27 replies to this topic

[Suko]

My game would usually hold steady at 25-30 FPS most games. However, after patching my game and playing 10+ matches tonight, I can definitely say that the smoke effects are murdering my FPS. If I get smoke in my view, I drop to <10 FPS until it clears. This is really bad...Is it a known issue?

Note: I play on High settings before the patch and tried it on high and medium settings after the patch.

[POWR]

No idea if it's a known issue, but it's been here for quite a while and been reported every patch I've seen. Especially terrible is if you zoom in on the smoke.

And it isn't exclusive to smoke, the issue is transparent particles. So try standing close to a wall in training mode, zoom in and fire your lasers. See the FPS plumet to nothing.
Especially annoying is if you're sitting in a match firing at the enemy while zoomed and your mech runs hot, moving backwards through the "steam cloud" you're standing in causes FPS to drop heavily.

Changing settings on particles seems to have no effect.

Edited by POWR, 27 September 2014 - 01:46 AM.

[Moonlander]

Or while zoomed in and you hit a ridge of some sort. I also have HUGE FPS issues when using thermal vision on Frozen City. I'm usually 50-60 fps at all other times tho.

[sabujo]

POWR, on 27 September 2014 - 01:44 AM, said:

Especially annoying is if you're sitting in a match firing at the enemy while zoomed and your mech runs hot, moving backwards through the "steam cloud" you're standing in causes FPS to drop heavily.

Yes, this is a true problem I experience all the time. The most common cases for massive FPS drops that directly affect the game for me are:

• Walking backwards after being hit and my mech starts to smoke (even if temporarily)
  
• Getting shot by repeated fire that cause too much on screen effects (UACs and LRMs)
  
• Accidentally shooting terrain in front of my with lasers - the burning particle effects slow the hell of my computer down when rendered up close, turning a problem (shooting the geometry of the terrain instead of the enemy) into a bigger one.

Toning down the particle slider on the settings does almost nothing to mitigate the issue.

[MountainCopper]

Particle effects, like smoke, put a lot of load onto the CPU rather than the GPU. The frame count goes down simply because there is more to compute than in game areas without smoke, fog (Frozen City) or similar.

This is a general performance issue not restricted to MWO.

[takattack]

I'm having similar issues since the patch.
I play on a MSI laptop
I7 2.50 Mhz
8 gigs of ram
840M

Before patch i can maintain a 25+ fps which makes the game playable on medium graphics @ 1600x900

Since yesterday's patch whenever i see other mechs FPS has been dropping to <15fps

I tried reducing the resolutions and the graphics but it's the same results. I do get better fps (60+) in mech lab while before was 30+ range

I've updated my nvidia drivers, didn't see any noticeable change.

[Modo44]

It gets reported every few patches, so you can bet it is known. Turning down particles helps a bit, but some smoke is displayed regardless of graphics quality settings. Unless your rig is easily pushing past 60, you will see some visible framerate drops regardless of settings on your end.

Edited by Modo44, 27 September 2014 - 11:47 AM.

[sabujo]

GoldenFleece, on 27 September 2014 - 04:52 AM, said:

Particle effects, like smoke, put a lot of load onto the CPU rather than the GPU. The frame count goes down simply because there is more to compute than in game areas without smoke, fog (Frozen City) or similar.

This is a general performance issue not restricted to MWO.

I have an Intel i7 4770K processor, got the game installed on the SSD and the graphics card is my only weak link in my rig at the moment (GTX 580). If that is true, then there should be some optimization to be done on their side since a gpu upgrade will not make too much of an impact on particle rendering. Either that or have a setting to reduce particle number and/or calculations.

[Bigbacon]

for me it is only while zoomed that the smoke (any smoke) brings my computre to a crawl.

i7 @3.8ghz
12gb ram
480GTX
1680x1050 max settings

game runs fine other wise.

[Peter2k]

i5 @4.1ghz
16gb ram
780gtx
2560x1080

same problem, had to turn off particles, otherwise every time I come to 60% heat or so (steam showing) and move backwards I get like 5fps or so

[Edustaja]

For me it's the cave on Forest colony. Any time I enter that in a match the fps drops into single digits.

[Summon3r]

setting particles from very high to high mostly fixed this for me, i could go to medium but i can live with the brief drop into the low 20's

[Kodyn]

Even on low settings, smoke and fog just seems to do this to myself and a lot of people. Frozen city with all the fog going on is nearly unplayable FPS, every time, for me at least.

Hey, at least they want to add more weather effects to the game, more rain, fog, smoke, so we have that to look forward to...

[MountainCopper]

sabujo, on 29 September 2014 - 07:04 AM, said:

I have an Intel i7 4770K processor, got the game installed on the SSD and the graphics card is my only weak link in my rig at the moment (GTX 580). If that is true, then there should be some optimization to be done on their side since a gpu upgrade will not make too much of an impact on particle rendering. Either that or have a setting to reduce particle number and/or calculations.

