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Extreme memory hungryness: RAM conservative optimization request!

Discussion in 'Release 72 Feedback' started by Gussak, Nov 29, 2019.

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Do you have a Potato PC? (low FPS mainly in towns with custom player's house, slow game loading etc)

  1. yes

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  2. no

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  1. Gussak

    Gussak Avatar

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    back to this subject...

    well, I use 20GB of swap (2x SSD with stripes) on linux and have 6GB of RAM (i keep chromium running that also spends a lot of RAM).

    After running SotA for some time it is able to use the equivalent of the whole game size considering what is in the RAM and the 10+ GBs on the SWAP.

    My guess?
    instead of unity engine settings use only the assets required for the current scene and purge/drop/release the assets unnecessary on another scene we are moving into, it just load it all, loads the whole file filled with assets, and that is a mess IMO.

    So the keyword here is OPTIMIZATION.
    Can't really unity engine be better setup/configured/tweaked to keep in memory only the assets required for the current scene?
    Just add a check-box option: [x] I use a potato PC. That option would enable memory conservative unity capabilities (that I expect to exist)
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2019
  2. Elwyn

    Elwyn Avatar

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    The official minimum requirement for the game is and has always been 8GB, with 12GB recommended. Computers have in general been able to take up to at least 16GB since 2011 or so.

    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=19

    And of course that does not consider having other memory-hungry things running at the same time. I feel bad for your SSD swap disk, that sounds like a good way to wear it out.
     
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  3. Gussak

    Gussak Avatar

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    The potato PC is not the issue here tho, I can play the game w/o spending money in old hardware (I wont buy more DDR3 obsolete memory unless they sell that really cheap, and that vary from country to country, in my country the prices are stupidly high...).

    What matters is the game not being optimized to be memory conservative.
    Ok the whole game in memory will load anything very fast, that could be considered an advantage.
    But, that being an engine, probably optimized, there is no reason to not let users chose to use memory conservative optimizations already coded on that engine!

    So again, the problem I am trying to throw a light into is not my potato PC, but the way the game engine is being configured! :)

    Just a last thing, the official minimum means nothing, I can play the game enoghly well (all combats are fine, towns are a pretty slow mess tho) on my potato PC, and I can still complaint xD
     
  4. Barugon

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    Think about the sheer number of assets in this game; how many different items, each with it's own textures that anyone can use at their whim to wear or decorate their many different homes. Now, please tell use how you would optimize that.
     
  5. Gussak

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    optimize memory usage = unload/release/freeFromMemory/UnnalocateMemory for assets not present in the current scene (considering environment, NPCs items and avatars).
    I believe the engine has such option, just requiring being configured.

    Another thing to add, beyond the freeing of memory, is mipmaps (or just a lower resolution textures pack)
    And finally, lower detailed models, AFAIK LOD can be used with models (NPCs, items and avatars) too.
     
  6. Barugon

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    I'll bet you dollars to donuts that all of this (and more) is already implemented.
     
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  7. Gussak

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    how many "Crowns of the Obsidians"?
    I am anxious to see a tech precise confirmation that it could be implemented as you say,
    as my tests says otherwise! (I dont have too many COTOs tho)
     
  8. Bedawyn

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    Gussak, it sounds like you're talking about the load time baking that was implemented this fall. Have you played around with that yet?

    I did ask Chris on stream over the summer about using avatar imposters. He said they weren't doing it, that it wasn't worth it for some reason or other. The "explanation" didn't make enough sense to me to remember the details, I just remember not being convinced, but the discussion had already moved on too quickly so I couldn't ask him to elaborate.
     
  9. Gussak

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    insteresting, I will try it on and off :)
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/video-setting-load-time-baking.159085/

    imposter blabering
    ugh...
    U mean a lot of swap memory on a low memory system could mean that? sorry but u are wrong.
    I wont delve into this subject, is that some kind of accusation? if so, open another thread and we fight there.
    This thread is about optimization.
    Why? for two times, ppl try to change the subject of OPTIMIZE MEMORY USAGE to other things, being this last one non-sensical to me.
    I use a single machine, with a single avatar, but that is just my words right? :(
    Unless u speacking about something completelly differrent than sorry, my mistake, but I doubt it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2019
  10. Bedawyn

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    Language difficulties are always ripe for misunderstanding, more so when using terms of art.

    Avatar imposters are a way of substituting something else in place of a fully rendered avatar, for those avatars that are too far away to be properly relevant to the player. So for instance, other avatars in the scene would be fully rendered as avatars if they're within a certain distance of the player, but ones beyond that distance (who you're not likely to be interacting with anyway) would appear instead as avatar imposters, which are less detailed and cause less stress on your system. Think of them as cardboard cutouts instead of real people. :)

    I would still like a better explanation of why we're not using them, even if it's only "Unity is to blame for everything."
     
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  11. Gussak

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    the "avatar's cardboard cutouts"
    how can them be activated? thru "load time baking" ?

    *shouts* heads or tails! *and throws a crown of obsidians in the air *:)*

    EDIT: oh wait, by "we" you mean a question to the developers..
     
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  12. Bedawyn

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    Yeah, I'd like to know why the game doesn't use them. Mind you, I'm not saying we should be using them -- I don't have the tech expertise to say that Chris is wrong, and the fact that they were possible in other systems years ago doesn't mean they're feasible in Unity, or that they'd still be the best solution with today's tech. I'd just like to understand the reasoning behind the dev decision. Can't learn without explanations.
     
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