To the kind attention of developers # Re: Performance issue

[Ataros]

Originally Posted by Kankkis

??

I have shadows on or off.

Landscape shadows can be put to med/low.

[Wolf_Rider]

how?

[HFC_Dolphin]

Originally Posted by Ataros

This game is built with 2015 in mind and will run well on 2015 hardware when all "modern" games are forgotten. imho

You got to my words, thanks.
Therefore, until we get to 2015, developers should consider a version that will be playable from 2011 to 2015.
And in this pursuit of performance, we should be able to let some things that make our life difficult out. Less buildings, smaller cities, smaller map, whatever will make this game as good as it should be.
It must not be a worse performer than IL-2, cause in such case we'll either play Clod with discomfort or get back to IL-2.

Not to mention what such problems will cause to the community.
A new generation of "builder-cheaters" will appear. Whenever in trouble, just dive to the buildings and alas you're safe!

At last, I'd like to mention that our aim should not be to play the game perfectly well in a 5.000 euros system, but rather in a medium to high system of 600-1200 euros.

[HFC_Dolphin]

Originally Posted by Langnasen

I've achieved 130+ planes in a furball so far without detrimental effect to FPS, over land. 188 planes was too much. ParaB has had around 150+ before he saw slowdowns. Next test will be over London.

Were there any buildings in this furball?
Did you have to dogfight close to them?

[Ataros]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

how?

In game video settings screen right above Shadows you see Landscape Shadows (or shading).

[Wolf_Rider]

I'll try it and see what happens... cheers

[HFC_Dolphin]

Originally Posted by Ataros

This game is built with 2015 in mind and will run well on 2015 hardware when all "modern" games are forgotten. imho

[good will and fun mode always ON]
By the way, here you mention that this is a 2013 game. Now you're saying it is a 2015 game. Does this mean that for every developer's failure we'll move the game's date to a few years later?
We all understand that eventually this game will be totally playable in 2030 with quantum technology, but problem is what we're doing NOW!

[W0ef]

Originally Posted by HFC_Dolphin

Of course I did try the recent patch and still it is unplayable over cities.
FYI the system is i-2500k, ati hd6850, 6gb ram, win7 64bit and I play on a combination of high and low settings. Haven't turned SSAO off, but I don't expect to play on lowest settings with a brand new pc.
It has to be playable perfectly well in such a system.

PS. With this system I can play on highest video settings any other modern game without a simple problem.

With your system you should have little problems running the game at max settings, I would definetely check out if your system runs optimal..Only bottleneck might be your graphics card.

My system is a 2500k at stock, 8 gb ddr3, HD6970 on Win7 64 bit and I have no problems running everything fully maxed out. Only above a major city it has to load in a little.

Are you sure you have the most up to date drivers for everything? How much VRAM does your gfx card have? Lot of useless processes in the background? etc etc.

[Heliocon]

Originally Posted by HFC_Dolphin

After playing a few hours with the game, it is obvious that buildings produce the huge problem in the game's performance.

I don't know if you do have a solution to make the game playable with current buildings, but if not, I think it's time to discuss alternatives.
I don't know what these may be, but I'm even ready to accept much-much smaller cities if this makes the game playable.

I understand that you want to offer everything, but please keep in mind that combat flying experience is above all and if we can't get this because 1.000.000 static buildings load and produce performance issues, then it's time to choose performance over beauty.

I believe that for the next couple of years (until new hardware's ever increasing rough power solves programming or other issues) we could all live by flying a game with smaller cities. What can't we live with, is a game where we'll be experiencing stutters all the time.
I know that things are getting better and I even managed a dogfight of 6vs6 over sea without stutters, but that is not what I want. I think that all of us want more. We want to be able to simulate huge raid attacks. We want to experience 50 or 60 planes in the air, fighting like there's no tomorrow. And in the end, we don't care whether Big Ben is in London if every time we aim to an enemy he disappears in a crescendo of video hick-ups.

Solutions might be many, you know better, please consider them and don't forget that if someone with a brand new pc can't play the game as it should, then you're already out of the market.

PS. Needless to say that if solution of current problems with current status is really near, then we'll all wait. But please don't make us wait another couple of years - it will be a nightmare.

ABsolutely nothing to do with hardware - its to do with horrible programming/optimization. Buildings should not be an issue (neither should tree hitboxes).

[W0ef]

Originally Posted by Heliocon

ABsolutely nothing to do with hardware - its to do with horrible programming/optimization. Buildings should not be an issue (neither should tree hitboxes).

While I agree there can still be progress made on optimization, especially of the houses, I do not agree this has nothing to do at all with hardware and the way you set your system up. People with very similar specs (like me) have the game running smooth with everything maxed out.

As stated many times by now this game eats VRAM for breakfast. I think the bottleneck in your system therefore might be your HD6850 which is a fine card but probably just not good enough for running this game on max, running with everything maxed out requires over 1gb VRAM. I think the biggest optimizations are to be made in this department (VRAM usage of the engine).