If my fps triple when I'm in a machine's GUI...

[Ieldra]

...then what is likely to cause the fps problems I'm having? Can't really be number of machines, since they're all chunkloaded and keep running while I do stuff with the one whose GUI I am in. So I'm thinking it's probably graphics and lighting. Is this correct? I don't have extensive knowledge of MC and java mechanics.

Has anyone observed a really drastic fps hit from arcane lamps? Such as going from 90 to 40 from one lamp? My tests have been inconclusive but something is going on with these lamps. Maybe it's a factor if you place them in areas with lots of small caves, so that they create lots of light sources.

Based on the observation that at my reactor site, fps went from 90 to 35 after having done nothing more than flattening the site, placing an arcane lamp, making a big room with one EnderIO capacitor bank of 128 blocks and three more arcane lamps, while not going down any further after making seven more capacitor banks of the same size and adding a 7x7x6 Big Reactor. If I enter the Big Reactor's GUI, fps go up to 80-90 again.

I also wonder if Optifine is a factor, which I have installed to improve performance of my texpack as its makers recommend.

 

[ratchet freak]

optifine is always a factor, the major problem with it is that its effects are dependent on your computer setup

 

[Ieldra]

optifine is always a factor, the major problem with it is that its effects are dependent on your computer setup

What does it depend on? GPU (Nvidia 780 Ti) Drivers (I may not have updated in a while)? CPU (AMD Phenom 6-core 2.5 GHz) OS (Win 7 64bit)? Java version (Java 7 64bit, not sure of the exact version, recent update about 2 months ago)

 

[Hambeau]

I'm not sure but if you are currently in a GUI of some type isn't block update processing suspended? This might explain the FPS drop when you exit to "the real world".

 

[Ieldra]

I'm not sure but if you are currently in a GUI of some type isn't block update processing suspended? This might explain the FPS drop when you exit to "the real world".

I don't know what causes a block update, but machines keep doing their stuff everywhere while I'm in one machine's GUI. Conduits keep transporting, everything's running smoothly.

 

[Hambeau]

I don't know what causes a block update, but machines keep doing their stuff everywhere while I'm in one machine's GUI. Conduits keep transporting, everything's running smoothly.

Yes, but I don't believe the computer actually has to animate the process while a semi-static display is on the screen... Calculations and numbers can change "behind the scenes" much quicker when the display isn't interrupting the process for an image update.

 

[Wagon153]

I don't know what causes a block update, but machines keep doing their stuff everywhere while I'm in one machine's GUI. Conduits keep transporting, everything's running smoothly.

A block update is caused when a block change happens. I.E creation of blocks/timers.

 

[ThatOneSlowking]

What does it depend on? GPU (Nvidia 780 Ti) Drivers (I may not have updated in a while)? CPU (AMD Phenom 6-core 2.5 GHz) OS (Win 7 64bit)? Java version (Java 7 64bit, not sure of the exact version, recent update about 2 months ago)

Try with and without optifine. Just try it, some machines work better with it, others without it.

 

[rhn]

...then what is likely to cause the fps problems I'm having? Can't really be number of machines, since they're all chunkloaded and keep running while I do stuff with the one whose GUI I am in. So I'm thinking it's probably graphics and lighting. Is this correct? I don't have extensive knowledge of MC and java mechanics.

Has anyone observed a really drastic fps hit from arcane lamps? Such as going from 90 to 40 from one lamp? My tests have been inconclusive but something is going on with these lamps. Maybe it's a factor if you place them in areas with lots of small caves, so that they create lots of light sources.

Based on the observation that at my reactor site, fps went from 90 to 35 after having done nothing more than flattening the site, placing an arcane lamp, making a big room with one EnderIO capacitor bank of 128 blocks and three more arcane lamps, while not going down any further after making seven more capacitor banks of the same size and adding a 7x7x6 Big Reactor. If I enter the Big Reactor's GUI, fps go up to 80-90 again.

I also wonder if Optifine is a factor, which I have installed to improve performance of my texpack as its makers recommend.

The FPS boost when in a GUI is due to things around you not being processed to the same degree when you are in the GUI. There is no need to constantly update chunks etc. to the same degree if you aren't moving etc. You can notice the same FPS boost by just pressing Esc.

 

[Narc]

The FPS boost when in a GUI is due to things around you not being processed to the same degree when you are in the GUI. There is no need to constantly update chunks etc. to the same degree if you aren't moving etc. You can notice the same FPS boost by just pressing Esc.

...well, yeah, 'cause the Esc menu is just another GUI, after all (disregarding that, in SSP, it also pauses the game). I imagine renderers get much rarer update ticks while a GUI is up, and it's more than likely particles also get reduced, and possibly other things I can't think of. Some of those tricks may even be specific to Optifine.

What [do Optifine's effects] depend on? GPU (Nvidia 780 Ti) Drivers (I may not have updated in a while)? CPU (AMD Phenom 6-core 2.5 GHz) OS (Win 7 64bit)? Java version (Java 7 64bit, not sure of the exact version, recent update about 2 months ago)

Literally anything and everything. Optifine is such a deep alteration of Minecraft, and it tries to do so many things, that its effects are almost completely unpredictable on any given machine. For what it's worth, with the specs you've given, you really shouldn't need it at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be decreasing your framerate (possibly in favor of other performance improvements, though, so take that with a grain of salt).

Has anyone observed a really drastic fps hit from arcane lamps?

I... think I may have read reports to that effect, either here or on reddit. Technically, they shouldn't matter all that much, but there may have been, or might still be, a bug in Thaumcraft making them hurt more than they should.

 

[Ieldra]

The FPS boost when in a GUI is due to things around you not being processed to the same degree when you are in the GUI. There is no need to constantly update chunks etc. to the same degree if you aren't moving etc. You can notice the same FPS boost by just pressing Esc.

Well....no. If I press ESC, I pause the game and my world stops running. If I enter a machine's GUI, the game goes on, machines continue doing their stuff etc... It's so much "not the same" and so obvious that I wonder why you've brought this up.

 

[rhn]

Well....no. If I press ESC, I pause the game and my world stops running. If I enter a machine's GUI, the game goes on, machines continue doing their stuff etc... It's so much "not the same" and so obvious that I wonder why you've brought this up.

Well ofc it is not completely identical, but try and press ESC with the debug screen on and you will see that rendering and chunk updates continues. But ofc a lot of other stuff seizes(duh the game is paused ). My point of comparison was that the same thing happens when you enter GUIs to some extent. Certain things wont be rendered etc.

 

[Ieldra]

I think I found my problem. It is indeed the arcane lamps, under certain conditions. The thing is, these lamps create light sources anywhere in range where the lighting level is too low, and they do that through walls. Which means if the area you've built your base has lots of small caves, many additional light sources will be created, and if in render range, they will all be affected by the "smooth lighting" setting. Now I am in a moor biome, which is riddled with underground lakes in small caves.

Fill those caves, and fps go up. five such caves made the difference between fps 40 and 60 in my world.