FPS drops and jerky head tracking

[VeganMobster]

I am experiencing pretty underwhelming graphics performance in game, even though my specs are allright (details below). I'll describe two problems here because I think they could be related.

 

Brief description: a) Poor frame rates b) laggy and jerky head tracking even when on medium graphics setting

 

Detailed description, conditions: In a combat situation, on medium graphics settings, my FPS seems to frequently go below 50, many times below 40. I get close to 60 only when there's nothing going on, in level flight.

 

Also, I have an issue with IR head tracking (modified PS3 Eye + PointTracker 1.0 in FaceTrackNoIR 1.7). There's a good amount of lag in the tracking, and the movement is jerky and annoying. I've tried FreeTrack 2.2 as well, but the performance didn't change (I'm using PointTracker because FreeTrack crashes too often). The head tracking movement is always jerky, not only in combat situations. 

 

Right now the game is unpleasant to play. It's probably not entirely fair to compare games, but I will say that in War Thunder I get 60 FPS consistently on max settings, with very fast and smooth head tracking.

 

Is there something I can change in the settings to make this better? Or is it a matter of game optimization?

 

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs): None, but I can probably submit a video capture if needed.

 

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software):

Windows 8.1 64-bit

Intel Core i5 4670K @ 3.40 GHz

16 GB RAM

Sapphire Radeon HD7870 OC edition 2GB

AMD Catalyst version 14.7

 

PS3 Eye camera

FaceTrackNoIR 1.7 + PointTracker 1.0

 

 

[samCintra]

I am experiencing with the same problem and I can totally agree that the game is very unpleasant to play. I believe this is matter of really bad optimization though.

 

My PC specs are in signature, if needed.

[VeganMobster]

I've tried playing some more, and I noticed that the frame rate is especially bad when I'm on the ground. Sometimes it goes to 30 FPS even when nothing is happening and the plane is parked on the tarmac. In the air, when I'm not looking at the ground, the game becomes smoother. 

 

 

 

The head tracking movement is always jerky, not only in combat situations. 

 

 

Correction: the tracking action (pilot head movement) gets choppier as the FPS goes down.

 

On a related note: in the main menu, is there a way to disable the rotating aircraft animation in the background? It takes up a lot of CPU and GPU processing power for no particular purpose. It feels a little odd that my GPU fan is blasting simply because I'm clicking through some menus. And I'm experiencing mouse lag and choppy menu transitions because of the background animation.

[Solmyr]

Nothing weird. Look at your hangar plane, the textures are wonderful, that's just for your eye's please. For the ground, that's normal too. Ask for graphic setting customisation, as all of us And let's cross fingers that the devs will improve optimization.

[BzKBravoZulu]

 

You have noticed the culprit in your post. Quite a few guys are having the same issue...

The in game GPU usage is sitting between 30-45% (for me - it might be a bit different for you) ...Ergo, frame rates in game plummet.

But as soon as you exit the GPU usage shoot back upto 99% usage... Thats why you notice your fan going hard when out of game...

But I'd be anything that the fan doesn't go full ball in game.

 

Run MSI Afterburner - With the overlay enabled - and see if it you're getting the same low GPU usage as others. I hope the devs fix this

fast cause I like you find it impossibly frustrating to play atm.

[Yours_truly_Ace]

Use a fps limiter program. Set it to 30 fps. No jerky movements anymore. Had same problem

[TG-55Panthercules]

I think the problems with the hangar screen are a result of the arc-welder in the corner being severely over-modeled 

 

Seriously, when I was running my RTSS OSD overlay I was not noticing any FPS drop problems in the game, but I've had it disabled for a while since someone posted that it might have something to do with the CTD issue (I'm still getting CTDs without running the overlay so I'm not sure how much the overlay could have had to do with that problem).  I was only displaying the FPS rate, however, and wasn't looking at actual GPU usage, so I'm not sure if there was any difference between in-game and in-hangar or not. 

