Alpha 8 - Performance Investigation Part I

Discussion in 'FAQ & Feedback' started by Hummel-o-War, Jun 12, 2018.

  1. Hummel-o-War

    Hummel-o-War Administrator Staff Member Community Manager

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    Hello everyone,
    as you can read from the extensive changelog, we added a whole lot of new tech and other code to make Alpha 8 look and feel and play the way it now does. And, although the increase in size of the new planets did not have an effect on performance, the new shaders we use to make the terrain and the whole playfield atmosphere more varied, immersive and nicer, will have - simply because they are new and not fully optimized yet.

    During the EXP phase, we already collected info about where bottlenecks can happen and what possibly can be optimized.

    But we need a more generalized and organized approach on that topic to make real progress on that matter!


    That's the point where we want YOU to chime in! :)

    What we want you to do is the following:

    1. Start a FRESH new Alpha 8 game
    2. Activate FPS counter (F8)
    3. Open Console (ö or ~ ) and type in 'di' (> this will add an overlay at the top right)
    4. Go in a place where your FPS drop THE MOST (lowest FPS)
    5. Make a Screenshot
    6. Open Console and type in 'stats'
    7. Make a Screenshot WHILE CONSOLE IS OPEN
    8. Add the FPS-Screenshot and the Console Screenshot to this thread
    9. Add your system Specs to your report.
    10. Make a screenshot of your OPTIONS menu and add to your report
    REPORT TEMPLATE:

    SYSTEM SPECS
    - (CPU)
    - (RAM)
    - (GCard, VRAM)

    QUALITY PRESET:
    (Fast,Medium,Best, Custom)

    CUSTOM QUALITY PRESETS:
    (add the settings that are NOT set to default for any preset, like using BEST but deactivating option X!)

    LOWEST FPS

    WHERE

    Scenario: (Default Random, Akua-Omicron, Dawn of Galaxy,....,Custom)
    IF Custom Scenario: (Download link / Workshop Link)
    Mode: Singleplayer

    Note: For technical reasons, please this time ONLY test in SINGLEPLAYER so we get the maximum compareable feedback!
     
    #1
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
  2. Hummel-o-War

    Hummel-o-War Administrator Staff Member Community Manager

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    EXAMPLE REPORT
    _______________________________


    SYSTEM SPECS
    - i5 6600 K
    - 16GB Ram
    - GF 1070, 8GB VRAM
    - Game installed on SSD disk (Samsung Evo 850)

    QUALITY PRESET:
    BEST

    CUSTOM QUALITY SETTINGS:
    - Deco Distance: FAR

    LOWEST FPS
    67

    WHERE
    Forest at dawn

    Scenario: DEFAULT RANDOM
    IF Custom Scenario: n/a
    Mode: Singleplayer

    20180612091257_1.jpg
    20180612091314_1.jpg
    20180612145838_1.jpg
     
    #2
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
  3. jd1969

    jd1969 Lieutenant

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    SYSTEM SPECS:
    - AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor
    - 8 GB Ram
    - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950/Primärer VRAM: 2047 MB
    - Game installed on SSD disk (Samsung Evo 850)

    Lowest FPS
    11

    Where: Forest

    Scenario: DEFAULT RANDOM
    Mode: Singleplayer

    Alpha 8.0_2018-06-12_14-30-48.png Screenshot (2).png Screenshot (3).png Alpha 8.0_2018-06-12_15-18-04.png

    I changed: shadows off and sky reflection off - not much more fps, but i dont really have a Problem with it, because my Geforce has 4gb total and Gameplay works out good for me :) any more you Need?
     
    #3
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
    Ambush In The Night likes this.
  4. Hummel-o-War

    Hummel-o-War Administrator Staff Member Community Manager

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    Thx!

    Question > can you add this info please as well? (Sry, just added the request ;)

    and
     
    #4
  5. Starmage21

    Starmage21 Lieutenant

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    SYSTEM SPECS
    - Core i7-3630QM @2.40GHz
    - 32GB (31.6 GB usable)
    - Quadro K1000M

    QUALITY PRESET: FAST

    CUSTOM QUALITY PRESETS:
    FAST EXCEPT:
    SSAO OFF
    Shadow Quality OFF

    LOWEST FPS
    9

    WHERE
    Escape Pod falling

    Scenario: Default Random (SEED: 614301)
    IF Custom Scenario: N/A
    Mode: Singleplayer

    upload_2018-6-12_9-50-39.png

    upload_2018-6-12_9-52-19.png
    upload_2018-6-12_9-53-48.png
     
    #5
  6. monktk

    monktk Captain

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    SYSTEM SPECS
    OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
    CPU: AMD FX 8350, ~4000 mhz
    RAM: 8 GB
    Video Card: NVidia GeForce GTX 960, 4 GB VRAM
    HDD: Western Digital Black 1 TB 7200 rpm (WD1003FZEX)
    SSD: None.



