[1.0.1.9] Simulation lag and game is using only 20-25% CPU

[Ractaros96]

This is bad...very bad. I expected more from brand new 64-bit game engine. Playing by myself (no AI empires) with only independent colonies. Smallest 500 star galaxy. This is my current state of the game:



As it says in the title, the game is using only 20-25% of the CPU (Intel Core i7-8700) and it's noticeably laggy. It's not even issue of game optimization anymore, but not fully utilizing available computational power. First game had the excuse of not being technologically compatible to utilize more CPU cores, but not anymore. This needs to be fixed ASAP or the whole "Simulating biggest, alive galaxy" premise of DW2 will be simply a lie at this point.

[bobarossa]

What is your GPU%? Mine runs 80% while only about 15% CPU. Have NVIDIA 1660 SuperOverclock GPU.

[Ractaros96]

GTX 1070Ti, similar to CPU maybe a bit more like 30-40%.

[brucethemoose]

This is bad...very bad. I expected more from brand new 64-bit game engine. Playing by myself (no AI empires) with only independent colonies. Smallest 500 star galaxy. This is my current state of the game:

As it says in the title, the game is using only 20-25% of the CPU (Intel Core i7-8700) and it's noticeably laggy. It's not even issue of game optimization anymore, but not fully utilizing available computational power. First game had the excuse of not being technologically compatible to utilize more CPU cores, but not anymore. This needs to be fixed ASAP or the whole "Simulating biggest, alive galaxy" premise of DW2 will be simply a lie at this point.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think higher CPU utilization is not something that can be patched in very easily. Its a long, hard process of finding systems that can safely run on another thread without bugging out.

Anyway, here's another performance datapoint. Newly genned 1500 star old galaxy:



As you pointed out, the game does seem to be heavily bound to a single core. Oddly enough, this is even the case when paused, or on the title screen, so maybe there is some low hanging performance fruit to be picked?

As you can see in the 1%/0.1% indicator, frametimes are also pretty spikey, so 40 or 60 fps will feel more sluggish than you would expect.

Oh, and don't mind that miscolored galaxy, that's just an artifact of the full desktop capture: https://i.ibb.co/Gk4LnCV/1647388723.png

[brucethemoose]

So poking around a bit more, it doesn't seem like the simulation part of the game is a big bottleneck? It's not like, say, Stellaris, where the framerate drops like a rock when you unpause at high speed.

[Ractaros96]

So poking around a bit more, it doesn't seem like the simulation part of the game is a big bottleneck? It's not like, say, Stellaris, where the framerate drops like a rock when you unpause at high speed.

It is, if I can't run DW2 on full speed with 500 stars and every planet colonized, then even if I had one of the best CPUs - Ryzen 9 5950X (3 times more powerful than i7-8700) I still wouldn't be able to run 2000 stars galaxy smoothly and we're talking about playing an ant farm here with only one empire - yours.

I guess, if I don't want to feel the simulation lag I'll have to drop speed to x2 and then to x1, but I'll need to play on research factor 300%, because it will take far too long at such slow speeds.

[Ractaros96]

I hope devs read this thread and do something. Fixing the CPU utilization is far more important than new content for DW2. I bought the game on preorder on GOG, because there are no better alternatives for DW2 for me. I just needed that game. I'm not even angry at this point, just very disappointed. Do games with amazing technical design and optimization as Factorio have to be an exception and not a rule in gaming industry?

[Dudok22]

I am playing 1000 star galaxy with 7 ai in the year 2860 and it seems like the biggest fps hog right now are the ui elements on the galaxy map. If I zoom out with full badges I have like 10-15 fps. paused or unpaused. When I turn off the UI (right bottom button) I have 70+ fps paused or unpaused. and when I zoom in a little it goes to 120+ fps. But what's weird is that sometimes it doesn't do that and fps keeps over 50 even when fully zoomed out with UI elements. I have old i5 4690K, nVidia 970 and 16gb of ram

[nazgul0ne@gmail.com]

Yeah I think there are some memory leaks especially in vram. The "system shields" with info and diplomatic ones seems to be broken. Sure at the beginning of the session it seems fine and runs stable, with minor hiccup when turning on the filters @ capped 60fps (on my old gf1080 and ryzen 7 3800xt with ddr4 16gb ram 3600mhz cl16).
Later during the session it tends to break and game tend to lag randomly, sometimes it lags when zoomed out only while it runs fine on region level zoom, while sometimes it lags in even in region zoom. Game almost goes to a halt when both shields are on.

