Starlight: Eye of the Storm performance issues

We've received word that the game has minor patches of fps dropping during gameplay. This is concerning because we've graded the game to run on the following hardware:

CPU: i5-6500
HDD: Normal magnetic 1TB HDD
RAM: 16GB
GPU: GTX 1650 SUPER with 4GB VRAM
OS: Windows 7

This is the recommended specs for an optimal performance.

[h2]Optimal Performance[/h2]

Optimal performance is defined as follows:

Display: FHD 1920x1080x60Hz
Frame Rate: 60fps with V-sync
Settings: LOD High, Textures High, all effects turned on.

Expected degradation in performance:

1) High concentration of bullets ~500 on screen at once.
2) High concentration of 2D and 3D action; ie, 3D ships firing at each other while 2D ships coming on to shoot at you. (ie, Arcade Stage 6 beginning)

In those cases, a drop of 10-12 fps was observed for a very brief period of time.

NO LOCKUPS expected by definition.

[h2]Possible Causes for lag[/h2]

1) Anti-virus - why? Because Starlight does produce logs in case the game crashes or encounters a bug far beyond our reach to test for it. The write cycles may cause the anti-virus software or even Windows defender to act upon it.
-- Solution: Add an exception to the Starlight folder not to be scanned.

2) Language Keyboard clashes - why? If you have more than 1 language installed, sometimes you might have inadvertently changed the language and causing the IME to pop up. When that happens and if you're shooting halfway, the game WILL suddenly jerk-lag.
-- Solution: Rebind the keys to avoid Alt and Shift keys. Or use a joystick instead.

3) Windows Update - this is not a fault of ours but sometimes Windows can be doing an update on your machine, causing a massive lag due to its CPU and HDD usage.
--- Solution: Wait out the update before playing. Starlight is just like any other games, AAA or not, indie games will still suffer from external interference.

4) Outdated drivers - this may actually cause a more serious problem over time other than lagging. Ie, the game might suddenly crash or even cause a BSOD.
--- Solution: Keep your GPU drivers updated.

5) Windows 10 on older hardware - It has been observed that Win10 running on 2016 and earlier hardware tend to slow down over time. It's happening to our development machine too.
--- Solution: Quick way is to restart your machine. A more permanent way is to shut down Explorer.exe from your task manager. But take note - without the main explorer running, you'll need to ensure at least a command prompt or task manager is open. Otherwise you'll have no means to shut down your machine!

6) Incorrect expectations of frame rate - While it's cool to run the game under a 144hz monitor, a mode we support technically, but by design, we did not promise that the game will perform swimmingly under 144hz V-sync. There's a misconception that refresh rate has nothing to do with performance; that's completely wrong. If V-sync is turned on, the game is forced to render 144 frames per second, finely spliced into 1/144 factors to give you that smooth looking graphics. At this rate, the game might perform well in the main menu, but will also tend to drop fps far more easily due to its need to work MUCH harder even when you're using a RTX3080.
--- Solution: Try selecting a 60Hz or 90Hz resolution. I know some folks have an issue seeing anything below 120Hz, therefore, if there's such a condition, please keep it at 120Hz.

7) Incorrect expectation of resolution - We've spoken about frame rates, but not resolutions. The game runs well on a 2560x1440 resolution in 60 fps. But to drag the game up to 4k, you'll have to make sure you have enough VRAM for all the frame buffers we have in the game. The higher you go, the more sensitive the game is towards dropping frame rate.
--- Solution: Our optimal resolution is still FHD 1920x1080x60hz. You may try to go 2560x1440x60hz to see if it's good enough for you.

* Please note that Starlight: Eye of the Storm isn't an emulator-type game. No doubt it's a 2D shooter in 3D space, it's still based on our engine that is made to maximize the use of your hardware to present the game as crisp and high-res as possible.

8) Using FRAPS or GeForce Experience to record, Twitch Steaming or Discord Streaming while playing - While streaming the game is highly encouraged, you might want to take into account the amount of CPU/GPU these activities will tax on your hardware as well.
--- Solution: If you're streaming, you may want to keep it at 720p unless your hardware is really top-notch. If you're recording, you can try using lossy RGB instead or record it on a SSD (modern SSDs have a much higher write cycle limitation).

[h2]Unlikely causes for lag[/h2]

1) Firewall - Unlikely since Starlight doesn't even have a network module initialized
2) Steam Overlay - Unlikely since we've graded the game under the Steam Overlay as well. There might be some frame rate drops but not significant.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

This announcement is made in view of some who have complained about the drop in frame rate despite having far superior hardware than our grading machine.

We've made every effort to make this game enjoyable for most people and those who might still be having average hardware for today's standards. Let's work together to keep the game fun for everyone! Feel free to drop a post, a comment or even just reply to this announcement and we'll definitely reply!

Have a nice day!!

Jeremy