Performance hits: Mem leak bug with specific hardware?

[Commando]

Enter in the console game.memstats.

That will tell you how much memory is being used up ingame.

This is definately something that should be brought up to GSH's attention, but since only a few people are having the issue, finding the cause will be difficult.

[Belix]

Looks like I noted I had it on none (and an FPS hit on high as you described) in the text before the list but forgot to actually list it. I thought I had listed every setting in the options panel. Oh the humanity...  Edited that in there. So much for being thorough!

Has anyone else tried to reproduce this by leaving BZ2 running for a bit facing a deployed ISDF Recycler with the drop-off marker onscreen? My framerate starts decaying within about a minute. I haven't seen any behavior regarding this problem that leads me to believe it might not exist for everyone... I think it's more likely something about my hardware and/or drivers accelerates the issue. I'm going to go see about grabbing NVIDIA's latest drivers again, though that hasn't helped before, and get back with more information when I've had a chance to test this on an entirely different system. I'll keep tabs on this for more suggestions though.

Enter in the console game.memstats.

That will tell you how much memory is being used up ingame.

This is definately something that should be brought up to GSH's attention, but since only a few people are having the issue, finding the cause will be difficult.

I'll go try this now and report the results. Also, this seeming like some kind of problem with the game itself is exactly why I'm trying to narrow down what seems to be causing it and how it behaves - every little bit of information might be invaluable.

[Commando]

GSH may have to add you to the beta team to see if this issue still occurs for you.  I think someone else has reported the same issue, unless that was you reporting it in the chat room.

I have a fairly powerful pc so I don't get this issue and I haven't heard of more than two people having this issue.

[Belix]

Alright I used the memstats command. I sat in the game about 8 minutes with the Recycler deployed, facing it and the drop-off marker. Note that I had to use Instant action mode this time (with an AI player) since Multiplayer wouldn't let me change the screen resolution or go windowed so I could take screenshots to compare these statistics.

START: (about 5 seconds elapsed, Recycler not deployed)
Framerate: 124fps
Mem: Objs 84 0 0 expl 0 0 0
Wpn 19 0 0 Partcl 0 1 0
ord 0 0 0 GAS 3 DL 84
saveBuf 0 0 0

RECYCLER DEPLOYED: (about 60 seconds elapsed, Recycler settled in)
Framerate: 38.50fps
Mem: Objs 88 0 0 expl 0 0 0
Wpn 19 0 0 Partcl 0 1 0
ord 0 0 0 GAS 6 DL 89
saveBuf 0 0 0

LATER: (about 8 minutes elapsed, still just parked there)
Framerate: 11.21fps
Mem: Objs 83 0 0 expl 0 0 0
Wpn 19 0 0 Partcl 0 1 0
ord 0 0 0 GAS 6 DL 83
saveBuf 0 0 0



I didn't even know there was a chat room here, so that definitely wasn't me. You know what... it just occured to me I can install this on my work laptop and test it again there. Kind of spaced off it's existance. I'll let you know if it appears to have the same issue.

[Commando]

There doesn't seem to be anything odd about those stats.

[Commando]

Something to possibly try.

// Some threading and multi-CPU tuning values. For all priority
// values, they can be one of the following values:
// -2 : THREAD_PRIORITY_LOWEST
// -1 : THREAD_PRIORITY_BELOW_NORMAL
//  0 : THREAD_PRIORITY_NORMAL
//  1 : THREAD_PRIORITY_ABOVE_NORMAL
//  2 : THREAD_PRIORITY_HIGHEST
// Values outside of -2..2 are treated as 0.
MainThreadPriority = 0
NetworkThreadPriority = 1
OggDecodeThreadPriority = 1

// Thread affinity masks. These are bitfields, with 1 being the first
// CPU in the system, 2 the second CPU, 4 the third CPU, etc. If a
// mask specified here refers to a CPU that doesn't exist, it is
// treated as 1
MainThreadAffinityMask = 2
NetworkThreadAffinityMask = 2
OggDecodeThreadAffinityMask = 1

change MainTreadAffinityMask to 1, and the rest to 2 or possibly Main and Network to 1 and Ogg to 2.

[GSH]

To go to windowed mode in MP, put "/win" on the commandline, or hit alt-enter when you're on the login screen. The best tests are done w/o AI running, as that can be doing some work.

-- GSH

[Commando]

If he gets added to the beta team, I can send him some links to prior full builds to see when his issue started after pb3.

[Belix]

Something to possibly try.

[snip prefs.ini changelist]

I tried this earlier, in fact that was the last thing I tried before registering here. Again, didn't notice any improvement. About when is a man justified in pulling out his hair? I feel close!

To go to windowed mode in MP, put "/win" on the commandline, or hit alt-enter when you're on the login screen. The best tests are done w/o AI running, as that can be doing some work.

Here you go, game.memstats in multiplayer ST with no AI.

(about 3 minutes elapsed, Recycler deployed)
Framerate: 29.91fps
Mem: Objs 78 0 0 expl 0 0 0
Wpn 7 0 0 Partcl 0 1 0
ord 0 0 0 GAS 5 DL 78
saveBuf 0 0 0

If he gets added to the beta team, I can send him some links to prior full builds to see when his issue started after pb3.

Unfortunately, I don't think the issue started after pb3. I was using pb3 before I did a full reinstall and patched to pb4 a week ago when I found out it had come out. I had these inexplicable performance issues well before pb4, I distinctly remember mumbling a few colorful metaphors while watching all the textures and objects and sky etc. flick on and off constantly while playing with a friend numerous times. Heheh "This game looks great for such an old title!... hey what happened? Now it's ugly!"

