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Author Topic: Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization  (Read 1027 times)

HyperionSniper

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Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization
« on: July 02, 2021, 12:16:48 PM »

I have a Ryzen 3400G and a 5700XT. Basically, even though I get around 20-30 FPS, my computer simply won't ramp up and use more than 10-20% of my CPU or GPU for Starsector (see attachments), while my system works fine for other games.
There are a few things to mention:
  • My CPU core clock is lowered because I like to keep the temperature down, but it always stays around the max I've set of 2.6GHz because of my Windows power options. However, CPU never seems to consistently stay above 20% utilization on Starsector even though I'm constantly getting 20ish FPS.
  • My GPU maximum core clock is also lowered for the same reason, but for some reason, while Starsector is running, it won't go anywhere near the maximum core clock of 1900MHz. Instead, it just stays at ~200MHz at most with, again, 10-20% utilization.
  • This awful FPS happens both in-combat and out.
  • I am using a lot of mods, but I have exactly the same performance on vanilla Starsector.
Any ideas?

[attachment deleted by admin]
« Last Edit: July 02, 2021, 12:18:23 PM by HyperionSniper »
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Alex

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Re: Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2021, 12:25:17 PM »

If you're *absolutely* certain you get the same performance in vanilla, then the answer is likely "AMD drivers, man". Otherwise, if you've got GraphicsLib, it might make sense to try disabling it via its settings file to see if that makes a difference.

Another thing worth looking at is whether your computer has an integrated graphics card. If it does, then I'd suggest 1) making sure the game is actually running on the proper dedicated graphics card, and if it *is* and you're getting poor performance, trying it on the integrated card instead. It's quite possible to get better performance in Starsector out of an integrated Intel card, for example, compared to some AMD card/driver combinations.
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HyperionSniper

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Re: Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2021, 12:31:34 PM »

Yeah, my performance in vanilla sometimes isn't even related to any gameplay features at all - it lags on UI transitions, for example, like the blue flashing one when you click on one of the Tripad buttons at the bottom. I do have integrated graphics, but they use the same AMD drivers.
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Schwartz

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Re: Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2021, 07:51:29 AM »

It could be that your laptop switches to integrated graphics without your noticing, or integrated getting in the way for some reason. You could try turning it off, if that's possible on AMD. It could also be Radeon's OpenGL, which is an old issue we're all aware of and which did just what you described when I still had a Core2. Medium CPU use, low GPU use, low FPS. It did get a lot better when I switched to Ryzen, leading me to believe that however inefficient its OpenGL was, it was in part CPU bound too. I would also consider removing the forced downclocks from the system for at least a trial run.
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HyperionSniper

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Re: Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2021, 01:23:37 PM »

I'm not using a laptop and integrated graphics is disabled in BIOS, so I don't think that's the problem. I did try updating Windows and getting the latest AMD drivers and my average FPS seems to have gone up, especially in battle, although it still has the same problem. Also, I failed to mention that I tried ramping up the CPU core clock to the default of 3.4GHz earlier, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect.
From what you and Alex are saying, at this point I don't think there's really much that can be done, but thanks anyway.

Edit: Scratch that, it seems that updating the drivers also had no effect. Oh well.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2021, 01:30:31 PM by HyperionSniper »
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Modo44

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Re: Terrible FPS with ~10-20% system utilization
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2021, 09:23:29 AM »

Bad Starsector performance in battles was always a thing using AMD GPUs. Nobody seems to run into any such problems on NVIDIA gear.

Bad performance elsewhere is the multiple mods, or some of the mods interacting in bad ways with Starsector. I don't know if the core issue was found yet. Last time I cared, forcing Starsector to use a newer Java version seemed to help many people. Google or a forum search will show you the instructions to do that.
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