Game Pauses/lag/hangs

[Xemos 9]

Before people post. Please... if you are a know-it-all just close this page... before I am forced to call you an ------for saying "the problem is you have a laptop"

Specs

Java: 7.0.30.5

DX: 11

Processor: Intel® Core i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz

Memory: 6144MB RAM

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

GPU: GeForce GT 525M

Dedicated Vram: 1024MB DDR3

Now my GPU is set to override all power settings when the java program is running, and I manually set it to allow maximum performance to the java program. Frame wise, when the game is running averages at 45-60FPS with 45 being in a heavy city like indy spawn.. The dips occur infrequently and I do not notice any real memory leak on the java program itself( IE it growing out of control with it's memory usage) It stays steady at 1 gig private and 1.2-1.5 gigs virtual in size. You can see in the picture below via CPU and GPU usage every time it hangs as the usage goes to nothing. So any and all help in fixing this small annoyance is much appreciated.

Key

Green: CPU

Pink: GPU

Orange: Ram

Yellow: System Commit

Middle blank: Read/Writes of HD

[Xallo 2,599]

Could you please post your current settings (gamesettings.txt)?

Edited January 2, 2013 by Xallo

[shadowblasta 142]

ii dont think no matter what settings you should get 1,000,000k usage

I have this problem with Wurm and Minecraft so im thinking its a java issue

Edited January 2, 2013 by shadowblasta

[Xemos 9]

#Wurm Online client properties
#Tue Jan 01 18:09:44 EST 2013
sound_cache_enabled=true
viewport_bob=true
hide_menu_examine=false
color_white=1.0,1.0,1.0
mark_text_read=true
no_terrain_render=false
pbuffer_enabled=false
has_read_eula=true
color_error=1.0,0.3,0.3
use_color_picking=true
render_glow=false
trees=1
vbo_enabled=2
reflections=4
animation_playback_self=0
showKChat=true
debug_mode=false
color_teal=0.0,0.5,0.5
irc_log_rotation=2
impColumn=true
sound_al_gain=15
release_context=true
skydetail=1
auto_mipmaps_enabled=2
use_fast_clock_work_around=true
no_world_render=false
skillgain_no_alignment=true
release_context_on_jogl_sleep=false
skillgain_no_favor=true
loadInventoryStartup=true
settings_version=3
use_anisotropic_filtering=0
terrain_bump=true
custim_timer_source=1
gui_skin=1
color_black=0.0,0.0,0.0
tiledecorations=3
season_override=0
color_cyan=0.0,1.0,1.0
font_antialias=2
use_alpha_particles=true
fog_coord_src=0
submit_client_data=1
game_client_thread_priority=2
structure_render_distance=2
sound_engine=1
customTimer5=-1|-1
customTimer4=-1|-1
customTimer3=-1|-1
customTimer2=-1|-1
customTimer1=-1|-1
font_italian=11
other_log_rotation=2
enable_debugs=false
log_extra_errors=false
screenshot_file_format=1
color_grey=0.5,0.5,0.5
sound_play_ambients=true
auto_run_source=0
depth_clamp_enabled=1
terrain_res=2
stipple_enabled=true
material_as_suffix=true
use_nano_timer=false
hide_menu_no_target=false
player_guest=false
collada_animations=2
cloud_shadows=true
player_texture_size=2
test_attach_equipment=false
fast_yield=false
event_log_rotation=2
color_purple=0.5,0.0,0.5
test_mode=0
color_fuchsia=1.0,0.0,1.0
fps_limit_enabled=false
color_lime=0.0,1.0,0.0
sound_play_combat=false
sound_play_emotes=false
font_header=24
update_optional=true
color_navy_blue=0.23,0.39,1.0
render_distant_terrain=false
max_texture_size=2
censor_chat=false
high_res_binoculars=false
use_phobia_models=false
color_maroon=0.5,0.0,0.0
offscreen_texture_size=1
sound_play_buzz=true
sound_buzzlevel=2
outline_picking=true
water_detail=1
compressed_textures_S3TC=false
use_antialiasing=0
display_settings=false\:false\:0\:1280\:720\:32\:-1\:false\:true
use_fbo_reflections=true
model_loader_thread_priority=2
use_non_alpha_particles=true
shift_drag_default=10
reflection_texture_size=1
tile_transitions=true
occlusion_queries_enabled=2
gui_opacity=3
compressed_textures=false
exec_source=0
item_creature_render_distance=3
font_static=11
use_tree_models=true
treelist_outline=true
sound_doppler_enabled=false
use_weather_particles=true
key_bindings_source=0
font_monospaced=11
engine_multithreaded=0
save_skills_on_quit=false
color_yellow=1.0,1.0,0.0
enable_vsync=false
color_royal_blue=0.23,0.39,1.0
enable_shift_drag=false
player_texture_resolution=0
use_fbo_color_picking=true
mega_texture_size=2
color_orange=1.0,0.5,0.0
remember_password=true
color_silver=0.75,0.75,0.75
togglePushToTalk=true
local_list_in_event=false
font_default=11
log_gl_errors=false
resident_models=false
color_system=0.5,1.0,0.5
multidraw_enabled=2
color_red=1.0,0.0,0.0
eigc_enabled=false
use_nagles_algorithm=false
sound_play_work=false
skillgain_minimum=3
fps_limit=45
silent_friends_update=false
cavedetail=1
sound_play_weather=true
keyboard_layout=0
no_brightness=false
inverse_mouse=false
fbo_enabled=2
hint_texture_scaling=1
sound_play_music=true
fps_limit_background=30
render_sun_glare=true
non_power_of_two=2
hide_menu_spam_mode=true
sound_play_door=false
font_bold=11
sound_footstepslevel=10
model_loading_threads=1
hide_menu_stop=false
color_green=0.08,1.0,0.08
irc_notif=0
sound_play_footsteps=true
glsl_enabled=2
shadow_level=4
fov_horizontal=80
setting_timestamps=true