[VeganMobster]

 

 

You have noticed the culprit in your post. Quite a few guys are having the same issue... The in game GPU usage is sitting between 30-45% (for me - it might be a bit different for you) ...Ergo, frame rates in game plummet. But as soon as you exit the GPU usage shoot back upto 99% usage... Thats why you notice your fan going hard when out of game...

 

Wow. GPU usage indeed hits 99% while in the main menu. I really wish I could get rid of that plane spinning in the hangar. In game GPU usage for me is higher than yours, usually 60-70%.

 

Use a fps limiter program. Set it to 30 fps. No jerky movements anymore. Had same problem

I guess that would do it, but 30 fps isn't very smooth gameplay anymore, I think.

[BzKBravoZulu]

Hey Vegan, the gpu usage is 99% everywhere outside the game - in the hanger and ALL the menus & maps etc.

 

It's just so sad the usage plummets in game (at least with me) 

[prono]

Some people reported like 25% fps gain when you uncheck full screen option. I don't know why but game is faster and still full screen

[Solmyr]

Some people reported like 25% fps gain when you uncheck full screen option. I don't know why but game is faster and still full screen

 

I did a bit of test of this : I found that it's right in the menu only, not in the game itself...

[yeikov]

If you have a force feedback device connected then move the view smoothing slider in the Camera menu all the way to the right, as otherwise it will cause jerky head tracking (known issue, also in RoF).

If you don't have any FFB device... well, you can give it a try anyway   

[samCintra]

Some people reported like 25% fps gain when you uncheck full screen option. I don't know why but game is faster and still full screen

 

I had this option unchecked by default, so problems still persisting.

[Solmyr]

If you have a force feedback device connected then move the view smoothing slider in the Camera menu all the way to the right, as otherwise it will cause jerky head tracking (known issue, also in RoF).

If you don't have any FFB device... well, you can give it a try anyway 

 

I didn't know that ! You mean the smoothing slider inside the "Motion Control", in the basic settings ?

Thank you for the tip, I will try this soon !

[avlSteve]

Is there an in-game command to display FPS?

[samCintra]

Is there an in-game command to display FPS?

 

I don't think so, I am using Fraps for this purpose.

[VeganMobster]

Aargh    Updated to Catalyst 14.9, installed the latest game update. Still getting crappy performance. On low settings FPS is very often under 40. To prevent FPS fluctuation, I tried limiting it to 30, but that just makes the game permanently sluggish. Taking the graphics up to Ultra gives roughly the same performance as low settings. Weird. CPU and GPU usage seem normal (between 30 and 60 %, depending on the situation).

 

Does anyone else have FPS issues with this game? My specs are the same ones that I wrote in the OP. And, like I complained before, War Thunder runs fantastically on my PC, even though graphically WT is probably at least as demanding as this game.

 

Windows 8.1 64-bit

Intel Core i5 4670K @ 3.40 GHz

16 GB RAM

Sapphire Radeon HD7870 OC edition 2GB

AMD Catalyst version 14.9

[John_Banks]

There seems to be no difference for me though, but that doesn't help you guys. They have "fixed" the preset.cfg thing and maybe the result is the overall performance drop. They should really give us the custom options back. The super sampling is a real fps killer and not that necessary. I always fly in ROF without ot.

[Urra]

Got this fixed as best possible by going to Control Panel--> Hardware -->Power Options-->Change Plan Settings-->Change Advanced Power Settings.  I set the minimum processor state to 80% (was 5%!).    Frame rates stay higher in SLI (60fps on Ultra) overall and the stuttering is gone during flight except for the first time you look around the cockpit. Got the graphics smoother also by turning AA all off also, except for FXAA = ON setting through NVIDIA Control Panel with ingame setting of 2x at 2560x1440.  All terrain set at 4096,8 and looks great!

[TexRoadkill]

I've had the laggy menu issue but I just updated my vid card from a GF5x to a 970 and now the menu is pretty smooth. What's frustrating is that I can run the game in SP with ultra and even with 19 AI planes the game runs perfectly. In MP the fps drops drastically even in Balanced settings.

