Slight freeze every 5 seconds (or so)

[cantab]

I've had this issue as well. Noticed it sometimes more than others, depending on the KSP version and the mods in use. It never bothered me much in the VAB - though maybe it's the root cause of clicks not being registered immediately and thus clicking on a different part. But when it's bad it's very obnoxious in flight, especially at timewarp.

Always been playing on Ubuntu 14.04.

[steve_v]

Mkay, It's probably not all that helpfull (other ideas for isolating this appreciated) but AFAICT it's not my system. I have jumped through plenty of hoops with absolutely no improvement.

CPU 'affinity' (via taskset / schedtool): no effect, regardless of core(s) selected.

Process priority: minimal to no effect, even at 'realtime' priority.

Background processes: no effect, even in a minimal environment with just enough to start a bare X session for KSP, no other services running.

CPU scheduler: no effect, tested with BF, CFS, RR, FIFO.

I/O scheduler: no effect, tested with BF, CFQ, NOOP, Deadline.

HT/CStates/Speedstep: no effect.

GPU scaling: no effect (GPU not heavily loaded anyway) even with GPU locked to max freq.

Background I/O: no effect, issue persists even with entire KSP install loaded into a RAMdisk & nothing else running. <- Installed more RAM just to try this!

GPU (nvidia-settings) configuration: I can't find anything that makes a lick of difference, expected as my GPU isn't working hard anyway. Mucked with Vsync, AA/AF, GL_YIELD Thread optimisation etc.

maybe it's the root cause of clicks not being registered immediately and thus clicking on a different part. But when it's bad it's very obnoxious in flight, especially at timewarp.

It's the cause of most of my 'wrong part clicked' frustration in the VAB/SPH, and yeah, in flight this is obnoxious indeed.

Anything else I can try here?

Some built in performance / profiling tools would be more than a little handy, I'm not adverse to getting my hands dirty but there's just no way to see what's actually going on. I'm at a loss as to where to go next.

I have tried recompiling mono to enable profiling, but it seems this only works with plugins - whatever is going on it's in KSP / Unity code and I can't see it.

Edited February 9, 2015 by steve_v

[basic.syntax]

This isn't terribly helpful, but I watch the VAB Kerbal animations, and try not to click things, when they are paused by the glitch.

[LostOblivion]

Try setting your Physics Delta-Time down to 0.01.

[anarkhon]

This bug is just old like KSP.

Here is the cure:

go to Nvidia Control Panel and set the Maximum pre-rendered frames to 1 (its work with ATi too)

[steve_v]

Seems the Linux driver has no such option, and since I nuked my Windows install some time ago I can't exactly try this myself...

Anyone else have positive results with this setting on Windows? - Not that I don't believe ya , but I'm not going to install Winblows just to try this out.

[rkman]

Try setting your Physics Delta-Time down to 0.01.

I tried that, makes no difference.

This bug is just old like KSP.

Here is the cure:

go to Nvidia Control Panel and set the Maximum pre-rendered frames to 1 (its work with ATi too)

The current version of AMD Catalyst does not have that option. ATI Traytools does though (Flip Que size), but it makes no difference.

[katateochi]

This bug is just old like KSP.

Here is the cure:

go to Nvidia Control Panel and set the Maximum pre-rendered frames to 1 (its work with ATi too)

http://i.imgur.com/3EobR4A.jpg

Interesting, not tried that. thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it later (after work) and report back what I find.

[steve_v]

The closest I can see in the Linux Nvidia driver is "allow flipping", which makes no difference here

[Bug_]

I would like to see this gone, would make the game so much better.

[steve_v]

Fixing the pervasive performance problems should be priority #2, right after fixing the memory usage issues that make the game all but unusable on OSX. There have been several updates claiming to improve performance, with absolutely zero real-world effect. Enough already. It's been how many years of complaints about poor performance?

While I'm happy(ish) with vague promises for a game in beta, KSP should NOT have gone 1.0 with these issues.

[smjjames]

Fixing the pervasive performance problems should be priority #2, right after fixing the memory usage issues that make the game all but unusable on OSX. There have been several updates claiming to improve performance, with absolutely zero real-world effect. Enough already. It's been how many years of complaints about poor performance?

While I'm happy(ish) with vague promises for a game in beta, KSP should NOT have gone 1.0 with these issues.

