VPX Help VPX : How to improve performance ?

[Clsx]

Hi ;

I've been running into fps/stutter issues in some VPX tables , especially ones with lots of stuff going on

While most of non vpm pre 80s tables run (almost) full speed , as well as most of vpm tables , but newer vpm tables and original tables have slowdown and frame drops

I noticed the framerate issue is worst with original tables with lots of eye candy ; especially when the table file size is over 200 mb

I understand VPX is much more demanding than VP 8 and 9 , and being on a 8+ year old business computer doesn't help , but I wonder if there are any settings & tweaks to make them a bit more smooth and playable

Thanks and have a nice one

 

[AnonTet]

It's not that VPX is more demanding by default (I never thought so) but tables updated to use most recent physics by nfozzy/roth and then all the dynamic sounds and all that to push for the CPU and by CPU i mean ONE core because VP is not multithreaded as far as I know.

Thing is, software is getting more and more demanding and I do notice my fans speeding up more recently too on newer VPX tables (and I have my cpu cores @5GHz water cooled).

There are other reasons, usually anti-virus is a nice culprit of many problems so you can disable that 1st. Or anything that uses overlays or is running in the background to free some cpu cycles while you play.

Of course you can always try to O/C your CPU and or GPU (some tables are starting to use hi-res graphics to run at 4K and that takes up vram) Other than that, only upgrading your HW will give you better performance.

Someone correct me if I say something wrong.

 

[xenonph]

Yes anti-virus is usually the main culprit.
You can also check your TV screen to see if there is a Game setting in the TV options.
Also you can shut off screen reflections in VP Video Preferences.

I have also went into Image Manager of tables that seem to give me a hard time, and find all the images that are over 4k res.
Export them and use photo editting program to reduce size in half. So a 4000 x 2048 pic is reduced to 2000 x 1024.
Then Import them back into table.
Seems to work for me on tables that seem to be extra demanding. Load times are sped up also.

Hope this helps.

 

[Clsx]

Thanks , will try and report back :)

 

[947er]

Open the Table in the VPX-Editor. Go to Proberties and change the "Elements Detail Level"

Next go to Visuals and uncheck "Reflect Elements on Playfield", For me it has helped.

I hope it helps you too.

 

[Clsx]

Thank you , I reduced the elements detail level and disable reflections , and the speed is significantly better (if not on all tables)

One more small thing , loading a bigger (over 100 mb) table on vpx takes almost a minute , is it normal ?

Thanks

 

[AnonTet]

Guess VP and FP share the same problem. Terry's tables take a while to load even on a gtx1080 (currently not oc'ed due to heat) with the CPU oc'ed to 5GHz. It is probably a minute or close but I never measured.

That being said, VPW tables for example (don't their size but I assume big) do load faster generally than FP.

 

[Clsx]

Thanks for the insight

Btw why is VPX so much more resource intensive than VP9 ?

More advanced physics engine ? Dynamic lightning etc ?

I mean I play on a normal desktop pc monitor , and don't notice much difference between a well made vp9 table and a vpx one , graphically

Do they look better when you play on a giant screen or a cab ?

 

[AnonTet]

I don't play anything not VPX so I can't compare but experience with other types of simulation you're right, more advanced math for physics, more resources needed. And someone experienced with VP evolution correct me here if i'm wrong but I also thing that at some point they have increased the physics rate. This means it is not just more accurate it runs more times per second (I don't know how much though).

Join that more GPU work due to what I've mentioned before and I think you have your answer.

If you have a table with 4K textures and one with older with lower res (let's say 1080p size) and i'm not even talking about quality of the texture you should see a difference in a 4k TV (bigger is relative and bigger doesn't always translate to better).

Which is why a 1080p upscaled video doesn't look as sharp as a 2K intermediated upscaled to 4k and native 4k still looks better than 2k upscaled so... yeah, it is a rabbit hole.

 

[xenonph]

You should notice a huge difference in physics in VPX. Compared to VP9.
Physmod5 or PM5 tables have better physics than VP9.
I think graphics has alot to do with it also.
VP8 can only have pics 1024x768 and lower.
VP9 you could rotate the playfield.
I could not play VPX until a friend of mine sent me a Graphics Card capable of handing the higher res pics.
So I would say Graphics are the main culprit.

 

[Clsx]

Thanks for the insight , guys :)

Somewhat embrassing to say I haven't played real pinball that much (pinball is literally unknown where I live) and don't understand how the physics should be etc

I used to play Pinball Dreams & Fantasies on Amiga and Pro Pinball series on PC religiously when I was a child , and after a long hiatus , discovered Visual Pinball and voila

 

[Wylte]

Bah, phone auto-scrolled to quote and post lol

 

[xenonph]

This is why exporting huge images out of Image Manager, and cutting there size in half, helps not only with load time, but tables run faster.
Some tables have a bumper cap image at 4000x4000 res!!
I have seen other tables with pics over 7000 res!!
Get all the pics under 2000 by editting them in photo editor and you will see a significant change in tables load time, and gameplay if you were seeing stutters before, this I can guarantee.