Performance slowdowns with lo poly models? [solved]

Malebolge · Post by **Malebolge** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:18 pm

Hi.

I'm having lots of slowdowns when trying to render around 10 meshes of 800 polys, animated, no lights, no other objects. There's also another mesh, which we move using the keyboard, that's around 1600 polys, also animated.
Probable causes for slowdowns? We've tried using no textures, stopping the animations, etcetera, but we can't seem to find a way to optimize it. We use the basic culling that comes with the engine.

This is what we have on our main loop.

Code: Select all

   while(pManager.getDevice()->run()) 
   {  
	  eventReceiver.endEventProcess();

	  camera.set(player.getNode()->getPosition().X + cameraOffset,cNode->getPosition().Y,player.getNode()->getPosition().Z);
	  cNode->setPosition(camera);
	  cNode->setTarget(player.getNode()->getPosition());


      pManager.getVideo()->beginScene(true,true, SColor(255, 100, 101, 140)); 
      pManager.getSceneMngr()->drawAll(); 
      pManager.getGUIEnv()->drawAll(); 
      pManager.getVideo()->endScene(); 

	
	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_ESCAPE)) 
		  pManager.getDevice()->closeDevice();

	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_W)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_W);

	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_S)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_S);

	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_D)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_D);

	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_A)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_A);

	  
	  player.rotate(pManager.getDevice()->getCursorControl()->getRelativePosition());

	 
	  

	  
	  if (pManager.getDevice()->getTimer()->getTime() > lastTick + spawnTime && enemyAmount < maxEnemyAmount) {	
		lastTick = pManager.getDevice()->getTimer()->getTime();
		
			Zombie z(pManager);
			listZombies.push_back(z);
			enemyAmount++;
		
	  }

	 
	  eventReceiver.startEventProcess();
     
   }

Thanks

Seven · Post by **Seven** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:32 pm

Code: Select all

// while the manager exists
while(pManager.getDevice()->run()) 
   {  
	  // let the event handler do it's thing	
	  eventReceiver.endEventProcess();

	  // set the camera to a good place in the world
	  camera.set(player.getNode()->getPosition().X + cameraOffset,cNode->getPosition().Y,player.getNode()->getPosition().Z);
	  cNode->setPosition(camera);
	  cNode->setTarget(player.getNode()->getPosition());
	
  	  // render the scene
      pManager.getVideo()->beginScene(true,true, SColor(255, 100, 101, 140)); 
      pManager.getSceneMngr()->drawAll(); 
      pManager.getGUIEnv()->drawAll(); 
      pManager.getVideo()->endScene(); 

	  // if the event receiver had a escape key down then do this
	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_ESCAPE)) 
		  pManager.getDevice()->closeDevice();

	  // if the event receiver had a W key down then do this
	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_W)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_W);

	  // if the event receiver had a S key down then do this
	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_S)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_S);

	  // if the event receiver had a D key down then do this
	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_D)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_D);

	  // if the event receiver had a A key down then do this
	  if(eventReceiver.keyDown(irr::KEY_KEY_A)) 
		  player.movement(irr::KEY_KEY_A);

	  // rotate the player
	  player.rotate(pManager.getDevice()->getCursorControl()->getRelativePosition());

	  // if the time is right and not enough enemies		  
	  if (pManager.getDevice()->getTimer()->getTime() > lastTick + spawnTime && enemyAmount < maxEnemyAmount) 
	  {	
		// remember the time
		lastTick = pManager.getDevice()->getTimer()->getTime();
		
		// create a new zombie
		Zombie z(pManager);
		listZombies.push_back(z);
		enemyAmount++;
		
  }

what is the value of maxEnemyAmount?
how much does the frame rate change when ther eis

1 enemy?
2 enemies?
3 enemies?
etc....

is it linear or does it maintain a good frame rate until the 5th enemy and then drops like a rock?

Malebolge · Post by **Malebolge** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:35 pm

Seven wrote:what is the value of maxEnemyAmount?
how much does the frame rate change when ther eis

1 enemy?
2 enemies?
3 enemies?
etc....

is it linear or does it maintain a good frame rate until the 5th enemy and then drops like a rock?

It drops at around 7 or 8, then i'd say it drops again when there around 15. With like 5 or 4 it works at like 200 fps.

Seven · Post by **Seven** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:37 pm

the code looks good but of course, I cannot see the enemy code. if it isnt linear though, then it could be the graphics card. Have you tried on another system?

Malebolge · Post by **Malebolge** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:39 pm

Seven wrote:the code looks good but of course, I cannot see the enemy code. if it isnt linear though, then it could be the graphics card. Have you tried on another system?

