[Twinsen] [0.15.1] Having Slight Micro Shuttering.

[StoneLegion]

I been getting quite a few Micro Shuttering issues. At first I thought might be Multiplayer then I tried Single Player and kept getting them. The worst part is this was even before power and such. Fresh installed of Windows 10 with no bloatware, etc installed or running besides obs But even that off it was happening.

I found Vsync to help a bit not perfect but a bit. The micro shuttering is enough to give me quite a headache after an hours or 2.

System Specs:
Windows 10 64bit
Intel i7-4770K @ 3.50 Ghz
ASUS Maximus VI Hero Motherboard
Corsair AX860I 860W Power Supply
32 GB of Ram
GeForce GTX 1070 OC
500 Gig SSD

EDIT: Almost forgot I am using the highest quality textures. Maybe some sort of "non-buffer openGL calls that allegro does"?

[UnknownLight]

Getting the same:

http://theunknownparadox.com/factoriomicro.jpg

Vsync was a minor help if at all

System Specs:
Windows 10 64bit
Intel i5-2500K @ 3.5ghz to OC 4.1 Ghz (Edit: Forgot i had this OC xD )
32 GB of Ram
GeForce GTX 970
7200 RPB 3TB HDD

[CaptainHook]

I am experiencing the same issue, with my Gtx 760. Setting the memory usage to high instead of unlimited seems to help though, but not so much. And it doesnt make sense, cause it means using less memory, doesnt it?

[Loewchen]

Is the fps value dropping when the issue is present?

[BenSeidel]

I posted this in another thread, but it also seems to apply here
Check out your page faults. I am getting the same issue. At the moment of the pause happens (every 4-5 seconds), the page faults (PF) delta hits about 263k.
And before anyone asks, I have 6gb of ram and Factorio is only using 2.2gb of it when on a new map.
It goes away if I go back to the standard resolution graphics.

[Skitt]

same micro stuttering quite often on this build, with a 25 fps drop with 10 steam engines present on screen, 60 fps with view anywhere else.

[Loewchen]

same micro stuttering quite often on this build, with a 25 fps drop with 10 steam engines present on screen, 60 fps with view anywhere else.

That is just bad performance.

[Twinsen]

Run the game, press F4 and turn on "show-time-usage" and "show-fps". Then make a screenshot a few seconds after you notice the stuttering. To be more precise, after a stutter, wait for the 2nd and 3rd values to update and then quickly make a screenshot.

values.png (301.02 KiB) Viewed 8065 times

If possible, also make another screenshot after 10 seconds with no stuttering, for comparison.

Do this is only if you have 58-60 fps but you notice micro-freezes. If your FPS drops significantly, then it's a performance problem and you should try changing some graphics options.

Also try enabling and disabling v-sync to see if this goes away. I noticed enabling v-sync will help with stuttering even if you have desktop composition.

Thanks.

[Nefarious Zhen]

I have a similar issue. I found that the stuttering most improved when I set "Video memory usage" to "All" in the graphics option tab. I also changed "Normal" sprite resolution to "High" at the same time (might be affected, but I assume this would make performance worse).

EDIT: doesn't seem to happen on my work computer .. so I'll reproduce (and do the above) when I get home tonight.

[Think]

Also getting these tiny spikes on my PC since updating to 0.15, attaching a picture which is hopefully correct taken after the frame cycle values updated after a lag. FPS and UPS are stable at 60FPS, then it lags, and they go down to ~52 for a bit. I can't take a picture without lags, because the frame cycle updates slower than the stutters happen. I'm seeing really high values on "Flip" there, but no idea if that's a problem.

[XOffshore]

I can confirm this, and it's really annoying.

FPS/UPS keeps being at 60.0/60.0, but every 2-3 seconds drops to ~55.0/55.0 (not exact value).
Seems unrelated to gfx quality for me: problem persists whatever value is set in options.
EDIT: as suggested above, setting video memory usage below "all" (with quality=high) made shuttering almost completely disappear.

