Experiencing worse performance in Fusion 2.5 over MMF2

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  • This is something I've been keeping track of, since I started making a game in Fusion 2.5. I've noticed that MMF2 basically runs games much smoother, with no framerate drops. I made a badly optimized game in MMF2 and it ran buttery smooth, with no framerate dips. The game used about 120mb at runtime, had big sprites, the game was a bigish resolution, the events were messy and all over the place, but it worked flawlessly.

    With the game I'm making in Fusion 2.5, I've made MUCH cleaner events, all put into different groups that activate when needed and deactivate when they're not used. The graphics are all a much better size, and the game's resolution is small, quite a bit smaller than the resolution I used in MMF2.

    However, I can see noticeable spikes with framerate drops in the Fusion 2.5 game. I have a counter set to display the framerate, and it randomly dips down to 54 fps when it decides to. It seems really weird, considering the game uses only about 40mb at runtime, the frame size is pretty small, and the game is better laid out than the previous one. I've checked all the display options and they're all fine. V-Sync is switched on, the game is set to run at 60fps, the display mode is Direct 3D 9.

    Has anyone else noticed Fusion 2.5 performing worse than MMF2?

  • Are you running the game with the debugger on? That tends to cause worse frame rates... And I think that debugger-caused lag may have gotten more noticeable with CF2.5, so it's something to consider (try running it with the debugger off in both MMF2 and CF2.5, and using a counter to display the frame rate instead).

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  • Fusion 2.5 runtime can be pretty choppy in windowed mode. In real fullscreen it's smooth as butter.
    It might have something to do with Windows AERO theme. I don't think there's anything we can do about it, just gotta learn to live with the problem.

    You could try with Windows AERO theme and without, and see if that makes any difference. Though if you're using Windows 10, I'm not sure it can be turned on/off.

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  • A better test would be the same exact file running in MMF2 vs Fusion 2.5 -- Other then that it isn't a completely fair comparison.
    Since Fusion 2.5 has a lot of different options perhaps you need to change some settings? Again its hard to say without seeing your MFA files.
    Most people seem to get very good performance with Fusion 2.5.

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  • I can't seem to get "real fullscreen" working properly. It places the game's window in the centre of the screen, with a huge white border around it. I might take a day or 2 out in the next week or so, and recreate the game in MMF2 as well, to see how it performs there.

    EDIT: Oh right, I didn't have the latest Beta build, that added the new Fullscreen option :P Although I still can't seem to get it working properly. It fills the screen, but at a bad quality and a white line appeared over the screen for some reason. Yeah this fullscreen thing still isn't working properly for me :(

    Edited 3 times, last by Enchantainment (January 25, 2016 at 4:53 PM).

  • You can always try using my Please login to see this link. extension :] It scales your game to native resolution keeping aspect ratio correct. Also, make sure you remember to set "Border color" in your Application settings, under Window. For most games you'll probably want it to be black instead of the default white.

    As for performance, I've mostly noticed that Fusion 2.5 performs better than previous versions, especially pre-HWA versions. I'm guessing your refactoring may have had something to do with the slowdown, but if you can find an MMF2 file that runs faster in MMF2 than it does when imported to Fusion 2.5, I would send it to Clickteam through the bugbox feature.

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  • I have noticed general choppiness that I can't seem to solve even though my game is low resolution and super optimized, even just having a tiny window with 1 active object you can see the frame rate does the 60 down to around ~54 thing... and "Real Full Screen" is not an option because "Real Full Screen" has been broken since 2.5.

    I've experimented for hours trying to make my low resolution pixel game display in "real full screen" without being distorted.. but no matter what I try I can't get it. The new "Fit Inside" option works great in windowed mode.. but obviously that's not "real full screen".

    What I'd need is the application to enter full screen mode, fill the screen width, then adjust the height so that the pixel aspect ratio remains the same. Can someone from Clickteam look at this .mfa? Or can anyone else make it work?

    Press the Keys 1,2,3 or 4 to switch between display modes... 1+2+3 all work correctly.. it's #4 that I can't get to work. Ultimate Full Screen object won't solve this either as it's not "real full screen"

  • I noticed that the Ultimate Full Screen object doesn't do fullscreen at all. It's just borderless window mode. However, try check the checkbox "keep aspect ratio" and see if you like that better?

  • I have checked the keep aspect ratio button (this works well for video mode 3 in my example), but that is also just a borderless window mode (that fills the screen) the same as UFS. It's not "real" full screen... if you tick "keep aspect ratio" and enter full screen mode it won't work.

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  • Well, when I test "keep screen ratio" checked and use the built in "Fullscreen" mode, I do get real fullscreen and not borderless window mode. I kept the setting at 8%. Seems to look very good. The "keep screen ratio" only changes the resolution based on your aspect ratio when in fullscreen mode I think.

  • I think that the latest beta versions made the "keep screen ratio" option work with normal fullscreen, if I recall correctly, so long as you had "resize display to fill window size" checked... or maybe that was something else related to fullscreen? Point being, I think I recall hearing that it worked a bit better with the new beta builds.

