Slight freeze every 5 seconds (or so)

[OddFunction]

After constant playing, I see the stutter again. It is nowhere near as bad as it was, but its there. Definately worth trying the config options previously posted. It went from super annoying/gamebreaking to a slight annoyance.

Weaksauce

[antilochus]

After constant playing, I see the stutter again. It is nowhere near as bad as it was, but its there. Definately worth trying the config options previously posted. It went from super annoying/gamebreaking to a slight annoyance.

Weaksauce

Similar result here.

[katateochi]

I've tried with the suggestion's mega_newblar posted. I think things are a little improved although the stutter is still very much there. I think that while the frequency of stuttering is about the same, the severity of each stutter is less (in other words the pause is shorter). On smaller craft (~50 parts) it's not too bad, but it still results in some odd moments; like going to right click on something and then suddenly finding the camera has been panned by 90 degrees because the stutter came just as I right clicked. On larger craft it's still very noticeable. On any craft time warping while orbiting still shows it pretty badly.

Part-count related performance is still dire. I'm currently orbiting Duna in a 200 part craft and my FPS is ~10, which is just about playable but kinda dismal at the same time.

[Andazeus]

Hey everyone. I am in the same boat as you all. Tried around with all settings including 32-64 bit, Windows and Linux and also with the stuff as suggested by mega_newblar. Nothing is helping and the GC keeps making the game unplayable. I am out of ideas...

[westamastaflash]

Hey everyone. I am in the same boat as you all. Tried around with all settings including 32-64 bit, Windows and Linux and also with the stuff as suggested by mega_newblar. Nothing is helping and the GC keeps making the game unplayable. I am out of ideas...

Same here. I don't understand - 0.90 ran perfectly for me.

[Andazeus]

Heh... even worse: 1.0.2 actually ran nicely in the beginning. The problem started later and I have no idea what caused. Even complete reinstalls are not helping.

[ANWRocketMan]

Exactly the same here. I'm thinking its a specific mod but mine started doing this randomly yesterday afternoon(with no new added mods). Restarting the game or the PC doesn't help. Tried a fresh new install and that did nothing either.

The settings @mega_newblar mentioned did nothing for me either.

Edited June 17, 2015 by ANWRocketMan

[Andazeus]

I got the game running to a reasonable degree by switching to the hacked Win64 version and fiddling with v-sync (disabling v-sync ingame but enabling it in the nvidia control panel with pre-rendered frames set to 1). I also discovered performance problems with Contract Configurator + Field Research on Win64, so keep that in mind if you want to test the 64 bit version.

[ANWRocketMan]

I've tried everything but the 64-bit hack(I use some mods explicitly incompatible with 64-bit). And it made no difference. I don't have Contract Configurator either but I have heard that many contract packs cause performance issues for some reason.

This is all very sad for me. I have never been able to really play KSP due to a very weak GU(GeForce GT240) and I recent;y upgraded. Now I can properly run the game with nice fps but now this stuttering problem started which makes the game unplayable. Because now I just want to do a minute turn during launch(using FAR) and the game stutters and suddenly the craft flips out and destroys itself.

Edited June 18, 2015 by ANWRocketMan

[Andazeus]

Maybe try out the 64 bit hack? Missing out on a few mods is better than not being able to play at all.

[Padishar]

I have updated the frame time monitor plugin that I posted a few pages back. As well as the graph that shows the time taken for the last 512 frames, it now also displays the min and max frame times since the last reset.

DLL Download

Source link (MIT licence)

Hit Mod-= to display the window. The full height corresponds to 250ms, a constant framerate should show a constant low green bar. Garbage collections during the frame are indicated by a red bar.

Can people try installing this plugin (just put the dll in your GameData folder) and running a test?. Place a Mk1 pod on the launch pad, open the window with Mod-=, click the reset button to reset the min and max and then spin the camera using the left or right cursor key. You should see a frame time spike each time a garbage collection happens. Keep spinning until several of these spikes have happened and then report the min and max values you see (or just take a screenshot). Running the test multiple times using different settings (FPS limit, vsync etc) could also be helpful...

[ANWRocketMan]

Will do extensive runs on Tuesday. Writing exams 'til then.

