Have they changed how everything renders?

[Stutoman]

Ever since the last VU everything has been rendering so slowly. Loads and loads of people are also having this problem and I also know it isn't limited to my PC because it was totally fine before, and I only have a low end system anyway.

Why was this not fixed immediately in the patch which followed the VU a day after?

Hope this gets fixed soon. Post if you have similar issues!

(This problem isn't just items in inventory, it's slow loading of avatars especially)

 

[aia]

(This problem isn't just items in inventory, it's slow loading of avatars especially)

From VU 10.9 I have those slow avatars+inventory.

Since last VU, when I arrive at some place it's usually "white" and it takes about 10 seconds for the environment to show up.

 

[Mega]

After every VU, it takes time to load your items in storage, and any "new" item that you loot, takes a split second longer to appear for the first time.

After that, everything will load quick until the next VU (which have been on a weekly / twice weekly basis).

It's been like that for several months now.

 

[Witte]

I had had this problem since several VU's while before everything loaded almost instantly. Ironically I had the problem since the VU where they claimed everything would load faster in the VU notes. (just checked, it was indeed VU10.9 as stated above) VU notes said:

Streaming
Improved streaming of textures, models and animations allowing for a smoother experience. This will be most noticeable when entering areas with many avatars and buildings, or estates with many items.

It does seem to be a bit faster since latest VU though.

 

[Sarah]

Same thing on my computer. It sometimes takes minutes to load a tab in my inventory. Also avatars show up really really slow. Strange. I didn't have this problem prior to the last VU.

 

[SpikeBlack]

May be they adjusted the quality settings to cope with fast moving vehicles and thats had a knock on effect with normal rendering.

 

[McCormick]

Ye good ol dynamicness...its everywhere. Isnt it beautiful ?

 

[aia]

After every VU, it takes time to load your items in storage, and any "new" item that you loot, takes a split second longer to appear for the first time.

Sort of true, but it affects avatars.

For me, if I go into a servicecenter, it takes "minutes" before the auctioneer shows up. I exit and go in again - and it's the same wait again. Especially if there are other avatars inside.

And if I go into a building like the bank in New Oxford, I bounce up-down for a while before the floor appears.

Another thing is that it now takes time also to render mobs - I can be attacked and even killed before I see that Atrox Alpha. Before at least mobs came immediately.

My guess is that the "problem" is the "texture streaming" - which gives better performance on some systems, and worse on others - and MA now have moved on with "texture streaming" not only on avatars (10.9) but also on mobs and terrain.

 

[aridash]

what do you mean by rendering? do you mean you get lower FPS in general, or do you mean that it takes longer for new items to become visable when you go into a new area?

the first would be rendering (applying texture and light effects to the models), impacting FPS all the time or mitigated by reducing quality setting. i havent seen any general problem with FPS and have a only a mid range system.

the second i have definatly seen, longer load times on login and TPing. could be to do with fragmentation, two large VU patches in quick succession i bet has been sprayed across the disk; or MA has changed how they reference the graphics or load ahead and its not very efficient.

 

[aia]

what do you mean by rendering? do you mean you get lower FPS in general, or do you mean that it takes longer for new items to become visable when you go into a new area?

That it takes longer time for them to show up at all. I have no bigger issue in "zooming around" (holding mouse scroll wheel and move around camera, for instance).

the second i have definatly seen, longer load times on login and TPing. could be to do with fragmentation, two large VU patches in quick succession i bet has been sprayed across the disk; or MA has changed how they reference the graphics or load ahead and its not very efficient.

The only file that appears to be fragmented at VUs for me are the .exe files. The PAK files (which proably contains the textures) are "never" fragmented after patching. (I guess they are rewritten from scratch at each patch.)

What I think pulls down the performance on them I think is the fact they are encrypted(?) and packed, so each time they need to be accessed, the CPU has to unpack it from the PAK files.

Edit
Last VU, two of the PAK files were indeed fragmented. Not badly though.
Processing data\client\territories\calypsosystem\UI.pak:
File size: 528255 bytes
Fragments before: 5
Fragments after : 1
------------------------
Processing data\client\territories\rocktropia\UI.pak:
File size: 1612522 bytes
Fragments before: 6
Fragments after : 1

 

[Nadie]

I had problems a few vu's ago similar to this but it got fixed. Since the last VU though it's the worst it's ever been. Now I tp to a city and all I get is white and then I can see all the scenery but no buildings. Then the buildings appear, then avas. If I enter a trade centre I have to stand and wait for everything to load again. Dunno what they did on the last update but it's bloody awful. My storage and inventory I just click to open, go and make a coffee or something and hope it's loaded by the time I get back and that can just be the armour section with 7 pieces of armour

 

[aia]

(If this happens to you also, I suggest you to file a support ticket, if enough people file support tickets the programmers might be able to find a resolution.)