9-second full resolution capture with debug overlay you requested is attached in zipped mp4 file.
The problem is clearly noticeable on screen capture (screen capture software does not introduce additional problems, I checked).

ffout273.jpg (533.97 KiB) Viewed 7927 times

Code: Select all

   0.002 2017-04-25 23:55:48; Factorio 0.15.1 (build 29050, win64, steam)
   0.002 Operating system: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
   0.002 Program arguments: "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" "--wait-to-close" "3416" 
   0.002 Read data path: D:/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.002 Write data path: C:/Users/Offshore/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.002 Binaries path: D:/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.019 System info: [CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor, 6 cores, RAM: 16381MB]
   0.019 Display options: [FullScreen: 1] [VSync: 0] [UIScale: 80%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 255]
   0.021 Available display adapters: 1
   0.021  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series {0x80005, [0,0], 1920x1080, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.021 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [310, 162].
   0.367 Initialised OpenGL:[0] AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series; driver: 4.5.13399 Compatibility Profile Context 15.200.1062.1004
   0.439 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.440 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=10428
   0.440 Desktop composition is active.
   0.441 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: high] [Video memory usage: all] [Light scale: 100%] [DXT: false]
   0.673 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   0.687 Loading mod base 0.15.1 (data.lua)
   0.864 Loading mod base 0.15.1 (data-updates.lua)
   0.974 Checksum for core: 530912544
   0.974 Checksum of base: 2731413614
   1.197 Info PlayerData.cpp:55: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1493153747
   1.197 Info PlayerData.cpp:60: Cloud player-data.json available, timestamp 1493149419
   1.358 Loaded shader file D:/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/game.glsl
   1.359 Loaded shader file D:/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/zoom-to-world.glsl
   1.383 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
   1.421 Created atlas bitmap 16384x16371
   1.423 Created atlas bitmap 16384x8937
   1.424 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3980
   1.424 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3648
  26.770 Sprites loaded
  26.770 Convert atlas 4096x3980 to: trilinear-filtering 
  26.925 Convert atlas 4096x3648 to: mipmap 
  27.069 Loading sounds...
  29.927 Custom inputs active: 0
  29.987 Factorio initialised
  69.611 Loading map C:\Users\Offshore\AppData\Roaming\Factorio\saves\free9.15.zip: 6025844 bytes.
  69.613 Loading Level.dat: 11573724 bytes.
  69.620 Info Scenario.cpp:133: Map version 0.15.1-0
  70.082 Loading script.dat: 190 bytes.
1198.751 DSound: Stopping voice
1198.751 DSound: Joining thread
1198.755 DSound: Exit _dsound_update; tid=10428
1198.755 DSound: Waiting for voice to stop ... signaled
1198.755 DSound: Joined thread
1198.755 DSound: Destroying thread
1198.755 DSound: Thread destroyed
1198.756 DSound: Releasing buffer
1198.756 DSound: Voice stopped
1198.756 DSound: Deallocating voice
1198.756 DSound: Deallocated voice
1199.032 Steam API shutdown.
1199.034 Goodbye

[XOffshore]

Persists in 0.15.2.

[Twinsen]

Think, can you also post the start of your log so i can see your graphics settings and hardware info? Thanks.

So far in both images from Think and XOffshore it looks like your video card/pc freezes. The 200ms lag spike is in Flip, which is not Factorio code anymore. It's either waiting for vsync or waiting for the video card to finish drawing and present the framebuffers to the screen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framebuffer#Page_flipping

[Think]

Sure!

I noticed when I watch a yt video that it actually also freezes when factorio freezes. It even happens while Factorio is in the main menu... o_o
Fullscreen/Vsync settings have no real effect.

EDIT: it not only affects Youtube videos, but the full desktop. Dragging a window while Factorio is running makes the drag freeze in the same interval Factorio freezes... No other application causes this.

