Horrible framerate when using multiple viewports :-(

[unmerged(264056)]

Hi there,

I've got a real problem, both with the open beta and the demo. My PC (Core2Quad, 4gb ram, Windows 7 x64, Radeon HD4850 512mb) runs the game at 1920x1080 with 4x aa and ansio filtering on at about 60fps. However, if any additional viewport is rendered (such as clicking a person and having the camera selected in the bottom right) then the framerate drops massively to around 15fps. The same goes when the build menus are open and the vehicle models are being rendered. This is really frustrating, as obviously at lower framerates the game is pretty unresponsive, and it's a pain to always have this slow down when buying vehicles.

Any ideas? I'm bang up to date driver wise.

 

[co_damsku]

Hi BFA,

Is 1920x1080 the native resolution of your screen?
I would guess you could try a couple of things, maybe it would help to identify where this issue comes from, as it's a kinda weird one
First, turn AA off (completely, you can do that from the Graphics menu in the Options menu), I got no idea how the game is implemented, but the viewports probably are rendertextures and not "physical" viewports, and with some cards/drivers there has been known issue when mixing non-AA targets with AA targets and vice versa.
Second, if the former did not help, keep the AA off and set your resolution to 720p (1280×720) which is what console games usually run with (still reasonable IMHO). This should make the fillrate better, so if you are pixel bound, you will get a noticeable improvement.
If you do get good results at that point, try and put AA 4x back in, that will give you what I consider the standard quality I expect from any game

I am looking forward to hear if the disabled AA will solve or at least sensibly help your problem
Thanks !

xD

 

[unmerged(264056)]

I've tried dropping the resolution in the past, and this does make the problem less severe. But even at 1280x720 it still can't hold 30fps with the train purchase screen open or anything in the bottom right "viewport". Again, without these open it'll happily run at 60fps.

Hadn't thought about the mix of rendertargets - will try turning AA off and see if it makes any difference, and as rendering isn't really my field of expertise I really appreciate the advice

 

[unmerged(264056)]

Yeah, looks like it is as you suggested related to AA. With AA off I actually seem to be getting a slightly lower framerate during the game (go figure - this was literally just starting the tutorial section up in the demo and scrolling around), but opening the other "viewports" only nocked the framerate down by a couple of fps. It's been far too long since I did any graphics work (I'm a games programmer myself), but here's hoping Colossal Order can fix that one in a patch, I already miss my AA :-(

 

[Poro-]

Also you can try "use system cursor" setting, this improved my framerate even with full aa etc.

 

[co_damsku]

Did this actually improve your fps? Or did it only make the mouse less laggy?

 

[Poro-]

Did this actually improve your fps? Or did it only make the mouse less laggy?

It completely fixed the mouse lag, and improved FPS slightly as well. I think there is something f*cked up with the cursor. xD

It seems that with AA cranked up, the mouse lag with game cursor gets worse.

 

[co_damsku]

Yeah, looks like it is as you suggested related to AA. With AA off I actually seem to be getting a slightly lower framerate during the game (go figure - this was literally just starting the tutorial section up in the demo and scrolling around), but opening the other "viewports" only nocked the framerate down by a couple of fps. It's been far too long since I did any graphics work (I'm a games programmer myself), but here's hoping Colossal Order can fix that one in a patch, I already miss my AA :-(

That's odd you are getting a slower framerate. Not quite sure where that one comes from, but the small fps drops is expected when seeing a "viewport" since it does actually render more objects.
If the AA is the problem, I am not sure if the developers will be able to do much about it. I recall it was some issues with 16bits rendertargets using AA which needed a special blit to resolve to a non-AA target for later sampling or something in that kind and that was only an ATI issue, there again I bumped into this with dx9 and the game seems to be using openGL so I got no good insights on the drivers status. I am sure the developers will look into it though

 

[co_damsku]

It completely fixed the mouse lag, and improved FPS slightly as well. I think there is something f*cked up with the cursor. xD

It seems that with AA cranked up, the mouse lag with game cursor gets worse.

If the game cursor is rendered in-game, using higher AA = slower framerate, so it would explain why the lag would be dependant on the AA level

 

[unmerged(267136)]

Hi there,

I've got a real problem, both with the open beta and the demo. My PC (Core2Quad, 4gb ram, Windows 7 x64, Radeon HD4850 512mb) runs the game at 1920x1080 with 4x aa and ansio filtering on at about 60fps. However, if any additional viewport is rendered (such as clicking a person and having the camera selected in the bottom right) then the framerate drops massively to around 15fps. The same goes when the build menus are open and the vehicle models are being rendered. This is really frustrating, as obviously at lower framerates the game is pretty unresponsive, and it's a pain to always have this slow down when buying vehicles.

Any ideas? I'm bang up to date driver wise.

I have the same issue with the FPS drop! Try to turn HRL lightning off and also change the cursor to system cursor. It should help.