we've known the HUD was a CPU hog since the beginning. we've probably been losing frames due to all these "UI updates" in each GU that simply throw more and more features into a bloated, broken system each time.
I remember making a thread about this in beta. It's absolutely unacceptable that UI is causing a major performance decrease. If the current UI can't be fixed give us a option to have some kind of minimal UI. With simple crosshair, ammo count, hp/shields and simplified version of minimap.
I remember this, too. Did some screenshots with fps numbers in it back then. Absolutely no idea why SOE didn't fix it after all this time. If I remember correctly they use some piece of 3rd party software for their GUI. Doesn't seem to work well and if something permanently doesn't work you just kick it out and try something else. But SOE doesn't seem to be doing particularly well at establishing new solutions. Sometimes I get the impression the lead programmer must be some sort of dinosaur, unwilling to change core aspects of the game that were already hopelessly outdated during the phase of design because he got used to them and doesn't want to relearn. Especially because they use DX9 when everybody knows that it sucks at multithreading and there are lots of opinions from experts and benchmarks available that show how much better newer frameworks run when a lot of calculations have to be done at the same time. The requirements profile of Planetside 2 fits perfectly to all these new technologies and improvements - SOE did (and maybe still does because until now just words happened we already heard before, check entry posting of this thread) the bad mistake of ignoring this for almost a year now because since launch it quickly became clear that all their efforts to improve performance simply didn't work out. And if something doesn't work no matter how hard you try you don't add more helmets, you change core concepts and engineering. Simply do something! I mean you have that test server. Create a DX11 build of the engine for example, invite people willing to test this to an event and see how it works out. Not much to lose here because most players I know did already quit because of performance problems - including myself. I checked back after half a year now but performance still sucks, I can't see a major improvement. Especially in bigger fights around biolabs Planetside 2 runs as viscid and sluggish as a beaver on weed and first person shooter simply don't make fun like this. Not to mention that it takes ages to mount for example an anti vehicle turret in hectic situations, often I have to press "e" several times until something happens and it's neither my Internet connection nor my computer that are faulty. At the moment I am thinking about quiting again because it simply sucks when aiming doesn't work because of bad fps and lag spikes. What I recently tried: I started Battlefield 3 directly after playing Planetside 2 for comparison. And oh my god! Soooo much better, so fluid, so much more responsive, a so much better feedback of hits in all situations. If I got hit in Planetside 2 I can never tell if I'm nearly dead of if it was just a grazing shot without checking my shield and health bars. Plus way too often I see the markers how I clearly hit an enemy several times who kills me nevertheless and shows full shield and heath at the kill screen. All in all performance of Planetside 2 is unacceptable, sluggish and unresponsive on too many levels and it's really hard to understand why SOE didn't start some appropriate counter measures long ago. I mean they don't sell the game. They only get money when the game is played by as many satisfied people as possible. But not that many gamers own a newer Intel CPU, preferably i5 or i7, overclocked and with four cores, that is currently needed to make the game run sufficiently in at least some situations: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey As I mentioned before, there is some proof how much better DX11 works. Project C.A.R.S. did release a DX11 build recently, just for performance reasons, not for using its set of features. The game is remarkably similar to Planetside 2 in several aspects, it is very often CPU limited because it does complex calculations and also uses PhysX. Reward for converting to DX11 without any special optimizations - 40% gain in performance: Fix the HUD, that makes at least another 10% increase in performance and we're at 50% more fps. I would say that's worth a try. Simply release a parallel DX11 client. Can't be that difficult since it's backwards compatible and a even a much smaller development studio gets it done.
Played more yesterday and alt-tabbing out and in definitely affected it for me though I did sometimes CTD and would get an SOE browser message that my screen refresh failed or something to that effect. When it did work I would go from single digit fps back towards the 30fps range which is at least playable compared to a 9fps slideshow..
