Amazing frame rates... Surely a jump from 6 FPS to 125 FPS isn't about me rearranging my inventory?

[Sebastyne Alpha]

Ah: figured it out. Shadows and reflections were turned off by the FS graphics speed optimization tool.

Has anyone else got a sudden jump in frame rates? I got pretty accustomed to fairly modest frame rates of 20-30 if I'm lucky. All of the sudden, even though the "region framerate" is reported to be only 45, my own frame rates go frequently over 50, 60, or even the current 112 and above (briefly), while the draw distance is at a respectable 200-300. 

For a while, they dropped to below 10, which I hadn't seen using this laptop before (Dell G7 17, which was an AWESOME Black Friday -find.) Despite the lower frame rates, I notice no considerable lag on it. (My previous laptop hovered around 10-12 fps and would crash attempting the feat of walking at Muddy's). Still, all of the sudden, on my current laptop, the frame rate dropped well below 10, all the way to 3, at times, on a VERY fast internet connection.

I tested with several avatars, some of which were basically new, one a 14-year-old but not used as much as this one. I wore the same character tester avatar on all, loaded the same viewer settings on all, logged onto the same sim at the same time on the same laptop, and my main avatar still got lower frame rates than the others.

I then figured the only thing different is the size of my inventory and saved outfits. I googled it and found it CAN have an effect. Apparently, that can make a big difference in lag, inventory FOLDER size, long groups list, big friendship list (and undoubtedly the saved outfits, too, which haven't been said to cause lag but why wouldn't it if the others do). So I reshuffled my inventory, putting all unpackers and random objects into a different subfolder, divided so that no folder holds more than 1000 items each.

Reducing the inventory folder sizes is the ONLY THING I've done to fix it, after checking everything else with a fine tooth comb with no results.

Now, my frame rates are awesome, but I'm wondering, has Firestorm or SL done something else recently to cause such a jump? I've also used the Improve Graphics Speed -tool on and off, before and after Operation Folder. Because the graphics speed tool sometimes lowers the frame rate to the goal, and draw distance to 32 despite settings. So I'm not actually using that to get the frame rates, but I have used it hoping it will help me optimize the viewer automatically... Did it? (I do up the view distance manually after turning it off again.)

Anyone else want to try smaller inventory folders and report? (I didn't delete anything much, just put everything into smaller sub folders.)

Edited July 20, 2022 by ToniaThraw
Solved

[sandi Mexicola]

My guess is that the graphics speed tool probably made some changes to your graphics settings. 

[Sebastyne Alpha]

Yeah I just figured out what it is. The optimization tool turns off shadows and reflections, which I normally have on. I've been wondering why all the daylight-scenes look so boring and flat all of the sudden, when clearly materials and everything is on. The shadows make a huge difference but they're so worth it. 

The framerate is still around 45, so no drama using them, but I think over 100 is not going to happen with them on.

I would delete my original post but it doesn't allow me to.

[sandi Mexicola]

2 hours ago, ToniaThraw said:

I would delete my original post but it doesn't allow me to.

No, actually, it's cool that this information is out there.   

Shadows kill me.  I leave them off almost all the time.  

[Rowan Amore]

At any busy place, I'd still keep shadows and water reflections off.  They might enhance the visual but in places like that, it's generally not needed.  I rarely, if ever, have those turned on unless I'm taking photos.  I guess it depends on where you are.  Water, even when not seen, has or had a dramatic effect of frame rate.  This was when EEP first came out so not sure if that has been fixed in subsequent viewers.  There's also no reason to have draw high in a busy club either.  All that stuff further out slows you down.  

[sandi Mexicola]

I would have shadows and water reflections on, if my GPU could handle that.   

Mostly I have shadows off, and sometimes I even just turn the water off.       You raise a good point, though, about water affecting framerate.  I think I will check if that is still the case.  

