Xenonauts very slow in combat map under Wine, how to improve speed?

[Teodosio]

Hello, I am posting here a support request that I posted on the Steam forum earlier.

Hello, I am having a problem with game speed in Xenonauts. Sometimes, while in combat map, the game is very slow, e.g. the map is laggy to scroll and the soldiers move at like 3fps. The game gets basically unplayable.

This only happens in certain maps and in certain parts of the map; if I move my view to another part of the map things can get smoother. Perhaps it depends on the number and type of objects on screen?

Is there any fix for this? I would be happy to try to reduce graphics quality, if possible. Plese tell me if there is any configuration file I could mess with.

Thanks for any help!

In order to get the latest version of the game I downloaded Xenonauts using a Wine-started Steam.

My specs are:

$ uname -aLinux desktop 3.13.0-29-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 4 21:00:20 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux$ cat /etc/*release*DISTRIB_ID=UbuntuDISTRIB_RELEASE=14.04DISTRIB_CODENAME=trustyDISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.04 LTS"NAME="Ubuntu"VERSION="14.04, Trusty Tahr"ID=ubuntuID_LIKE=debianPRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 14.04 LTS"VERSION_ID="14.04"HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"$ wine --versionwine-1.7.18$ cat /proc/cpuinfo |grep 'model name'model name	: Intel® Core2 Duo CPU     T6400  @ 2.00GHzmodel name	: Intel® Core2 Duo CPU     T6400  @ 2.00GHz$ lspci |grep Radeon01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV620/M82 [Mobility Radeon HD 3410/3430]$ free            total       used       free     shared    buffers     cachedMem:       3077064    2134964     942100      16412      88380    1054736$ glxinfo |grep OpenGLOpenGL vendor string: X.OrgOpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV620OpenGL core profile version string: 3.1 (Core Profile) Mesa 10.1.3OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 1.40OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)OpenGL core profile extensions:OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30OpenGL context flags: (none)OpenGL extensions:

[kabill]

Is there any fire about? In my experience fire is the main (only?) thing I've experienced lags with (and only then at night). Although I'm running the game on a more powerful machine, so that might not help much.

[bucaneer]

Have you tried using the proprietary Catalyst drivers? AMD open-source drivers should be good enough for a 2D game like this, but you never know.

[Teodosio]

Is there any fire about? In my experience fire is the main (only?) thing I've experienced lags with (and only then at night). Although I'm running the game on a more powerful machine, so that might not help much.

Have you tried using the proprietary Catalyst drivers? AMD open-source drivers should be good enough for a 2D game like this, but you never know.

Thanks for both your replies,

this slowdown happens very often to me, the last time in a map at the very start of the mission (i.e. troops still in the chopper). There were no fires around, just one building in sight, a car and a van.

I have tried with the proprietary Catalyst drivers but the driver that support my video card are too old and basically they don't work with my system, they require older versions of the X server and of the kernel. I tried to force them but the system just didn't boot anymore, I finally had to rollback to open source mesa drivers.

I hope there is some hidden setting to go around this issue?

[Chris]

Is this Mac or Linux? If it is Mac, can you just try running the game files in Wineskin instead and see if that makes any difference?

[Teodosio]

Is this Mac or Linux? If it is Mac, can you just try running the game files in Wineskin instead and see if that makes any difference?

No MAC here, as you can see from the specs in the OP it is Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Do you have any hidden option I could use to scale back animations/graphics?

Would you have any ideas about why this huge slowdown happens only on certain maps and on certain parts of the maps?

Thanks for support.

[Teodosio]

Update: I noticed yesterday that this slowdown seems to happen only in urban maps. In particular, it seems to me that thing slow to a crawl when there are cars on screen. If I scroll the map in such a way that cars are no longer visible, things are quick again. Is that possible? What are cars, sprites or 3D models?

Thanks and regards

[Gauddlike]

Everything in the game is a sprite.

The only real graphic option would be the resolution.

You could try reducing that but it would only really cut down how many sprites are shown on screen at one time.

