Game: Longshot - my current setup and bugs/findings #397

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opened 2026-11-14 08:24:07 +00:00 by wackman · 0 comments

wackman commented

2026-11-14 08:24:07 +00:00

Longshot version

v3.0.0-rc3

Channel

Release candidate

What kind of problem

Low fps or stutter

What happened

I have been troubleshooting Hookshot, then Longshot for the last few days. I'm not much of a developer, so I used Google AI (Gemini I guess) to walk through trying to get this up and running. It helped me prepare the information to send you. Here is what it wanted me to post:

System Specifications:
• OS: Arch Linux (Rolling, X11 / XFCE)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (8C/16T, locked to performance governor via cpupower)
• GPU: Intel Arc A750 (8GB VRAM)
• Graphics Driver: Mesa ANV (vulkan-intel, latest Arch rolling package)
• RAM & Storage: 32GB DDR4 + 16GB swapfile on PCIe 3.0 NVMe (ext4); ~/.cache/mesa_shader_cache symlinked to NVMe.
• Build Tested: Longshot v3.0.0-rc3 (Linux AppImage)

Summary of Findings:

The game is playable and visually accurate on Intel Arc A750 under Arch Linux (Mesa ANV) and performs dramatically more reliably than on Windows 11 (igc), which suffered severe shader compilation memory leaks, missing geometry faces, and flickering vertex lighting. However, specific driver flags and debug settings are required on Linux to resolve texture corruption and washed-out colors, and severe CPU-bound frame drops occur when animated NPCs are in view.

Working Configuration & Required Workarounds:

• Launch Environment Variable: ANV_MESH_SHADER=1

• Behavior: Launching without ANV_MESH_SHADER=1 leaves hardware mesh shaders disabled in Mesa ANV on Alchemist, 
resulting in a washed-out, "ashy" color appearance. Exposing native mesh shaders via ANV_MESH_SHADER=1 restores rich, 
accurate colors, lighting, and volumetric fog.

• Debug Tab Settings:

• ASTC as RGBA8: Off (Critical — turning this On causes severe bright, neon "paintball" texture corruption across terrain and models 
on Mesa ANV).

• Descriptor Reuse: On
• Robust Buffers: On
• Sampler Cache: Off (Enabling this reduces FPS by ~1 frame).

• Graphics Tab Settings:

• Mode: Docked (1920x1080 output, 75% internal render resolution)
• Upscaler: AMD FSR 3.1 (Nvidia DLSS causes severe visual corruption on Intel Arc)
• Frame Generation: Built-in FG (2x to 4x)

Remaining Issues / Bugs Observed:

CPU Bottleneck Around NPCs (Kokiri Forest):

• Behavior: When looking at empty terrain or scenery without characters, frame rate reaches 30+ FPS. When multiple animated NPCs are in view (such as in Kokiri Forest, showing 6 FPS / Base 6), base frame rate drops sharply to 6–8 FPS, regardless of internal render resolution or texture filtering settings, indicating heavy single-threaded CPU overhead (likely skeletal skinning/animation or AI updates on Zen 2).
Transient Mesh/Vertex Artifacts on Load (ANV_MESH_SHADER=1):

• Behavior: Shortly after loading into Kokiri Forest with ANV_MESH_SHADER=1, stationary, skinny black triangles appeared suspended in mid-air (resembling a frozen flock of birds) before clearing up on their own once the graphics buffers finished stabilizing.
Window Hang on Exit / Live Resolution Resize:

• Behavior: Closing the game window occasionally leaves the frozen frame open on X11 (requiring xkill or killall -9 to close), and changing internal resolution from 50% straight to 100% mid-game can cause the 3D scene to go black while leaving the 2D minimap visible.
Input Hotplug Crash on Linux:

• Behavior: Enabling Bluetooth and pairing a controller while the game window is already running crashes the main window while leaving an orphaned audio process running in the background. Pairing the controller prior to launch avoids the crash completely.

Where in the game

Kolkiri Forrest, running around

How often

Every time

Graphics card and driver version

Sparkle Arc A750 8GB

CPU, RAM and operating system

Ryzen 7 3700, Arch Linux current

Changes from the defaults

No response

longshot_log.txt

I don't have a longshot_log*.*

Screenshots or video

No response

Before you send it

The problem is still there on the newest release or nightly.
I searched the open issues for it.
I'm not attaching game files, keys, the game's executable, its .bin caches or saves.

