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Bug/Issue Game performance (Lags)

Discussion in 'Starbound Support' started by Cat_Fuzz, Sep 20, 2016.

  1. gameboytj

    gameboytj Ketchup Robot

    shame you can't open the config and add iNumHWThreads=threadcount but then again this isnt a bethesda game so it wouldnt work.
     
  2. lazarus78

    lazarus78 The Waste of Time

    There is actually a setting like that.

    In the universe_server.config (In the packed assets) there is the line "workerPoolThreads" : 2, which you can change to up the thread count. How effective it is I do not know because I don't have a system with performance issues.
     
  3. leracos

    leracos Subatomic Cosmonaut

    That's all well and good, but that's not actual proof of there being a specific issue. The margin of error for it to be considered a hardware specific problem (in this case, AMD specific) is generally 10%. I've seen more than enough to know that more than 10% of people with these issues have nVidia hardware or Intel chips. Even if it was 60% (or 70%) AMD users, we're beyond margin of error. Look at it this way. The same lag happens in all of the following scenarios; Intel CPU, AMD GPU; Intel CPU, nVidia GPU; AMD CPU, nVidia GPU, AMD CPU, AMD GPU; Intel CPU with integrated graphics; AMD APU; virtual machine running through a Linux box off a server or personal use PC using any of the prior configurations. I've seen it all firsthand. A black screen with a white box sounds like nothing more than the game crashed to desktop with an error message but didn't force out of fullscreen, so it isn't readable. Your explanation isn't exactly clear there.

    While in general it usually is hardware that's responsible for such problems, this isn't always true. The OS and the software being run must know how to utilize that hardware as well. To anyone reading this that is still having issues; completely, totally, and irrevocably uninstall/delete/remove your GPU drivers (using the AMD/nVidia software first, then deleting the folders on your own) and any previous ones that may be installed/backed up by Windows through the device manager (instructions to do so can easily be found on Google). Once that is done, go download the new, most recent fresh drivers and install those. You would be amazed at how many people who have said "Yes I have updated my drivers" I've had do this and suddenly things work ten times better afterwards. Simply updating them is no longer a sufficient process. Completely remove them, then install the new ones. If you have an AMD GPU, install the VulkanRT! If you have an nVidia card, turn off PhysX! VulkanRT is not bloatware, it is not malware, and I can personally attest it improves things across the board. Make sure you aren't using the beta release of the drivers until you are sure you have solved the problem! As a final note, as well, do not do anything else while uninstalling and installing these drivers, reboot every time you are asked, and when it is all finished do not alter settings until you test the game again first! [As a side note, this process is highly recommended for your audio, network, and chipset drivers as well]

    Do this one thing and if it doesn't work for Starbound, have the peace of mind in knowing that it will resolve other issues both now and further down the line.
     
  4. Riverl

    Riverl Void-Bound Voyager

    Unfortunately I already installed the latest driver (clean install) even before I got 1.3. I just reinstalled windows recently.

    Using hw monitor to look at processing thread, it seems that the first dozen or so minutes after loading a character is when it stutter the most and the processing thread(s) being utilized sometime shoot all the way to 90-100% (GPU stayed at a steadly 30-50%, no spiking).
    So if I have to hazard a guess, it seems like the load/spawning/procedural was simply inefficient compare to 1.2.
    After about half an hour, the stuttering/lag dwindle and only happen occasionally. Presumable because it finished the initial generating/spawning process?
     
  5. jdecola

    jdecola Space Hobo

    Having the same issues as all of these fine people, but I do have VulkanRT and it still does the same issue. Just going to wait for an update i guess...

    Intel Core i5-4460 @3.2GHz
    8gb RAM
    AMD Radeon R9270
     
  6. Xavier Darkheart

    Xavier Darkheart Pangalactic Porcupine

    You'll be waiting for a long time.....this issue has been around for a very long time, and gotten very little, if any attention from the devs that I am aware of.
     
  7. royal_fish

    royal_fish Phantasmal Quasar

    Game is barely playable due to lag. Massive spikes will literally grind the game to a halt. I've tried everything from Optimizebound, No Shadows, to Parallax Compression.

    Windows XP (32-bit Starbound)
    Radeon HD 6900 2GB
    AMD FX 6300 6-core 3.5 GHz
    4GB DDR3

    My system should be good enough to run it, and I see people in this thread with much better systems having the same problem. Is there anything I can do?

    edit: I have the GOG version, so I don't think I have any multiplayer steam services running or whatever.
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2017
  8. gameboytj

    gameboytj Ketchup Robot

    Our CPU is the cause of lag :(
    I also have an FX 6300. The game doesnt use the entire CPU. So you need one with good single threading like Ryzen or intel
     
  9. royal_fish

    royal_fish Phantasmal Quasar

    Really? I got this CPU less than a month ago to upgrade from an old 2.8 GHz dual-core, which had the same issues. Did they confirm that a lack of multithreading was the problem somewhere?
     
