[Tech discussion] CPU/GPU game performance

[Mooncube Games]

Hello! This is a discussion thread around the game's CPU and GPU performance.

We understand that most players will want to run this game along other softwares, and that our app needs to be as lightweight as possible. This is why it's our priority to make Spirit City: Lofi Sessions as efficient and optimized as possible.

If you're experiencing performance issues, the best way to alleviate the load on your machine is to lower the FPS count with the in-game settings.

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We're also planning on adding more settings to help fine-tune the game's performance.

We'd like to be able to implement additional graphic settings such has:

• Being able to set a FPS cap for when the game is minimized
  
• Adjusting the game's resolution scale (%)
  
• Adjusting the different graphics features quality like shadows or anti-aliasing

We think these would add tremendous value to the game.

Edit: We added many more graphic settings in-game including those:

• Being able to set a FPS cap for when the game is minimized
  
• Adjusting the game's resolution scale (%)
  
  Let us know in the comments your thoughts about performance!

[Ixzine]

Even if it's an OPTIONAL SETTING, the ability to turn off all rendering (just freeze up a still image of the last frame rendered?) while Alt-Tabbed seems important. And possibly pausing most processes of the game except for, like, the music...

I LOVE the idea of using Spirit City as a sort of "cozy" focus tool, for anchoring myself and re-centering myself throughout the day... And enjoying the music in the background.

As it is, even when the slowdown isn't an issue to other applications, the music hitches if I use too much CPU suddenly, like when flipping through Discord or the web browser. Hitches in those otherwise smooth lo-fi beats is no good...

Love the game though, looking forward to this one wrinkle getting ironed out! <3

[Shogai]

Spirit City runs great on my PC using minimal resources, with 8% CPU (i9-9900k) and 20% GPU (2080 Super) utilization at 2K res, 60 fps. Cutting the frame rate in half drops the GPU usage to under 12% which is pretty impressive!

As others have echoed, seeing some options for unfocused fps target, toggling bloom, etc would be great additions in the future for further tweaking.

Thank you, Mooncube, for releasing such a cozy treat of a game! Really looking forward to seeing how this game evolves and improves.

[ꉔꏂ꒐꒒ꇙ]

Автор сообщения: Mooncube Games

We'd like to be able to implement additional graphic settings such has:

• Being able to set a FPS cap for when the game is minimized
  
• Adjusting the game's resolution scale (%)
  
• Adjusting the different graphics features quality like shadows or anti-aliasing

We think these would add tremendous value to the game.

Let us know in the comments your thoughts about performance!

Oh, I know if I disabled shadows/Anti-Aliasing, I would get a super FPS boost! because those things (plus the other stuff with AA, Bloom, Blur ETC ETC) really do tank FPS for me in a bunch of games.

Some can play fine while others (especially when a ton of lights/animated things are involved) can tank FPS. I think it depends on the engine being used and whatever else for the graphics.

[Zorkins]

thank you for the update !
GPU usage is down by an infinite amount if you turn everything on lowest, which was needed for an app like this.

still uses an OBSCENE amount of memory though, hopefuly this is next on the list

[Relectro]

We submitted an update yesterday with more graphic options! Please let us know what you think and if it helped!

[Ixzine]

At least one of the changes (I DID set Unfocused FPS to 5!) did the trick. Music no longer stutters while alt-tabbed, and resource usage is nominal~

Thanks devs!

[Chained Mermaid]

After the update I restart the game and I'm back at level 1. I was at level 15~18 and I'm back to level 1, still have my Companions and the decorations I bought prior to the update in game. Was it because I had VSync disabled? I'm not sure

[Zorkins]

Автор сообщения: Relectro

We submitted an update yesterday with more graphic options! Please let us know what you think and if it helped!

yeah I mean the GPU usage is down to a minimum which is great, but it still uses about 1 gig of memory with everything on lowest. Even some heavy coding software or music software uses half or less, makes it near impossible to run it together with other apps,

[Mooncube Games]

Автор сообщения: TheWuxian

Автор сообщения: Relectro

We submitted an update yesterday with more graphic options! Please let us know what you think and if it helped!

yeah I mean the GPU usage is down to a minimum which is great, but it still uses about 1 gig of memory with everything on lowest. Even some heavy coding software or music software uses half or less, makes it near impossible to run it together with other apps,

Keep in mind there are many textures to load, animations to play, lights to render in real-time. Unfortunately, as a real-time 3D application, we wont ever be able to compete with other "Music Software" such as Spotify when it comes to computer resources usage. There are definitely more ways for us to improve the graphics performance and give more options to our players for sure.

