Surviving Mars - [Mac] Extreme FPS drop when a lake is in view

[CookieMNSTR XL]

Description
Extreme FPS drop when a lake with water in it is in view on MacOS Mojave



Mac


Steam

What is your game version?
244677
Do you have Space Race installed?
Yes

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
I built a small lake and the game immediately started stuttering as the FPS dropped immensely. As long as the lake remains in view, the game is barely playable but plays normally when I scroll away. Turning the lake off and letting the water evaporate completely also restores proper FPS. Also, the water seems way too bright (even during night), it's basically a glowing white pool of despair .
This happens on a 21.5" 2017 iMac with Core i5 @ 3.4Ghz, 8GB RAM and Radeon Pro 560 4GB.

Can you replicate the issue?
Scroll the view onto a lake and the game becomes nearly unplayable while it remains in view as long as there's water in it. Happens also if the map view is opened.

Attachments

 

[SillySMS]

Thanks for the response. I don't mean to be brash. I just want some form of update with the frozen lake issue as it simply means I cannot play the game. Do you know when this might be fixed?

Keep an eye on the patch notes. I'm not sure Cernan has the fix, but for something of this severity, they're probably going to release another hotfix rather than waiting for the next big patch.

 

[efecanbasoz]

The developers Haemimont do read these forums and are aware of these Mac issues. They don't post much here as that's time spent away from development, please don't interpret that as not caring.

Well, actually I do believe that is not caring. I saw posts about this before the last patch that published by developers. Since this is a problem that blocks finishing the game when you look from Green Planet perspective (which I give money to play with), then this makes the product unfinished. So it means that I gave my money to an unfinished product, without knowing it. After the complaints, still there are fixes for other stuff but no one is talking about this on developer side. From a customer side, it means that they are not caring at all.

Simply, they can say it on here or better they could mention that on the last patch notes they released with a simple "we are working on it". Writing this message took my 30 seconds, so I'm pretty sure writing less than this is not really a big "spent away time".

 

[SillySMS]

I don't think "does not hold hands by posting on a forum" constitutes a lack of caring by the devs. It may just be a difficult problem to debug, or their Mac expert is on vacation, etc, etc.

Responding to forum posts isn't in their job description. Debugging is, and you can reasonably be upset if it's not fixed in a couple weeks.

 

[efecanbasoz]

I don't think "does not hold hands by posting on a forum" constitutes a lack of caring by the devs. It may just be a difficult problem to debug, or their Mac expert is on vacation, etc, etc.

Responding to forum posts isn't in their job description. Debugging is, and you can reasonably be upset if it's not fixed in a couple weeks.

Their job description also contains "verify and quality control the build for a platform" before making it production. Green Planet DLC is all about Terraforming feature and this feature is not working properly on a platform that dev's says "it's compitable". By this mean, it's an unfinished or not quality checked product.

I don't care about if they post here or not. Also, talking with customers are not responsibility of dev's, PR and/or Marketing team's. I really don't think they don't even have just 1 person to do this, otherwise is silly. These PR guys needs to say to dev team that there is a big issue (not a slight bug) on a DLC feature that makes game unplayable and get their idea's. Than they need to post what is the roadmap for that fix as newsletter, patch note for prior patchs or blog (or whatever they choose to do, even a tweet).

I paid for a proper DLC that said working on a specific platform but it surely doesn't. Steam don't refund you unless you played 2 hours, so I do complain about this matter no matter how. If you sell something with a promise and you don't make that promise a reality; it means a fraud.

 

[cmdrsquick88]

Will confirm I have the same issue

Mac OS Mojave
Latest Game Patch as of June 4, 2019 11AM EST
No 3rd Party Add-ons
All DLC Complete

Issue : Whenever I build a Lake (off screen or on screen unlike others) I get massive drops of FPS that is literally unplayable . Reloading the game before I built the lake makes it goes away, but deleting/ salvaging the lake does improve it but it still causes massive FPS drops (playable but not as fun anymore)

 

[seth88]

Same issue here too:

What is your game version?
245618

Do you have Space Race installed?
Yes

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
The water in lakes render at extreme brightness (washing everything out). Initially I thought that was just very bright ice, but as soon as I hit 25% temp the game ground to a crawl (~3 fps).

Moving the camera, removing lakes, etc. all solve the issue temporarily, and no change I found in the video settings made a difference.

It's definitely the water, though – I had a bunch of empty lakes (disconnected from water) with no performance problem, and then it started raining. Reproduced that and took a screenshot. Before:



and after:



I've also attached a couple of samples; the main difference I see that the HR::RenderTerrainWater function doesn't show up at all in the no-lake sample, whereas it's taking a good chunk of time in the other sample:

Spoiler: Render thread backtrace 1

  HR::RenderTerrainWater(HR::NodeForest*, HR::DevObj, int, int*, HR::TSceneDescr const*)  (in MarsSteam) + 2367  [0x10d71724f]
  HR::RenderDevice::DrawInd(HR::EPrimType, int, int, int, int, bool)  (in MarsSteam) + 430  [0x10da4723e]
  glDrawElementsInstancedBaseVertex  (in libGL.dylib) + 45  [0x7fff487a2d29]
  glDrawElementsInstancedBaseVertex_ACC_GL3Exec  (in GLEngine) + 817  [0x7fff493f83ad]
  gleFlushAtomicFunc  (in GLEngine) + 15  [0x7fff493670ca]
  ???  (in <unknown binary>)  [0x14c65cdea]
  gleSetVPTransformFuncAll  (in GLEngine) + 644  [0x7fff494bcff4]
  gleUpdateShaderTexData  (in GLEngine) + 445  [0x7fff4946491d]
  glsmLoadTextureStructure  (in libGLProgrammability.dylib) + 390  [0x7fff4886a3b9]
  glsmLoadTextureLevelBuffer  (in libGLProgrammability.dylib) + 1445  [0x7fff4886a19b]
  glgProcessPixelsWithProcessor  (in libGLImage.dylib) + 1425  [0x7fff487af0c9]
  dispatch_apply_f  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 766  [0x7fff6bb45596]
  _dispatch_apply_invoke_and_wait  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 157  [0x7fff6bb45a43]
  _dispatch_client_callout2  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 8  [0x7fff6bb35672]
  __glgProcessPixelsWithProcessor_block_invoke  (in libGLImage.dylib) + 110  [0x7fff487affb6]

