Beta 4 severe performance issue

[Boomer]

Hi everyone,

I just downloaded and installed Beta 4, and mentioned a severe performance issue at once.

The exact same settings are used for Beta 3 and Beta 4.

3840 * 2160, Ultra preset, SLi bits 0x02406405.

In Beta 3, everything went smoothly at 60 FPS (monitored with FRAPS).

However, in Beta 4, before a round starts, in free roaming, it also runs at 60 FPS; once the round begins, when I start to control the character, the FPS drops to less than 30. When I intentionally let my character die (suicide or get ran over by harverster or anything else), once I no longer control a character, the game will run at 60 FPS.

I installed Beta 3 and Beta 4 in different folders, switching version by exiting one and launch another, so the test is done in exact same system environment.

The test is done with the exact same map (C&C_Field) with exact same skirmish settings.

So I'm pretty sure that this is an issue introduced in Beta 4.

I'd like to know if there is any way to collect logs that can help solve this issue.

Thanks a lot!

[cncforever]

I just tested a round online and I was getting a constant 60 fps on Ultra at 1920 x 1080 on a nearly full server. You should bear in mind that although they improved performance, they also improved the quality of the graphics as well. What are your specs?

Did you disable Vsync?

Edited March 22, 2015 by Guest

[Goku]

ive noticed ram use is higher than beta3

[Boomer]

I just tested a round online and I was getting a constant 60 fps on Ultra at 1920 x 1080 on a nearly full server. You should bear in mind that although they improved performance, they also improved the quality of the graphics as well. What are your specs?

Did you disable Vsync?

Xeon E5-2687W * 2 (3.1GHz, 16 cores, 32 threads)

256GB DDR3-1866

GTX Titan * 4 in SLi

Game installs on Samsung 840 Pro 256GB * 4 @ RAID 0 on LSI MegaRAID 9271-8i

I tried disable or enable Vsync in Beta 4, the performance is the same.

Basically, there should be no bottleneck... In all previous versions, everything runs at 60 FPS, the only problem is that when I start to control a character, the FPS will drop to below 30 in Beta 4.

[Boomer]

ive noticed ram use is higher than beta3

Currently Renegade X is compiled in 32-bit, so the memory usage cannot exceed 4GB. Anyway, I have 256GB of RAM, so...

[RypeL]

That is rwally weird. Im sry but i have n clue atm what could be going on there. Though going from 60 to 30 with a more then capable system like yours alao sounds a bit like a vsync problem to me. It might be that changing vsybc only applys after restarting the game. you can also try playing arround with the framerate smoothing option.

[HaTe]

Windows 8 I'm guessing? Don't think 7 ever even supported that much RAM capability. Wasn't even aware windows 8 could lol

Edit: Nevermind, just read the 16 cores part.

[Boomer]

That is rwally weird. Im sry but i have n clue atm what could be going on there. Though going from 60 to 30 with a more then capable system like yours alao sounds a bit like a vsync problem to me. It might be that changing vsybc only applys after restarting the game. you can also try playing arround with the framerate smoothing option.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've just updated to 4.01 and tried those combinations (everytime the settings changed, I quit and relaunch the game):

vsync on, framerate smoothing off: glitches

vsync off, framerate smoothing off: glitches

vsync off, framerate smoothing on: glitches, but a little better

vsync on, framerate smoothing on: same as above

In fact, I monitored GPU utilization using nVidia Inspector. All cards are running at 50% - 60% usage, similiar to Beta 3. The GPU utilization nearly doesn't change whether the settings have be changed.

The most strange thing is that the very moment my character dies, the game will begin to run smoothly, until I choose to respawn.

I'd like to know If there are some built-in options, or additional programs that can make logs that can help track down the source of this issue. Thanks!

[Boomer]

Windows 8 I'm guessing? Don't think 7 ever even supported that much RAM capability. Wasn't even aware windows 8 could lol

Edit: Nevermind, just read the 16 cores part.

Currently I'm running Windows 10. I think Windows version doesn't matter since I run Beta 3 at the same time, no issue at all. Before that I've used Beta 2 with Windows 10, also no problem. Basically... I can confirm the glitch is introduced in Beta 4.

[HaTe]

Interesting...not sure where the problem could be at all...

