Factorio Forums

I do not know if this is a bug.

If I activate vsync in the options, I have 50 FPS in the menu and in the game 50/60.
If I turn off Vysnc, I have 2120 FPS in the menu and in the game 60/60 (why 60 with vsync off?).
I use a Radeon 290X.
Is that intentional or a bug? The 2120 FPS cause a very high GPU usage with great power consumption and high temperatures.
The game stutters even. No matter if 50 or 60 FPS.
In both versions, it is the same (0.11 and 0.12).
I have not changed any options in the AMD Catalyst Control Center (Driver version is 15.7).

(Excuse my bad English. I'm a feckless German. )

By the way, thank you for this great game! I have already 100+ hours (in 2 or 3 weaks) played and i can´t stop! Thank you too, for 0.12. It is so awesome!

The reason for 60FPS is that is the refresh rate of the monitor, and the reason it exists is to lower GPU usage and to fix the issues you mentioned.
I notice the game stutters unless you give it 4 or more threads in the settings

The thread-setting has no effect with me. No matter what I choose (1 or 8).
Since I have a 4-core CPU, I set it to 4 threads.
The 60 FPS surprise me because in 3D games, the maximum possible is rendered. I have 2120 FPS in the menu. Then in the game there are "only" 60 FPS. I expected more frames per second (whatever 132 or so).

Normal game speed is 60 ticks per second. Rendering is limited to that speed even without vsync since there is no point in rendering more frequently.
Nothing can change between those frames since there is no game update.

Ok, i understand. But are the 50/60 "normal" with vsync activated?

And this stuttering?
I made a short video. I hope you can see it. Live it´s more noticeable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOm20iuQqTE
This is with vsync off and 60/60. But with vsync on and 50/60 it´s the same.

The 50 fps and stuttering are both strange.
I noticed some stuttering but I'm unable to pinpoint when it happens. It's not constant and my base is quite small.
I have Radeon 280X.

What's your refresh rate of your monitor? I'm guessing you're getting 50FPS with VSync enabled because your monitor is running at 50Hz.
VSync makes the game wait to draw to the screen until the next time the monitor refreshes.
So you can never have a higher FPS than refresh rate with VSync.

I have a boringly normal full HD 60 Hz monitor.
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/306620 ... ml?page=19

Looking at your video it seems that the slowdowns are occurring when you are in vicinity of capacitors. In pervious versions of Factorio my game FPS dropped down to 15 if I had several charging or discharging capacitors in sight.

So I suggest you do some more checking to see if the slowdowns are only occurring near capacitors or elsewhere as well.

You should also note that enabling the VSync can lower the FPS a little especially if the computer is already nearing its graphical processing capabilities.

I would still recommend having the VSync enabled because this way you reduce the unnecessary GPU load and with it reduce the possible graphical card damage due to overheating.

I owe it to you. But i am innocent. I swear.
The 50/60 came along, because in the options of my monitor, 50 Hz were set. I did not make this setting! I have never ever changed it in my entire life! I swear again.
But now I have 55.4 / 59.7 with vsync on (as an example) and with continued stuttering. Now, when i set the game speed to /c game.speed=1.0001, then i have 60/60 and a total steady image. No more stuttering.
Sometimes, it works even without the change. But then only for a short time. With game speed 1.0001 it runs permanently stable at 60/60.

Greetings,
PS666

Good trick with game speed - I'll need to try it to when mine misbehaves and stutters.

ps666 wrote:But now I have 55.4 / 59.7 with vsync on (as an example) and with continued stuttering. Now, when i set the game speed to /c game.speed=1.0001, then i have 60/60 and a total steady image. No more stuttering.

Wow, looks like I had exactly the same problem! Always stuck at 55fps and slight stuttering, now it works perfectly!

ps666 wrote:I owe it to you. But i am innocent. I swear.
The 50/60 came along, because in the options of my monitor, 50 Hz were set. I did not make this setting! I have never ever changed it in my entire life! I swear again.
But now I have 55.4 / 59.7 with vsync on (as an example) and with continued stuttering. Now, when i set the game speed to /c game.speed=1.0001, then i have 60/60 and a total steady image. No more stuttering.
Sometimes, it works even without the change. But then only for a short time. With game speed 1.0001 it runs permanently stable at 60/60.

