Fraps or another FPS counter

[Belez]

Hi,

I’m using the last version of NoMachine (personal) and am trying to use it for remote gaming.

I tried doing a benchmark, but i found out that Fraps and any other FPS counter can’t target the streaming window (client-side). While the game runs with good fps on the server-side PC, the game on the client-side PC runs a bit slower, but i can’t figure out how much the FPS is.

I mean, i can use fraps and similar software on Steam and Splashtop streams to measure client-side FPS (and it is different from server-side), but i can’t do the same with NoMachine client-side.

Any solutions?

Thanks.

[fra81]

I mean, i can use fraps and similar software on Steam and Splashtop streams to measure client-side FPS (and it is different from server-side), but i can’t do the same with NoMachine client-side.

Well, it’s difficult to say because we should know the exact way Fraps “gets” that a new frame is output… You should try to contact the Fraps developer and try to shed some light. Of course there may be some optimizations we have worked on that Fraps doesn’t expect… We may also explain in detailed way all those optimizations, but you will agree that it’s in our interest to keep some spice secret. 😉

[Belez]

Hi fra81,

What I would like to know is if there is any way to measure the frame rate of the video coming to the client side (which would even allow me to measure the video “lag”). It does not even have to be a video of a game, it may even be from the windows desktop. I mean, some NoMachine’s display options give me video slowdowns (like “less fps”), but I can’t figure out how much the slowdowns are.

Interestingly, fraps and any other program that measures gaming fps can measure that frame rate of the Splashtop streaming and steam streaming on client side! What I do know is that these frame counting programs (fraps and others) use data supplied by directx and opengl. So, here comes the question: Are Splashtop and Steam using directx opengl in the streaming window that pops up on the client-side?

For me, NoMachine is using less system resources of the server computer than those programs (Splashtop and Steam) and that is awesome. But I can’t figure out the client-side video “fps”.

[fra81]

Hi Belez,

printing in the logs what is the programmatic framerate selected by the server, according to network conditions and such, seems to be something definitely missing. We’ll add it to the logs of the client, as well as when, for any reason, the programmatic framerate changes during the session. The achieved framerate, then, can be different. We’ll add it as well, but the best way to measure it is certainly by an external tool, like Fraps. As I stated, we ignore why Fraps fails to detect it. You should ask the Fraps developers. Anyway having the framerate measured by the client will be a good starting point.

[Belez]

Thank you, Fra81!

This is great news. It will be good for people who want to measure the speed of video that arrives on the client side. Can I suggest something? Maybe NoMachine could display the frames information in the stream window, in one of the corners, as an option (printing it in real time).

Regarding the issue of Fraps not working on NoMachine, I’ll look for the reason in the official forums of the software, but I think it has to do with directx / opengl. Because of the little I researched, it was said that this software only works in applications / games that use directx / opengl, so it does not work, for example, in old games of Windows (freecell, etc.).

Taking advantage of the moment, I would like to make two other suggestions for improvement.

The first is the NoMachine makes more intensive use of direct connections between ethernet ports; I was able to use NoMachine between two computers connected by a crossover cable, without using a hub (one of the computers is old and does not have an adapter that already converts to a normal cat5e cable, so the use of the crossover). The file transfers between these computers reached 100mb/s through Windows, but when using NoMachine, the file transfer ranged from 300kb/s to 3mb/s (even with UDP off). I know that NoMachine makes great use of ethernet connection, but it seems to me that it does not make full use of available bandwidth.

The second suggestion is in relation to the screen resolution of the server-side computer. When you place a 4: 3 resolution (not wide) on the server computer, if the client-side is with a wide resolution, NoMmachine in fullscreen-mode instead of displaying the “black borders”, it stretches the video-image on the screen. So, it could be a client-side option between showing “black margins” (simulating the 4:3 resolution on the server-side) or leaving the image stretched.

Thank you again. Your software is undoubtedly the best of its kind.

[fra81]

You’re welcome!

Maybe NoMachine could display the frames information in the stream window, in one of the corners, as an option (printing it in real time).

That’s a great idea and it is present in the Feature Request we opened:

https://www.nomachine.com/FR09P03680

The file transfers between these computers reached 100mb/s through Windows, but when using NoMachine, the file transfer ranged from 300kb/s to 3mb/s

Do you confirm that you are referring to NoMachine’s file transfer service (that wouldn’t use all the available bandwidth)? Or you mean instead the streaming of the NoMachine session?

So, it could be a client-side option between showing “black margins” (simulating the 4:3 resolution on the server-side) or leaving the image stretched.

1:1 mode should be the default! Please check in the Display panel in the session menu that ‘Fit to window’ is not selected. You can also use the quick icons at the bottom of the menu to switch between display modes.

[Belez]

Thank you! This framerate option is sure to appeal to new customers, as streaming between two devices is becoming quite common. I asked around and one of FRAPS’ admins told me that FRAPS can hook into any Direct3D driven window so it depends how the content is rendering.

BTW, sorry if you see any grammar mistakes (English isn’t my first language).

About the transferring files issue. What I meant was the file transfer service between the server-computer and the client-computer. If I right click on the NoMachine monitor (system tray) and ask it to send a file to the client-computer, the maximum speed I get is between 300kb/s and 3mb/s (where through Windows I can get a speed up to 100mb/s). However, I discovered something interesting… If I put the option of maximum display quality on the client-computer the file transfer improves its speed up to 20mb/s, but it becomes more intermittent, i.e. stopping for a few seconds before resuming again (i mean, for example, it sends 10mb/s for 3 seconds and then stops sending for 2 seconds, then resume sending 5mb/s for 5 seconds, and stops again, well, it’s quite random, but it can reach 20mb/s for a few seconds).

Even so, adding the NoMachine’s file transfer rate to the streaming throughput in parallel, it seems to me that the NoMachine can not use the maximum bandwidth of an ethernet direct connection between server and client (with that file transfer rate of 100mb/s or at least half of that). I even tried to keep the NoMachine streaming in the highest quality possible and sending a file through Windows at the same time. And the file transfer speed through Windows was over 50mb/s while the streaming was fully operating without any delay.

What was my setup? Two laptops (client and server) with updated Windows 10 Pro each, last version of NoMachine software, and updated ethernet drivers. Wifi turned off in both devices. No internet at all, the connection was established only by a direct cat5e cable (for the test i tried two different cables: one crossover and then a normal one, both with the same results as stated above). I kept the devices only 2 meters (6 feets?) of each other. I set up a static IP for each device: 192.168.0.10 and 192.168.0.20,  subnet (255.255.255.0), no gateway or dns (because i didn’t use a hub). The greatest thing: NoMachine found the two computers in this setup (without using internet at all) and i could use it normally, but with that speed limitation…

About the resolution issue… I made a mistake. I was using “fit to window” and “fullscreen” together, that’s why my stream window got stretched. “Resize remote screen” and “fullscreen” made things right (showing the side black borders).

[fra81]

Thank you for all the info!

Naturally file transfer bandwidth has to be limited in a way that it doesn’t slow down the streaming of the session, but definitely what you describe doesn’t look as the correct behaviour. We will test your setup deeply in our labs.

[Belez]

thanks fra81, I really appreciate your insights and help ;).

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