[Mooncube Games]

Автор сообщения: Chained Mermaid

After the update I restart the game and I'm back at level 1. I was at level 15~18 and I'm back to level 1, still have my Companions and the decorations I bought prior to the update in game. Was it because I had VSync disabled? I'm not sure :sadMio:

Hello, sorry this happened to you. If you wish, could you open a new thread about this? It doesn't have anything to do with the graphics settings discussed here, but we still want to help on this! We have had similar reports before after the game exited forcefully (like after a crash or power outage). We can help provide a similar save file on our Discord if that's something you'd like.

Thank you!

[nehalennia 🌌]

Since the update, fan noise has strongly decreased for me because of the new available settings :) thank you.

[ꉔꏂ꒐꒒ꇙ]

Автор сообщения: nehalennia 🌌

Since the update, fan noise has strongly decreased for me because of the new available settings :) thank you.

I think one of the issues with Steam games is, they are usually on full blast the first time you launch it (all the graphic settings on Ultra/High everything!) so, if your PC/Laptop can't handle it, you will end up launching with some slowness/lag/overheating/fan craziness, trying to get to the settings to lower/fix everything (if it doesn't crash on you)

I could totally feel the low FPS while in-game before the update. Now, I can see more Frames and it doesn't take super duper long to load. We definitely need more graphic settings though, but this is a step in the right direction.

[Aliqux]

Автор сообщения: Relectro

We submitted an update yesterday with more graphic options! Please let us know what you think and if it helped!

This update did wonders for me. My core temps went down about 15 degrees and I haven't had a problem since I tuned it down to 10fps when not focused. Thank you so much. I use this so much more than I though I would and I look forward to updates as they come out. Worth what I paid and more.

[Lokhadatu]

Автор сообщения: Lokthar

I don't know why, but this "game" open sometime many "Epicwebhelper", a program from Epic Games launcher and they take A LOT of memory to the point of saturating an SSD by taking 100% of its memory, sometimes(not always) even after you close this game.
So, if you see your computer run really badly after launch Spirit City, check this program in your task manager and force the close.

Maybe it's just a "coincidence" on my side each time I open this software, so if others can test it on their side too... Thanks ^^

I too have noticed this "Epicwebhelper thing showing up when I run this. And the program itself seems to be nested within the spirit city-related folders. Wanting to keep Epic-related bloatware off my computer is why I'm strictly Steam-only, so I'm not very happy to be seeing this. I'd say the developers have some explaining to do about this

[nehalennia 🌌]

Автор сообщения: Lokhadatu

Автор сообщения: Lokthar

I don't know why, but this "game" open sometime many "Epicwebhelper", a program from Epic Games launcher and they take A LOT of memory to the point of saturating an SSD by taking 100% of its memory, sometimes(not always) even after you close this game.
So, if you see your computer run really badly after launch Spirit City, check this program in your task manager and force the close.

Maybe it's just a "coincidence" on my side each time I open this software, so if others can test it on their side too... Thanks ^^

I too have noticed this "Epicwebhelper thing showing up when I run this. And the program itself seems to be nested within the spirit city-related folders. Wanting to keep Epic-related bloatware off my computer is why I'm strictly Steam-only, so I'm not very happy to be seeing this. I'd say the developers have some explaining to do about this

I remember in another thread they said it is needed for the web music browser functionality, but that they're looking to tweak it so it will only start when you actually use that (if I understood correctly) instead of always.