Windows 7/DX11/Constant Buffers - Question.

In the 2.5.2 patch notes from earlier today:

"

Qarl wrote:

2.5.2 Patch Notes

• Parallelised the rendering of the DirectX 11 client. This allows multi-threading for scene rendering, improving performance.

Seems to be missing some information. From the earlier Content Update 2.5.2 Patch Notes

"

Parallelised the rendering of the DirectX 11 client. This allows multi-threading for scene rendering, improving performance. This is only enabled if your graphics card and driver supports Constant Buffer Offsets.

This is quite important information for Windows 7 users, as the Platform Update for Windows 7 does not provide support for optional hardware features, such as Constant Buffer Offseting and partial updates.

Bearing this in mind, am I right in thinking this patch does nothing for Windows 7 users? In fact, is there a possibility it will make DX11 performance worse, as this seems to be the case for me since the patch (including 2.5.2b)

Windows 7 user here. Since the patch I now get bad stuttering when using Dx11. Before the patch Dx11 was much better than Dx9 or Dx9 Ex.

"

Kellog wrote:

In the 2.5.2 patch notes from earlier today:

"

Qarl wrote:

2.5.2 Patch Notes

• Parallelised the rendering of the DirectX 11 client. This allows multi-threading for scene rendering, improving performance.

Seems to be missing some information. From the earlier Content Update 2.5.2 Patch Notes

"

Parallelised the rendering of the DirectX 11 client. This allows multi-threading for scene rendering, improving performance. This is only enabled if your graphics card and driver supports Constant Buffer Offsets.

This is quite important information for Windows 7 users, as the Platform Update for Windows 7 does not provide support for optional hardware features, such as Constant Buffer Offseting and partial updates.

Bearing this in mind, am I right in thinking this patch does nothing for Windows 7 users? In fact, is there a possibility it will make DX11 performance worse, as this seems to be the case for me since the patch (including 2.5.2b)

maybe i dont know what all things are in that that stuff...but what about:
PSSetConstantBuffers1

it is mentioned there in the platform update.

"

M0rO wrote:

"

Kellog wrote:

In the 2.5.2 patch notes from earlier today:

"

Qarl wrote:

2.5.2 Patch Notes

• Parallelised the rendering of the DirectX 11 client. This allows multi-threading for scene rendering, improving performance.

Seems to be missing some information. From the earlier Content Update 2.5.2 Patch Notes

"

Parallelised the rendering of the DirectX 11 client. This allows multi-threading for scene rendering, improving performance. This is only enabled if your graphics card and driver supports Constant Buffer Offsets.

This is quite important information for Windows 7 users, as the Platform Update for Windows 7 does not provide support for optional hardware features, such as Constant Buffer Offseting and partial updates.

Bearing this in mind, am I right in thinking this patch does nothing for Windows 7 users? In fact, is there a possibility it will make DX11 performance worse, as this seems to be the case for me since the patch (including 2.5.2b)

maybe i dont know what all things are in that that stuff...but what about:
PSSetConstantBuffers1

it is mentioned there in the platform update.

That's a developer option so not much use at the user end. Regardless, as I understand things - you can read Direct3D Feature Levels for the details - the hardware hardware specific features of DX11.1 requite WDDM 1.2 and above (Windows 8.1 and up) Windows 7 only has support for WDDM 1.1.

My OS and hardware support CBO but performance is worse than ever. I feel like it's not even an issue on my end.

"

Kellog wrote:

Bearing this in mind, am I right in thinking this patch does nothing for Windows 7 users? In fact, is there a possibility it will make DX11 performance worse, as this seems to be the case for me since the patch (including 2.5.2b)

Immediately noticed the unfortunate performance drop post-patch. Heavy FPS and frame time fluctuations are causing stuttering that wasn't present pre-patch.

Aside from the bug where the game keeps launching in windowed fullscreen, the DX11 progress has been great for me up until 2.5.2/b. Prior to this patch the only major performance issues for me were the brief pauses in Lockstep caused by severe spikes in calculations (e.g., Abyssal Cry during breaches + beyond + sea witches, etc.). Rarely noticed dips below 60FPS in other scenarios.

Also running Windows 7 x64 and I'm happy to provide GGG with additional info to help troubleshoot. If dev time permits, perhaps a new command-line parameter can be added for those of us that are negatively affected, which disables these specific changes until a better solution is found (e.g., -noasync from 2.3.0)?

This sucks. Yet another reason not to double-down on DirectX, but look to OpenGL/Vulkan, for other far more popular consoles (5x the number of PS3&4s than XBOnes), OSs (Linux, iOS) & the future in general.

windows 7 here, performance is worse after 2.5.2 patch too :(

"

Kellog wrote:

That's a developer option so not much use at the user end. Regardless, as I understand things - you can read Direct3D Feature Levels for the details - the hardware hardware specific features of DX11.1 requite WDDM 1.2 and above (Windows 8.1 and up) Windows 7 only has support for WDDM 1.1.

i see what your saying. since the constant buffers are only available to v1.2+ then Win7 cant make use of it.

that is something microsoft always does though to force users to buy newer products. in all honesty they are actually wanting everyone to upgrade to Win10.

i really do believe if GGG would just get Vulkan support into the game and work on optimizing it the game would be in a much better place. Vulkan support is available for Win7/8/10, Linux, and Playstation 4. if they added OGL as a fallback even Mac could be added to that list.

edit:
OS Statistics
I just wanted to throw this in here real quick since it is relevant in a way. It shows users statistics for each OS.

Dcemeber 2016
Win 7|...|34.6%
Win 10|.|30.9%
Win 8|...|11.1%
Mac|.....|9.8%
Linux|...|5.6%
Win XP|.|1.0%
Vista|....|0.2%
NT*|.....|0.0%

"

M0rO wrote:

"

Kellog wrote:

That's a developer option so not much use at the user end. Regardless, as I understand things - you can read Direct3D Feature Levels for the details - the hardware hardware specific features of DX11.1 requite WDDM 1.2 and above (Windows 8.1 and up) Windows 7 only has support for WDDM 1.1.

i see what your saying. since the constant buffers are only available to v1.2+ then Win7 cant make use of it.

that is something microsoft always does though to force users to buy newer products. in all honesty they are actually wanting everyone to upgrade to Win10.

i really do believe if GGG would just get Vulkan support into the game and work on optimizing it the game would be in a much better place. Vulkan support is available for Win7/8/10, Linux, and Playstation 4. if they added OGL as a fallback even Mac could be added to that list.

OpenGL/Vlukan support would be nice and a step to wards better support for Linux. Whether or not this happens will, I believe, will depend on their plans for PS4 support. On the Xbox One announcement page, it does say "We're proud to announce that Path of Exile will be making its console debut on Xbox One later this year!" and there's no mention of exclusivity to Xbox...

"

edit:
OS Statistics
I just wanted to throw this in here real quick since it is relevant in a way. It shows users statistics for each OS.

Dcemeber 2016
Win 7|...|34.6%
Win 10|.|30.9%
Win 8|...|11.1%
Mac|.....|9.8%
Linux|...|5.6%
Win XP|.|1.0%
Vista|....|0.2%
NT*|.....|0.0%

I assume those are Steam charts, which are always skewed in favour of a specific demographic. In Real World terms, Windows overall lost market share for the first time in a long while. However and perhaps more importantly, Windows 7 is still used by more that twice as many as Windows 10.

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