Yeah, they should have nuked 99.99% of the memory issues and memory leaks before going 1.0 IMO, and I'm using windows btw.

[basic.syntax]

While I feel for OSX users who still have problems, they did fix problems between .90 and 1.0, that I notice as a Windows user. The worst was a memory leak during scene changes. In .90 I could not go from the Launchpad back to the VAB to make a craft change... 20 times in a row, without a crash ending my game session.

[smjjames]

While I feel for OSX users who still have problems, they did fix problems between .90 and 1.0, that I notice as a Windows user. The worst was a memory leak during scene changes. In .90 I could not go from the Launchpad back to the VAB to make a craft change... 20 times in a row, without a crash ending my game session.

THAT one is definetly gone, however, there still seems to be some sort of memory leak while flying over terrain. I've been trying all day to test and find out whether it's a mod or it's stock, but I can't freaking figure it out. It doesn't seem to be stock and yet when I tried to binary test with mods, it disappeared and I couldn't narrow it down to anything, yet when I try to test it with mods, sometimes it appears and then it decided not to appear and it's just damn elusive ARG asdfghnjm........

[steve_v]

Not to mention the shiny new & blindingly obvious temperature gauge memory leak... Meh, I thought going to release meant all the serious bugs were fixed, rather than an opportunity to introduce new ones.

[katateochi]

The periodical freeze issue is still plaguing me (and has been since 0.90.0) and makes the game very unsatisfying to play. In 1.0.x when starting out with a new career it wasn't apparent, but as my space program has grown (with lots of inflight craft) it has again become very problematic. It is apparent even when just panning the camera around at the space centre.

Most recently I decided to see if maybe something else in my windows install was causing a conflict so I did a fresh re-install of windows and loaded up nothing except for current device drivers and KSP. Problem remains. It is also apparent when loading up the same save in Ubuntu 14.04 (also freshly re-installed). It's not an OS issue.

It causes all kinds of knock on effects, like if you are trying to gently tweak a M-node and the freeze happens it will cause you to massively over shoot the adjustment you wanted. When trying to select parts (ie tanks) on a craft if the freeze happens just as you are about to right click the click is registered after the freeze and by which time the mouse may well have moved so you select something else. When zooming in when in map mode it will cause you to suddenly be zoomed way further than you expected.

It killed 20 Kerbals!! (landing a large crew craft (16 tourists, 2 highly trained scientists and a couple pilots), freeze glitch just before touch down, slight adjustment to roll became a massive adjustment to roll and everyone died (i did reload for that, but still.... this bug has blood on it's hands!!)).

I'm trying to remain good humoured about this, but actually I'm really fed up.

[Majorjim!]

The periodical freeze issue is still plaguing me (and has been since 0.90.0) and makes the game very unsatisfying to play. In 1.0.x when starting out with a new career it wasn't apparent, but as my space program has grown (with lots of inflight craft) it has again become very problematic. It is apparent even when just panning the camera around at the space centre.

Most recently I decided to see if maybe something else in my windows install was causing a conflict so I did a fresh re-install of windows and loaded up nothing except for current device drivers and KSP. Problem remains. It is also apparent when loading up the same save in Ubuntu 14.04 (also freshly re-installed). It's not an OS issue.

It causes all kinds of knock on effects, like if you are trying to gently tweak a M-node and the freeze happens it will cause you to massively over shoot the adjustment you wanted. When trying to select parts (ie tanks) on a craft if the freeze happens just as you are about to right click the click is registered after the freeze and by which time the mouse may well have moved so you select something else. When zooming in when in map mode it will cause you to suddenly be zoomed way further than you expected.

It killed 20 Kerbals!! (landing a large crew craft (16 tourists, 2 highly trained scientists and a couple pilots), freeze glitch just before touch down, slight adjustment to roll became a massive adjustment to roll and everyone died (i did reload for that, but still.... this bug has blood on it's hands!!)).

I'm trying to remain good humoured about this, but actually I'm really fed up.

Squad really need to admit there is a serious issue here.

[smjjames]

I also swear that there is some sort of memory leak with the heating system, separate from the heat gauge one.

Also, has anybody had the problem where the heat glow gets stuck on the craft? Even after it cools down, whether normally or via timwarp reset.

[Guest]

Squad really need to admit there is a serious issue here.

The reason Squad doesn't admit there is a serious issue is because there isn't one.

