Super low GPU usage on MP only???

[MavericK96]

I've noticed that recently too, but only in the latest betas it seems.

That is, where alt-tabbing out and back in gives you a performance boost. Seems like a memory leak issue or something.

[Noble75]

What seems to help on my fps is:

alt+tab to windows and back to game

or

1) alt+tab to windows
2) start another instance of arma2 wait until it loads to main menu
3) alt+tab back to first instance
4) alt+tab back to 2nd instance and exit it
5) return to the first instance now with better fps (but still depends on server fps, scene complexity)

In mp warfare on Chernorus in late game where client fps drops to unplayable level, this might have to be repeated several times during the game to "clear" the fps back to a higher level.
It seems like the client fps is clogging up with time...dunno if it's some memory leak, engine limitation or "lazy" programming.

Haven't tried this "solution" yet, but I am having exactly same issues while playing domination2 MP takistan coop map. In start fps is smooth and way over 25. At some point during late game it always clogs up and frame rate drops to unplayable level (approx 12 or so).

This only happens in multi player and I do have decent 8/1mb dsl connection so it should not be the problem either. Arma CPU usage is around 30% in this point (AMD Athlon II X4 645 3,1GHz).

Restarting the client won't fix the issue. It continues to have low fps even on the "welcome texts" when u re-enter the server.

Sound like server side issue to me, but is it something you can fix or something what is related to hardware limitations of the server.

---------- Post added at 14:44 ---------- Previous post was at 14:22 ----------

True. And it doesn't seem to be a GPU brand-specific issue, so I wouldn't say drivers are the cause.

Unfortunately if it ends up being something in the engine itself there's probably not much we can do about it.

If I may guess something I would say that it has very little to do with GPU and plenty to do with CPU.

Is it about servers or clients CPU - no idea, but it seems that when CPU (on one core) is fully utilized, the FPS (and GPU usage) starts to drop. In other words perhaps the multi processor usage could be tweaked further?

For those referring to "only 55% or 30% CPU usage" in previous posts I have to remind, that windows task manager doesn't necessarily tell the whole truth as 25% or 50% load indication may actually mean that one of 2 or 4 cores is running on 100% load and is unable to perform everything what Arma2 wants it to do.

so... further investigation to this direction might be worth it? Or not? Like I said - just a guess.


Now forget everything what I just said.

After long and painful investigation I found out that my graphics card (nvidia GT430) seems to be bugged somehow and always repeats it's behaviour in (and so far only in) Arma2 multi player environment. This is rather funny and strange coincidence. Arma2 multi player environment seems to be the catalyst for the bug and only computer reboot resets it (temporarily at least).

Problem origin: GPU Graphics clock drops from (default) 700mhz to fixed 405mhz and gets stuck there. You can't get it back up with tools like official Nvidia over clocking utility either (which I installed just to test this possibility). Card just doesn't want to throttle itself back up even temperatures are way below any trigger levels (and it doesn't want to throttle itself further down either when gpu usage drops to 0%). Computer reboot seems to be the only way to reset the clock rate.

This is not GPU heat related issue - that is clear already. The card might be somehow broken, but giving it a change and investigating ways to prevent this GPU from throttling down in 1st place. Will update this post if I have found some working solutions. Somehow I still feel that this is software based problem.

Note to self: I'm not sure if alt tabbing the client might have something to do with the "trigger" going off. Gotta keep eye on that.

Current test: GPU power management settings turned to "maximum performance" from "adaptive" in global nvidia settings.

Current test "fresh start" notes:
-> GPU still throttles between 50mhz, 405mhz and 700mhz in desktop while arma2 is not running.
-> GPU throttles up to 700mhz after starting arma2.
-> GPU doesn't throttle down from 700mhz when alt tabbing from arma2 to desktop.
important fact: while in "adaptive" power management mode GPU did throttle down when alt tabbing from arma2 to desktop. Related to problem?

Current test "playtesting" notes:
-> So far no problems, GPU staying at 700mhz, usage around 40-50% on 40/60 man domi/warfare server.
-> GPU temp at 50-55C, fan speeds at 35% most of the time.
-> Normal fps, game well playable even after plenty of stuff has been destructed.
-> Alt tabbing doesn't cause any issues.

Conclusions:
At the moment it seems that at least my FPS problems vanished after turning GPU power management settings to "maximum performance" from "adaptive" in global nvidia settings and restarting computer (GT430, driver version 301.42, win7 64bit, AMD Athlon II X4 645 3,1GHz).

Will provide further info if facts change.

[gunso]

it's pretty easy to do stress test on GPU to see if it is broken or not, just use this http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

[MavericK96]

*snip*

Will provide further info if facts change.

Thanks for the extensive data and post. I will try setting to Max Performance, though I am pretty sure I've tried that in the past with no real result. Maybe things have changed?

