Low FPS issue

[mage_3719 7]

Since the critical patch, the frame rate has gone down drastically. Has anyone experienced the same thing? Using a Radeon card if that matters. The game was alright and fully playable when I first gotten it. Now I'm getting extremely low FPS (~10 FPS) even when I reduced all the settings to the lowest. It gets worse when I'm in a town where there are those tall apartment buildings. Are there any fixes or workarounds?

[TheLastEmp 295]

I actually have had better fps recently.  Dean mentioned they did optimizations for nvidia first because nvidia submitted their profiles first, radeon is coming soon.  And there will be many more optimizations throughout the entire development process... expect your fps to go up and* down.

 

In retrospect, 10 is pretty damn low... what are your specs?

 

Edit-*

Edited February 18, 2014 by TheLastEmp

[=fox= damocles 54]

Afraid not pal.  In fact a good proportion of us have encountered the exact opposite since the hotfix.

[360Nation 60]

Yes, they went down a bit.. I have Radeon, don't know if they optimized it yet. 

[SpudGun (DayZ) 13]

I don't understand why client optimisation isn't top priorty as I'm sure a lot more would be buying/playing it if they could actually get a playable framerate. Unless it just simply isn't possible with this engine and "what we see is what we get".

The main issue seems to be the way the engine handles objects with so much work being run on a single CPU core.

Cities with High object detail for me is ~20fps, Normal ~25fps, Low ~30fps, Very Low ~35fps. GPU load does not change much if at all, CPU load changes a bit.

 

What's worse is things that should only really effect GPU like AA or downsampling are still at times limited by CPU, example; looking into Chapa with around 30fps - disable AA and jumps to 35fps yet GPU load is still the same ~ 35%.

The only time the GPU gets to stretch it's legs is out in the woods using downsampling and/or ambient occlusion. >:(

 

This is with an i5@4.8Ghz, 1866 RAM, game installed on SSD, GTX780 etc, feel sorry for those with not so good PC's.

[namco-4 50]

I don't understand why client optimisation isn't top priorty as I'm sure a lot more would be buying/playing it if they could actually get a playable framerate. Unless it just simply isn't possible with this engine and "what we see is what we get".

One of the must crucial rules of game development is Features first, optimize later.

If you try to reduce the ammount of calculation needed for a limited feature set and then try to add or edit certain functions,

you're gonna have a bad time.

Secondly, they DON'T want more people to buy this game, yet,

as it is still early in development and the ammount of extra QQ instead of proper bug-reports they are getting is already bad as it is.

It is not a problem with the engine, seeing as they can modify it as they like, but it has been stated before that the rendering methods used are tied in with the simulation,

which is very CPU heavy. Rocket and the team have plans to sort this out once and for all, but not until the game has gotten out of the Beta-phase.

So if you are looking for a well optimzed and feature-rich DayZ, you might want to put it down for a while.

[mage_3719 7]

My specs are close to the recommended specs. Didn't state my exact specs as I wanted to see if it is across the board for AMD Radeon cards. From what I see, Radeon cards seemed to be performing worse. I have another rig with a fairly decent Nvidia card and it is performing way better. On both systems the game was installed in the SSD. Frame rate still dips with the nvidia card whenever I enter areas with those tall apartment buildings. The FPS was really fine when I gotten the game a lot earlier, I'm alright with getting 30 on mostly low-mid settings because this is in apha, but the frame rates have been going down. If I were to pinpoint the period where performance dipped by a lot it would be the week with the Wednesday patch and the critical unplanned patch on Friday. I didn't play between those two patches but it got worse after Friday.

 

While client optimization isn't top priority, and I'm not expecting a super good frame rate (expecting 30 from my card, which I've gotten before the previous patches is extremely reasonable), the frame rate can't be so terribly low that the game play experience isn't great at all. Testing for bugs and what not is a huge pain when you are running the game at 10ish FPS.

