Hey guys, quick question,



I run two GTX 460 1 GB in SLI on my system. I can run most modern games on maximum settings, or at least close to it. However, when I play Endless Space, it looks like only 1 card is being utilized (according to MSI Afterburner).



This has manifested itself as frequent "stuttering" during battles, and interruptions in the music because of it.



Does ES support an SLI configuration, or is this something I will have to wait for Nvidia to deal with? Anyone else with an SLI configuration noticing any issues, or perhaps even a workaround to force dual GPU usage?



Thanks guys, and fantastic Beta!

Moved to FAQ section from tech support

Alright, I'm fairly sure the game only utilizes 1 card. Can ANYONE with an SLI setup (I know you are out there! I've read your posts and configs!) check this as well? Or can a dev step in and clarify whether the engine was designed with SLI in mind? If not, that sucks, but I understand.

Just FYI, using the Nvidia Control Panel, if you go to 3D settings and add the Endless Space .exe from your steam folder, go to SLI settings and change it to "force rendering 1 (or 2)" it seems to distribute the load across both GPUs. I don't know how to check the FPS of this game so I can't tell quantitatively whether performance has improved, but it seems to be running much smoother.



Those of you with SLI setups should take note of this!

Alright, an update,



I used FRAPS and forcing the dual GPU rendering does little to increase average framerate. I tried playing with several Nvidia settings, as well as playing with Vsync and different graphics settings.



I don't think the graphics engine utilizes SLI at all, even if you force it. I am continuing to get rather poor performance (28-30 fps average max during my benchmark 17 cp vs 17 cp fleet battle) no matter what the settings. I am 90% sure this isn't my hardware, as I can run Crysis 2, battlefield 3, and others on maximum settings with minimal hiccups (all of these support SLI).



Hopefully, the gfx engine can be optimized before release, and hopefully made compatible for SLI setups. Right now SLI does not increase framerate, so basically you are sitting on only one of your cards...which might not be the best by themselves.



Edit: My hardware for reference



OS: Windows 7 Professional

CPU: Intel i5 760 (4 core @ 2.8 GHz)

GPU: 2x Gigabyte GTX 460 1 GB Fermi in SLI

RAM: 2x G.skill 2.00 GB @ 1800 MHz

Other Utilities: MSI Afterburner for fan modulation

Monitor: 1920 x 1080 @ 59 Hz

Uhm. Why do you need SLI? Game perfectly runs in single-GPU mode even on old gtx 275 (My friend has 275, and my quad-sli performs like gtx 275 in single-gpu mode). Even in massive battles fps never goes below 60, while GPU usage hovers maximum at 80% (and about 40-50% outside of battle). This game just does not need so much gpu power. An GTX 460 alone should overkill needs of this game at any resolution.

I would think you somehow messed up settings in nvidia control panel, and getting poor performance because of that.

Heyyo,



This is the first Google search to come up for this game and I started checking why Multi-GPU doesn't work correctly in this game...



It's the Unity Game Engine. It doesn't support Multi-GPU in Unity 4 which I believe Endless Legend uses.



Rust (at least on Unity 4)? Artifacting grass and not reliable performance gains... still massive framerate drops all over.



Guns of Icarus? Framerate gains not reliable if at all...



Cities: Skylines? Doesn't work.



Interstellar Marines? Same thing... hates SLI.



The Forest? It does seem to work decently... BUT very inconsistently.



... I could go on... but you get the idea. I haven't tried a game yet on the Unity 5 Game Engine offhand but I think The Forest was a Unity 5 Engine based game... so... looks like Unity Technologies haven't learned their lesson... sigh.





Well, one game on Unity Game Engine does support SLI and you won't believe which... Blizzard's Hearthstone. Yep, a freaking card game with probably no 3D models at all lol. :P



My guess for Hearthstone? Probably a problem with the way the game detects GPUs so I think that SLI compatibility bit is to force the game to use a single GPU.



[EDIT1]

I just tried War For The Overworld, another Unity Engine game. It does use the second GPU a little... I get about 20% usage on it and the GPU core doesn't clock up like the first GPU... so it does add something... but barely anything lol. :P

Dominges wrote:
Uhm. Why do you need SLI? Game perfectly runs in single-GPU mode even on old gtx 275 (My friend has 275, and my quad-sli performs like gtx 275 in single-gpu mode). Even in massive battles fps never goes below 60, while GPU usage hovers maximum at 80% (and about 40-50% outside of battle). This game just does not need so much gpu power. An GTX 460 alone should overkill needs of this game at any resolution.

I would think you somehow messed up settings in nvidia control panel, and getting poor performance because of that.

For his Multi-GPU system? I'd be a lot more happy if both GPUs could load balance. It'll keep his overall temperatures down if each GPU barely needs to clock up. That's why sure it's maybe not needed? ( wouldn't know, I don't own a GTX 460 anymore) But it's a lot better than one GPU going full tilt whilst the second spins a fan.