Low CPU utilization & Low FPS

[MavericK96 0]

From what I saw of the livestream, it looked like Altis was running reeeeaaaallly slow.

[windies 11]

From what I saw of the livestream, it looked like Altis was running reeeeaaaallly slow.

One particular part I noticed running really bad that didn't seem to be the fault of the stream was when they landed at the graveyard and walked around. It seemed like FPS was fluctuating wildly and was definitely below 30fps. Still though, they contend that it was only the stream's fault and there's nothing to really counter it with except suppositions so I guess we will find out around Gamescom time how it runs.

[Sneakers O'Toole 2]

mobile medic

What is the cause? What is being done? What has already been done? Should we have noticed an improvement in our fps or hardware utilization between March and today? Do you guys have a magical fix waiting in the wings that has not required feedback/testing from your alpha/beta community of users?

Well, the people working on this have apparently been spending every available minute on it, so much so in fact, that they couldnt spare an hour to type up a general outline of their work. They would rather use that hour to keep up the apparently remorseless and contiguous improvement on optimisation.

Dwarden

either the work or the blog ... we chose the work ;)

If that is to be believed, then 'some work' (it is unclear as to whether this utterly uniform frenzy of work has ended) has been done. So if there isnt a significant improvement in this area, then the people/department responsible are incompetent, or severely under staffed.

[TSAndrey 1]

what rig you got?

Dual Core 3.07 GHz

3 GB RAM

ATI HD Radeon 4650

Windows 7

[Tyl3r99 41]

looks like your gpu needs upgrading a bit :P

[TSAndrey 1]

looks like your gpu needs upgrading a bit :P

Yep, but still doesn't make sense. Most of the land the FPS is fine (some people can't run the Heli showcase) but the moment I even look at water, my FPS halves! They need to either optimize A3 or add an option to lower water graphics!

[St. Jimmy 272]

I can get 30 FPS in normal land, but the moment I even look at water my FPS drops to 10. Everytime, everywhere... My FPS is also low in some MP servers or in forests(sometimes).

Someone made a ticket about that issue, but the devs closed it as a "Low CPU utilization" duplicated, so it must be bad optimization... http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=1505

Dual Core 3.07 GHz

3 GB RAM

ATI HD Radeon 4650

Windows 7

When I had AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3,00GHz I had the same thing that water killed my fps more than towns in A2 but your dual core is probably better? But your GPU isn't that good either.

/Didn't remember correctly...

Back then when I had the worse computer I also hoped that we could set water detail.

Edited August 11, 2013 by St. Jimmy

[TSAndrey 1]

When I had AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3,00GHz I had the same thing that water killed my fps more than towns in A2 but your dual core is probably better? But your GPU isn't that good either.

/Didn't remember correctly...

Back then when I had the worse computer I also hoped that we could set water detail.

Well in A2 water didn't have a signifact FPS drop for me, but then again, A3 water has so much more detailed (not that it justifies the FPS drop)

[stk2008 14]

Hi again all

So back to the optimization blog that never came about has there been any more news on what has or is being done.

Please don't bite my head off I have been away so some thing may have happened since then :P.

Last I heard they where not able to do the blog due to time constraints.

[antoineflemming 14]

Hi again all

So back to the optimization blog that never came about has there been any more news on what has or is being done.

Please don't bite my head off I have been away so some thing may have happened since then :P.

Last I heard they where not able to do the blog due to time constraints.

I seriously doubt we will see anything official about performance gains. My game is running much worse after the most recent dev build update. Not sure what's going on, but pretty much there's nothing significant for BIS to say about performance, otherwise they would say it. No, it doesn't have anything to do with "time constraints". They could simply mention any "optimization" tweaks with each dev branch update if there are any. There's no need for a blog. But they aren't. And, most likely, this blog would just end up saying that there's been minimal to no progress made anyway. So it'd be a useless effort.

[stk2008 14]

I seriously doubt we will see anything official about performance gains. My game is running much worse after the most recent dev build update. Not sure what's going on, but pretty much there's nothing significant for BIS to say about performance, otherwise they would say it. No, it doesn't have anything to do with "time constraints". They could simply mention any "optimization" tweaks with each dev branch update if there are any. There's no need for a blog. But they aren't. And, most likely, this blog would just end up saying that there's been minimal to no progress made anyway. So it'd be a useless effort.

I was afraid to admit it all so i do not think time constraints was the issue if so how did they do the blogs that have just been done.

I must say if this is another arma2 conundrum then i will be gutted ARMA is the best game ever and arma3 at the moment runs like turd.

I see no point in BIS carrying on with the dev of arma3 EG adding choppers,planes,maps,missions if no one can play them at at least 30FPS.

So BIS as much as i love you I am now worried this will and cant be fixed just like arma2 :( please prove me wrong and wave a big middle finger up at me please :P

[windies 11]

Like I said, I'm really interested once Altis hits. I think that will really tell us about the performance. The livestream really didn't sell me on Altis performing very well.

[mobile_medic 43]

After doing some more testing, it seems that the biggest culprit in causing GPU usage to drop revolves around objects. I can go up in a little bird (an fps killer on its own for me) with a 12km draw distance (no, I don't play anywhere near that) but minimum 500m object draw distance, and still get 90-99% gpu usage and 60 fps. If I turn the object draw distance up, GPU usage starts tanking, and fps goes with it. Likewise, if I'm facing the water (no objects to draw) gpu usage stays high.

