Performance: CPU limitation and bad audio system?

[poVoq]

Just as a heads up to people who have given up on running RO2 smoothly on their rigs:

At least on my mobile i5 2.3ghz (which I would say isn't a bad CPU at all), I am pretty sure the performance problems originate in the CPU beeing maxxed out.

Case in point:

- I can crank up the graphics (with a geforce 550m btw) quite a bit without it affecting the more or less random low fps (or stuttering I get), but turning down the graphics to everything at the lowest doesn't change anything
- The only effect that speeded up the game to an almost stutter free feel was adjustung the audio settings! (e.g. quality low, channels 8).
- when checking the CPU usage while playing it is at 2.7ghz for both cores almost all the time

Now turning down the audio quality is of course a big pitty as the sound effects of RO2 are great... but I really feel this is the area where the developers need to focus on (besides other CPU optimisations) in order to solve the FPS problems people are getting.

It really isn't that the game runs bad overall... it just has these low fps spikes which at least intuitively happen exactly during situations when they really mess up your aim and reaction speed in urgent situations. And it is exatcly this feeling of loosing due to an performance problem all the time that makes people quit a game :-/
So I really hope this gets top priority for fixing by TW!

[[TW]redeye]

Originally Posted by poVoq

The only effect that speeded up the game to an almost stutter free feel was adjustung the audio settings! (e.g. quality low, channels 8).

Rest assured that is one of the things we'll be looking into. Thanks for the heads up.

[Filo90]

+1

Game seems to stutter less and perform better with low Audio options

[zeep]

Originally Posted by [TW]redeye

Rest assured that is one of the things we'll be looking into. Thanks for the heads up.

Good to know. Please also read my thoughts on the sound issue here.
A thought that the audio engine has to resample too many different frequencies, caused by RO2's samples having differences in bitrate and Hz. Then crumbles under the load. Maybe worth a look.

[kestrel_79]

I agree with the audio taxing your system. I had the no sound bug happen to me twice last night while playing online and when the sound went away, I was locked at 60fps with everything on ultra in a 64 player server. With sound on high I was getting half that before it cut out.

[blkmgc]

Same conclusion here. Core I7 860 , 16gb ram, Ati 6870. The game would lock up my system at times , and always start with massive sound stutters. turned the sound settings down..problem has all but gone away.

[Porta]

All my performance problems vanished when I got a cheap dedicated soundcard.

AMD x4 955. NVidia 560ti, 8 gb ram, SSD, MSI 870-G54 mainboard

[abjectblitz]

Originally Posted by [TW]redeye

Rest assured that is one of the things we'll be looking into. Thanks for the heads up.

Do this by using hardware acceleration and OpenAL and NOT decreasing quality.

[zeep]

Originally Posted by abjectblitz

Do this by using hardware acceleration and OpenAL and NOT decreasing quality.

I've read that XAudio is simply not optimized enough to deliver performance like OpenAL but also that it will be very much work for TWI to switch the current system over to OpenAL. If that is true it will probably not happen..

[StrangleHold]

I can confirm this works well especially for 64 player servers.

Note that if you use 8 channels you can expect the game to sound like tinfoil.

[Sifer2]

That's funny an here I thought it seeming like I was doing better when I had the sound bug was all in my head. But yeah maybe they need to add an Ultra sound setting recommended for people with dedicated cards. An optimize the High one so it doesn't drain so much on performance.

[Bioxx]

I'm going to try this out in a few although I'm not sure how this would affect me given that I have a dedicated Soundblaster Xfi.

To the poster above me, Ultra is a bad word and should not be used, we need more descriptive terms such as "Dedicated". If you offer an Ultra option, everyone is just going to turn it on cause they all want to be Ultra.

[chight10]

i run an i3 dualcore at 1.3 Ghz and get aroung 25-35 FPS,I don't think it's your cpu friend.

Edit: whoops your trying to help, sorry

[Comrade Heavy]

I'd try it out with 8 sound channels if the settings wouldn't reset instantly.

[Gaizokubanou]

Originally Posted by Comrade Heavy

I'd try it out with 8 sound channels if the settings wouldn't reset instantly.

Go directly to ROEngine config file in your documents folder and change it from there.

[Dirtybandit]

Turning down the audio quality is not a solution, 8 channel sound often cuts out sounds and low audio sounds so bad. Audio should not mess with peoples rigs like this

[Leopardi]

I noticed same in ArmA 2 which uses XAudio2. Performance goes hand in hand with audio quality and channels, it blows.

[5thSSDW.KGW~CO]

Hopefully now that TWI have some money in they'll switch to a proper sound engine, one that uses the chip on dedicated sound-cards instead of flogging the CPU.

[5thSSDW.KGW~CO]

Originally Posted by ightenhill

Is this even possible on Win7 systems? I thought (perhaps wrongly) the idea was external sound cards are now history as is EAX etc.. If not I'll dig out the soundblaster Xtreme thats sat in the bits box and didnt get put into this rig..

Where did you hear that?

[Conscript]

Originally Posted by ightenhill

Is this even possible on Win7 systems? I thought (perhaps wrongly) the idea was external sound cards are now history as is EAX etc.. If not I'll dig out the soundblaster Xtreme thats sat in the bits box and didnt get put into this rig..

I think you may be right. I have an XFI Titanium which I've been using fine for a couple of years. Just lately, I had the PC apart so I could isntall a new graphics card, which meant the sound card coming out.

Ever since then, Windows 7 refuses to recognise the cards's existence. It wont show on Devide Manager, it wont detect on startup, I cant even add it manually. So I cant install drivers for it. It's plugged in and working, but the computer just doesn't see it. I think it's a known issue but so far there is no fix for it.

Im mighty annoyed because it's a good card, and Id rather use it that onboard, and I shall be doubly annoyed if it turns out it might be an answer to a lot of FPS issues with RO2