[katateochi]

Thanks Padishar, I will see what results I get and let you know (hopefully I'll get some KSP time tomorrow).

Good luck with your exams ANWRocketMan!

[SAI Peregrinus]

I definitely get the spikes, though I don't often notice them. 14ms min, 564ms max coinciding with a GC event using Padishar's tool.

KSP 32-bit, on Windows 7 64-bit. Running in windowed mode, 2xAA, vsync every vblank, Terrain scatter disabled, PPFX disabled, 120FPS limit. OpenGL forced, AA forced in GPU settings.

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k @ 4.4GHz

RAM: 32GiB DDR3 1066MHz

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 290X

Edited June 21, 2015 by SAI Peregrinus

[Captain Sierra]

Heh... even worse: 1.0.2 actually ran nicely in the beginning. The problem started later and I have no idea what caused. Even complete reinstalls are not helping.

Can report the same symptoms with an old install. Have yet to induce the issue (praise be unto the Kraken) in my current 1.0.2 install, at least not noticeably. Will run the monitor and report results & PC specs (have changed computers to something far more powerful since last occurrence of bug).

[Padishar]

I definitely get the spikes, though I don't often notice them. 14ms min, 564ms max coinciding with a GC event using Padishar's tool.

KSP 32-bit, on Windows 7 64-bit. Running in windowed mode, 2xAA, vsync every vblank, Terrain scatter disabled, PPFX disabled, 120FPS limit. OpenGL forced, AA forced in GPU settings.

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k @ 4.4GHz

RAM: 32GiB DDR3 1066MHz

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 290X

Thanks, that's exactly the sort of info I'm trying to get. That is a very high max, did you reset after loading into the flight scene? Was this in a new save or one with lots of existing vessels? On my machine, which is similar to yours though my 4770k isn't overclocked and I have a less powerful video card (GTX560ti), the max in a new sandbox is usually around 110ms so the glitches are presumably a lot less visible.

[SAI Peregrinus]

That was the highest spike, in a new sandbox save and a modded install. Most of the spikes were around 135ms. I got the huge spike when i zoomed out all the way and back in, which somewhat makes sense if it had to GC more objects. I'll try with my unmodded reference install later today.

The glitches are actually not noticeable during normal gameplay for me. That mostly comes down to how I play though, I tend to have kRPC doing all the manual piloting so I don't tend to see the pause as much.

[LittleBlueGaming]

I'm getting the spikes, not huge with just one part on my low settings. Just a command pod on the launchpad:

Min: 37

Max: 83

Specs

Core i3-3110M

Intel HD 4000

Windows 7

Settings

Scenery: All lowest/disabled

Rendering: Good, 1/8th Res, False, Very Low, No Hardware Support, Disabled

Video: Fullscreen, AA off, Every V-Blank, 30fps limit, 8/4 light/shadow

Edit: Put a 350 part monstrosity on the launchpad, got 161/350.

Edited June 21, 2015 by LittleBlueGaming

[katateochi]

With these in game settings;

1920x1200, AA off in game (on 2x in Gcard settings), Vsync off in game (on in Gcard settings), frame limit 60m

default terrain detail, render quality good, full res textures, low aerodynamic effect

Ran each test for 1 minute, rotating camera in Launchpad and orbit tests, no camera movement in space-center and VAB tests.

In my primary save - 46 flights in progress (+7 flags and 15 tracked asteroids) and 51 debris.

space center; 10ms - 670ms

In the VAB; 15ms - 17ms

Launchpad; 9ms - 645ms

100km orbit; 9ms - 647ms

(spikes occurring about once every 10 seconds)

In a fresh sandbox in same install;

space center; 15ms - 645ms (1 spike only after 45 seconds, prior to that max was 52ms)

In the VAB; 15ms - 23ms

Launchpad; 12ms - frequent spikes of 58ms, less frequent (about once in 40 seconds) of 514ms

100km orbit; 12ms -frequent spikes of 58ms, less frequent (about once in 40 seconds) of 524ms

With in game 2xAA and PPFX enabled the performance was pretty much the same in either save.

In the fresh sand box with no flights in progress the larger spikes occur much further apart.