Code: Select all

   0.003 2017-04-25 20:54:06; Factorio 0.15.1 (build 29050, win64, steam)
   0.004 Operating system: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
   0.004 Program arguments: "C:\Spiele\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" 
   0.004 Read data path: C:/Spiele/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.004 Write data path: C:/Users/Daniel/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.004 Binaries path: C:/Spiele/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.020 System info: [CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 520  @ 2.40GHz, 4 cores, RAM: 8052MB]
   0.020 Display options: [FullScreen: 0] [VSync: 1] [UIScale: 95%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 255]
   0.021 Available display adapters: 1
   0.021  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series {0x05, [0,0], 1600x900, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.022 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [150, 72].
   0.299 Initialised OpenGL:[0] AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series; driver: 4.5.13399 Compatibility Profile Context 15.200.1062.1004
   0.374 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.374 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=5812
   0.375 Desktop composition is active.
   0.376 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: normal] [Video memory usage: all] [Light scale: 100%] [DXT: false]
   0.514 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   0.537 Loading mod base 0.15.1 (data.lua)
   0.753 Loading mod base 0.15.1 (data-updates.lua)
   0.936 Checksum for core: 530912544
   0.937 Checksum of base: 2731413614
   1.213 Info PlayerData.cpp:55: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1493146429
   1.213 Info PlayerData.cpp:62: Cloud player-data.json unavailable
   1.351 Loaded shader file C:/Spiele/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/game.glsl
   1.352 Loaded shader file C:/Spiele/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/zoom-to-world.glsl
   1.387 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
   1.392 Created atlas bitmap 16384x10868
   1.392 Created atlas bitmap 4096x1860
   1.393 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3648
  16.676 Sprites loaded
  16.676 Convert atlas 4096x1860 to: trilinear-filtering 
  16.818 Convert atlas 4096x3648 to: mipmap 
  17.055 Loading sounds...
...

[XOffshore]

Twinsten, but a) VSync is off, b) no other software is experiencing such an issue and c) it's unexpectedly related to video memory usage setting.

[Think]

So I experimented a little and I compared the game settings with GPU-Z readings:

On Low setting, GPU-Z shows 950MB dedicated, ~50 dynamic RAM, and the game is lag-free
On High, it's 550/550 dedicated/dynamic RAM it stutters
On All, it's 300/750 dedicated/dynamic RAM it also stutters

So from my limited understandings about all the graphics things, dynamic RAM for GPU-Z is actually my "normal" RAM, I guess the graphics driver is offloading some things to there cause the video RAM is full... and that causes the stuttering (???). Sorry for only bringing 1GB video RAM, but this used to work so well on 0.14 though, no drivers got changed too

[DutchBully]

Just an FYI, in my case, the stutter disappears when switching Sprite resolution from High to Normal. The game appears flawless then. As soon as I turn back to High settings, the stutter returns

[Twinsen]

So I experimented a little and I compared the game settings with GPU-Z readings:

On Low setting, GPU-Z shows 950MB dedicated, ~50 dynamic RAM, and the game is lag-free
On High, it's 550/550 dedicated/dynamic RAM it stutters
On All, it's 300/750 dedicated/dynamic RAM it also stutters

So from my limited understandings about all the graphics things, dynamic RAM for GPU-Z is actually my "normal" RAM, I guess the graphics driver is offloading some things to there cause the video RAM is full... and that causes the stuttering (???). Sorry for only bringing 1GB video RAM, but this used to work so well on 0.14 though, no drivers got changed too

The numbers are odd. We have some theories of why this is happening. Best I can say I set it to vram usage to low and play like that(since you dont have dedicated vram, it makes sense you should use the ram)
It used to work well in 0.14 because we didn't have so many sprites. With more entities in the game, 0.15 now uses more ram and vram.

[Think]

Thanks for looking into this.
I guess that explains it for the people with "low" vram. Setting graphics memory to low works, just like changing sprite resolution to low, at least for me.

I suppose the game can't detect this situation because OpenGL doesn't really tell you my VRAM? I didn't change my settings from the default and thought they should be fine since they were on 0.14

[DutchBully]

So I experimented a little and I compared the game settings with GPU-Z readings:

On Low setting, GPU-Z shows 950MB dedicated, ~50 dynamic RAM, and the game is lag-free
On High, it's 550/550 dedicated/dynamic RAM it stutters
On All, it's 300/750 dedicated/dynamic RAM it also stutters

So from my limited understandings about all the graphics things, dynamic RAM for GPU-Z is actually my "normal" RAM, I guess the graphics driver is offloading some things to there cause the video RAM is full... and that causes the stuttering (???). Sorry for only bringing 1GB video RAM, but this used to work so well on 0.14 though, no drivers got changed too

The numbers are odd. We have some theories of why this is happening. Best I can say I set it to vram usage to low and play like that(since you dont have dedicated vram, it makes sense you should use the ram)
It used to work well in 0.14 because we didn't have so many sprites. With more entities in the game, 0.15 now uses more ram and vram.

