1.08 Impressions

[simplen00b]

OK - on the up side: played through Tears of St Lucia; it looked amazing (the sewers especially), I was chuffed I could still spidernoob my way to places I shouldn't be and performance was good-to-OK throughout. My impression from playing the stealth and climbing sections of the new training mission is that it's more noob-friendly than the original, and again it looks lush.

 

Not so good: Training mission (stealth section and climbing/mantling section at least) persistently runs slower - sometimes much slower - than 1.07. Average fps 30-40, with occasional drops down to 18-19 (e.g. rope swing across the river). In 1.07 it ran at about 62fps pretty much all the time.

 

Really not good: I helped beta-test Obsttorte's new FM, and in 1.07 I was generally running at 62fps with occasional drops down to 30 or so (especially when one particular door is opened and I'm looking at it). In 1.08, I'm generally getting 30-40fps (it sometimes blips back up to 62fps, but only for a couple of seconds), and when this particular door opens, it drops to 11-12fps (sometimes single figures). I've also had several crashes to desktop, usually when I switch from playing TDM to another program, which never happened with 1.07.

 

I've patched thedarkmod.exe with the 4GB ram patch. Laptop specs: Win 7 Pro (64 bit), 8GB RAM, i7-2670QM CPU, Nvidia GeForce GT 555M. I haven't had any problems opening missions so far. I just seem to be getting a performance hit. Any ideas why?

[Bikerdude]

Really not good: I helped beta-test Obsttorte's new FM, and in 1.07 I was generally running at 62fps with occasional drops down to 30 or so (especially when one particular door is opened and I'm looking at it). In 1.08, I'm generally getting 30-40fps (it sometimes blips back up to 62fps, but only for a couple of seconds), and when this particular door opens, it drops to 11-12fps (sometimes single figures). I've also had several crashes to desktop, usually when I switch from playing TDM to another program, which never happened with 1.07.

 

This seems to be a worrying trend, getting FPS drop in location that didnt have them before. That said, the secting in the training mission, can you tell me each location where the fps is low?

[grayman]

Here's what I'm not sure of: if the existing FM installs were detected in doom3/missionX and was used to play those missions while the new .pk4 files were sitting in darkmod/fms/missionX completely unused. Seeing as I deleted all traces of the FM folders in /doom3 and /darkmod/FMs for a clean download of the FM's from tdm_update, I have no way to verify that.

 

@taaaki:

 

If doom3/saintlucia/ and doom3/darkmod/fms/saintlucia/ both exist, which would TDM 1.08 run?

[i30817]

I hope the same File handle is used as origin/prefix on all the code after finding it. If the darkmod is using parts from vastly different installations, that's a clear bug.

Edited October 19, 2012 by i30817

[ungoliant]

If doom3/saintlucia/ and doom3/darkmod/fms/saintlucia/ both exist, which would TDM 1.08 run?

 

hmmm. It appears tdm_update just dumped the new pk4s into darkmod/fms/saintlucia and darkmod/fms/training_mission. However when choosing "install mission" before playing, TDM didn't pick up on the new .pk4, and just set the working directory to the old 1.07 install. The new .pk4's were never unpacked by TDM or tdm_update anywhere in the process, and just went about business as usual with the old installs.

[grayman]

The new .pk4's were never unpacked by TDM or tdm_update anywhere in the process, and just went about business as usual with the old installs.

 

That would explain what happened.

 

tdm_update doesn't do any unpacking of mission PK4s; that's the engine's job.

[simplen00b]

in the training mission, can you tell me each location where the fps is low?

Just done a quick playthrough - in general, in the climbing section I'd say (1) indoors/enclosed spaces - generally runs 25-35fps; (2) where sky is visible, 15-25fps; (3) looking up to the sky (e.g. to fire a rope arrow) can get 7-15fps.

 

Stealth is mostly better, but still 30-40fps. Main noticeable drop is the corridor section going down to the very first guard, as the following pix should show: -

 

HTH. Gonna go to bed now...

[New Horizon]

I've patched thedarkmod.exe with the 4GB ram patch. Laptop specs: Win 7 Pro (64 bit), 8GB RAM, i7-2670QM CPU, Nvidia GeForce GT 555M. I haven't had any problems opening missions so far. I just seem to be getting a performance hit. Any ideas why?

