Fixed Levelling: Cannonball Hits Slow Down Game

Mirsaneli · Dec 16, 2015

Levis said:
Fixed up the code a bit and sped up the process.
Please test these files and let me know if its better or worse and if its playable now @Mirsaneli .
Mod Release - Levis' Stuff [Dec 16] | PiratesAhoy!

Tested your latest update. It stutters badly again

Mirsaneli · Dec 16, 2015

I would like to hear what others have to say. Maybe it's the problem with my PC (CPU, GPU or who knows what)... I don't want to waste your time correcting the naval battles if everything works on other PC's. On my PC, it's impossible to play when you shoot cannons on enemy ship, especially if I'm sailing a ship with a lot of guns (which I do at the moment)...

Hylie Pistof · Dec 16, 2015

What are your computer specifications?

I have only been sailing small ships and have had no problems. Well, that's not strictly true. There have been times when the game slows waay down in battles and I do not know why. Then there are other times when it is fine. :facepalm

It is probably more because of WinX than anything else. All I know is that it is the cannon smoke that is the culprit when it goes bad.

I should get a big ship and get into a big battle and see just what happens.

Mirsaneli · Dec 16, 2015

Hylie Pistof said:
What are your computer specifications?

I have only been sailing small ships and have had no problems. Well, that's not strictly true. There have been times when the game slows waay down in battles and I do not know why. Then there are other times when it is fine. It is probably more because of WinX than anything else. All I know is that it is the cannon smoke that is the culprit when it goes bad.

I should get a big ship and get into a big battle and see just what happens.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz
Nvidia GT630 2GB DDR3
4GB DDR3
Windows 7 Professional 32 bit

You are wrong, cannon smoke barely affects performance. It is the Auto_skill_system, I have tested it and I'm 100% sure that it causes the stuttering in naval battles. I even played a large naval battle (with more than 10 ships) without Auto_skill, and it was great. It is fine only when you are fighting 2-3 ships and if your ship does not have many guns. With 20+ guns, stuttering is really, really bad...

Pieter Boelen · Dec 16, 2015

I think the problem is because the "adding XP function" is relatively heavy and it gets called EVERY time a cannonball hits.
So big ship = More cannons = More hits at the same time = More lag.
Also, Higher Skills = Cannons Firing At the Same Time (instead of after each other with a random delay) = More lag at the same time.

My attempted fix reduces the number of function calls. @Levis' one, if I understand correctly, tries to make the function calls that are left more efficient.
So it should at least be better than it was. Hopefully? Perhaps?

I definitely have been noticing the effects on my computer as well.
Not enough to call it "unplayable" but definitely noticeable and I'd much rather have the game without cannonball hits causing that lag at all.

Levis · Dec 16, 2015

Pieter Boelen said:
I think the problem is because the "adding XP function" is relatively heavy and it gets called EVERY time a cannonball hits.
So big ship = More cannons = More hits at the same time = More lag.
Also, Higher Skills = Cannons Firing At the Same Time (instead of after each other with a random delay) = More lag at the same time.

My attempted fix reduces the number of function calls. @Levis' one, if I understand correctly, tries to make the function calls that are left more efficient.
So it should at least be better than it was. Hopefully? Perhaps?

I definitely have been noticing the effects on my computer as well.
Not enough to call it "unplayable" but definitely noticeable and I'd much rather have the game without cannonball hits causing that lag at all.

what I did was moving the addxp function to a event call also so it should work alongside the game instead of halting the game....
So if it still stutters this is kind of weird.... I do have some optimalization things I might be able to do concerning the officer prices. this made the function heavier. I think I should also reduce the amount of function calls by maybe adding them up and only calling it once a while. so if you have a lot of hits it wont be called that often.

Pieter Boelen · Dec 16, 2015

Levis said:
I think I should also reduce the amount of function calls by maybe adding them up and only calling it once a while. so if you have a lot of hits it wont be called that often.

That's what I was thinking too. If you have a 100 gun ship and good Accuracy skills, you could end up getting that function called 100 times within a few frames.
With that being the case, ANY addition could make for a HUGE increase in processing power needed, with the resulting potential lag. :facepalm

Levis · Dec 17, 2015

Pieter Boelen said:
That's what I was thinking too. If you have a 100 gun ship and good Accuracy skills, you could end up getting that function called 100 times within a few frames.
With that being the case, ANY addition could make for a HUGE increase in processing power needed, with the resulting potential lag.