### Longshot version v3.0.0-rc3 ### Channel Release candidate ### What kind of problem Low fps or stutter ### What happened I have been troubleshooting Hookshot, then Longshot for the last few days. I'm not much of a developer, so I used Google AI (Gemini I guess) to walk through trying to get this up and running. It helped me prepare the information to send you. Here is what it wanted me to post: System Specifications: • OS: Arch Linux (Rolling, X11 / XFCE) • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (8C/16T, locked to performance governor via cpupower) • GPU: Intel Arc A750 (8GB VRAM) • Graphics Driver: Mesa ANV (vulkan-intel, latest Arch rolling package) • RAM & Storage: 32GB DDR4 + 16GB swapfile on PCIe 3.0 NVMe (ext4); ~/.cache/mesa_shader_cache symlinked to NVMe. • Build Tested: Longshot v3.0.0-rc3 (Linux AppImage) Summary of Findings: The game is playable and visually accurate on Intel Arc A750 under Arch Linux (Mesa ANV) and performs dramatically more reliably than on Windows 11 (igc), which suffered severe shader compilation memory leaks, missing geometry faces, and flickering vertex lighting. However, specific driver flags and debug settings are required on Linux to resolve texture corruption and washed-out colors, and severe CPU-bound frame drops occur when animated NPCs are in view. Working Configuration & Required Workarounds: • Launch Environment Variable: ANV_MESH_SHADER=1 • Behavior: Launching without ANV_MESH_SHADER=1 leaves hardware mesh shaders disabled in Mesa ANV on Alchemist, resulting in a washed-out, "ashy" color appearance. Exposing native mesh shaders via ANV_MESH_SHADER=1 restores rich, accurate colors, lighting, and volumetric fog. • Debug Tab Settings: • ASTC as RGBA8: Off (Critical — turning this On causes severe bright, neon "paintball" texture corruption across terrain and models on Mesa ANV). • Descriptor Reuse: On • Robust Buffers: On • Sampler Cache: Off (Enabling this reduces FPS by ~1 frame). • Graphics Tab Settings: • Mode: Docked (1920x1080 output, 75% internal render resolution) • Upscaler: AMD FSR 3.1 (Nvidia DLSS causes severe visual corruption on Intel Arc) • Frame Generation: Built-in FG (2x to 4x) Remaining Issues / Bugs Observed: 1. CPU Bottleneck Around NPCs (Kokiri Forest): • Behavior: When looking at empty terrain or scenery without characters, frame rate reaches 30+ FPS. When multiple animated NPCs are in view (such as in Kokiri Forest, showing 6 FPS / Base 6), base frame rate drops sharply to 6–8 FPS, regardless of internal render resolution or texture filtering settings, indicating heavy single-threaded CPU overhead (likely skeletal skinning/animation or AI updates on Zen 2). 2. Transient Mesh/Vertex Artifacts on Load (ANV_MESH_SHADER=1): • Behavior: Shortly after loading into Kokiri Forest with ANV_MESH_SHADER=1, stationary, skinny black triangles appeared suspended in mid-air (resembling a frozen flock of birds) before clearing up on their own once the graphics buffers finished stabilizing. 3. Window Hang on Exit / Live Resolution Resize: • Behavior: Closing the game window occasionally leaves the frozen frame open on X11 (requiring xkill or killall -9 to close), and changing internal resolution from 50% straight to 100% mid-game can cause the 3D scene to go black while leaving the 2D minimap visible. 4. Input Hotplug Crash on Linux: • Behavior: Enabling Bluetooth and pairing a controller while the game window is already running crashes the main window while leaving an orphaned audio process running in the background. Pairing the controller prior to launch avoids the crash completely. ### Where in the game Kolkiri Forrest, running around ### How often Every time ### Graphics card and driver version Sparkle Arc A750 8GB ### CPU, RAM and operating system Ryzen 7 3700, Arch Linux current ### Changes from the defaults _No response_ ### longshot_log.txt I don't have a longshot_log*.* ### Screenshots or video _No response_ ### Before you send it - [x] The problem is still there on the newest release or nightly. - [x] I searched the open issues for it. - [x] I'm not attaching game files, keys, the game's executable, its .bin caches or saves.

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2026-11-14 08:24:07 +00:00