Strange FPS drops on Chernarus Intro Scene

I have noticed this odd performance issue for a while now and never got around to asking about it. But now while I am searching for anything that can help FPS I figure it's worth finding out the cause. Note that this is not related to my previous difficulties with the GTX295. I have seen this happen on two PC's with a GTX295,9800GTX,GTS250, Core2Quad, Duo, Vista and XP64.

Basically, I have noticed that on the Chernarus Intro scene (comes up at the menu screen after you have played a mission on Chernarus) I get these weird drops in FPS as the camera pans from Right to left. When the camera starts on the right my FPS are really high, then as the camera swings to the left my FPS drops to 30. Next camera shot and the same thing happens.

I can see no obvious reason for it. The drop in fps becomes less as it gets dark.

Does the same thing happen for everyone? Could it be something in the video script that's causing it? Does anyone know where this is on the map so I can test it in the editor?

Maybe its nothing, but maybe it could be a consistent problem that will help the Developers track down a problem and perhaps give us more performance. Worth a shot.

Here's a video to highlight the problem a little better. Please excuse the really crappy video quality, you'll get the idea though.

Please Test for yourself

If everyone could test this and vote that would be great, its easy:

1. add -world=chernarus to the end of the "Target:" line in your Arma2 shortcut.

2. load Fraps

3. start Arma2, don't touch anything and watch the intro sequence and your FPS for any weirdness.

4.Vote and add comments ;)

I watched the three scenes, water, tractor, and castle, and observed my frame rate

31-42 water

37-47 tractor

40-69 castle

:popcornsmilie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmZVCQVBBjk :dance1:

all high, normal aa, pp low

1600x900

xp32

driver v191.03beta

I voted for the consistent option.

hmm on the scene your FPS drop from 70 to 40, that seems odd to me. not as bad as what I have seen with the two rigs I tested on, the first two scenes run ok for you. But that last scene has no change in complexity really, to explain a 30fps drop.

Thanks for the votes, keep em coming. I would like to hear from the people who voted yes also.

I wonder if its to do with a graphic settings? I use:

Texture = normal

Tex Mem=default

Filtering =V high

AA =off

Terrain =Low

Objects = Normal

Shadow =High

PP =veryHigh

res =1680x1050 render res=100% 16:10

seems OK for me; getting 50-60FPS in the menu using:

Texture Detail=Very High

Texture Mem=default

AF=Very High

AA=low

Terrain=High

Objects=Very High

Shadows=High

PP=Low

Resolution=1280x1024 (4:3) w/ 3D Res=125%

I noticed you had PP set to very high...have you tried lowering that at all?

Also, not to be rude but what's the point of this poll? Do you think it might also be affecting FPS during gameplay? Just curious. I don't really care about my FPS in the menus

that last scene has no change in complexity really, to explain a 30fps drop.

it must be the type of tree displayed in the last moments of the scene, or the sheep ! ( they are like AI )

@No Name

these scenes are not just menus. if those locations are causing problems in the intro, it is very likely they could cause problems in game.

Plus, seany has way too much fluxuation in his framerate to be acceptable. He is right to question that performance.

*edit* my render res is 100%, btw.

seems OK for me; getting 50-60FPS in the menu using:

Texture Detail=Very High

Texture Mem=default

AF=Very High

AA=low

Terrain=High

Objects=Very High

Shadows=High

PP=Low

Resolution=1280x1024 (4:3) w/ 3D Res=125%

I noticed you had PP set to very high...have you tried lowering that at all?

Also, not to be rude but what's the point of this poll? Do you think it might also be affecting FPS during gameplay? Just curious. I don't really care about my FPS in the menus

Cheers for testing, Yeah I figure since its the game engine running in that intro, maybe we could get boost a in fps when playing by fixing what ever it is that causes the drop.

I have yet to experiment with changing the gfx options.

5 people including myself get the same problem. Can you guy who voted that you get large FPS drop please add your thoughts, amount of FPS drop, hardware etc? Thanks.

Made an interesting observation with CPU usage and this anomaly. here is a screen shot of my Task Manager when running the intro.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i192/seanysherry/ChernFPSdrops.jpg

Notice how as soon as I get the massive drop in performance all the cpu's, bar the first one, drop to 20-30% usage. Coincidence? Seems very odd.

We now have more people that say they have the problem then don't. But no one seems to want to add any info. Fellow Arma enthusiasts, just a line or two about your basic specs or how much of a drop your getting? Please.

My view distance was 1000. I tested setting global gfx options to "Very Low" and it still happens, except now every scene gets 120fps then drops to 30 :confused:. I have found that changing the view distance to its lowest setting stops this problem from happening, FPS remain pretty consistent. But that's not really a fix is it? I have lots of pieces for this puzzle, but I cant seem to put together a picture. It seems to me there is something going on with cpu usage here. 1000m View Distance to 500m should not have this big of an impact on fps.

this problem was fixing form me by set the cpu count to 4 (in the shortcut). But i have in contrary to you a I7 920 CPU.

yeah I tried that command option but it had no effect.

My fps is at a steady 5-15 fps, if there is a drop it's just a couple of frames.

My fps is at a steady 5-15 fps, if there is a drop it's just a couple of frames.

omg celery! :butbut: :rolleyes: HA !

ok, so its like this:

View Distance < 800 = FPS behaves normal as you would expect

View Distance set from 800 <-> 1169 = Massive FPS drop to 30, with "jerky" camera panning at 30fps half way through the scene/panning shot.

View Distance > 1169 = far less of a drop in FPS (down to about 45fps). No "jerkyness", smooth panning all through the scene.

This only appears to be an issue during the Daytime, when it gets dark fps seems ok.

So anyone who tested this with a high view distance would not have noticed anything. Could some people mind retesting this, playing around with view distance from 800 to 2000 to see what happens? One handy thing is you can see the results immediately as you can change the VD while the scene is running.

Thanks