Server performance, tier0_s.dll and PhysX3

endarendar Join Date: 2010-07-27 Member: 73256Members, Squad Five Blue
in NS2 General Discussion
I've noticed now that B194 has come in, the performance impact of spreading PhysX3 onto a seperate thread to allow for increased multithreading has been significantly reduced.

I guess my first question, is what happened to the PhysX thread? It used to use up to 5-15% extra cpu, on top of the 25% that server.exe would normally max out to, giving a total of about 40%. Is the current behaviour a bug, or was it a bug previously? The reason it matters to me (and possibly other servers), is that it determines how many servers can reliably be running on a single quad core.

My second question, also from the same screenshot, is what is tier0_s.dll doing? Why is it "stealing" so much time from server.exe, for what appears to be (from quick google), steam related tasks? It's using anywhere between 7 and 10%, which leaves the server.exe part with only 15-18% down from 25%. Does this mean that due to this, we are only getting 60-70% performance due to the overheads of tier0_s.dll?

Please enlighten me.

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/72/servertier0.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4509/servertier0.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>
Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome

Comments

  • bobthesobbobthesob Join Date: 2011-12-09 Member: 137195Members
    the spark engine is sparking thats all
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • devicenulldevicenull Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15967Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Tier0 contains a <a href="http://hg.alliedmods.net/hl2sdks/hl2sdk-ob/file/0575b673a402/public/tier0" target="_blank">bunch of stuff</a>. It's possible it's being used for things like memory management or threading. It's also in it's own thread.. so it's not really stealing anything from the main server (unless OFC you only have one core)
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • dushandushan Breaker of Games Join Date: 2011-10-30 Member: 130202Members, NS2 Developer, Squad Five Blue, Pistachionauts
    This was a silly bug in PhysX that got fixed. NS2 currently does very little physics (rag doll, grenade, some projectiles) so it really shouldn't take any time at all. I'm aware of one more performance issue but as it's all on another thread I didn't get to it yet.

    I was looking at the excessive CPU usage by Steam too - it's pretty strange. It may be time to upgrade to the latest steam libs.
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • endarendar Join Date: 2010-07-27 Member: 73256Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1899506:date=Feb 4 2012, 02:24 PM:name=devicenull)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (devicenull @ Feb 4 2012, 02:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1899506"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Tier0 contains a <a href="http://hg.alliedmods.net/hl2sdks/hl2sdk-ob/file/0575b673a402/public/tier0" target="_blank">bunch of stuff</a>. It's possible it's being used for things like memory management or threading. It's also in it's own thread.. so it's not really stealing anything from the main server (unless OFC you only have one core)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I understand it's in its own thread, but it still limits what is allocated to the serve.exe thread. Not sure how to explain why it does that, mainly because I don't know. Sometimes tier0 is running much closer to .1-.5% of cpu, and then server.exe is normally around 24%.

    <!--quoteo(post=1899508:date=Feb 4 2012, 02:46 PM:name=dushan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dushan @ Feb 4 2012, 02:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1899508"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This was a silly bug in PhysX that got fixed. NS2 currently does very little physics (rag doll, grenade, some projectiles) so it really shouldn't take any time at all. I'm aware of one more performance issue but as it's all on another thread I didn't get to it yet.

    I was looking at the excessive CPU usage by Steam too - it's pretty strange. It may be time to upgrade to the latest steam libs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Thanks for the prompt info on the physx bug being fixed, i guess its time to reopen another server!
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • devicenulldevicenull Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15967Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1899508:date=Feb 3 2012, 10:46 PM:name=dushan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dushan @ Feb 3 2012, 10:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1899508"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This was a silly bug in PhysX that got fixed. NS2 currently does very little physics (rag doll, grenade, some projectiles) so it really shouldn't take any time at all. I'm aware of one more performance issue but as it's all on another thread I didn't get to it yet.

    I was looking at the excessive CPU usage by Steam too - it's pretty strange. It may be time to upgrade to the latest steam libs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Yes, upgrade to the new steam libs! It means we get support for A2S_RULES too :)
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • playerplayer Join Date: 2010-09-12 Member: 73982Members
    You already have access to the A2S-rules if you feel like loading up the Steam-DLL, but I have a new query-responder built that I will have take NS2's place, and will add some Lua-functions for data-manipulation, regardless of when McGuire ever gets around to doing it.
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • MOOtantMOOtant Join Date: 2010-06-25 Member: 72158Members
    Does tier0_s.dll have symbols at all? If no then it might last thing it has symbol for in the stack.
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
Sign In or Register to comment.