[Aishagain]

I believe that the rendering hit that Linden water causes on viewers is one of the issues that is addressed by the recent performance enhanced default RC viewer ( don't quote me on this) because the Lindens are very much aware that anything other than opaque water settings halves (or worse) FPS on most, if not all viewers, irrespective of your GPU/CPU setup.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Aishagain
spelling...I kan't spel

[sandi Mexicola]

Well, hopefully a change is on the way!

 

[Theresa Tennyson]

8 hours ago, ToniaThraw said:

Has anyone else got a sudden jump in frame rates? I got pretty accustomed to fairly modest frame rates of 20-30 if I'm lucky. All of the sudden, even though the "region framerate" is reported to be only 45, my own frame rates go frequently over 50, 60, or even the current 112 and above (briefly), while the draw distance is at a respectable 200-300.

Important thing to bear in mind - the "region framerate" doesn't have anything to do with the "viewer frame rate". The "region frame rate" is how many times a second the "simulator" program of the region that handles avatar locations, moving objects, etc. is updated. This should always be right around 45 or slightly below; it will never go higher.

Your "viewer framerate" is how many times a second the viewer updates what you're seeing; it's determined by how powerful your computer is and how busy the scene is. It can be anything from very low to very high.

[Lyssa Greymoon]

1 hour ago, Aishagain said:

I believe that the rendering hit that Linden water causes on viewers is one of the issues that is addressed by the recent performance enhanced default RC viewer ( don't quote me on this) because the Lindens are very much aware that anything other than opaque water settings halves (or worse) FPS on most, if not all viewers, irrespective of your GPU/CPU setup.

It was, and should also be fixed in the release viewer now.

[sandi Mexicola]

But... But... what about Firestorm!  🤔

[Aishagain]

My guess is "soon" once LL release the relevant code to the TPVs.

@Beq Janus?

[sandi Mexicola]

1 minute ago, Aishagain said:

My guess is "soon" once LL release the relevant code to the TPVs.

👍

[Henri Beauchamp]

7 hours ago, Aishagain said:

My guess is ”soon” once LL release the relevant code to the TPVs ?

LL does not need to ”release the code to TPVs”: the code is open for every TPV developer to grab and integrate into their own viewer whenever they feel like it (and can find the necessary time to work on it, adapt it to their own viewer code, and debug it).

The Cool VL Viewer got all the ”performance viewer” code integrated for months already (the backport process started in April in an experimental branch and got finished a few weeks later, in May with the new v1.30.0 stable branch release), with bug fixes (making them usable with iGPUs, for example, while bugs in LL's viewer code prevents it) and even more aggressive optimizations (such as multi-threaded GL image creation instead of a mono-threaded one in LL's viewer)...

Edited July 21, 2022 by Henri Beauchamp

[Aishagain]

My error, then, Henri.  I assume the latest update to FS is therefore "in the works" and will be in our grubby hands as soon as it passes though the FS QA process.

I am not privy to the ins and outs of viewer development, and my words were simply my way of suggesting that it "will be ready soon", now that it is out as a full release viewer.

The gears of FS development grind a little slower than yours! 🙂

[Aishagain]

*sigh* not THAT soon then. I confess to being rather disappointed that FS 6.5.6 did not incorporate the rendering improvements currently in the default LL viewer and no doubt some of the other TPVs.  As I said, the gears of FS grind a little slower these days and despite their putting a brave face on things, it is becoming obvious that they are a bit underpowered in the developer area.

[Beq Janus]

6 hours ago, Aishagain said:

*sigh* not THAT soon then. I confess to being rather disappointed that FS 6.5.6 did not incorporate the rendering improvements currently in the default LL viewer and no doubt some of the other TPVs.  As I said, the gears of FS grind a little slower these days and despite their putting a brave face on things, it is becoming obvious that they are a bit underpowered in the developer area.

It was a deliberate choice we made not without some gnashing of teeth.

This release includes MFA and also fixes a heap of issues with Apple that have plagued recent updates, while MFA is mostly nothing to do with us it is/was expected to cause enough confusion to the users that we didn't want to conflate that with the performance updates and swamp our poor support team. On the plus side, with the current release out of the door the focus is on turning the next release around so it is coming... promise.