    QUALITY PRESET:
    Custom (Modified from Good/Medium)

    CUSTOM QUALITY PRESETS:
    SSAO: Off
    Grass Density: Low
    Tree Quality: High
    LoD Quality: High
    Shadows: Off
    Parallax Occlusion Mapping: High
    Anisotropic Filtering: Off




    LOWEST FPS: 61


    WHERE: Deep Forest at Sunset

    Scenario: Default Random
    Mode: Singleplayer


    20180612143918_1.jpg
    20180612144202_1.jpg
    20180612144937_1.jpg

    I pasted the 3 lower options in on the right.


    Edit: Aw crap I missed the "di" setting, I'm sorry. Let me see if I can get back to that spot triangulating off those distances to pois/deposits.

    Edit2: Found it, I apologize. Providing the full image to show that I found the correct spot:

    20180612151827_1.jpg
     
    #6
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2018
  7. jd1969

    jd1969 Lieutenant

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    I made some changes to get better FPS: You can see between Pic.1 and Pic.2, that the "Screen Space Reflections" takes a lot! The first Pic. are my final Settings now…. Screenshot (4).png Screenshot (7).png
     
    #7
  8. Ambush In The Night

    Ambush In The Night Lieutenant

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    Hi, here my investigation! :)

    SYSTEM SPECS
    - i5 4590
    - 16Gb Ram
    - GTX 950 / 2Gb

    QUALITY PRESET:
    Custom

    CUSTOM QUALITY PRESETS:
    Textures Quality: Half
    20180613064253_1.jpg

    Scenario: Default Random
    Mode: Singleplayer
    20180613064148_1.jpg

    I note different fps with cockpit view, Open cockpit and exterior view so I made several screenshots. Exterior view and Open Cockpit are nearly the same fps but I have -10 fps with cockpit view except in one case :confused: (see fps boost below)



    Init test -> time 0

    Cockpit view: 14 fps
    Open Cockpit view: 25 fps
    Exterior view: 26 fps
    20180613064524_1.jpg 20180613070257_1.jpg 20180613064325_1.jpg

    Lowest fps -> time 21403

    Cockpit view: 10 fps
    Open Cockpit / Exterior view: 21 fps
    20180613075821_1.jpg 20180613080019_1.jpg 20180613080037_1.jpg

    Fps Boost -> time 8084

    Cockpit view: 50 fps
    Exterior view: 46 fps
    20180613064853_1.jpg 20180613064904_1.jpg

    Keep going on Devs! Like always, on each alpha you made an amazing work :cool:
     
    #8
  9. Myrmidon

    Myrmidon Rear Admiral

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    SYSTEM SPECS (shown on screenshot)
    - i7 2600K @ 4,4GHz
    - 16GB DDR3
    - GIGABYTE GTX 1070 Gaming 8GB VRAM

    Game is installed on SSD Intenso 512GB

    GPU MAX Power is limited to 60% of maximum

    QUALITY PRESET:
    Custom

    CUSTOM QUALITY PRESETS:
    As shown on screenshot

    LOWEST FPS 46

    WHERE

    Scenario: Pandora
    IF Custom Scenario: Pandora WS link
    Mode: Singleplayer

    performance 1.png performance 2.png performance 3.png performance 4.png performance 5.png performance 6.png performance 7.png


    When GPU is set to 100% power

    LOWEST FPS 55

    performance 8.png



    Further playing and moving by foot through the forest give me even lower FPS...

    LOWEST FPS 35


    Pandora A8 v1_2018-06-13_11-34-31.png
    performance 9.png
     
    #9
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2018
  10. Marty

    Marty Commander

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    _____________________________

    SYSTEM SPECS
    - Intel Core I7 Extreme 975 @ 3.33GHz
    - DDR3 18GB Ram
    - EVGA GeForce GTX 1080, 8192 MB VRAM
    - Game installed on SSD disk (Samsung Pro 850, 512GB)

    QUALITY PRESET:
    BEST

    CUSTOM QUALITY SETTINGS:
    - Deco Distance: FAR

    LOWEST FPS
    20

    WHERE
    Deep Forrest

    Scenario: DEFAULT RANDOM
    IF Custom Scenario: n/a
    Mode: Singleplayer

    1.jpg
    2.jpg
    3.jpg
     
    #10
  11. wimpy

    wimpy Commander

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    SYSTEM SPECS
    - i7 870 @2.93
    - 8GB Ram
    - evga 1050ti ftw, 4GB VRAM
    - Game installed on SSD disk (Samsung Evo 850)

    QUALITY PRESET:
    fast

    CUSTOM QUALITY SETTINGS:
    - Deco Distance: near

    LOWEST FPS
    14

    WHERE
    Deep Forest

    Scenario: DEFAULT RANDOM
    IF Custom Scenario: n/a
    Mode: Singleplayer
     

    Attached Files:

    #11
  12. Lonesome Joe

    Lonesome Joe Lieutenant

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    Something is seriously wrong with your shiny new Deep Forest biome, guys.
    Empyrion 8.0 seems to run just fine in general (aside from the stutter once in a while when the Unity engine runs its garbage collection, which isn't unique to Empyrion at all), but when I enter a Deep Forest there is a very noticeable frame rate drop, followed very shortly, like in 30 seconds or so, by the fans on my graphics card spooling up to the level where I can clearly hear them; something they very, very rarely do. In fact, the only other game that has ever managed to cause the fans to spool up enough to be noisy was Total Warhammer, and that one caused my system to overheat after a while.
    This phenomenon appears to be even worse during (in-game) sunset, but that's just my limited experience.
    Leaving the biome will cool the card back down after a couple of minutes; what's really odd is the speed with which it heats up when entering a DF biome.
    I have played around with disabling SSAO and Antialiasing and reducing tree quality, but the issue persists.