Also possible that these computations are done by the GPU as well nowadays. PhysX and similar... I am not sure.

But the fact remains, that particle effects are putting a lot of stress on either chip. This is found in a lot of games (if not all) and honestly, is something to be expected in any 3D-game under these circumstances.

[Kodyn]

^Not really to be expected, as a lot of the people that have issues in MWO can run many other graphics-heavy games without issue. For reference, I get 60+ FPS on any other game I play, from EVE Online, to Skyrim, to D3, to BLOPS 2, etc, list goes on.

I'm not trying to accuse the devs of trying to kill our computers or anything, just saying, there's clearly something different about the way rigs handle this game vs anything else out there.

I personally have a mediocre machine at best, but there's guys in my unit with serious gaming rigs that have literally had GPUs overheat to the point of death while playing MWO lol...that's not exactly normal behavior for a pc set up specifically for running high-end games, including cooling, etc.

[Shimmering Sword]

Yep, this is a known and reproducible issue. I think it should be the focus next time they make an optimization pass, as it's been this way for a very long time.
I get 40-50fps normally, but heavy smoke in my screen, especially ground burning or heat steam coming off my mech will tank it into the single digits. It's especially bad on HPG with heat steam.

[DaFitz]

I run a locust and even at low low everything off that I can set to off I drop to single digits just when moving at full speed. Aiming is difficult at 150+ kph but now it is just about impossible. I know my rig isnt the most powerful but a week ago I was doing just fine with high 20 to high 30 frame rate at full speed in a firefight.

[MasterGoa]

Put me up for an FPS drop in smoke.

Like I wrote before: Fire lasez untill you hit 90% heat and simply backup.
You own smoke will get on screen and make your FPS plummet.

I am set at very high, but I took down environment to medium in the quality settings.
Helps somewhat.

I usually run at 50-60FPS but go down to 15 in a fight, expecially is hit by multiple ACs
which all add smoke effects on screen...

[Tarogato]

I'm starting to wonder if this smoke issue is why I'm getting unplayable FPS on Mech Factory. It's literally half the FPS I get on other maps (which is 30-40 but I get 10-20 on factory)

Moonlander, on 27 September 2014 - 03:31 AM, said:

I also have HUGE FPS issues when using thermal vision on Frozen City.

Same; I can't use overlays period. I play Frozen City and River City Night bare-eyed.

Edited by Tarogato, 30 September 2014 - 05:46 PM.

[MountainCopper]

Edustaja, on 29 September 2014 - 08:17 AM, said:

For me it's the cave on Forest colony. Any time I enter that in a match the fps drops into single digits.

Kodyn, on 29 September 2014 - 12:56 PM, said:

^Not really to be expected, as a lot of the people that have issues in MWO can run many other graphics-heavy games without issue. For reference, I get 60+ FPS on any other game I play, from EVE Online, to Skyrim, to D3, to BLOPS 2, etc, list goes on.

I'm not trying to accuse the devs of trying to kill our computers or anything, just saying, there's clearly something different about the way rigs handle this game vs anything else out there.

There is one other thing I noticed with MWO after months of playing. This is apart of the performance drop because of particle effects...

To me, the cause seems to be the way that the game MWO (or the cry-engine) handles loading part of the map and holding these in memory/cache.
When you start a match, only the part of the map you are seeing right now with your head fixed is loaded. As you move and turn your head, these areas will be generated as well.

For instance, when you start on Canyon Networks and turn your Mech around 360 degrees (starting point doesn't matter) while standing on the spot, the frame rate will go down to single digits coming from ~28 fps (4y old PC).
After you have completed one or two circles and the map areas have been loaded, the frame rate will recover. Meaning a "normal" frame rate for your starting location.

So, when the game has to load and generate map areas for the 1st time, the frame rate will drop like a stone as well.
The aforementioned cave on Forest Colony is an example. Or looking "behind" you on your starting location.


As I said, this is a different issue I believe not to be a part of the amount of particle effects selected. I lack a basis for comparison from other games, but I believe that there is room for improvement there.

DaFitz, on 30 September 2014 - 09:16 AM, said:

I run a locust and even at low low everything off that I can set to off I drop to single digits just when moving at full speed. Aiming is difficult at 150+ kph but now it is just about impossible. I know my rig isnt the most powerful but a week ago I was doing just fine with high 20 to high 30 frame rate at full speed in a firefight.

This performance drop is the main reason why I can't play Lights right now. Being in a very fast Mech and circling around enemies is unplayable, when you have below 10 frames per second. Even if it's only for some seconds.

Edited by GoldenFleece, 02 October 2014 - 03:15 PM.