[0.12.0] FPS/UPS Capping at 40 periodically - dual screen

[Xeteth]

I run Factorio on my main screen and use a second screen for web browsing etc. on the side. I am noticing that my FPS/UPS max randomly switches between 40 <--> 60 whenever I have this second screen plugged in, but stays at a constant 60/60 without the second screen.

This occurs regardless of whether I am doing something on the second screen or it is blank. I cannot seem to link it to any in-game action, it just happens randomly.

When the game goes down to 40/40 it causes stuttered movement (and graphics etc) as expected.

Sorry I can't nail it down more specifically - if there's any info that might help with this let me know!

[SilverWarior]

We need more information in order to help you.

First please specify your hardware configuration. Most importantly the which graphics card are you using.

How are you achieving the dual desktop setup? Are you perhaps using VGA or DVI splitter? Are you using two separate display ports on your graphic card? Or perhaps even two graphics cards?

Also what are you doing in the browser when the slowdowns occur? I have seen many reports on the internet from various people for various different games to experience slowdowns when playing videos in their browsers.

[Xeteth]

Hardware:

Core i7 2600K @ 3.4Ghz
24GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate
250gb SSD + 4TB (2x2TB HDD) - Note factorio runs off the SSD
Palit NVidia GTX770 4GB
Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 Motherboard

The main screen runs off a Dual-Link DVI-D straight from the GFX card, the second screen also runs off the same card using a standard DVI cable. (These both run off the same GFX card using different display ports).

This issue occurs regardless of what I am doing on the second display; it could be anything from watching a Youtube video to browsing the Factorio forums. It also occurs if nothing is being done on the second screen (ie. no programs running off it, no browser etc). I have also made sure there are no programs running in the background on the first display; the only thing open on my computer is Factorio and the issue still occurs.

Hope that helps, more than happy to post further details if required!

[SilverWarior]

OK so the hardware should not be the problem.

Now when these slowdowns occurs is Factorio still the focused application? By default windows is allocating the most resources to the active (focused) application and less to the rest of them. meaning that if the focus would be in your browser the browser would be getting the higher processing priority than Factorio.

Also I recoemnd you check the Factorio options to see "Max Threads" option. I noticed that by default it is set to 2 even thou I have 8 Core CPU.

Another thing that you can do is use Process Explorer (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sys ... 96653.aspx) to monitor CPU and GPU utilization of Factorio to try and track what could be the cause for slowdowns.
Posting screenshots of the graphs could help.

NOTE: Since your CPU has 8 Virtual Cores if you see Factorio stadily utilizing 12% of your CPU it could mean it is maxing out one of your cores. So increasing the "Max Threads" option in Factorio could help with performance. But do not set it to more than 8 as it is pointless.

[Xeteth]

Max threads at 8 already and Factorio is the focused application also.

The reason I believe it to be a bug and not hardware or technical related is because it caps at exactly 40FPS/UPS - like the game is limiting it to that; not that something is slowing my hardware. Adding to this the game runs at a full 60/60 consistently with only 1 monitor in - simply adding the second monitor (with no other processes running) causes this issue.

[posila]

This may be related to issue with V-sync. Try to execute following command in in-game console and let us know if you then get steady 60/60

Code: Select all

/c game.speed = 1.0001

[Zeblote]

This may be related to issue with V-sync. Try to execute following command in in-game console and let us know if you then get steady 60/60

Code: Select all

/c game.speed = 1.0001

Does anyone have an idea what this actually changes? It also fixes stuttering for me.

[SilverWarior]

This may be related to issue with V-sync. Try to execute following command in in-game console and let us know if you then get steady 60/60

Code: Select all

/c game.speed = 1.0001

Does anyone have an idea what this actually changes? It also fixes stuttering for me.

This command is generally used to change the game speed. Most often people use it to speed up the gameplay when they have to wait for something. Use at your own risk and I don't recommend lowering it below 1.0000 as it could lead to some instability issues.

And the link to the thread where this solutions for avoiding the stuttering was discovered:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =7&t=13622

[Rseding91]

This may be related to issue with V-sync. Try to execute following command in in-game console and let us know if you then get steady 60/60

Code: Select all

/c game.speed = 1.0001

Does anyone have an idea what this actually changes? It also fixes stuttering for me.

This command is generally used to change the game speed. Most often people use it to speed up the gameplay when they have to wait for something. Use at your own risk and I don't recommend lowering it below 1.0000 as it could lead to some instability issues.

And the link to the thread where this solutions for avoiding the stuttering was discovered:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =7&t=13622

Adjusting game speed *shouldn't* effect anything other than the actual speed the game runs at. If it does please report it as it would be a bug.

[SilverWarior]

Adjusting game speed *shouldn't* effect anything other than the actual speed the game runs at. If it does please report it as it would be a bug.

It shouldn't I know. But I warned about this because there have been some bugs reported and fixed in the past so that people would pay more attention in these mostly untested scenarios so that they could spot new bugs more quickly.

[roy7]

Yay for this thread. Yay.

I've been locked in with a max fps of 55 which causes a slight stutter when running. Annoying enough I finally started search around. The game.speed change fixed it right up for me. I also have a 2nd monitor cable connected (to my TV set which isn't on or in use). My graphic settings have the displays merged with "Duplicate these displays" so it just shows the same thing on both. I have an AMD 7950 video card, connected to my monitor via DVI and my TV set via HDMI.

I didn't try disconnecting the HDMI cable but I assume that'd fix it as well. However, "/c game.speed = 1.0001" works perfectly.

[kovarex]

I believe that this was resolved in the latest release.

[orzelek]

I can't confirm the fix in 0.12.1.
I went in and restored game speed to 1 - some time after that stuttering started again and had fps/ups showing 58.5 for example. Needed to get speed factor back to 1.0001 to stop the stuttering.

[ps666]

@kovarex
I can´t confirm that too.
I made a new video for you (FullHD and 60 FPS). Uploading took forever. Now I can finally go to bed.

http://youtu.be/KG2Z4FUfAlQ

Good night

[roy7]

I believe that this was resolved in the latest release.

I'm still capping around 55fps in 0.12.1 unless I do game.speed=1.0001. However unplugging my 2nd monitor didn't make a difference. So my issue might not be related to this original bug report's issue, maybe two unrelated issues.

[posila]

Sent Xeteth PM with request to test if changing gamespeed fixes it. Waiting for response.

[Xeteth]

I replied to posila in PM but thought I might add it here for other peoples interest:

The issue has actually been resolved as of 0.12.1 - I have no idea what fixed it I am afraid, I now get 60/60 FPS/UPS in my very large world.

I have however just loaded a fresh world in 0.12.0 and the FPS/UPS was strangely hovering at ~55 FPS/UPS (and they were staying exactly the same value) which was strange considering I have a fairly decent rig. I ran that command and it seemed to 'release' this and suddenly FPS/UPS went to 60/60.

As I mentioned this issue appears to have been resolved for me in the 0.12.1 release - I now get 60/60 regardless of having the second monitor plugged in.

Thanks again to you devs - you guys are awesome

[posila]

Thanks, I don't know which change on our side fixed it, so I will put this thread to 0/1 Magic. Please, let us know if the issue reappears