Low CPU utilization & Low FPS

[jurrasstoil 10]

Even though the optimazation is terrible and performance is really low at the moment, you can't expect to get too many wonder-fixes from Bohemia. ArmA is a really hardware-using game, just keep in mind what's getting processed in the background. It'd be happy with either improving frames around 15-25 % or improving the techniques at current frame rate.

Is this meant to be sarcastic? Last time I checked, 50-80% of my hardware wasn't used when the fps went down the drain.

[Sneakson 1]

Sorry to say it like that, but the all the discussions are p** me off. Why are the users forced to investigate that much, just to have a "normal" performance. This is completly ridiculous. BOHEMIA! Just provide the info we are all asking since 6 march, and FIX IT!!!! I paid money, and I want the service I deserve. I even bought the supporters edition. WTF is wrong here?? Im very curious how the performance in the final game will be. This is a real disgrace.

Dude, that's how all games except for Battlefield and Valve Source games are.

Even though the optimazation is terrible and performance is really low at the moment, you can't expect to get too many wonder-fixes from Bohemia. ArmA is a really hardware-using game, just keep in mind what's getting processed in the background. It'd be happy with either improving frames around 15-25 % or improving the techniques at current frame rate.

Actually, ARMA is a really not-using-hardware game and therein lies the little problem :)

[stk2008 14]

All this

do this and that it helps it may help a little for some but it boils down to the engine it need fixing

im fed up now and BIS need to get there head out there ass i have been a fanboy for years as i keep saying but i see no improvemnt to this engine and i cant see we ever will like arma 2 it took them monthes to say sorry it cant be fixed its a limitation of the engine.

arma 3 is the same i think.

so i love you bis but its slowly dieing along with arma series.

dedi fan for 15 years logging off till fixed.

[mobile_medic 43]

Geez. Well,

has pretty much the final word on whether we should expect anything regarding them ever fixing the crap performance of the Arma series. Either, they didn't get the memo, or are just flat out not telling the truth. At around ten minutes, he says this:

It definitely helps that our program is greatly optimized engine...

You have got to be kidding me. Your "greatly optimized engine" can't even handle an empty Agia Marina without bottle-necking to the point that it craps out GPU usage.

I guess we know why they avoid talking about this issue like the plague (in a completely out of character fashion for them) and why the only responses to this thread from them are largely vagueness, sarcasm, and condescension.

There have been, what?... two years worth of delays, now? I'm still trying to figure out what we are getting in exchange for that... Besides a walking back on content and features, and prettier graphics built on the same outdated engine, with the same, years-old crap performance issues. But, never fear... "Fish do not react to players" has been on the top known issues list since the beginning of Alpha, and they *will* get it fixed! </sarcasm>

This game deserves a *real* review when it hits release. A game that hearkens back to the glory days of PC gaming. Unfortunately, it is built on an engine as old as the glory days of PC gaming. A game that could have been the most epic game, failed by the crumbling foundation upon which it was built. Given the years, and multiple game and engine iterations that this issue has persisted through, one beings to wonder whether their public avoidance and failure to address the issue after this long is intentional or not. A huge game, built on an engine that can't handle even 1/10th of its possibilities.

Still hoping I am proven wrong, but the entire body of evidence indicates otherwise. It takes some blind faith at this point to expect anything other than what we've always seen with this issue. But, maybe they are just sitting on the magical fix, not telling us anything, waiting to drop it on us, so Dwarden can come along and thumb his nose at us... "told-ya-so"

A cardboard mansion with a pretty paint job.

[windies 11]

Well the way I look at it anymore is that I'm going to try and enjoy ArmA 3 as much as I can with what I can do with it. Eventually though the performance issue's will become more and more pronounced as they ignore them, they're already kind of reaching that point. It's like a pot of water on a stove top, leave it on high and ignore it long enough and it will eventually boil over. A lot of people feel a loyalty to BI and think that by saying "Hey I think there's something wrong here guys" they are betraying that loyalty.

Maybe over time they can fix the problems. Obviously a lot of things might require extensive rewrites of existing systems and would probably require both a lot of work and a lot of resources, which is why I feel like if it's not going to be fixed before launch it most likely never will be.

[Sneakson 1]

I still don't get what people are moaning about.

I'm running 60 fps on standard-high settings on a 5 year old CPU and 2 year old graphics card and the graphics are nice.

Sure, utilization is only about 50% on each but I don’t think that means the game could run twice better…

And if I play other games such as Crysis (2007), Crysis 2 (2011) they run in about 30 fps maxed and I haven’t tried Crysis 3 but I bet it’s down to 10 which is less than I have with ARMA and a responsible view distance.

You guys really can’t run the game at all? Is that what you’re saying?

OR are the utilization numbers what’s bothering you?

What other brand new game is it that you are implying that you can run perfectly?

[mobile_medic 43]

The utilization numbers wouldn't bother us if the game were running well.

