Game performance on Makuri Islands

That might be a clue as to what is going on. I don’t think that m1max can show the high detail setting with the detailed shadows etc. Could be wrong.

It can

It can’t but the GPU utilization in watopia is always higher than in neokyo. 40% neokyo vs 65-70% watopia (using custom config to add as much detail as possible in the high setting).

Probably due to Makuri (inc Neokoyo) being heavily bottlenecked on the CPU, therefore not sending enough work to the GPU to utilise it better.

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That’s exactly what it is, this clearly isn’t a platform-specific problem. :+1: GPU utilisation should be as high as possible unless the frame rate is deliberately capped (at 60fps by vsync, for example). When the target cannot be maintained, we should see the GPU working as hard as possible to provide as many frames as it can.

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this is a fascinating discovery, nice work Dave!

@Wes, please chime in, thanks!

Some news from HQ

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Yeah I saw it, cheers. Hope it’s correct. :crossed_fingers:

This is a bottleneck issue in my case, but the bottleneck is in the game engine.
A year ago i could ride watopia with well In excess of 60fps at 4k
After a lot of the latest updates i’m struggeling keeping 30 fps 1080p.

The problem is in the game code, they simple refuse to admit it bechause hunting down bugs is tedious.

Where is the bottleneck when cpu is at 20% utilization and gpu is at 50, and my fps is sub 10?
It’s in the code.

I know it’s comming so i’ll layout it on you before you answer me:
Yes a better CPU than the ryzen 3600 running at 4.1gjz all core WOULD give me more fps.
We know this…
But tell me: you’re not changing from a 2L inline 4 to a big Block hemi engine just bechause the parking brake is on?, Surely you release the parking brake to go faster.

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You’re not wrong. But there’s something amiss with your system anyway, because you should still be able to do 60fps in Watopia (there aren’t any ‘updates’ which have affected that - Makuri Islands is its own problem), and your frame rate should never be as low as you’ve mentioned, no matter what.

PS: CPU utilisation will be pegged at 100% on one thread almost all the time; that 20% - assuming you’re looking at Task Manager - is an average of the full resources. But Zwift is highly single threaded and always has been.

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I’m in fact looking at the detailed view, and i did a check now mid ride in watopia, obviously my stated numbers were pulled from thin air, and the actual details was 11% cpu, none of the 12 threads were pegged at 100.
GPU was at 57%. This seems to fluctuate a bit depending on where on the map i am.
If there’s something wrong with my system, then how is it ONLY happening with zwift?
I can play a wide range of games at 1440p 144hz, some are cpu-heavy, some GPU and some both.
I’m not saying it ISN’T something wrong with my system, but from what i know about unoptimized games and applications (and i’ve testet a lot of alpha builds) this clearly screams game engine optimization to me.

I’m also noticing it states innsbruck in zwiftalizer.
This was a tempus fugit ride.
This seems like a far fetched question, but could zwift be sideloading a guest-world and that’s what’s causing the fps to dive down?
Stranger things HAVE happened with bugs in other applications.

I’m not trying to blame anyone for their mistakes, i just want zwift to perform at 60 fps minimum on some reasonably high performing hardware, when it did in the past.
My system hasn’t changed on a hardware level, the only things that have is zwift (wich i believe to be the culprit) video drivers and windows itself.

Anyway, have a look:

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You’re mixing up a few things here, but to be clear - I’m not defending Zwift here, or excusing the fact that your system should easily be able to hit 60fps at all times. I created this thread, back when apparently nobody else gave a toss about the frame rates on Yumezi. Neokyo is even worse, but it’s just the same issue I’ve been complaining about for months. Being CPU bound on Zwift has always been the case in group events etc, on Neokyo it happens all the time. It’s definitely due to the engine.

Task Manager isn’t good enough for monitoring CPU load, you should use HWiNFO or similar. But in a solo ride it won’t be an issue on Watopia, or Innsbruck, or indeed any other world than Makuri. I’m not really sure why you’ve posted those images when this thread is about Makuri. When I say something’s wrong with your system, I’m specifically referring to you saying you get sub-10fps. That should never happen on any world, in any circumstances on your rig.

The fact that your shadow resolution isn’t showing up in the Zwiftalizer results suggests you’ve messed about with your config file. That won’t help.