Greetings,
PS666

This is interesting. I mean the fact that slightly raising game speed stabilises the fps/ups. Thanks for the report. The thing is that if game.speed is anything else than exactly 1 the engine doesn't try to "align to the vsync". The vsync is still there though (the render thread will be forced to wait before flipping the display). However the update thread doesn't perform our custom mechanics that try to make sure that the updates are running at the same time the render is running (that is what we call "align to vsync"). Maybe there are some flaws in that mechanic (main loop is ongoing battle=)).

I tested this speed change and it helped nicely for me also.

Need to play a bit longer to see if it prevents occasional stuttering I had.

slpwnd wrote:This is interesting. I mean the fact that slightly raising game speed stabilises the fps/ups. Thanks for the report. The thing is that if game.speed is anything else than exactly 1 the engine doesn't try to "align to the vsync". The vsync is still there though (the render thread will be forced to wait before flipping the display). However the update thread doesn't perform our custom mechanics that try to make sure that the updates are running at the same time the render is running (that is what we call "align to vsync"). Maybe there are some flaws in that mechanic (main loop is ongoing battle=)).

If only multiplayer didn't lock us to a game.speed of 1 I'd be able to play at 60 fps and stutter free in multiplayer as well. I'm one of the people capped around 55 fps unless I raise game.speed (saw it in a different thread).

roy7 wrote:

slpwnd wrote:This is interesting. I mean the fact that slightly raising game speed stabilises the fps/ups. Thanks for the report. The thing is that if game.speed is anything else than exactly 1 the engine doesn't try to "align to the vsync". The vsync is still there though (the render thread will be forced to wait before flipping the display). However the update thread doesn't perform our custom mechanics that try to make sure that the updates are running at the same time the render is running (that is what we call "align to vsync"). Maybe there are some flaws in that mechanic (main loop is ongoing battle=)).

If only multiplayer didn't lock us to a game.speed of 1 I'd be able to play at 60 fps and stutter free in multiplayer as well. I'm one of the people capped around 55 fps unless I raise game.speed (saw it in a different thread).

Multiplayer is supposed to be locked at 1? I've used the same command in multiplayer and it fixed vsync.

There is no artificial cap on multiplayer map speed. What is fixed is the amount of network updates (that is 60/s) however that still allows for higher game speeds than 1. But it still puzzles me why not aligning to vsync (done by changing game speed to slightly > 1) fixes the stutters. I have experimented with this a little bit and what this (setting game.speed = 1.0001) does for me is allowing the UPS to run at maximum regardless of the FPS. So I might get higher UPS and lower FPS while with game.speed = 1 they are kept in line (considering that I have less than 60 fps).

slpwnd wrote:There is no artificial cap on multiplayer map speed. What is fixed is the amount of network updates (that is 60/s) however that still allows for higher game speeds than 1. But it still puzzles me why not aligning to vsync (done by changing game speed to slightly > 1) fixes the stutters. I have experimented with this a little bit and what this (setting game.speed = 1.0001) does for me is allowing the UPS to run at maximum regardless of the FPS. So I might get higher UPS and lower FPS while with game.speed = 1 they are kept in line (considering that I have less than 60 fps).

For me speed 1.0001 makes both fps and ups hit 60 - with game speed 1 they are in sync (ups=fps) but they don't reach 60. I'm running on 60Hz monitor with vsync enabled.
With game speed 1 I get the stutters from time to time and when I check fps/ups then they are at 58.5 or something similar. It's with Radeon 280X 3GB and quite a lot of mods used.

slpwnd wrote:There is no artificial cap on multiplayer map speed. What is fixed is the amount of network updates (that is 60/s) however that still allows for higher game speeds than 1. But it still puzzles me why not aligning to vsync (done by changing game speed to slightly > 1) fixes the stutters. I have experimented with this a little bit and what this (setting game.speed = 1.0001) does for me is allowing the UPS to run at maximum regardless of the FPS. So I might get higher UPS and lower FPS while with game.speed = 1 they are kept in line (considering that I have less than 60 fps).

Toggling vsync doesn't seem to make a difference for me. I normally leave it on. I'll have FPS around 55 and UPS around 58-59 at game.speed=1. With game.speed=1.0001 both will be 60/60 solid.

I'd be happy to run a test version of the game or stream the game and try whatever settings/etc you like via twitch or skype.

roy7 wrote:Toggling vsync doesn't seem to make a difference for me. I normally leave it on. I'll have FPS around 55 and UPS around 58-59 at game.speed=1. With game.speed=1.0001 both will be 60/60 solid.

Graphics settings take effect only after the game is started again. If you turn off vsync and restart the game, do you still experience shutter at game.speed=1?