performance drop with SVN Nexuiz

[fronten]

thanx for reply, liolak.
(because of the forementioned problems i stopped using SVN.)

unfortunately my problem remains unsolved until now (r9530).
i have tried locating the bug, maybe did, maybe not.

i would feel glad if one dev could give an answer to how to correctly find the bug.
(or how timedemo works concerning loading stuff, averaging framerate, and in what it differs from online game play) i would like to find the bad mark and erase it, - but please, please, with cream on top, give me means to do so.

obviously the method of using timedemo is unreliable.
so what next?

[liolak]

yep i stopped using svn as a "daily player" too because from one build to another the game feeling changes. of course this is how its supposed to be since its the development version. I do indeed like a repetable experience for playing , and svn is for testing only xD
I am trying to find what is the revision number of the patch im using atm...(dont know how to find it ), but as soon as i find it, I will tell you so that you can enjoy playing again. but im pretty sure an official patch is on the way

[fronten]

liolak,
in console type 'ver' to get the revision.
(or look into the benchmark.log files, if you have run a timedemo)


i am happy playing vanilla 2.5.2 for now, but i fear a now major release without this bug found and fixed. this missing 20 fps are vital for me.

[fronten]

no suggestions?

[merlijn]

Something quite similar was brought up in the dev channel some days ago, it appears that the problem is likely to be a change to the sound handling - which lowers memory usage overall.

Problem with timedemos is that the action is fast forwarded, and the sound handlers are bombarded with more effects than they can handle - causing a significant performance drop. A fix for this is somewhere in the pipeline, but it remains unclear when this will be finalized.

For now can you please retest some of the bad revisions of darkplaces, but starting them with the -nosound flag. Hopefully this will bring back better fps on timedemos.

As a side note, this bug ONLY affects timedemos, regular playing or playing back demos at normal speed should not be affected.

[fronten]

Code: Select all

enginedate 13:19:13 Dec  4 2009 9534
commandline ..\darkplaces\darkplaces-sdl -nexuiz -mygames -condebug +cvar_check_default bypass
result 6853 frames 129.0840000s 53.0894611 fps, [..] min/avg/max: 25 59 185 (315s)
result 6853 frames 126.7010000s 54.0879709 fps, [..] min/avg/max: 11 61 180 (315s)

enginedate 13:19:13 Dec  4 2009 9534
commandline ..\darkplaces\darkplaces-sdl -nexuiz -mygames -condebug -nosound +cvar_check_default bypass
result 6853 frames 75.8750000s 90.3196046 fps, [..] min/avg/max: 51 100 231 (315s)
result 6853 frames 75.5030000s 90.7646054 fps, [..] min/avg/max: 50 100 231 (315s)



for the timedemos it seems to work without sound.
i have yet to play it live, - online with -nosound though..

[fronten]

for me it seems that for live play (online) it all is buggy as before.

even worse (and that made it hard to test) the -nosound parameter messes with my mouse control *wtf* but the low fps and sudden jerks are still the same regardless of nosound and mouse.

so whilest timedemo seems fixed it remains for normal play.


(liolak: you type 'version' not just 'ver' to get revision, sorry.)

[fronten]

what do you suggest for the problem with normal gameplay?

you know, it is really hard to test with no reliable and verifiable, repeatable base of comparism (what the timedemo was thought for).

i mean, i can try to play for myself with the three different versions (vanilla 2.5.2, SVN+/-Sound) , and then judge by my experience, if the behaviour occurs or not, but this is sometimes hard to judge, lags happen, framerate drops all the time, anytime. and even worse, it is no fun playing the retarded (sorry) versions at all, with 20 frames (drops, average) less, fucked senses, and (maybe) no sound..


no fun makes me no play ;-/

[fronten]

hello?
anyone there at the other end of the pipe?

can you please give a hint or such on how to fix or, at least, how to trial this bug?

any suggestion?

[Spaceman]

but as it seems the timedemo results change a lot if you run a demo repeatedly.
memory / cache issue?
within these results i do NOT find the bug i was intending to find.
a minimum of above 55 fps is considered good.

still there remains one big thing with all this:

playing a game live online cannot be compared to replaying a demo.

so how does bad caching (if this is) inflict online game play?
in one word: badly.

a 'fix' like for demos, 'just load it again' ist not possible for online game play.

[01:44] <Willis> I was playing around, and no matter what settings (playing with snd_streaming and r_font_hinting) on the second run, performance was fine, meaning even if it is using more cpu, it's not enough that it's cpu bound
[01:54] <LordHavoc> Willis: I've been really tempted to make DP somehow do an automatic twice-run timedemo, reporting time for only the second
[01:55] <Diablo-D3> why?
[01:55] <LordHavoc> because the engine uploads and compiles shaders on first use
[01:55] <LordHavoc> it also uploads lightmaps in q1bsp on first use