In spectate mode (I believe you can access this in skirmish mode?), do you still get the FPS drop, or is it just when you are using a character model? And is it the same with first person and third person I'm guessing?

Sounds like it could possibly be a game optimization issue on specs that are extraordinarily high. Not sure what changed from beta 3 to 4 on this aspect though.

Edit: apparent optimization edits via the changelist:

Optimized particle trail effects on various missile, shells, and bullet particles for better performance

New character/vehicle shader system with cubemap reflections

Updated to latest UDK version

Added 3D Studio Max rig example files for weapons, vehicles, and characters (?)

Disabled static decals by default in all video modes below ultra cause it uses a lot of performance

Doubled ConfiguredInternetSpeed and MaxInternetClientRate which might result in smoother online play

Various other optimizations to all maps, effects, assets etc

Most can be ruled out as causing your issue, but some are likely at least relevant (though i couldn't tell you specifically which ones).

[Boomer]

Interesting...not sure where the problem could be at all...

In spectate mode (I believe you can access this in skirmish mode?), do you still get the FPS drop, or is it just when you are using a character model? And is it the same with first person and third person I'm guessing?

Sounds like it could possibly be a game optimization issue on specs that are extraordinarily high. Not sure what changed from beta 3 to 4 on this aspect though.

Edit: apparent optimization edits via the changelist:

Optimized particle trail effects on various missile, shells, and bullet particles for better performance

New character/vehicle shader system with cubemap reflections

Updated to latest UDK version

Added 3D Studio Max rig example files for weapons, vehicles, and characters (?)

Disabled static decals by default in all video modes below ultra cause it uses a lot of performance

Doubled ConfiguredInternetSpeed and MaxInternetClientRate which might result in smoother online play

Various other optimizations to all maps, effects, assets etc

Most can be ruled out as causing your issue, but some are likely at least relevant (though i couldn't tell you specifically which ones).

In spectate mode (before a round of skirmish game starts) the game runs at 60 FPS, no matter how long I run the spectate mode. When I start to control a character model, no matter 1st or 3rd person, the FPS will drop to below 30. At the moment my character dies (and I lose control), whether the body disappears or not, the FPS will return to 60.

So, the FPS drop issue only happens when I have control of a character. When I don't have control, the game has no issue at all.

I just played a little more with the glitch happening, and noticed a very interesting thing. Even when I'm playing offline in skirmish mode, my character often lags the same as I'm playing online over a bad connection. In 3rd person view, it looks like my character moves 3 ft forward and then be forced pulled back 1 ft by server while keeping the running forward animation. At some random point, my character is able to run normally, and the FPS also goes back to normal.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Guest

[cncforever]

I just tested a round online and I was getting a constant 60 fps on Ultra at 1920 x 1080 on a nearly full server. You should bear in mind that although they improved performance, they also improved the quality of the graphics as well. What are your specs?

Did you disable Vsync?

Xeon E5-2687W * 2 (3.1GHz, 16 cores, 32 threads)

256GB DDR3-1866

GTX Titan * 4 in SLi

Game installs on Samsung 840 Pro 256GB * 4 @ RAID 0 on LSI MegaRAID 9271-8i

I tried disable or enable Vsync in Beta 4, the performance is the same.

Basically, there should be no bottleneck... In all previous versions, everything runs at 60 FPS, the only problem is that when I start to control a character, the FPS will drop to below 30 in Beta 4.

That is very strange. You should test out running in single GPU mode to see if it has the same problem as SLI. Strange it was ok in beta 3 though.

[Boomer]

I just tested a round online and I was getting a constant 60 fps on Ultra at 1920 x 1080 on a nearly full server. You should bear in mind that although they improved performance, they also improved the quality of the graphics as well. What are your specs?

Did you disable Vsync?

Xeon E5-2687W * 2 (3.1GHz, 16 cores, 32 threads)

256GB DDR3-1866

GTX Titan * 4 in SLi

Game installs on Samsung 840 Pro 256GB * 4 @ RAID 0 on LSI MegaRAID 9271-8i

I tried disable or enable Vsync in Beta 4, the performance is the same.

Basically, there should be no bottleneck... In all previous versions, everything runs at 60 FPS, the only problem is that when I start to control a character, the FPS will drop to below 30 in Beta 4.

