Less memory usage by using OpenGL

[@ND]

Started forcing OpenGL yesterday and noticed a HUGE increase in performance. Went from around 3.0-3.3GB of memory usage to 1.6-2.0GB. Saved around 1.5GB on average! FPS was noticeably better too. Whereas I would get around 50 FPS average with random drops (depending on what was being done), I now get a consistent 60 FPS at (almost) all times. Even my giant space station, which usually gave me around 20-25 FPS, is now idling at about 40! I could not be happier with this tip. Can't find any downsides to it either. Thanks a million, I owe you one!

CPU: 3.2GHz i7-960

GPU: EVGA 3GB 660Ti

RAM: 12GB DDR3

OS: Windows 7 SP1 x64

Edited October 8, 2014 by @ND

[eRe4s3r]

had to force OpenGL to even start with half my mods in 0.25 Performance is better not so much the FPS, but it feels a huge lot smoother.. no idea how that is possible, ram usage is around 2GB (before it crashed due to ram limit) about 20 mods (3 big parts mods)

CPU: AMD Phenom X6 1055T

GPU: 670GTX

RAM: 16GB

OS: win 7 x64

Noticed no performance drops anywhere. Not even launching a 200 part space-plane And crashing it.

Somehow the image quality is generally SHARPER with more aliasing around texture detail. So it seems OpenGL skips the broken UNITY mipmap loading and generating. Which would explain the substantially lower ram usage. Again, thanks for this topic and someone mentioning it elsewhere. KSP in OpenGL generally works smoother and actually loads... big win

[Insanitic]

Is it just me, or is my opengl performance REALLY bad? I have a 7970 card and I've noticed people with nvidia cards feel as if they have better performance compared to being on normal dx9?

[drtedastro]

I have 690 and LOTS of mod's running kspx32 and have no problems... Far better than when i was messing about with the kspx64 in 24.2

the openGL has made it possible to play with all mods I want...

Guess it is just dependent on individual setup's and hardware...

Edit.: just wanted to add that I am not seeing any performance issues / drops....

Edited October 10, 2014 by drtedastro

[Insanitic]

I have 690 and LOTS of mod's running kspx32 and have no problems... Far better than when i was messing about with the kspx64 in 24.2

the openGL has made it possible to play with all mods I want...

Guess it is just dependent on individual setup's and hardware...

Can any AMD users confirm this? I keep hearing from Nvidia users (no offence ) and am wondering if it is true that AMD cards suck as rendering in opengl for this game. I have tons of mods also.

[Xelnah]

DX11 seems to use less RAM and more GPUmen, same as OpenGl does for me. But DX11 isn't stable for me when doing ALT+TAB from true fullscreen. Haven't tried the -popwindow combination yet.

EDIT:

I did try the -popwindow and it works with DX11, but It's the worst reformer of the 3, I get bad fps and "physics stuttering" when using it.

So back to OpenGL which seems to work great so far, perhaps it helps that I have 3GB of GPUmem (GTX 780) since OpenGL seems to demand/allocate more of it than DX9.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Xelnah

[Synthesis]

With OpenGL, I'm not getting memory crashes--but I am getting reduced performance, and also freezes if I change anything in the graphics settings (which is a mild inconvenience).

Also, antialiasing doesn't work--it has to be forced through the Nvidia control panel. Otherwise, pretty usable! It's possible OpenGL simply doesn't agree with GTX 470 SLI (they are older cards). I am perplexed by why AA doesn't work, but then again, the last OpenGL game I ran is IL-2 1946, and you have to force AA in that game as well, so who knows?

As I suspect I'm one of those "M-Dollar Sign" people that Linux users consider a complete tool, though, so I'll try and find out how to force Dx 11 and see if that does anything either.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Synthesis

[Camacha]

Reduces a lot of memory in my game. Performance seems okay, though it looks like AA has been disabled.

[montyben101]

Seems to be good. Never used AA anyway but I had to put textures to half res due too lag, not sure it it was caused by Opengl though.

[SessoSaidSo]

Playing 0.25. I am running a reference gtx 980 with an i5-4670k. Running in opengl with atm I can report a solid 1gb reduction in ram usage along with noticable fps increase as well as a general feeling of "smoothness". I can confirm AA is disabled and must be enabled via nvidia control panel.

[Noorbi]

Here is my problem: -If I using 32bit with OpenGL, I see errors. For example I can't enter the Vehicle Assembly Building and the others.

Any idea?

Edit: porblem solwed. I have to say This forced OpenGL not so stable with 32 bit, or at least for me.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Noorbi

[Jim Meillente]

Hello,

For those that might not know this is what you type for full screen window mode with the openGL option:

-force-opengl -popupwindow

Enjoy!

[Synthesis]

I filled out a survey--performance is a bit worse, but on the other hand, OpenGL slow is preferable to Vanilla crashing.

Another thing I noticed, besides a slight decline in framerates and some shadow issues and no antialiasing--certain textures don't want to work (Bahamuto's Critter Crawler comes up as complete white).

Very odd, but not a major issue.

[winz]

I registered just to say THANK YOU for this topic. I returned to KSP after a break (was previously playing 0.24) and after updating my mods I found that I've reached the memory limit. Tried the 64bit, but found it too buggy and some mods would not work (I understand the authors disabled them on purpose in 64 because of the version instability). I managed to reduce my mods to make it somewhat playable, but wasn't enjoying it, because I knew I was missing on gameplay. So was ready to throw the towel and wait until the 64bit version becomes more stable.

