Ember/world On Fire Lag.

[ArcusVeles]

I'm having a really hard time reproducing the issue or isolating why it happens, but while channeling World on Fire sometimes my frame rate dives to below 30, and stays there until I release and recast the ability.  It generally only happens after I've channeled the ability for at least a few minutes, but that could be coincidence.

[[DE]Linkski]

I'm having a really hard time reproducing the issue or isolating why it happens, but while channeling World on Fire sometimes my frame rate dives to below 30, and stays there until I release and recast the ability.  It generally only happens after I've channeled the ability for at least a few minutes, but that could be coincidence.

 

Would you happen to be playing with vertical sync enabled? If so, you may want to try disabling it via. the display settings.

[ArcusVeles]

Would you happen to be playing with vertical sync enabled? If so, you may want to try disabling it via. the display settings.

Nope.  No vertical sync.  I'm usually chugging along between 100-150 fps in missions, but when the slow down happens it'll keep me hovering around 30.  Immediately clears up when I release the ability though.

[ArcusVeles]

I've got an update for this.  I've figured out it's tied to certain tilesets.  I haven't confirmed which are and aren't involved yet, but so far the Corpus Ice Planet and Infested Ship are definitely ones I commonly have this problem on.

 

It could also be tied to my use of the Ignis alongside Ember, but I'll test with and without it after I isolate which map types the slow down occurs on.  I only mention this preemptively because I often notice a dip in fps when I fire the Ignis on these two aforementioned tile sets, but they may just be unrelated problems.

[ArcusVeles]

I've got a video to show what happens now - or at least, after the slow down has already occurred, and how it immediately clears up when WoF is released.  It occurred on Earth this time.

 

https://youtu.be/wg1j0P6Jt5A

[[DE]Linkski]

I've got a video to show what happens now - or at least, after the slow down has already occurred, and how it immediately clears up when WoF is released.  It occurred on Earth this time.

 

https://youtu.be/wg1j0P6Jt5A

 

For the sake of comparison, how does it run if you switch Warframe's "Particle System Quality" to Low in the display settings? 

There should be considerably fewer particles drawn with this ability when playing on low. 

 

I've got an update for this.  I've figured out it's tied to certain tilesets.  I haven't confirmed which are and aren't involved yet, but so far the Corpus Ice Planet and Infested Ship are definitely ones I commonly have this problem on.

 

This leads me to believe that there is simply too much being drawn in the scene for your GPU to be able to handle it without significant drops in framerate. Ice Planet and Infested Ship are levels that are known to have more objects / effects within a smaller space.

 

I would be more surprised if you were able to reproduce the World on Fire problem in places like Grineer Asteroid or Galleon.

Edited February 16, 2016 by [DE]Dmitri

[mrecentric]

This leads me to believe that there is simply too much being drawn in the scene for your GPU to be able to handle it without significant drops in framerate. Ice Planet and Infested Ship are levels that are known to have more objects / effects within a smaller space.

 

So... why not fix that problem?

[[DE]Linkski]

So... why not fix that problem?

 

This is something we try keep a habit of pursuing with each major update.

 

The problem is there are a large number of tiles across the entire game and it takes time to address every single one of them that may come up, so we try to address the worst offenders first. This is why we find it very helpful when players post on the forums to let us know specific rooms that they are having trouble with. 

 

In the meantime if your GPU has trouble handling the combination of high density levels + high quality particles, then the option to lower particle quality is always available.

Edited February 16, 2016 by [DE]Dmitri

[Amazerath]

[...]This is why we find it very helpful when players post on the forums to let us know specific rooms that they are having trouble with. [...]

 

If it's that helpful then I think we should have a Developer Workshop thread about it. Or at least an official PSA to inform people about this.

 

Before I read your post I had absolutely no idea that reporting performance problems in specific areas of a map was something helpful. And I'm sure there's a lot of people around here who are still unaware of this.

[ArcusVeles]

 

This is something we try keep a habit of pursuing with each major update.

 

The problem is there are a large number of tiles across the entire game and it takes time to address every single one of them that may come up, so we try to address the worst offenders first. This is why we find it very helpful when players post on the forums to let us know specific rooms that they are having trouble with. 

 

In the meantime if your GPU has trouble handling the combination of high density levels + high quality particles, then the option to lower particle quality is always available.

 

If you watch the video, you'll see I'm still at my normal frame rate after turning World on Fire back on.  My computer can handle having both World on Fire and my Ignis firing, but there is a mounting problem that occurs when World on Fire is channeled for a long period of time on those more difficult tilesets.

 

I would assume that World on Fire causes some sort of increasing performance issue the longer it's held, and it just happens to be most noticeable on these more intensive maps, but I'll keep testing (and I'll try to catch a video of the fps slowly "bleeding out" to better prove the point).

[[DE]Linkski]

If you watch the video, you'll see I'm still at my normal frame rate after turning World on Fire back on.  My computer can handle having both World on Fire and my Ignis firing, but there is a mounting problem that occurs when World on Fire is channeled for a long period of time on those more difficult tilesets.

 

I would assume that World on Fire causes some sort of increasing performance issue the longer it's held, and it just happens to be most noticeable on these more intensive maps, but I'll keep testing (and I'll try to catch a video of the fps slowly "bleeding out" to better prove the point).

 

Looking at the stats there is definitely an increase in the number of particles if you are playing on "medium" or "high" particle quality. I am curious if you would be able to reproduce this while playing with low particle quality -- as this could potentially rule out the effect itself.

 

Another good test would be to cast the ability and then aim your camera down at Ember's feet. This should free up plenty of time for the GPU, and if the impact of World on Fire is really serious then it will still cause a noticeable drop in frame rate (since the ability's effects would still be in view). This is more as a way to compare ability vs. scene.

Edited February 16, 2016 by [DE]Dmitri

[ArcusVeles]

I've got a few updates for this, now that the forums are back up.

First, I tried setting particles to low, and I still experienced the same amount of lag.  I just started at a higher amount of fps, and came down to floor 60 instead of 30.  So, the problem doesn't seem to be died to the amount of particles.

Second, I experienced this same creeping lag when someone else in my party maintains World on Fire for a long period of time, as well.  I don't have to be in the same room as them or even looking at them to experience the issue, and it only goes away when they release World on Fire, as usual.  I was the host during this, and my friend was the client, and he said that he wasn't experiencing the issue while I was.

I'm going to have my friends help me test if this is a problem only the host experiences, next.