On other systems, it works a little better but i'm guessing 800 polys is enough for a 64mb video card+1gb RAM to take.

Code: Select all

Zombie::Zombie(CGameCore &pManager) 
{ 
	
	irr::scene::IAnimatedMesh *tMesh = pManager.getSceneMngr()->getMesh("zombie.b3d");
    eNode = pManager.getSceneMngr()->addAnimatedMeshSceneNode(tMesh);
    eNode->setFrameLoop(3,24);
    eNode->setMaterialFlag(video::EMF_LIGHTING, false);
	eNode->setPosition(pManager.getSceneMngr()->getSceneNodeFromName("generator")->getPosition());

	speed = 1.5f;	
}

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:50 pm

For skeletal animated meshes, the number of polys is not necessarily the limiting factor, but it's the number of bones. So how's your mesh modelled? Also, how many textures/materials does it have, etc?

Malebolge · Post by **Malebolge** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:20 pm

hybrid wrote:For skeletal animated meshes, the number of polys is not necessarily the limiting factor, but it's the number of bones. So how's your mesh modelled? Also, how many textures/materials does it have, etc?

Removing the finger bones in the feet and hands did improve the framerate a lot. We're working on 3D Max default biped, minus the couple bones we removed. Still, with no lights, no nothing, we think it should run a little better. Textures right now are 1024x1024 but removing them gave us no performance boost so i'm guessing it's not texture related. Thoughts?

Halifax · Post by **Halifax** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:14 pm

How many bones are there exactly, and what's the highest depth in the hierarchy of the bones. Those are key factors, so please provide the numbers. And what FPS, or ms, are you getting now just by deleting those bones? Also, what's the maximum number of bones affecting one specific vertex in your model?

The Creator · Post by **The Creator** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:49 pm

Hi, i'm the animator.

I'm using a biped with 22 bones (using 2 bones for the spine, no fingers and only one toe) as the bones for skin modifier. I add the hole biped as bones, and then adjusted the envelopes to modify the same part of the mesh they represent (for example the upperarm modifies the mesh's upperarm) and a little more.

I don't have the slighest idea what the highest depth is, i did not change any weight and the max number of bones affecting one vertex is, at most, 3.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:22 pm

Is it possible to get this mesh (or a similar one) for performance tests?

Halifax · Post by **Halifax** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:49 pm

Well I still have yet to hear the actual millisecond count, or frames per second that you guys are achieving, but 220 bones on screen plus another 22 for the player controlled character is actually a lot.

At any rate, I still would like to hear what times you guys are achieving, so I will not make any comparisons just yet.

Also, some specifications of the machine that your testing it on would be nice.

Malebolge · Post by **Malebolge** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:59 pm

Halifax wrote:Well I still have yet to hear the actual millisecond count, or frames per second that you guys are achieving, but 220 bones on screen plus another 22 for the player controlled character is actually a lot.

At any rate, I still would like to hear what times you guys are achieving, so I will not make any comparisons just yet.

Also, some specifications of the machine that your testing it on would be nice.

We're trying it on an onboard video card of 64mb, 2gb ram and a 2ghz processor. Low specs PC because we want to try and make it work on those PCs. With that and 22 bones per character, we get around 20 frames per second with 40 characters on screen, sans the player. So you think we should cut down the bone count? I'm afraid animations will look stiff if that were the case...

Halifax · Post by **Halifax** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:56 pm

Well I'm afraid to say it does appear to be the number of bones, especially with that low-end of a card. I wouldn't say that you should scale back the number of bones, but rather scale back the number of players on the screen at one point.

Also, in comparison, Gears of War only has about 700 bones on the screen at maximum usually. You have 40 * 22 bones = 880 bones on screen at a time.

But anyways, just curious as I could possibly provide better help, what do you need that many characters on screen for? Like, what type of game is it?

JP · Post by JP » Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:18 am

Animations may appear stiff with lower bone counts but you're running on a pretty low-end spec which games companies would have been targeting years ago, resulting in stiff animations back then. If you want, for example, Crysis quality you need to target the same specs as they target!!

rogerborg · Post by **rogerborg** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:41 am

Are you using a release (not debug) build of both your app and Irrlicht?

If not, then you're (literally) wasting your time doing any profiling.

Irrlicht Engine

Performance slowdowns with lo poly models? [solved]

Performance slowdowns with lo poly models? [solved]

Re: Performance slowdowns with lo poly models?

Re: Performance slowdowns with lo poly models?