That said, it doesn't take much for whatever is going on with the drawing/rendering/processing of objects (which is at least 80% of the visual content that is rendering on the screen) to make gpu usage begin to drop (and fps as a consequence). I can put all draw distances down to the minimum 500m and go through an empty Agia Marina, and that will still cause gpu usage to drop (and fps as a result). Agia Marina object density at 500m of draw distance is enough to cause gpu usage to drop, so it is clearly not very robust, whatever the problem is.

So, whether it is just poorly written, or not giving enough guaranteed resources to the handling of objects, they seem to be the primary cause of gpu usage drops (which cause fps drops). In non engine-bottlenecking areas of the map, I don't, but I can actually roll with a 12km view distance, 2km object view distance, and everything else completely maxed at mostly 40-60. But, get up in a heli, add ai into the mix, go to an empty Agia Marina (for example) and that is all it takes to start crapping out gpu usage. objects seem to be the primary thing that does it.

[mobile_medic 43]

from the latest sitrep:

Internally we are going to be on a development lock down very soon and up to release. This effectively means we will only make important fixes to release content.

[Cormega 0]

After following this thread for some time, it seems that Arma III is doomed before it even gets going. I haven't followed the development of A3 since it's beginning, but I was under the impression that A3 was a new fresh game built from the ground up. I'm seriously disappointed that it's just better graphics on the same old tired (10 year old) OFP engine. In my opinion, this was an unwise move and seriously damaged my enthusiasm for the game.

[Minoza 11]

After following this thread for some time, it seems that Arma III is doomed before it even gets going. I haven't followed the development of A3 since it's beginning, but I was under the impression that A3 was a new fresh game built from the ground up. I'm seriously disappointed that it's just better graphics on the same old tired (10 year old) OFP engine. In my opinion, this was an unwise move and seriously damaged my enthusiasm for the game.

^^Fixing what's wrong and upgrading with new technology - yes, but making a new engine from ground up while you have perfectly functional one already - u mad bro?

[jurrasstoil 10]

but making a new engine from ground up while you have a perfectly functional one already - u mad bro?

Which one would that be?

offtopic: "u mad bro?" What is this? Xbox live?

[xendance 3]

Which one would that be?

offtopic: "u mad bro?" What is this? Xbox live?

Rule #1 in software development: Don't rewrite from scratch

Rule #2 in software development: Don't rewrite from scratch.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Xendance

[Minoza 11]

Which one would that be?

Why do you even bother replying on this subject when you obiously fail to understand what a functional engine is?

offtopic: oh I see, bro and all... u mad sis?

Edited August 13, 2013 by Minoza

[jurrasstoil 10]

offtopic: oh I see, bro and all... u mad sis?

Thanks, now I can just ignore you and feel pretty good about it.

[mobile_medic 43]

making a new engine from ground up while you have perfectly functional one already

What are you smoking?

u mad bro?

This is where a Dwarden facepalm would actually be a *good* thing right now...

[Minoza 11]

What are you smoking?

What a great way to discuss. Please elaborate if you think I'm wrong. Is the RV not functional? Is that what you're saying?

And seriously, are we gonna go further offtopic over "u mad bro"? It really just slipped and wasn't something you should've get bothered by anyways. "U mad sis" was kinda called for though. ;)

Edited August 13, 2013 by Minoza

[mobile_medic 43]

Please elaborate if you think I'm wrong.

I would, but you lost me at "u mad bro?"

[maddogx 13]

You're all off-topic, including the "make a new engine from scratch" discussion, which is completely academic at this point and belongs somewhere else.

So no, please do not elaborate, at least not here. Instead, everyone please cut the BS.

[ric 1]

After doing some more testing, it seems that the biggest culprit in causing GPU usage to drop revolves around objects. I can go up in a little bird (an fps killer on its own for me) with a 12km draw distance (no, I don't play anywhere near that) but minimum 500m object draw distance, and still get 90-99% gpu usage and 60 fps. If I turn the object draw distance up, GPU usage starts tanking, and fps goes with it. Likewise, if I'm facing the water (no objects to draw) gpu usage stays high.

That said, it doesn't take much for whatever is going on with the drawing/rendering/processing of objects (which is at least 80% of the visual content that is rendering on the screen) to make gpu usage begin to drop (and fps as a consequence). I can put all draw distances down to the minimum 500m and go through an empty Agia Marina, and that will still cause gpu usage to drop (and fps as a result). Agia Marina object density at 500m of draw distance is enough to cause gpu usage to drop, so it is clearly not very robust, whatever the problem is.

So, whether it is just poorly written, or not giving enough guaranteed resources to the handling of objects, they seem to be the primary cause of gpu usage drops (which cause fps drops). In non engine-bottlenecking areas of the map, I don't, but I can actually roll with a 12km view distance, 2km object view distance, and everything else completely maxed at mostly 40-60. But, get up in a heli, add ai into the mix, go to an empty Agia Marina (for example) and that is all it takes to start crapping out gpu usage. objects seem to be the primary thing that does it.

when your FPS starts to tank have a look at your core usage...that will explain everything :(