As for cache, yes there seems to be a cache, which means if you open storage twice it will go faster. But the cache will clear if you change any graphic setting ingame, and at all VUs and "micro VUs".

Also I got a feeling the cache gets flushed from time to time.

Before VU 10, the storage wasn't any issue at all, because then the items in storage were "icons" rather than rendered objects. Even though armor parts didn't look 100% accurate, it probably gave better performance - and I miss that shaded worn parts, with the tiny hand it's easy to miss you have forgotten to wear on a certain armor part like glove, except when the 100 dmg hits come as a surprise.

 

[SpikeBlack]

(If this happens to you also, I suggest you to file a support ticket, if enough people file support tickets the programmers might be able to find a resolution.)

As for cache, yes there seems to be a cache, which means if you open storage twice it will go faster. But the cache will clear if you change any graphic setting ingame, and at all VUs and "micro VUs".

Also I got a feeling the cache gets flushed from time to time.

pulling data from the encrypted data files would cause lag if there wasn't an external cache for them. It might be closed / cleared each time the client is or after each VU. It also explains why the long load times at login as the cache is filled. If its anywhere it will have to be in the system temporary folder otherwise it wouldn't work in vista or w7. The only other place would be in memory.

 

[mastermesh]

These sort of issues are something that us folks on laptops have been dealing with since vu 10.0. It's about time that it's gotten bad enough for folks on higher powered computers to notice the problems. Now maybe enough people will raise the issue with support tickets that MA will actually look in to fixing some of the issues. I've always thought the long load times was related to rendering since it seems that turning things down to safe mode makes the load times take less time. Due to the timing of things, it seems vehicles is making the problem show up more.

 

[aia]

Due to the timing of things, it seems vehicles is making the problem show up more.

I think it's two things:

1) Change of rendering in environment (ground, mobs)

2) For vehicles, the fact that they're customizable (textures, color)

 

[Deleted member 23278]

Something has certainly gone wrong.. everytime i check auction items in the clothes section.. takes a LONG time to load up a view of whatever..so long in fact i just close auction and bugger off. Last time i tried it.. counted 27 seconds to load a pair of basic pants.

(since the vehicle VU btw)

 

[Jimmy B]

Same thing on my computer. It sometimes takes minutes to load a tab in my inventory. Also avatars show up really really slow. Strange. I didn't have this problem prior to the last VU.

I guess you guys have moderate but not high amounts of RAM.

I've been playing below min spec on a PC that is unstable with any more than 1GB of RAM. All the problems in this thread have been normal for me since I downloaded VU10 six months ago.

If I put another GB of RAM in then these problems used to disappear, sadly the computer generally lasts 10min before crashing

Btw, the loading of avatars makes my fps noticably reduce and motion becomes jerky for a few seconds. Having no interest in PvP, I haven't thought of any way that could be exploited...but I'm sure some have

 

[jod]

I've got 4g ram in mine and used to run happily en med settings without issue but now I have to either run on low or relog every 30mins or so.

The rendering doesn't take 'minutes' but it does take a lot longer than it did with the same issues others have described.


I was starting to think i had a failing ram module or something.

 

[SpikeBlack]

I've got 4g ram in mine and used to run happily en med settings without issue but now I have to either run on low or relog every 30mins or so.

The rendering doesn't take 'minutes' but it does take a lot longer than it did with the same issues others have described.


I was starting to think i had a failing ram module or something.

if it was faulty ram you should be getting far more things going wrong than just rendering issues, BSOD and ctds for instance.

I'm not having the issue many are describing and I know I'm on a slow connection (only 2Mb/s bloody BT and crap UK)

What graphics card does everyone have, I've got an ATI 4870 with v10.6 catalysts and I'm not getting the issues some others are having. Slow storage is something I've lived with for a long time so I'm not seeing any changes, if any its gotten faster recently.

 

[jod]

I'm using a 4850 not an ideal card I know but as I said it was running fine on medium.

not sure of the driver version but I updated it just a couple weeks ago.

 

[Stutoman]

It would be useful if a MindArk official, or an FPC official who has any information on this could post a statement or something, just to let us know if they are at least following the problem.

 

[StarGlider]

ATI5970, 12 gig mem, I7 2.8.

Having problems entering buildings, waiting for auctioneer to load etc, and armour storeage takes a good 30 seconds, sometimes longer.
Also, having problems with clothes loading on auction, 5-10 seconds each time, even if you've just looked a few minutes before.
Oh, 8 meg bb line to.

 

[Stutoman]

ATI5970, 12 gig mem, I7 2.8.

Having problems entering buildings, waiting for auctioneer to load etc, and armour storeage takes a good 30 seconds, sometimes longer.
Also, having problems with clothes loading on auction, 5-10 seconds each time, even if you've just looked a few minutes before.
Oh, 8 meg bb line to.

Thats worrying, thats the graphics card i'll be getting.