Performance problems

[Butta]

So I haven't actively played Kenshi for a while now. I love every update and I'm visiting the Kenshi forums every day, but the performance got to be a big problem. With 0.67.2 nearly everything was fine (unfortunately I have no data to compare) but with the experimental it went downhill.
I normally played with all graphical options all the way up, no problem, because Kenshi isn't that GPU demanding at all but it already was fairly CPU heavy. Now I get 9-17 fps, which is unplayable to me because everything is so slow and doesn't feel smooth. I KNOW it is an experimental and I KNOW it is an Alpha, but Kenshi is using mainly one core leading to 100% workload on just this core. Now some could say: "Lower your settings!".. My GPU is only used by ~40-70% which means my CPU is limiting. Still of course my FPS rise to extremely instable 30-50, but only at the lowest possible settings (-> impossible to play either because of terrain issues and shit), and my 1 core stays at 100%. Also 30-50fps isn't that great with such a setup actually, again leading to the fact, that the game is really (unnecessary?) CPU heavy. I know it will be optimized in the future but at the moment it's crazy and Chris shouldn't forget this aspect of the game because it could lead to problems in future development. Actually I'm wondering how some people seem to be able to play without any problems (experimental in this case) with some really low end machines where the CPU should theoretically be extremely limiting? Is it just a problem on my end? Have I overlooked something? I really would like to play again, but as I already said it is unbearable for me. This is not supposed to be a rant, I just want to let you guys know (especially Chris) and maybe someone has some data to compare or any idea on what's going on whatever.

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T @3,5GHz OC
Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz
8GB RAM

[Gr1z]

I couldn't of said it better myself. I love kenshi spent hours upon end playing in both the normal stable version and the experimental and its really night and day. Now i cant say i have a super computer or anything remotely close but it can run a lot of the newer higher end games without to many problems. (lower settings of course) Anyways point is i agree that the experimental for me and my experience is to the point that it isn't very playable. The stable version i can have everything set on high max sliders max squad and npc numbers and not have problem running at 4x. In fact i moved to experimental for the sake that my guys are too highly trained with best gear it isn't even to much of a challenge.

Upon doing that my fps hit rock bottom and i now get 5-10 fps running at max speed with all my previous settings. I mean wasn't the point of 64 bit version to increase performance and memory problems? I can see a little better fps if i turn down npc view range to nothing (prob with that is you cant see what your running into and turning everything else to basically 0 )

Note i am playing with 3x squad and 4x ncp so the performance will be worse but i didn't think god awful lol. The other problem i have so far is that ill kill a huge pack of beasts or bandits or whatever and its like they never die and im endlessly fighting as one horde goes down and another fills it place. I thought well yeah they're dogs so i am attracting more ok i can dig that. I finally get my guys back up and out of dodge and head home. I then jump in my 20 man beds and out of nowhere dinosaur beak things walk straight through my walls and buildings are hitting me in my beds. So I ask myself whats the point of walls other than perhaps mounting some defenses if they dont really keep out anything...... the only thing they manage do so (ie buildings too close too) is block in my own characters to the point that i cant move them and they are stuck. I basically gotta pick them up and put them down just so they can move again. But hey its alpha i can live with that for now.

To sum it up now the beak things are now continually attacking me as i down them and more and more and more keep coming in with what appears to be no end. Hell at this rate i might get my dex to 80 np lol. I wonder if thats what the corpse incinerators are for? Smell a vision works chris just not sure u got the range right lol but i welcome the attempt to put me down. Looks like meats back on the menu boys, how do u like ur beek steak?

[Chompster]

Personally think it currently has something to do with the Ai/navmesh. I'll notice a sharp decline in FPS as soon as one of my guys gets stuck somewhere or stops doing a job because he "can't" reach something. And even worse so when i have bandits outside my gate, hugging the walls.

[Aereto]

At the pre .70 version, my laptop outperforms the desktop in terms of frame rate and responsiveness when on same graphics settings. The laptop's graphics could not run .70, despite my further specs inquiry suggesting that its performance is greater than my desktop's (larger memory, for one), and the CPU automatically overclocks in the face of heavy work.

I've mentioned in my thread regarding differences in performance between graphics brands and other sorts of specs. While the game is in development, I have the idea of sizing up the hardware's performance evaluation as the game grows, so that we could see how the game runs on each individual spec. Though I have not gone around to record them, since it is a minor study.