[VeganMobster]

 

Got this fixed as best possible by going to Control Panel--> Hardware -->Power Options-->Change Plan Settings-->Change Advanced Power Settings.  I set the minimum processor state to 80% (was 5%!).    Frame rates stay higher in SLI (60fps on Ultra) overall and the stuttering is gone during flight except for the first time you look around the cockpit. Got the graphics smoother also by turning AA all off also, except for FXAA = ON setting through NVIDIA Control Panel with ingame setting of 2x at 2560x1440.  All terrain set at 4096,8 and looks great!

 

 

Thanks for the tip. I tried Razer Gamebooster, which switches the power setting to maximum usage. I turned the graphics settings down to "balanced", and first put AA on 2, then turned it off altogether. 

 

As before, things were fine (close to 60 FPS) when in the air and with nothing going on. But when I see terrain, things go south quickly. Flying ground attack missions is a real bitch. 30 to 40 FPS, sometimes below 30. Jerky head tracking. I blew up a train and the explosion caused the screen to freeze for a split second.

 

I've never had a game run so poorly on my computer.

[samCintra]

 

 

I've never had a game run so poorly on my computer.

 

Yes, this exactly describes also my feelings! The game should be better optimised. 

[=LD=Hethwill]

First things first.

 

Face Tracker can be "jerky". Make sure you set the 120 fps option for the Eyecam. ( you will find it in the facetracknoir site/forum )

 

1. In launcher check if you are seeding. Top right corner options symbol, check/uncheck options at your pleasure.

 

2. In game setup your Network options speeds correctly.

 

3. Turn Off Cinematics on the camera options

 

4. Enable V-Sync on. Establish frame limit at your pleasure. 60 - 80 should be fine.

 

5. See if menu drag persists. Try ALT+TAB and back.

 

6. Set resolution to 720p and test Extreme.

 

7. Set to 1080p and go Medium.

 

 

 

 

Btw WT doesn't use even close to the processing needed here. A flight sim graphics part is just the smallest work that has to be done by your system.

[Urra]

For the first time in 6 months I tried setting the program priority to "high" instead of "normal" once you get the task manager up on screen and the game is running. Just find il2.exe in the running processes list. I too still had the 30-35 frame rate on sitting the ground even with my changes. This change increased that to 46-55 frames sitting on the runway. Quite a change. Blew my mind.

Nevermind. On later tests it's back to 30fps....

[VeganMobster]

Thank you for the help, =LD=Hethwill_Khan.

 

> Face Tracker can be "jerky". Make sure you set the 120 fps option for the Eyecam. ( you will find it in the facetracknoir site/forum )

It's set to 120 Hz. I'm using OpenTrack, but I've also tried FacetracknoIR. I don't blame the head tracking itself. To me it seems that the jerkiness is just a symptom of the general jerkiness of the game.

 

> 1. In launcher check if you are seeding. Top right corner options symbol, check/uncheck options at your pleasure.

Tried checking and unchecking. But will this affect game performance?

 

> 2. In game setup your Network options speeds correctly.

I maxed out the network speed. I am doing these test in single player mode, though.

 

> 3. Turn Off Cinematics on the camera options

Has been turned off.

 

> 4. Enable V-Sync on. Establish frame limit at your pleasure. 60 - 80 should be fine.

V-Sync is enabled, FPS limit is at 60.

 

> 5. See if menu drag persists. Try ALT+TAB and back.
Menu lags, especially on higher graphics settings. How to get rid of that spinning plane in the background...

 

> 6. Set resolution to 720p and test Extreme.

Lowered resolution to 1024 x 768, with medium settings, no AA. FPS is 40-50, sometimes going below 40. I get jerky movement and microstutters (short screen freezes). Then I moved up to 1080p and Ultra (but no AA). Frame rates are more or less the same, with the frequent microstutters. The only difference is that the GPU usage goes up on Ultra. It seems that changing graphics settings has very little impact on performance.