If I ever write a retrospective about this game, GU 14, and especially its first hotfix, is going to have a special place in my heart. Right now, CS is having me run through a few connectivity tests and trying to define the issue as "game crashing". It's odd, and it does feel like a run-around, but I hope that they are just engaged in a kind of holding-action while some poor coding team is creating a hotfix that puts all of its emphasis on the "fix" part.
Usually it should be easier to admit that there's a bug that has to be fixed than to waste everybody's time. While tabbing out of the game and checking something on the Internet it crashed a few times on my machine, too. Never noticed this before. Shouldn't be a problem with the a missing amount of RAM, my computer has got 16 gigabytes of it.
Fortunately, I've never had a problem with the game crashing. Not even following this miserable GU. Though it will crash, technically, but it only ever does that after I already hit "Exit" and, on the rare occasion, when it quits after I've been playing all day, like during the Double XP Independence Day event, and if a game crashes after six or seven hours of fights and fireworks, I'm not going to complain.
I tweaked my settings and obtained back a reasonable number of fps. Disabling the HUD can give back 5-15 fps depending on the situation. And I noticed (but I didn't tried extensively so it could be just an impression) that you also remove the stuttering effect, especially while driving.
Myth Confirmed! Jamie: It would seem SOE has some work to do. Adam: It's amazing how disabling the HUD yielded 5-10 fps for my high end, and 3-5 on my low end! Doesn't sound like much, but it does feel better at 35 than 30 and below. Jamie: To bad the game is pretty much unplayable without it.
my solution was to rip out one of my 560ti cards, fps restored (and then some). cant guarantee it works for everyone, but give it a try. the game clearly doesnt like SLI and atleast on my speccs using it gave me less fps.
Thank you OP. This is indeed the problem. Funny how things are. One would think that in a game, 3D elements would require more processing power than simple 2D overlay items... that, or simply that the game isn't well optimized. I was getting low 20FPS in big battles before. It was unbearable. After HUD disabled, I get about 60FPS consistently. This IS the problem that has been crippling the game since launch. The only thing I need now is a crosshair for when I snipe.
Still getting weird situations where my fps drops to 9 (strangely whenever this happens I always notice 9 is the number) and in order to cut down on crashes during an alt-tab refresh I will look at a ceiling or a wall and then alt tab because that cuts down on the strain on my system. Then I alt-tab out and back in and voila I'm back up towards 30fps in heavy fighting. Very very strange SOE. Almost like a memory leak or something.
As I wrote in another thread: ~20fps gain for me, too bad the game is tricky to play with UI off, can't tell when I need heals or need ammo lol, guess I can rebind the UI toggle to another button to quickly turn it on and off.
Hey, that's a good idea, I'll simply disable the UI when I don't need it! I'm mainly using the scout rifles and lazered weapons, so with proper fire control, the cross-hair is not as important.
We should start a guide to HUD-less play on the Gameplay forum, actually. If you have your audio turned up, the game actually provides some clues for reloading with the sound. As you near the end of the clip, you'll actually hear a change in the sound, at least with the TR and NC, there's a kind of high pitched rattling that comes with the gun recoil. And with the ADS, so long as you stay away from the sniper scopes and the HS/NV, you'll still have an actual sight. So here is hoping that, if you love sniping, you have access to the space musket, aka, the short-range bolt action.
Yes, that's a feature. I just so happen to hate that shift in sound, so I turned it off in the options file. I really wonder how a HUD can eat up that much power, have to try it myself sometime. I know that whatever they did to the equipment screen will cause the UI to slow down if you visit the attachments screen too much, but the regular ammo and health counters are a huge hog all by themselves?
Is this same engine being used for EverQuest next? If so, I feel sorry for the playerbase who get cursed with their HUD, as it may need to present "even more" info than a player in PS2 has to have. Though with the sound, it may be annoying, but I think it's a nice touch. Granted, if HUD-less gameplay is going to be the "fix" for SLI, I hope SOE will take a page from Metro and even Dead Space with having on-model readouts and cues, even if it's just a watch that has your health and "ability slot" energy. Granted, that leaves out the minimap, which is...pretty rough.