That is very strange. You should test out running in single GPU mode to see if it has the same problem as SLI. Strange it was ok in beta 3 though.

Thank you so much for the suggestion! I reverted the settings to default (single GPU) in nVidia Control Panel, and now the game is playable. Also, I found that a single GTX Titan without overclocking (which is an old card released in 2013) is capable to run Renegade X at 3840 * 2160 @ ultra preset and keep around 60 FPS most of the time. Sometimes it may go as low as around 50 FPS, but this is definitely nice and smooth for playing.

It's so strange that I didn't change any settings and all previous version works well, except Beta 4. Maybe because UDK version is updated or some internal optimization routine has changed.

Still, I hope that this issue can be fixed since SLi can give me a steady 60 FPS, and maybe one day people including me will try to run Renegade X at 5120 * 2880 @ ultra preset.

I guess I will try and 'borrow' SLi bits from latest Unreal Engine 3 games when I have time to find if one is suitable for Beta 4.

[DCG909]

I'm also having this phenomena.

Though I'm using AMD cards.

Went from 90 FPS (don't like Vsync on a 120 Hz monitor ) to 50's and 70's (some darker area's were still 90 though).

For me it didn't matter if I was using Crossfire or not (As crossfire doesn't seem to do anything)

I didn't test dying yet, but before I spawn I still get 90 FPS.

What did seem to remedy the stuttering a lot (and I'm quite sensitive to it) was updating my GPU drivers from 14.4 to 14.12 (omega). even though I ran at 55 FPS, there was no noticeable stuttering or tearing (could also be partially due to the 120 Hz screen, but still).

@boomer.

I also tried borrowing CF profiles from other UDK3 games, but none seemed to work in my case

Still good luck in trying and if you find a working game, plz post it here as well

[HaTe]

He fixed his issue in his last post I believe. Try that if you're running a similar configuration

[JTeKE]

SLI support is hit or miss.

I thought my 780 Ti SLI setup was overkill. WTF are you doing with that system? Heating a small 3rd world country?

[Boomer]

I'm also having this phenomena.

Though I'm using AMD cards.

Went from 90 FPS (don't like Vsync on a 120 Hz monitor ) to 50's and 70's (some darker area's were still 90 though).

For me it didn't matter if I was using Crossfire or not (As crossfire doesn't seem to do anything)

I didn't test dying yet, but before I spawn I still get 90 FPS.

What did seem to remedy the stuttering a lot (and I'm quite sensitive to it) was updating my GPU drivers from 14.4 to 14.12 (omega). even though I ran at 55 FPS, there was no noticeable stuttering or tearing (could also be partially due to the 120 Hz screen, but still).

@boomer.

I also tried borrowing CF profiles from other UDK3 games, but none seemed to work in my case

Still good luck in trying and if you find a working game, plz post it here as well

Yeah... I also tested some profile from late 2014, but no luck. Maybe we should wait for more UE3 / UDK games later this year and try to use their profiles.

By the way, I think that Renegade X is not friendly to AMD cards? My older laptop had GTX765M and it run Renegade X Beta 2 @ 1920 * 1080 (very high or ultra? I can't remember) smoothly. My current laptop had R9 M290X, which is more powerful than GTX765M, but the framerate is very low, always under 30. The CPU, RAM and SSD of these two laptops are exactly the same, the only difference is the GPU.

[Boomer]

He fixed his issue in his last post I believe. Try that if you're running a similar configuration

No... It is not fixed, just a temporary workaround. The goal is to re-enable SLi support on Beta 4...

[Boomer]

SLI support is hit or miss.

I thought my 780 Ti SLI setup was overkill. WTF are you doing with that system? Heating a small 3rd world country?

Yeah, but it is very strange that performance drop only happens when I gain control of a character model.

I use this system just as a normal desktop computer, besides it has 96TB storage... The only PC game I play in the recent years is Command & Conquer series, of course including Renegade X.

[RypeL]

Can you pls open the console (^ key on english keyboards i believe) and type "stat unitgraph" and then make a screenshot (F9) with that on when youre controlling a player and a screenshot when youre not ?

Does it happen only in MP or in SP aswell ?