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Allright, i wasn’t trying to hijack your thread, only add to it bechause i think this is a much bigger problem.
But i might be wrong.

Yeah, i’ve been trying to see what could be causing this issue, the messed up config file is not the root of the problem, it’s a result of me trying to fix it.
I’m going to uninstall zwift and delete all related folders and start over.

It is a much bigger problem. :+1: With the artistic and level design choices on Makuri Islands, plus the amount of ‘stuff’ going on, the game engine is creaking like mad. On low end devices like Apple TV, it’s never seen, because the detail is very low and frame rate is terrible to begin with, so never gets worse. It’s the people with systems that should destroy this game who are noticing the drop, because the hardware demands are now ridiculous (having previously been extremely modest*). The thing is, whilst this behaviour used to be restricted to big group events, it now happens everywhere on the new map.

*I’m currently testing a system with a 4th gen Intel quad core, 8GB of DDR3 and a GTX 970. By gaming standards it’s very slow and old (and many miles behind the power of your rig), yet it’s holding 60fps in 4K on Innsbruck right now, with the exception of the spawn point. Loads of riders there, and so the frame rate tanks. That has always happened in Zwift, because the system becomes CPU bound on a single thread.

Edit:

So i did a uninstal, removed all files and folders, restarted, reinstalled zwift.
Set it to 4k and fps was much better. Joined C.Cadence for 45 minutes with 30+ fps at 4k.
Then all of a sudden massive stutter.

I’m running steam link and i checked the main monitor and fps was smooth 30 there, but i had 2fps where i ride.

It must be a problem with my nvidia shield or network.
I’m sorry about the complaining about a problem that’s clearly only related to my equipment.

EDIT:
I think the problem was the bandwith allocation in steamlink that was set to unlimited.
The problem started not long after the wife and kid came home and started to occupy the bandwith.
I guess having it set to unlimited meant i was dividing my not so new routers resources a bit, and that caused me to drop a LOT of packets or something.

I’m considdering the case closed.

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Glad you’ve seemingly got it sorted. :+1:

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I noticed that you did run a ryzen 3600x and was having fps issues, did you upgrade your cpu after writing that in some other thread?
Just curious if you noticed any performance increase if you upgraded.

Seems the problem isn’t network after all as the problem was existing when i run it without streaming aswell. (had to check before upgrading my old router to an expensive one)

I’m beginning to believe it’s cpu but i don’t want to just throw money on it. :slight_smile:

I currently run a 3600XT, and the frame rates in CPU bound situations on Makuri Islands (and in particular Neokyo) are basically pathetic for such a capable processor. Only just above 60fps even disconnected from the internet. This is because of how inefficient the game is, and behaviour specific to Makuri, not because of my setup. Hence why this thread exists.

Without changing platform I would benefit from an upgrade to a 5000 series CPU, but I don’t see why I should have to when the 3600XT is overkill for Zwift already - as shown above a far less capable CPU is fine everywhere else. Based on some CPU scaling tests me and others have done, something along the lines of an i5-12600K is the requirement for holding 60fps in Neokyo. Which is madness.

Worth noting that upgrading CPU won’t fix your apparent network issues. As I said before, you should never be down at anything below 30fps on your system, no matter the circumstances. Don’t waste your money.

Yeah i’m on the 3600 and neokyo is horrible, 20fps ish and stuttering on top, making it seem less than 20 even.
The same happens in watopia, but it’s completely fine in tempus starting area, and as soon as i get to the 300m sprint after the desert turnaround then fps tanks and it looks like a slideshow.

But it’s not all the time, i rode for 40 minutes today before it started.

Honestly, i don’t know what’s causing it at this point, but i’ll try going offline when i get to the choppy place.
If fps goes up when internet goes away then you recon it could be the CPU that’s having a hard time?
No i’m not going to spend money just yet. i want to be absolutely sure. :slight_smile:

Your setup is definitely the problem, not your CPU. You should never drop to 20fps with your hardware, even on Neokyo. My definition of pathetic is 35-50fps in a solo ride, when I’d be at 70-95fps (capped) on every other world on the game with my rig. You need to eliminate the Steam Link element first. But we’re getting off topic, really. You have other issues to resolve.