CPU usage and temperature

[Continuity]

So, the game seems to be incredibly taxing on the CPU to the point that I get temperatures up to 90C. This doesn't happen in any other game and my PC should be well within the recommended settings. Granted, I'm playing on a laptop but this is just extreme. I've tried fiddling with the settings but only with minor improvements. Anyone with similar experiences and any idea what to do?

[Insolentius]

It's the same thing as with the original game - it eats up CPU cycles like they're hot pockets while barely utilizing the GPU. I know people with monster rigs (i7 + GTX 1080) who also experience poor performance and heavy CPU usage. Unless the game undergoes some serious optimization, there's nothing to be done.

[Chariot7]

I have an i7 and GTX 1060 and the heat is outrageous! Funny thing, I played the Backer Beta and had no overheating problems. Hope they get the game optimized sooner rather than later!

DxDiag.txt

Edited June 7, 2018 by Chariot7

[Continuity]

I have an i7 and GTX 1060 and the heat is outrageous! Funny thing, I played the Backer Beta and had no overheating problems. Hope they get the game optimized sooner rather than later!

 

Yeah, same setup here on an Asus laptop. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 

[Jeris Boltsin]

My laptop gets so damn hot that: 2 steel cooking pots with about 4 dl of ice cold water. One onto the numpad area, another in the middle. Plug my 2nd monitor & usb keyboard & mouse on to it and play the game (windowed / 2nd monitor). After about two hours, the water is like +50c and must be replaced, before "overheating - the fan can't take it !" & "crash! crash! crash!".

Edited May 21, 2018 by Jeris Boltsin

[Siegdarth]

I'm loving the game, but I will put it on hold due the poor optimization and bugs. My coolers literally scream about death and corruption. Every time someone explodes the game freezes or after casting some spells. Sad and annoying =/  

[Ichthyic]

you watch, someone will pop into this thread and try to tell you it's all about your hardware... your hardware should be able to handle running at 100% for hours on end!

when they do, and they will...

ask them if they constantly drive their car in first gear so they can enjoy the whine of their engine at max RPM.

really, the problem is that Obisidian refuses to program their levels properly.  they never read the manual on how to develop levels in unity efficiently.  no, really.  there are plenty of devs than can make perfectly acceptable isometric view-style games in unity and NOT cause these huge performance issues.  I spent many, many hours on the unity forums after PoE came out and had the same issues.  watched indy devs talking about how their simple levels ate up too many cpu cycles and they couldn't figure out why, and a patient unity dev would eventually pop in to tell them they didn't pay attention to how they utilized resources in their levels.  and no, this is not an easy fix AFTER you have fully developed a level, as the assets need to be properly reworked, which really means redoing the entire level again.

many programmers who work with unity figured this out long ago, but for some reason, Obsidian either refuses to hire competent programmers, or train the ones they have.

they are a very creative bunch, but TERRIBLE programmers.



 

Edited June 2, 2018 by Ichthyic

[ibanix]

I think you guys need better cooling. My i5 only gets to about 50C, and that's on all high settings.

[ibanix]

It's the same thing as with the original game - it eats up CPU cycles like they're hot pockets while barely utilizing the GPU. I know people with monster rigs (i7 + GTX 1080) who also experience poor performance and heavy CPU usage. Unless the game undergoes some serious optimization, there's nothing to be done.

 

The game is isometric, not 3D; and all modern video cards are optimized for 3D rendering. This should not be surprising. 

[Sidushi]

So, the game seems to be incredibly taxing on the CPU to the point that I get temperatures up to 90C. This doesn't happen in any other game and my PC should be well within the recommended settings. Granted, I'm playing on a laptop but this is just extreme. I've tried fiddling with the settings but only with minor improvements. Anyone with similar experiences and any idea what to do?

 

Got the same issue, I use a cooling pad for my laptop, but it gets super hot anyway. 

[Insolentius]

 

It's the same thing as with the original game - it eats up CPU cycles like they're hot pockets while barely utilizing the GPU. I know people with monster rigs (i7 + GTX 1080) who also experience poor performance and heavy CPU usage. Unless the game undergoes some serious optimization, there's nothing to be done.

 

The game is isometric, not 3D; and all modern video cards are optimized for 3D rendering. This should not be surprising. 

 

You gotta be kidding, right? The perspective doesn't change the fact that the models are three-dimensional (with dynamic lighting and shadows). The problem with the performance only manifests itself when there are a lot of NPCs and/or creatures on the map (just like Defiance Bay in the original). Obsidian can't handle Unity.

