[0.12.29] [Michal] Performance issues (slow game)

[Gali]

On a new game, my FPS is down to 40-50 instead of a normal 60 (with a few lags).
It's a new game with already a few thousands furnaces and assemblers working, 5 MB savegame. Usually works fine.

Am I the only one ?

[Rseding91]

Can you post your save, any mods you're using (zip them up) and include the log files + system specs?

[Gali]

here it is http://www.malaiac.net/factorio.20160327.debug.zip
Win7 64, i5 4200H 2.8GHz, 8go DDR, SSD

[Rseding91]

I notice the log file shows you've got dual GPUs - a low end one and a decent one.

Can you check to make sure the correct GPU is being used when Factorio is launched? Other than that, your system should be able to run that save file with no problems. It runs at a smooth 60 FPS 60 UPS on my computer with plenty of room to go before it would start slowing down.

[posila]

1) The two latest drivers NVidia released are not very good. Tons of people with switchable graphics started to complain about FPS issues when playing on dedicated GPU and usually are better off playing on integrated Intel GPU.
2) Thousands of furnaces is a new game? What the hell do you consider as end game?

[Gali]

On my biggest file save, I have 8100 furnaces & 3200 assemblers, 2GW setup. Runs at 25 FPS (was faster before).
"New" games tends to be set up very quick with blue prints designed on previous games , so they end up "big" quite fast

How am I supposed to know (and switch) which GPU is Factorio using ?

[posila]

I don't know how people generally recognize what GPU is used for a game, but I can see it in Factorio log

Code: Select all

   0.388 Initialised Direct3D:[0] NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M     ; driver: nvd3dumx.dll 10.18.13.6451

You should be able to configure profile for Factorio in NVidia Control Panel. Set it to not use high-performance GPU.

[Gali]

Pretty much the same results with integrated graphics, maybe higher CPU usage. 30-35 fps

[posila]

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=22663

It seems that laptops with dual graphics technology should use driver packages provided by laptop vendor in order to work properly.
Source: https://communities.intel.com/thread/77 ... 0&tstart=0

[Gali]

The thing is, the drivers from the laptop manufacturer are 2/3 years old ( http://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/R510 ... _download/ ) while nVidia drivers are updated every week. I'm gonna try updating the Intel Graphics with the manufacturer drivers

[posila]

I have no idea how this works. My guess is the manufacturer doesn't make changes in the drivers, they probably just package compatible version of the drivers.

Is it possible to disable Intel graphics in BIOS? I wonder if that would confirm it is driver issue.

[Gali]

Ok, I've kept digging for solutions, with not much success.

Proprietary (ASUS) drivers won't install, too old (2014) versus NVidia drivers (march 2016)

I tried force open gl, no change
Windows or fullscreen, no change
vertical sync (factorio graphic options) no change

I tried forcing the use of integrated (Intel) graphics, which seems to bring the FPS down to 20 FPS
Forcing NVidia or letting Nvidia pick the graphic adapter works the same, around 30- FPS

Here are a few infos :
GPUz indicating 15-25% load on GTX (and 5-10% load on integrated graphics) while Factorio is running at 32 FPS


Attached : current log

It is a big base (3GW solar panel, a few thousand furnaces), but I've had the same performance decrease on smaller bases.

[Loewchen]

Please make a screen-shot with show_fps, show_detailed_info and show_time_used_percent activated.

[Gali]

Here are the two displays

main process is
> Update / Game update / Entity update : something like 30 / 0 / 0

[Choumiko]

Not a gfx issue, Entity update simply takes too long. For 60/60 total update time needs to be lower than ~16.6ms, your base uses 27.6ms for entity update alone, hence the reduced UPS, which in turn reduces your FPS (i think)

[Gali]

You mean the CPU has not the power to calculate game mechanics fast enough for 60 FPS ?
i5-4200H 2.80 GHz + 8GB DDR3

The base is slightly short of 2 rockets a minute

[Smarty]

That is correct

[bk5115545]

Holy cow that Intel CPU temp is much higher it should be for only running this game.
You've probably seen it but your processor info is available here http://ark.intel.com/products/75027/Int ... o-3_40-GHz.

Check your fan setup and see if these high temperatures are normal when doing other (non-gaming) things. Your CPU is plenty fast to run most games so I doubt speed is actually a problem.

Since the game-update is taking too long I suspect that your CPU is clocking down to maintain reasonable temperatures. Intel CPU's start slowing themselves down around 80C and it only gets worse the higher you get.
The CPU will hard-stop (and everything will freeze) if it gets to the T-Junction temperature (100C in your case).

[orzelek]

It seems that CPU is not able to keep up simply. Thats quite a big base and lots of entities.
If you want to play with bases like this you might need desktop with high perfomance CPU.
Save could be quite good for optimization purposes to see whats bogging it down most

[MrDoomah]

Holy cow that Intel CPU temp is much higher it should be for only running this game.
You've probably seen it but your processor info is available here http://ark.intel.com/products/75027/Int ... o-3_40-GHz.

Check your fan setup and see if these high temperatures are normal when doing other (non-gaming) things. Your CPU is plenty fast to run most games so I doubt speed is actually a problem.

Since the game-update is taking too long I suspect that your CPU is clocking down to maintain reasonable temperatures. Intel CPU's start slowing themselves down around 80C and it only gets worse the higher you get.
The CPU will hard-stop (and everything will freeze) if it gets to the T-Junction temperature (100C in your case).

And it works both ways. If you can keep you CPU temp low, the intel CPU will overclock itself from 2.8 GHz up to 3.4 GHz, that's more than 20% upgrade.

Try blowing some compressed air into your vent exhaust port or (if you're careful) open up your laptop and clean the inside.