Spoiler: Render thread backtrace 2

   HR::RenderTerrainWater(HR::NodeForest*, HR::DevObj, int, int*, HR::TSceneDescr const*)  (in MarsSteam) + 2367  [0x10d71724f]
   HR::RenderDevice::DrawInd(HR::EPrimType, int, int, int, int, bool)  (in MarsSteam) + 430  [0x10da4723e]
   glDrawElementsInstancedBaseVertex  (in libGL.dylib) + 45  [0x7fff487a2d29]
   glDrawElementsInstancedBaseVertex_ACC_GL3Exec  (in GLEngine) + 817  [0x7fff493f83ad]
   gleFlushAtomicFunc  (in GLEngine) + 15  [0x7fff493670ca]
   ???  (in <unknown binary>)  [0x14c65cdea]
   gleSetVPTransformFuncAll  (in GLEngine) + 644  [0x7fff494bcff4]
   gleUpdateShaderTexData  (in GLEngine) + 614  [0x7fff494649c6]
   gleSynchronizePluginTextureLevels  (in GLEngine) + 278  [0x7fff4947e40b]
   gfxUploadPluginTextureLevel  (in libGFXShared.dylib) + 111  [0x7fff487987f9]
   gpumRestoreTextureData  (in libGPUSupportMercury.dylib) + 390  [0x7fff5ac3b4fe]
   glrRestoreStandardTextureData  (in AMDRadeonX4000GLDriver) + 1515  [0x140834800]
   glrATITexGLGProcessPixels  (in AMDRadeonX4000GLDriver) + 250  [0x140834ae8]
   _platform_memmove$VARIANT$Haswell  (in libsystem_platform.dylib) + 307,325,...  [0x7fff6bd64e13,0x7fff6bd64e25,...]

I'm happy to provide more details or try things out if you'd like.

System:
macOS Mojave
Version 10.14.4
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Graphics Radeon Pro 560 4 GB

Overall, thanks for making such a fun game! I've been really enjoying green mars: turning the gorgeous martian landscape slowly green is quite a thrill!

 

[Brandonee916]

Any update on this? I haven't been able to play any of the new content due to this bug... as soon as I hit the 25% temperature mark and lakes are enabled they all appear white and significant FPS drop.

 

[ChoGGi_2]

Anyone want me to add a mod to toggle visibility of the water objs? At then you can still play.

 

[B M Perry]

Anyone want me to add a mod to toggle visibility of the water objs? At then you can still play.

You're a hero. I'd use that mod.

 

[B M Perry]

Can someone please give an update on this? It's been weeks since release with no fix and no communication as to a date the fix will come.

 

[ChoGGi_2]

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1761985737 (it's on paradox as well).

 

[stephan2342]

Thank you very much @ChoGGi_2 - your mod makes it possible to play the DLC on a Mac!

 

[B M Perry]

This is becoming annoying now. Your game I still unplayable for many Mac users having this issue. Can you please respond with something to explain or reassure your customers. A date this may be fixed or if it will be fixed? It's been a month.

 

[AndrewT]

This is becoming annoying now. Your game I still unplayable for many Mac users having this issue. Can you please respond with something to explain or reassure your customers. A date this may be fixed or if it will be fixed? It's been a month.

Does the above workaround mod not help you?

 

[B M Perry]

Does the above workaround mod not help you?

Thanks for the response.

Huge thanks to ChoGGI for making that mod as a work around, but it's not the same as a fix. You can have lakes but they don't look like lakes, it shows the water level. It makes it possible to progress in the game but it's about turning mars into a green planet after all, not a planet of display icons.

Based on what I've seen so far, this might be my favourite game... which is why it is disappointing not to play it as intended or as advertised. All I want to know is when a fix might be. It shouldn't be this hard surely?

 

[Catoakido]

Lakes: toggle visibility mod got me going again. I'll wait for the fix. Thanks.

 

[stephan2342]

Based on what I've seen so far, this might be my favourite game... which is why it is disappointing not to play it as intended or as advertised. All I want to know is when a fix might be. It shouldn't be this hard surely?

I agree to that. I'm very grateful for the mod and being able to play the DLC thanks to it. But I paid to Paradox for the game and the DLC containing a game breaking bug. The mod is a workaround that makes it possible to play the game including a reduction of the experience the game should deliver. When I pay for a game I expect the developer to take responsibility for delivering what they promised and getting the product fixed within reasonable time.

 

[ChoGGi_2]

Updated the mod:
v0.2
Uses an ice/water texture to show the level now (less ugly/noticeable).

 

[stephan2342]

Updated the mod:
v0.2
Uses an ice/water texture to show the level now (less ugly/noticeable).

Awesome! Thank you!

 

[B M Perry]

Still no fix. It’s not even a question anymore... This entire thread is simply being ignored. Modders are trying to fix your problems faster than you guys are. What a joke. So disappointed in Paradox and Haemimont.