Low fps in Heretic

paraemuladores

Hi there. I just downloaded version 2.0.3 stable, build 2464, 64 bit. I'm not sure if I asked this before, but, I'm getting very low fps. When I start the first level of episode five, in the Thou art a smite-meister skill, I get 26-28 fps, and if I put stereo 3d, it lowers to 15-17 fps. Is this correct? I know my hardware specs are a little old, but I thought they could run the game perfectly. Am I doing something wrong?

Edit: My hardware specs:

Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
RAM: 4 GB Single channel
Motherboard: Intel DP35DP
Graphics Card: MSI Nvidia N560GTX
SO: Windows 7 64 Bits

DoomRocky

Check from Nvidia control panel that your computer is using dedicated gpu. I believe that automatic gpu selection does not work as intended in Doomsday. Hope this helps

paraemuladores

Done, I selected the GPU as the PhysX processor, but it didn't make any difference. Anything else I can try?

skyjake

To see if your GPU is the bottleneck, you can reduce the display resolution or run the game in a small window. If the performance improves that way, your GPU is not fast enough.

Unfortunately, I suspect what you're seeing is that the renderer in version 2.0 is not well-optimized for large open areas and complex maps.

paraemuladores

Done, tried the game in 1280x720. It didn't speed up one bit, in fact... this may sound wierd, but... the game got a little slower, 1-2 fps slower, in 3D. The fps in 2d stayed the same. Anything else I can try?

paraemuladores

Well, skyjake, I started to play Hexen with the same results, so I assume it's the engine that it's not optimized for large areas yet, like you said. But, if you can thinks of anything else to try, please let me know.

deus-ex

According to my own experience lowering the display resolution usually doesn't help to improve low FPS issues. Yet there are two additional settings worth a try, each addressing a different aspect of the Doomsday engine. They can be changed during a running game on the fly:

• rend-model 0/1 (default = 1)
  This console command allows to control whether 3d-models are to be used for the visual representation of monsters, decor and items instead of the original sprites. Set this to "0" to use sprites instead of 3d-models, which can improve the FPS budget in areas with lots of 3d-models in sight.
  
• rend-light-decor 0/1 (default = 1)
  This console command allows to toggle the representation of additional light sources used to enhance the visual appearance of wall and ceiling textures. Set this to "0" to disable these light decors, which can improve the FPS budget in areas with lots of textures that make extensive use of additional light sources (like ceiling textures with lots of lamps).

To view or modify any of these console commands you need to enter those into Doomsday's taskbar during a running game.

1. Press the [ESC] key to open the main ingame menu
2. Select "Options", then "Show Taskbar"
3. Now the Doomsday taskbar awaits your keyboard input

For example type in "rend-model" (without the quotes) and press the [ENTER] key to see the current value of this flag. To toggle off 3d-models, type in "rend-model 0" and press [ENTER], to re-enable 3d-models type in "rend-model 1".

To close the taskbar and ingame menu and return to the game, press the [ESC] key several times. The current values of this console commands are saved and restored on the next start of Doomsday.

Doomsday allows you to define keyboard shortcuts for changing console commands (and even using more complex if/then scripts), but that should be subject of a later discussion if required.

paraemuladores

Thanks a lot, deux-ex, for both of the replies (the Hexen one too). I tried the rend-model 0 to make everything 2D, and I got about 8-10 more fps. The rend-light-decor didn't make a difference at all, I tried it in the first level of the fifth episode of Heretic, which is a very big place, and it didn't make any difference. I also tried it in the first level of Hexen, which has the storm, and it's very big, with the exact same results: rend-model made the same fps boost, and the rend-light-decor didn't make any (which I believe to be odd, because of the lightnings of the storms, but no difference anyway). Anything else I can try? If this helps in any way, I know a little bit about programming, so I can make complex keyboard shortcuts if needed.
The thing is I'd really like to play the games with all the engine's features, and playing with 2d sprites would be very depressing

deus-ex

As described above the rend-light-decor command controls additional light sources applied to certain textures. For example it adds actual light sources to textures which show wall/ceiling lamps. However the lightning effect in Hexen is NOT affected by this.

This command can have a serious impact on the minimum FPS in the DOOM games, as there additional light decors are used quite extensively. Additional light decors do appear less in Heretic and Hexen.

As for your wish to play the game with all its features enabled, 3d-models can be toggled on/off during game play on the fly. If a low FPS situation appears you can temporarily disable them, and have them turned back on once the critical FPS situation lies behind you.

For example you can add the following shortcut definition to your Doomsday configuration file bindings.cfg in order to toggle 3d-models on/off with a key press:

bindevent "shortcut:key-f5-down" "toggle rend-model"

Make sure that Doomsday is not running while editing any config file. Also be sure to make a back-up copy of each config file you want to edit.

NOTE: There exist a copy of the config file bindings.cfg for each game:

Doom: "c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Deng Team\Doomsday Engine\runtime\configs\doom\player\bindings.cfg"

Heretic: "c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Deng Team\Doomsday Engine\runtime\configs\heretic\player\bindings.cfg"

Hexen:  "c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Deng Team\Doomsday Engine\runtime\configs\hexen\player\bindings.cfg"

paraemuladores

Excellent! Thanks a lot! So, would you say that the problem it's probably what skyjake said, that the engine it's still not well-optimized for very large areas and complex maps? If so, I think I'll just wait: everytime I check the engine, it has a lot more features available.

deus-ex

Yes, the Doomsday engine definitely requires further optimization. It runs the vanilla game levels quite well, but it can slow down to a crawl (like 3 FPS!) with more demanding addon levels, for example levels with more detailed architecture, or lots of enemies, or increased usage of additional decor lights (rend-light-decor).

paraemuladores

I see. Then I'll just wait. Thanks!

zam0th

Just in case this helps the devs to understand the situation better:
0. turn "Show FPS" on;
1. load a level;
2. don't touch anything, just watch the FPS meter.

You will see that at first FPS goes up to very high numbers (in my case 50-60), but in just a few seconds it drops nearly 3 times (lower than 20), even though you don't move, turn or do anything. It will do so regardless of what you'd do, but just for the sake of experimenting.

paraemuladores

That's exactly what I did, zam0th, in every test.

John

zam0th wrote: »

Just in case this helps the devs to understand the situation better:
0. turn "Show FPS" on;
1. load a level;
2. don't touch anything, just watch the FPS meter.

You will see that at first FPS goes up to very high numbers (in my case 50-60), but in just a few seconds it drops nearly 3 times (lower than 20), even though you don't move, turn or do anything. It will do so regardless of what you'd do, but just for the sake of experimenting.

I think what you are seeing is the difference between displaying a static picture and some text (high FPS) and actually running the game engine. When the game engine starts you now have to render the scenery, monsters, all objects in view as well as the music and environmental sounds. Moving around can sometimes cause a big increase in framerate if the place you move to has less to render than where you started.