[RESOLVED] Framerate Issue

[Castruccio]

you could try starting up a youtube video that's looping and mute it

like this http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=Twp4Fjjo8J0&p=n#/0;29

Does this do the same thing when you play AVWW than Dins curse? Youtube has hardware playback so that SHOULD trigger the 3d mode as well....

Yes.  When I loop a youtube video I get between 20-30 more fps in game, and about 15-20 more fps on the world map.

[keith.lamothe]

Yes.  When I loop a youtube video I get between 20-30 more fps in game, and about 15-20 more fps on the world map.

After a few months of experience working on AIW and working with Chris (who knows a ton about how graphics and the cards work), I realized I really knew almost nothing about graphics programming.

Now, I'm thinking I may want to stay that way

[Bluddy]

The problem is that these ATI drivers are out there, so Castruccio's issue is representative of thousands of people. My guess is that this has to do with ATI's optimizations for Aero on a mobile card. You guys may have to do extra random work on the GPU to get it to work at the needed level.

[Castruccio]

Yeah, if people have these mobile ATI cards then they may all be affected.  For now, the fix to get an average of 20-25 more fps on an ATI Mobility Radeon card is apparently to loop 2 "My Little Pony" youtube videos (thanks Eraser) in the background at 720p while you play.  I dare you to put that one in the patch notes Chris or Keith!

[keith.lamothe]

But why does my laptop with a mobile ATI card not have this problem?

[Castruccio]

But why does my laptop with a mobile ATI card not have this problem?

Well it could be this particular series of cards which the drivers refer to as "AMD Radeon HD 6500M/5600/5700 Series."  My particular card is a 5650 running on the 12.1 Catalyst Control Center and drivers. 

[BobTheJanitor]

to loop 2 "My Little Pony" youtube videos

This is the solution to most problems in life, I find.

[keith.lamothe]

to loop 2 "My Little Pony" youtube videos

This is the solution to most problems in life, I find.

They are significantly less silly than certain ATI cards, at least.

[Bluddy]

But why does my laptop with a mobile ATI card not have this problem?

I assume that the card is low-end enough, or old enough, or came before Aero was popular, so that the drivers don't do this optimization (maybe the drivers are older too?). Perhaps the card doesn't support being only partially on -- that's a tricky thing to do (I think -- at least on CPUs it is).

I guess the first thing to do though is to find out if this is something common or an individual issue.

[keith.lamothe]

I'm not certain Aero is even on on my machine, I tend to gut the always-on list of processes pretty thoroughly, though I think I was less vigilant with this machine.

[Castruccio]

But why does my laptop with a mobile ATI card not have this problem?

I assume that the card is low-end enough, or old enough, or came before Aero was popular, so that the drivers don't do this optimization (maybe the drivers are older too?). Perhaps the card doesn't support being only partially on -- that's a tricky thing to do (I think -- at least on CPUs it is).

I guess the first thing to do though is to find out if this is something common or an individual issue.

Here is the relevant info on the card and those like it:  http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650.23697.0.html

[zebramatt]

But why does my laptop with a mobile ATI card not have this problem?

A wizard.

[keith.lamothe]

A wizard.

We're off to kill the wizard...

[Castruccio]

In lieu of a Wizard, my suspicion is that in AVWW 5.0 Chris will make some incredible change like he did with AI War that makes the game twice as efficient as it was with 1.0.  In the meantime, I've been seeing a lot of my little pony. 

[eRe4s3r]

Well the issues is not as crazy as it sounds. As I said, the GPU likely powers up based on actual gpu-load, probably if it exceeds 50%, so the answer to your performance problem is to crank EVERYTHING UP ;p .. and play "When I am crazy" on loop ;p

And don't worry, looped play-back via that site does not display in your youtube video history.. hehe ;P

But this is a huge discovery, this.. this is like inventing the wheel. How many FPS problems can be traced back to this issue? Wow...