Stream framerate lower than expected

[Jaymus3]

Describe the Bug:
When streaming using Moonlight at 1440p 120 fps, my actual rendered framerate ends up being somewhere in the mid 90s with no visual changes, and dips down into the high 80s low 70s when hitting it with visually busy situations such as first person games.

Expected Behavior:
I had a similar setup replicated on Windows with the same client and same computer as host, but using NVIDIA's game streaming instead. I maintained solid 120 fps consistently with very little latency.

Additional Context:
Client and host are both wired gigabit connections running through a network switch. Bandwidth is set to max in Moonlight, and I tested a different client computer to ensure it wasn't a decoding issue and achieved similar results. I patched my GPU driver as well after reading a different discussion here and was able to and currently use NVENC as far as I can tell.

Sunshine Host Operating System and Version: Kubuntu 22.04 LTS
Architecture: 64bit
Sunshine Version: 0.13.0
GPU Type: Nvidia
GPU Model: RTX 3070Ti
GPU Driver/Mesa Version: 510.60.02
CUDA Version: 11.6
Sunshine config:

encoder = nvenc
gamepad = x360
upnp = disabled
nv_preset = hp
nv_coder = auto
nv_rc = 0
hevc_mode = 1
amd_rc = auto
vt_coder = auto
min_log_level = 2
origin_web_ui_allowed = lan
amd_quality = default
vt_software = auto
fps = [10,30,60,90,120]
vt_realtime = enabled
key_rightalt_to_key_win = disabled
origin_pin_allowed = pc
resolutions = [
352x240,
480x360,
858x480,
1280x720,
1920x1080,
2650x1080,
3440x1440
1920x1200,
3860x2160,
3840x1600,
2560x1440
]

[KuleRucket]

Could you provide the logs? You should be getting 120fps easily.

[Jaymus3]

Here's the full output from launch to connection. If there's a specific log file you need or something, I'd be happy to supply it but I'm still a bit of a Linux noob and am not sure what else you'd mean for me to supply without more info.

 [vt_software] -- [auto]
[amd_quality] -- [default]
[origin_web_ui_allowed] -- [lan]
[min_log_level] -- [2]
[vt_coder] -- [auto]
[nv_coder] -- [auto]
[resolutions] -- [[
    352x240,
    480x360,
    858x480,
    1280x720,
    1920x1080,
    2560x1080,
    3440x1440,
    1920x1200,
    3860x2160,
    3840x1600,
    2560x1440
]]
[origin_pin_allowed] -- [pc]
[key_rightalt_to_key_win] -- [disabled]
[vt_realtime] -- [enabled]
[fps] -- [[10,30,60,90,120]]
[encoder] -- [nvenc]
[amd_rc] -- [auto]
[gamepad] -- [x360]
[upnp] -- [disabled]
[nv_preset] -- [hp]
[hevc_mode] -- [1]
[nv_rc] -- [0]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Detecting connected monitors
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //                                                              //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //   Testing for available encoders, this may generate errors.  //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //   You can safely ignore those errors.                        //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //                                                              //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Trying encoder [nvenc]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Screencasting with X11
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color coding [Rec. 601]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color range: [JPEG]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Screencasting with X11
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color coding [Rec. 601]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color range: [JPEG]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Screencasting with X11
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color coding [Rec. 601]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color range: [JPEG]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Screencasting with X11
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color coding [Rec. 709]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color range: [JPEG]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Error: Could not open codec [h264_nvenc]: Function not implemented
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Screencasting with X11
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color coding [Rec. 601]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Color range: [JPEG]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info:
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //                                                          //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: // Ignore any errors mentioned above, they are not relevant //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //                                                          //
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info:
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Found encoder nvenc: [h264_nvenc]
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Adding avahi service Sunshine
[2022:05:03:15:26:21]: Info: Configuration UI available at [https://localhost:47990]
[2022:05:03:15:26:22]: Info: Avahi service Sunshine successfully established.
[2022:05:03:15:26:23]: Error: A UPnP device has been found,  but it wasn't recognized as an IGD
[2022:05:03:15:26:54]: Info: /CN=NVIDIA GameStream Client -- verfied
[2022:05:03:15:26:54]: Info: /CN=NVIDIA GameStream Client -- verfied
[2022:05:03:15:26:56]: Info: /CN=NVIDIA GameStream Client -- verfied
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: /CN=NVIDIA GameStream Client -- verfied
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: /CN=NVIDIA GameStream Client -- verfied
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: CLIENT CONNECTED
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: Detecting connected monitors
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: Screencasting with X11
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: Configuring selected monitor (0) to stream
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: Streaming display: DP-0 with res 2560x1440 offset by 0x0
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: Color coding [Rec. 601]
[2022:05:03:15:26:58]: Info: Color range: [MPEG]

