Great optimization

[Richard Eriksson]

Just wanted to give a cheer for the great optimization now that AI is available to test with.

It is way more optimized than many other titles already. Did some measurements on it and 20+ AI, at the back of the grid yields steady 60 synced fps and no problems at all. The cores are evenly used and the gpu has room to spare.

As a contrast one could take pCars that still has trouble with the optimization of the code. I've got to say, big Kudos to the team for the work done so far. AI is already rather good, physics core is there and better yet: it is already looking to be a solid, optimized codebase.

Joy

 

[Tom Michelmore]

Yes sometimes I have that overload message when running with AI yet I still have 60+ FPS. I would of thought that the FPS would of dropped under that load!

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Yeah there is something not quite right with the game since I never got that warning ever before until tonight and only when I turned the settings down from maximum.

 

[Stereo]

Well, the game's running at something like 250 or 400Hz for physics, so if it drops below that, you could still be rendering 60fps but the game would slow down.

As far as I know the majority of graphics options will not affect CPU load. Maybe, maybe setting lower texture resolutions / level of detail, since there would be less objects around for the CPU to think about. But for the most part, shadows, reflections, etc. are done entirely on the GPU, using GPU memory - the only thing the CPU has to communicate is the current location of the cars. Which is a total of like 100-200 bytes.

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Well, the game's running at something like 250 or 400Hz for physics, so if it drops below that, you could still be rendering 60fps but the game would slow down.

As far as I know the majority of graphics options will not affect CPU load. Maybe, maybe setting lower texture resolutions / level of detail, since there would be less objects around for the CPU to think about. But for the most part, shadows, reflections, etc. are done entirely on the GPU, using GPU memory - the only thing the CPU has to communicate is the current location of the cars. Which is a total of like 100-200 bytes.

True, that is why i was surprised to get a CPU warning when lowering the GPU load...which isn't perticulary high to begin with, even on max gfx settings

Anyhow, not really a big problem atm as we still are in beta sts. Also,it's only with maxed out grids, as the game runs very well with in all other scenarios.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

I drop from 50fps even with lowest possible settings when racing full grid.
I'm pretty sure the game needs big CPU optimization.
my GPU and CPU never go above 60% usage on maxed settings.

If it is the same at the lowest settings then something is acting weird. I have no problems with framerates even on full grids and fairly high settings.

Is it the same with just one card, no sli? Might be a case of timing issues...

 

[Richard Eriksson]

@Jan-Olov Johansson
Vsync or not? If not, it may be a case of cpu preparing frames for the gpu, and lowering settings will cause gpu to request preprocessed frame listings at a higher rate due to being finished faster. If you are on nvidia hw, does it affect anything if you set max render ahead in nvidia panel to 1?

 

[Leemstradamus]

@Pedro Cunha I'm not having that issue and I have a generation older processor than you. I got the 3770K @4.5 Ghz and SLI GTX 680 4gb. I'm going to rule out all the silly stuff first so don't get mad, but what are your system temps for type cpu? And if they are high try losing your overclock.

 

[Leemstradamus]

I got the >95% warning for the first time last night. I did a bunch of test this morning with different aa levels and graphic settings. And the Chou loss stats the same although there is something wrong as when my frame rate drops sometimes so does my gpu usage. Meaning something else is the bottleneck. I haven't been able to figure it out yet.

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

@Jan-Olov Johansson
Vsync or not? If not, it may be a case of cpu preparing frames for the gpu, and lowering settings will cause gpu to request preprocessed frame listings at a higher rate due to being finished faster. If you are on nvidia hw, does it affect anything if you set max render ahead in nvidia panel to 1?

No, I do not use vsync. I do have a nvidia card (GTX 780Ti) not sure what the default setting for prerendered frames are but I will check if it makes any difference setting it to 1

 

[Richard Eriksson]

No, I do not use vsync. I do have a nvidia card (GTX 780Ti) not sure what the default setting for prerendered frames are but I will check if it makes any difference setting it to 1

Try vsync to 60 as well as prerendered frames 1. I find this combo to work good on most nvidia drivers/software. I see no reason not to vsync anyway, as long as you have the muscle to keep it above screen refresh. The video smoothness is so much better. And with that GTX780 you sure would have the grunt to roll a solid 60

 

[Leemstradamus]

780ti is Close to my SLI 680's , but mine still edge it out and the majority of time I'm humming along at 60 fps.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

780ti is Close to my SLI 680's , but mine still edge it out and the majority of time I'm humming along at 60 fps.

That's at full settings i assume? I run a single gtx680, with a factory oc, due to SLI being to tight on my mb. I keep 60 fps synced easily, but i lower the shadows a notch and set cubemaps and faces a bit lower. Still looks great and i have resources to spare, when smoke and stuff is added to the scene

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Well that gave some interesting results...

OK then, default setting for prerendered frames in nvidias controlpanel was some thing like "3D Program controlled" (mine is in Swedish so...)
Anyway, set it to 1 and got 60 fps with a full grid, no stuttering at turn 1 on Monza and it was maintaining 60 fps most of the time, some dips down to 45fps when there was alot of action with all cars in front of me but otherwise a huge improvement.

Also tried the same om Imola with the same nice results. Next I tried it with prerendered frames on 2 and 3, still maintaining 60 fps on both tracks tested.
It has no effect on driving alone on track, I get the usual 85-110 fps depending on track and position.

