Poor performance when shaders are ENABLED

[Fixer]

Hardware: Core i3-2120, AMD/ATI Radeon HD6870, OpenGL 4.5, Windows 7 sp1, ATI Driver Crimson Ed 15.12 beta, resolution ~1280*978, 120 nodes fixed view, map disabled, chat and interface is on
Minetest: 0.4.13-dev krock's 32 bit build, 15 DEC 2015
Config with shaders off:

Spoiler

anisotropic_filter = true
bilinear_filter = false
connected_glass = true
enable_bumpmapping = true
enable_parallax_occlusion = true
enable_waving_leaves = true
enable_waving_plants = true
enable_waving_water = true
fsaa = 0
generate_normalmaps = true
leaves_style = fancy
maintab_LAST = multiplayer
menu_last_game = minetest
mip_map = true
server_dedicated = false
trilinear_filter = false
language = en
cinematic = false
creative_mode = false
fixed_map_seed =
free_move = false
mainmenu_last_selected_world = 3
mg_name = v7
public_serverlist = true
fps_max = 0
viewing_range_nodes_min = 120
viewing_range_nodes_max = 120
address = 87.110.8.195
remote_port = 30000
enable_minimap = false
minimap_shape_round = false
sound_volume = 0.19
fast_move = false
noclip = false
world_config_selected_mod = 1
active_block_range = 1
enable_damage = true
server_announce = false
wieldview_node_tiles = false
wieldview_update_time = 2
port = 30000
enable_shaders = false
smooth_lighting = true

Config with shaders on:

Spoiler

anisotropic_filter = true
bilinear_filter = false
connected_glass = true
enable_bumpmapping = true
enable_parallax_occlusion = true
enable_waving_leaves = true
enable_waving_plants = true
enable_waving_water = true
fsaa = 0
generate_normalmaps = true
leaves_style = fancy
maintab_LAST = multiplayer
menu_last_game = minetest
mip_map = true
server_dedicated = false
trilinear_filter = false
language = en
cinematic = false
creative_mode = false
fixed_map_seed =
free_move = false
mainmenu_last_selected_world = 3
mg_name = v7
public_serverlist = true
fps_max = 0
viewing_range_nodes_min = 120
viewing_range_nodes_max = 120
address = 87.110.8.195
remote_port = 30000
enable_minimap = false
minimap_shape_round = false
sound_volume = 0.19
fast_move = false
noclip = false
world_config_selected_mod = 1
active_block_range = 1
enable_damage = true
server_announce = false
wieldview_node_tiles = false
wieldview_update_time = 2
port = 30000
enable_shaders = true
smooth_lighting = true

Config with shaders on / effects off (default shader settings in MT):

Spoiler

anisotropic_filter = true
bilinear_filter = false
connected_glass = true
enable_bumpmapping = false
enable_parallax_occlusion = false
enable_waving_leaves = false
enable_waving_plants = false
enable_waving_water = false
fsaa = 0
generate_normalmaps = false
leaves_style = fancy
maintab_LAST = multiplayer
menu_last_game = minetest
mip_map = true
server_dedicated = false
trilinear_filter = false
language = en
cinematic = false
creative_mode = false
fixed_map_seed =
free_move = false
mainmenu_last_selected_world = 3
mg_name = v7
public_serverlist = true
fps_max = 0
viewing_range_nodes_min = 120
viewing_range_nodes_max = 120
address = 87.110.8.195
remote_port = 30000
enable_minimap = false
minimap_shape_round = false
sound_volume = 0.19
fast_move = false
noclip = false
world_config_selected_mod = 1
active_block_range = 1
enable_damage = true
server_announce = false
wieldview_node_tiles = false
wieldview_update_time = 2
port = 30000
enable_shaders = true
smooth_lighting = true

Results:
Test 1) Just Test 0.4.12-dev, position: -77.5 1.5 -101, yaw = 0.0, standing without moves
shaders off: 52 fps
shaders on: 24 fps (2.1 x slower)
shaders on / effects off*: 34 fps (1.5 x slower) <--- default

Test 2) LinuxGaming 2 0.4.13-dev, position: 445.0 40.5 756.5, yaw = 0.0, standing without moves
shaders off: 34 fps
shaders on: 19 fps (1.8 x slower)
shaders on / effects off*: 24 fps (1.4 x slower) <--- default

By default in MT enable_shaders is true, that means that default performance could be boosted up to +50% if you disable shaders by default, this can increase fps more into comfort range (if you have fixed view range) or increase view range while keeping fps above 30(when default autorange finder is enabled).

Interesting in doing some tests? I advise developers to look at that issue and disable shaders by default or fix them (if something is wrong). Disabling shaders helped me a lot to improve minetest performance in multiplayer (gaining 30-60 fps with 120 nodes view), singleplayer was capable of 240 nodes @ >60fps (but with very big stutters, that's the other unsolved problem).

* effects are: bump mapping, normal maps, paralax occlusion, waving water.. leaves.. plants

[benrob0329]

If you set the wanted_fps and max_fps settings, you can get 50+ fps with shaders.

[Calinou]

If you set the wanted_fps and max_fps settings, you can get 50+ fps with shaders.

What's wrong with the default values? wanted_fps is used mostly for the range autotuner, whereas fps_max's default value is set to something that prevents generating useless heat (the only reason to increase it is for benchmarking, as well as using a 120/144 Hz screen).

[Fixer]

If you set the wanted_fps and max_fps settings, you can get 50+ fps with shaders.

max_fps settings was set to 0, no fps limit, with fixed view it will show as high fps, as possible, wanted_fps is for view range finder iirc, which is disabled here.

[paramat]

Ohh ... all this time i thought there was no difference between 'shaders off' and 'shaders on, no effects' =}

[PilzAdam]

By default in MT enable_shaders is true, that means that default performance could be boosted up to +50% if you disable shaders by default, this can increase fps more into comfort range (if you have fixed view range) or increase view range while keeping fps above 30(when default autorange finder is enabled).

The results of this highly depend on your setup. For me, I have almost no difference in performance with shaders enabled compared to shaders disabled.

You can't say that performance would be better for everyone if we disable shaders by default. Everyone has to test it for their specific setup.

[Fixer]

Everyone has to test it for their specific setup.

That's why I'm asking everybody to test on their setups.

[kaadmy]

Shaders are way too slow for me, reduces performance by 5-10 FPS.
Also, shaders have a bug with fog, but it's probably my problem.

Spoiler

[benrob0329]

Did you set wanted_fps and max_fps?

@Fixerol if its not set the FPS is really unstable and bounces all over the place, setting it gives me a constant FPS around what I set it to.

[kaadmy]

My config uses a fixed viewing range.