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  • That might be it. I do have the latest beta version installed and I have the "resize display to fill windows size" checked along with "keep screen ration" and fullscreen mode. And it seems to work nicely.

  • You can always try using my Please login to see this link. extension :] It scales your game to native resolution keeping aspect ratio correct. Also, make sure you remember to set "Border color" in your Application settings, under Window. For most games you'll probably want it to be black instead of the default white.

    As for performance, I've mostly noticed that Fusion 2.5 performs better than previous versions, especially pre-HWA versions. I'm guessing your refactoring may have had something to do with the slowdown, but if you can find an MMF2 file that runs faster in MMF2 than it does when imported to Fusion 2.5, I would send it to Clickteam through the bugbox feature.

    I originally started with the Ultimate Fullscreen Object, but that made the game slow down a LOT in Fusion 2.5. It works fantastic in MMF2, but UFS made my Fusion 2.5 file slow down bad, so I had to remove it :(

    EDIT: I tried looking for Ultimate Fullscreen Object, to try it in my project again, but it's not in the Objects Extension Manager list anywhere. At least not in the latest Beta version R285.1

  • That might be it. I do have the latest beta version installed and I have the "resize display to fill windows size" checked along with "keep screen ration" and fullscreen mode. And it seems to work nicely.

    This displays everything at the right size for me, and in fullscreen, but the sprites have a weird, shimmery, blurry thing going on with them when it goes fullscreen. I made sure to leave antialiasing unchecked, so that it'd display nice and pixely crisp, but it doesen't work properly for me still.

    EDIT: I have noticed that disabling the debugger increases performance. The framerate still sometimes goes down to 54 fps for a split second every so often, but not as frequently as it was doing.

  • The Fusion 2.5 product owners lounge hasn't been updated in 2 years... where is the latest beta? I'd like to know if the example I posted works on anyone else's copy of Fusion? Again, I can make the game display correctly in the native resolution, scaling the screen to the users desktop size, but I can't make it work in "real" full screen mode. (option 4 in my example)

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  • It's in "Support Forums" then in "Product Owner's Lounge", followed by "Fusion 2.5" then click on the stickied thread called "Download Links". You can get the latest beta version from there. Make sure you're logged into your account, otherwise the "Product Owner's Lounge" section won't be visible.

  • The Fusion 2.5 product owners lounge hasn't been updated in 2 years... where is the latest beta? I'd like to know if the example I posted works on anyone else's copy of Fusion? Again, I can make the game display correctly in the native resolution, scaling the screen to the users desktop size, but I can't make it work in "real" full screen mode. (option 4 in my example)

    Yves only edits the post called "Download links" so the date of the last post won't change. So to see if there is any new versions you need to manually visit that post and look at the latest beta version. Right now it is version 285.1

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  • This displays everything at the right size for me, and in fullscreen, but the sprites have a weird, shimmery, blurry thing going on with them when it goes fullscreen. I made sure to leave antialiasing unchecked, so that it'd display nice and pixely crisp, but it doesen't work properly for me still.

    EDIT: I have noticed that disabling the debugger increases performance. The framerate still sometimes goes down to 54 fps for a split second every so often, but not as frequently as it was doing.

    To me it doesn't look that blurry for me with the fullscreen option. Besides the fact that it runs at a lower resolution. With antialiasing it will look a little blurry.
    To me the framerate stays between 59 and 60 constantly and only goes below 59 fps when I change to or from fullscreen mode. That's when the FPS goes way down for a second and up again. I'm testing this with the exampke DaveC posted. So it is just a small frame with one quick backdrop object.

  • The framerate stays constantly between 59-60fps in fullscreen, but the sprites seem to getting their pixels moved around a bit. For example, a sprite that should have 2 pixels width on each edge, only has 1 pixel width on one side etc, and when it's scrolling the sprites seem to have a weird "shimmer" to them. Anti aliasing is not checked on the sprites, or in the game's settings, so there's no anti aliasing going on. Not sure what to do about it.

  • This displays everything at the right size for me, and in fullscreen, but the sprites have a weird, shimmery, blurry thing going on with them when it goes fullscreen. I made sure to leave antialiasing unchecked, so that it'd display nice and pixely crisp, but it doesen't work properly for me still.

    EDIT: I have noticed that disabling the debugger increases performance. The framerate still sometimes goes down to 54 fps for a split second every so often, but not as frequently as it was doing.


    I thought I told you that the debugger was a huge source of lag a while ago, even more so in CF2.5 from what I remember. As a general rule of thumb, in MMF2 and CF2.5 do NOT use the debugger for testing performance. It WILL affect the results, a LOT.

    As for the fullscreen issue, that's because the computer changes resolution with "real" fullscreen, which means that there isn't really anything you can do to prevent the blurriness other than hope that your computer is set up to scale it better than how it's doing so... wait, what resolution are you using for your game, and what resolution is your monitor? It could be that it's actually the LACK of anti-aliasing that's causing the issue you're describing, if the issue is what I think it is...

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