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low framerates with 1.59 and 1.6 betas

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low framerates with 1.59 and 1.6 betas

from GalCiv2 Forums
With the latest Dark Avatar 1.5 (release version) I get the same framerates that I get with Dreadlords. However, if I use a beta version my framerates drop by roughly 75%.

It doesn't matter if I use the 1.59.096 beta or the 1.6 b5 test 2 beta available from this forum. I guess I am one of the people who doesn't get increases with the new graphics engine. I am confused by the drop in framerates with the 1.59.096 beta though. Is there any differences graphics wise with the 1.59 beta that should cause the framerate drop?

Also, the framerate drops only occur when there are ships on my screen. If I scroll around for example in areas where are there are only planets and not ships I do not get the framerate drops.

The drops remain even after I turn off every graphics setting available, including all of the texture settings.

I'm playing on a really low end laptop that I am afraid to mention the settings of because someone will come in here laughing at me. All I will say is that the laptop does well enough that plays a game on a medium map with performance that I consider acceptable (as long as I am not using one of the betas). The laptop has an integrated Intel 82855 graphics card with the latest drivers. I play with 1024x768 resolution.
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Reply #51 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i am also having problems with the framerate. i tried the 'hw vp' but it was still slow. ive turnt off nebulas, sart density, point sprites, mods and nothing helps.

when i zoom out to when you cant see the ships and planets jut icons it runs normaly, just to let you know.
Reply #52 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i know how to fix it. uninstall DA then reinstall it. dont download the beta only the oficial update and it should work if not uninstall DL and DA and do the same. it works for me!       
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #53 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
After a particularly onerous session I thought I'd check how much of my system memory was being used during the gaming session. I have 1 GB of RAM and 1.5 GB of page file. Dark Avatar ended up using over 2 GB of memory. No wonder performance was so poor. I think that some re-evaluation needs to be done on just how much is being loaded into memory at any one time.
Reply #54 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A funny note: The beta/demo (The one you could get while it was being developed) of DA runs MUCH better than the upgraded one. Whats up with that? Couldn't stardock just go back a few steps and start over again?
Reply #55 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

We are working on the memory, the missing stars in mixed vp, and putting in an option for people running in software vp mode to use the old method of rendering which, ironically, works better than the new optimized code that works better for people with the newer, faster video cards. 

Reply #56 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
We are working on the memory, the missing stars in mixed vp, and putting in an option for people running in software vp mode to use the old method of rendering which, ironically, works better than the new optimized code that works better for people with the newer, faster video cards.


Any ETA regarding this?
Reply #57 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

We are working on the memory, the missing stars in mixed vp, and putting in an option for people running in software vp mode to use the old method of rendering which, ironically, works better than the new optimized code that works better for people with the newer, faster video cards. 




Thing is, I'm running in hardware vp mode by default (checked the debug.err) on a Geforce 7600 GT. I shouldn't be having problems with either rendering mode or performance, but at 2 GB of memory usage I think there must be a memory leak somewhere.
Reply #58 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There might be a problem with the new beta because i uninstalled it and my DA works like normall. so there might b something in there that might of been overlooked. im not sure because i don't no tht much about codes and that stuff.   
Reply #59 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There might be a problem with the new beta because i uninstalled it and my DA works like normall. so there might b something in there that might of been overlooked. im not sure because i don't no tht much about codes and that stuff.   


How did you uninstall DA and not install the beta? On my computer it always installs the beta while installing. Tell me how you got aroud this....
Reply #60 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Thing is, I'm running in hardware vp mode by default (checked the debug.err) on a Geforce 7600 GT. I shouldn't be having problems with either rendering mode or performance, but at 2 GB of memory usage I think there must be a memory leak somewhere.

As I said, we are working on the memory issues.

Reply #61 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As I said, we are working on the memory issues.


Do you guys know what is causing it? Just some FYI for us....
Reply #62 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cari,

Runiing a Gforce GFX 5500 and with the beta 6, it selects mixed vp mode. Has been running good for me, instead of 3 fps, I get 10 to 14, with the same zoom and ships. No background stars, but nebula are present. Makes playing the game even more fun now.

Thanks
Reply #63 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have been keeping up with the 1.6 beta releases since they started and have had low framerates (3-4) for the majority of the time. I play on a fairly good computer (dual core, 2GB memory, ATI x600 with 256MB) and had quickly upgraded my video drivers to a March 2007 version.

