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  1. #1

    Optimization, when will it be a priority?

    Most of my players and I use laptops for FGU because that's all we got. 3/4 of my players said that even while their laptop is plugged in, FGU drains so much power that their laptops go from fully charged to 0% in about 5 hours. That means that if someone doesn't have their laptop at 100% battery before we start playing its likely that we will have to end early.

    I've been looking into how to better optimize FGU from my end and I can't find anything. I also found multiple people saying that the devs have said that optimization isn't a priority but I haven't been able to verify those claims. If that is true I honestly can't figure out why. It's gotten bad enough that we are considering changing VTT so we can actually play the game.

    If anyone has a fix for this LMK. The only extension I use is one that lets me port in my adventure module (originally 2e into a 5e game) but I highly doubt that is the problem here.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by BlockHead824 View Post
    Most of my players and I use laptops for FGU because that's all we got. 3/4 of my players said that even while their laptop is plugged in, FGU drains so much power that their laptops go from fully charged to 0% in about 5 hours.
    You mean FGU is drawing more power than the battery gets charged? Can you give us some more information on the specs, hardware & software?
    I think in Windows 10 there are some settings to check how the power is drawn if you've got a laptop (can't check as I don't have one).

    Optimization is a never ending process, you can't just "optimize" now and then never again. Furthermore, optimization is a very broad term.

    Also, 5h battery capacity while playing games is not really bad. Seems rather like an electricity problem with that much informaiton.

  3. #3
    I don't have the specs for all my player's computers but I have a HP Spectre x360. 16 Gb RAM, 10th gen i7 core and nvidia geforce gtx. Mine isn't bad enough that I lose battery when FGU is running but it does make my fans go as fast as possible (and it still gets really hot and very loud).

    And it isn't a 5 hr battery life (that would be fine). It's a 5 hour PLUGGED IN life.

  4. #4
    wndrngdru's Avatar
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    While my laptop doesn't drain the battery like that when I use FGU on it, it does like to run the fan at top speed because it gets so hot, unless....
    I use the /vsync command. It reigns in that overactive GPU and it runs relatively cool after that.

    See the troubleshooting wiki entry here. https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassia...cing+GPU+Usage

    Note: I believe you will need to enter this command each time you restart the program. (I put it in one of my quickslots for each campaign that I play in using that laptop)
    --
    I'm so bassic

  5. #5
    Zacchaeus's Avatar
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    You may need to have a look at the driver settings for the video card. Some cards override the game settings unless you tell them not to.
    If there is something that you would like to see in Fantasy Grounds that isn't currently part of the software or if there is something you think would improve a ruleset then add your idea here https://www.fantasygrounds.com/featu...rerequests.php

  6. #6
    I tested out basically halving my vsync and it made my laptop be able to run real quiet. I told my players about it and at our next session, we'll see if it works for them too.

    TY, I had just seen a few forum posts where people said that the devs said that optimization wasn't a priority until all the features were working or good or something. Sounded like a lot of he said she said and I don't know how old that post was but it had been a little rough. One of my players is on an older Mac and it would crash/overheat a lot so hopefully, this will fix that. Only so much you can do to get it to work well on bad hardware though.

  7. #7
    LordEntrails's Avatar
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    There has been a lot of optimization done already. Plus the addition of those commands linked above. But, there is still more optimization to be done. As said, it's something that never ends. The devs haven't said exactly when their next round of optimization will be, but if I remember correctly they do so on a semi-regular basis, depending upon needs of other features etc. So maybe they do it once or twice a year? I would have to go back and review all the release notes to get a better idea.

    Release notes are here;
    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/filel...s_ruleset.html
    and here;
    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/filel...hnotes_v4.html

    Problems? See; How to Report Issues, Bugs & Problems
    On Licensing & Distributing Community Content
    Community Contributions: Gemstones, 5E Quick Ref Decal, Adventure Module Creation, Dungeon Trinkets, Balance Disturbed, Dungeon Room Descriptions
    Note, I am not a SmiteWorks employee or representative, I'm just a user like you.

  8. #8

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    I take it you are running with full LOS & lighting effects, because I play using a 2015 laptop without them and have no battery drain issues.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by BlockHead824 View Post
    Most of my players and I use laptops for FGU because that's all we got. 3/4 of my players said that even while their laptop is plugged in, FGU drains so much power that their laptops go from fully charged to 0% in about 5 hours. That means that if someone doesn't have their laptop at 100% battery before we start playing its likely that we will have to end early.

    I've been looking into how to better optimize FGU from my end and I can't find anything. I also found multiple people saying that the devs have said that optimization isn't a priority but I haven't been able to verify those claims. If that is true I honestly can't figure out why. It's gotten bad enough that we are considering changing VTT so we can actually play the game.

    If anyone has a fix for this LMK. The only extension I use is one that lets me port in my adventure module (originally 2e into a 5e game) but I highly doubt that is the problem here.
    While I agree with you 100% on this topic. I wanted to suggest something maybe in the interim to help with this issue.

    2a. the vsync command
    vsync is a setting that allows your computer to limit the amount of frames that your GPU is outputting to match the framerate of your monitor. Generally speaking, if your GPU is processing more frames than your monitor’s refresh rate can handle, you’ll want to lower the number of frames being processed to sync with your monitor’s refresh rate.


    /vsync 0-4
    vsync 0: 60 fps fixed
    vsync 1: OS/Monitor frame rate
    vsync 2: 1/2 OS/Monitor frame rate
    vsync 3: 1/3 OS/Monitor frame rate
    vsync 4: 1/4 OS/Monitor frame rate
    2b. the imagequality command
    Sometimes maps or images can be very large, and this can potentially have a negative impact with low-performance scenarios. To help mitigate this while still being able to use the image, one might try the following imagequality command.


    /imagequality 0-3
    imagequality 0: 100%
    imagequality 1: 75%
    imagequality 2: 50% (default)
    imagequality 3: 25%
    While you can use both commands at the same time, for testing, it is usually better to reset one command before experimenting with the other. If you use /vsync and it doesn’t work as expected, reset that command to it’s original value, then try the /imagequality command and vice versa.



    I run at vsync 3 100% of the time on my desktop simply because it has almost no effect on what it looks like in game, so why not?

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