Then I found this topic, and after switching to openGL I went from 3,2GB+ of memory usage to 1.8GB. No issues so far and I can enjoy KSP to its fullest potential. Thank you.

[ndiver]

I tried yesterday the OpenGL solution on an almost vanilla 0.25 x86. 2 results:

- the memory used decreased from about 300Mb

- the game is absolutely impossible to play, I've with OpenGL approximately one image each 5 seconds (no problem without OpenGL) even in the hangar ...

I'm playing on a laptop with a bit unorthodox configuration (the GPU):

CPU: Intel i7 M620

GPU: Nvidia Quadro FX1800M

RAM: 8Gb

OS: Win 7 x64

[Synthesis]

A more prevalent issue, at least for me--I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it, so maybe it's just local to to me--is a lot of transparency sorting errors (I think that's what they're called).

Basically, shadows on the back of a part are rendered on the front of it, so it looks like the part of the rocket is appearing transparent. This seems very common with B9 packs and KW parts, unfortunately.

It's great for people whom its working well for, but I think I may have to move away from OpenGL and look for alternatives, given this, the lack of FSAA, and the other issues. A shame, as the memory savings are pretty great.

[Lilleman]

About Antialiasing (on Windows): you'll need to deactivate it from the KSP's options menu, then force it from your graphic card driver. It seems to cause some framerate issue with OpenGL, though, I had to lower my settings from AA 8X to 4x to keep things playable (*insert "First World Problem" meme here*).

[Synthesis]

About Antialiasing (on Windows): you'll need to deactivate it from the KSP's options menu, then force it from your graphic card driver. It seems to cause some framerate issue with OpenGL, though, I had to lower my settings from AA 8X to 4x to keep things playable (*insert "First World Problem" meme here*).

No, I already deduced you had to force it (for Nvidia anyway, no idea about ATi). And there does feel like there's a very heavy FPS hit.

The transparency issue, on the other hand, is not so easily solved.

Guess I'll go back to 64-bit, alas.

EDIT: Sadly, 64-bit doesn't want to open my past career. Damn, looks like I'm stalled for the time being.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Synthesis

[Dizzle]

Forcing OpenGL gave me a few seconds of loading screen, then flashing between black screen and desktop before crashing to desktop. It's a shame, since .25 seems to have pathetically little room for mods.

GPU: Radeon HD 6970

RAM: 8Gb

OS: Win 7 x64

[likke_A_boss]

On a Mac, what version of Open Gl is required for use? My current ATI Radeon HD 4670 card supports Open GL up to 3.3, but using -force-opengl on steam set launch options has no effect.

Edited October 22, 2014 by likke_A_boss

[Airlock]

I can't get antialiasing to work in OpenGL. I tried disabling it ingame and activating it through the NVIDIA control panel. No luck.

[Wolfox]

I can't get antialiasing to work in OpenGL. I tried disabling it ingame and activating it through the NVIDIA control panel. No luck.

Same here, if anybody would like to post short list what exactly to turn off/on in nVidia control panel, it would be very appreciated :-)

[Lilleman]

It should be the same as any other game, just be sure the nVidia's control panel get the right executable: If you're using x64 for instance, you'll need to add a new profile manually: control panel->"Manage 3d settings", then in "Program Settings", click on "Add" and browse for your KSP's executable (KSP.exe or KSP_x64.exe)

[Wolfox]

It should be the same as any other game, just be sure the nVidia's control panel get the right executable: If you're using x64 for instance, you'll need to add a new profile manually: control panel->"Manage 3d settings", then in "Program Settings", click on "Add" and browse for your KSP's executable (KSP.exe or KSP_x64.exe)

I´m doing that, but KSP OpenGL doesn´t seem to react. No matter what setting i choose, no matter the ingame settings, still no AA at all. What Options in nVidia CP should be on and which off for it to work properly? Option "Supress any application settings" doent seem to work either. Or maybe i should update OpenGL? If so, i have no idea where to get the update, never did that...

[Oafman]

I had a go at this last night, without great results.

First off, I had fullscreen issues. But they were easily fixed, by displaying only on external monitor.

Next I started getting graphics crashes, when the external display fails briefly. I get these anyway from time to time, but it was every minute or two with OpenGL. I'm sure this is all because I have a terrible graphics card, and I read someone in this thread mention that OpenGL will not sit well with poor GPUs.

Then I looked at the RAM. I use plenty of mods, and also ATM, and KSP normally runs at about 3GB. But the processes tab was showing that KSP was using only 1.5GB. Pretty impressive, and in line with what people have been saying in this thread.

But then I clicked on the usage graph in task manager, and it was showing overall RAM usage of 4.5GB. I play KSP with nothing else running, so really it's just the OS using RAM. Overall I normally run at 4.5-5.0GB, the lion's share of which is KSP. There was nothing else open, or listed in processes, which could account for the 3GB not being used by the game - assuming the processes were giving me an accurate number.

So basically, I was being told 2 completely different things by task manager. So I wasn't sure I was saving any RAM. And with the graphics issues, I was soon back to ksp.exe as usual. Still, good to know about this, and I'm glad it works for those with half decent graphics cards.