Darkplaces with Quoth

[yhe1]

Hello, I am running Quoth with the Darkplace engine. The problem I have is that I get low framerates at certain spots in the maps. For example, my frame rate was 44, then it suddenly drops to 15 at one spot on the map for about one second, then it goes back up. I tried lowering bpp to 16 and resolution to 800 *600 and gl_finish 1, but it doesn't seem to fix it. It is at the same spot every time. Is there anyway to fix this?

My autoexec.cfg file is as follows:

bind "9" "impulse 250"
bind "0" "impulse 251"
+mlook
sv_cheats 1
cl_particles_blood_alpha "1"
cl_stainmaps "0"
cl_stainmaps_clearonload "0"
gl_polyblend "0.200000"
r_coronas "0"
r_glsl "0"
r_shadow_gloss "0"
r_shadow_realtime_dlight "0"
r_shadow_realtime_dlight_shadows "0"
r_shadow_realtime_world_dlightshadows "0"
r_shadow_realtime_world_shadows "0"
gl_finish 1


any help would be great, thanks.

[Spirit]

There is something about how Darkplaces loads maps that might overload graphics cards with few MBs of RAM. There is a cvar to control it (or something related) but I don't remember it right now. Is your gfx card rather old?

[yhe1]

Thanks for the reply. It is a Intel G945.

[MH]

Not the greatest, but still reasonably capable provided you don't push it too hard.

I'm interested in what's going on in that part of the map where the framerate drops. There are a couple things in Quake, and some OpenGL things, that can have such an effect.

You might for example be encountering a spot where a blend is run over the entire screen. As every pixel is updated, you potentially have an extra 4,000,000+ operations (per frame!) suddenly occurring - this is a big OUCH on any card.

You may also be in a leaf where the vis data is invalid, corrupt, or showing the entire map. This is more likely to occur if the map was incrementally vis'ed, as it's possible under such conditions to have a leak that only has effect in a small portion of it.

Another thought is that DP itself may need to cache something at that spot in the map, and once cached everything returns to normal. LordHavoc should be able to provide info on whether anything like that happens.

[metchsteekle]

wit what i get with darkplaces is that the DPMOD really helps out
but
i still get sections of low frames expeccally in flahy areas

an exmple is on e1m1 when you first walk in thes the flashing lights wich does not help at all s i have every light thing turned off as far as it will go

but theat levl also contains that nicel little brige...wich in dp becomes
THE DREADDED BRIGE OF EXTRA LRGE FPS DROP

forn [the avarage] 60-50-40 to [a vary low] 5!!!!! >:{


but hey it looks great even with out lights

[yhe1]

Not the greatest, but still reasonably capable provided you don't push it too hard.

I'm interested in what's going on in that part of the map where the framerate drops. There are a couple things in Quake, and some OpenGL things, that can have such an effect.

You might for example be encountering a spot where a blend is run over the entire screen. As every pixel is updated, you potentially have an extra 4,000,000+ operations (per frame!) suddenly occurring - this is a big OUCH on any card.

You may also be in a leaf where the vis data is invalid, corrupt, or showing the entire map. This is more likely to occur if the map was incrementally vis'ed, as it's possible under such conditions to have a leak that only has effect in a small portion of it.

Another thought is that DP itself may need to cache something at that spot in the map, and once cached everything returns to normal. LordHavoc should be able to provide info on whether anything like that happens.

Well, I don't think it was anything special. For example, in the first mission's beginning, after riding the elevator down, crossing the bridge, and killing all the bad guys, the framerate drops right when I approach the door. I also get some lag when I turn corners.

[yhe1]

Not the greatest, but still reasonably capable provided you don't push it too hard.

I'm interested in what's going on in that part of the map where the framerate drops. There are a couple things in Quake, and some OpenGL things, that can have such an effect.

You might for example be encountering a spot where a blend is run over the entire screen. As every pixel is updated, you potentially have an extra 4,000,000+ operations (per frame!) suddenly occurring - this is a big OUCH on any card.