 

Oh, so it's possible to patch thedarkmod.exe with that patch too? Good to know.

 

Are you using different graphic settings than you used in 1.07? If you bring down the console, what are image_usecompression and image_usenormalcompression set to?

[simplen00b]

Oh, so it's possible to patch thedarkmod.exe with that patch too? Good to know.

Well, I assume it is . The patch didn't throw up any error messages when I ran it.

Are you using different graphic settings than you used in 1.07? If you bring down the console, what are image_usecompression and image_usenormalcompression set to?

image_usecompression = 1

image_usenormalcompression = 2

(Are they normal? Never looked at them before.)

Graphic settings (I may have had them higher in 1.07 and lowered them when I saw I was getting fps drop in 1.08): -

Vertical sync - No

Antialiasing - Off

Texture anisotropy - 1x

Ambient rendering - Simple

Interaction shader - Default

Post-processing - Disabled

Object details (LOD) - Lowest

 

Gone 2am so signing off for the night . Will check back in tomorrow...

[Bikerdude]

Stealth is mostly better, but still 30-40fps. Main noticeable drop is the corridor section going down to the very first guard, as the following pix should show

Ok this is very worrying, that area had bugger all tris, ai, entities, anything that could cause a drop like that. And certainly not on the GPU you have.

[lost_soul]

Anybody had trouble with corruption on the textures of some doors? I saw this on two machines with identical hardware, on two separate missions. It was on St. Alban's Cathedral in the Watch's office. It is the bottom of the door. Once they were orange, another time, black.

[ungoliant]

tdm_update doesn't do any unpacking of mission PK4s; that's the engine's job.

my point was that it's the player's job to make the engine do that job. new or confused players with 1.07 installs of training mission or st lucia may not understand that their FM's have not been updated automatically when they go to start playing the FM, and thus far there is no documentation anywhere that says "you must uninstall these FM's then reinstall" anywhere.

[grayman]

my point was that it's the player's job to make the engine do that job. new or confused players with 1.07 installs of training mission or st lucia may not understand that their FM's have not been updated automatically when they go to start playing the FM, and thus far there is no documentation anywhere that says "you must uninstall these FM's then reinstall" anywhere.

 

@Spring, I thought I had read that very instruction (delete your existing Doom3/<mission>/ folders) somewhere in your notes when we were getting ready to release. But I don't see it on the main website. Could you add something along those lines?

[Baal]

@grayman:

My netbook has an AMD E350 processor. The built in GPU is relatively fast but the CPUs (2) are not. On this machine 1.08 runs well until I encounter AI. The framerate drops to around 10 fps (more or less). Do you think there is potential for performance improvements in that area?

[taaaki]

@taaaki:

 

If doom3/saintlucia/ and doom3/darkmod/fms/saintlucia/ both exist, which would TDM 1.08 run?

 

The new engine shouldn't even know that doom3/saintlucia exists.

 

EDIT: the only time that it would try and look for something in doom3/saintlucia is if +set fs_mod saintlucia was used, but fs_mod is currently read-only and hardcoded to "darkmod".

[grayman]

The new engine shouldn't even know that doom3/saintlucia exists.

 

Thanks.

 

Then I have no idea what happened to ungoliant's update, after which he ended up playing the old version of SL.

 

We'll have to see if others experience the same problem before we have more data to understand what's going on.

[simplen00b]

Just to say I've done a few side-by-side comparisons, playing freshly downloaded missions in 1.08 and in 1.07 (running from a TDM backup on a separate drive). FPS in 1.07 runs pretty consistently at 50-60fps in each mission, with occasional drops to 30-40; in 1.08, it's generally half that or less. Missions tested: Phrase Book, Too Late, Thief's Den. Outside areas particularly get slow - first section of Thief's Den runs 15-20 fps; the courtyard in Too Late runs 7-15fps. (Phrase Book runs about 20-25fps in the outside areas.)

 

I'll mention one other little 1.08 glitch I noticed in case it's useful - on the briefing page of Thief's Den, the 'Back' and 'Objectives' links at the bottom of the page were blacked out.

 

Hey, I've got a working version of 1.07. I'll wait to see if more info emerges that may identify the cause of my problem .