After getting the latest 1.6 beta and still experiencing the low framerates, I decided to see if there was yet a newer version of my video drivers. A May 2007 version had become available so I upgraded.

The newest 1.6 beta is now flying along very nicely even with 10+ ships on screen simultaneously. I didn't do a control-F to quantify the results, but the difference was night and day.

Now I just need to worry about the Korath and their 100+ attack fleets. They seem to be comming at me a lot faster since my driver update.

Hopefully, some of you folks can resolve this as easily as I did.
Reply #64 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Do you guys know what is causing it? Just some FYI for us....

All we know is that something is holding on to the ship model textures and not letting them go.  I've been trying to track them down with BoundsChecker but for some reason, BoundsChecker is not detecting our source code even though I've listed all the directories, so we're not getting any useable information from it.

We have added two options to the Video tab of the Options screen, one to toggle the Enhanced ship rendering (people running in software vp mode will want to turn it off), and one to toggle the Mixed VP mode.  If you find that you have trouble with running in mixed vp, you can turn this option off and run in software instead (in which case you should probably turn off the Enhanced Ship Rendering).  Both options are ON by default and require a restart to take effect.

 

Reply #65 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
With my NVidia GeForce FX5200 and all video options enabled, I was getting ~8 fps when zoomed in and ~12 fps zoomed out when including HARDWAREVP on the command line and then without it in the latest beta. I was running drivers from Mar. 2006 (91.??) and tried updating to the latest from NVidia, May 2007 (94.??) but this would not install. I found other drives dated June 2006 (92.??) which would install but then I saw 1-2 fps when zoomed in! I just checked the NVidia website and now the latest has changed to Nov. 2006 (93.71); perhaps they received complaints about the new driver. I'll try installing this one and also try forcing HARDWAREVP.
Reply #66 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Something that may help:

I've finally pinpointed that the major slowdown for me occurs because of explosions. These can be during a Battle Manager fleet battle, or simply blowing up a lone freighter. Wherever it occurs, the game will outright hiccup, not just slow down, but the game hangs for a brief moment. This brief moment becomes less and less brief as the game wears on. I have no performance problems prior to engaging in a war, but I LIKE going to war, so that doesn't last too long.
Reply #67 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've finally pinpointed that the major slowdown for me occurs because of explosions.


Have you tried the Simple Explosions option?
Reply #68 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have the same problem, my computer hangs on explosions, and yes I do have simple explosions on, which makes no difference. My specs are in the above debug file; I have a mobile integrated Intel card.

Are these options in the game yet, Cari? If they are, I can't find them and would like to know where they are .
Reply #69 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

With my NVidia GeForce FX5200 and all video options enabled, I was getting ~8 fps when zoomed in and ~12 fps zoomed out when including HARDWAREVP on the command line and then without it in the latest beta. I was running drivers from Mar. 2006 (91.??) and tried updating to the latest from NVidia, May 2007 (94.??) but this would not install. I found other drives dated June 2006 (92.??) which would install but then I saw 1-2 fps when zoomed in! I just checked the NVidia website and now the latest has changed to Nov. 2006 (93.71); perhaps they received complaints about the new driver. I'll try installing this one and also try forcing HARDWAREVP.


I have the same card. Your suppositions are correct and 93.71 is the most recent one that works (rather, despite the page, the 5200 was never included in the 94 version of the drivers). I haven't tried reverting to an older version though...

With the current revision you should see it ID as mixedvp mode (at least mine does).
Reply #70 from GalCiv2 Forums Top


We have added two options to the Video tab of the Options screen, one to toggle the Enhanced ship rendering (people running in software vp mode will want to turn it off), and one to toggle the Mixed VP mode.  If you find that you have trouble with running in mixed vp, you can turn this option off and run in software instead (in which case you should probably turn off the Enhanced Ship Rendering).  Both options are ON by default and require a restart to take effect.


 




I am also not seeing these options in the Video tab...
Reply #71 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That's because we haven't put up that update yet.
Reply #73 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

That's because we haven't put up that update yet.


Well. That explains everything!
Reply #74 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Have you tried the Simple Explosions option?


I tried it with no explosions at all and there was no slowdown during the game. Cleanup when I quit was still quite slow however.
Reply #75 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i tried the new test build and i get 60fps all the time. wiiiiiii!. before i used to get 5-15fps. Thanx