[Teodosio]

Everything in the game is a sprite.

The only real graphic option would be the resolution.

You could try reducing that but it would only really cut down how many sprites are shown on screen at one time.

Thank! I tried that too (went from 1280x800 to 1024x768) but that didn't change anything.

Do you think cars sprites could have anything different compared to the others? I mean, could it be possible that I only get slowdowns while cars are on screen or is that just my impression? Could it be something else that is present on urban maps only? I didn't get any slowdowns on desert or farm maps.

Regards,

[Gauddlike]

I can't think of anything special about car props compared to the props inside alien craft, for example.

If you have a save file you could try a subtle fault finding approach.

By that I mean just blow up every car you find and see if the slow down goes away when the car does.

[Teodosio]

I can't think of anything special about car props compared to the props inside alien craft, for example.

If you have a save file you could try a subtle fault finding approach.

By that I mean just blow up every car you find and see if the slow down goes away when the car does.

Thanks that's a reasonable suggestion. I will try to do that and see whether the slowdown disappears after I destroy the cars. If it doesn't, it is obviously not the cars!

But is nobody else experiencing different fps depending on the map?

[harrison]

Hi! I am experiencing the same issue (the game is up to date - steam version). For me it happens only in urban maps (for now - It's the beggining of the game). First in the map where there are hangars and wagons. The game lags only in one hangar, the other hangar and rest part of map is working well. I noticed it also in urban map, where there are a lot of cars and containers - but I've seen this map only once and I don't remember more details.

Last, I was playing xenonauts V20 Stable Hotfix 08/01/2014, and the game wasn't lagging in any maps. My specs are: Core 2 duo 2,93 GHz, integrated graphic card: Intel G41 express chipset, 2 GB Ram, win xp. So, I don't think that the game lags because of too old computer.

Edited June 18, 2014 by harrison
adding more info

[KevinHann]

I've got to say I'm experiencing the same issues with Industrial tileset on Windows since 1.0 (as I've posted some time ago in a different thread). I couldn't find any other solution than eventually erasing all Industrial areas from the Geoscape map files to avoid them altogether. I also didn't have this problem on the same machine in 21 Stable.

Posting here just to clarify this probably isn't an entirely Wine related issue.

[Teodosio]

Hi! I am experiencing the same issue (the game is up to date - steam version). For me it happens only in urban maps (for now - It's the beggining of the game). First in the map where there are hangars and wagons. The game lags only in one hangar, the other hangar and rest part of map is working well. I noticed it also in urban map, where there are a lot of cars and containers - but I've seen this map only once and I don't remember more details.

Last, I was playing xenonauts V20 Stable Hotfix 08/01/2014, and the game wasn't lagging in any maps. My specs are: Core 2 duo 2,93 GHz, integrated graphic card: Intel G41 express chipset, 2 GB Ram, win xp. So, I don't think that the game lags because of too old computer.

We have similar system specs. I agree, it seems unlikely that the problem is due to our pc's being too old, else it would be happening on every map. But the performance difference is huge, I mean like the game is running fine and smooth normally and it just drops to probably 2-3 fps on certain parts of certain maps.

I've got to say I'm experiencing the same issues with Industrial tileset on Windows since 1.0 (as I've posted some time ago in a different thread). I couldn't find any other solution than eventually erasing all Industrial areas from the Geoscape map files to avoid them altogether. I also didn't have this problem on the same machine in 21 Stable.

Posting here just to clarify this probably isn't an entirely Wine related issue.

Thanks that's very informative. So I could try with deleting the industrial areas from Geoscape too (BTW, do you have a quick hint about which files to delete?).

Do I get correctly that with version 21 stable you can play in industrial area maps without slowdowns?

[KevinHann]

Thanks that's very informative. So I could try with deleting the industrial areas from Geoscape too (BTW, do you have a quick hint about which files to delete?).

Do I get correctly that with version 21 stable you can play in industrial area maps without slowdowns?