Thanks for your answer,

I just tried Sprite=High Vram=Low and indeed here also the stutter disappears. At least I can now play HD without the irritation of the stutter, but no clue if this will affect gameplay, FPS/UPS in the long run when factories are getting bigger and bigger.

EDIT: 9:47AM
Sprite=High Vram=Medium >smooth
Sprite=High Vram=High >smooth
Sprite=High Vram=All >small stutter, but it appears less than yesterday (<<???)


I assume you folks will keep adressing this untill its solved?

Code: Select all

0.002 2017-04-26 09:21:06; Factorio 0.15.2 (build 29124, win64, steam)
   0.002 Operating system: Windows 10 (version 1607) 
   0.002 Program arguments: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" 
   0.002 Read data path: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.002 Write data path: C:/Users/Finch/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.003 Binaries path: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.014 System info: [CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor, 6 cores, RAM: 8190MB]
   0.015 Display options: [FullScreen: 1] [VSync: 1] [UIScale: 85%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 255]
   0.016 Available display adapters: 1
   0.016  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 {0x05, [0,0], 1920x1080, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.017 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [310, 162].
   0.111 Initialised Direct3D:[0] NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960; driver: nvldumdx.dll 22.21.13.8165
   0.118     Video memory size (dedicated video/dedicated system/shared system/available): 2016/0/4095/4088 MB
   0.171 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.172 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=8032
   0.173 Device reset internal.
   0.176 Desktop composition is active.
   0.176 WARNING: You have vsync and desktop composition enabled on Direct3d. Consider disabling vsync to increase performance on some confirgurations.
   0.176 Graphics settings preset: very-high
   0.177 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: high] [Video memory usage: low] [Light scale: 50%] [DXT: false]
   0.310 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   0.324 Loading mod base 0.15.2 (data.lua)
   0.499 Loading mod base 0.15.2 (data-updates.lua)
   0.627 Checksum for core: 530912544
   0.627 Checksum of base: 83206502
   0.871 Info PlayerData.cpp:55: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1493212860
   0.871 Info PlayerData.cpp:62: Cloud player-data.json unavailable
   1.026 Loaded shader file C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/game.cso
   1.027 Loaded shader file C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/zoom-to-world.cso
   1.052 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
   1.053 Created atlas bitmap 6513x96
   1.057 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3980
   1.187 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3648
  45.728 Sprites loaded
  45.728 Convert atlas 4096x3980 to: trilinear-filtering 
  45.845 Convert atlas 4096x3648 to: mipmap 
  46.077 Loading sounds...
  49.055 Custom inputs active: 0
  49.117 Factorio initialised
  53.744 Loading map C:\Users\Finch\AppData\Roaming\Factorio\saves\0.15-002.zip: 4688140 bytes.
  53.966 Loading Level.dat: 8971487 bytes.
  53.970 Info Scenario.cpp:133: Map version 0.15.2-0
  54.366 Loading script.dat: 190 bytes.
  54.400 Checksum for script C:/Users/Finch/AppData/Roaming/Factorio/temp/currently-playing/control.lua: 2433440189
 292.932 DSound: Stopping voice
 292.932 DSound: Joining thread
 292.937 DSound: Exit _dsound_update; tid=8032
 292.937 DSound: Waiting for voice to stop ... signaled
 292.937 DSound: Joined thread
 292.937 DSound: Destroying thread
 292.937 DSound: Thread destroyed
 292.937 DSound: Releasing buffer
 292.937 DSound: Voice stopped
 292.937 DSound: Deallocating voice
 292.937 DSound: Deallocated voice
 293.078 Steam API shutdown.
 293.081 Goodbye