[Springheel]

I'll mention one other little 1.08 glitch I noticed in case it's useful - on the briefing page of Thief's Den, the 'Back' and 'Objectives' links at the bottom of the page were blacked out.

 

Yes, that's a map issue that's been fixed but I guess not uploaded yet.

[Bikerdude]

Yes, that's a map issue that's been fixed but I guess not uploaded yet.

shall package up and upload the version i worked on thats setting on the svn then as pretty much ready.

[Springheel]

in 1.08, it's generally half that or less.

 

That's very bizarre, since I noticed an _improvement_ in framerates in 1.08. Others have commented on this as well.

[i30817]

Anybody had trouble with corruption on the textures of some doors? I saw this on two machines with identical hardware, on two separate missions. It was on St. Alban's Cathedral in the Watch's office. It is the bottom of the door. Once they were orange, another time, black.

Yes, in st. lucia, the bed on the first accessible window had blue parts at the edges of the wood. Pretty sure no one paints a bed structure blue asymmetrically.

[Bikerdude]

• Just done a quick play through - in general, in the climbing section I'd say (1) indoors/enclosed spaces - generally runs 25-35fps; (2) where sky is visible, 15-25fps; (3) looking up to the sky (e.g. to fire a rope arrow) can get 7-15fps.
  
• Stealth is mostly better, but still 30-40fps. Main noticeable drop is the corridor section going down to the very first guard, as the following pix should show.
  

 

I had a quick play through and all the locations you mentioned are fine and well within draw call limits, so I have to ask what's your gpu again and what driver version are you running..?

[lost_soul]

Also, I now noticed you can burn yourself if you jump on a torch, e.g. in the start of the training mission. It made me laugh because I saw someone on Youtube saying "will the fire hurt me? nope... darn".

[simplen00b]

That's very bizarre, since I noticed an _improvement_ in framerates in 1.08. Others have commented on this as well.

Glad I'm in a minority with this problem

 

what's your gpu again and what driver version are you running..?

Printout from Nvidia control panel here: -

 

NVIDIA System Information report created on: 10/21/2012 20:18:24

 

[Display]

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit (Service Pack 1)

DirectX version: 11.0

GPU processor: GeForce GT 555M

Driver version: 306.97

DirectX support: 11.1

CUDA Cores: 144

Core clock: 590 MHz

Shader clock: 1180 MHz

Memory data rate: 1800 MHz

Memory interface: 128-bit

Total available graphics memory: 4096 MB

Dedicated video memory: 2048 MB DDR3

System video memory: 0 MB

Shared system memory: 2048 MB

Video BIOS version: 70.06.35.00.A4

IRQ: 16

Bus: PCI Express x16 Gen2

 

[Components]

easyDaemonAPIU64.DLL 1.10.8.0 NVIDIA Update Components

WLMerger.exe 1.10.8.0 NVIDIA Update Components

daemonu.exe 1.10.8.0 NVIDIA Update Components

ComUpdatus.exe 1.10.8.0 NVIDIA Update Components

NvUpdtr.dll 1.10.8.0 NVIDIA Update Components

NvUpdt.dll 1.10.8.0 NVIDIA Update Components

nvui.dll 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component

nvxdsync.exe 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component

nvxdplcy.dll 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component

nvxdbat.dll 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component

nvxdapix.dll 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component

NVCPL.DLL 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component

nvCplUIR.dll 4.8.750.0 NVIDIA Control Panel

nvCplUI.exe 4.8.750.0 NVIDIA Control Panel

nvWSSR.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA Workstation Server

nvWSS.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA Workstation Server

nvViTvSR.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA Video Server

nvViTvS.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA Video Server

nvDispSR.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA Display Server

NVMCTRAY.DLL 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA Media Center Library

nvDispS.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA Display Server

PhysX 09.12.0604 NVIDIA PhysX

NVCUDA.DLL 8.17.13.0697 NVIDIA CUDA 5.0.1 driver

nvGameSR.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA 3D Settings Server

nvGameS.dll 6.14.13.0697 NVIDIA 3D Settings Server

 

 

Any use? Any other GPU settings I could let you know about? (I've never messed around with them, so they're all on default settings AFAIK).

[ECHELON]

Tested a bit today. The loading of mod is a lot faster. The framerate on my notebook has extra 4-5 fps. I've tested the addition of more pages on the cutted books and now WORKS. Thanks Tels.