I just bought another used laptop. And KSP runs great. So that makes 3 laptops and 2 desktops since I joined the forum. My oldest laptop does have the garbage collection hiccups, but it's not so bad that the game is unplayable. That particular machine has Intel integrated graphics only, it's the weakest machine of the 5.

There are many factors that affect how KSP runs. In katateochi's case, I would suggest experimenting with the physics delta time slider in the game settings. Also, I don't see where katateochi posted pc specs, so it's pure speculation to even try and figure out what's causing the freezes in that case.

Power settings also have a huge effect on performance. One should ensure that, even on desktops, you're not in a power saver mode. And also, when more than one GPU is available, one should ensure that the dedicated card is being used for KSP and not the integrated card.

Unity, and in turn KSP, are far from perfect. But before coming here and yelling "OMG, Squad and KSP suck because my game won't do this or that!", you should make extra sure you've done everything possible to ensure the problem is not on your end.

[raidernick]

The reason Squad doesn't admit there is a serious issue is because there isn't one.

I just bought another used laptop. And KSP runs great. So that makes 3 laptops and 2 desktops since I joined the forum. My oldest laptop does have the garbage collection hiccups, but it's not so bad that the game is unplayable. That particular machine has Intel integrated graphics only, it's the weakest machine of the 5.

There are many factors that affect how KSP runs. In katateochi's case, I would suggest experimenting with the physics delta time slider in the game settings. Also, I don't see where katateochi posted pc specs, so it's pure speculation to even try and figure out what's causing the freezes in that case.

Power settings also have a huge effect on performance. One should ensure that, even on desktops, you're not in a power saver mode. And also, when more than one GPU is available, one should ensure that the dedicated card is being used for KSP and not the integrated card.

Unity, and in turn KSP, are far from perfect. But before coming here and yelling "OMG, Squad and KSP suck because my game won't do this or that!", you should make extra sure you've done everything possible to ensure the problem is not on your end.

The game does have a garbage collection stutter, you need to just accept it. The hardware you use doesn't matter. On a brand new stock install on a non-garbage pc it will almost not be there, but give it enough time and flights/flags/debris the stutter will return. This has been a known bug for years, the issue may be magnified on his end, but it certainly is not originating there.

[sal_vager]

I have no stutter, at all, none.

The engine thrust sound effect used to break for a fraction of a second, but didn't make the game pause, and even that's gone.

When I play KSP, I run as little else as possible, irc chat and a file browser, maybe a very lightweight music player (I'm talking kilobytes here) and Firefox.

Firefox, indeed every browser I have tried, uses quite a bit of RAM and sometimes way too much cpu, so I use plugins to keep it under control and I don't use adblock (a massive resource hog all on its own), and before you say use Chrome or whatever, Firefox is the least lardy of the lot, it's the only one that will actually release memory when you close a tab.

Even with a 1000 part craft, KSP may be a bit slower, but it doesn't stutter.

And this is only on an AMD A10 with 4gigs ram and crappy Nvidia drivers.

Also, so many other players don't suffer stutter, it's just a small percentage, you can see this in KSP youtube vids as well, some do stutter, most just don't.

If this was affecting everyone it'd be known, but it isn't.

[smjjames]

I actually had some of that stuttering problem initially with 1.0, particularily with large ships, but it went away after 1.0.2 or went away on it's own. Sometimes I'll get a slight stutter when moving the camera around, but otherwise I haven't had any and even that slight camera stutter is barely even noticeable.

[raidernick]

I have no stutter, at all, none.

Ah yes, the "I don't have it so it doesn't exist answer". This bug has been reported to the tracker many times in the past and I believe the reason it hasn't been fixed is because it is a unity garbage collector issue and is something unity needs to fix and Squad can't. The sound stutter was part of this bug, and even if it didn't actually cause the game to skip a frame it was still part of the same problem. Like I said earlier, the problem may be magnified on a specific users end, but it is not originating there.

Edited June 2, 2015 by raidernick

[sal_vager]

Everything gets reported to the tracker, even stuff that is caused by external programs or cannot be reproduced.

Nice of you to put words in my mouth there, obviously there is stutter, but as it is not affecting everyone there has to be a common cause that can be found and resolved.

[raidernick]

If it's happening on a stock game, to multiple users, with a variety of hardware it is a problem, even if they are in the minority, which is clearly the case here.