Yes, I can play industrial normally in 21 stable - although it's not worth regressing your version for that single reason.

As for the geoscape it's a bit more intricate than just deleting files, you need to re-draw a couple files to remove certain colors which correspond to the tileset. There is a more detailed explanation here:

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/10474-Help%21-Switching-off-Industrial-entirely?highlight=industrial

[Gauddlike]

If there are specific areas that cause slow down for people can I suggest they take screenshots of those areas for comparison?

Just in case there is some kind of link that would be apparent from those shots.

[KevinHann]

Sadly I didn't think of taking screenshots before changing the files as nobody suggested it would be possible to fix it; I was under the impression it has to do with aliens using second floors of buildings which is most common in Industrial but I might well be wrong.

[harrison]

Hi! 3 photos from 1 mission: Hangar, containers and street. Only there the game slows down. If you move camera to another place, everything works fine (such as another hangar or office rooms located in this area; so huge amount of desks, chairs and other stuff aren't reason for lags). And destroying cars etc, aren't resolving any problems - I've tried this on other map, and with no success

edit: I've replayed this mission - and again same places with lags.

Edited June 18, 2014 by harrison

[Teodosio]

This is my screenshot too. When viewing that part of the map the game slows to a crawl. If I scroll the map elsewhere the game runs fine.

I would really appreciate a fix for this issue. KevinHann reported that this problem doesn't appear in version 21 stable, perhaps you could check what was changed after that?

[Gauddlike]

Hmm unless it is a problem with specific submaps I don't know why it would be worse in some areas than others.

Might be worth seeing how those submaps are built compared to others.

Maybe they have multiple overlapping sprites or something.

Like the grass is placed then the concrete is placed over the top then the railway tracks over the top of that and so on.

[kabill]

If you can, it might be worth uploading some save games around the affected points? As I said upthread, I've never noticed anything like this but it might be that my machine is sufficiently powerful that the lag isn't large enough to be obvious. So it might be worth me keeping an eye on the fps while over those points in case I'm getting a dip like reported, just not as much.

[Teodosio]

If you can, it might be worth uploading some save games around the affected points? As I said upthread, I've never noticed anything like this but it might be that my machine is sufficiently powerful that the lag isn't large enough to be obvious. So it might be worth me keeping an eye on the fps while over those points in case I'm getting a dip like reported, just not as much.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I have attached a savegame: this map is slower on some parts and faster on others. The worst part of all is when you center your view on the Hunter: the game becomes so slow it seems it has crashed. If you center the view on the chopper instead the speed is normal.

BTW consider that my resolution is 1280x800.

[ATTACH]4303[/ATTACH]

slow.sav.zip

slow.sav.zip

[kabill]

Just had a look and I'm getting nothing at all. The only thing that affects fps for me is moving soldiers. Otherwise it runs consistently at ~60fps with no trouble at all. Even tried it on 1280x800 to check it wasn't resolution based.

[Teodosio]

Just had a look and I'm getting nothing at all. The only thing that affects fps for me is moving soldiers. Otherwise it runs consistently at ~60fps with no trouble at all. Even tried it on 1280x800 to check it wasn't resolution based.

Thanks, so that means that there are at least two possibilities to consider:

1) either your computer is much faster than mine (and this is very probable);

2) or there is some difference between our software configurations that is causing this. BTW, someone reported earlier in this thread that this issue is not unique to Wine but it appears under Windows as well.

We would really need some help from the developers at this point!

[kabill]

Thanks, so that means that there are at least two possibilities to consider:

1) either your computer is much faster than mine (and this is very probable);

2) or there is some difference between our software configurations that is causing this. BTW, someone reported earlier in this thread that this issue is not unique to Wine but it appears under Windows as well.

We would really need some help from the developers at this point!

Ugh, of course I was totally missing the point that this is from running the game on a non-Windows machine. So, for clarity, I'm using a Windows version. Also, my machine is certainly much more powerful than the one specced in the OP. I do have a laptop though which is fairly comparable. If I get chance I might try it out on there as well.