Clouds

[lunatic1]

spirit:<----shoot this guy :       lol clouds are a frame rate killer

[ImADot]

The way that the new clouds are implemented, seems to be very hardware dependant as far as performance goes. I've heard stories from both sides, where the only real difference between machines was the brand of GFX chip being used on their video card. I use nVidia and only see a slight hit to the frames, while someone using another brand gets a slideshow.

Performance issues might also be connected to the number of clouds, and how much overlap there is among them. Fewer clouds in strategic places of differing sizes, spacing and altitudes might be a good compromise between having a flat cloudless sky and having more of that "flying" feeling that the majority of players can tolerate.

[Shamus]

Clouds were killing me when I was running a core2 E8400@ 3.0 and a 6850, switched to an I5 @3.4 and the same vid card and the clouds seem to have no effect now. 

[RealDeal]

Already happened. Clouds had to be massively reduced...

Wow thats convenient. Wish I could do that in real life. I've been on final more then once were the runway environment was barley in sight. Wish i could just program those clouds out of the equation because they were inconvenient.

[Karnak]

Wow thats convenient. Wish I could do that in real life. I've been on final more then once were the runway environment was barley in sight. Wish i could just program those clouds out of the equation because they were inconvenient.

Clouds don't reduce frame rates in real life.   

[Bizman]

Clouds don't reduce frame rates in real life.   

Oh yes they do indeed! On a clear morning I wake up effortlessly even though I can't see the sky until I raise the curtain. On a cloudy day I'll be lagging the whole day through, bed-ready from a delayed get-up, getting nothing noteworthy done.

[GhostCDB]

With or without clouds my FR is 60.

I don't like them for the simple fact it distracts me from what I am supposed to be doing. 

[Brooke]

I've used certain types of clouds in the new cloud system in about a dozen events so far, including two scenarios with large attendance.  There have been little, or in the case of the most-recent scenario, no complaints of frame-rate problems.

I think that light to moderate clouds could be done in the Main Arena with little or no impact on players.

There might be types of clouds that you can put in (ones that do create frame-rate problems); and there might be a small number of players that has frame-rate problems (would have to be less than 0.5% of players, or I would have noticed it in events by now, though).

Here are the sort of clouds that haven't cause problems for me in events:

Very light clouds:


Moderate clouds:

[Brooke]

Some more examples from the "Battle of Britain 2013" scenario than ran last month:

[MK-84]

This is weird:
I do not have any problems with clouds at all.  The frame rate drop for me is completely negligible and my pc is nothing to brag about at all being somewhat of a "hotdog" being pieced together from bits here and there. Something like a 2.6?ghz quad core 4gb ram and a nvidia geforce 9800 gt.  Shadowing kills my FR, bump mapping kills my FR, Detailed terrain is a huge draw (water isnt). Clouds are not.  I wonder if there's some specific computer aspect thingy that the clouds need?  (obviously I am not a pc guy)
Interestingly enough my hard drive failed a week or so ago and (It wasn't it good shape when I put it in) and I switched to a ssd drive and there was a world of difference in performance for AH, something I totally was not expecting.

[Arlo]

I think part of it involves the type of vid card one uses. You and I both use nvidia.

[david625]

Radeon user here! No problems with clouds effecting FPS here 





P.S. Brooke those pictures are amazing! Front page material!

[Brooke]

Thanks, David! 

[Wiley]

I think part of it involves the type of vid card one uses. You and I both use nvidia.

I don't think that's necessarily true Arlo.  I'm not running much of a rig, just an I5 3.3GHz and a 1GB ATI 5770, 8 GB RAM.  No overclock.  Clouds don't bother me in the slightest, and the only thing I don't have turned on is environment mapping and my shadows aren't at the largest size.  60fps unless I'm taking off at a crowded airfield in FSO.  Clouds don't affect me as far as I can see.

I haven't upgraded my video drivers in an eternity as I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke don't fix it" when it comes to video drivers.  I wonder if that plays a part.  I also wonder if CPU has more of an impact on clouds than one might think.

Wiley.

[Brooke]

I don't think only NVidia cards work acceptably for clouds.  I've run a dozen special events with clouds in the new system, including two scenarios.  That's enough people to cover a wide range of computer hardware.  There were very few remarks of frame-rate hits.

There is the possibility that particular types of clouds cause more impact.  For example, I haven't used the huge anvil cumulus clouds in an event yet, so I don't know whether or not they have much frame-rate impact.