A18 Optimization issues persist. 130 FPS indoors to 10 FPS outside

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dex314

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Several of us on our server are still having optimization issues for a18. In a17 we could run textures on max and high settings with a consistent 100+ FPS. Now certain terrain textures cause massive fps drops. Even after turning all settings on low (esp texture filtering), full texture size still results in 130 fps indoors and only 10 fps outside. This is bizarre and cannot be considered normal. GPU / CPU temperatures are all nice and cool.

I have attached a link with 3 images showing the wildly varying FPS rates based on location.

https://imgur.com/a/0OHIll0

Anyways, a18 has been a blast otherwise. Keep up the amazing work.

Also, those demo zombies are my favorites.

 
I have something of the opposite problem, running high graphics and my FPS stays pretty steady in the 50-60 range anywhere but I get a lot more heat generated when outdoors.

As I understand the prefab POIs have some type of occlusion so that the more distant terrain is not drawn. That would explain why you see better performance inside. But this only seems to work right on the prefab POIs, if I build my own or when digging underground the distant terrain appears to still be drawn despite blocks that ought to have occlusion.

One interesting note however, even outdoors, if you look straight up at the sky performance appears to return to return to normal, again, probably because there is no distant terrain to be drawn.

 
I'm hunting down a bug I believe, with 99% confidence exists, that is causing a massive massive plummet in FPS when going from indoors to out doors and or exploring more than 2 biomes in one sitting (A18.1 dedicated server) needing a restart of the game to fix or some times just logging out the server and then back in will fix it. I just started the hunt last night...something is up and I feel its a bug.

I have a few videos all streamed in the past few days showing this happening on twitch, its very annoying having to restart the game just to get the fps back to a stable 50 for me.

giphy.gif


Reduced Textures to Half is currently the best way to ensure textures are in VRAM.
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explains why this only started happening after I switched back to full textures. *Check*

 
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First off, did you build that in image 3? I have yet to come across anything that looks like that. And if you did build that it is amazing and puts my simple square box of a base to shame lol.

I have also had a lot of fps problems with this patch. I am able to play every game I find on Ultra settings and played A17 on the highest settings. Loaded up A18 and had to drop everything to medium or lower to be able to play at all. I can be at 60 fps, turn around and drop down to 1 in the blink of an eye. I'm not sure what they changed in between these two builds but I have definitely noticed a difference.

 
Several of us on our server are still having optimization issues for a18. In a17 we could run textures on max and high settings with a consistent 100+ FPS. Now certain terrain textures cause massive fps drops. Even after turning all settings on low (esp texture filtering), full texture size still results in 130 fps indoors and only 10 fps outside. This is bizarre and cannot be considered normal. GPU / CPU temperatures are all nice and cool.
I have attached a link with 3 images showing the wildly varying FPS rates based on location.

https://imgur.com/a/0OHIll0

Anyways, a18 has been a blast otherwise. Keep up the amazing work.

Also, those demo zombies are my favorites.
Click to expand...
A18 terrain shader does a lot of calculations. It uses 3 texture atlases of 24 textures each. If some or all of those atlases don't get loaded into VRAM, because you don't have space, then rendering those terrain pixels gets very slow. Generally you need 6 GB+ VRAM at Full quality otherwise they may or may not be in VRAM. That is controlled internally by Unity and there is no way to change its behavior or even determine what type of RAM a texture is in. The OS and certain programs will also use some VRAM.

Reducing Texture Filtering can help since higher filtering is using a lot more texture reads.

Reduced Textures to Half is currently the best way to ensure textures are in VRAM.

 
I have something of the opposite problem, running high graphics and my FPS stays pretty steady in the 50-60 range anywhere but I get a lot more heat generated when outdoors. As I understand the prefab POIs have some type of occlusion so that the more distant terrain is not drawn. That would explain why you see better performance inside. But this only seems to work right on the prefab POIs, if I build my own or when digging underground the distant terrain appears to still be drawn despite blocks that ought to have occlusion.

One interesting note however, even outdoors, if you look straight up at the sky performance appears to return to return to normal, again, probably because there is no distant terrain to be drawn.
Click to expand...
Distance terrain is not tracked by the occlusion system, so never occluded.

Every pixel has a rendering cost which is generally related to the pixel shader being used to calculate it. Sky pixels are cheap.

 
A18 terrain shader does a lot of calculations. It uses 3 texture atlases of 24 textures each. If some or all of those atlases don't get loaded into VRAM, because you don't have space, then rendering those terrain pixels gets very slow. Generally you need 6 GB+ VRAM at Full quality otherwise they may or may not be in VRAM. That is controlled internally by Unity and there is no way to change its behavior or even determine what type of RAM a texture is in. The OS and certain programs will also use some VRAM.
Reducing Texture Filtering can help since higher filtering is using a lot more texture reads.

