Intense CPU usage

[Kelden]

I admit to not being a software engineer, but I have to say that I am absolutely astounded by the intense CPU usage that the PlaneShift Program requires when it is running.

I have often found my CPU usage running at 100% even when my character was standing still, facing a wall and doing absolutely NOTHING.

I tried restricting my camera FPS and adaptive distance, which helped a little bit, but didn\'t alter the situation dramatically.  Sometimes the CPU usage was lower, but then, at other times it just stayed pegged at 100% as usual.

I should also note that even the PlaneShift SETUP PROGRAM hogs 100% CPU usage when it runs, and that is nothing more than a static image on the Windows desktop.  That can\'t possibly be correct.

I\'m inclined to think that the implementation of the graphics routines is very inefficient.

If anyone would care to enlighten me I should be most interested to hear about it.

[Note: System= AMD Athlon 64 2800+ with 1.25 Gig RAM and nVidea Workstation Graphics Card FX-500]

[steuben]

two words
pre-alpha

[Godfrey]

The more pertinent question is, how much kernel time is it eating up?  (There\'s an option to show this in the task manager.)  A lot of graphics-intensive programs will use up all the available CPU time in order to run more smoothly, but will give up time if something else requests it.

And even if you\'re just standing there motionless, all the other players\' positions are being updated, the graphics engine is doing culling and hit tests for their new locations, and so forth.  So the CPU usage doesn\'t seem so odd to me.

(The setup program chewing CPU time is weird, but if I remember correctly, it\'s also a CrystalSpace display, with all the overhead of 3D graphics; it just looks like a static display because that\'s what it\'s designed to look like.)

The thing that does concern me is that my system temperature just shoots right up as soon as I run PlaneShift (or the CrystalSpace walktest app).  I\'m pretty sure it\'s the video card that\'s heating up.  I\'ve never seen that with any other application, at least not to this degree (once it actually set off the motherboard\'s temperature alarm).  On the bright side, if it\'s getting chilly in the apartment, I don\'t have to turn on the heat -- just run PlaneShift.  

[LigH]

In my opinion, it is simply logical that full CPU power is used, and it should be that way: The game takes all *available* calculation time to calculate a view as smooth as possible.

Of course, this can lead to more than 100 fps while looking at a wall in an empty place; but the real question is: How much does that hurt the overall computer performance?

You could try to start the game with a command \"start /low psclient.exe\", this would run it in the \"idle\" priority class; but I would not recommend that. Really vital system threads run with a higher priority, anyway. So they are not at all harmed by any application running with only a \"normal\" priority.

And if you don\'t really need 100 fps while looking at a wall - limit the framerate in the detail options!

[TheMinority]

planeshift, i\'ve noticed, takes up about the same amount of CPU as games like Age of Mythology and the War of the Ring (the only other games I really play besides free cell. XD) so i really have no issue with it. if i notice the game is running exceptionally slow, i just check to see if an unnecessary program is running (which sometimes happens), or i do an adaware search to see if some tracker or something is using up memory.

that or a virus scan. my computer is very healthy, what with all the tests i run on it. XD

[Ecolem]

i don\'t get what the problem is, it must be your computer. I can run 2 (that\'s right two) PS clients almost smoothly and my comp is crap as.

Specs are: 2.6ghz, 512 ram, 128mb Nvidia5200FX. VERY standard Dell computer bought about 2 years ago.

As TheMinority said there must be some other programs running in the background (might be ok or ad-aware). Download Ad-Aware SE when ever you get the chance.

[c-2501]

Originally posted by steuben
two words
pre-alpha

lol i think actually hyphenates count as one

but i have to agree with ecolem my comp isnt that much worse than yours and PS still runs comfortably, i can also have several progs and sevices running in the background and still get arround 90fps, and no noticable effect on system performance

[merlin3000]

I\'m running PS on a 1.7ghz - 768 DDR - 6600GT on newly formated PC and I have the same problem my CPU usage boosts up to 100%.  Normally when games do this it slow down the game a bit, and working on windows like see the PS forums is a hard a slow job.