Random massive FPS/UPS drops. need save reload to temp fix.

[markusparkuscw]

Hi,
I play the game about once a year and so far never had any issues.
This year about 40-50 hours in and I keep getting sudden random FPS/UPS drops (from 60 down to 15-17).
I have to load a previous save to fix it, as once it happens, it just won't recover on its own. This has been happening from around the 35 hour mark. They seem to be very random ranging from the worst being every 10 minutes, to being able to play over an hour without it happening. It's getting pretty annoying and I wonder if anyone knows why this could be happening?
Even when I reload the previous autosave and repeat the same activity, it doesn't consistently trigger the same fps/ups drop.
My PC specs are fine, my CPU and memory have really low usage while playing.

Also, loading up old save files with much bigger bases, I can't replicate it.
Only mod is additional turrets.
I don't have the DLC yet.

If anyone has some input or ideas why this happens, it's greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

[Taco Terry]

To get some more information you can go in game press F4 and show-time-usage. This should allow you to see what part of the game is making it lag under the "Update" section

[markusparkuscw]

Originally posted by Taco Terry:

To get some more information you can go in game press F4 and show-time-usage. This should allow you to see what part of the game is making it lag under the "Update" section

Thanks, I'll check next time it happens

[Fletch]

Here's a guide to follow if/when the performance problems start again: https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Diagnosing_performance_issues

[mashtong54]

well space age dlc has been kinda of off for the proformace for some odd real reason and no its not just me. i can tell the difrece soemthing aobut how to game renders things withe space age dlc is not very opmized nor works very well. heck its been very fincky too.

[markusparkuscw]

Seems to be connected to robo port usage (but it has happened when not using them also, even just running through an empty area). It's random but sometimes when I begin a project. It just sends my entity updates sky rocketing. Aside from not using robo ports or just reloading the game all the time. I have no idea how to fix it.
My CPU usage is around 7-9% and memory at 28-32%.
I can't seem to replicate it on older save files with larger bases.

Any ideas or should I just abandon this save?

Just noticed after writing this that when I closed the time usage window, it was covering a list specific entities and their usage. Will check that next time. Stil la bit anecdotal but I just repeated the same project without robo-ports and it didn't happen.

[Taco Terry]

The only thing I can think you being able to do without seeing more about your base and time-usage is to see if removing biters helps performance.

[markusparkuscw]

Originally posted by Taco Terry:

The only thing I can think you being able to do without seeing more about your base and time-usage is to see if removing biters helps performance.

Thanks for the response.
Next time I play, I'll gather more info.

[markusparkuscw]

Went about 18 hours without it happening. Now I'm stuck on a constant cycle of "entity updates" suddenly climbing rapidly and blowing the UPS.
Can reload auto saves and keep going but after not happening for a long time, it's now happening randomly every 5-15 minutes.

[Fletch]

Originally posted by markusparkuscw:

Went about 18 hours without it happening. Now I'm stuck on a constant cycle of "entity updates" suddenly climbing rapidly and blowing the UPS.
Can reload auto saves and keep going but after not happening for a long time, it's now happening randomly every 5-15 minutes.

Can you share a screenshot that has all the debug/timing information, when the perf issue is actively happening? There are wizards in these forums that can help analyze the numbers shown there for you.

Also, if you think entity updates is relevant, you can dig deeper: https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Diagnosing_performance_issues#Digging_deeper_with_the_%22entity_time_usage%22_screen

[TSP]

If you have pollution spreading very very far, it could potentially aggro biters across big oceans, which will cause the pathfinder to take a very long time to calculate a path for the biters to your base. But this wouldn't show up as entity update time though...

What would show as entity update time, is biters spawning from pollution but can't path to your base at all (i.e. an island); it would mean biters just keep spawning endlessly from the pollution. However, biters have their own update time called Unit (Which is a subsection of Entity), so that would show up on entity debug also.

Edit: Also, an absolutely gigantic ammo belt could cause entity update time when inserters take ammo from the gigabelt... at least in 1.1, I don't know if they optimized that in 2.0+

[Torham]

Yeah, seem to remember Dosh having problems when he was automating to the edge of the map. Super long belts were a UPS killer.