 

Does anyone have a workaround or are the devs going to be doing something about it? The frame rate was way better previous with my specs, so getting the previous FPS is was getting should be perfectly reasonable if there is a fix/workaround at all.

[SpudGun (DayZ) 13]

OP: The only thing I can think of would be to make sure any changes you made to the config like view distance or scene complexity haven't been reset to default.

 

One of the must crucial rules of game development is Features first, optimize later.

If you try to reduce the ammount of calculation needed for a limited feature set and then try to add or edit certain functions,

you're gonna have a bad time.

Depends, if core engine and editing are written properly in the first place, it should be easier to add or make changes to it. If you wait too long, you can end up being unable to add or change certain things as they become reliant on others, or having to completely re-write one thing just so something else works/doesn't bug/crash etc.

 

Dean wants to add Bullet™ physics to an already CPU intensive engine, if they do that before any real client side performance gains are made; no-one will be getting "playable" framerates (not mentioning the extra server load).

 

Secondly, they DON'T want more people to buy this game, yet,

 

If that were true they'd have removed it from steam.

 

It is not a problem with the engine, seeing as they can modify it as they like, but it has been stated before that the rendering methods used are tied in with the simulation,

which is very CPU heavy.

This sentence is kind of contradictory of itself.

 

After a bit of research one can easily see the issue is the engine and has been the main downfall of BiS releases for years.

They (BiS) have tried to "spread the load" ala multithreading in ARMAII but we can see the same problem once again plagues ARMAIII. Whatever performance was gained, was then lost agian as they tacked on more features to RV3 to create RV4.

 

Don't get me wrong, I really really hope Dean and co can optimise this where BiS have failed to, but I can't help feel like it should of been the first thing to nail down. It's all well and good getting reports from Intel/AMD etc on where the engine sucks, it's another thing entirely being able to fix them.

[mage_3719 7]

My settings were checked and they weren't default. All of the settings are set to low/disabled. My frame rate was fine, not the best but was alright. I was actually running the game with the settings at medium with way better FPS. Frame rates actually went down sometime during the critical patch and it has been getting worse, and way worse in large towns with the tall apartment buildings (Berezino for example).

[mage_3719 7]

Other issues I have (these issues weren't there when I first bought the game in December, but slowly came along after various patches):

Unable to load night servers. Game crashes or system BSODs.

Loud static after entering a server

Character groans upon entering the server, screen also flashes red (similar to when a character takes a hit) at this point occasionally.

Random resets to characters. Usually to characters that have just respawned after a death. I gear up, and the next time I play I'm a fresh spawn again.

Edited February 19, 2014 by mage_3719

[SpudGun (DayZ) 13]

Your game sounds messed up tbh but BSODS are a sign of system instability though. I have had the loud static a couple of times but not recently, never had the other issues you describe.

I would try a verify integrity (if you haven't already) then delete the configs before launching the game (it will create new) and then finally if none of that worked, a re-install.

[mage_3719 7]

Trust me, all these were already done. Weird thing was, I never had these issues. It got worse with nearly every patch, especially after the critical unplanned patch. The game can't load night servers. All I see are my hotkey spots and a weird screen before it crashes or bsods. I have verified cache, reinstalled game etc. The only issue I could say I solved for good was the desync issue.

[mage_3719 7]

Has anyone tried this guide? If so, did it work? I'm unable to test it at the moment.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=216291078#

[SpudGun (DayZ) 13]

Yes, I used (parts of) the guide when first getting DayZ as the first thing I noticed was less than stellar framerates at times. The view distance and scenecomplexity seemed to offer the largest fps gain for me. the -winxp command just made the client crash when alt-tabbing and no fps gain, ymmv.