Specs

Intel Core i7 @3.07GHz

16GB DDR3 RAM

nvidia GTX 760 4GB GDDR5

OS(win7) and game loaded on SSD

mods: KAC, MJ, hyperedit, QuickScroll, TempGuageKiller, StockBugFixes

user-status: still frustrated with this darn bug

[steve_v]

So, when exactly do we get some input from an actual KSP developer, or someone with in-depth knowledge of the game code? 'cause I betcha this is not something the player can fix...

Or do we just hope that the upcoming "performance improvements" will actually improve performance, like the last lot didn't?

Yes, I'm seeing big frame delays every ~10s, on the order of 500-600ms modded, 150-200ms unmodded. Increasing in severity with number of flights tracked and part count.

Just like everybody else. No, it's not my machine, or my OS, or the way I'm holding my tongue.

I'd post yet more info, but I'd just be wasting electrons, as I doubt anyone with the power to fix this is reading.

Hello, Squad? up for some bug hunting? <cue tumbleweed>.

While it is heartening to see the community go at these problems with such gusto, I'm seeing zero communication from the people who actually have a good chance at fixing it.

user-status: rapidly loosing patience with perceived lack of progress, on this and several other issues.

Edited June 22, 2015 by steve_v

[basic.syntax]

I would mentally prepare for no refinements to GC issues in the forthcoming 1.0.3 patch. Unless as a consequence of some other fix in the patch. Once that is out, Squad moves full steam ahead on v1.1, and toward the end of the 1.1 cycle, when they get to optimization, their thoughts should turn in this direction. Because, work was done on this subject, in the v1.0 cycle. It just didn't solve it for everyone.

[Padishar]

So, when exactly do we get some input from an actual KSP developer, or someone with in-depth knowledge of the game code? 'cause I betcha this is not something the player can fix...

Or do we just hope that the upcoming "performance improvements" will actually improve performance, like the last lot didn't?

Yes, I'm seeing big frame delays every ~10s, on the order of 500-600ms modded, 150-200ms unmodded. Increasing in severity with number of flights tracked and part count.

Just like everybody else. No, it's not my machine, or my OS, or the way I'm holding my tongue.

I'd post yet more info, but I'd just be wasting electrons, as I doubt anyone with the power to fix this is reading.

Hello, Squad? up for some bug hunting? <cue tumbleweed>.

While it is heartening to see the community go at these problems with such gusto, I'm seeing zero communication from the people who actually have a good chance at fixing it.

user-status: rapidly loosing patience with perceived lack of progress, on this and several other issues.

While it is heartening to see you provide some of the information I requested, I feel that the negative and sarcastic parts of your post are needlessly inflammatory.

I don't recall anyone in this thread claiming that the player can fix this issue. There are definitely things that most players can do to reduce the severity.

I have seen measurable performance improvements every time that Squad has indicated there should be.

If your garbage collections really are taking 3 times longer in modded than in stock then the fault for that certainly doesn't lie with Squad. One or more of your mods must be making a large contribution (though since the frequency of the collections doesn't seem to be changing much this is presumably due to the number of live objects allocated on the heap rather than the amount of garbage being created).

KSP only has a small development team and they have to prioritise things. Yes, having a half second glitch every ten seconds must be really annoying but, contrary to what you claim, this issue does not affect everyone to the same extent. For quite a lot of people (probably the majority though it is impossible to be sure) the garbage collections do not introduce annoying pauses, either the pauses are so short that they are much less annoying, the frequency of the pauses is much less or some other aspect of their setup makes them less noticeable.

"Fixing" this issue really requires that the whole of the codebase be gone over to eliminate as much garbage creation as possible and to reduce the number of live objects in the heap that the garbage collection must scan. This is a very large job and carries the risk of introducing all sorts of new bugs. The only way to increase the priority of this issue is to provide evidence that it is more serious (and fixing it will provide more benefits, both to players and to Squad themselves) than other issues the devs are working on.

What I would really like to see is for some people that claim not to see these annoying glitches to run the test I described (keep the pod rotating while the graph does a complete cycle including at least one peak) and then provide a screenshot of the graph.

