So, the past few days I've noticed this huge problem. Spiral knights normally runs fine, and I have a steady 40+fps. I assure you it is not a problem with my computer, because this is a problem a lot of people I play with are having.
Here is the problem: At random times (and for an unspecified amount of time) the game will freeze, often times causing java to crash and have to restart. The game locks up frequently, and thanks to the game's neat idea of continuing what you were doing while lagging, it often means that while the game is crashing, you are running into spikes and/or being mauled by the enemies on screen.
Being the Hot-Head that I am, and almost being done ghosts in the machine (along with almost every tortodrone fight I do), i've lost a rough estimate of 20 sparks of life.
The only conclusions I have come to, since it is not a problem with my computer (spiral knights will only ever use 10-20% of my cpu speed anyway), and since this issue is hapening to many others, is that there are not enough servers to handle all the players, or that the game just can't handle the Tortodrone battle right now.
I would really like to be refunded my sparks, too, but I doubt that'll be happening.
Java/SK system cannot handle the tortodrone update.
Currently there are issues regarding "memory leaks?" with the gameclient. Over time performance will decline, through freezing issues that occur every few seconds, and eventually you will crash. These have nothing to do with your hardware. I have two PCs one made for gaming and one for mobility and I have the same issue with both of them. Mainly freezes that start to occur as time goes by and eventually a crash if I don't restart.
System used for gaming:
Windows 7 64-bit
i7 2600k
EVGA GTX 570
16 GB RAM
System used for mobility:
Windows 8.1 64-bit
i5 3210m
nVidia 610m
4 GB RAM (Yes, I want to kill it with fire)
Java used. 64-bit through Steam.
Memory leaks can mean performance drops, but as a consistent lag rather than periodical freezes, and I hardly see to 16GB RAM to have any issue with memory leaks. Again, the issue can only be related to CPU, specifically with OOO's "experimentation" with the 64-bit client to squeeze that extra power from a single thread. Of course, all performance issues currently are related to 64-bit java, so 32-bit java is a temporary solution.
Quoted from GM Helios:
"Unfortunately changing around your Java version will not make a difference in this case, this has been reproduced across multiple versions. This also isn't anything related to the server or network connectivity. However, depending on how you play it's possible that you may never see this problem.
Thankfully there isn't much to worry about as this bug has been squashed for the next scheduled update. As a temporary work-around you can kill java.exe in the Task Manager and re-launch the game to pick up where you left off. By killing the game in this manner the server will treat it as a disconnect, allowing you to log straight back in to where you left off. This act of re-clienting will restore the game to its normal state for a while. If you do this before starting the Tortodrone Mission, or any other mission, you should be able to play the entire mission uninterrupted by the lag events you're observing."
End quote.
It has nothing to do with 64 or 32 bit java.
Thanks for that. At least they are aware.
How many cores is your computer.
That 10-20% is likely because it has 4 cores and the game is set up to only use one core (max 25%).
That being said, there are likely some bugs in the graphical settings causing these problems.
Try switching up the graphics settings you currently have to resolve the problem. I did not have these problems prior to switching off compatibility mode. I switched it off due to another bug - the tortodrone shield bash creating a pitch black tortodrone model so that I cannot view what my knight is doing. Try switching on compatibility mode and see if the lag gets removed.