Spiral Knights - Dat FPS

Dat FPS

12 replies [Last post]

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 12:01

Severage

Alright so, just a little while ago I was on Depth 27, enjoying myself (I think) in FSC. All goes well, and since there are only 2 of us (The other guy was in 4* gear), we were going to go up.

Well, my buddy joins right at the elevator so we decide to go down - with 1 blitz and no shiver. No biggie, right?

Anyway, back-story aside, the boss fight wasn't really enjoyable in the last phase. Now, I know Vanaduke is a pretty trivial fight, even without Shivermist, but there's just one thing that bugs me above all other things...

My PC isn't a dinosaur, I've got an i7 processor, 8 gigs of RAM, and a 5.7/7.9 Gaming Graphics Card rating. Yet still, on lowest graphics, the debris that falls from the sky is ridiculously heavy on my machine. My FPS must drop to like 5 - just long enough for me to get hit by Vanaduke and catch on fire.

My little dilemma here is that whether you're on High or Low graphics, the debris doesn't seem to change at all, nor does its effect on my computer. I don't know what it is - but it seems that hundreds of particles + Java = inevitable FPS fail. Just like the Core.

Anyway - would be nice if we could somehow lessen the impact of the debris, since the normal graphics settings don't seem to do anything to it. My PC isn't a $5000 computer but it's not terrible - I know plenty of people who must experience even worse FPS drops here despite graphics settings, since they use even older computers.

Okay, that's my little rant. I'm done. In case you somehow got a nerf vibe, I'm definitely not asking for Vanaduke to be any easier. Just to be more playable.

~Sev

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 12:06

Traevelliath

I agree with this totally. The falling debris always screws over my frame rate, and I can only survive via pure luck (Or I die to the random fires that break out)

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 14:33

Skold-The-Drac

Sev

Didn't you hear? They just want to add more graphics and animations to the game! /end sarcasm

Only huge difference between your comp and mine Sev is I have 4gb RAM, that'll change sometime in the undetermined future but the thing is that SK has a bunch of little animation things even on LOW graphics that just doesn't need to be there. Animation for my mats going to my inventory... seeing dust particles... seeing dust particles... seeing debris... seeing rain... did I mention the animation for mats? Owait.

They need a new LOW graphics setting that literally runs just the basics. Lose the debris and additional effects... basically just showing the floor, monsters, avatars, and weapon animations... And I think I'd be perfectly fine. Will my screenshots be pretty? Sometimes because I'll spend 20 minutes lining the shot and I'll make the time to click graphics buttons. But, tbh, I don't need to see all the atmospheric babble all the time... sometimes I just wanna go in, make heads roll/lumbers piroette, and get out.

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 17:11

Zaffy-Laffy

Zaffy is Laffy

I'm getting a lot of random freezing here and then, with or without so many monster appearing on the map.

Of course, everything was running fine, I'm just worried that the RAM allocation is not enough.

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 17:24

Severage

@Skold:

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

The only difference between High Graphics and Low is Lighting, and (some) dust particles on your screen. I think even weapon effects are the same. It should effect the debris from Vanaduke, the dust in the Core, the snow in Frostbite, etc. but it doesn't.

And I don't really mind if it still shows the debris - but it shows it exactly how it would on High Graphical Settings - I mean there's really hardly any difference.

~Sev

Tue, 12/25/2012 - 01:50

Laraso

Well...

My computer is almost the same as yours, Sev, except I have better graphics (7.9/7.9) and the only lag I ever experience playing this game is network lag. The lowest FPS I ever get is 45.

I have a friend who has a cheap run-of-the-mill laptop, and even he doesn't get any lag.

I'm not too sure what the real cause of these FPS drops that some players are reporting really is.

Wed, 12/26/2012 - 12:34

Severage

@Laraso:

It doesn't always drop my FPS. But when I'm positioned just so that the majority of it falls right in front of my screen, it really kills me.

Maybe it's a combination of things - but it would have to be a pretty serious coincidence.

~Sev

Wed, 12/26/2012 - 20:22

Hexzyle

I haven't noticed this yet, but I only experience FPS freezes in FSC, and nowhere else, so I think some sort of optimization should be done here for lower graphics settings.

Wed, 12/26/2012 - 21:15

Chainguy

I have the same issue,

I have the same issue, whenever the debris appears right in front of the screen, FPS drops to very low instant. I have to play SK on lowest graphics due to my graphics card being only a chip but i still lag in same places. One of the most noteable i seen was in the Fire Pit/Bottom Right Middle room in FSC Charred Court which most of the level is displayed on screen, causing massive FPS drop.

However, this does not cause me to get hit by Vanaduke's mace or run into Shadow Fire but it has happened a few times.

Thu, 12/27/2012 - 01:14

Euclidean-Space

How?

I'm playing on a laptop, 5 years old and I have full effects, graphics set to high without cull transients; and AA (antialiasing) set to 16.
My laptop is dual core, 8GB ram and Nvidia Ge-force 310M graphics card (Which is very old).

I barely get any lag spikes during boss fight, D29 lags a lot though for some reason but it doesn't matter at all.

Thu, 12/27/2012 - 13:15

#10

Aureate

Processing Thoughts of You Always

Personally it's IMF that routinely screws me over; the game consistently cuts out on me every time for the last 15 or so runs I've done. My best bet is to go with someone else and recognise the warning signs of icons whiting out, try and get into a safeish position, and pray I don't die whilst the game starts up again.
I do occasionally have issues with lag in FSC, but not as regularly as in IMF runs; it's pretty worrying, given that IMF runs should take me about half the time.

Thu, 12/27/2012 - 13:20

#11

Sexios

+69696969696969

+696969696969

Thu, 12/27/2012 - 13:52

#12

Aureate

Processing Thoughts of You Always

Okay, seriously, what's with the 69 loving?
It doesn't give you bonus points unless you're doing EoS applications, and even then only maybe.

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Dat FPS