Memory isnt your problem

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Brass Knuckles, Dec 26, 2016.

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  1. eli

    eli Avatar

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    I have made some observations:

    There is a memory leak that persists even if you change zones, which seems to require a full logout and login to resolve. It becomes noticeable after about 10 hours of play.

    Disk I/O is by far the biggest cause of CPU wait for my computer. It is regularly hitting 100% during play, not just during scene loads, meaning that perhaps the game should have an even bigger memory footprint? I'm going to try moving my sota install to a pcie ramdisk to see how the game really performs.
     
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  2. Yakamo LLTS

    Yakamo LLTS Avatar

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    You are very right, but fortunately with R37 its better than the previous release. I believe they need to optimize how the unity server pulls ram and better dump it.
     
  3. GrayFog

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    Well my card listed above has 6gb vid ram and is super fast, no reason for me yet to upgrade to an 1080.

    Yet i still get the hitching.
    And if SotA would need more than that i would seriously be in an "ROFLCOPTER mode" considering i can play Skyrim V and GTA V with super high res realistic mods flawlessly :p
     
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  4. Garfunkel Humperdinck

    Garfunkel Humperdinck Bug Hunter

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    I was also having these issues, and my computer was 5 years old, so I built a new PC with some power. My current specs:

    OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
    CPU: AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor (8) System RAM: 32663
    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GPU RAM: 6100
    Download: 50 Mbps
    Upload: 5.5 Mbps

    It has a fresh install of windows, all drivers up to date, and I'm still getting frame rates dropping to 15 in some scenes even on the fastest settings, hitching up to 1 second long at times, and loud spikes in the SFX volume as mentioned by majoria70 above. Using Air Discharge while wearing headphones nearly blows out my eardrums occasionally.

    I've seen little to no jump in performance over my 5 year old PC.

    Maybe my internet is a little slow, but since you use premium service and have some of the same issues, the problem is probably on Portalarium's end.
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2016
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  5. Valeric

    Valeric Avatar

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    Definitely it's the game engine. I've tried all the video settings and still get the hitching. Guess it's still Early Access, I'm sure they'll get more complaints and will do something more about it if it was a launched product.
     
  6. Damian Killingsworth

    Damian Killingsworth Avatar

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    do you have the same problems with offline mode?
     
  7. mercster

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    I get hitching, and:

    OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
    CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz (8) System RAM: 32708
    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GPU RAM: 6100
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD
     
  8. Celthon

    Celthon Avatar

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    Can someone explain to me how to check the "ping" mentioned above? I googled it and got some instructions that said I should type "cmd" in the box at bottom of the window that opens when I click "start" (I'm using Windows 7)...then type "ping", leave a space and then the address I want to ping-test...I used "www.shroudoftheavatar.com" [54.224.243.98]-- and it failed four times in a row: "request timed out". Ran the same test three more times and results were the same...am I doing this incorrectly?
     
  9. mercster

    mercster Avatar

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    I'm looking into this for you...you don't want to ping www.shroudoftheavatar.com because that's where the website is, not the actual game server. There's a /debug command, but I don't see any ping information there. Watch this space.
     
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  10. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    The server appears to be setup not to respond to pings ... but heres's what I got on a trace route from my rig:

    tracert 208.81.240.51 (this is the IP im communicating with while in game)


    1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1
    2 9 ms 8 ms 9 ms 142.254.131.173
    3 140 ms 30 ms 21 ms tge0-0-0.mckntxwf02h.texas.rr.com [24.28.88.121]
    4 13 ms 11 ms 12 ms agg23.plantxmp02r.texas.rr.com [24.175.50.47]
    5 17 ms 16 ms 15 ms agg27.dllbtxlb02r.texas.rr.com [24.175.36.184]
    6 38 ms 15 ms 15 ms agg21.hstqtxl301r.texas.rr.com [24.175.49.8]
    7 22 ms 23 ms 15 ms bu-ether16.hstqtx0209w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.108]
    8 31 ms 23 ms 23 ms bu-ether12.dllstx976iw-bcr00.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.39]
    9 18 ms 17 ms 15 ms 0.ae0.pr1.dfw10.tbone.rr.com [107.14.17.232]
    10 16 ms 22 ms 18 ms be7843.ccr41.dfw03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.11.49]
    11 17 ms 16 ms 20 ms be2763.ccr21.dfw01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.28.73]
    12 21 ms 21 ms 21 ms be2441.ccr41.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.41.65]
    13 31 ms 24 ms 25 ms be2873.rcr11.aus02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.2.50]
    14 28 ms 27 ms 38 ms 38.122.49.30
    15 25 ms 24 ms 34 ms 207-91-185-106.static.nstci.net [207.91.185.106]
    16 25 ms 28 ms 28 ms r1.aus.ch3data.com [208.81.240.226]
    17 * * * Request timed out.
     
