How to boost FPS near big Stations?

[MrKittens]

I'm currently building Refuel/ Space Station for ships to refuel, and go deeper into space. But I get really bad FPS near the station, so docking becomes quite harder then usual. Is there any way to increase the FPS near large ships/station or no? This is what the station currently looks like, but I have alot more i want to add.

Edited January 4, 2015 by MrKittens
fix image link

[Anquietas314]

It's a little hard to see just how big that station is from the screenshot, but generally speaking high part count = lag. If you can get the same functionality with fewer parts, you should.

[bandi94]

The main problem is PhysX 2.8 ( old, only 1 core processing ) and Unity dev's bad habit to stick with v 2.8 , where there is already PhysX 3.3 much faster , v3.0 already supports multi-core processing, and a totaly new API structure ( 3.3 is almost 2.5X faster that 2.8 ) , but what we can do .....

We need to wait until Unity 5 will be released ( it will use the latest PhysX 3.3 ) , and hope that KSP will be moved to Unity 5.

[ThirdHorseman]

Another cause of lag is Null Reference errors. It looks like you have some Mods in use. Press Alt+F12 to bring up the Debug Toolbar and click on the Debug tab. If you are seeing an unending stream of red errors then that is the cause of your lag. I've had stations in orbit that had a similar issue...things were fine when I was more than 2.5km away, but as soon as the station got within render distance the framerate dropped to a crawl and the Null Reference errors appeared.

If not that then maybe the excess of lights might be your issue. I know lots of lighting tends to increase lag as the game engine has to calculate tons of shadow and lighting calls.

[Vectura]

Blow some of it up, then it will lag less.

[Anquietas314]

Blow some of it up, then it will lag less.

Except during the few seconds of the explosion itself, and then there's the lag from having multiple complex vessels in physics range...

[cantab]

Reduce part count on the space station. Lots of parts will lag the game, and some parts are especially bad offenders including some of the docking ports. You really need to be mindful of this from the beginning though if you want to make a large and functional but low-lag station.

Lower the graphics settings. KSP isn't the flashiest of games but performance can still be impacted by the graphics quality. The "render quality setting" has the biggest impact.

Lower the physics time delta setting. This will give a smoother but even slower-running game. It defaults pretty low already though.

Get a faster CPU. The best thing for KSP is a modern fast-clocked Intel CPU. Core count isn't so important, a Pentium will do about as well as an i7 if they're at the same clock speed.

[bandi94]

Reduce part count on the space station. Lots of parts will lag the game, and some parts are especially bad offenders including some of the docking ports. You really need to be mindful of this from the beginning though if you want to make a large and functional but low-lag station.

Lower the graphics settings. KSP isn't the flashiest of games but performance can still be impacted by the graphics quality. The "render quality setting" has the biggest impact.

Lower the physics time delta setting. This will give a smoother but even slower-running game. It defaults pretty low already though.

Get a faster CPU. The best thing for KSP is a modern fast-clocked Intel CPU. Core count isn't so important, a Pentium will do about as well as an i7 if they're at the same clock speed.

Well if for you is "normal" that 1 Thread is pushed to the limits by PhysX , one is used 50-60% for sound,and other things, and 2 of them are sleeping because PhysX 2.8 is no capable to work on more that 1 thread then idk for you .... but for me it sounds like a waste of processing power(it dosent matter that the CPU is a 2.5 Ghz that speed is reached at the top of the CPU potential meaning all the CPU cores/Threads are used at 100% , if only 2 are used and 2 are "sleeping" bk PhysX can work only on 1 that mean's that the CPU is working on 50% the other 50% of the power is "sleeping") , we should buy an i7 to run the crappy PhysX on one Thread when an i3 could easily run it on 2-3 threads ( standard i3 CPUs have 4 threads) and a waste of money..... Beside Unity itself is not the most efficient game engine.

