Is it possible to enable triple buffering?

[AllTracTurbo]

No matter what settings I try, I cannot get triple buffering to work with vsync. I can force what type of vsync I want through the Nvidia control panel and it applies the setting correctly in the game, but with vsync and triple buffering both set to on, the game will drop to half my refresh rate as soon as the GPU goes over 100% usage. The main menu runs at half my frame rate with about 53-55% GPU usage which means triple buffering is not enabled.

I have tried every setting I can think of including forcing settings in the Nvidia control panel, using "-window-mode exclusive" to force true fullscreen, and enabling and disabling windows aero.

[markymint]

Hi there, although this is outside my range of understanding I'm pretty sure the game does not have an exclusive fullscreen mode and would need a new build to include it. Using the higher quality settings (from the initial popup) is likely to change the vsync value but I couldn't tell you the exact setup as I do not have the game files, nor which amounts to triple buffering if it was there. However, I will look at how Unity handles exclusive full-screen and see what the options would be for Harvester Games to enable that.

If I understand correctly then I can certainly see the argument for exclusive fullscreen to be available but this appears to be a setting within Unity that must be checked at the build stage but probably wasn't in this instance (and I myself haven't used it, either). As you're aware the default builds are, as far as I can tell, windowed + borderless fullscreen only. The following line may give you something to go on but I couldn't tell if they were describing a game build or the Unity engine (editor) itself:

The only workaround currently is to force Unity into D3D9 mode using the start command, which gives access to true fullscreen. However there may be side effects on the graphics depending on the game.

Feel free to point us to a better understanding of triple buffering and what players needs are in those regards, as I'm sure documentation for it for Unity exists, though I have only found scraps myself. regards

[AllTracTurbo]

You can change the game between exclusive fullscreen and borderless by opening the properties for the game in the Steam client and adding one of the following launch options:

-window-mode exclusive
-window-mode borderless

This will put the game into true fullscreen or borderless and I have confirmed that it is going into both modes. I believe this will work in all Unity games, but I am not 100% positive. I have never encountered a game where it did not work. Running in exclusive mode does cause some issues after minimizing the game, but I am not worried about that.

I'm pretty sure triple buffering should work in both exclusive and borderless modes. I was just saying that I tried forcing the game into exclusive mode and it didn't help.


As for the settings popup screen when you launch the game, I have tried the two highest quality settings and neither of those will enable triple buffering. I cannot test the lower settings because they are not demanding enough to max out my GPU and make the game run below my max frame rate to see if triple buffering is enabled. I wouldn't want to run a lower quality setting anyway.


Triple buffering is not a high priority in a game like this because there isn't much action, so it's not a big deal if I can't use it. It just bothers me because it's a feature that has existed for a very long time and works on just about every other game. If my GPU maxes out in a certain part of the game, instead of dropping to half the frame rate, I can maintain a higher frame rate and still not get tearing.

[markymint]

I see, thanks for further clarification. I don't know how "we" control that, though - or how it could be interfered with. Please take a look at this page: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/class-QualitySettings.html and specifically the "V Sync Count" under "Other" near the bottom. This is the only option I can directly relate to screen tearing (and therefore possibly triple buffering) with the options "Every V Blank, Every Second V Blank, or Don’t Sync" but outside of that again, I wouldn't know what option we're really talking about here. There's a bit more description at the very bottom of the page but again mostly just says to select one of the three options above.

The lower quality graphical settings are more likely to be "Don't sync" with the higher settings being Every Second or Every. You say about quality level but from what I can tell Lorelai does not really change depending on Quality setting because a majority of the artwork is hand-drawn/2d art imported so Unity cannot really up or lower the quality of that. But the quality settings do determine minor options like "Every 2nd V Blank" and "Every Blank" etc. Playing on a lower setting will typically only impact particle and light effects visually, and even then it won't be hugely noticeable (I played in Lowest quality and resolution and the experience was just fine). You may want to try one to at least see what happens on the vsync/tearing side of things.

Outside of the vsync setting seen there in Unity editor, I'm not sure what else we can "do" to clear up tearing or provide triple buffering. Certainly, nothing specific has been done to "disable" it, so if it works on other Unity games, it SHOULD work here. But if you see any further clues, options or answers there let me know. Regards!

[AllTracTurbo]

I have never created a game, so I don't know what options Unity gives developers. I have tried searching a bit and found some people talking about triple buffering, but not specifically on how to enable or disable it.

It may not even be an issue with the game, it could be something on my end. It could be some kind of compatibility or driver issue.

Thanks for trying to help, but I am not really worried about it anymore. I have been playing the game without any issues. The only time the frame rate should drop would be if there is a demanding effect used. My frame rate gets cut in half on the main menu because of the lighting and water effects, but I don't think I have experienced anything like that in the game yet.

Even if it does happen, it isn't really an issue because it is such a slow paced game. Dropping to 30 fps in a game like this is not an issue.