Big FPS hit. Why? Bug?

In DCS: A-10C there was some massive framerate drops when you looked in certain directions with no real explanation.

Tested the same thing in DCS: World, and it`s still there, but much better.

Perfect example:

- Load the mission editor

- Place 1 unit on the airfield of Novorossiysk

- Start the mission

- Start to pan the view around

- Look towards the harbor

In my experience, looking everywhere EXCEPT the harbor gives me 70+ FPS. As soon as I pan the view so the harbor comes into view the FPS goes down. In DCS: A-10C, it went down to roughly 30-35 FPS. In DCS: World it goes down to about 40-43 FPS.

Is there anything special about harbors? Why are they such a resource hog?

Looking at my task manager and Nvidia Inspector, I can see that the CPU get taxed to the max when the harbor comes into view, at the same time the GPU load goes down. As soon as I pan the view so the harbor is no longer in view, the CPU load goes down and the GPU load goes back up.

Any gurus that can shed a light on this? Supposed to be like this? I can look at bigger citys, with less hit, then what I get by looking at that small harbor.

Regards

TZeer

The amount of objects increases about 100 times when looking into the city.

Nate

In DCS: A-10C there was some massive framerate drops when you looked in certain directions with no real explanation.

 

Tested the same thing in DCS: World, and it`s still there, but much better.

 

Perfect example:

 

- Load the mission editor

- Place 1 unit on the airfield of Novorossiysk

- Start the mission

- Start to pan the view around

- Look towards the harbor

 

In my experience, looking everywhere EXCEPT the harbor gives me 70+ FPS. As soon as I pan the view so the harbor comes into view the FPS goes down. In DCS: A-10C, it went down to roughly 30-35 FPS. In DCS: World it goes down to about 40-43 FPS.

 

Is there anything special about harbors? Why are they such a resource hog?

 

Looking at my task manager and Nvidia Inspector, I can see that the CPU get taxed to the max when the harbor comes into view, at the same time the GPU load goes down. As soon as I pan the view so the harbor is no longer in view, the CPU load goes down and the GPU load goes back up.

 

Any gurus that can shed a light on this? Supposed to be like this? I can look at bigger citys, with less hit, then what I get by looking at that small harbor.

 

Regards

 

TZeer

There is a way to reduce the FPS hit, but it'll heavily reduce the draw distance of many objects - look in \Config\graphics.cfg line 194:

structures = {60, 20000};

change to

structures = {60, 10000};

or you could go even lower, such as

structures = {60, 5000};

but like i said, it'll seriously cut down the draw distance of some structures, so experiment until you get a satifactory setting.

The amount of objects increases about 100 times when looking into the city.

 

Nate

I know that. But as I said. I can look at the entire city without getting the same hit. It's just when the harbor comes into the view this happens.

I tested on another city that was larger. And I had no such performance drop. Are the objects in the harbor that many? Or that resource intensive?

I'll try and make a FRAPS so it's easier to see what I mean.

The amount of objects increases about 100 times when looking into the city.

 

Nate

It's because the harbor facilities are non city type .blk objects (like the hangars on airfields etc) they're set to render for 20km (20000 in graphics.cfg) it causes quite an FPS hit.

It's because the harbor facilities are non city type .blk objects (like the hangars on airfields etc) they're set to render for 20km (20000 in graphics.cfg) it causes quite an FPS hit.

Makes no difference if you are only 5km away from the city.

Nate

Makes no difference if you are only 5km away from the city.

 

Nate

Actually it does, give it a try with the graphics.cfg line set to structures = {60, 5000}; and note how much smoother it is even up close.

Heres an example of how this affects novorossiysk area

default structures = {60, 20000}; FPS is around 20-24

changed to structures = {60, 5000}; its close to double around 40-50 FPS, it looks a bit bare at that distance but move in close and the structures slowly start to appear

Personally though, i prefer a setting of structures = {60, 10000}; so it matches the draw distance of the rest of city, the above examples are an extreme measure to obtain as much FPS as possible.

Ah I see now - IIRC the default for this distance was changed for BS2 - The second screenshot looks like early Warthog screens.

Still, the harbour doesn't look 5km away.

Nate

I've been testing this a liitle more, seems an even greater FPS increase can be gained by altering the first parameter on the structures line to:

structures = {30, 20000};

the 30 seems to control how many objects are rendered at certain distances, the closer you get the more gradual they appear.

I wished i could make those fancy graphs to show before and after FPS, i'm 100% certain there are increases to performance with little degredation in quality.

Thanks for the feedback on this question :)

Good to hear I wasn't totally off when I felt something was acting funny.

Will test these setting myself.

If you find any more useful info Mustang, please post here. Thanks!!!

Regards

TZeer

Wow!!

Just checked the settings you mentioned Mustang.

Changing this:

structures = {60, 20000};

to this:

structures = {30, 20000};

Made major impact on my FPS. Went from 38-39 and up to 60+ :)

Thanks!!

Wow!!

 

Just checked the settings you mentioned Mustang.

 

Changing this:

 

structures = {60, 20000};

 

to this:

 

structures = {30, 20000};

 

Made major impact on my FPS. Went from 38-39 and up to 60+ :)

 

Thanks!!

Yep it's like a magic bullet isn't it, nice one :)

Could such a setting work for trees too? I noticed how dense world seem to render forest and while cutting back draw distance it has a negative effect on the visual impression (hard edge where trees are stopping). I'd rather reduce the density and keep rendering distance up instead.

Could such a setting work for trees too? I noticed how dense world seem to render forest and while cutting back draw distance it has a negative effect on the visual impression (hard edge where trees are stopping). I'd rather reduce the density and keep rendering distance up instead.

Well, while there is no known parameters for the forests there might be a way to 'thin' the trees out, it might take some trial and error though.

If you look in \Bazar\Terrain\Structures\High\EDM folder you'll see all the tree models, such as 'trees_1.edm' 'trees_1_blk.edm' maybe if you remove certain models it'll reduce the amounts rendered.

might give this a try later tonite.

I note the default now, for High, is structures = {40, 20000};

I don't suppose there's as much benefit in changing this to 30 as before. I haven't even tested around harbours but I get a major drop, from 40-50fps to 23-30fps flying towards airfields so I was looking for a fix for that.