Here it is

[Xemos 9]

After update it was working AMAZINGLY until...........

making it almost unplayable now. Help would be really appreciated

[Xemos 9]

Bump.... Is there anyone who can help with this issue? The game gets extremely bad some times, others it works fine.

So yeah... The yellow is what happens when i use a mouse wheel on my forge in a mine.. This is about 30 secs of super hang in which i cant click or do anything...

Edited January 8, 2013 by Xemos

[guitarxe 50]

Tried dedicating a core (or three) just for the Java process and putting your other active programs on the other core(s) ?

Your issue is a bit strange, since usually the opposite happens. That is to say, occasionally the load on the CPU jumps to 100% and this causes the observable "lag". What you're showing, however, is that occasionaly the load on your CPU instead dips to near 0%, indicating that it is not being used. Do you have this kind of issue when playing other games or using other intensive programs (for instance rendering images in photoshop or something that is CPU intensive for long periods of time)?

Seeing also as you are on a laptop, I do know that some manufacturers throttle the CPU depending on power saving settings. Have you tried playing around with these? Try disabling any and all kind of power savings and allow the laptop to use as much power as it needs to at all times, and do you usually play plugged in or on the battery? If on the battery, try playing plugged in and see if this makes a difference.

[Xemos 9]

I found the culprit thread!.. or at least the one directly related to the hangs.. Don't know much about the game internals yet to figure out how to fix it on my own.

Thread 944 normally runs 17-27% CPU and cycles around 1.9 billion.. Which pretty much screams that it is the main thread for the game, or at least the visuals + I/O to the game I would think.. During the hangs, it drops to the above screenshot.

The above mentioned is with me assigning it to run on core 3 and 4 with 1 and 2 disabled.. As you can see, that didn't work. Power options are all maxed while plugged in, and I do only play plugged in. I disabled my CPU's throttle abilities. As well I forced-closed just about every intel service/process that could possibly interfere with the game ( P. S. Wurm + Intel's datasafe do not like each other.. ) As for other intensive games.. Ran Minecraft + server same time, no issues // Runs GW2 with almost all setting maxed at 20-40fps depending on particles/stuff on screen. Can run a city on Cities XL with over 600k pop ( those who own this game on older rigs can tell you that's challenging ) // Can do Skyrim near maxed. And all the aforementioned do not have these hangs.

[guitarxe 50]

Then I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that the game is waiting for something at this point. If it's not the CPU being throttled by something then it's something outside of your control. This can usually be caused either by de-syncing issues with the Wurm server (in which case you would not see any kind of observable "lag", but rather a "rubber-banding" effect), or if there is an issue with multi-threading (game is waiting for something to finish on another thread). You could see if there is an option to enable/disable multi-threading but I doubt there would be.

You say this occurs infrequently. I myself experience this too, but only after long periods of play and I did not try to analyse it in the detail that you have. I usually blame it on Java and restart the application and it then functions better until again after a long period of time I start to notice it. That would appear to be the symptoms of a memory leak, but since the size of the Java process does not balloon it is not it, and the memory leak that we had a few weeks ago was fixed. This rather seems more like poor multi-threading optimization in which case there is little that can be done. It's how the game was written. Wurm is not know for having particularly spectacular performance, afterall.

[ago 470]

The Java JDK comes with the tool jstack. jstack <pid> will list all Java threads including their stack traces. In addition it lists the thread names and the threads native id (nid=) in hex. You can map the thread from ProcessExplorer to the Java thread that way.

[Xemos 9]

Ok, so I jstacked it... Oddly enough the PID that null's itself out ( which this did confirm is the wurm main thread ) has no change when it hangs. But there is one thread that does have a change from a wait to an active phase and back to a wait when the hang is over.. It was fun as hell /sarcasm to catch it in these moments as wurm locks up the mouse when it lags.. but with very fast keyboard commands I was finally able to get it.

The outputs of jstack, Left is normal game operation / right is frozen/hung

http://www.diffchecker.com/0276LR4A

And in the middle you will see:

"Wurm 3.1.76-4544 [unstable] main thread" prio=6 tid=0x0000000008212000 nid=0x1b4c runnable [0x000000000908f000]

has no change even though it is the procees that nulls out during every hang

DING! just noticed something...

"Attach Listener" daemon prio=10 tid=0x00000000065fc800 nid=0x13fc waiting on condition [0x0000000000000000] 

*Theory*

The thread that changes during the hang has the highest possible priority... 10, the game itself is a 6... So something with that attach listener is acting wonky and since it is the highest priority, the java engine focuses on it and lets the lower priorities all hang till it is done doing whatever it is meant to do.

*Theory*

......................I wish devs actually come to the forums........ must.... hunt... in.... IRC....

Edited January 9, 2013 by Xemos