Can someone explain this to me?

Discussion in 'Support!' started by planktum, August 6, 2014.

  1. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Ok your GPU usage is only 80%... however your FPS were over 90! The thing is what really matters here is frame rate. What I've found is, even with large numbers of units (several thousand) PA is able to maintain frame rates over 30 fps on my GTX 560. Most other RTS engines would collapse under that load. I admit they aren't making full use of your GPU- however I think they will add into more effects and such as they're 'polishing' things up at the moment.
  2. raven2392

    raven2392 New Member

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    System Information
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    Time of this report: 8/6/2014, 12:44:08
    Machine name: ///-PC
    Operating System: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_gdr.140330-1035)
    Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
    System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
    System Model: System Product Name
    BIOS: BIOS Date: 05/02/12 14:57:28 Ver: 10.15
    Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.3GHz
    Memory: 16384MB RAM
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    System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
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    DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
    DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
    DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
    DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
    DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

    ---------------
    Display Devices
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    Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
    Manufacturer: NVIDIA
    Chip type: GeForce GTX 660 Ti
    DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
    Device Type: Full Device
    Device Key: ///
    Display Memory: 4037 MB
    Dedicated Memory: 1989 MB
    Shared Memory: 2048 MB
    Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
    Monitor Name: Dell U2412M(Digital)
    Monitor Model: DELL U2412M
    Monitor Id: DELA07A
    Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.950Hz)

    I run a cable, and have 70mb Download / 10mb Upload. The internet is BT Fiber.

    edit : PA is installed on my HDD, and my OS is on SSD

    edit 2 : Just played the same map, but only 1v1 and had no issues. It appears that if I run more than 2 + Commanders then I experience these spikes, and the typical 'PA Has stopped Working'

    edit 3 : Can stream on Twitch to show how unplayable I have it during medium sized games.
  3. planktum

    planktum Post Master General

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    Wargame in-game screenshot at close zoom (do those unit models look simple to you?)
    wargame_red_dragon-09.jpg
    cdrkf likes this.
  4. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    It looks nice I'll give you that. Mind the free Spring RTS engine can do some pretty impressively large games and such (especially when they had the much better MT version they ditched, but that's a separate issue). Still they're not really doing the same thing. I can pretty much guarantee they're not using simulated projectiles for example, and your only talking a single (albeit large) flat map. It's a modern, "classic" RTS.

    Also things like water shaders can hammer the GPU so get the usage stats up, that wont improve the frame rates though it just makes it look better.
  5. planktum

    planktum Post Master General

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    My main concerns come from the fact that apparently we are nearing release 1.0

    There's still a lot of work to be done on this game before they can honestly say it is in a satisfactory state for official release.
    cdrkf likes this.
  6. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Hmm can you get the info for the graphics driver please (not shown). Also how are you connecting to your internet connection, obviously 70mbit fibre is plenty! However wifi can cause issues in my experience...
  7. planktum

    planktum Post Master General

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    You would be suprised at how much "simulated projectiles" there are Wargame RD. Each units has it's own accuracy stats, meaning your shot (sometimes even radar or heat lock sensitive) may or may not hit the target.
  8. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Yeah I agree with you on this- I don't think the client performance (what your highlighting) is my main concern though. The communication performance between the client and the server is more of an issue- as that is what causes a lot of 'lag' late game when people are moving lots of stuff about (either that or performance of the server itself, either way Uber need to make sure the game runs as smoothly as possible).
    gerii likes this.
  9. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Perhaps it is then, I don't really know anything about that particular title. I am reasonable familiar with the 'craft' games (I started out on Warcraft back in the day) and TA / SupCom / Spring. To be honest blizzards engine is pretty archaic however it's adequate for the game they're using it for (which is quite small scale, micro-intensive type game play).
  10. raven2392

    raven2392 New Member

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    Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
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    Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

    I'm connected to the Router via an Ethernet Cable
  11. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Well that all sounds fine. I really haven't been experiencing lag spikes like you describe though. Is it all the time, or are we talking late game with large quantities of untis? Also how large are the maps your playing on?