 

> 7. Set to 1080p and go Medium.

Pretty much the same frame rates & issues with different resolutions/settings.

 

> Btw WT doesn't use even close to the processing needed here. A flight sim graphics part is just the smallest work that has to be done by your system.

Okay, fair enough. Though I'm still wondering where all the processing power is going. I'm running a core i5 4670K with a 2 gigabyte Radeon HD7870, 16 gigs of RAM. And all these issues appear even in single player mode.

 

Of course I can't definitely say that the problem isn't in my computer. But this game runs exceptionally poorly compared to other modern games.



 

Edited November 22, 2014 by VeganMobster

[=LD=Hethwill]

From the results you describe, with the system you have, there is something really strange bottlenecking and is not with the game. Some folk with similar and even less capable systems are running it good, on full hd and stable 40 fps.

 

Hard to troubleshoot from the tests, but something is definitely not okay and I ain't going to lecture you on keeping your machine well taken care of, with proper OS updates, and background programs under control and all that jazz.

 

I run a i7, 12 ram, 7950 and can pump it at 1080p60 for you tube, if I drop it to 720p the framerate will actually drop given the graphics will be bottlenecked with non native downscale, but then I know my system is all properly taken care of without any superlative software and services running.

 

Processing power is needed to calculate everything physics related real time. You have AIR and everything AIR related - wind, pressure, ... - and then airframes individually with all systems working, unlike WT unified environment and instanced physics for a particular plane. So yeah, you need like 10x more just for the core code + graphics on top. Not even comparable.

 

I really hope someone can give you a solution. For now I can't think of anything else.

 

You might want to try to run it without the FaceTrack. Just to eliminate the possibility of something "fishy" with the tracker software.

[TexRoadkill]

Are you guys only having the Fps issues only in MP? I don't think its a cpu bottleneck. I can have great performance in ultra with 19 ai planes in sp but mp is slower no matter what settings are used. Seems like the servers or net code is affecting fps.

[Urra]

New offline missions made available this week from Veteran66 look great but I'm getting slow down from 60fps to 10fps as soon as the yaks show up on the first mission...is there a memory leak or something? 990x at 4ghz. Dual 760 in SLI. Unplayable. So dissapointed.

[Urra]

Since the new offline missions were released I've rea liked it's not a MP issue. So I would like to ask whether its possible to open the faucet for the graphical cards not just in the menu screens like they are now. Running cards at 99%. But to also max them out while flying. Currently if I apply 2560x1440 resolution I use 99% of both cards to get to 60fps. They work bit hard they get there. If I use 1920x1080res. I end up using 60% for both cards at the menu screen. Here is the kicker. While flying at 2560x1440 I use 60% of cards to get 60fps. If res. Is at 1920x1080 I use 20% of both cards to get clear sky at 60fps. What is impossible for me to understand is why that 20% stays only 20% when I focus on a plane flying in the sky and frames are dropping to 20 fps. Cards dont budge on % and don't care frames are dropping. All this with 990x 6 core processor at 4ghz. What is wrong with this picture? SLI 760 Cards.

Edited December 1, 2014 by roaming_gnome

[=LD=Hethwill]

At what preset ? Only referring resolution size tells only half the story.

[Urra]

I will check again and get back. But the impression I got was that frame rate is independent of the preset setting. It's like the card usage is reverse of what it should be. Between menu and in flight.

[Urra]

=LD=Hethwill_Khan. I have Single point comparison in mind for your AMD rig. What is your frame rate at the beginning of the very first offline mission by veteran66. Sitting on the runway before takeoff. Just after you are popped into your cockpit. I get 20fps exactly. Regardless of configuration, setup or presets.

[=LD=Hethwill]

Will test and report back.

 

BUT this is how my game rolls

 

pre 1.006 still have to upload new footage though.

 

 

OBS does the downscale to 720p, it is full HD Ultra 1080p with the ini tweaks.