[KuleRucket]

Also check CPU usage. It should be low if GPU patch is successful.

[Jaymus3]

Here's system utilization with sunshine running. Processor is an i7-10700KF not currently overclocked.

[KuleRucket]

"Screencasting with X11" this means that you are not using nvfbc, which is the purpose of patching the driver. If it is working correctly you would see "Screencasting with NvFBC". This could be that the driver patch wasn't successful.

[Jaymus3]

When attempting the ffmpeg test here, I get the result you're supposed to from it working. Is there a different way I can verify the patch or force sunshine to use nvfbc?

[KuleRucket]

Also check the CPU usage per core with htop or similar and not the overall percent. If one says 100% then you are CPU bound. The idea with nvfbc is to offload more to the GPU and avoid copying frames between GPU and RAM.

[Jaymus3]

Here's a recording of htop for about 30 seconds. Looks like it might be CPU bound by individual cores maxing out.

htop.mp4

[KuleRucket]

On the keylase front page, there is patch.sh and patch-fbc.sh. Have you applied both?

The NVENC patch "removes restriction on maximum number of simultaneous NVENC video encoding sessions" - this won't help you. What you need is the NvFBC patch.

[Jaymus3]

Both patches have been applied. Here's what I get when attempting to run them now:

james@James-PC:~/nvidia-patch$ sudo ./patch-fbc.sh 
Detected nvidia driver version: 510.60.02
Backup exists and driver file differ from backup. Skipping patch.
james@James-PC:~/nvidia-patch$ sudo ./patch.sh
Detected nvidia driver version: 510.60.02
Backup exists and driver file differ from backup. Skipping patch.

which seems to indicate both patches have been applied.

[Jaymus3]

Just to be thorough, I just removed both patches and applied the fbc patch, and rebooted. I still cast from X11.

[KuleRucket]

OK then I'm out of ideas. All I can say is that sunshine will use nvfbc if it is available and that availability comes from the nvidia driver libraries so you can't force it. I don't have any experience doing this in ubuntu so you would need an ubuntu user to help further.

I have an 3070 (not Ti) and had the same behaviour as you without nvfbc. With it working a get 1440p@120 without any effort (CPU <10%, GPU encoder < 50%).

[KuleRucket]

also try the Discord Server for help

[Jaymus3]

I've continued working on this issue and trying to troubleshoot things a bit. I've since updated my graphics driver and patched it again, and tested my NvFBC capabilities using https://developer.nvidia.com/capture-sdk which now appears to work when running NvFBCCUDAAsync. I also rebuilt sunshine after updating my graphics drivers and verifying NvFBC was working with the aforementioned SDK.

[Jaymus3]

Issue has been solved! Turns out, my built copy was never detecting CUDA even though I had it installed, which was confusing me so I tried to use nvcc on a sample project and as it turns out, while the build instructions do specify to install g++-10, they don't call for g++ which was making nvcc fail and make everything compile without CUDA despite it being present. Installing g++ and rebuilding from source fixed it, as well as using 510.68.02 as 510.60.02 requires downgrading vulkan.