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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Author Topic: Suddenly, Bad fps?  (Read 9532 times)

AnAppleADay

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Suddenly, Bad fps?
« on: May 04, 2018, 01:17:07 AM »

Hello Fellow Humans

I would like to begin by mentioning first and foremost that I did read Dark.Revenant's Post about troubleshooting (On which I could not find a solution)
I would also like to mention that I tried to follow his instructions and dump my Starsectorlog. in pastebin.com for everyone to see so they could help but the site crashes every time I try to use it, so I am here posting in the hopes someone can help me find a solution.

As the subject title suggests I have suddenly been getting low/mediocre fps in starsector, I am playing with the full modlist from Nemo's DME series (Link: https://pastebin.com/3zLiE4iH)
and I have not had issues with it before, it easily stayed at 60 fps constantly and idle was usually above at least 50%, but I booted up the game today to continue playing and all of a sudden my game's performance has taken a dive.

specifically, I get about 30 fps on the overworld and idle stays at about 16-20%, and in battles it tanks and can't stay above 20 fps with idle never going above 5%.

I am confused as to why I am suddenly getting such bad performance when it used to run fine and am at a loss as to how to fix it and get back up to a steady 60 fps again.

My PC's (Relevant?) specs are:

Processor: i7-7700HQ @ 2.80 GHz (16Gb of RAM and 64bit)
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 1050ti (4GbVram)
OS: Windows 10

PS: I have allocated 6Gb of Ram to the game as well.
PPS: I am on a laptop which has integrated graphics, and i do not know IF Starsector is using my GPU and not the laptop's integrated graphics and i also do not know HOW to make Satrsector use my GPU. (if it isn't already)
PPPS: I initially thought the fps issues was because of the game using integrated graphics but when i tried to do some research on it, nothing useful came up, sad times.

From what i have read my pc should be able to handle running Starsector, even with quite a few mods installed and it did, for a time, but not anymore :(








« Last Edit: May 04, 2018, 01:20:02 AM by AnAppleADay »
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Dark.Revenant

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2018, 01:32:52 AM »

GraphicsLib isn’t directly at fault because your campaign performance also took a dive.  I’ve seen this effect personally on a rather overkill machine; sometimes the game will abruptly become 100% slower (half FPS) during a run for no discernible reason.  Is there any lead-up time to the slowness?  Is it slow even if you just load up a mission instead of the campaign?
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Alex

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2018, 07:25:37 AM »

Did windows auto-update the graphics drivers between when it worked well and now? Worth checking into, possibly.

With how bad the framerate is, it does sound like it could also be running on the wrong card, as you say. I don't know the details of how to force it to use a specific one offhand, though, but it's also worth looking into.

Trying to run vanilla is worth a shot as well, just to rule mods out as the issue. It doesn't sound like mods would be causing the problem here, but it's always good to reproduce the problem with a minimal set of moving parts, to help narrow it down.

(Welcome to the forum, btw! Sorry it's not for a better reason :))
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2018, 09:07:13 PM »

GraphicsLib isn’t directly at fault because your campaign performance also took a dive.  I’ve seen this effect personally on a rather overkill machine; sometimes the game will abruptly become 100% slower (half FPS) during a run for no discernible reason.  Is there any lead-up time to the slowness?  Is it slow even if you just load up a mission instead of the campaign?

thanks for the reply :)

since I posted I have allocated 9Gb to Starsector and in battles it now maintains a steady 60fps, so no it isn't slow if I load up a mission
and there is no lead up at all to the slowness, I just load my save game and instantly as soon as I load in, low frames

I have noticed too that the frame rate really suffers and the idle percentage goes down significantly when I am on the campaign and there are a large amount of fleets on screen, fps also suffers more than usual when I am in hyperspace so I am assuming it is a problem with processing power and not graphics
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2018, 09:12:41 PM »

Did windows auto-update the graphics drivers between when it worked well and now? Worth checking into, possibly.

With how bad the framerate is, it does sound like it could also be running on the wrong card, as you say. I don't know the details of how to force it to use a specific one offhand, though, but it's also worth looking into.

Trying to run vanilla is worth a shot as well, just to rule mods out as the issue. It doesn't sound like mods would be causing the problem here, but it's always good to reproduce the problem with a minimal set of moving parts, to help narrow it down.

