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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace & FreeSpace Open Support => Topic started by: NicolayKhan on May 19, 2015, 06:49:39 am

Title: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: NicolayKhan on May 19, 2015, 06:49:39 am
Hello folks, so, to make this as simple as possible:
I'm playing FSPort with MediaVPs_2014
My FPS is at 60 all the time EXCEPT when I look at a system star, then it tanks to exactly 20, or exactly 15 if another ship is present on the screen at the same time. Since the numbers are so exact, I'm guessing this is due to some setting or another, I just can't for the life of mine figure out which one. Is there a way to just disable the blinding star glow to begin with, it serves no purpose for me other than disrupting FPS, disrupting gameplay and making certain missions a literal pain on the eyes.
Please let me know if there is any other info/details you need.
Nico the noob.
Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: The E on May 19, 2015, 07:10:14 am
At a guess, and given your description of the issue, make sure to disable VSYNC in the launcher and, if applicable, in your GPU driver's control panel. Secondly, you could try a nightly build (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=89755.0), these have a completely new renderer which may or may not run better on your system. If that doesn't help, Please post your fs2_open.log file.  Instructions on how to do this can be found in this post.
Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: NicolayKhan on May 19, 2015, 07:49:16 am
Thank you so much for your time and effort.
Attaching the log.
I selected both"Disable vertical sync" and "Don't limit frames per second". Now the FPS goes to about 170, and, surprisingly, to exactly 30 when looking at a star. I don't even know what to think anymore.
Going to attempt the nightly build now...

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Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: NicolayKhan on May 19, 2015, 08:04:42 am
The nightly build you linked runs at ~43 FPS, 20 on stars and ships blinking in and out of existence depending on a view angle. That's a complete no-go.
Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: Luis Dias on May 19, 2015, 08:39:35 am
Have you tried to click "Disable Lightshafts" from the Advanced Settings > Graphics section of the launcher?
Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: The E on May 19, 2015, 09:06:55 am
According to your log, you're running this thign on an Intel 4400. Is that the only GPU in your system?

Secondly, be aware that the new builds include shadows; you should probably disable them in the Launcher. There, you can also try disabling the deferred renderer and see what happens then.
Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: NicolayKhan on May 19, 2015, 09:34:48 am
Cheers! Disabling lightshafts doubles the star fps. Now it is 140-170 with just ships and 60 with star on screen, or 60/30 with Vsync to reduce screen tearing. This already makes the game much more playable.
My notebook is supposed to have Nvidia Geforce 840M. I shall investigate.
Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: NicolayKhan on May 19, 2015, 10:04:05 am
Ok, that was actually the basis of the problem. For some reason my notebook decided to use integrated Intel HD instead of Nvidia card for FSO. I looked the problem up and forced the use of the dedicated Nvidia GPU through the Nvidia control panel menu and now run consistent 60 FPS with vsync and about 51 when looking at the star with lightshafts on.
Thank you both for your time and effort. I truly appreciate it.
You can check the log again if you like, but I looked at it with my noob vision TM and it now says Geforce 840 where it said Intel 4400 before.


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Title: Re: FPS tanks when looking at stars
Post by: jr2 on May 19, 2015, 01:02:08 pm
Side note:  is there a way for FS to flag itself as a graphics intensive program to the nVidia or AMD + Intel auto-select system?

EDIT: Also, was I the only one who read the title as "First Person Shooter tanks {as in the treaded vehicle} when looking at stars" {at which I was wondering what kind of WoT mod we were talking about}