[Main Thread] Weather Effects Causing Performance Issues since Patch 51.0 (June 23 2020)

CS student with FPS issues here (like everyone else).

Probable cause

Looking at what Heroes does, I would guess the particle effects (snow and rain) are just too much to be stacked on top of the overworked main thread the game soley relies on.

https://i.imgur.com/eqt8M4R.png

In the Properties Window (top left), there is a thread that is “the game” (TID 12580) followed by the “translator” (TID 8460) that handles the calls to the GPU. Most other threads are sleeping (meaning inactive) as evident by the ThreadWrangler window (top right).
ThreadWrangler is also set up so that Heroes only runs on one “half” of the CPU (AMD Zen 1 related worarround).

In trial mode, this is fine and dendy as there are only a few minions and 3 heroes to handle (resulting in a spectecular 130 FPS). In a regular game, not so much.

Easiest fix: Put an option in the graphics settings to disable the effects (and I mean disable, not just hide them!)

Complicated (and not feasable/cost effective): Rework the engine to handle the effects in a seperate thread. Could also put the Disk I/O in a seperate thread to reduce the FPS impact of long disk waits.

TL;DR Heroes runs on one core. So get an Intel K-SKU, put it under water and overclock it to >5GHz.


What is the DXDiag for? Manual Steam HW-Survey?

https://pastebin.com/dFuCmmc8
1 Like
https://pastebin.com/rL2uM4Q8
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https://pastebin.com/K0ngK4B1
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https://pastebin.com/8cHmYGxQ
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https://pastebin.com/7L2Z3VCr

Thank you for the DxDiag files, everyone! I’ve gathered the ones sent so far and we’re getting this issue tracked with the details provided.

4 Likes

Same issues here, happening since the last patch, there are “mini” lags hitting frequently.

https://pastebin.com/3aBvPQGC
https://pastebin.com/gjyceL0R

Hey everyone,

We greatly appreciate the continued reports. The development team is currently investigating the underlying issue, and we will be providing further updates in this thread as they are available.

4 Likes

It happens without fail at 7 minutes. The game runs fine before that, then it’s terrible for almost the rest of the match.

2 Likes
https://pastebin.com/XMNZuvBb

I had this issue on and off for years now but it’s gotten much worse since the weather fixes… When something happens, sometimes it’s a hero dying, sometimes it’s a hero entering the screen etc. the game freezes for about a second… happens very often now, really no fun to play like this…

Just of note, on my DxDiag it showed a previous driver version. My graphics drivers have since been updated and still having the issue.

Guys, do you have a second monitor? Disabling my second monitor fixed the issue, or might just be a coincidence (I havent played for few days).

Been there, tried that. Does not change anything (except I can no longer look at performance stats in real time).
The only thing I have not tried is spinning up a Virtual Machine so Windows lets the Linux Kernel do the scheduling, at the performance penalty of the VM.

In my case, I have a high end PC, and I have the same problem since the last patch. I just noticed that if you close google chrome, all is running ok, but I’m not going to close a program for a heroes of the storm problem.

https://pastebin.com/MynRrrrh

Seriously man, leaver ban should count when the nexus destroyed. The match is over then. I always get leaver ban because AFTER that my conenction lost. I didnt vote for mvp, sure, but is it deserves 4 match ban?

Yes, you are absolutely right! Lag spikes happen precisely at 7 minute mark. Then it gradually gets better. But for straight 5 minutes it is very difficult to play.

https://pastebin.com/9cmRdbgF

Hey y’all,

Thanks for all the tests so far. The devs have some ideas for what’s up here so we don’t need those anymore. Going to edit that out of my old post.

Please feel free to keep reporting that it’s happening, when it happens, what else is going on, etc, but no need to submit more files. Figured I’d save y’all time.

3 Likes