(Welcome to the forum, btw! Sorry it's not for a better reason :))

I don't know about the graphics drivers, I always keep my drivers up to date but I have disabled auto updates and only do it manually so I don't think that is the issue :/

I also tested and running the game on vanilla the game runs perfectly fine so it must be a mod that is causing issues.

thank you for the warm welcome :D
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Dark.Revenant

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2018, 10:34:22 PM »

Try with mods but on a fresh save.  It definitely is sensitive to how long the game has been going.
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MesoTroniK

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2018, 11:32:44 PM »

AnAppleADay, allocating more than 8 gigs of ram is not advised as it can cause issues.

Here are my suggestions for you:
- Take Dr's advice.
- Lower ram allocation to 8 gigs.
- Are your mods 100% up to date?
- Check to see if SS is using your discrete video card.

The second to last bullet point is because recent updates of Nexelerin and Dynasector added a feature that corrects a bug in vanilla regarding debris fields not clearing correctly and scavenger fleets not despawning correctly. Both of which can negatively impact performance and also save stability.

The last bullet point, well an easy way to check would be to get a program like MSI Afterburner. If it is not, I will tell you how to force it to use your proper video card.
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html
And look at its hardware monitor while playing SS and see if it is loading your 1050TI.


Edit: In MSI Afterburner's hardware monitor you should check these things:
- CPU usage.
- CPU temperature (your CPU might be thermal throttling).
- Ram usage (if SS is using your IGPU then textures are stored in system ram which is slow and (unlikely) you might be running out of ram).
- Pagefile usage (if you are running out of ram (unlikely), info will be stored in pagefile which is *very* slow).
- GPU usage (to see if SS is using your 1050TI).
- Vram usage (to see if SS is using your 1050TI).

Try looking at such things during a heated battle and a busy campaign star system. Ideally post screencaps of them in this thread.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2018, 12:05:12 AM by MesoTroniK »
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2018, 08:43:22 PM »

Try with mods but on a fresh save.  It definitely is sensitive to how long the game has been going.

I tired a new save and still bad performance :(
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2018, 09:04:11 PM »

AnAppleADay, allocating more than 8 gigs of ram is not advised as it can cause issues.

Here are my suggestions for you:
- Take Dr's advice.
- Lower ram allocation to 8 gigs.
- Are your mods 100% up to date?
- Check to see if SS is using your discrete video card.

The second to last bullet point is because recent updates of Nexelerin and Dynasector added a feature that corrects a bug in vanilla regarding debris fields not clearing correctly and scavenger fleets not despawning correctly. Both of which can negatively impact performance and also save stability.

The last bullet point, well an easy way to check would be to get a program like MSI Afterburner. If it is not, I will tell you how to force it to use your proper video card.
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html
And look at its hardware monitor while playing SS and see if it is loading your 1050TI.


Edit: In MSI Afterburner's hardware monitor you should check these things:
- CPU usage.
- CPU temperature (your CPU might be thermal throttling).
- Ram usage (if SS is using your IGPU then textures are stored in system ram which is slow and (unlikely) you might be running out of ram).
- Pagefile usage (if you are running out of ram (unlikely), info will be stored in pagefile which is *very* slow).
- GPU usage (to see if SS is using your 1050TI).
- Vram usage (to see if SS is using your 1050TI).

Try looking at such things during a heated battle and a busy campaign star system. Ideally post screencaps of them in this thread.

- I changed it back to 8 gigs per your recommendation (Loading time became REALLY slow)
- All of the mods are the newest version available
- I downloaded Afterburner as you recommended and it was quite strange, two things 1. It says both my 1050ti AND the intgrated graphics card are being used 0-o. and 2. From loading the game on start to sitting idle on the main menu for 15 minutes, the ram usage and pagefile usage (was being used :() did not change and both were really high, RAM was constant (a literal straight line on the graph) at a little over 6Gb being used constantly, and pagefile usage was like 15500mb constantly (a literal straight line as well)
- As far as i can tell there is no issue with my Cpu, Gpu or VRam (although the using both thing is strange), the game is just eating up all of my ram, no matter what i allocate to it.

Also sorry to be needy but help plez how do i post images, i have screenshots of Afterburner (can it be from my pc or does it has to be hosted by a website? and do you just post the link to it or what?)

