Linux: Factorio 2.0/SA drops to 30FPS intermittently (sometimes UPS drops too)

[Nyrrix]

It is difficult to tell me what is going on since I can't seem to find an apparent trigger. The best I can connect it to is when I am "inactive" and then suddenly start to move again. Sorry I can't say much more on it.

System Information:
Operating System: Nobara Linux 40
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.8.0
Qt Version: 6.7.2
Kernel Version: 6.11.9-200.fsync.fc40.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-12600KF
Memory: 31.2 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070/PCIe/SSE2
Manufacturer: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
Product Name: MS-7D98
System Version: 3.0

Attached is the log and screenshots of when my FPS is low and when it is not.

[Jap2.0]

Try turning Vsync off; that may or may not help with the FPS issue.

In your screenshots I'm not seeing anything that indicates a drop in UPS.

[Nyrrix]

I'll keep an eye out for when UPS drops again, but it happens less often the the FPS dropping. FPS is the main symptom.

I did try disabling VSync, but that caused no changes. I'll give it another shot. Same thing with trying to decrease the sprite resolution, no changes.

[Nyrrix]

Additional information: When launching the game it pauses on the loading screen for a minute saying "Loading sounds..." at 95% and then produces the message "Checking for updates failed: Download failed (Resolving timed out after 60000 milliseconds)"

Screenshot attached.

I assume this is irrelevant to the main subject of my post.

[Nyrrix]

No dice with turning VSync off.

Would X11 vs. Wayland have any baring on this issue?

[R060]

Looking at your frame time, I can see that when your FPS drops, the most time is taken by "Flip (on)" entry. There was a setting to play with in a hidden menu (in main menu, open "Settings" while holding Ctrl+Alt, and you'll see new option "The Rest" appear). Search for "flip" while in this menu and try different options. Please report back your findings!

[R060]

Would X11 vs. Wayland have any baring on this issue?

I've heard Wayland servers trottle rendering for windows that not in scope (at least what they think is not in scope) by default. You can try running from pure X11 server (you don't need to install a DE for that, just Xorg, sx for running it and either something simple like awesome or dwm, or figure out how to run a game as a root window). That Flip time is seems like this behaviour for me: game just waits for image buffer to be "flipped" and can't do nothing about that.

[jodokus31]

Could it be autosave, which saves in the background? Setting non-blocking-save?

[R060]

Could it be autosave, which saves in the background? Setting non-blocking-save?

99.(9)% not, because that would drop your UPS, not the frame rate. And i've never had an issue with it even on a much less powerfull hardware with on-CPU GPU. But i've never tested anything wayland.
(speculation) Although, I'm not sure how Wayland servers deal with forked client sockets. They should not even know about them, because the main process still talks through the same channel after all and I assume forked save-process should not touch anything except file system at all, but I just dont know if KDE does something stupid with that.

[jodokus31]

Could it be autosave, which saves in the background? Setting non-blocking-save?

99.(9)% not, because that would drop your UPS, not the frame rate. And i've never had an issue with it even on a much less powerfull hardware with on-CPU GPU. But i've never tested anything wayland.
(speculation) Although, I'm not sure how Wayland servers deal with forked client sockets. They should not even know about them, because the main process still talks through the same channel after all and I assume forked save-process should not touch anything except file system at all, but I just dont know if KDE does something stupid with that.

Yeah probably, was just an idea.
I also play on X11 and have no problems dipping below 60FPS. But I also don't have the setting enabled.

Maybe something related to wayland and/or NVidia

[Khazul]

Maybe something related to wayland and/or NVidia

That would be my first assumption unless process monitoring shows some other processes intermittently hammering the machine.
I assume single monitor? I have heard of multi-monitor issues with wayland and nVidia GPUs which I gather nVidia are working to fix/improve.

[Nyrrix]

Looking at your frame time, I can see that when your FPS drops, the most time is taken by "Flip (on)" entry. There was a setting to play with in a hidden menu (in main menu, open "Settings" while holding Ctrl+Alt, and you'll see new option "The Rest" appear). Search for "flip" while in this menu and try different options. Please report back your findings!

I'll try out this Flip time when I have some time for myself to dedicate.

I will mention I got the download failed message to go away. I was trying to play Phasmophobia last night when I got a separate but related issue that said "Failed to connect to unity Gaming Services. Try restarting the game, allowing the game through your firewall, or using a VPN. Error: Network Error: Request: Timeout."

I then tested the game through a Hotspot through my phone and was able to get it functioning. I played for a while with a friend and had no connectivity issues. This lead me to today when I factory reset my router. The issue with updates for Factorio then went away.

Thanks everyone who is making suggestions! I'll be trying some of them as I play. In a larger save file (one I've been playing on my laptop originally, which had no issues) I have been able to more reliably produce the issue by walking away from the largest section of my base and then approaching it again. This seems to drop the frames by 10 to 20 fairly often, with the frames usually being below UPS (by about 5 to 10 frames less than updates). Still trying to get a screenshot.