Horrific performance woes in last two stable updates

[morthrane 2]

Note: Given how broad the symptoms and topic, I thought it would be better to ask questions here than in the bug tracker.  Yeah yeah, I know its alpha dev... I've been playing the mod and standalone for quite some time... so any responses "its alpha" can stop right there.

 

 

Disclaimers aside, what is happening is some extreme freezes during gameplay.  Normally low framerates will completely drop to zero FPS for anywhere from 1-3 seconds, to a worst case scenario of 10 seconds.  But watching the task manager on a second screen, I'm seeing CPU usage plummet from a steady ~85-95% to an abysmal 5-20% during these 0 FPS freezes.

 

The drop in CPU utilization is telling me something is badly borked, as the CPU is literally starving while I'm being eaten alive by zombies.

 

While my computer is fairly old, it is certainly above the minimum specifications required by the game.  The system itself:

C2D E8500 @3.16ghz

4gb DDR2 ram

Radeon 4890 (850mhz core, 1024mb memory @ 975mhz)

Windows 7 Sp1 64 bit

OS, steam, DayzSA running on an OCZ SSD

 

It isn't clear what is contributing to the problem.  I suspect it may be tied in with the zombie pathing AI, as that's when the major freezes started occuring.  It happens often enough in the vicinity of zombies, but not always.  The number of players on server doesn't seem to be a factor, but the problem seems to get worse when in the vicinity of other players.  Big cities (cherno et al) have always giving me performance problems, but I'm seeing this issue even in small towns like Kamenka, or out in the wilderness.

 

Length of session playtime may be a factor, as I've noticed that DayZ must have an enormous memory leak.

After a recent 4 hour session, it was using 1,861,884KB of RAM

Restarted DayZ and joined a new server: 827,676KB.

After 20 minutes and a loot run of the SW military base: 1,188,252KB

 

I've tweaked the config settings (as per http://dayzintel.com/dayz-standalone/dayz-standalone-performance-guide) but while they have some overall improvements, they don't stop the major freezes.

 

 

TL;DR: After a 120 hours of survival, to have my character die on a frozen screen to some military zombies... "not like this... not like this" ;)

 

So... suggestions? Questions?

[terminal_boy 860]

Minimum specs are about as trustworthy as politicians.

In reality, they give the lowest spec PC that will actually run the game with zero promise that it will be playable.

Your cheapest performance boost would be to move to 8GB of RAM to allow more resources for system tasks and overclocking the hell out if your CPU (with a good cooler).

[morthrane 2]

Your cheapest performance boost would be to move to 8GB of RAM to allow more resources for system tasks and overclocking the hell out if your CPU (with a good cooler).

DDR2 ram is stupid expensive now because obsolete.  I really just need a new gaming rig. ;)

 

FWIW, even at max RAM usage, I still have leftover memory so I'm not sure that's the problem.

[R0B3RTF1SH3R 66]

DDR2 ram is stupid expensive now because obsolete.  I really just need a new gaming rig. ;)

 

FWIW, even at max RAM usage, I still have leftover memory so I'm not sure that's the problem.

really. i have 2gb (2x1gb DDR2 800) sitting here. been trying to flick it for ages. 

Edited August 17, 2014 by R0B3RTF1SH3R

[morthrane 2]

Do the devs even read this?

 

My character just got erased because of this stupid bug and servers that were restarting every 15 minutes.

 

Damn sick of it and the crappy molasses speed of development in this game.