    I have had it late in a large FFA where there are pauses like this due to the server getting overloaded (as things stand all the actual simulation work is done remotely on Ubers server). Next time this happens, please go through the performance tabs and screen shot all the pages- the server *should* be running at 10fps normally, and the game runs ok with it as low as about 5, if it drops below that though you start to get problems.

    Final thing to check, the server lag would cause units to stop moving, but the UI and game should stay fluid (which is why I wanted to check your set up). Have you installed (or previously ever installed) and mods? There is an option in the PA launcher to run the game with a --nomods switch so if you've ever had any mods installed trying that will allow you to test if some remnant of an old mod is screwing with the UI or something?
  12. planktum

    planktum Post Master General

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    Good chat :)
    Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully they don't dissapoint us. The game is pretty sweet as it is, but it could be amazing. Hopefully development hasn't become too much for them to handle.
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  13. exterminans

    exterminans Post Master General

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    That's actually quite a difference between what you describe, and PA. In PA, every projectile is actually an entity, much like in a FPS or arcade shooter. There is no "calculated" accuracy, but projectiles are actually handled by the physic simulation.


    Nonetheless:
    Don't expect either 100% CPU or 100% GPU usage.
    Stuff has been partly threaded, and parts of the GPU part of the render loop already run in parallel with the CPU part, but there are still sequential parts and implicit barriers which are difficult to avoid.

    Reaching full 100% utilization of the GPU requires very careful engine design. Which in return results in many additional limitations. Such as avoiding large amount of vertex updates every single frame (out of luck, since there is much individually moving stuff in PA), or being ok with the GPU delaying render commands until the GPU feels like doing so (even if that means lagging 1-2 frames behind - in terms of what data the CPU send and what the GPU has used).
    Synchronization can get really nasty when aiming for a full 100% utilization of any component. Not impossible, but nasty. Probably even possible in PA at some point, but devs at Uber are going to sweat a lot of blood before that works flawlessly.

    That's not how DX vs OpenGL works...
    What is possible with DX is also possible with OpenGL in most cases (not so much the other way around though, it usually takes 1-2 GPU generations before new DX version catches up with vendor extensions for OpenGL for new features). What you actually mean is a severe overhead in some (old) drivers for the OpenGL API since the drivers were not properly optimized for some specific use cases, but that's an entirely different issue and drivers happen to improve over time. Also note that - even with the overhead - a full GPU utilization is still in sight.
    Last edited: August 6, 2014
    cdrkf likes this.
  14. cwarner7264

    cwarner7264 Moderator Alumni

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    It couldn't be in safer hands, as far as I'm concerned.
  15. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

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    One very important quirk with CPUs and hyper-threading, and how usage is displayed. If you look in regular windows task manager when it's set to one graph per CPU, you'll see 8 graphs on a 4-core CPU:

    upload_2014-8-6_22-33-21.png

    That's because hyper-threading makes each physical core appear as two logical cores. When executing multi-threaded code, threads often have to wait for another thread to catch up or otherwise complete what it's doing because it needs information before it can continue. The second logical core allows the physical core to continue execution of other tasks during this waiting time. But often, a single application such as a game can't really take advantage of this on it's own - it's threads are probably too co-dependent, and you'll mostly only see the first logical core on each physical core used to max capacity.

    Windows will treat all logical CPUs the same though, so when calculating usage, each logical core will be 12.5% of the total. That means a CPU can be more or less maxing out, yet still only displaying 50% usage. Take note again of the CPU loads you were seeing in the OP:
    upload_2014-8-6_22-26-16.png

    That probably means cores 1 & 2 are maxed (~50%), since it doesn't break down the display into logical cores. Core 3 & 4 have some spare capacity, but the bottleneck would be in the threads on the first two cores. The screenshot from windows task manager above was in-game, just after landing. You can see how it only uses the primary logical core on each physical one.

    tl;dr: If you have hyper-threading, you'll usually get a more accurate CPU usage figure by doubling the displayed value.
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  16. planktum

    planktum Post Master General

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    I have an i5-2400 CPU which has 4 physical cores and no hyperthreading. Thanks for your attempt at an explanation though :)

    FYI - sometimes hypherthreading can actually be detrimental to game performance (i.e. BioShock 1) and as such should be turned off. Most modern games however probably don't have this problem so this may not be the case anymore.
    Last edited: August 6, 2014
  17. exterminans

    exterminans Post Master General

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    Nope. OP has an i5 2400, that's a quad core Sandy Bridge without Hyperthreading.