I would mentally prepare for no refinements to GC issues in the forthcoming 1.0.3 patch. Unless as a consequence of some other fix in the patch. Once that is out, Squad moves full steam ahead on v1.1, and toward the end of the 1.1 cycle, when they get to optimization, their thoughts should turn in this direction. Because, work was done on this subject, in the v1.0 cycle. It just didn't solve it for everyone.

I also suspect that there will be no major change to this issue in 1.0.3 and I will be very surprised if there isn't quite a lot of ill-feeling expressed after the release because of this (separate to the ill-feeling caused by any changes made that don't suit all members of the community) though it would be very nice if the community could take a collective chill-pill and prove me wrong...

Edited June 22, 2015 by Padishar

[Darren9]

With 1.0.3, clean/new install, just the pod on the launchpad, 95/97ms spike every 8 or so seconds without spinning the camera, spinning the camera makes the same height spike only more frequent (5 or 6 secs), min is 6 or 7ms. That's v-sync off with 120 max fps. PC is an i7 920 @ 4GHz with GTX770, 6GB ram, 4.16 in use, 1.5 of that is KSP.

It'll go up when I add all the mods back, was at around 170m/s every 4 seconds in the last fully modded install (4 to 6 of the same frame repeated 4 to 8 seconds when recording at 30FPS) and I got tired of cutting those frames out and stopped making movies.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Darren9

[steve_v]

If your garbage collections really are taking 3 times longer in modded than in stock then the fault for that certainly doesn't lie with Squad. One or more of your mods must be making a large contribution (though since the frequency of the collections doesn't seem to be changing much this is presumably due to the number of live objects allocated on the heap rather than the amount of garbage being created).

I should clarify, this is "clean install" vs. modded install / save I've been playing on.

Some mods (particularly mechjeb, I've already poked sarbian regarding this.) do have a large impact on the GC pauses. But it's only exacerbating the underlying issue in the game engine, as it also appears in stock.

I suspect that if I were to play on a stock install and generate a similar number of in-flight craft etc. I'd see similar results, as I have in the past.

And yes I have investigated this before, very similar to your test but with native tools. Even went to the extent of recompiling unitys mono fork for debugging/profiling support. But that was 0.23, IIRC.

From what I recall of that little project, it's primarily the (single-threaded and rather dumb) "mark" phase of the GC that causes this, so as you say, it's probably scaling with the number of objects on the heap. In which case "mitigation" by the player means: run less mods, and do less stuff in game. Not a good solution.

KSP only has a small development team and they have to prioritise things.

Yes, but IMO bugfixes and core performance issues are far more important than adding content. Particularly content already provided by mods.

"Fixing" this issue really requires that the whole of the codebase be gone over to eliminate as much garbage creation as possible and to reduce the number of live objects in the heap that the garbage collection must scan.

Yeah, I know. What I don't know is if anyone is actually working on this, or even gives a rats. I'm beginning to suspect that it's a case of "don't bother with cleaning up the code, U5 will fix everything". Which it likely won't, hence the sarcasm and general frustration.

What I would really like to see is for some people that claim not to see these annoying glitches to run the test I described...

This would be most useful. However the lack of such indicates that either people with no problems don't read this thread, or there are fewer without the issue than you think.

I also suspect that there will be no major change to this issue in 1.0.3 and I will be very surprised if there isn't quite a lot of ill-feeling expressed after the release because of this (separate to the ill-feeling caused by any changes made that don't suit all members of the community) though it would be very nice if the community could take a collective chill-pill and prove me wrong...

I don't think you'll be proven wrong. While the changelog is long, the bug-list is still longer, and there's still no fix for a couple of pretty nasty issues.

If KSP were still in alpha/beta/early access, I'd be the first to say: "Be patient, fixes will come, performance will improve, small team etc. etc." But we're not in beta anymore, are we?

Just wait for the "ill-feeling" over the new bugs introduced with the latest patch... I'll put money on there being at least one shiny new 1.0.3 bug, if the last 3 versions are anything to go by.

Edited June 23, 2015 by steve_v
Added info, WOT syndrome corrected.

[includao]

I'm having this problem as well. And my FPS gets stuck at 25fps like I'm using vsync, but I'm not

Edited July 4, 2015 by includao