Also, what is your CPU usage like? I understand your point in the crossed-out section of your post about Task Manager not showing correct usage, but if you can see usage per-core on there as well and generally usage over ALL cores is fairly low for me.

[Noble75]

Thanks for the extensive data and post. I will try setting to Max Performance, though I am pretty sure I've tried that in the past with no real result. Maybe things have changed?

Yea I tested that before also, but it didn't fix the already active problem unless combined with reboot (which I obviously didn't do back then). Didn't even know that my GPU had locked to lower clock back then because wasn't monitoring it.

This has totally fixed it for me... no problems in arma2 multi player what so ever after the setting change. Even the domination2 end game works like charm now and graphics card doesn't do any nasty tricks.

Also, what is your CPU usage like? I understand your point in the crossed-out section of your post about Task Manager not showing correct usage, but if you can see usage per-core on there as well and generally usage over ALL cores is fairly low for me.

CPU load is distributed rather evenly to all 4 cores and there is plenty processing power to spare. I even have the advanced power management set to allow 5% minimum processor state and that doesn't cause any problems either.

So now in multi player I have rather low GPU usage and rather low CPU usage. Could probably boost the view distance and gfx settings up quite a bit if needed, but haven't gone there yet. One thing at the time. Just enjoying the constant and smooth fps now - through the entire session.

All in all - I don't know if my case was isolated faulty hardware issue or is the problem something what has roots in some specific graphics chips or nvidia drivers. If having problems, changing that setting and rebooting should be worth trying at least.

[Scoggs]

I am having this issue too. I am hosting a warfare on takistan with one of my friends. When I start the match I was at 100% GPU usage or so. Then 4 hours in my framerate drops to 30 and I am only using 40%. This is the second out of two times we've played this that it has happened.

Oh and my specs

W7 64bit Ultimate
i7 2600k w/ HT enabled @4.6Ghz
EVGA GTX580SC
16BG 1600MHz ram

[Minoza]

I'm experiencing same issues as well. I have i7 3770K OCed @4.5GHz, GTX 670, 16GB of RAM. I took custom Insurgency mission set in Zargabad for a test. Using same settings, in MP I get massive framedrops near Zargabad (low 20s), especially when looking towards it from distance, yet, the same map and the same mission, when hosted locally on my PC (which is theoretically more stress), wherever I go or look at, no issues at all, no frame drops... Settings were:

-View Distance: 3500m in MP, 5000m when locally hosted (yet this one ran better)
-Memory: Default
-No VSync (Adaptive in nVidia control panel, turning it off didn't help)
-No MSAA (FXAA Sharp used)
-Objects: Very high
-Shadows: Very high
-Terrain: High
-Post proccess: Very High
-Resolution & 3D: 100% (1920x1200)
-HDR: Normal

Did I miss anything? GPU usage in MP wouldn't go over 60% in an ideal scenario. I tried lowering settings a bit, but it didn't help much, framerate in this MP scenario would just suffer no matter what, and GPU usage would remain low.

[doveman]

I was just playing a SP campaign with only a few AI with me and that dropped to 20 FPS with the GPU at around 40% as well, so it doesn't seem to be just a MP issue. I think my CPU total was around 55% with each of the four cores around 80% (not so sure about that though, it's hard to keep track of so many numbers!)

[Minoza]

OK, update... I noticed something very interesting, look my GPU usage graph during MP gameplay:

http://imageshack.us/a/img560/6238/gpuusage.jpg

First half of the graph is during normal MP gameplay, running around, looking around, etc... (zero usage was Alt-Tab) Now, see when it goes up? It happens whenever I zoom in, the more in the distance I see, the more the usage goes up, but only when zoomed in... In scoped view, usage goes to 99% and stays that way most of the time, I still get drops in usage, depending where I look at... I would understand that there might be less for GPU to work with when usage goes down, but my framerate goes to like 22... that is unacceptable, in scoped view, same direction, I get 60 lock...

@doveman

Could you try that? Try zooming and looking through scoped view and monitor gpu usage to see if it goes up. We may finally narrow this down if you experience same thing...


edit

Woah! Another one with exact same issue, same card as me, SLI actually, but nvm...

In DayZ at 1920x1080 maxed out with FXAA I get about ~100fps with my 2 670s, usage sits around 75% normally and jumps to high 90s when I zoom in. Do have random drops down to 40fps sometimes though, still playable though. When playing arma2 OA single player missions though I get absolutely horrid performance! Tried to do the shooting range one and it was like a slideshow.. I hope arma3 is better optimised.

Devs?

[Minoza]

Another small update on the issue. I was just playing Domination, installed latest beta drivers from nvidia, everything was ok for about 20 mins into the game, I was getting 80-99% usage all the time, then suddenly BAM! 40% usage, stutters like crazy, stays like that for 2 mins, then by itself goes up to 75-90 and stays like that for another 20 mins when I quit. Everything happened in the same spot, I didn't move much, so it is not map position related I guess.