    There is simply no more work to do for the CPU, hence the limited CPU usage.

    GPU utilization on the other hand can be improved, issue so far is most likely synchronization of data between CPU and GPU. Even a single, unintentional implicit barrier can be enough to break the pipelined render pipeline into a partly sequential form which means that the CPU can sometimes not process the next frame before the GPU has finished a certain part of the old frame.

    Typically, the GPU would hang behind as much as 1-2 full frames.

    I'm positive though, that this will be resolved in time.
    planktum likes this.
  18. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    His CPU is an i5 though, so no HT enabled in that instance. PA can just about max out my old Phenom II x3, but that is a much weaker CPU...

    Edit: One point I didn't mention earlier- windows moves the threads around allot- which is why none of your cpu threads are showing as maxed out. The thing is the game is maxing 1 core (the main render thread) however windows moves it to other cores which is why none of them appear maxed out.
  19. ohhhshiny

    ohhhshiny Active Member

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    Wargame Red Dragon: Ive tried to play it multiple times, its not realistic (what it promises to be), it is far, far away from any balance, has nothing to do with actual strategy (only units/counterunits), and even when we say the performance is so much better, it uses almost the fckin same engine as wargame EE, and so it had a fckin lot of time for polishing.

    Second, i cant understand people saying this is still Beta, because guess what, it isnt anymore. Not even officially. Uber wanted to release this game half a year ago, and you want to hear the truth? The game is already released. You can go and buy it in shops, and only because it has "EARLY ACCESS" Written all over it, there will be no difference if this game gonna be "officially released", because it just wont matter. The game is by now cheaper than Uber wanted to have it by release, and if you guys really think this is *really* not released game, you are just fooling yourself. There will not be a big playerwave coming in the moment this game is officially released, because everybody interested in this game already has it.

    And btw - why do you compare it with Supcom? I dont know how you guys remember it, it was an awesome game, but when I think back to Supcom, i still see a 100 ground units i try to send somewhere, and the started moving ONE BY ONE, it was HORRIBLE.

    And i dont quite grasp the SC2 thingy as well - i can easily place 600 speedlings in SC2 in custom maps, have them running around in high speed, without FPS drops and perfect pathfinding on ultra graphics, and then sending them into 200 marines without any laggs as well.
    edit: okay i just tried it, it actually was a little bit slower than usual
    edit 2: I tried moving as many units as possible, in 8 minutes i had build ~4000 units and had ~2000 casulties, the game went a lil bit slower but still, no crash, and no major problems coming up, sadly this was the end of the rope since there seems to be a unit hardcap at around 2000 units.

    But still, even though it sounds like a lot of hate, i am still able to defend PA. Its a pretty complex game, and over the last month it has improved greatly (at some aspects, on others like pathfinding and balance it somehow managed to actually go back). I will go at this how i managed the horrible performance issues at the alpha/beta: Just wait and sit. This game has a lot of potential, and its up to Uber if theyre qualified enough to squeez it out of the game.
    Last edited: August 6, 2014
  20. SXX

    SXX Post Master General

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    You're really missed meaning of @varrak post about threading. There is clearly some overhead that OpenGL add, but it's nowhere near to cut FPS in half and if it's was is you'd likely will see there is one CPU core with 100% load.

    Spring RTS does have projectile simulation as far as I know. Multithreading in Spring wasn't "ditched", but it's just newer worked well and required changes in every game that use engine so only worked in BA anyway.

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