Experiment #1: Framerate locking results?

[slouken]

With latest update dated Feb 4, we'd like to get information on how framerate lock affects your experience.

Please post the answers to the following questions, comparing the framerate settings Automatic, 60 FPS, 30 FPS:

1. What is the hardware on the computer running the game, including CPU, GPU and network?
2. What is the hardware on the computer you're streaming to, including CPU, GPU and network?
3. Which setting feels "best" to you for each game you tried?
4. When you set framerate to 30 or 60 FPS, were the games you tried able to maintain the desired framerate?
5. When the games couldn't maintain framerate, was it because of the game, encoding, decoding or network? (You can tell by looking at the stats graph - below the blue line is encoding, between the blue lines is network and above the blue line is decoding)
6. When the framerate was erratic, did the game still play smoothly?
7. When the framerate was erratic, did you still get good response, low input latency?

Thanks!

[Frank Da Tank]

1. Intel C2Q Q6600 2.4Ghz @ 3.0Ghz, XFX 7870 2GB, 8GB DDR3, Gigabyte LAN (DSL 20Mb/s down, 2Mb/s up)
2. 2008 Macbook Unibody, Intel C2D 2.0 Ghz, NVIDIA Geforce 9400M 256 MB, 8GB DDR3, Wireless
3. 30 fps
4. Yes, in most games.
5. Cinamatic scenes dropped in fps greatly, but game play wise, it seems like encoding and decoding might be factors, my latency looks fine.
6. Somewhat, but it only occurs briefly.
7. There was a little bit of lag in input here and there, but nothing to major.

[RagingWhisky]

1.Desktop, Core i7 4770, GTX780, 16GB RAM, Gigabit network to router (BT HomeHub 5)
2. Laptop, Core i5 3437U, Intel HD 4000, 8GB RAM, Connected Via Wifi (BT HomeHub 5 Router)
3. Crysis 2: "Automatic" to all settings = nigh unplayable (avg: 16fps), "Unlimited Bandwidth/30FPS/Desktop Resolution" = 32FPS, very playable. 60FPS = crash/fail
4. 30 - very playable, 60 - crash/fail
5. Maintained framerate at 32FPS (approx) no issue. However when set to automatic fluctuates between 11-16FPS.
6. No
7. Latency was "noticable" yet no worse than playing Killzone2 or an online game with 100/150 latency

[Mr.Lamb]

Every game I have tested so far went well with the streaming just some games did have lag

[orangecat]

I just tested the framerate lock settings and my experience wasn't very good. First off my gaming PC has a 3570K @ 4.4Ghz, 8GB of ram @ 1600Mhz and a GTX 460 @ 850Mhz. My PC that I was streaming to has a Intel G530 CPU with Intel HD graphics and 4GB of RAM @ 1600Mhz and the framerate was all over the place. My network is setup so I have a 100megabit connection from my gaming PC to my wireless router via a wired connection but my streaming PC is wireless at 54-75megabits. I had some shuttering and screen tearing on the streaming PC also if I change my screen res while the game is running my framerate drops to 15.

[rowan_u]

Streaming from i7 3930k at 4217MHz With GB ethernet and GTX780 TI SLI to ACER notebook with AMD E-350 at 1.6 GHz with AMD 6310 and GB ethernet.

So far tried Trine 2 and Path of Exile. Both are rock solid playable at 30fps 1080p (external laptop connected to laptop)! Control lag is less noticable than streaming Via NVIDIA's Shield. Absolutely excellent work folks! This is totally playable on a laptop that is otherwise perfectly useless for gaming.

The automatic setting selects 30fps, the lock to 60fps setting murders the laptop (red line on stats graphs jumps all over the place), I imagine thats a decoding issue, as the framerate is good on PC still. I will try wireless next. Thanks!

EDIT: On wireless Streaming, same setup as above, but with Wireless G and 720p now. Input latency is a bit worse, but image quality holds up surprisingly well, even far from WAP. Sound quality is poor though, a lot of skips and pops. Its not as good as Nvidia Shield, which can hit 60fps at 720p, but thats on wireless N, and on much newer hardware. Another thing, the automatic framelock setting is going to 60fps I think (because of the lower resolution?); however, the laptop can't decode that even at 720p, so locking it to 30 gave much better results. Might want to rethink were the cutoff is at on the automatic setting.

RANDOM POINT: Doesn't seem to be a way to disable 3dvision from the client, also its not obvious that 3dvision is active when playing on the client, so you're taking the performance hit without seeing 3d. Maybe pop a warning that 3d is on, or disable it somehow when streaming? Thanks again!