[Darth_Rogue 6]

Try playing in the experimental servers.  I noticed a substantial performance improvement in that build.  Keep in mind too that when you set your graphics settings too low, the RV engine puts the load on the CPU.  Turning them up a little puts more load onto the GPU, which will then free up your processor somewhat.  Finding good performance on the RV engine is all about balance.  It's different from PC to PC.  There is no 'magic bullet' setting that is a cure-all in every case.  You just have to play with the settings on your system and find what works.  That's not to say that on your system the game will even be playable to your standards, but it's the best hope you have at this point until they optimize the game better. 

[terminal_boy 860]

Without changing graphics settings at all, I saw lower GPU loading (normally at 100%) and 5-10 lower FPS according to AfterBurner on Sunday.

Setting all textures and qualities to Very High and moving Post Processing up from Very Low to Low brought GPU usage up to a steady 100% and restored frame rates back to what they were before despite higher detail.

i5 2500K @ 4.3GHz and R9 290.

[cpt.oneeye 0]

Since the critical patch, the frame rate has gone down drastically. Has anyone experienced the same thing? Using a Radeon card if that matters. The game was alright and fully playable when I first gotten it. Now I'm getting extremely low FPS (~10 FPS) even when I reduced all the settings to the lowest. It gets worse when I'm in a town where there are those tall apartment buildings. Are there any fixes or workarounds?

 

I have the same problem since 2-3 weeks (before that the framerate was very good). Now 10 FPS and nearly everything is set to low. I reinstalled Windows 8.1. One day it worked fine. Next day and since then i have the same problem again.

 

My Specs:

 

Intel i7 - 4770 @ 3,4 Ghz (8x CPU)

16 GB Ram

Radeon HD 7970

 

~10 FPS

Edited February 19, 2014 by cpt.oneeye

[mage_3719 7]

I have a nvidia card and it performs way better than the Radeon card. Thing is, the Radeon card was performing fine till the patches made playing the game painful with terrible frame rates. If I could get reasonable frame rates on a non optimized game before all these patches, surely the devs could find a fix for it. Like I said before, not asking the best, as long the frame rate is reasonable enough to be playable that is fine with me. 10 fps is really quite unplayable.

[Chauz 166]

Try reading Possible FPS Enhancer also try skimming thru it all sometimes people respond to each other and come to a solution or idea.

[TheLastEmp 295]

I have the same problem since 2-3 weeks (before that the framerate was very good). Now 10 FPS and nearly everything is set to low. I reinstalled Windows 8.1. One day it worked fine. Next day and since then i have the same problem again.

 

My Specs:

 

Intel i7 - 4770 @ 3,4 Ghz (8x CPU)

16 GB Ram

Radeon HD 7970

 

~10 FPS

 

You should probably play on experimental build.  That should fix the issues

[mage_3719 7]

Has anyone found a solution or workarounds to get a higher frame rate on a Radeon card (on stable). Not sure if 0.36 would be pushing to stable on Wednesday. If not, I doubt this issue would be solved during maintenance.

[Dunxel 17]

Game is super under optimized.. but it appears this is a known thing with ARMA games.

just doesn't use much of any resources available to it.

 

Even if you tone down the graphics to super low its choppy & your GPU will sit at 20% utilization and CPU's around the same.

 

NO clue what we can do other than sitting back & wait for the Devs.

[mage_3719 7]

DayZ stable hasn't been patched for ages. FPS is mainly around 10, going down to 1-2 in parts of certain cities. This is really bad. Workarounds mentioned doesn't work either.

Edited March 13, 2014 by mage_3719

[PepsiJohnson 2]

I made an in depth guide here for maximizing fps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbWlo83gxfs

[Pathfinder81 0]

I'm not sure its got anything to do with spec to be honest i'm running i5 4440s with Radeon R9-290x 12gb ram, i can be playing at a good 100-90fps flying around Cherno but it i land and walk in middle of a field it'll drop to as low as 3fps!!!, my guys head stretches graphics go all triangular and screen tears, with my spec sys req say it'll run ultra no problems, but i play using lowest settings with some disabled 1920x1080--3d1920/1080 monitors native res. got me scratching my head :-/