There is a ton of info on the issue, if you care to research it. Years worth, in fact. I'm glad that the game runs as well for you as you claim it does. But, I don't see the point in coming in here (in a thread clearly meant for people who it is not running well for) and telling folks they are moaning b/c you allegedly run it great.

[Vadim89 10]

@ Sneakson : If there would be an award for useless comment of the year, you would win it. As Mobile Medic said, there are tons of facts and information. What doest standart high settings mean? Post you exact settings, and your system, then we can talk again.

---------- Post added at 19:20 ---------- Previous post was at 19:19 ----------

Geez. Well,

has pretty much the final word on whether we should expect anything regarding them ever fixing the crap performance of the Arma series. Either, they didn't get the memo, or are just flat out not telling the truth. At around ten minutes, he says this:

You have got to be kidding me. Your "greatly optimized engine" can't even handle an empty Agia Marina without bottle-necking to the point that it craps out GPU usage.

I guess we know why they avoid talking about this issue like the plague (in a completely out of character fashion for them) and why the only responses to this thread from them are largely vagueness, sarcasm, and condescension.

There have been, what?... two years worth of delays, now? I'm still trying to figure out what we are getting in exchange for that... Besides a walking back on content and features, and prettier graphics built on the same outdated engine, with the same, years-old crap performance issues. But, never fear... "Fish do not react to players" has been on the top known issues list since the beginning of Alpha, and they *will* get it fixed! </sarcasm>

This game deserves a *real* review when it hits release. A game that hearkens back to the glory days of PC gaming. Unfortunately, it is built on an engine as old as the glory days of PC gaming. A game that could have been the most epic game, failed by the crumbling foundation upon which it was built. Given the years, and multiple game and engine iterations that this issue has persisted through, one beings to wonder whether their public avoidance and failure to address the issue after this long is intentional or not. A huge game, built on an engine that can't handle even 1/10th of its possibilities.

Still hoping I am proven wrong, but the entire body of evidence indicates otherwise. It takes some blind faith at this point to expect anything other than what we've always seen with this issue. But, maybe they are just sitting on the magical fix, not telling us anything, waiting to drop it on us, so Dwarden can come along and thumb his nose at us... "told-ya-so"

A cardboard mansion with a pretty paint job.

Could you please post this also on the feedback tracker. Thank you mate!

---------- Post added at 19:23 ---------- Previous post was at 19:22 ----------

I think we need to make a petition against BIS. Someone aware how to organize it? Does anyone knows a good english online petition platform? Thanks in advance

---------- Post added at 19:26 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------

I know its not good, but maybe something like this. Someone has to find a good wording. Unfortunately im not a native english speaker.

https://www.change.org/petitions/bohemia-interactive-studio-optimize-the-performance-of-arma-3-and-provide-good-information

[mobile_medic 43]

I'm not a fan of petitions, personally. It's time to just accept the writing on the wall in this case. If this thread, and the ones that came before it over the years weren't enough to get info or action, nothing will be... short of competition...

[TSAndrey 1]

Petition will do nothing. They are already aware of this issue, the question is if they will fix it.

[windies 11]

I still don't get what people are moaning about.

I'm running 60 fps on standard-high settings on a 5 year old CPU and 2 year old graphics card and the graphics are nice.

Sure, utilization is only about 50% on each but I don’t think that means the game could run twice better…

And if I play other games such as Crysis (2007), Crysis 2 (2011) they run in about 30 fps maxed and I haven’t tried Crysis 3 but I bet it’s down to 10 which is less than I have with ARMA and a responsible view distance.

You guys really can’t run the game at all? Is that what you’re saying?

OR are the utilization numbers what’s bothering you?

What other brand new game is it that you are implying that you can run perfectly?

My personal issue is with a couple of things, not simply that utilization is low, but that utilization drops under load meaning that somewhere in the software, something is bottlenecking and it's not the hardware itself that's bottlenecking. The fact that this causes performance to drop dramatically rather than usage to increase in order to keep a steady frame rate or steady performance is another issue. Also with the performance disparity between multi player and single player and the fact that you can do nothing about multi player performance.

[Sneakers O'Toole 2]

In Altis the frames are quite good (in empty editor), but I get a lot of stuttering which doesn't correspond to a drop in frame rate. I am using an ssd and -nologs.

[mobile_medic 43]

Not for me. Predictably, performance, and gpu usage sucks in the cities. Hop in a little bird. Fly around any city. I watched gpu usage get as low as 30%, and fps at 15-20 when flying around cities. On an empty map in editor.

No surprises here... The only surprise was a dev acting like he was completely surprised about it in the Altis thread.

[jumpinghubert 49]

Not for me. Predictably, performance, and gpu usage sucks in the cities. Hop in a little bird. Fly around any city. I watched gpu usage get as low as 30%, and fps at 15-20 when flying around cities. On an empty map in editor.