[Darsi]

Yea I have the same issue on my laptop, I've gotten to the point of just limiting the FPS to 45 so my fans won't go crazy and so I won't have to deal with stuttering where the FPS jumps around so much. I've noticed that the problems are worse on any maps where there ocean is visible (ship battles, queens berth, etc) so I'd hope we get an option to turn off the fancy waves effects at some point. Really hoping the next patch has some performance improvements in it.

[ibanix]

 

 

It's the same thing as with the original game - it eats up CPU cycles like they're hot pockets while barely utilizing the GPU. I know people with monster rigs (i7 + GTX 1080) who also experience poor performance and heavy CPU usage. Unless the game undergoes some serious optimization, there's nothing to be done.

 

The game is isometric, not 3D; and all modern video cards are optimized for 3D rendering. This should not be surprising. 

 

You gotta be kidding, right? The perspective doesn't change the fact that the models are three-dimensional (with dynamic lighting and shadows). The problem with the performance only manifests itself when there are a lot of NPCs and/or creatures on the map (just like Defiance Bay in the original). Obsidian can't handle Unity.

 

 

The models may be 3D, but they're certainly not using the same triangle count as other titles, nor is the majority of the scene changing all the time. The background art is mostly static with some effects like moving water, wind, weather. You are not seeing the type of scene changes you get in, say, Witcher 3 or Fallout 4, which needs to render things with large z-spaces. Dynamic lighting and shadows have been going on for a long time, too. Hardware T&L has been standard on graphics cards since 2001.

 

Obsidian may not be doing well with Unity, but it's also incorrect to fault them for your high-powered graphic card not making a huge difference; it's just not what the manufacturers are building and optimizing for. My GTX 1060 shows fairly effective use; it runs around 50-75% during most gameplay. The 1060 is not the newest generation, so the newest ones should work fine. My i5-4690k hasn't exceeded 70% on any cores during game play. 

[adragojlovic]

Greetings,

 

Thank you all for bringing this performance issue to our attention moving forward can you possible send us your DxDiag so that we can investigate this issue on our end?

 

Cheers.

[Insolentius]

 

 

 

It's the same thing as with the original game - it eats up CPU cycles like they're hot pockets while barely utilizing the GPU. I know people with monster rigs (i7 + GTX 1080) who also experience poor performance and heavy CPU usage. Unless the game undergoes some serious optimization, there's nothing to be done.

 

The game is isometric, not 3D; and all modern video cards are optimized for 3D rendering. This should not be surprising. 

 

You gotta be kidding, right? The perspective doesn't change the fact that the models are three-dimensional (with dynamic lighting and shadows). The problem with the performance only manifests itself when there are a lot of NPCs and/or creatures on the map (just like Defiance Bay in the original). Obsidian can't handle Unity.

 

 

The models may be 3D, but they're certainly not using the same triangle count as other titles, nor is the majority of the scene changing all the time. The background art is mostly static with some effects like moving water, wind, weather. You are not seeing the type of scene changes you get in, say, Witcher 3 or Fallout 4, which needs to render things with large z-spaces. Dynamic lighting and shadows have been going on for a long time, too. Hardware T&L has been standard on graphics cards since 2001.

 

Obsidian may not be doing well with Unity, but it's also incorrect to fault them for your high-powered graphic card not making a huge difference; it's just not what the manufacturers are building and optimizing for. My GTX 1060 shows fairly effective use; it runs around 50-75% during most gameplay. The 1060 is not the newest generation, so the newest ones should work fine. My i5-4690k hasn't exceeded 70% on any cores during game play. 

 

I'm not even sure what we're arguing about at this point. I'm fully aware that the 3D models in Deadfire don't even come close to the assets used in modern first- or third-person games, but since the (large) presence of those models in a map directly causes a drop in performance and gets my CPU fans spinning like literally no other game I play (e.g. Fallout 4, Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Starcraft 2 etc.), the engine (or the way Obsidian uses it) doesn't do a good job of offloading the processing demands onto the GPU.

[Continuity]

Greetings,

 

Thank you all for bringing this performance issue to our attention   moving forward can you possible send us your DxDiag so that we can investigate this issue on our end?

 

Cheers.

DxDiag.txt

Edited June 2, 2018 by Continuity

[Guest Jamila]

Greetings,

 

Thank you all for bringing this performance issue to our attention moving forward can you possible send us your DxDiag so that we can investigate this issue on our end?