[gdfsgdfg]

Man this game really uses the cpu. my i5 literally hits 70c after playing for 1~ hour.

[DoctorB0NG]

Man this game really uses the cpu. my i5 literally hits 70c after playing for 1~ hour.

Sounds like you need to reapply your thermal paste correctly or get a better CPU cooler.

[Boomer]

Can you pls open the console (^ key on english keyboards i believe) and type "stat unitgraph" and then make a screenshot (F9) with that on when youre controlling a player and a screenshot when youre not ?

Does it happen only in MP or in SP aswell ?

Of course, here are the screenshots.

All of the issues happens in SP, since I always try to explore maps before playing online.

Last night I used single GPU to play MP, no issues at all.

The 3 pictures below is take using single GPU (3840 * 2160 original, compressed to 1920 * 1080 in order to upload)

In free roam

Edited March 23, 2015 by Guest

[Boomer]

Running

[HaTe]

He fixed his issue in his last post I believe. Try that if you're running a similar configuration

No... It is not fixed, just a temporary workaround. The goal is to re-enable SLi support on Beta 4...

Well yeah but if you have one video card that can run at 60+, the need for 2 isn't absolutely necessary. You're right that it isn't a game-fix, but just a temporary client fix, but it's still a fix. Better than nothing.

Oh, and the edit button works much better than triple posting

[Boomer]

Running. It lags

[Boomer]

He fixed his issue in his last post I believe. Try that if you're running a similar configuration

No... It is not fixed, just a temporary workaround. The goal is to re-enable SLi support on Beta 4...

Well yeah but if you have one video card that can run at 60+, the need for 2 isn't absolutely necessary. You're right that it isn't a game-fix, but just a temporary client fix, but it's still a fix. Better than nothing.

Oh, and the edit button works much better than triple posting

It's a nice idea, just needs to cut and paste quotes I guess? I didn't find a "multi-quote" button here...

My user class is limited to upload 2 attachment pictures per reply so I have to do 3 times for 6 screenshots in total

[HaTe]

I always just add in the quote code myself lol. I meant earlier haha didn't even see these 3 when i posted that. No big deal though, i just know it's in the rules and you seem like a reasonable guy

[RypeL]

Ok so the screens show that its definatly GPU related and not CPU related. Can you do a screenshot with and without the issue again while using the command "stat scenerendering" ?

[Boomer]

Ok so the screens show that its definatly GPU related and not CPU related. Can you do a screenshot with and without the issue again while using the command "stat scenerendering" ?

Sure, here comes the new screenshots.

These 2 are taken using single GPU where everything is fine:

Free roam

[Boomer]

Below 3 screenshots are taken using 4-way SLi:

Free roam, no problem

[Boomer]

After my character dies, things go back to normal

[Havoc89]

I believe I know why this is present.

So in Beta 3 we used the stock compiling settings to prep the game, which caches out everything, and compresses it all to be very light on performance. However this compiling mechanic is also the reason why we could not have mods and maps for Renegade X. We changed the way the game is compiled using a similar setup to how Unreal Tournament 3 is compiled, where every asset is compressed and saved out individually instead of in one large cache file. This setup is known to have a slightly more of an impact on performance, especially on ram usage, but in return means custom content can be easily added.

[HaTe]

I thought the issue was that something changed that deactivated/altered SLi support.

[Boomer]

I believe I know why this is present.

So in Beta 3 we used the stock compiling settings to prep the game, which caches out everything, and compresses it all to be very light on performance. However this compiling mechanic is also the reason why we could not have mods and maps for Renegade X. We changed the way the game is compiled using a similar setup to how Unreal Tournament 3 is compiled, where every asset is compressed and saved out individually instead of in one large cache file. This setup is known to have a slightly more of an impact on performance, especially on ram usage, but in return means custom content can be easily added.

Thanks for the information. But I really wonder why this change have so much negative effects on SLi performance, since single GPU works just as good as old versions.

Also, it is almost impossible that my desktop computer cannot handle Renegade X... My SSD array can sequentially read 1,500MB/s, write 1,200MB/s, 4k IOPS > 150,000. Even the single core performance of my CPU is mainstream level (3.4GHz Sandy Bridge). RAM is running quad channel DDR3-1866.

I thought the issue was that something changed that deactivated/altered SLi support.