No surprises here... The only surprise was a dev acting like he was completely surprised about it in the Altis thread.

pip disabled?

[mobile_medic 43]

the problem is not PIP. The problem is the game. The closest we can get as an end-user to pinpointing it, is objects, specifically (which is most of the on-screen content, and why it is worse in cities).

But, just for you, I disabled pip... and, predictably... yes, same problem.

[TSAndrey 1]

In Altis the frames are quite good (in empty editor), but I get a lot of stuttering which doesn't correspond to a drop in frame rate. I am using an ssd and -nologs.

I'm getting 1 FPS (literally) on Altis no matter what setting. Something is BROKEN here. I'm gonna try redownloading the game on my other hard disc!

[jumpinghubert 49]

the problem is not PIP. The problem is the game. The closest we can get as an end-user to pinpointing it, is objects, specifically (which is most of the on-screen content, and why it is worse in cities).

But, just for you, I disabled pip... and, predictably... yes, same problem.

no difference in gpu-usage and performance? And just for you: I am aware of the utilization problem since release of arma2.

@stuttering

I can confirm little stuttering in towns

[mobile_medic 43]

nope. no difference in gpu usage or performance that I noticed when turning off PiP.

Turning off SSAO may help with the stuttering part a little. I have had stuttering since Beta, and that's the only thing I found (on stratis) that improved it noticeably.

But, this stuttering on Altis (at least what I saw, with complete hangs for up to a second intermittently) seems like it may be something different.

And just for you: I am aware of the utilization problem since release of arma2.

Sorry, I did not mean to be condescending. I'm just reaching the end of my tolerance level for this issue (also first experienced it with Arma 2), and folks sometimes seem to drop into this thread to drop random, old, suggestions that have been tried over and over already.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Mobile_Medic

[Sneakers O'Toole 2]

I spoke too soon, my fps did drop to below 15 at the main airfield and at other places, but it was 40-60 in less built up areas.

cpu: 60%-20%-20%-20%

so Altis give 80% fps drops as opposed to the 50% fps drops of Stratis.

[mobile_medic 43]

I spoke too soon, my fps did drop to below 15 at the main airfield and at other places, but it was 40-60 in less built up areas.

cpu: 60%-20%-20%-20%

so Altis give 80% fps drops as opposed to the 50% fps drops of Stratis.

More objects on screen. Not that objects are the only cause, but the most recognizable, and easily reproducible for me. Hop in a little bird, and check out some of the cities. That yielded 15-20fps for me over much of the flight, and up to 70% drop in GPU usage. Same problem on foot in cities as well, though, not as pronounced, as buildings sometimes obscure some of the landscape.

Alternatively... dropped into the dry lake bed. 99% gpu usage and 65-70fps with all maxed settings (and 4k overall view/2k object view distances)

[Vadim89 10]

In many areas of stratis I have 99% GPU usage, but it depends allways on where im looking at. For examples I get in every city between 20 and 60 frames. If I am standing in the middle of myrina looking south I get 50 fps 80-90% GPU usage. In the wilderness I get even 99%, but also depending on where I am looking at (but no drops under 24 fps).

Settings: everything Ultra/ Terrain standart / Viewdistance 4km ob 1.8km.

As I could see for many people the performance is horrible. Ask me any question you want I will try my best to answer it, and hopefully it will help you to get better performance as well.

Radeon 7950 3gig/ 16 gig ram / 3.1 ghz 8120 amd 8 cores

[ric 1]

The stuttering i am getting reminded me of another game (cliffs of dover) with the same issue...my FPS was around 50 but there was a ton of non stop stutter/micro pause...it turned out that it was interop between .NET and C++ was causing the issue so I am wondering if a similar issue is happening here?

Integration with the engine

Want to render something to the screen? Nope, there’s no render event to hook into, just keep looping and rendering. The scripts are interpreted in another thread separate from the rendering thread which is probably for the best since I suspect this language drags ass performance-wise, but you run into problems. Since the thread is separate and since the scripting drags ass, there’s a very clear very visual update lag whenever you render something on to the screen.

Think about it, let’s say you want to add your own name tags to players:

The engine needs to feed player coordinates to the scripting engine, the scripting engine has to feed render data (remember, we’re looping here, so it might not even be before a separate frame render is called) and what you end up with is weirdly choppy mess that doesn’t stay on the character, but behind them by a few frames. If they run or even walk, it’ll lag behind.

[wilsander 10]

Unplayable and unnaceptable, this game should´ve stayed as alpha for at least another year.

[MavericK96 0]

Altis actually runs pretty decent for me. CPU utilization and FPS still tank sometimes, but it sure seems like it runs better than ArmA 2 did on release.

[Triikor 10]

I still have ~60% CPU usage and ~60% GPU usage for each of my 2 560Ti, no difference from video settings. -nosplash -world=empty -nologs parameters enabled.