 

Cheers.

 

It is the same on Linux, therefore unrelated to Direct X.  However, even though CPU gets very hot, CPU cores are evenly utilized at only ~30%, so I would not blame CPU, rather GPU, which is on the same heatpipe. I will check CPU usage during some battle later to be sure.

 

Also, effects such as waterfalls (Maje, Neketaka), some explosions and spells (probably chill fog) degrade framerate considerably.

[Continuity]

Yea I have the same issue on my laptop, I've gotten to the point of just limiting the FPS to 45 so my fans won't go crazy and so I won't have to deal with stuttering where the FPS jumps around so much. I've noticed that the problems are worse on any maps where there ocean is visible (ship battles, queens berth, etc) so I'd hope we get an option to turn off the fancy waves effects at some point. Really hoping the next patch has some performance improvements in it.

 

This. The ocean is the biggest culprit, but many character models shown at the same time and the lights seems to affect it as well.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Continuity

[Dragoonlordz]

Limiting the framerate/fps to between 30-60 and making sure vsync is set correctly i.e. either set to on in Nvidia control panel for example and off in game or off in the control panel and on in game should help reduce heat a lot. Leaving the framerate uncapped in Unity engine games causes massive usage and temp build ups and has been an issue with the Unity engine in a lot of Unity based games. I don't know why the engine has this problem in so many games but it does, if you google Unity engine/games and overheating/framerate you will find a lot of examples of this and a lot of examples of people solving it by capping the framerate to reduce excessive heat buildup.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Dragoonlordz

[AeonsLegend]

This isn't the first game where people note heat issues in their PC. I would like to advise people to look at their case other than posting what type of equipment is in the case. Your case and cooling system defines how hot the temperature gets inside it, not the type of GPU, CPU you have. My jan 2016 PC build never gets too hot on any game, on any setting. This isn't boasting I'm just saying I'm happy with the cooling system I have.

[Insolentius]

This isn't the first game where people note heat issues in their PC. I would like to advise people to look at their case other than posting what type of equipment is in the case. Your case and cooling system defines how hot the temperature gets inside it, not the type of GPU, CPU you have. My jan 2016 PC build never gets too hot on any game, on any setting. This isn't boasting I'm just saying I'm happy with the cooling system I have.

I have Arkham Knight, Dishonored 2, Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 installed right now, and none of these games (even when maxed out) stress my CPU as much as Deadfire.

[CENIC]

My r290x GPU has BSOD on me in Port Maje.

 

To be fair, this happens to me with other poorly optimized games as well, and this is an industry-wide problem.

 

If anyone has any tips for "failed to reset display driver and recover from time out" BSOD errors, please let me know.

[AeonsLegend]

All true and all false. A good rig with proper cooling will not overheat even with poorly built games. I also played Battletech, which even had a topic on how it fried systems and that game never brought my PC to high temperatures either.

[Insolentius]

No one is saying that Deadfire is frying systems left and right, but it does tax the CPU way more than it probably should have.

[AeonsLegend]

No one is saying that Deadfire is frying systems left and right, but it does tax the CPU way more than it probably should have.

Tax too much, or just uses CPU? There is a difference. If it simply gets your CPU to high percentages without overloading your system then there's nothing wrong with the programming. There's nothing wrong with a CPU that gets used to full effectiveness. It's what it was made to do.

[Insolentius]

 

No one is saying that Deadfire is frying systems left and right, but it does tax the CPU way more than it probably should have.

Tax too much, or just uses CPU? There is a difference. If it simply gets your CPU to high percentages without overloading your system then there's nothing wrong with the programming. There's nothing wrong with a CPU that gets used to full effectiveness. It's what it was made to do.

 

Just now, as I was ambushed by the enemy fleet on my way to Ukaizo, the CPU usage spiked and the fan went nuts during the 'text adventure' section when there was literally nothing going on  (and I have to stress this again - I have never heard my CPU fan so goddamn loud no matter what game I play). So yes, the game taxes the CPU too much since there's no way a static image and some text that popped up after the enemy boarded me should push the fan to the limit).

 

If a maxed out Novigrad during a heavy storm and dozens of NPCs milling around in and out of buildings (that don't require any loading) taxes the CPU less than staring at a couple of low-poly models in Deadfire (with everything set to low at 720p - I tested it to see whether there'd be any changes), then the problem is with the game. Honestly, I'm no longer interested in the excuses some of you guys are peddling.