  10. gameboytj

    gameboytj Ketchup Robot

    I think Starbound uses only 1 thread, That would be our problem...
    I wish there was a way to make it us at least 4 threads since i think most people have at least a quad core nowadays.
     
  11. first_in_charge

    first_in_charge Space Spelunker

    Im very safe to guess the processing power is not the problem as I was able to run the game on a 1.6 i5 4210u with a 820m laptop and wasant able to run on my fx6300 with an r9 nano both running Ubuntu 16 and with 8gb of ram at 1600MHz(on the desktop I was able to run processor heavy games like space engineers and beamng at more than 60 FPS(and yes I have a dual boot ,and no it didn't go any better on windows)),and by the way the FX beats the i5 in every benchmark so I would guess it's not a optimization issue more like a compatibility one
     
  12. lazarus78

    lazarus78 The Waste of Time

    The game does use more than one thread for some things. But its not that simple to just "use more threads", and not all applications are even able to make use of it. IE solidworks 2016, yes THAT solidworks that costs over $10,000 per license, is mostly single threaded because it has to do its calculations in linear order.

    Anacdotally, ive noticed a trend of people with AMD CPUs more often having issues.
     
  13. gameboytj

    gameboytj Ketchup Robot

    I hope Ryzen wont have this problem since it has far better single threading compared to the FX series.
     
  14. first_in_charge

    first_in_charge Space Spelunker

    i doubt it would do any difference since single core performance is not the problem ,i'm sure its a bug cause my brother laptop's awful processor (i5 4210u) is able to run the game perfectly, and plus this is the game recommended specs:
    • OS:Debian Stable or Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or later
    • Processor:Core i3
    • Memory:4 GB RAM
    • Graphics:256 MB graphics memory and opengl 2.1 compatible discrete gpu
    • Network:Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage:4 GB available space
    FX is much more than capable of bating an i3 by the way this is my system:
    • OS: Ubuntu 17.10
    • processor: FX6300
    • memory: 8GB at 1600MHz
    • Graphics card: R9 fury nano (i hope its good enough)
    and I'm getting around 30FPS the laptop I'm comparing to got 60+ with this hardware:
    • OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
    • processor: I5 4210U
    • memory: 8GB at 1600MHz
    • graphics card: Geforce 820M
    and both with the appropriate drivers as you guys would have guessed.
     
  15. lazarus78

    lazarus78 The Waste of Time

    Well, the fx6300 actually has a lower single core performance than the 4210u. Not by much, but it does. Though I do think it is an issue in comparability with and in general.
     
  16. first_in_charge

    first_in_charge Space Spelunker

    but still the greater quantity of threads help doing the other tasks that the processor have to do like running the operating system in the background that indeed is multi-threaded and thus reducing the load on the cores so i strongly recommend don't trusting blindly in benchmarks look for the game tests that show more the big picture that is what you need to know about the system performance, I'm just saying that benchmarks are very different to real life because you are never gonna use just one core(unless you configure it on the BIOS).
    But anyway you may be able to get better fps by disabling the Vsync, you can do that by going to:
    /home/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Starbound/storage/ and opening with your beloved text editor a file called starbound.config
    in the last lines of it there should be a option called Vsync ,set it to false and start the game ,probably thanks to the Ubuntu 17.04 it worked for me(i was running Ubuntu 16.04 when i first tried)
     
  17. gameboytj

    gameboytj Ketchup Robot

    My framerate isnt the problem (some areas it is) i run 30-60 frames.
    But i get stuttering for both framerate and controls.
    And yes i turned Vsync off. I don't understand why i have this problem.
     
  18. first_in_charge

    first_in_charge Space Spelunker

    I would suggest you creating a more specific thread or searching for one specially for the control issues but it would probably be closed ,but still it's worth trying.
     
  19. Jmerse

    Jmerse Space Hobo

    Oh sorry its my bad, i use more mods and i delete all. Now game worked. Plz sorry
     
  20. Hell Scream

    Hell Scream Intergalactic Tourist

    Running Windows 7 64-bit
    running on WD - WD4003FZEX-00Z4SA0
    all drivers are up to date
    Processor: Intel core i7 - 2600 @3.40GHz
    Ram: 16GB
    Graphics card: Nvidia Gforce 780
    Resolution: 2560x1440 (Fullscreen)
    Game runs 60fps plus on crappy low res, looks like really bad optimization at higher res or something (im not a programmer)
    Average FPS: 20-30
    Zoom Level: 2
    FPS drops to 10 with rain
    FPS drops to 20 with NPCs
    30FPS is generally refund-worthy material (pretty sure the game used to run a LOT better than this...)
    performance is worse on a fresh install (gets better with performance mods, but not much...)
     

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