3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

bout10bucks · 2013-03-10 01:13:40

New to minecraft and 3d gaming on linux, got it up and running. With the nvidia-304xx driver, I can play a few minutes then it spikes the processor and I only get 0-3 fps (before it spikes I get 60-70). I tried various in game settings, from full graphics to minimal and nearly every thing in between. Read the wiki and it stated there were some issues with the driver and to update the LWJGL or just switch to nouveau. Updated the game libraries and had the same effect, switched to nouveau and it would crash after world selection. I found an old forum were they launched the game as sudo, thought I would give it a whirl, and it does launch. I am in the video and games group, so I don't know why there would be a permissions issue. Minecraft is the only game I play on this computer and would prefer to have nouveau working. Any help would be appreciated

Last edited by bout10bucks (2013-06-02 02:34:01)

bout10bucks · 2013-03-10 02:13:12

Well, I switched back to the nouveau driver, and it spikes the cpu as normal user and as sudo now, I am running 64bit arch if it makes a difference

*nixer · 2013-03-11 13:22:23

You are using a 64bit Java equivalent?

If you are using mods, make sure you uninstall (or disable) them while trying to troubleshoot the game. And... you probably could ask for help over at the Minecraft forums. They have quite a few Linux users there.

I would add that I wouldn't even attempt to play without the 3d acceleration of the official Nvidia drivers. You aren't going to get anywhere near the performance on this 3d heavy game using the Nouveau drivers.

Last edited by *nixer (2013-03-11 13:24:38)

bout10bucks · 2013-03-11 15:55:30

I am using openjdk7 from the repos and tried jre from aur, but jre from aur wouldn't let me launch minecraft. Complaining there was no java... Not running any mods, and while I do prefer Nouveau, I certainly have no problem running Nvidia's proprietary drivers. I will check out the Minecraft forums, posted here because I was thinking it was more or a compatibility issue with my arch setup

PReP · 2013-03-11 20:14:12

I use openjdfk7 here, and has been running Minecraft (both on my server) and client since beta 1.4, and the prop. nvidia driver is really the way to go here.

Could you post your:

1. /usr/bin/minecraft (that contains lines for how java actuallty starts your minecraft session)

2. minecraft log (or the output after having started it from a terminal)

3. your options.txt in the minecraft folder

4. and your nvidia card-spec and processor, and amount of ram.

It seems weird what is happening if you run MC vanilla on a atleast a semi-decent computer.

Is it a laptop/notebook?,

Then perhaps it's the FPS/Maximum settings or something that makes the laptop overheat?
(especially if it lacks clock-re-adjustment on Max FPS with noveau.

I hope you solve the issues even if i can't : )

Last edited by PReP (2013-03-11 20:15:29)

bout10bucks · 2013-03-12 18:50:15

/usr/bin/minecraft:

http://pastebin.com/ssHQTSwL

options txt:

http://pastebin.com/awmMvAsw

Graphics Card:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_7_ … 950_Series

(7950 gt; though mine is only 256MB)

Minecraft log:

http://pastebin.com/HQW24k6F

System is a corei7 i920 with 6GB ram (desktop). Graphics card is the oldest thing in there but don't really play many games. Runs torchlight and psychonauts on full graphics with no issue. I did try updating to 1.5 prerelease since my original post to see if that would help (didn't). I noticed that the nvidia-304xx has an updated version in testing repo that I am going to try once I get a chance. It does seem that the higher I turn the graphics the faster it hits, so my current settings will give me about 10-15mins before dropping to 0-3 fps, full graphics gives me 30sec-2min, and every thing off gives me about 30min (but at that point all aesthetics are lost and isn't as fun to play)

*nixer · 2013-03-13 16:26:28

You could try limiting the RAM used by Java for MC. You could play with the allocated RAM by changing the initial and maximum RAM values to something like the following.

-Xmx256M -Xms256M

Although I've heard this can cause issues on some hardware, this helped my brother's laptop handle the game. You may also want to try installing the Optifine mod as it allows you to configure way more graphical options than the default menu allows.

All I know for sure is that I can play Minecraft on my i3 2120, 8GB RAM, GT 250 PC just fine with all of the default settings using Arch x64, OpenJDK, and updated LWJGL.

bout10bucks · 2013-06-02 02:32:44

Just an update, pretty much all 3D games are the same, the more I crank down the settings, the longer I last. On some games though I can't make it passed the intro. I thought it may be a thermal issue, but manually set fans on full and it never got close to the threshold

LyCC · 2013-06-02 18:13:35

bout10bucks wrote:

Just an update, pretty much all 3D games are the same, the more I crank down the settings, the longer I last. On some games though I can't make it passed the intro. I thought it may be a thermal issue, but manually set fans on full and it never got close to the threshold

Hi, as you described the issue "the more I crank down the settings, the longer I last" sure sounds like a thermal issue, rather then a driver issue.

1. you can run minecraft (or any other games) in windowed mode and put a thermal monitoring something next to it, that way you can be sure if it's or it's not a thermal issue on the GPU - i mean if you can get thermal info from the GF 7950 card.

2. you can try to clean the video card fans of dust a bit. Also if you want to rule out any video card issue, maybe you can borrow a geforce card from a friend and do a quick test.

I have seen a similar issue with an ATI card, the heat sink came off a bit from one of the memory chips and as the memory got hotter, games started to crash.

bout10bucks · 2013-07-05 20:48:04

Cleaned the card/computer thoroughly, now spotless. Monitored the temps and never got too hot. I went ahead and threw 32bit Ubuntu on another partition, and surprisingly the issue was gone. But I really don't prefer Ubuntu... So tried 32bit arch and the problem was back again.

PReP · 2013-07-06 02:32:00

It still seems like an overheating problem if all games does not work - but if ubuntu works for you then it does on the other hand not seem to fit.
I do not think this is the issue, but have you always run 32-bit linux (previously in arch aswell?)

because 64-bit would work so much better - especially with minecraft and java, since 64-bit java is totally recommended for minecraft (it even tells you so if you run 32bit and select a large viewing distance) - then again, something else is probably the actual problem here.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-03-10 01:13:40

3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#2 2013-03-10 02:13:12

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#3 2013-03-11 13:22:23

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#4 2013-03-11 15:55:30

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#5 2013-03-11 20:14:12

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#6 2013-03-12 18:50:15

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#7 2013-03-13 16:26:28

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#8 2013-06-02 02:32:44

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#9 2013-06-02 18:13:35

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#10 2013-07-05 20:48:04

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

#11 2013-07-06 02:32:00

Re: 3D games (Minecraft) not playing nice with Nouveau or Nvidia-304xx

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