With my laptop in repairs, I cannot confirm if the specs can run the current game version or not.

[Butta]

Hmm.. I had the idea of gathering some data on how well the game is running on specific systems.
It could be of help for those struggling with finding their optimal graphical options, those who don't know whether to opt in the experimental or simply for people who haven't bought Kenshi yet and am not sure whether the game will run at all. Maybe it could help Chris too.. who knows.

As an example, it could be like this:

Code: Select all

Version: Exp. 0.71.3

Graphics
Resolution: 1920x1080
View Distance: 11500
Terrain Detail: 0.8
Grass View Range: 2.5
Grass Density: 3.7
Foliage View Range: 3.32
NPC View Range: 4240
Textures: High
Shadow Quality: 2048
Shadow Range: 6400

Squad Size Multiplier: 3
Global Population Multiplier: 1.2

Specs
CPU: Phenom II X6 1055T (@ 3,5GHz OC)
GPU: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz
RAM: 8 GB

This should cover the most important information.

What do you guys think? Would it be worth it to start a new thread?
Or is it just be who likes statistics?

[Hatsune_Neko]

you can
but a lot of people who ask " can i run the game on this? " threads don't know about computers, though it could be helpful for those who do.

[djfabiokk]

I'm experiencing the same problems, even though my rig is pretty dated and not top of the line it still has plenty of power, enough to be able to play kenshi at max or at least it should. Right mow I'm playing at around 30 fps with textures on medium and shadows on low.

CPU : i5 3570k
GPU : GTX 660
Memory : 8 GB RAM

[Butta]

I'm experiencing the same problems, even though my rig is pretty dated and not top of the line it still has plenty of power, enough to be able to play kenshi at max or at least it should. Right mow I'm playing at around 30 fps with textures on medium and shadows on low.

CPU : i5 3570k
GPU : GTX 660
Memory : 8 GB RAM

I think you can set both, textures and shadows, to the highest setting. It shouldn't affect your fps that much, maybe 1-2fps if at all. It's more the heavy load on the CPU limiting the fps I think. The more people are running around, the less fps I get because of AI calculations, not because of the graphics.

[djfabiokk]

I'm experiencing the same problems, even though my rig is pretty dated and not top of the line it still has plenty of power, enough to be able to play kenshi at max or at least it should. Right mow I'm playing at around 30 fps with textures on medium and shadows on low.

CPU : i5 3570k
GPU : GTX 660
Memory : 8 GB RAM

I think you can set both, textures and shadows, to the highest setting. It shouldn't affect your fps that much, maybe 1-2fps if at all. It's more the heavy load on the CPU limiting the fps I think. The more people are running around, the less fps I get because of AI calculations, not because of the graphics.

The thing is, I need to have NPC view distance set to max, that way I can spot bandits, so I'm willing to sacrifice graphics for the greater good in gameplay

[BloodyNex]

I think your biggest performance factor would be the NPC view range, since (unless I'm mistaken) the NPCs outside of this range won't take as much time to sort out their AI.

[BoogieMan]

For me the experimental version is 100% unplayable. My FPS is single digit or barely into double digits and the UI is very unresponsive. I can minimize every graphical setting and it still runs terribly. Meanwhile I can maximize *every* graphical option in the stable release and it runs smooth as silk at pretty much all times. It's a shame because I'd really like to help test while I'm playing, but I'm stuck with an older release and keeping note of issues during that seems pointless when most of the time I go to look if it's been reported just to see "fixed in experimental" and such..

I have a pretty good PC, and going by Steam Hardware Survey average, better than most - so I imagine the number of testers this game could have at this point is drastically lower than what it could be because of this issue.

For reference:

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core i7 860 (2.93Ghz x4)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (2GB GDDR5)
ASUS P7P55D EVO
SSDs for OS and Games
8GB G.Skill

[Hatsune_Neko]

experimental will continue to be laggy until they get that part fixed ( directX 11 added. )
this has been an issue since v0.70.x was released.

though i wouldn't call it game breaking, since i can run my Larger Combat Large ( x10 in some NPC populations ) version but i do suffer from single digit FPS whenever i get near towns. its only slightly annoying to me when it happens, but the game is in development so part of the process.