    I7 3770K, 3.5 GHz
    16 GB RAM
    GTX 980 with 4 GB of VRAM

    My costum graphics options can be gleaned from the screenshot included, but I guess the major difference from the presets is that I have Screen Space Reflection and Depth of Field turned off, and Antialiasing set to low.

    Lowest FPS is 30-40ish, from a normal steady 50
    Location is (any) Deep Forest biome.

    ReportSShot.jpg
    ReportConsole.jpg
    ReportOptions.jpg
     
    #12
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2018
  13. StyxAnnihilator

    StyxAnnihilator Captain

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    I do not have "lag" but "freezes" now and then when try enjoy Single Player (IM8). For maybe a second nothing responds, then everything OK. In a short period of time it can happen several times, then OK for a good while. Probably something with my system, like wifi that I use for the moment, where the speed might be a bit unstable.

    For time being no need to comment on this, until I have more detailed info or others have similar issues.

    (EDIT: So far in 8.2.x it seems fine.)

    I play with everything on max with 4K resolution, "turbo mode" off:
    MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X (11 GB)
    MSI X299M Gaming Pro Carbon AC, S-2066
    Intel Core i7-7820X
    Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240
    Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR4 2666MHz 32GB
    Samsung 970 EVO 500GB PCIe SSD (1 partition)
    Fractal Design Define Mini C - Window
    Corsair TX750M, 750W PSU
     
    #13
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2018
  14. macrollat

    macrollat Ensign

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    SYSTEM SPECS
    - (Intel Core i7 - 2630QM 2.0 ghz)
    - (8Gb RAM, don't remember the model)
    - (nVidia GeForce GT540m 2GB)

    QUALITY PRESET:
    (Custom)

    CUSTOM QUALITY PRESETS:
    (SSAO: off, shadows: off)

    LOWEST FPS
    8
    WHERE
    in front of the sea, escape pod, 13 fps everywhere else
    Scenario: (Default Random)
    IF Custom Scenario: (n/a)
    Mode: Singleplayer

    I used to be able to play Empyrion on low to medium settings at 30 fps average, now I get 13 or 15 everywhere. I know my rig is old, but it shouldn't be this bad just from one update. (All options on lowest settings.)
     

    Attached Files:

    #14
  15. Myrmidon

    Myrmidon Rear Admiral

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    Waking up an old thread since I am encountering a performance issue (and as it seems some other players do too). It is described on this thread

    Frame Time spikes every few seconds (gameplay performance issue)

    Summary : Spiking on Frame Times and drop on FPS that occur every few seconds, while flying on any planet. Bellow I have captured a video showing the issue and the monitoring tool showing my configuration. Tested on two SSDs, the second had a RAM cache of 1GB (Rapid Mode of Samsung Magician software). Tested various video configurations and even disabling the Meltdown patch and Antivirus on my PC.



    It does not happen in space and not while in a BA, but gets worse in heavy fights where many enemies (POIS and Zirax) are involved.
     
    #15
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  16. StyxAnnihilator

    StyxAnnihilator Captain

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    Sadly still have the freeze issue, even with 50 FPS and gone down to 2K res. Particularly noticeable when using F5 Drone or played for some hours, then "micro freezes" happens every few seconds. Could be a driver/optimization reason, so can see the behavior in ea9.0 or so.
     
    #16
  17. Fractalite

    Fractalite Rear Admiral

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    I will also post in this thread: I am having similar problems to Myrmidon(and I presume Styx) here. I can tolerate it when I am out and about flying, but near clusters of enemy POI's it is brutal. I have a wonder; does the game load and unload the zirax patrols around POI's when you near them?

    Related, I am also seeing dramatic performance drops when right on the threshold of a series of Bp's since the "load the structures at a certain distance" feature was added:

    20180914173029_1.jpg

    This is, in fairnes, multiplayer and the BP's involved are more complex ones. BUT! I suspect the issue may also happen in single player and is related to the dramatic slow downs I see in the first problem mentioned in this post - clusters of POI's and the enemies around the POI's. This is just speculation on my part, but I would like to solve this. There was also a period pre-8.0 where there were performance minor pausing, and these may be those same problems just amplified.

    The frame-rate seems to be about the same even with the spikes; 15 - 35 in the evenings/mornings and 45 - 65 everywhere else, but here is a brief system over-view:

    CPU: Intel I7-6700HQ 2.6GHZ
    Ram: 12 GB
    Video Card: Nvidia 1060 6GB
    Harddrive: SSD/Disk hybrid - game is on the SSD
    Windows: 10 Home 64
     
    #17
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2018

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