View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0002549 | Spring engine | General | public | 2011-07-10 12:17 | 2011-07-18 20:50 |
| Reporter | rubrick | Assigned To | zerver | ||
| Priority | high | Severity | major | Reproducibility | always |
| Status | closed | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Product Version | 0.82.7.1 | ||||
| Fixed in Version | 0.82.7+git | ||||
| Summary | 0002549: Choppy / stuttering gameplay (Draw Call-Ins + Unsynced heightmap eats CPU) | ||||
| Description | Whenever I play Zero-K, the game gets choppy very quickly. The first few minutes the game runs ok, then a recurring stutter becomes noticable about every second. At some point the CPU has huge spikes and goes all the way up to 100% (and beyond). I do not think this is caused by my hardware, which is fine (see attached infolog.txt). Also, it doesn't matter if I reduce the graphics settings; the choppiness remains the same whether I choose very high or very low resolution / settings. When I use Alt+B to check the CPU load, it seems these spikes are mostly caused by "Sim Time" and "Unit Slow Update". | ||||
| Additional Information | I have tracked the issue down to massive amounts of CPU time spent in UpdateHeightmapUnsynced and UpdateHeightmapSynced It seems that there are some events in Zero K that generate enormous amounts of heightmap updates. For example, a "give all" generates 0004904:0015000 updates. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Attached Files | |||||
| Checked infolog.txt for Errors | |||||
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Lua code issuing 15000 updates does not seem like it should be our problem to fix. |
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No lua heightmap manipulation is done on give all. Whatever it is it is your problem to fix. |
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afaik buildings update heightmap (they "flatten" terrain) |
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I'm not sure how many units this applies to, but the commanders in zerok also flatten the ground as they walk around, generating hundreds of updates per second. The problem appears much less severe in 0.82 than in master so imma look into it. |
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Nothing has been added modside to cause any units to flatten ground by moving around. If they do that it is an engine bug. |
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We are probably talking two different bugs here, the HeightMap thing is a new bug in master, kloot appears to be working on it, while your bug in 82.7 seems to be caused by zero-k itself. Some LUA code spends too much time in draw call-ins, Update() in particular. Easiest way to test it is to try with latest master build and use spring-multithreaded with setting EnableDrawCallIns=0. I'm pretty sure you will find that ZK runs ultra smooth with this setting... :) If you still see some jerks I'm guessing it is the unsynced heightmap that needs more tweaking. My testing is based on ZK 0.8.7.2. |
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svg: http://springrts.com/mantis/file_download.php?file_id=1631&type=bug (seems mantis sends wrong MIME for svgs o_O) png: http://springrts.com/mantis/file_download.php?file_id=1632&type=bug Note: the profile was created with max speedup & a powerful pc, that's why `synced` code takes 99% (we are only interested in that atm). |
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@zerver: I tried setting EnableDrawCallIns=0. This does help to smoothen ZK a lot (unit slow update is almost completely gone and sim time is a lot less), but the stutters do not disappear. When the game progresses the stutters become worse and the frame rate drops again. Unfortunately running spring-multithreaded doesn't seem to work. ZK 0.8.7.2 says MT is not supported, and LUA widgets generate lots of exceptions. The game becomes essentially unplayable. |
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Hmmm. It seems my computer has fallen victim to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jockey/+bug/771788. Although it seemed from the infolog.txt that Spring was properly using my NVidia driver, I think it actually didn't. When I downgraded my Ubuntu install back to 10.10, and made sure the NVidia driver was properly activated, the stutters all but disappeared. Yes, I'm still seeing lots of (smaller) spikes in sim time and unit slow update, but they're not nearly as disruptive as they were before. The game keeps running smoothly now. So feel free to close the bug, unless you want to keep it around for the issues Zerver mentioned in comment 6997. (BTW Thanks for a great bug reporting experience :) I really appreciate the extreme speed with which you picked up on the report and tracked down possible performance problems. Keep it up!) |
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Okay! Actually I see some stutters in the Sim Time as well, and some more pronounced stutters if I have a larger group of units selected. It is very likely that the problem lies in ZK itself. The heightmap problem is also solved, so I'm closing. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-07-10 12:17 | rubrick | New Issue | |
| 2011-07-10 12:17 | rubrick | File Added: infolog.txt | |
| 2011-07-10 12:17 | rubrick | Graphics Card | => nvidia |
| 2011-07-10 12:17 | rubrick | File Added: 20110710_105143_XacomBeach_0.82.7.sdf | |
| 2011-07-10 23:01 | zerver | Priority | normal => high |
| 2011-07-10 23:01 | zerver | Status | new => confirmed |
| 2011-07-10 23:01 | zerver | Category | Linux => General |
| 2011-07-10 23:01 | zerver | Summary | Choppy / stuttering gameplay => Choppy / stuttering gameplay (Synced / Unsynced heightmap eats CPU) |
| 2011-07-10 23:01 | zerver | Additional Information Updated | |
| 2011-07-10 23:22 | Kloot | Note Added: 0006991 | |
| 2011-07-11 07:30 | Google_Frog | Note Added: 0006992 | |
| 2011-07-11 09:45 | abma | Note Added: 0006993 | |
| 2011-07-11 11:24 | zerver | Note Added: 0006994 | |
| 2011-07-11 11:24 | zerver | Status | confirmed => assigned |
| 2011-07-11 11:24 | zerver | Assigned To | => zerver |
| 2011-07-11 13:13 | Google_Frog | Note Added: 0006996 | |
| 2011-07-11 18:20 | zerver | Note Added: 0006997 | |
| 2011-07-11 18:21 | zerver | Status | assigned => feedback |
| 2011-07-11 18:25 | zerver | Summary | Choppy / stuttering gameplay (Synced / Unsynced heightmap eats CPU) => Choppy / stuttering gameplay (Draw Call-Ins + Unsynced heightmap eats CPU) |
| 2011-07-11 23:25 | jK | File Added: output.svg | |
| 2011-07-11 23:26 | jK | Note Added: 0006998 | |
| 2011-07-11 23:28 | jK | File Added: profile.png | |
| 2011-07-11 23:29 | jK | Note Edited: 0006998 | |
| 2011-07-13 20:07 | rubrick | Note Added: 0007015 | |
| 2011-07-14 07:24 | rubrick | Note Edited: 0007015 | |
| 2011-07-17 14:10 | rubrick | Note Added: 0007050 | |
| 2011-07-18 20:49 | zerver | Note Added: 0007054 | |
| 2011-07-18 20:50 | zerver | Status | feedback => closed |
| 2011-07-18 20:50 | zerver | Resolution | open => fixed |
| 2011-07-18 20:50 | zerver | Fixed in Version | => 0.82.7+git |
