Vulkan API – Feedback, Known Issues, and FAQ

Sorry since it was no Vulkan specific I didn't elaborate, but I will since it affects Vulkan too.
So, in the last version 0.29 I had 40 average FPS on normal settings, now I get 8 average FPS on normal, after investigating as you can see in my last post, I found it had something to do with lighting and fair enough, FPS went back to a 60 average on lowest lighting settings.
After a bit more investigation I realized that polycount was affecting FPS in an anormal way, and since lighting doubles the polycount and shadows double it again it would explain why I found that lighting was the issue.
(When testing different polycount the amount of draw calls was the same)

Versions

• BeamNG: 0.30.0.0.15607
  
• AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition: 23.9.2
• GPU Driver: 23.20.11.01-230911a-395628C-AMD-Software-Adrenalin-Edition
  
• AMD Windows Driver: 31.0.22011.1008
  
• Vulkan API: 1.3.262
  
• Vulkan Driver: 2.0.289

Specification

• OS: Windows 11 Home (64 bit) 22H2 (Build 23545.1000)
  
• CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X
• GPU: Radeon RX 6500 XT
• CPU Speed: 3.80GHz Boost around 4.5Ghz
• CPU Core: 8
• CPU Threads: 16
• RAM Size: 48 GB
• RAM Speed: 2800 MHz
• Storage Type: SSD
• GPU VRAM: 4 GB

If you need any more info tell me

 

Alright so, there are some graphical glitches in Johnson Valley sometimes. I've encountered this issue only on Vulkan and at the time 2/3 times that I played on that map.
Steps to reproduce:

• Spawn in the map (possibly in the dunekicker camp as both of the times the problem appeared there);
• There should be some big glitches of low res stretched bushes (?) that just tank the framerate, see images below;

The stretched "thing" doesn't seem to be always in the same place; the first time it was in the red area (still very visible from the dunekicker camp), the second time in the blue area (the map screenshot is from the internet).

Without the glitch:

Slightly rotated the camera, glitch in view:

Rotated the camera, the glitch is fully in view

A video:
vulkan_bug.mp4
Log:
beamnglog.txt

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Now on another note, I've tried for the first time Vulkan after the 0.30 update and I have to say that generally on my system there is a noticeable bump in performance.
I've tested yesterday in the following conditions:

• WCUSA, spawn at the service station;
• Default blue D-series;
• Drive along this route:
  
• Crashed the car a couple of times (once with recovery in both, roughly where the bridge across the bay is, roughly of the same 2 seconds length)

Direct3d: average ~103 fps with dips down to 75 fps in Chinatown.
Vulkan: average ~126 fps with no real dips in performance.

 

Same here on Ryzen 5 2600X with 16GB of ram and RTX 2060, not the greatest setup but normally capable of around 70-80fps single car on most maps in D3D, yet its 6-15 ish fps in vulkan on (at least tested so far: WCU, Automation Test Track

 

I imagined it was something linked to that, didn't know what those impostors (sus) were

 

Well, my bug trying to use the Vulkan Api is that the game doesn't allow me to apply a resolution lower than 1080p (for example 720p) whenever I change it and I click on apply the game flashes and returns to 1080p (in Dx11 Works Fine)

 

Issue I found for both DX11 and Vulkan, on the main menu performance is way to low for a menu only and ressource use is way too high.
Vulkan: 2.1 GB of VRAM usage, 100% GPU usage, average 5 FPS
DX11: 1.1 GB of VRAM usage, 40% of my GPU, average 60 FPS (most likely locked)
--- Post updated ---

Additional Vulkan testing, still main menu, but windowed mode with a non maximized window:
2.2 GB of VRAM usage, 40% of my GPU, average 60 FPS (most likely locked)
So I conclude that there is a game wide bug that destroys the performance of Vulkan with a bigger window than the default size, the VRAM usage is still bad though.

 

I hope this is addressed in the next hotfix because I am experiencing this too

 

Did some profiling (GPU, Vulkan):





It seems to me like the real current bottleneck is the memory which was known? Anyway here is the profiles and trace if a dev want to take a look for themselves since I did not want to post every little details here as it felt spammy:
Profile: BeamNG.drive.x64-20230921-163001.rgp
Trace: BeamNG.drive.x64-20230921-163040.rmv
--- Post updated ---

0.30.1 fixes the insane FPS issue with Vulkan when the game is bigger than the default window size, but the FPS ingame is still bad because of VRAM issues.

 

what version of vulkan is used in the game? 1.3?

 

Since Vulkan will be the main IPA, please get on with HDR support, I can't use my TV, the picture is very dim... so I have to keep using dx11

 

Also same here, 1650 Ti, 16GB RAM. Posted about the same issue beforehand either way.

 

I played with Vulkan on Gridmap Version 3? and it never crashed or made glitches. it worked flawelessly. i tried truck, gambler, bus, pigeon and autobello stambecco.
thank you, i now have more performance with my old pc!

Windows 10, Athlon x4 860k, Radeon X550, 12 GB RAM

 

I did some testing with my GTX 1080, and I have the impression that the white and black pixel artifacts come from the light management.
I changed my light setting Normal to Ultra when the artifacts appears, this diminished the artifacts, before they reappeared.

 

So there is still no fix to the major FPS drops? Because when I load into the map I get decent fps but after 3 or 4 minutes it drops to 10 fps and only gets worse, even with the lowest graphical settings. This is the first time ever using Vulkan.

 

i tried it and it gave me a bsod

 

Yeah I have an RTX 2060 6gb and most maps are basically unplayable with Vulkan, as it maxes out the Vram and starts using the normal ram. On dx11 it runs nicely and uses only about 5gb of vram. It almost seems like there is some kind of memory leak going on with Vulkan.