I wanted to test the plain game off the CD without using the 1.3 patch, but I'm clueless as to what console command toggles the FPS display, which is off by default in the stock game.



Also, I just finished three more tests with BZ2 1.3 on my desktop and laptop. First I tried my laptop with an NVIDIA Quadro something 256mb, forceware version 101.19... and it ran fine. Even the blue ISDF construction effect I noted a small framerate hit on earlier didn't make a scratch. I immediately suspected the NVIDIA drivers (small surprise that would be!) and upgraded my laptop to 174.31 to see if the problem had occured in recent drivers. However my second test with the laptop and the updated forceware turned the same results... no problems. So I came back to my desktop, upgraded the firmware here from 169.21 to 175.19 and tested again. Same problem. Something about these specific objects bleeds my framerate. If the ISDF Recycler wasn't one of the culprits, it'd make sense. Lungs, ISDF power plants and drop-off markers all use a fancy little animated transparencies. So too I imagine does the ISDF building effect. As best I can tell though, the ISDF Recycler has no such graphical effects, so I'm at a loss to make a connection.

This makes no sense to me. If it were a performance issue the 30 vehicles with headlights blazing onscreen and moving around should have made my system explode, given that three idle buildings crush my framerate. I wish I could point out exactly what the problem seems to be. At least now I know I can simply play it on my laptop instead.

If anyone has any other suggestions or knows the console command to toggle the framerate display so I can test a fresh install without 1.3, I'll try it. Otherwise I'm out of ideas. It definitely looks like a unique issue with certain hardware now, but I still think there must be some issue with the game that's lighting the match - otherwise I don't see why these specific things in BZ2 cause problems while the rest of the game, and many other games I play ranging from 1995 to 2006, seem perfectly fine. Recent stuff like Doom 3, Oblivion, Prey, Titan Quest, Company of Heroes etc. all runs nice on high settings. Anyway, thanks again.

[Commando]

I believe vid.framerate is the command in 1.3.  I'm not sure what the command in 1.2 is.

Alt + F will also bring up the fps counter in 1.3.

[Commando]

Some things to try.

Try 1.2 to see if the issue occurs there.
Then upgrade to 1.3 Public Beta 1.  See if you get the issue there.
Then upgrade to 1.3 Public Beta 2.  Test in that version.
Then Public Beta 3.

If you can, determine if it started with one of the Public Betas or if it occured in 1.2 too.

You will have to do a clean install to test 1.2 since it will crash if you try installing 1.2 over 1.3.

[Belix]

Alright, erm... just one problem. How do I get Battlezone II to work without the 1.3 patch? I did a full uninstall and deleted leftover files. When I start the game I get a red/tan screen. I can hear the intro videos etc. but nothing happens. If I press escape it silences as if it's skipped the movie but it stays there locked up with no visual change. I tried Windows 95 compatability mode and used the /nointro command and got a stalled black screen instead. I think the version that comes off this CD (may be true for all cds?) is not 1.2, so I downloaded the 1.2 patch and put that on and got the same result. I uninstalled, reinstalled, rebooted, tried over and got the same problems a second time.

Any ideas? If I can't get stock versions running I'll just try pb1 and see if I get the same issue there and move along down the line as suggested.

And before anyone says it - yeah, I've got bad luck, I know. This is exactly why I don't gamble!

[technoid]

Try a fresh CD install, no 1.2 patch.  Hence this is usually version 1.1 of BZII.  Perhaps install this to a different folder other than the default. 

Curious, what language version of BZII do you have?  What language version of XP do you have?  And what Regional and Language Option is your XP (on your desktop PC) set at?  (See Control Panel for the latter). 

And turn down a lot of the graphics settings to low or off if you haven't already:  Terrain=low, Weather=off, Reflections=off, Texturesize=low, Props=off, Shadows=off, Particle and Object Details=off.  etc.

Also, have you checked DXDIAG to be sure everything there is fine?   I've never seen this type of problem either. 

[Belix]

Try a fresh CD install, no 1.2 patch.  Hence this is usually version 1.1 of BZII.  Perhaps install this to a different folder other than the default.

I installed to a different directory and I don't get the red/tan screen now. I can see the video, but the same thing happens - when it ends or I press escape, BZ2 locks up. AFAIK everything is English/US from game version, OS and reg/lang settings and the DirectX Diagnostic Tool doesn't tell me anything is wrong.

I am going to download pb1 now and see if I get the issue there. Not sure why 1.1 or 1.2 lock up immediately even if I skip all the cinematics with /nointro. Tried /nodxt too. At least for now I can find out if this issue is present in earlier versions of 1.3 lacking access to stock versions. I'll get back with results on that soon.

As for options settings, again, so far the only graphic setting that's had any impact on this issue, as described earlier, was Object Detail. If I set it to Med or Low, ISDF Recyclers and Power Plants don't whack the framerate as long as they're far enough away that they don't switch to high detail. Obviously though this doesn't help any with Scion Lungs or drop-off markers. I suspect the culprit on the power plant is the glowing blue texture inside the structure, which looks similar in make-up to markers and lungs, but that doesn't explain the Recycler, unless it has some kind of hidden animated transparent texture stuck inside it somewhere you never see?

Anyway, be back with more info soon.

[Red Devil]

What are your settings in render.cfg set to?