't right.

baconbits · May 2013

Attached my Net_log all file. I ran the game on 1024x768 resolution this time instead of my typical 1024x1028. I also tried some trick about unlocking my 4th core http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/251526-29-unlock-core-phenom . Setting the cores to hybrid didn't work but normal with the 4th core booted to windows just fine. Skyrim definitely was running smoother so I think my 4th core is sorta enabled. No changes in NS2s performance after I dropped the resolution or after enabling the 4th core.

I'll have to post the screenies seperate, for some reason the forum is bitching about the post body being 619814 characters too long when I drop a pic the width of these paragraphs.

baconbits · May 2013

Fps ranging from 15-20 before the game even starts
http://s880.photobucket.com/user/Baconbits19/media/2013-05-08_00001.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

Fps 13-17 and good net stats in early-mid game
http://s880.photobucket.com/user/Baconbits19/media/2013-05-08_00010.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
http://s880.photobucket.com/user/Baconbits19/media/2013-05-08_00009.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

My system > recommended settings + game on lower resolution and lowest settings + these results = wtf

baconbits · May 2013

None of this looks right for a 3 core/unlocked 4th core overclocked 3.3 ghz, radeon hd 5750x2, 8g ram.

IronHorse · May 2013

That processor is getting about what the minimum recommended specs would get, because it is not much more in performance.
www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X3+720&id=343

Unfortunately, like all minimum recommended specs from developers, all it does is guarantee that it will run.. Acceptable Performance is another topic.

That being said i find the specs to be inaccurate considering how much processor power ns2 needs to run at "decent" fps.
I would definitely purchase a better cpu still.. That one is a bit old in the tooth.

baconbits · May 2013

IronHorse said:

That processor is getting about what the minimum recommended specs would get, because it is not much more in performance.
www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X3+720&id=343

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Duo+E8400+@+3.00GHz

Actually take a look at this, if you compare those two charts my CPU comes out on top of the recommended (not minimum) cpu as I said. My cpu rating mark was 2741 the recommended cpu mark is a 2165. My cpu won by a huge price difference but also performs 26.6% better than the recommended cpu does.

This is also a stock comparison MY cpu is clocked .3 higher and with an unlocked 4th core. Not saying my cpu is some 4.5ghz god but i'm definitely meeting the recommended system requirements. If i was getting 30 fps on recommended settings I'd take a modest approach and say everything was working fine, but I'm running slowest settings on a smaller resolution and still running like crap.

Here are the recommended requirements for NS2

OS:Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XPProcessor:Core 2 Duo 3.0 ghzMemory:4 GB RAMGraphics:DirectX 9 compatible video card with 1GB, AMD 5770, NVidia GTX 450 or betterDirectX®:9.0Hard Drive:5 GB HD spaceOther Requirements:Broadband Internet connection

baconbits · May 2013

Here's something else. Remember how I said Skyrim was running smoother? Well I got MSI afterburner and measured my game.

Here was my settings for the game: All high, max Anisotropic, and antialiasing
http://s880.photobucket.com/user/Baconbits19/media/SkyrimGraphics.png.html?sort=3&o=0

Here's a chart of my fps.
http://s880.photobucket.com/user/Baconbits19/media/FPSchart.png.html?sort=3&o=1

I traveled to Riften, a medium sized city that included 2-3 stories & river running through it. I walked through a bunch of people, above the river and swung my swords around. My fps was about 40-60, hit about 35 when my screen included people,water, and flaming swords at the right angle. The low dips in fps is right when I'm coming out of a loading screen or menu.

edit:
http://s880.photobucket.com/user/Baconbits19/media/2013-05-08_00001-1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2
Riften's weather was shit.

Here is skyrim's recommended settings

Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
Memory: 4GB System RAM
Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher)

So my Phenom 3.3ghz & radeon HD 5750 x2 are too shitty to run NS2 @ Core 2 duo 3.0 ghz & AMD 5770 but can easily handle Skyrim with good frames @ requirements of a quad core intel or amd & a radeon 4890?

Is anybody else confused? Basically Skyrim has higher demands but is running smoother at 40-60 fps NS2 has lower demands and runs choppy as hell with 2-24 fps.

ampere · May 2013

DC_Darkling said:

Yes, I see playtester infront your name wiry.. Surely you even saw build1........

As for all who experience problems.
r_stats 1 (fps and rendering)
net_stats 1 (choke & rates)
net_log all (logging)
loadtimes true (loading models)
profiler (spikes, more advanced)

hard to fix stuff without info.

Is there a page that walks you through how to collect this stuff? I'm not sure when to run these commands and how to extact the data afterword. The problem is that at least for me the freezes happen in the middle of combat, so I cannot exactly stop to run a command or take a screen shot.

Also I'm experiencing slower map loading with the new patch. Which of the commands would help be diagnose that? loadtimes true?

IronHorse · May 2013

IronHorse wrote: »

That being said i find the specs to be inaccurate considering how much processor power ns2 needs to run at "decent" fps.
I would definitely purchase a better cpu still.. That one is a bit old in the tooth.

Sorry but those recommendations really are inaccurate.. :-\ a core 2 duo even at 3 ghz is still going to struggle to even hit 60 fps in game. (not ready room)
Ns2 is more of a cpu stress test than prime 95, as many of us have found.

That being said though.. I think you getting sub 20 fps isn't normal either

IronHorse · May 2013

Yea the more I think about it, the more I think there's something up with your computer and its not your hardware. You should start a new thread with your dxdiag and ns2 log to start with for further diagnosing

DC_Darkling · May 2013

@ampere
lets start with the hitches/freezes.
use the profile command.

http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/comment/2074238/#Comment_2074238

xen32 · May 2013

After getting my hands on 246, I can report that I have the same issue.

My fps dropped significantly, take RR for example - 30-40 fps instead of 60.

Also, I get occasional fps drop in the game which gets me to like 10 fps. Somehow it's fixed by minimizing the game, then I get back to 'normal' low build246 fps.

xen32 · May 2013

Here's all the info I got during weird fps drop, r_stats, profiler, console with profiler on.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46228326/ns/2013-05-11_00001.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46228326/ns/2013-05-11_00002.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46228326/ns/2013-05-11_00003.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46228326/ns/2013-05-11_00004.jpg

DC_Darkling · May 2013

omg 74 ms needed to draw each frame.
There is a problem, right there @xen32.

Again that enternode command & weird profiler values... hmm
again the render threat.

You want the find the biggest purple bars in the render section of the profiler, and extend them as much as possible. (open the + icons)

Just a idea. Try every setting on/off or min/max in the graphics setting, so exclude a possible bug with one of the render options?
Do it one at a time so your fps doesnt nosedive more if your pc shouldnt be able to handle it.

Thing to look for is the render thread value in r_stats 1 and the purple bars in profiler.

Anyone have performance issues since build 246?

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