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[Known]Highvale Outskirts: Drop from 30 FPS to 20 FPS when using shadows

Discussion in 'Critical Issues (Blockers, Performance, Crashes)' started by milspec, Jan 27, 2018.

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  1. milspec

    milspec Avatar

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    Title: Highvale Outskirts: Drop from 30 FPS to 20 FPS when using shadows
    Reproduction Rate: 100%
    Blocker? No
    Details:

    I started the free trial a few days ago and just purchased today so I could post here. The first time I noticed poor graphic performance in SotA was in Highvale Outskirts in the Monastery, which all new joiners to the Courage path will visit. I dropped to 20 FPS when entering and talking to Simone. When I disabled shadows entirely I increased to 30 FPS. I have now played the game for 25 hours and this spot still seems like the worst shadow impact which is unfortunate because it mars the new player experience. I went back to record as much detail as possible.

    With shadows on: the Shrouds.exe CPU average was 60%, and the GPU was in the low-30s%, and the scene got 20 FPS.

    With shadows off: the Shrouds.exe CPU average was 54%, and the GPU was in the high-30s%, and the scene got 30 FPS.

    I attached two pics, in full resolution, with the CPU %, GPU % and FPS all displayed in each scene. Note the GPU % is an instant not an average, so look at the height of the graph and the impact on temp to see the difference between On and Off.

    I am happy to help troubleshoot in any other way. I paid for the full version so I could post this on these forums.

    Steps to Reproduce:
    User Specs:
    OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
    CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7600 CPU @ 3.50GHz (4) System RAM: 16343
    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPU RAM: 4053
    SotA.EarlyAccess.LIVE.Win.64.723.Date.01.26.18
    Area: Novia_R6_Hills04_01
    Area Display Name: Highvale Outskirts
    Loc: (55.7, 172.4, -398.5)
    Debug: Tm92aWFfUjZfSGlsbHMwNF8wMXx8KDU1LjY1MSwgMTcyLjM3NSwgLTM5OC40NzIpfCgwLCAwLjgyOSwgMCwgLTAuNTYpfDEzMjguMXwxLjM5MjMzNHw2LjY4ODU4Mg==

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2018
  2. milspec

    milspec Avatar

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    Also in Resolute Bank, where standing inside should not result in an FPS of 18 to 24:

    Title: Resolute Bank Low FPS
    Reproduction Rate: 100%
    Blocker? No
    Details:

    Standing in Resolute, facing the banker, standing as closely as possible to remove extra things from the screen.

    With shadows on: the Shrouds.exe CPU average was 58%, and the GPU was in the low-30s%, and the scene got 19 FPS.

    With shadows off: the Shrouds.exe CPU average was 53%, and the GPU was in the high-30s%, and the scene got 26 FPS.

    Steps to Reproduce:
    User Specs:
    OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
    CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7600 CPU @ 3.50GHz (4) System RAM: 16343
    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPU RAM: 4053
    SotA.EarlyAccess.LIVE.Win.64.723.Date.01.26.18
    Area: Novia_R6_City_Resolute
    Area Display Name: Resolute
    Loc: (16.9, 77.6, -264.3)
    Debug: Tm92aWFfUjZfQ2l0eV9SZXNvbHV0ZXx8KDE2LjkxNCwgNzcuNTgyLCAtMjY0LjI5MSl8KDAsIDAuNjQ2LCAwLCAwLjc2NCl8MTE2MC40Mjl8My45MjU5Nzl8Ni45Mjg1ODI=

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  3. milspec

    milspec Avatar

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    And finally, here is what "normal" looks like, standing in Highvale (not Outskirt). CPU mid-50s% (I didn't wait for the average to increase), GPU 70%, FPS 60.

    For others reading: High GPU usage is good, it means the scene is using the card to do the hard work. Its good right until 90-95%, but it if it hitting 100% and capping then the GPU is not up to the task.

    The GPU percentage history is leaving the Resolute bank (low for a long time while I filed previous post), leave the gate (better, with back to the city), loading (dip), traveling across the world map, loading again (dip), then entering and looking across Highvale.

    The entire new player experience should run like Highvale. Drops from 60 FPS to 20 FPS are not good for first impressions.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2018
  4. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    Sorry but this is the reality of all graphics engines. Shadows require a lot of work on the CPU and GPU. On the CPU we have to retransform things from the light's perspective and then render them a second time. This also requires GPU work. In your case, my guess is that you are CPU bound. Your CPU will never hit 100% usage unless every single core is being used fully. Sadly, much of Unity's engine is single threaded and so SOTA only uses 2-3 cores fully.

    Each version of Unity comes with a bit more efficient rendering and more threading. We hope to move the newest Unity before launch but that is dependent upon them fixing a few 100% repro blockers. They are aware of the latest one and we hope to have the fix within the next few weeks so R51 can move onto a newer engine version.
     
    Furious Farmer and Sara Dreygon like this.
  5. milspec

    milspec Avatar

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    Hi @Chris , thanks for replying. Lots of data below. SOTA appears to use all 4 Cores, but I am not sure if 75% average utilization means I am "CPU bound". The recommended specs are "Quad Core Processor 2.4GHz or faster" and I have Quad Core 3.5GHz (often running at 4.1GHz).

    I am focusing on Simone in the Highvale Outskirts Monastery since that is the first time I saw my FPS drop to 19. Here is the Average / Min / Max Percent Processor Usage by Core reported by Win10 Performance Monitor when Shrouds is running:

    SHADOWS ON (FPS 20)
    % Processor Time
    Avg / Min / Max
    0 = 60.7 / 46.9 / 78.1
    1 = 73.2 / 59.4 / 85.9
    2 = 65.8 / 53.1 / 79.7
    3 = 66.3 / 50.0 / 82.8

    Sum of the average column = 266

    SHADOWS OFF (FPS 30)
    % Processor Time
    Avg / Min / Max
    0 = 44.9 / 32.8 / 59.4
    1 = 75.4 / 57.8 / 90.6
    2 = 60.1 / 46.9 / 79.4
    3 = 48.5 / 32.8 / 70.3

    Sum of the average column = 228.9

    Shrouds uses all four cores while it runs. In Highvale Outskirts and especially in the Monastery it shifts noticeably from the GPU to the CPU. (It does not do this in normal Highvale or South Broken Road, for example.) If I am well above the recommended specs than what does it take to run this scene with shadows at 30 FPS?

    To isolate my computer as an issue I also spun up an AWS G3 instance running Parsec, with an Nividia Tesla M60 w 8 GB of Vid RAM. It had the same issues. (Actually, my GTX 980 got better FPS overall.)

    Here are pics of the CPU utilization per core, as measured by Task Manager and Performance Monitor, and also GPU performance. I took samples from my desktop before the game launched, then with shadows On and with shadows Off, standing in the same spot. I stay still the whole time to get a clean graph. I did not reset the stats on Perf Mon in the pics, although I did reset the stats for Perf Mon each time for the data above.

    CPU (graph 1) from the Desktop:
    [​IMG]

    CPU (graph 1) with Shadows On:
    [​IMG]

    CPU (graph 1) with Shadows Off:
    [​IMG]

    CPU (graph 2) from Desktop:
    [​IMG]

    CPU (graph 2) with Shadows On:
    [​IMG]

    CPU (graph 2) with Shadows Off:
    [​IMG]

    GPU from the Desktop:
    [​IMG]

    GPU with Shadows On:
    [​IMG]

    GPU with Shadows Off:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2018
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