Reduced Textures to Half is currently the best way to ensure textures are in VRAM.
Click to expand...
Finally some real info! We need more of this. I am currently shopping for a new GFX card mainly for this game and was stuck between the 1660ti (6gb) and the 2060 Super (8gb). I was already worried that the 6 gb on the 1660 wouldn't be enough and this pretty much confirms it as I want a little extra head room. 2060 Super it is.

This really helps people out as many are willing to spend the money to run this great game yet simply don't know what the game needs.

 
A18 terrain shader does a lot of calculations. It uses 3 texture atlases of 24 textures each. If some or all of those atlases don't get loaded into VRAM, because you don't have space, then rendering those terrain pixels gets very slow. Generally you need 6 GB+ VRAM at Full quality otherwise they may or may not be in VRAM. That is controlled internally by Unity and there is no way to change its behavior or even determine what type of RAM a texture is in. The OS and certain programs will also use some VRAM.
Reducing Texture Filtering can help since higher filtering is using a lot more texture reads.

Reduced Textures to Half is currently the best way to ensure textures are in VRAM.
Click to expand...
So the photos I posted were with texture filtering off already and it did help when I changed that setting, but there is an optimization issue at play here. I have plenty of people on our server who are using 4gb GPUs and are having no FPS instability. Regardless of where they are, their FPS stays relatively constant. I don't think that upgrading hardware needs to be the solution for poor optimization. Optimization should be the solution for poor optimization.

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First off, did you build that in image 3? I have yet to come across anything that looks like that. And if you did build that it is amazing and puts my simple square box of a base to shame lol.
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Haha our server owners designed and built it as our server lobby. It houses some traders, player vending machines, the rules, etc. Come on by if you want to check out some of the other player builds. We have some really creative people!

 
So the photos I posted were with texture filtering off already and it did help when I changed that setting, but there is an optimization issue at play here. I have plenty of people on our server who are using 4gb GPUs and are having no FPS instability. Regardless of where they are, their FPS stays relatively constant. I don't think that upgrading hardware needs to be the solution for poor optimization. Optimization should be the solution for poor optimization.
Click to expand...
If plenty of people similar to you are fine, but you are not, then there is some difference causing it. VRAM the OS or programs are using? Drivers? GPU? Load order? What Unity decides to stream? Screen resolution? Game settings?

The optimization for running out of VRAM is using less VRAM, which is what lower screen resolution or texture resolution does. Does your FPS get steady at Half texture quality or lower screen resolution?

 
Several of us on our server are still having optimization issues for a18. In a17 we could run textures on max and high settings with a consistent 100+ FPS. Now certain terrain textures cause massive fps drops. Even after turning all settings on low (esp texture filtering), full texture size still results in 130 fps indoors and only 10 fps outside. This is bizarre and cannot be considered normal. GPU / CPU temperatures are all nice and cool.
I have attached a link with 3 images showing the wildly varying FPS rates based on location.

https://imgur.com/a/0OHIll0

Anyways, a18 has been a blast otherwise. Keep up the amazing work.

Also, those demo zombies are my favorites.
Click to expand...
You can switch to experimental 18.2 b5 in the game properties. They have an option to lower the terrain quality. Also, before all that, try to set Anisotropic filtering to OFF/NO both in your GPU options of the game and inside the game.

Seems like you can run the game pretty high, but your VRAM appears to be filling outside. Faatal explained all about it a few hours ago.

Do you have 6gb VRAM? then you cannot do highest (close, though). Try setting AF off. And then, with A18.2 b5 you have a new option to directly lower the terrain quality. Good stuff. Try it. Lower it until you do not have drops. You might only have to lower it 2 levels.

 
SphereII has a mod that removed the microsplat thing, https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?103783-sphereii-s-DMT-ModsIt helped a lot on my system, brought down GPU usage from 99% to 35-40% and allowed me to set most settings up to high.

There is a decrease on visual fidelity on ore textures underground, but it's worth it in my eyes.
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Yes, but the new terrain quality setting achieves most of what the Sphereii mod does without installing a mod and keeps ore textures nice (I didn't do a direct comparison but played with Terrain Quality set to middle and mined through one night yesterday). So it is worth first trying this. On the other hand at least one player (Scyris in the suggestions thread) says that the terrain slider didn't help her and the mod does.

Also I heard some people had big differences between some driver versions and nvidia driver settings if you have an nvidia GPU. @dex314: If you ever changed settings in nvidias management tool, maybe reset to default or try a different version of the GPU driver as a last resort.

 
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Yes, but the new terrain quality setting achieves most of what the Sphereii mod does without installing a mod and keeps ore textures nice (I didn't do a direct comparison but played with Terrain Quality set to middle and mined through one night yesterday). So it is worth first trying this. On the other hand at least one player (Scyris in the suggestions thread) says that the terrain slider didn't help her and the mod does.
Also I heard some people had big differences between some driver versions and nvidia driver settings if you have an nvidia GPU. @dex314: If you ever changed settings in nvidias management tool, maybe reset to default or try a different version of the GPU driver as a last resort.
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True. I edited my post to clarify that it was a fix for 18.1.

