The Liberty Dreadnought's unique cruise effect prompts a large GPU load that leads to FPS drops on player computers with weak GPU from a common camera position if the player is flying the Dreadnought.
-> Look into adjusting the default camera location for the Dreadnought and/or the angle the camera sways when turning/pitching up&down.
The Rheinland Battleship's cruise effect can create the same issue under much more specific circumstances.
-> Test any newly created effects of this amount of complexity for their performance impact
Full notes (for reference in future testing):
The custom effects for the cruise mode of the Liberty Dreadnought and Rheinland Battleship create the greatest GPU load out of any effect or combination of effects I have tested thus far.
I encounter a noticible FPS drop on my (somewhat underpowered) setup:
Game resolution: 2560x1440px
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
The GPU load depends sharply on the number and screen share of the rendered particles. Consequentially, camera controls impact whether the performance impact appears in normal gameplay at all. Currently, the camera of the Liberty Dreadnought tends to look directly at the greatest number and display-size effects of the cruise engine whenever the player pitches down a little during cruise mode. This is the only situation I would actively describe as problematic right now.
The highest GPU load from the Dreadnought cruise effect and Rheinland Battleship occur after zooming closer to the effect in turret view. The increased performance impact is not critical and the situation in which it happens is easily avoided.
I was unable to get the same performance impact from the (effectively same?) cruise effect on the Rh Cruiser and Gunboat, possibly due to the distinct camera distances in turret view.
The Dreadnought cruise effect appears to cause a large GPU load at a range of distances in turret view, which could mean that it has to be adjusted to address the issue with it.
Other effects such as projectile effects or Nomad ship/engine effects (including the battleships) do not reach a very large GPU load, nor does a camera attach to them and keep them occupying a large portion of your screen anyway.
Summary:
The Liberty Dreadnought's unique cruise effect prompts a large GPU load that leads to FPS drops on player computers with weak GPU from a common camera position if the player is flying the Dreadnought. -> Look into adjusting the default camera location for the Dreadnought and/or the angle the camera sways when turning/pitching up&down.
The Rheinland Battleship's cruise effect can create the same issue under much more specific circumstances. -> Test any newly created effects of this amount of complexity for their performance impact
Full notes (for reference in future testing):
The custom effects for the cruise mode of the Liberty Dreadnought and Rheinland Battleship create the greatest GPU load out of any effect or combination of effects I have tested thus far.
I encounter a noticible FPS drop on my (somewhat underpowered) setup: Game resolution: 2560x1440px GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
The GPU load depends sharply on the number and screen share of the rendered particles. Consequentially, camera controls impact whether the performance impact appears in normal gameplay at all. Currently, the camera of the Liberty Dreadnought tends to look directly at the greatest number and display-size effects of the cruise engine whenever the player pitches down a little during cruise mode. This is the only situation I would actively describe as problematic right now.
The highest GPU load from the Dreadnought cruise effect and Rheinland Battleship occur after zooming closer to the effect in turret view. The increased performance impact is not critical and the situation in which it happens is easily avoided.
I was unable to get the same performance impact from the (effectively same?) cruise effect on the Rh Cruiser and Gunboat, possibly due to the distinct camera distances in turret view.
The Dreadnought cruise effect appears to cause a large GPU load at a range of distances in turret view, which could mean that it has to be adjusted to address the issue with it.
Other effects such as projectile effects or Nomad ship/engine effects (including the battleships) do not reach a very large GPU load, nor does a camera attach to them and keep them occupying a large portion of your screen anyway.