Edit: After 20 mins idle on the main menu (was doing other stuff) the game went up to 60fps and 80-90% idle BUT Ram and pagefile usage both remained at the values I mentioned above (performance in game was still the same)
« Last Edit: May 05, 2018, 09:13:05 PM by AnAppleADay »
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Midnight Kitsune

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2018, 09:45:51 PM »

You can use imgur to upload your files to the net then you can post the album link here for us to view
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mehgamer

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2018, 10:44:31 PM »

- I downloaded Afterburner as you recommended and it was quite strange, two things 1. It says both my 1050ti AND the intgrated graphics card are being used 0-o. and 2. From loading the game on start to sitting idle on the main menu for 15 minutes, the ram usage and pagefile usage (was being used :() did not change and both were really high, RAM was constant (a literal straight line on the graph) at a little over 6Gb being used constantly, and pagefile usage was like 15500mb constantly (a literal straight line as well)

So I'm assuming because you put the detail about your graphics cards in the point about using Afterburner that you may not know how to manage your Nvidia hardware.  That's ok, it took me an unbelievably long time to figure it out too, partially because Windows 10's search function is actually awful.

Hopefully, using the proper graphics card will resolve your issues, so I'll go through a quick overview on how to make sure your PC uses the right hardware.

(Click spoiler to see images)




Given that this is installed as part of your computer's base hardware, hopefully your filepath will be the same as mine.
Spoiler
[close]

This PC > OS > Program Files (not x64) > NVIDIA Corporation > Control Panel Client

The indicated file, once opened, will look roughly like this:
Spoiler
[close]

#1 - If the screen doesn't look roughly like this, make sure you're viewing the "Manage 3D panels" menu as indicated on the left.

#2 - Clicking the drop-down menu, make sure you select "High Performance NVIDIA Processor" (exact text may be slightly different, I don't know if it varies on other systems.  Either way, pick the option that IS NOT "auto select" or "integrated graphics")

#3 - Remember to hit "Apply".

Now, your PC will default to using your GPU instead of the Integrated device within your main processor.  Even in the event that this doesn't resolve your Starsector issues, it means your computer is now properly using the tools it has available and you should see improvements throughout.




If you're paranoid like me, you'd be interested in finding out how to be absolutely certain that a given program is using the hardware you want, so I'll go through the steps to assign a specific processor to individual programs now too - you can do this for anything you want, even telling your PC to go back to using integrated graphics if needed for certain things:

Spoiler
[close]

#1 - looking to the indicated tabs, switch to "Program Settings".  This is where you can assign specific settings to specific programs, and make sure that programs are using the global setting we just assigned.  Sometimes programs don't automatically set themselves to follow the global setting, so if you ever have problems with a program down the line (or you just want to make sure right now) you can go here to check them.

#2 - Dropdown menu for the program.  Currently shown is what my personal Starsector installation filepath looks like, with the logo to make it easy to recognize.  If you can't find Starsector in this dropdown menu, look to #3.  If it's already there, feel free to skip to #6.

#3 - "Add" a program to the list of programs known to your Nvidia control panel - this will open this image:
Spoiler
[close]

#4 - If you don't find the program in this menu, click "Browse" to search your normal windows explorer to find the .exe file you have installed for Starsector.  If you're uncertain what file this is, have another screenshot:
Spoiler
[close]

#5 - Click "Add Selected Program" to do so, returning you to the first screenshot of this process and step #6.

#6 - If the indicated dropdown menu does not already read the same as the global setting that was set previously (High-Performance NVIDIA Processor, probably), make sure to select that setting in the dropdown, then press "Apply" to finish off.




Once all of the steps are done, restart your PC to make sure they apply correctly, then test Starsector and any other programs you wish to test.



Good Luck!
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2018, 10:44:54 PM »

You can use imgur to upload your files to the net then you can post the album link here for us to view

thanks, i'll do that
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2018, 10:46:30 PM »

Just a small update, I more than halved the amount of mods and tried making a new game and there was no improvement
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AnAppleADay

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Re: Suddenly, Bad fps?
« Reply #13 on: May 05, 2018, 11:41:31 PM »

MehGamer, I have already forced my 1050ti to be used (both globally and specifically with starsector) and I am still having these performance issues, it isn't my gpu that is causing issues (at least as far as I can tell), it is that the game is eating up ALL ram available to it, thus causing decreased performance

Thank you for the reply though  ;)
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