 
If plenty of people similar to you are fine, but you are not, then there is some difference causing it. VRAM the OS or programs are using? Drivers? GPU? Load order? What Unity decides to stream? Screen resolution? Game settings?
The optimization for running out of VRAM is using less VRAM, which is what lower screen resolution or texture resolution does. Does your FPS get steady at Half texture quality or lower screen resolution?
Click to expand...
VRAM usage is basically 0 outside of game and no processes are utilizing it while the game is running. I'm not new to this game or to GPU tech etc., so I have definitely adjusted everything I could adjust. Textures never become steady--even at 1/2 textures I get decent frame rates but the frame rates are just as wildly inconsistent. THAT is why I am saying there is an issue.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, but the new terrain quality setting achieves most of what the Sphereii mod does without installing a mod and keeps ore textures nice (I didn't do a direct comparison but played with Terrain Quality set to middle and mined through one night yesterday). So it is worth first trying this. On the other hand at least one player (Scyris in the suggestions thread) says that the terrain slider didn't help her and the mod does.
Also I heard some people had big differences between some driver versions and nvidia driver settings if you have an nvidia GPU. @dex314: If you ever changed settings in nvidias management tool, maybe reset to default or try a different version of the GPU driver as a last resort.
Click to expand...
Yes from what we've gathered, it's really specific GPUs and since I do have a nvidia it was something we considered. I tried different drivers and profiles however, without any success.

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You can switch to experimental 18.2 b5 in the game properties. They have an option to lower the terrain quality. Also, before all that, try to set Anisotropic filtering to OFF/NO both in your GPU options of the game and inside the game.
Seems like you can run the game pretty high, but your VRAM appears to be filling outside. Faatal explained all about it a few hours ago.

Do you have 6gb VRAM? then you cannot do highest (close, though). Try setting AF off. And then, with A18.2 b5 you have a new option to directly lower the terrain quality. Good stuff. Try it. Lower it until you do not have drops. You might only have to lower it 2 levels.
Click to expand...
I do not have 6 gb of VRAM but neither do others who get steady frame rates. My settings are already all at lowest, so there's no where else to go. Also, I cannot run experimental right now since I admin a server that runs the stable build. That said, I'll be looking forward to when terrain quality can be adjusted at a later date

 
I cannot run experimental right now since I admin a server that runs the stable build.
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Yes you can. Just copy and paste the game folder for 18.1 stable to another location

on your hd. Then opt into the experimental.

To run 18.1 stable then you would go to the copied folder and run it directly fro the

game .exes. And running experimental would be through steam or the default game

folder.

 
I would say for latest experimental - it is a breakthrough! Having reduced ground quality to lowest im able to run the game as if I was playing 16.x version! Constant fps around 50 without drastic jumps and moved textures quality to full!!!

 
I have the same issue. I get around 80fps with everything on the highest setting. This will work for x amount of time then all of a sudden my fps will drop to less than 10 and the only fix is to lower full texture to half or log out of the game all the way and back in. I have an RTX 2060 playing at 1080p. I have tried experimental and the issue still is there.

The last time it happened it was going from inside a building to out. I will pay closer attention to this next time and see if that is the only time it happens.

Update: I got the problem again leaving a house to go outside.

Update 2: I got the problem just running in the desert. :(

 
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I have the same issue. I get around 80fps with everything on the highest setting. This will work for x amount of time then all of a sudden my fps will drop to less than 10 and the only fix is to lower full texture to half or log out of the game all the way and back in. I have an RTX 2060 playing at 1080p. I have tried experimental and the issue still is there.
The last time it happened it was going from inside a building to out. I will pay closer attention to this next time and see if that is the only time it happens.

Update: I got the problem again leaving a house to go outside.

Update 2: I got the problem just running in the desert. :(
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That could be an issue with running out of Vram, the 2060 has only 6Gb I believe?

My card is a 8gb 1070 and I generally use about 6,5 Gb of Vram with high settings.

 
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That could be an issue with running out of Vram, the 2060 has only 6Gb I believe?My card is a 8gb 1070 and I generally use about 6,5 Gb of Vram with high settings.
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Selecting "Texture Streaming" in the Video Settings Quality tab greatly reduces texture use.

On my GTX 1060 6Gb the change is from about 5.5 Gb down to 3 Gb running full textures.

 
That could be an issue with running out of Vram, the 2060 has only 6Gb I believe?My card is a 8gb 1070 and I generally use about 6,5 Gb of Vram with high settings.
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This game needs some serious optimization if an RTX 2060 running at 1080p is not enough to run this game on max settings.

 
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