We have another patch applied to the testing branch on Steam. This is a very small fix, but it addresses the stuttering/framerate issue that many people have experienced. We wanted to share it with a few of you ahead of releasing it just to make sure that it was stable and didn’t create any issues with a range of different save files.
Once again, this build is UNSTABLE and may well screw up your save games. Only opt in if you are ok with it messing up your saves! You can always make a copy of your save directory if you want to make sure you don’t lose your characters progress.
If you’re interested in helping us out, here are the details for joining the new development branch:
Go to Sunless Sea in your Steam library, right click on it and go to ‘Properties’[/li][li]Go to the ‘Betas’ tab and enter the access code ‘absinthegreen’[/li][li]Select the Testing branch from the dropdown above[/li][li]Restart Steam.
You can opt out of this branch at any time by going back into the ‘Betas’ tab and switching of testing.
This update is looking to fix:
The framerate/stuttering issue![/li][li]Combat items should now update correctly when you buy/are awarded new items.[/li][li]An issue where your ship trade-in could result in your getting more money than you were expecting has been resolved.[/li][li]A rare edge case that would cause your captain to lose your legacy bonuses has now been resolved.
If you could reply in this post to let us know you are testing this branch, that would really help us get a sense of how many save files and characters this has been tested with. We’d appreciate all bug reports from this branch to sunlesssea@failbettergames.com, letting us know that you experienced the issue while playing on the testing branch.
I could just cuddle you for giving it your all. You guys are great. Testing branch downloading now. Let´s get that framerate-stuttering!
Edit: Okay, for the most part it seems to go stable at about 57-61 fps and it no longer stutters with every fuel tick, so thats a good thing. However it still loses about 20 frames once it goes into combat mode and goes to a stable 33-37 during action fighting.
[i]edited by Mr.Misfit on 3/10/2015
Edit 2: At first I thought that, like in many other engines, numerous fog effects were bringing down the framerate, but it is in fact the lighting and its nuumber as well as the general effect from your personal ships lighting on other things, that sometimes downs the framerate, in london up to 25fps lost from lighting stuff while driving into harbor.
[/i] edited by Mr.Misfit on 3/10/2015
Hooray! After downloading the test-patch and going for a run through the whole map (that particular savegame had the worst stutter before) I, too, would consider this problem solved!
You rock! ;)
Edit: Haven’t played any storylets so far. Will post here if anything weird should happen to my savefiles… edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/11/2015
I was having super bad stutter, and now I have hardly any. I’m running an older system and get slow-down when I go through things like fog, or around places like Mt. Palmerston or the Phosgene Bleaks (I think that’s it?) But for the most part this has made a massive difference.
thanks for this testing opportunity.
So the stuttering stopped, framerate drops are still there especially around the southern brown-misty areas.
Also i currently cant fight. Enemies will react to mee (going towards me) but wont attack, my attacks charge and fire properly but seem to make no damage which is difficult to test because no enemy has a lifebar. And once i enter the battle view i cant get back from that by pressing e so my sight-visualization only dissappears when i enter a harbour.
Greetings, loizuf
Edit: Okay I should’ve tried just restarting the game BEFORE i wrote here. Whatever was wrong restarting fixed it. edited by loizuf on 3/13/2015 edited by loizuf on 3/13/2015
Thanks for letting us know about this issue though Loizuf. If you happen to encounter this problem again, it’d be great if you could submit a bug report with the current play session’s output log attached.
My stutter also, disappeared almost completely (only in a couple of occasions I noticed a sliiight effect, but for 98% of the time it’s smooth).
Sometimes the game has a sort of “hiccup”, so not a real stutter but a split second of freeze followed by a small jump in the screen. But it’s a very light effect that does not disturb the flow of the game, even in combat.
[quote=Rupho Schartenhauer]Hooray! After downloading the test-patch and going for a run through the whole map (that particular savegame had the worst stutter before) I, too, would consider this problem solved!
You rock! ;)
Edit: Haven’t played any storylets so far. Will post here if anything weird should happen to my savefiles…
[/quote]
Update: Finally found the time for some prolonged playing ;-) Absolutely nothing untoward has happened, this patch is running perfectly for me! After uncovering the whole map I get some super-minimal stutter in fogbanks (especially when I’m in combat mode AND in a fogbank) but it’s hardly noticeable and not affecting turning or anything.
Civilian ships are still teleporting though… ;-)
The stuttering had not been present for the first 12 hours (or so) of gameplay. It started after an extended voyage (specifically it started after picking up an item from the Avid Horizon).
I googled it and found this thread. I backed up my files and gained access to the testing branch. I downloaded it and, to my chagrin, the stuttering was still present. The trip South (Venderblight -> London) was fairly smooth but, upon docking and taking some sample tours around Hunter’s Isle (or w/e), the stuttering was still present. I restarted the computer with no change.
I am using a Mac Book Pro with 16 GB of RAM and Intel Iris graphics card. I am using “Charming” video settings.
Thanks for your continued work on this. Please let me know if I can provide additional details.
It’d be great if you could drop a an email to sunlesssea@failbettergames.com, preferably with the save file of your character experiencing the problem.
Thank you once again testers! We are going to be rolling out this patch very soon, so we advise you to switch back off the testing branch so you can get all the latest content when we release further patches.