Growing Performance Problems for Players

[richthecyclist]

Hi, my players and I started a new campaign based around the Yawning Portal content from the FG Store with, of course, 5e ruleset. First adventure, Sunless Citadel, has been causing increasingly problematic performance issues over last two or three sessions to the point where some of my players' are getting freezes and screen locks which prevent them from using Unity for up to 30 seconds at a time.

Here are some machine specs to start with:
- DM: Ryzen 3700X 32GB RAM RX580 GPU Windows 10
- Worst Performing Machine: Microsoft Surface 4 i5 8GB RAM and Intel integrated graphics Windows 10
- Internet connection between player and DM >150 mbps down, approx 14 mbps up.

We started to see issues most notably from areas 39 to 41 on upper level of the dungeon and then in areas 54 to 56. The party has 6 PCs and we're running combats with perhaps as many as 12 NPCs. Specifically, here are the issues:
- On player's machine: unresponsive map interaction where tokens don't respond to mouse drag and drop or cursor interactions.
- On player's machine: FG freezes and UI goes white. The player has to wait for 10 to 30 seconds before the system becomes responsive again. I've been able to observe the GPU on this machine pinned at 100% with this campaign loaded and a map open but no other interaction.
- On DM's machine: In general I'm last to see issues because I have the heaviest spec I guess. However, my token interactions do become laggy with both mouse and keyboard.

Here's the campaign zip: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alud3MRyq-rGh70OktdkUUZ3ctm33g?e=c2tDRl

The campaign is newly created from clean and I tried to avoid loading any more assets than necessary. DM is running Clock Adjuster extension only.

Happy to implement workarounds as needed. We like FG but we're having to pause often enough now that its getting in the way.

Rich

[Zarestia]

Hello,

the specs seem fine. As I don't have that module I sadly can't test it (I'm sure some people who can write soon) but I can give you some general ideas.
- For high GPU usage see if this helps: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1638006786/Reducing+GPU+Usage
- I personally had 1-2 short hiccups in ~35 sessions in my current campaign with 6 PCs and big maps . These might be caused by token-locked movement and/or FoW history. I haven't been able to recreate (and didn't bother, because it only was for a few sec each) but it's always worth a shot to disable token-locked movement and delete FoW history for all PC tokens when the problems are happening (either right-click or delete and redrag from combat tracker) to see whether that could be an issue
- Unresponsiveness/going white normally doesn't come from a high GPU usage but a high CPU usage. Do these problems only occur when the players have said map open? Also at the beginning of the session or later down the line?

[damned]

Here's the campaign zip: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alud3MRyq-rGh70OktdkUUZ3ctm33g?e=c2tDRl


The link appears to be password protected.

[Sulimo]

The link appears to be password protected.

It's working for me, you need to be signed into OneDrive/Microsoft Account to open the link, but otherwise it's not password protected.

[damned]

Apologies. Im always logged in on a MS account but it prompted me for a login so I thought it was only shared for "insert restriction here" but I can access it.

The DB seems a normal size.
A couple of images are large but should be ok.

You might try having players clear their cache - they will need to log in 10mins early on the next session so everything downloads ready for game time.

[richthecyclist]

The issues occur at various stages during the game always during a combat. We specifically disable token locking - I'm convinced that isn't the issue here.
Re white screen - i have no idea if that is CPU or GPU related - its just what we see
I'm intrigued with the 'clear cache' suggestion - which cache and how?

I'll also take a look at the GPU usage link

Rich

[damned]

Have the player - at the splash screen - click on the folder icon top left of the FG window - and then navigate to cache. Delete the folder with the campaign name. Then when they rejoin it will redownload a fresh copy. You will need to reshare map with them.

[richthecyclist]

Thank you - will try the cache refresh next session.
I reviewed the link. It seems to provide information for AMD and Nvidia but doesn't say anything for Intel integrated. I assume there is no equivalent. The remainder are advanced commands which seem not to apply.
Anything else I should try? Am I simply asking too much of Intel integrated graphics?

Rich

[damned]

LoS is hard on GPU.
I think that the Surface GPU is very likely to struggle on many maps.

I would try:

/vsync 4
/imagequality 3

on the Surface and see if that helps at all.

[Laerun]

Hi, my players and I started a new campaign based around the Yawning Portal content from the FG Store with, of course, 5e ruleset. First adventure, Sunless Citadel, has been causing increasingly problematic performance issues over last two or three sessions to the point where some of my players' are getting freezes and screen locks which prevent them from using Unity for up to 30 seconds at a time.

Here are some machine specs to start with:
- DM: Ryzen 3700X 32GB RAM RX580 GPU Windows 10
- Worst Performing Machine: Microsoft Surface 4 i5 8GB RAM and Intel integrated graphics Windows 10
- Internet connection between player and DM >150 mbps down, approx 14 mbps up.

We started to see issues most notably from areas 39 to 41 on upper level of the dungeon and then in areas 54 to 56. The party has 6 PCs and we're running combats with perhaps as many as 12 NPCs. Specifically, here are the issues:
- On player's machine: unresponsive map interaction where tokens don't respond to mouse drag and drop or cursor interactions.
- On player's machine: FG freezes and UI goes white. The player has to wait for 10 to 30 seconds before the system becomes responsive again. I've been able to observe the GPU on this machine pinned at 100% with this campaign loaded and a map open but no other interaction.
- On DM's machine: In general I'm last to see issues because I have the heaviest spec I guess. However, my token interactions do become laggy with both mouse and keyboard.

Here's the campaign zip: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alud3MRyq-rGh70OktdkUUZ3ctm33g?e=c2tDRl

The campaign is newly created from clean and I tried to avoid loading any more assets than necessary. DM is running Clock Adjuster extension only.

Happy to implement workarounds as needed. We like FG but we're having to pause often enough now that its getting in the way.

Rich

There are also other factors that have been suggested for sluggish performance in addition to large images with LoS.

There could also be some other things that add to the memory load and the performance of the table. Reducing the size of encounters, which generally includes several combatants at one time on the combat tracker and have quite a few tokens attached to the encounter. As your campaign grows, often your content grows. If you have any images shared that are not needed, that might help a little.
Sometimes, video card settings have been suggested to change the vsync setting, this was included in the troubleshooting process and documentation on the Fantasy Grounds Unity Atlassian. This performance might also be contributed to having too many sources shared.
Also, things such as having more than five or six players at a time could also make things harder on the performance as well. Three to six players should not be too bad though for participating clients.

https://youtu.be/TPqaVDlE-ho

[richthecyclist]

Thanks. I'll look into those changes for Surface.