Sharing graphics configs that make things smoother

[Marlon 303]

Guys and girls

 

How about we share a bit of tricks (no myths or hearsays) that actually work for getting the best bang for buck from the config?

I have given up on "ultra good" looking stuff on my already high-end (skyrim ultra capable )system, and I have decent looking reflections on the water, OK looking shadows.

 

Two things that disturb me that I can't sort out though, is:

 

1. Models loading in the NEAR distance, while you walk, causing a 'glitch' every few metres of walking (seen while grass/stuff/trees pop up in front)

2, Seeing more details a bit further. I can see flat looking, blurry tile textures just 10 tiles ahead.

 

Things that improved my graphics without making a fps difference though:

• Overriding wurm's anti-aliasing and anisotropy (8AA and 16 Ani) - huge improvement, fps stayed the same in game for me.
  
• Reflection quality high, and Almost Everything - didnt make much of a difference.
  
• Model loader threads: 4 Priority: low (improved the walking glitchyness a bit)
  

It seems that it's almost possible to up everything and not see a framerate drop.... until you enter freedom market or a fancy settlement. Then boom, you're down to 12 fps.

Now this sounds to me like culling isn't actually working? If you're standing out of sight of most models, why is the rate still that low, if culling is enabled?

 

People have suggested many things (running in admin mode, etc) - but I have found these to not make any difference. Maybe Wurm can benefit from some multi-threading/multiprocessing stuff (i can see it using only one core).

 

This is not really a "help me" thread, merely a share one.

 

We just want to have 30 or 40, not asking for much, just smoothness in all areas, not just night-time

 

[Klaa 4,872]

Player animations can be particularly heavy on the gpu.

Then there's the various objects and decorations players can make.

Statues use to be a major pain. Some villages would even kick people for making them.

The optimizing of the models has actually improved greatly, especially with some of the past Art Devs.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Klaa

[Arronicus 634]

Statues use to be a major pain. 

They still are a huge pain from what I can tell. One of the more prominent Desertion deeds has a heap of them and it's always lag city for me when they get close. 

[LorraineJ 1,099]

IDK if this is just for Macs or not - I couldn't locate new baby chicks in the grass, so I changed Graphics > Tile decorations to be Extremely sparse. There are less bits of decor in each grass now, but my Mac no longer runs hot. I was surprised how much that one setting could change the temperature.

[Marlon 303]

IDK if this is just for Macs or not - I couldn't locate new baby chicks in the grass, so I changed Graphics > Tile decorations to be Extremely sparse. There are less bits of decor in each grass now, but my Mac no longer runs hot. I was surprised how much that one setting could change the temperature.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Marlon

[Klaa 4,872]

Aye old statue models had pretty high poly counts. Some other models were pretty bad as well; though, they were eventually phased out.

Offhand iirc one of the berry ones was really bad too.

EDIT: Aye highlighting can be a performance killer. One of the Art devs, who did the previously mentioned optimizing, discussed removing it at one point; however, highlighting is so useful especially in pvp settings that having no suitable replacement would be a pain.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Klaa

[Tipper 260]

• Model loader threads: 4 Priority: low (improved the walking glitchyness a bit)

 

I tinkered with these settings a lot early on but just now tried these values and they helped to reduce my hitching dramatically.

 

[Booskii 379]

Bump going to save this and try a few tomorrow

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

>>Overriding wurm's anti-aliasing and anisotropy (8AA and 16 Ani)

 

On my systems, anti-aliasing (AA) is sometimes a performance hog but Anisotropic Filtering has very little negative impact, so try turning down AA and cranking up AF  (sharper but may have "jaggies" esp at lower resolutions)

 

 

Also see client developer Buddha's stickied post:

 

Configuring The Client: Looking Nice, While Running On Low Settings

 

You can pick and choose the ones according to taste, its a good starting point.

 

I also disable all chats (esp for 2nd & 3rd "alt" clients) if I have several characters logged in on one computer, I am convinced it makes my game run smoother. 

Edited August 19, 2015 by Brash_Endeavors

[Raybarg 436]

I tuned all gfx settings down as much as I could, or understood to.

 

Game started to look nice to me.

 

Also had to put frame limiter on (at 60) because things got weird without limitation.

 

I can run quite many clients simultaneous now also.

 

This is true story, no troll. Theres something weird going on in my brains that all this "smooth and glowing" that comes with "beautiful graphics" makes me want to look away.

Perhaps I am blessed this way, never needing fancy hardware for subjectively perceived aesthetics.

(This did not work in Ark Survival though, no matter how I played with settings, I felt like looking away... I think its first game like that for me.)

 

Is it questionable whether or not its useful to say that "best bang for buck" comes from very low settings which lead to subjectively perceived best looking quality?

[Marlon 303]

No Raybarg, you are right.

At the end of the day, Wurm's client gives us that freedom at least to go down to primitive. I appreciate many of the things on LOW, like terrain detail (otherwise, lawn looks poo).

Caves on LOW is nice for me, but I know some like it on high.

I dislike most of the modern fancies, but I do like me a bit of shadows and water reflections. I have a coastal settlement, with a view over most of the mid Inner sea, and reflections bring it to life. It also destroys my framerate.

 

I wanted to comment actually on the strangeness you see over 60fps, as it's relevant to the thread.

That is very likely tearing, frames that are rendered faster than your monitor can refresh. Enable VSYNC will cure that, but it will also act as a frame limiter. I dream of 60fps. I just want to maintain the 30-40 I have when I look DOWN... Obviously my 6 core 1100T and 8GB of corsair and 7700 is just not good enough.