You may also be in a leaf where the vis data is invalid, corrupt, or showing the entire map. This is more likely to occur if the map was incrementally vis'ed, as it's possible under such conditions to have a leak that only has effect in a small portion of it.

Another thought is that DP itself may need to cache something at that spot in the map, and once cached everything returns to normal. LordHavoc should be able to provide info on whether anything like that happens.

This does not happen in quake, only in quoth.

[Zop]

Check the config files in the quoth folder, to see if they're adding anything weird. Last I knew, DP clears out the config files anyway, but see what's there.

Another guess... Quoth supports delayed monster spawning, and the Quoth levels probably took advantage of it. What happens is that as you pass through areas, groups of monsters 'appear' in the next area, but not apparently to the player. But, the engine does have to suddenly work with a bunch more monsters. You can confirm this problem: check if the lagged areas no longer lag after you kill the monsters ahead.

When it 'doesn't happen in quake' do you mean you played the quoth map without the mod?

[yhe1]

Well, I don't thinks it's a problem with Quoth itself, as I used Nehglquake to ran it once, and it did not have this problem, (sigh...but it has other problems) So it's a Darkplace thing

I also did some more testing, the number of enemies spawned has no effect on this. The framerate dropped the same amount whether on easy or hard.

Quoth maps are modified version of Quake maps. I played regular quake with Darkplaces and it did not drop.

Another the monster spawning problem, is there a way to turn it off?

I also took out the config file to allow Darkplaces to regenerate it, but the problem remained.

[Spirit]

I just tried and this is not related to Quoth at all. It is Darkplaces' problem with detailed maps.
The same fps drop occur with my 6600GT. Also it lags and stutters without a visible change in fps.

Is there a specific reason why you use Darkplaces? It is too often too quirky in my opinion. http://www.celephais.net/fitzquake/ works amazingly well ( http://www.kristianduske.com/fitzquake/ if you are on Mac or Linux).

PS: We are talking about e1m1rmx / e1m1quoth here, right? You can verify that it is not a Quoth related problem by playing http://www.quaddicted.com/filebase/e1m1rmx.zip

[yhe1]

Is this problem with Darkplaces unfixable then?

I tried enhanced Glquake and Fitzquake, but they both have problems with flickering. I tried Nehglquake, it doesn't flicker, but I got low framerates when there are a lot of enemies if I don't turn dynamic lights off.

I use Darkplaces because it looks the best, and allows me to keep dnaic lights when I am playing.

[LordHavoc]

Is this problem with Darkplaces unfixable then?

I tried enhanced Glquake and Fitzquake, but they both have problems with flickering. I tried Nehglquake, it doesn't flicker, but I got low framerates when there are a lot of enemies if I don't turn dynamic lights off.

I use Darkplaces because it looks the best, and allows me to keep dnaic lights when I am playing.

I would appreciate a savegame for this spot (where it experiences the low fps), so that I may identify the specific cause.

I would also appreciate two screenshots with r_speeds 2, one where it's running fine and then another where it's running poorly, just a short distance apart in the map, so I can see what changes when you step into that bad area.

Here are some settings to try also:
sv_gameplayfix_blowupfallenzombies 0
sv_gameplayfix_findradiusrealbox 0

You can also try turning off all other sv_gameplayfix cvars.

This doesn't sound like anything rendering related (especially if it happens in quoth only), so I suspect it's something that Quoth doesn't like about the darkplaces gameplay bugfixes.

[yhe1]

I am not sure how to take screenshots with r_speed 2, but the saved game is attached. I saved it just before the framrate drop, so you'll have a walk foward a little bit.

[LordHavoc]

I am not sure how to take screenshots with r_speed 2, but the saved game is attached. I saved it just before the framrate drop, so you'll have a walk foward a little bit.

The f12 key takes screenshots, just retrieve them from your quoth/screenshots directory.

[yhe1]

The screenshots are attached. Thanks for your time.