Yeah... Since different UE3 / UDK version needs different SLi bits, my thoughts are the same as yours.

[HaTe]

Based on your build specs, thats the only logical conclusion. I think havoc just must've read the first post. Hopefully because he's busy with other things renx related

[Havoc89]

Yeah sorry, I didn't read the whole topic, was at work when I posted it.

I'm not really sure on the whole SLi thing.

[OTT]

Facing the same probelm here,I got amd radeon.The moment I spawn the fps halves be it mp or skirmish.

I get a maximum of 25 fps,guess I'll have to wait for a fix or something to play again.Hope it will happen.

[DCG909]

@Havoc

I'll see what happens when running MSI afterburner, to capture GPU usage and Vram usage

As I remember also having a FPS dip on my laptop, which is equipped with a 7970M (sort of like the m290x, without the boost...)

Both systems have 16 GB of DDR3 Ram (1600 mhz for the laptop, 1866 for the desktop)

In my case I can live with 50 FPS on my desktop, I don't know how much FPS my laptop will give me now though

I could live with lower FPS if it grants the ability to add custom maps

In Obelisk's case it seems his GPU is too old to benefit from driver updates, which caused the lower FPS to be less noticeable in my case

@boomer.

Yea, Unreal games are all nVidia biased titles

Meaning AMD cards usually have lower performance, until AMD writes a specific fix for them.

(also the reason I'm avoiding Gameworks titles like hell lately, one exeption seems to be Dying light, who gave AMD cards a nice boost, without a driver update, a month and a half after the release)

Gameworks and the GTX 970 are the main reasons I'm avoiding nVidia cards, as I think it's dirty play...

[Nero]

Xeon E5-2687W * 2 (3.1GHz, 16 cores, 32 threads)

256GB DDR3-1866

GTX Titan * 4 in SLi

Game installs on Samsung 840 Pro 256GB * 4 @ RAID 0 on LSI MegaRAID 9271-8i

Can I ask something off-topic? How much in the world did this cost to you? .___.

Do you plan to hack the NASA servers?

[DCG909]

@Nero.

I'd say these kinds of machines are usefull for rendering (as in rendering a entire movie), or simulations, as the Titan 1's had pretty good double precision floating point calculations

There are some more professional applications, but personally I'd say it's for physics simulations.

Also.

Vram usage is less than 500 MB.

System ram is about 5.9 GB. But I'm having about 280 browser tabs open and steam, so default my RAM usage is 3.5 3.7 GB, meaning the game used about 2.2 GB.

This could however cause some problems with 32 bit OS's...

GPU usage was 98% at the times when I was looking at it.

I'll try B3 later today on my laptop (also with islands )

Edit.

B4 death fps are still lower than B3 alive FPS, but they are quite close to each other.

The FPS I gained in B4 from dying were between 10 to 20 FPS, so from 65 to 71 to 85 or so.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Guest

[JTeKE]

Xeon E5-2687W * 2 (3.1GHz, 16 cores, 32 threads)

256GB DDR3-1866

GTX Titan * 4 in SLi

Game installs on Samsung 840 Pro 256GB * 4 @ RAID 0 on LSI MegaRAID 9271-8i

Can I ask something off-topic? How much in the world did this cost to you? .___.

Do you plan to hack the NASA servers?

Did basic math based on current prices of LISTED parts. He didn't give us everything.

16400 based on those prices and NO tax. 2x cpu, 8x32gb ram, 4 gpu, 1 raid controller, 4 ssd. Of course you'd need to add in his other storage he referenced, the case, motherboard, etc.

[Handepsilon]

It seemed that I would have no hope to even run the game...

My fps in Beta 3 is just 10-20... mostly with things lowered ._.

[RelentlessChaos]

I don't have sever FPS issues, but there are times when it's jumping around 30-45 fps.

My specs: 780 SC, 16GB, 1440p, 3570k.

Wish it was more stable.

[Ap2000]

It seemed that I would have no hope to even run the game...

My fps in Beta 3 is just 10-20... mostly with things lowered

What kind of toaster are you running this on? lol

[isupreme]

I have been laggy/unplayable since the new patch. It is very discouraging to me.

Having gotten no response in the bug forum i am looking around for some ray of hope.