[Devil 505]

games - tomb raider, rage

assetto corsa failed to run

1. i5 760 3.3ghz, asus p7p55d, corsair xms3 4 x 2gb, 2 x msi nvidia 660ti in sli, creative xifi titanium, netgear wnr834bv2, cat 5 cables less than 5 meters in length, in game streaming latency above 100ms, ping only 1-2ms

2. samsung r530 laptop, i3 2.13ghz, intel graphics media accelerator

3. automatic - when frame rate remains above 50fps. but if frames drop below 40fps it locks to 30fps automatically and doesnt climb again

4. 30fps - even though it reads almost 30fps graphics very jerky
60fps - between 50 - 60fps but controls feel sluggish

5. when i open the stats graph the red line shoots up and causes massive lag, blue line stays steady. i have to disable hardware coding as game runs at about 4fps when enabled

6. no

7. sometimes

[blimpyroo]

1. i7-2600k, AMD Radeon 6870HD, BT Home Hub 4 (roughly 6Mbps down, low latency).
2. i5-3210M, Intel HD4000, same network at the running computer.
3. Automatic. For all games.
4. The game ran at the desired framerate for both 60FPS and 30FPS settings.
5. Mainly the network.
6. The game did not play smoothly when the framerate dropped below the selected setting, but light visual tearing was noticable when the framerate spiked higher.
7. Latency was mainly based on my network, but input latency was never an issue, and was not linked to framerate loss.

[Hollow Shell GTX]

Not much games tested so far, but I'll try harder. =)
1. Intel Core i7 3770, GTX 680, 10mbps netspeed.
2. Intel Core Duo E6300, GTX 210, 10mbps netspeed.
3. Automatic settings for Trine 2, Audiosurf & Left 4 Dead 2.
4. 60 fps option gives something about 27-58 fps. 30 fps option - 27-29 fps. Good enough, I think.
5. Looks like all my small lags comes from network speed. All the games were playable, but Audiosurf sometimes stutter for a bit, ~0,3 sec (but still playable). Left 4 Dead 2 (shooter!) was almost perfect and Trine 2 looks pretty similar to L4D2.
6. Yep, smooth enough.
7. Yes, games are fully playable, latency was just fine, something about 30-50ms.
Well done Valve! I'll starting to build third computer to another room.

[Kite]

Host : Intel Q6700, GTX 560Ti, DDR2 8Go, (on ethernet)
OS : 1# Linux 3.12 (Mint 16), driver nvidia 331.20
2# Windows 7 (can't remember driver version but at least 1 year old)
Client : Laptop Asus N53J (on wifi)
OS : Linux 3.12 (Mint 15), driver nvidia 331.20

Game tested :

• Super Meet boy (1#) : Auto/30/60fps -> same result, game really slow around 15-20fps, i think because of the game and also no sound in client.
  
  
• TF2 (1#) : game run well (exept for mouse input very sensitive) a bit laggy but playable. FPS (15-25)
  
  
• To the Moon (1#) : weird render image invert in y axis and take only left bottom corner of my laptop screen. see this [drive.google.com]
  
  
• Hitman absolution and Bioshock infinite (#2) : low fps around 15. And sometimes some low encoding or low network. Tested on Automatique and locked at 30fps.

That's all I've tested for now. Hope this will help. Btw great work ! :)

[Monsterbitar]

I intended to perform this test but the update earlier today broke my streaming entirely. I try to start the game and the host starts it properly but I get no response on the client (no window pops up with the game, I get a small window stating it it sabout to start, then it disappears)

[MarsUp [FR]]

60 FPS minimum please

[꧁DS꧂]

1. CPU: Intel G2030 | GPU: GTX650Ti GS | NET: Realtek 8111E Gigabit LAN
2. CPU: T5800 | GPU: HD3470 Mobility | NET: Realtek (from Toshiba A300-1LT)
3. Poker Night - max, War Thunder - lags on every settings, DOTA2 - max (all games 720p)
4. 30FPS and 60FPS works fine
5. decoding
6. no
7. yes

[Zhaguinaz ™]

I want beta access :D pls

[SteadySnoozin]

I don't understand why this still isn't in open beta, Steam would get a LOT more comments of people just describing their experiences with it instead of posts about not getting into the beta.

[Edgarware.exe]

1. Server Hardware: i7-3770 @3.4GHz, GTX 770
2. Client Hardware: Surface Pro 2, i5-4200U @ 1.6GHz, Integrated Graphics
Both computers on 802.11n Wifi, tested game was Runner 2 at 1920x1080 (native resolution for both systems)

3. The 60FPS lock seemed to be the most stable and smooth looking in presentation and responsiveness. 30FPS lock was similar, but with some occasional stutters and an (obviously) lower framerate, and Automatic was realy bad, with terrible stuttering and an even lower FPS than either 60 or 30 (19FPS vs 33FPS and 29FPS, respectively).
4. 30FPS lock was able to keep its framerate lock, 60FPS lock wasnt (33 instead of 60), but it kept very stable at the FPS it managed to hit.
5. It looks like most of the issue was the decoding (which makes sense, a 1.6Ghz i5 isnt a lot to work with) and some caused by network stuttering
6&7. At Automatic settings, the erratic framerate made Runner 2 somewhat playable. The game would be alright on easy, but any thing over normal difficulty, expecially later in the game, would be almost impossible with the stutter and lag issues. Stutter in the framerate seemed to also effect the input at the same rate, so you wouldnt be able to dodge an obstacle in the game even if you could see it.

Keep up the good work, guys. I look forward to seeing more!