Fluctuating FPS: 40-60 and choppy/laggy on high end machine [FIXED]

[Bikerdude]

[uPDATE] - I had a corrupt driver install. uninstalling and then doing a driver clean and reinstalling fixed it.

 

 

I think this has been touched upon before, but the solution dosent really work reliably.

 

I have a GTX 670, more than capable of playing TDM. Yet in even simple single cube rooms with one light I am seeing ridiculously unreliable fps and horrible choppy and laggy movement.

 

The aforementioned fix was the create a new 3D nVidia cp profile using nV inspector, I've done this but Im still getting the above issue.

 

Also if I enable vsync on dmapping slow to a snails pace, so is not an option.

 

Any ideas..?

[Obsttorte]

Did you actually notice the slowdowns, or do you just rely to some numbers shown by com_showfps or some other tools?

[Bikerdude]

yeah visual its instantly and readily noticeable, and the fps numbers confirm it.

[Shadowhide]

I have a GTX560 and get a horrible lags in even a small rooms when AA and TA is enabled

i assume you're also playing in resolution higher than 1080 (which slows down game too)

Edited April 19, 2013 by Shadowhide

[New Horizon]

You haven't changed any of the interleave settings for the lightgem recently or in the past have you?

[Bikerdude]

You haven't changed any of the interleave settings for the lightgem recently or in the past have you?

Nope, wouldnt now how to.

i assume you're also playing in resolution higher than 1080 (which slows down game too)

It happens at any resolution from windowed1184*768 to fullscreen 1680*1050.

[New Horizon]

Hope, would now how to.

 

It happens at any resolution from windowed1184*768 to fullscreen 1680*1050.

 

Bring down the console. I believe the command is tdm_lg_interleave. Type that into the console and make sure the default value listed there matches what you have. You never know, something could have gotten changed somehow. I'll see if there are any other lightgem settings that might cause that.

[Bikerdude]

Finally got around to checking this and its set to 1 which Im assuming is default? So it I set it to 0 and the flutuation fps disappears I assume then its a Light Gem code issue.?

[New Horizon]

Potentially, but I doubt it.

 

If it's set to 1 then things should be fine. What we would have been looking for was settings of 2 or higher, where the processing was skipped every second 3rd or 4th frame. With those settings the cpu comes under extra load at those intervals, but being set at the default of 1 that shouldn't be an issue since the calculation is spread evenly over every frame.

[Bikerdude]

well just a quick change in a small room in nhat and 0/1 makes no difference the fps is fluctuation rapidly between 40-63 etc.

[New Horizon]

Yeah, just a shot in the dark for my part. I've seen fluctuations with the interleave set very high but never at 1.

[Bikerdude]

Anyone else got some other ideas on how I can try and fix this..?

[Mortem Desino]

If it's NHAT, you aren't testing on anoott are you? 'Cause there's a really hefty script being called during runtime every second or so. I toned it down a lot in the newer version, but it's still CPU intensive.

[Bikerdude]

Its all maps all of the time, I think its something to do with the my gfx card (GTX670) and/or the driver. So if I get the time Im gonna uninstall the driver & card and put my old HD 5870 back in to see if get the same issue..

[Tels]

Do you have vsync on? With vsync, the framerate can only be 60 FPS, 45 FPS (I believe), 40FPS, 30FPS etc. If it is on the borderline (due to being CPU bound), it might fluctuate between 60 and 40 FPS (or 60 and 45 FPS, depending).

[Bikerdude]

Vsync is off, I could try it on (but I think there was a reason why I had it off and cant remember now)

[Sotha]

Vsync is off, I could try it on (but I think there was a reason why I had it off and cant remember now)

 

If vsync is on, dmapping takes forever as the console output is slowed down to screen refresh rates. Not an option for a mapper, I'm afraid.

[Springheel]

Huh? I've always had vsync on. You're saying it slows down dmapping?

[Sotha]

Huh? I've always had vsync on. You're saying it slows down dmapping?

 

Yes. At least for me.

I just dmapped my WIP with vsync on and off with a stopwatch. From hitting ENTER on "dmap mapname" to mainmenu, all ready:

Vsync On: 7 min

Vsync Off: 1 min 20s.

 

It is bizarre, but it is real. The console feed looks much faster when vsync is off. FPS counter is around 800-1000 and dmap messages burst before your eyes. Vsync ON the messages flow sluggishly and the FPS counter sits at 59 fps.

[Bikerdude]

If vsync is on, dmapping takes forever as the console output is slowed down to screen refresh rates. Not an option for a mapper, I'm afraid.

Ah yes, I have the same issue as Sotha, which is why my Vysync has always been off.

 

@ Springs is this I bug that should be tracked..?

[Springheel]

I've never noticed this as a problem, but I've never done a comparison, either

[Sotha]

Maybe other people should pick up a stopwatch and examine it too? Does it happen on everyone?

 

It is probably not worth the trouble to fix, because the mapper can circumvent the slowdown very easily.

 

If it occurs for others, it would be good to advice mappers to disable vsync. 1 min versus 7 min dmapping time removes a HUGE workload obstacle in the final testing phases.

[STiFU]

From my experience, enabling tripple buffering and vsync works wonders in D3 with an nvidia card. Everything becomes so smooth all of a sudden. Too bad this doesn't seem to be an option for mappers currently. This should be fixable though with some codechanges.

[Tels]

Yeah, technially there is no reason that dmap is bound to console refreshes. But it might be hard to change.

[AluminumHaste]

Yeah, technially there is no reason that dmap is bound to console refreshes. But it might be hard to change.

 

That wouldn't be so bad, you could just disable console output during DMAP except on error, there's no real reason to see all that output, we know what's going on.