  11. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    the DNS name to try to ping is:

    ping gameserver.shroudoftheavatar.com

    but it looks like the closest we can get to the server itself now is the local gateway:

    C:\Windows\System32>ping 208.81.240.226

    Pinging 208.81.240.226 with 32 bytes of data:
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=241
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=241
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=241
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=241

    Ping statistics for 208.81.240.226:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 25ms, Maximum = 26ms, Average = 25ms

    Im in the Dallas area (about 4-5 hours north of where the servers are) 25 is not a bad number, but it's not the server itself. The server could be slower, but not generally faster than the gateway.
     
  12. Kabalyero Kidd

    Kabalyero Kidd Avatar

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    Pinging 208.81.240.226 with 32 bytes of data:
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=225ms TTL=237
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=224ms TTL=237
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=224ms TTL=237
    Reply from 208.81.240.226: bytes=32 time=224ms TTL=237

    Ping statistics for 208.81.240.226:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 224ms, Maximum = 225ms, Average = 224ms
     
  13. mercster

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    Yep that's close enough, I found ch3data.com :) That's the hosting co. Might this get deleted cuz they don't want it out there? I dunno, But I'll PM you with the info just in case :) Good job @Ravalox , you got it much faster than I did :-( I'm in Windows and had to get a netstat.
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2016
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  14. mercster

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    Where's that, from Europe? That's "slow" when talking about FPS games, but you should be OK in Shroud (maybe not PVP?) :)

    I get round-trip (ms) min/avg/max/med = 47/63/86/64

    So average 63ms...not bad for where I am (Knoxville, TN)
     
  15. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Glad to help :)

    Troubleshooting other's networks in a disaster scenario is my day job. (then after we recover from whatever the issue is/was, we offer some "housekeeping and mitigation advice")
     
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  16. Kabalyero Kidd

    Kabalyero Kidd Avatar

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    I'm used to playing with high ping... and yes... PvP is out of the question... ^_^
     
  17. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    Oceanic region?

    Edit:
    Ok the pings are all good except for Kabalyero. But even yours isn't too terrible.
     
  18. mercster

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    I have a low ping and I'm still terrible at PvP. You could probably make more of my low ping than I can. Go figure! :)
     
  19. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Given:

    My Specs:

    i7 6700K @ 4.2 GHz on an ASUS Maximus VIII MB
    RAM: 64GB G-Skill F4-3400C16-16GTZ
    Storage: M.2 EVO-950 PRO (512GB) @ 2GB+ Read per second
    GPU: EVGA 980ti Kingpin (6GB DDR5)
    G-Sync Monitor @ 144Hz running 2560 x 1440 resolution

    OS is installed on a Samsung EVO 850 PRO (500MB per second Read)
    Game is installed on EVO-950 PRO (2.5 GB per second Read)

    Note: any hitching I see is not enough to prevent my bug-hunting, playing, or enjoying the game. I have been maintaining approximately 25ms turnaround consistently.

    1. @Damian Killingsworth ... No hitching seen while playing offline mode. (though it must be noted, that since the number of assets in place while offline is not anywhere the same as online (since none of the player houses have been copied to offline), so not an exact comparison.

    2. Doing the same run from the Alleys gate to the bridge into Central while in Multi-user or FO/SO I get consistent hitching at the same locations consistently.

    I've run a wireshark trace while running through Brittany Alleys while in MPO and found no obvious networking issues (such as ICMP reports, re-transmissions or packet latency). In reviewing the sequence of the packets and they appear to be pretty consistently spaced. (if there was any kind of delay on either end, I would/should have seen a variance in the packet time stamps.)

    So as I believe the Devs have indicated, the hitching issue could be caused by "garbage cleanup" as assets and/or variables are destroyed. The sync issues we have sporadically seen for a few releases now may exacerbate the issue as well.

    Summary:
    So for those experiencing this, though minimum specs may experience more (or different) issues, a high end rig also sees the issues.

    My recommendations:
    8GB RAM really is the low end for any rig today, I'd recommend making sure any computer purchased going forward either comes with at least 16GB or can be updated to at least 16GB, and ensure that the GPU being used is dedicated (as opposed to integrated in the CPU) and has at least 2GB RAM, though 4GB cards are now at a reasonable price and should be strongly considered for longevity.

    tl;dr:
    No end user rig hardware change will eliminate this issue (based on the current R37 build). The issue appears to be either in the client, the server or both.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2016
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  20. Damian Killingsworth

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    This leads me to the conclusion that its not memory, processor or GPU (as long as you have the min) but rather network layer issues. If that is accurate, it is narrowed to a large number of possible network bottle necks.
     
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