Could not see any significant change in cpu load but gpu load went up a bit with the setting at 1.
So setting the value to 1-3 instead of whatever the default was made a big differens for me

All tests done with my normal settings, 1920x1080@60 and all gfx settings ingame are on maximum except FXAA which is at 2x.

 

[Pedro Cunha]

Well that gave some interesting results...

OK then, default setting for prerendered frames in nvidias controlpanel was some thing like "3D Program controlled" (mine is in Swedish so...)
Anyway, set it to 1 and got 60 fps with a full grid, no stuttering at turn 1 on Monza and it was maintaining 60 fps most of the time, some dips down to 45fps when there was alot of action with all cars in front of me but otherwise a huge improvement.

Also tried the same om Imola with the same nice results. Next I tried it with prerendered frames on 2 and 3, still maintaining 60 fps on both tracks tested.
It has no effect on driving alone on track, I get the usual 85-110 fps depending on track and position.

Could not see any significant change in cpu load but gpu load went up a bit with the setting at 1.
So setting the value to 1-3 instead of whatever the default was made a big differens for me

All tests done with my normal settings, 1920x1080@60 and all gfx settings ingame are on maximum except FXAA which is at 2x.

what??
I only have 40fps with Lotus125 full grid at Monza. with everything turned off and lowest possible graphic settings (1080p resolution)
my system is i7-4770 4,8ghz and Titan SLI...
what system do you have?

 

[Pedro Cunha]

@Pedro Cunha I'm not having that issue and I have a generation older processor than you. I got the 3770K @4.5 Ghz and SLI GTX 680 4gb. I'm going to rule out all the silly stuff first so don't get mad, but what are your system temps for type cpu? And if they are high try losing your overclock.[/quot

I have no issues with my system, like i said it runs project cars maxed out 4k resolution with no droping from 60fps
you say you don't drop from 60fps with full grid on Assetto?

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

This is very confusing...did my previous testing with McLaren GT3's, after reading Pedros comment I switched to T125.
First run it was back in to 30's, switched to GT3 again and up to 60, third test back with the T125 and and I now I get 60fps again....
As I said - drops to 45ish when all cars are in front of me and they are doing their ususal smashing and tiresmoking stuff.

@Pedro Cunha i7-4770K, GTX780Ti both at stock speeds.

Sounds weird if you go that low with all gfx turned down...

Edit: Turned all gfx settings down to low:

Sitting on the grid waiting for the lights to go out: 80+ fps,
Driving down the straight anything between 45 and 70fps
First turn....well it's hard to get concistent results as the ai is retarded and sometimes cause big pile-ups which leads to massive fps drops...

 

[Richard Eriksson]

@Pedro Cunha
As said earlier, try without SLI. Also make sure cpu is not throttling, that is a hefty clock there.


@Jan-Olov Johansson
Nice to see it improves things. GPU usage going up is natural, as the cpu will only preprocess one framelist before flushing it to the gpu so it will increase load on gpu and graphics mem, as it tries to keep up. I think the default is actually 3 prerendered frames unless software specifies something else. This leads to latency if you have a fast cpu AND gpu, and increases cpu load. However if your gpu is slower than your cpu you may remove stutters by ncreasing the number of renders prepared by the cpu before flushing. It adds latency however.

As i said, my view is that vsynced 60fps with 1 prerendered frame, by adaptive vsync in nv panel if possible, is the best for most uses. Given you have enough power to keep framerates up ofc.

When AI is crashing about, i wonder if it spikes the cpu or gpu... The first would be more logical as physics would take a toll in corner one for instance...

If you lower shadows i believe you can keep 60+ even with smoke effects...

 

[Leemstradamus]

That's at full settings i assume? I run a single gtx680, with a factory oc, due to SLI being to tight on my mb. I keep 60 fps synced easily, but i lower the shadows a notch and set cubemaps and faces a bit lower. Still looks great and i have resources to spare, when smoke and stuff is added to the scene

I'm running triple screens with a bezel corrected 5890 x 1080. I've got my graphs at 4xAA, 4xAF, 60 fps render max, V-sync through game 6 x FXAA. Cube maps at 1 I think and faces at 6. Also highest shadows but low smoke rendering. Everything else maxed.

@Pedro Cunha what is the resolution you are running? Also your system should be destroying all of ours so there is something going on.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

Further testing shows there are still issues with AI and the new 125... Apart from the AI not being able to drive it one lap without spinning, it appears that framedrops are only present with AI and the 125s. At least on my system. It seems that if AI get stuck, as in locked together, something glitch and cpu use goes through the roof, as soon as they are back on the road and no longer blocking eachother cpu usage is ok again. I think AI routines are lacking for the 125 and it causes issues.

Will probably be optimized by next build or sometime shortly after...

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Further testing shows there are still issues with AI and the new 125... Apart from the AI not being able to drive it one lap without spinning, it appears that framedrops are only present with AI and the 125s. At least on my system. It seems that if AI get stuck, as in locked together, something glitch and cpu use goes through the roof, as soon as they are back on the road and no longer blocking eachother cpu usage is ok again. I think AI routines are lacking for the 125 and it causes issues.

Will probably be optimized by next build or sometime shortly after...

Yes, I can confirm that. There was a massive collision at Monza after turn 2 and 5 or 6 of them was lined up behind eachother spinning there tyres trying to push against one car who was in a 90 degree angle holding them up.