[bk3000]

I don't doubt you guys are experiencing problems, although I can't claim I am. I don't even have the fastest system around.

8 core Athlon FX @ 3.1 GHz (I could clock higher if I needed to but really I don't)
16GB RAM (which was at the time I bought it as fast as I could get)
NVidia GTX 560 Ti (primary)
NVidia 9800 GTX+ (only used for PhysX processor)

So my system is nothing Earth shaking and some of you likely have better. All my graphic options are maxed out and I have no noticeable performance problems. In fact I can see that Kenshi is not even maxing out one of my CPU cores and with everything(including Kenshi, my browser and uTorrent) running I am using 14-18% of my total CPU. Doesn't seem that CPU intensive to me?

Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe it is having a secondary PhysX processor(even if the card is question is dated) rather than using my primary card (which would be the default NVidia driver settings). If any of you have some old NVidia cards lying around, you might try doing the same.

FYI I originally played Kenshi years ago - this was when it was really new, you could not build anything, there where no starting options except you start alone with nothing, and most the items didn't even have artwork LOL - I played it on a measly Pentium 4 (although my video card was far newer than my processor).

I mean wasn't the point of 64 bit version to increase performance and memory problems?

In theory it would work that way. In practice I believe The Cap'n wrote that he had to change engines because what he was using was closed source 32 bit only. That 2 different engines would perform differently is hardly surprising.

Memory wise the 64 bit certainly helped. But according to all of you, the performance took a hit. If you don't mind braving the memory crash bug, I believe they are still supporting the 32 bit builds. Maybe... that will perform better for you until they iron out performance issues?

[Butta]

8 core Athlon? Don't you mean 4/6/8/9xxx FX?

And are you really playing the experimental version? Maybe I missed it, but it seems like you are playing the stable version where I don't have these problems either.

If you really are refering to the experimental build, could you provide some fps? I'm just curious.

[Hatsune_Neko]

For my experiance in my current setup listed in my sig line

experimental
non Mod
default sliders.
30 to 50 FPS outside towns. usually a 5 FPS loss with fights going on
10 to 20 FPS inside towns. usually a 5 FPS loss with fights going on

Experimental
Modded ( Larger Stronger Large Mod )
Default sliders
25 to 45 FPS until large group comes by then it drops to 15 to 20 FPS outside towns, this can drop more if i get fights near the 600 NPC range.
5 to 15 FPS inside towns, 5FPS when fights going on

[bk3000]

8 core Athlon? Don't you mean 4/6/8/9xxx FX?

And are you really playing the experimental version? Maybe I missed it, but it seems like you are playing the stable version where I don't have these problems either.

If you really are refering to the experimental build, could you provide some fps? I'm just curious.

Haha yeah old habits. They don't call it the Athlon anymore. AMD FX 8120.

Yes I am playing experimental build. Yes every graphic option is maxed out.

I don't have Fraps or anything installed so I don't know the exact frame rate but it certainly looks good to me. If Kenshi has some sort of key press to show the frame rate I don't know it.

[BoogieMan]

I tried again after a format and it started off better, other than long pauses after each section of a wall was finished. But it eventually slowed down. I assumed it was because not far from my base is literally like 40 Beak Things screwing around and leaving dozens of big ole piles of dung all about.. I killed around 15 of them that charged me but it didn't seem to change anything. I planned to heal up and exterminate them to see if it helped performance, but they fell asleep and can no longer be attacked by me or Dogs. I stole two of their eggs while they slept as revenge.


Maybe it's worse in some locations that others, or just chance by what is in the area. I mean it's clearly less efficient than stable obviously, but some people do seem to have it worse than others.

I have 20 people, a full maximized tech base and walls lined with harpoons. Probably about the size of Brink going by area between walls. Situated on the dunes just a short ways south of Clownsteady. The huge flock of Beak Things is a short ways west.

Maybe I'll import my squad but not the structures and start over elsewhere and see how it goes.

[Hatsune_Neko]

steam has a option to show FPS

[BloodyNex]

steam has a option to show FPS

For anyone that doesn't know, it's on the In-Game tab of the Steam settings.

Edit: Now that I know that, I can see that my average framerate is about 5 FPS. When I zoom in keep a high angle I can get up to 20 FPS, but that's about it. Doesn't bother me much, I still get around just fine.