Question about FPS indicator

[envisaged0ne]

Hello,

I was wondering how accurate the FPS display is while playing a game. When I play Dragon's Lair 3D, using Direct 3D, the FPS will indicate that it's running at 30 fps, then jump to 45, and all the way up to 60. It randomly seems to indicate different frame rates as I go about the game. However, the game speed doesn't change at all. It still seems to play at full speed. I'd expect that if it's indicating 30 fps, it would be running really slow. But it still plays just as fast when it's indicating 60 fps. I'm assuming this fps display feature is kinda broken and we shouldn't rely on the numbers it shows us? This also happens in parts of Pac-Man World 2

[RachelB]

It's not broken, the game probably runs at different frame rates in different situations.

[JMC47]

Spyro games do this; pay attention to the VPS on the bar, not the FPS.

[410172]

Lol, I can see that in my Crash Bandicoot gamecube games the FPS gets from 1 to 171 and back in a few seconds, then keeps up around 160, then goes back to 27, and back to 171 etc. Nothing strange happening to the emulation though, the FPS indicator must be really confused.

[envisaged0ne]

(06-01-2014, 04:46 PM)RachelB Wrote: It's not broken, the game probably runs at different frame rates in different situations.

That's what I thought might be the case at first, but I will be running down a hall, or moving around in one room, and the fps will keep changing. Like at the beginning of the game when you're running along the castle wall, the fps will start out at 30. Then go to 45 and up to 52, then back down to 32, etc.

[JMC47]

IF it switches framerates, or has a dynamic framerate, this is normal. Watch the VPS, if that's stable, then everything is going right.

[envisaged0ne]

(06-01-2014, 09:57 PM)JMC47 Wrote: IF it switches framerates, or has a dynamic framerate, this is normal. Watch the VPS, if that's stable, then everything is going right.

Ok, thank you. The VPS does consistently stay at 60 - 100%

[RachelB]

(06-01-2014, 09:43 PM)envisaged0ne Wrote:

(06-01-2014, 04:46 PM)RachelB Wrote: It's not broken, the game probably runs at different frame rates in different situations.

That's what I thought might be the case at first, but I will be running down a hall, or moving around in one room, and the fps will keep changing. Like at the beginning of the game when you're running along the castle wall, the fps will start out at 30. Then go to 45 and up to 52, then back down to 32, etc.

FPS can be anywhere from 0-60 while still running full speed. There's nothing unusual about it, really. Most games run at a fixed frame rate, but not all of them, and sometimes they can lag.