I've noticed that vram usage usually goes to over 7gb on my 8gb card while GPU/CPU cores usage stay on same level. Seems bit too much for such a game in my opinion it's not like it streaming some hardcore textures non stop. I'll make screenshot next time I'm playing.

[molkemon]

Yes what I have noticed is that when I run zoomed out with badges visible, the game runs fine, but when I open (and leave open) certain Screens eg. Diplomacy screen then the FPS tanks hard. But not all screens cause the performance to drop, only some.

Same goes for Research Tree, the research tree will lag hard if opened while zoomed out (doesn't matter if game is paused or not), but it will be completely fine when it is opened while zoomed into a system. Really weird.

I also started to note some simulation lag now, after pausing eg. budget values and cash on hand will update for several more seconds...

[ClassicAz]

What is your GPU%? Mine runs 80% while only about 15% CPU. Have NVIDIA 1660 SuperOverclock GPU.

The GPU% is irrelevant because it it's only running in low power mode. My 6800xt might be utilised at 80% but it's chilling at 600 Mhz rather than 2400 mhz clock it can go up to....

[SirHoraceHarkness]

Apparently the game uses a fancy new multi core on the fly adjustment system that ramps up under load to increase performance. If its not working properly it would generate the issues you see here with low cpu usage when it should be running all the cores it can get. I'm wondering if there is an option to force the game to use all available cores from the start?

[Ractaros96]

Apparently the game uses a fancy new multi core on the fly adjustment system that ramps up under load to increase performance. If its not working properly it would generate the issues you see here with low cpu usage when it should be running all the cores it can get. I'm wondering if there is an option to force the game to use all available cores from the start?

I was wondering that myself. I even started looking for some config file in game directory with CPU settings or something. At least you gave me some hope that it can be fixed if it's just a matter of it not working properly.

[brucethemoose]

Apparently the game uses a fancy new multi core on the fly adjustment system that ramps up under load to increase performance. If its not working properly it would generate the issues you see here with low cpu usage when it should be running all the cores it can get. I'm wondering if there is an option to force the game to use all available cores from the start?

... But why would it not just stay threaded all the time? Thats more power efficient.

[nazgul0ne@gmail.com]

I've tried the news 1.0.2.0 patch and the game runs even worse for me now, more freezes during zoom in and even longer lag after pause.

Edit: Oddly enough reducing "lens flare effects" to 0% improves perf a lot. I don't even see a difference visually o0

[firemad]

Can you try for testing purpose to disable the citizen ship in the setting of the game ?

Yes it should increase the FPS but I had a small empire at start and I had problem with FPS and I found that if I disable it then it helped a lot.

Another game I didn't need to disable it.

I'm curious and maybe it will help the dev.

I think the zoom lag problem that I found (I posted the bug report) is related to the galaxy view for some objects (wild guess here I'm not an expert). I had problem with zoom in (close to planet) and zoom out at galaxy a lot of time.

I know we should see the citizen ship but if it help pinpoint the problem

[nazgul0ne@gmail.com]

Seems that the game has too many problems right now. Guess it's a refund. I'll wait and see if devs will fix it. Post midgame it's borderline unplayable with random fps drops. See ya next sale.

[Ractaros96]

Seems that the game has too many problems right now. Guess it's a refund. I'll wait and see if devs will fix it. Post midgame it's borderline unplayable with random fps drops. See ya next sale.

I don't want a refund, besides I have already 20 hours in it. I want the game fixed. I don't want to play Distant Worlds Universe ever again.

[Ractaros96]

Can you try for testing purpose to disable the citizen ship in the setting of the game ?

Yes it should increase the FPS but I had a small empire at start and I had problem with FPS and I found that if I disable it then it helped a lot.

Another game I didn't need to disable it.

I'm curious and maybe it will help the dev.

I think the zoom lag problem that I found (I posted the bug report) is related to the galaxy view for some objects (wild guess here I'm not an expert). I had problem with zoom in (close to planet) and zoom out at galaxy a lot of time.

I know we should see the citizen ship but if it help pinpoint the problem

You can set all luxury resources to 0 on all colonies and freighters will stop transporting them, but it will lower your colonies income by a lot. Unless, they fixed wonders development bonus in 1.0.2.0 (I didn't play yet on that version). Basically 15+10+5 (3 wonders, galactic administration and bakuras shipyards) bonuses were broken. 30% bonus to development of every colony in the empire is a lot and reduce your dependence on luxury resources.