Author Topic: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization  (Read 2767 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Mr_C

  • 22
Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Hi all, I'm having a problem with FSO for some years now. I thought it was due to the limits of a GTX750TI I had. Now the system I use is an overclocked 8370, 16Gb Ram and an RX580 8Gb. There is no change in fps. I get slow downs that make gameplay choppy. Opening up task manager shows low CPU utilization on all cores and the GPU is also low. I don't get it  :confused:
For example, in Blue Planet, the Massive battle simulator gives 6.8fps average with CPU running at 20% and GPU around 47%.
Kentauroi race starts up at 37 fps typically, but if I turn the ship and look at empty space for a couple seconds, then, it goes up to 75fps and when I turn back around it holds the higher fps...
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. What other information do you need?
« Last Edit: June 17, 2019, 10:24:42 pm by Mr_C »

 

Offline Mito [PL]

  • 210
  • Proud Member of Slavicus Mechanicus
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Freespace Open utilises only a single CPU core, hence low total usage. You'd need to monitor the one core that bears most of the load. It's normal for the GPU to do next to nothing when the CPU chokes up.

While FSO gets about 30% of a performance hit on AMD graphic cards due to poor OpenGL driver support, the 580 should be more than enough to play this game comfortably.

You could also try playing the Icarus cutscene (first mission of War in Heaven 2), I think it's a bit more realistic load.

As for the graphic settings you can try to squeeze more FPS by disabling shadows. You could also check if disabling deferred lighting brings any increase in performance.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

  • HLP is my mistress
  • 213
  • Aken Tigh Dekker- you've probably heard me
    • My old squad sub-domain
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Resolution and detail are the two things that hit me most.
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
President of the Scooby Doo Model Appreciation Society
The only good Zod is a dead Zod
NEWGROUNDS COMEDY GOLD, UPDATED DAILY
http://badges.steamprofile.com/profile/default/steam/76561198011784807.png

 

Offline deathspeed

  • 29
  • i can't think of a good avatar
    • Steam
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Is FSO one of those games that benefits from setting the CPU core affinity to single core?  I remember doing that for some older game in the past.
Maybe someday God will give you a little pink toaster of your own.

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

  • HLP is my mistress
  • 213
  • Aken Tigh Dekker- you've probably heard me
    • My old squad sub-domain
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Give it a try :yes:
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
President of the Scooby Doo Model Appreciation Society
The only good Zod is a dead Zod
NEWGROUNDS COMEDY GOLD, UPDATED DAILY
http://badges.steamprofile.com/profile/default/steam/76561198011784807.png

 

Offline Mito [PL]

  • 210
  • Proud Member of Slavicus Mechanicus
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Resolution and detail level should mostly have effect on the GPU usage. I doubt it will help with CPU bottlenecks, unless you go down to potato levels.

You could try setting FSO affinity to one or two cores (I've seen it regularly do stuff on the second one, not sure why). Another thing would be setting its priority to something higher or even real time.

Also note that WiH has got some really complex lighting in missions and it complicates the rendering work a lot. Many other FSO campaigns need far less power to play comfortably.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 

Offline Mr_C

  • 22
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Disabling shadows helped a little.
And yes, one core was close to 85%.
Setting affinity maxed out that specific core and maybe helps 1-2 fps.
Anything but the native resolution looks, well, not as great.
So it looks like the bottle neck is the CPU single core performance like you said.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

 

Offline niffiwan

  • 211
  • Eluder Class
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
(I've seen it regularly do stuff on the second one, not sure why).

There's a small amount of multi-threading in FSO, IIRC the "standard" music runs in its own thread.
Creating a fs2_open.log | Red Alert Bug = Hex Edit | MediaVPs 2014: Bigger HUD gauges | 32bit libs for 64bit Ubuntu
----
Debian Packages (testing/unstable): Freespace2 | wxLauncher
----
m|m: I think I'm suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Bmpman is starting to make sense and it's actually written reasonably well...

 
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
shadow quality 2 is a spectacular framerate drain for not a lot of gain

AMD cards in general all underperform when running FSO since it uses OpenGL and AMD don’t have the resources to write good OGL drivers.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 

Offline Iain Baker

  • 210
  • 'Sup?
    • Steam
    • Twitter
    • NOMAD's Reviews
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
shadow quality 2 is a spectacular framerate drain for not a lot of gain


At the risk of sounding like a complete dumbass, how do you alter the shadow quality, and some of the other settings such as lighting? I have heard people tell of levels for such things, but I can't see them in the FSO settings or in the in-game options detail menu. Any advice greatly appreciated :-)
Wanna check out my video games, technology and media website? If so, visit; https://www.nomadsreviews.co.uk/

Interested in hiring my freelance writing, proof-reading, editing, SEO, TTSO, Web Development or Social Media Management services? If so, please messege me at [email protected]

 
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Through altering the command line - for Knossos probably custom settings, but I don't know for sure.

https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#-shadow_quality

 

Offline Iain Baker

  • 210
  • 'Sup?
    • Steam
    • Twitter
    • NOMAD's Reviews
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Through altering the command line - for Knossos probably custom settings, but I don't know for sure.

https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#-shadow_quality

Thank you. At the risk of sounding even more of a dumbass, how do I use command line flag, alter the command line etc? It might be worthwhile updating the wiki page with this info for newbies and general technophobes like me  :lol:
Wanna check out my video games, technology and media website? If so, visit; https://www.nomadsreviews.co.uk/

Interested in hiring my freelance writing, proof-reading, editing, SEO, TTSO, Web Development or Social Media Management services? If so, please messege me at [email protected]

 
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Doesn't Knossos have a "custom settings" configurator? For all other launcher you only have to edit the cmdline_fso.cfg in the data folder.

 

Offline Iain Baker

  • 210
  • 'Sup?
    • Steam
    • Twitter
    • NOMAD's Reviews
Re: Low FPS, CPU and GPU utilization
Doesn't Knossos have a "custom settings" configurator? For all other launcher you only have to edit the cmdline_fso.cfg in the data folder.

Yup, I figured it out. I just added the -fps to the end of the text in the custom flags box in global flags, the hit apply to all. It musy have worked because I now see the FPS counter in the corner of the screen. I set shadows to 1 and reduced the anisotrophic filtering a bit and Icarus is running smoother now - a nice consistent 40-60 FPS with a slight drop to 35FPS when ships are 'over flacking'   :p
Wanna check out my video games, technology and media website? If so, visit; https://www.nomadsreviews.co.uk/

Interested in hiring my freelance writing, proof-reading, editing, SEO, TTSO, Web Development or Social Media Management services? If so, please messege me at [email protected]