 

As you see no stuttering, no lags. SP is even smoother tbh. 

 

But i'll post you the veteran66 footage soon enough.

Edited December 1, 2014 by =LD=Hethwill_Khan

[=LD=Hethwill]

At Chir 1 I'm getting less framerate, around 40 @ 1080p Ultra with OBS capturing in the background.

 

uploading to YT.

Edited December 1, 2014 by =LD=Hethwill_Khan

[=LD=Hethwill]

Chir 1 mission, no hotfix needed as the cameras worked flawless at first attempt.

 

 

 

 

 

If I reduce it to High preset it will be just perfect. No jerky moves, no stuttering, just a drop in fps and I bet it is the mission complexity and wreck fires everywhere.

 

( yes you load all the scenery and mission stuff in the 5 km bubble around your position all into memory IIRC, similar as in RoF but someone can answer this one better than myself for sure.)

Edited December 1, 2014 by =LD=Hethwill_Khan

[Urra]

=LD=Hethwill_Khan,

Really appreciate the video.  I actually had in mind the point that of entry into the cockpit within the mission after the hotfix was posted a day later but this is not that important.  However, your video illustrated the point pretty well, Mine is definitely running a little slower, however I managed to increase the frame rate up to a minimum of 23-24 from 19-20 on the runway on HIGH and stabilizing the jumps in frame rates and stutters in the sky quite a bit by loading the entire program into my RAM. (no difference in framerate from HIGH to BALANCED, but it jumps to 60 as soon as I lift off the ground). I might get better results by investing in a SSD drive also , but its good enough for now.  Interesting to note that the HUD turned off gives about 5-10 frames more per second, then when it's turned on. The terrain data you mentioned in the video gives me black lines across the landscape in a few spots, might be my computer as well....Thanks.

Edited December 4, 2014 by roaming_gnome

[=LD=Hethwill]

You are welcome.

After 1.007 I had a fps rise, but I suspect it was OS related not BoS.

[VeganMobster]

Things seem to have gotten a little better, at least for me. Maybe it's because of a patch or something.

 

On high preset 1080p I get 40-60 FPS in air combat situations. In ground attack pretty much the same. Whenever there are many items (planes, ground targets) in my view, it usually affects the frame rate. But for the time being this seems acceptable. There are tiny stutters, and they seem to be happen when the game loads terrain elements (buildings, explosions etc) on the screen.

 

 

 

I managed to increase the frame rate up to a minimum of 23-24 from 19-20 on the runway on HIGH and stabilizing the jumps in frame rates and stutters in the sky quite a bit by loading the entire program into my RAM

 

Interesting. How is this done? With a RAM disk?

 

 

Also, head tracking has suddenly become very smooth! Even on lower frame rates. 

 

For some reason I still get pretty low FPS when I'm just sitting on the runway, looking forward. But all in all these things don't hinder gameplay so much.

[Urra]

Things seem to have gotten a little better, at least for me. Maybe it's because of a patch or something.

 

On high preset 1080p I get 40-60 FPS in air combat situations. In ground attack pretty much the same. Whenever there are many items (planes, ground targets) in my view, it usually affects the frame rate. But for the time being this seems acceptable. There are tiny stutters, and they seem to be happen when the game loads terrain elements (buildings, explosions etc) on the screen.

 

 

Interesting. How is this done? With a RAM disk?

 

 

Also, head tracking has suddenly become very smooth! Even on lower frame rates.

 

For some reason I still get pretty low FPS when I'm just sitting on the runway, looking forward. But all in all these things don't hinder gameplay so much.

I used this:

http://reboot.pro/files/download/284-imdisk-toolkit/

 

Using the larger file not the zip.

[VeganMobster]

I used this:

http://reboot.pro/files/download/284-imdisk-toolkit/

 

Using the larger file not the zip.

 

I suppose I would need to put the game in the RAM every time I turn on the computer, or even when waking it from sleep mode?