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[Responded] Weather at low frame rates

Discussion in 'World Building, Scenes, Environment, & Overworld' started by Jakkal, Oct 12, 2023.

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  1. Jakkal

    Jakkal Bug Hunter

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    10/12/2023 01:13
    Title: Weather at low frame rates

    Reproduction Rate: 100%

    Blocker? no but a pain

    Details: Does the "Disable Weather at low performance" option work? How low does performance need to get? I'm at 10 fps chugging along as I "run" through scenes and I still get weather effects, rain currently, and can feel the slow down in performance from the weather compared to my normal movement.

    Steps to Reproduce: You'd likely need a similar system without video card and run through scenes while weather effects are occurring.

    User Specs:
    OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
    CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz (8) System RAM: 19346
    GPU: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 GPU RAM: 1136
    SotA.Win.64.1674.Date.10.02.23
    Area: Novia_R8_City_Harvest
    Area Display Name: Harvest
    Loc: (-71.1, 35.6, -239.2)
    Debug: Tm92aWFfUjhfQ2l0eV9IYXJ2ZXN0fHwoLTcxLjE0NiwgMzUuNjQ0LCAtMjM5LjE1Mil8KDAsIC0wLjk4NSwgMCwgMC4xNzQpfDIwMC4yMjM3fDIzLjk0MTAzfDcuOTE0MjM2
     
    Jakkal, Oct 12, 2023
    #1
    ConjurerDragon likes this.
  2. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Assuming you have the game set to the lowest graphics setting, weather should disable. Though, systems without a dedicated (discrete) Graphics Card are not supported at all. These systems do not have dedicated RAM for the GPU and in addition to poor performance, also exhibit unexpected behaviour during play.
     
    Ravalox, Oct 13, 2023
    #2
  3. ConjurerDragon

    ConjurerDragon Avatar

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    Perhaps a stupid question, but why would the "disable weather at low performance" disable the weather only when running in the lowest graphics settings?

    When I´m starting a game for the first time, I usually experiment by using the maximum settings in everything - and then lower them accordingly until the game is playable for me.
    In SotA that currently means that in the large market towns I use the "fast" graphics, while when adventuring alone in some zone I can play using "good" graphics.

    But when I would move from a not very graphically demanding zone to a large market town without lowering my graphics settings I would experience ocasional freezes or the "can´t enter lot until all the deco is loaded" messages. In that case why would the rain, lightning, thunderstorm (or whatever "weather" contains that can be disabled) not be disabled to maintain a fluent game?
     
    ConjurerDragon, Oct 13, 2023
    #3
  4. Jakkal

    Jakkal Bug Hunter

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    I'm on the lowest graphics settings with weather disabled on low performance set, and still get the weather effects. I realize my system isn't great, but tis all I could afford to replace my previous system which failed a few years ago. I have hopes I can replace it soon, as replacing parts isn't really an option due to the limitations of this box.

    I also know its far from the worst system players are playing on as several players have had even worse performance loading scenes, experiencing multiple crashes to get in, that I can get in without an issue. Typically players playing on laptops.
     
    Jakkal, Oct 15, 2023
    #4
  5. Jakkal

    Jakkal Bug Hunter

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    I just want to add, the job the devs did handling the graphics for lower end systems is generally great. Many many other games I'm unable to play due to horrible performance. Shroud handles it so much better.
     
    Jakkal, Oct 15, 2023
    #5
    Ravalox likes this.
  6. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Not saying it would only disable on the lowest setting, in this case the game is being run without a video card. If there is any hope of running it at all, it would be on the lowest settings, I was saying that if the game wasn't being run on the lowest settings, then disabling the weather would not have an impact. The game is supposed to override the weather on the lowest graphics setting on it's own, I am wondering if that is happening in this case. Obviously, having a manual override for the weather, implies it should work when the box is checked no matter what the detail settings are.


    The weather performance and the garbage collection are two separate issues and impacts. If a given system cannot handle the weather VFX, then the over all FPS will be hard hit. But it should be consistent (like only getting 15 FPS when a rain storm is occurring, and jumping up to 30 when it's clear).

    When there are an excessive number of objects present, the game will "clean up" removing them from memory as the player moves around the scene. The hitching experienced in locations where there is a high density of decorations is going to be due to the methods unity has in place and the methods we have available to us to optimize under the current engine version. Even moving to Unity 2021 will not eliminate the hitching due to garbage cleanup, though there are some improvements that may be able to be implemented that would reduce this effect or eliminate it for most players.

    Granted, keeping the weather off would still improve the experience when in a highly deco populated location, though the hitching would not likely be eliminated in most cases.
     
    Ravalox, Oct 15, 2023
    #6
  7. Ravalox

    Ravalox Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    We'll have to look into duplicating this issue for verification. If we can experience it as well, then we'll open a Jira for it and investigate why.
     
    Ravalox, Oct 15, 2023
    #7