Author Topic: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?  (Read 4167 times)

Offline Zair

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[8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« on: September 10, 2014, 11:23:24 am »
Oh, boy. I haven't been here to report something in a long time. I really should do a better job of remembering / noting down what my mantis password is!

Steam pulled AI War 8.009 for me this morning. I didn't think much of it until I loaded a game I started last night in a galaxy I knew was still going to be rather empty because there was only twenty minutes of gametime in it.

I noticed pretty much right away that the zoom in on Home Command that happens on load was way too choppy for what my machine is capable of, especially in a galaxy where nothing of real value is happening yet. After checking in Graphics Settings for any new toggles I might not have been aware of, I next went to the in-game performance profile settings and deliberately started screwing with it to see if that had something to do with it. Yep - setting it to something ridiculous like 166ms caused the Champion I was using as a test ship to start skipping more than a shiplength in distance every time the game redrew rather than being a graceful glider that just happened to be slow to respond.

My default performance profile is 33ms, baggage from my previous machine. I've upgraded since my last major AI War binge. :p If I was on 17ms (current machine can handle this just fine) I may not have noticed, but my old unchanged default of 33 caused the framerate coupling issues to pop out at me right away.

Current machine, if it helps!

Custom Build:
Intel Core i5-3570 (3.4GHz, 4 cores)
16GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, fully up-to-date as of earlier this week
Boot drive / Steam drive is an SSD, but Steam games (including AI War) are on spinning disk storage.

All of the above is with the game running through Steam. I'm going to try running it with Overlay disabled, then completely independent of Steam to see if that has any relation to this condition.

edit:

Steam, Steam w/o Overlay and Launch without Steam doesn't seem to matter. I had to check to see if Steam was part of the problem, I know it's been giving you guys a few headaches recently.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 11:28:05 am by Zair »

Offline x4000

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2014, 11:25:26 am »
This is intended-but-stupid behavior, don't worry, I'll fix it.  You've given me plenty of info to deal with this.  Thanks! :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Zair

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2014, 11:29:20 am »
This is intended-but-stupid behavior, don't worry, I'll fix it.  You've given me plenty of info to deal with this.  Thanks! :)

I love you, you got back to me before I even managed to run the Steamless test. :p

Okay, time for me to see how big the galaxy can get before my box starts choking on 17ms updates!

Offline x4000

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2014, 11:31:56 am »
No problem.  ;D

I'll have a fix out within 15ish minutes, I've already got it about halfway done.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline x4000

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2014, 12:02:36 pm »
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline DrNoid

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2014, 12:55:12 pm »
Steam just updated my Linux version to 8.010 and I found problems:

Load a game, jump to a battle, click "message log", close message log, hit the pause button
The game is now stuck in "Pausing..."

It sometimes also happens when there is no battle, but in a battle it's 100% reproducible.


The game claims it does 800FPS (even though my monitor only supports 60 and vsync is on) yet it still seems incredibly choppy. When watching bullets fly I can see 'em jump, even if there is only one bullet on screen. Yesterday that was much smoother.

Offline Fleet Unity

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2014, 01:04:42 pm »
I also noticed the icons when you zoom out look fuzzy or all the colors not filled in. Has anyone else noticed this? Also I first noticed it on version 8.008.

Offline x4000

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2014, 03:44:29 pm »
Okay, there is a new version 8.011, hopefully that helps: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Current_Post-8.000_Beta#Official_8.011

@DrNoid: I can't duplicate the pausing... thing, but I was on my windows machine.  I'm going to fire up my linux install and see what I can see in the latest version.  What are your performance settings (under the Stats screen in-game) set to?  If those are set very low, then it's supposed to be choppy -- that's basically what that does.  You might go for 50ms or higher to make it look nice and smooth (but cost more CPU).  Are you playing multiplayer, by any chance?
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Offline Fleet Unity

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2014, 03:50:05 pm »
Thanks for fixing the icons and the game is running more smoothly after the last few updates I can actually play on high now as I usually used the average setting but it is more choppy now I think this is because my computer should have been able to use high all along I just usually used average. :)

Offline x4000

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2014, 04:04:28 pm »
Awesome. :)

In terms of the choppiness, that's actually a separate issue, and one I'm looking into at the moment.  Thanks!
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Offline Fleet Unity

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2014, 04:11:00 pm »
Awesome. :)

In terms of the choppiness, that's actually a separate issue, and one I'm looking into at the moment.  Thanks!

Ok also I noticed if you hold the space bar to follow your ship or ships it draws them twice or makes it look like one is see thru. Normal ship moving does not seem affected.

Offline x4000

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2014, 04:12:19 pm »
Awesome. :)

In terms of the choppiness, that's actually a separate issue, and one I'm looking into at the moment.  Thanks!

Ok also I noticed if you hold the space bar to follow your ship or ships it draws them twice or makes it look like one is see thru. Normal ship moving does not seem affected.

That... is super odd!  But it's an awesome clue, thank you for that.  It points me in the right direction (I hope) for the larger thing.
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Offline Fleet Unity

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2014, 04:16:04 pm »
Awesome. :)

In terms of the choppiness, that's actually a separate issue, and one I'm looking into at the moment.  Thanks!

Ok also I noticed if you hold the space bar to follow your ship or ships it draws them twice or makes it look like one is see thru. Normal ship moving does not seem affected.

That... is super odd!  But it's an awesome clue, thank you for that.  It points me in the right direction (I hope) for the larger thing.

No problem I thought it was odd as well as I am not sure if it happened on version older than 8.008 or not I use the follow option from time to time but not a lot.

Offline x4000

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Offline Fleet Unity

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Re: [8.009] Game redraw speed coupled to Performance Profile?
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2014, 05:21:06 pm »
Okay, both are fixed now: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Current_Post-8.000_Beta#Official_8.012

Thanks!

Average settings seems less choppy now but when you use space bar to follow your ship or ships the camera still shakes while they are moving other than that the normal ships movement is working fine.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 06:29:40 pm by Fleet Unity »

 

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