I've set it up now so that during 2 seconds (after the first call) all xp is added together. And after these 2 seconds the function is called.
This should reduce the lag significatly

Levis · Dec 17, 2015

Another attempt here:
Mod Release - Levis' Stuff [Dec 16] | PiratesAhoy!

Please let me know if it works better

.

Mirsaneli · Dec 17, 2015

Levis said:
Another attempt here:
Mod Release - Levis' Stuff [Dec 16] | PiratesAhoy!

Please let me know if it works better .

This is it! Very nice! Thanks Levis!

Mirsaneli · Dec 17, 2015

There is still a few fps drop when in large naval battles (8+ ships), but that doesn't have to do anything with cannon fire, the stuttering is gone...

Pieter Boelen · Dec 17, 2015

So I can mark this... "Fixed" then? Maybe we should keep this on "Needs Testing" until I've had a chance to give this a quick try as well.

Mirsaneli · Dec 17, 2015

Pieter Boelen said:
So I can mark this... "Fixed" then? Maybe we should keep this on "Needs Testing" until I've had a chance to give this a quick try as well.

Ok, we can wait for other feedback, and then mark it as Fixed. But since I was the only one complaining, I guess others won't have issues

Pieter Boelen · Dec 17, 2015

Mirsaneli said:
But since I was the only one complaining, I guess others won't have issues

I was "complaining" too, remember?

Mirsaneli · Dec 17, 2015

Pieter Boelen said:
I was "complaining" too, remember?

Nah, you have a better PC

Mirsaneli · Dec 17, 2015

It would be good though to see what happens when firing with 1st class ships. Unfortunately, I don't own one at the moment, but with my 72 guns 3rd class ship, it performs nicely!

jsv · Dec 17, 2015

Mirsaneli said:
It would be good though to see what happens when firing with 1st class ships. Unfortunately, I don't own one at the moment

You can obtain one by executing something like that:

Code:

GiveShip2Character(pchar, "manowar_gub", "Cheat-o-War", -1, GetServedNation(), true, true);

from the console... but be sure to make a reserve copy of your save first.

Levis · Dec 17, 2015

Mirsaneli said:
It would be good though to see what happens when firing with 1st class ships. Unfortunately, I don't own one at the moment, but with my 72 guns 3rd class ship, it performs nicely!

I've tested it agains forts

.
But the leveling shouldn't become more intents anymore with more cannons now.
If needed we could move the relation stuff into this function also. But if @Pieter Boelen Looks at it he should be able to figure out how it works and fix that if needed.

Pieter Boelen · Dec 17, 2015

Levis said:
If needed we could move the relation stuff into this function also. But if @Pieter Boelen Looks at it he should be able to figure out how it works and fix that if needed.

We already agreed to take most of that relation stuff completely out.
I just didn't get round to actually doing that yet. But that'll clean it up a bit further.

Pieter Boelen · Dec 17, 2015

@Levis about this code:

Code:

     int cexp = 0;
     int aexp = 0;
     if (bSeriousBoom)
     {
       [...]
       cexp += 500;
       aexp += 500;
     }
     else
     {
       [...]
       cexp += 100;
       aexp += 100;
     }
     [...]
   }

   if(cexp > 0) Ship_AddDelayedCumXP(GetCharacter(iBallCharacterIndex), "Cannons", cexp); //Levis
   if(aexp > 0) Ship_AddDelayedCumXP(GetCharacter(iBallCharacterIndex), "Accuracy", aexp); //Levis

Why are you doing a cumulative adding on 'cexp' and 'aexp'? They can only be either '100' or '500' as written there anyway.

And would it be of any help now anymore to use my recent frnd() trick to attempt to further improve performance?

Code:

         if (frnd() > 0.5)   Ship_AddCharacterExpChar(rBallCharacter, "Cannons" , 1000);
         else         Ship_AddCharacterExpChar(rBallCharacter, "Accuracy", 1000);

Just curious. :doff

Fixed Levelling: Cannonball Hits Slow Down Game

Privateer

Privateer

Curmudgeon

Privateer

Navigation Officer

Find(Rum) = false;

Navigation Officer

Find(Rum) = false;

Find(Rum) = false;

Privateer

Privateer

Navigation Officer

Privateer

Navigation Officer

Privateer

Privateer

Freebooter

Find(Rum) = false;

Navigation Officer

Navigation Officer