Edited January 2, 2015 by bandi94

[Badsector]

Best solution for boost fps is Ubiowelding , lower part count and you can build what you want, to me is really a gameplay saver

[MrKittens]

Thank you for the feedback. It's just i never had this low fps problem on 0.25, But since i updated to 0.90 it happens with large crafts. Also the part count on it isnt that large all combined maybe no more than 400 parts, and thats when i have ships docked to the station. Also i will give Ubiowelding a go see if it helps. Thank you!

[Anquietas314]

It's just i never had this low fps problem on 0.25, But since i updated to 0.90 it happens with large crafts.

How much ram does your computer have? Stock 0.90 uses considerably more memory than 0.25, which will generally cause page-swapping (= lots of very bad lag) on lower-end machines. On my 9 year old rig with 4GB of ram I literally had to install ActiveTextureManagement to keep the lag under control in stock

[MrKittens]

How much ram does your computer have? Stock 0.90 uses considerably more memory than 0.25, which will generally cause page-swapping (= lots of very bad lag) on lower-end machines. On my 9 year old rig with 4GB of ram I literally had to install ActiveTextureManagement to keep the lag under control in stock

My current system is an i5-2500k overclocked at 4.1ghz, with 8gb 1600 ddr3 ram. Starting to build a new system within the next few months.

[bandi94]

How much ram does your computer have? Stock 0.90 uses considerably more memory than 0.25, which will generally cause page-swapping (= lots of very bad lag) on lower-end machines. On my 9 year old rig with 4GB of ram I literally had to install ActiveTextureManagement to keep the lag under control in stock

I also have 4GB of ram ( on a 1 year old Lenovo laptop) and i have no problems, don't forget that now 9 year ago there was DDR1 with 1 chanell , now there is DDR3 with dual-chanel much faster, also the RAM speed counts ( standart DDR3 ram now are 1333mhz a 9 year old RAM is a happy ram if it hits 700mhz most of them are only 400mhz)

Edited January 4, 2015 by bandi94

[RainDreamer]

Lower the physics time delta setting. This will give a smoother but even slower-running game. It defaults pretty low already though.

Which side is "low" for that setting? If it is all the way to the left the game is taking more time to update physics, and all the way on the right it is updating as fast as possible, right?

[MartGonzo]

In game antialiasing is known to cause issues with large part count ships, so if you're looking for a few extra FPS for docking to a space station just turn it off until you're docked then turn it back on.

[Anquietas314]

don't forget that now 9 year ago there was DDR1 with 1 chanell

9 years ago DDR2 ram was pretty much the norm, having been around since 2003. DDR3 was released in 2007 - just over 7 years ago. The ram I have is dual channel DDR2-800 (400mhz, at least according to my BIOS) which at the time wasn't that uncommon either.

My current system is an i5-2500k overclocked at 4.1ghz, with 8gb 1600 ddr3 ram. Starting to build a new system within the next few months.

In that case, can I have your current one?

Edited January 4, 2015 by armagheddonsgw

[MrKittens]

In that case, can I have your current one?

I will have to see about that.

[eddiew]

Best solution for boost fps is Ubiowelding , lower part count and you can build what you want, to me is really a gameplay saver

This is the best advice in the thread I use this mod for making my many-part service compartments with life support, power, monoprop, into a nice single item that has the stats of all combined. That and obvious things like sticking together multiple fuel tanks, reaction wheels, etc, for when you need really big ships. Even works with cargo bays; I have an MK2 bay that was ~15 parts and is now just 1. Still opens, still lets you put things in it, but also comes with useful supplies built in.

[MrKittens]

This is the best advice in the thread I use this mod for making my many-part service compartments with life support, power, monoprop, into a nice single item that has the stats of all combined. That and obvious things like sticking together multiple fuel tanks, reaction wheels, etc, for when you need really big ships. Even works with cargo bays; I have an MK2 bay that was ~15 parts and is now just 1. Still opens, still lets you put things in it, but also comes with useful supplies built in.

It actually is . I wish I knew about it earlier, Since I'm into building large stations, and sometimes rockets that are a bit to massive. lel

It's quite the lifesaver.