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NoMachine performance is great for normal use, as long we disable frame buffering and post processing.

But for games, it seems to be still very problematic. It works much better than others like VNC (vino), but every few seconds the smooth gameplay freezes.

For tests I am using:

  • a desktop (server, 4 cores, 3.6ghz, has bad monitor) and
  • a notebook (client, 1 core, 1.8ghz), resolution 1280x800.
  • game: PathOfExile (Wine) (runs smooth on server)

I tried everything possible using the configuration tool for NoMachine:

  • lowest fps (30,orNotSpecified),
  • mpeg (instead of vp8,x264),
  • lower the image quality to the minimum (just for test, not actually usable),
  • lower resolution made the gameplay smooth (800x500) but the visual quality is too bad
  • view only mode, no audio transfer to the client,

Is there anything else that can be done to help on improving it's performance even more?

Is there some way/trick to lower fps below 30? the node.cfg file will have that as lowest limit.

Aquarius Power
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  • it seems crucial also to disable compiz to improve framerate, basically I just enable metacity or xfwm4. – Aquarius Power Oct 19 '16 at 00:45
  • currently I am using metacity + nomachine client quality at max-1 + disable framebuffer + disable post processing + use x264 encoding; it is working as great as possible for games! – Aquarius Power Jul 19 '17 at 20:31

2 Answers2

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That seems to be a problem with the CPU on the playback (client) side rather than an encoding or network problem. This is confirmed by the fact that lowering the quality doesn't help, while disabling the post-processing (deblock filter) on client side, which is a CPU consuming task, makes a difference.

That said, lowering the framerate below 30 FPS could help. You can already do it manually by editing the node.cfg file on the server ('installationDirectory/NoMachine/etc/node.cfg').

For example: DisplayServerVideoFrameRate 20

NoMachine devs should allow to specify a lower frame rate also in the GUI, since this could be useful in specific situations like yours.

Richie
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  • oh it is written there in a way that it would not accept FPS other than the ones specified, I actually didnt try 20, just trusted the information, will try it thx! Btw, you are right, I am using the android viewer in 1280x800 very smoothly (thru usb tethering), the smartphone has much better cpu than the old notebook. – Aquarius Power Aug 22 '16 at 22:57
  • perfect, my old notebook requires fps 15 to work "smoothly" :), thx! – Aquarius Power Aug 22 '16 at 23:29
  • it seems to have an issue tho, after some time, the fps seems to get up again to 30? (the specified minimum), because it begins intermitently freezing again, and it only work properly after I restart nomachine (but after that it seems to remain at 15fps) – Aquarius Power Aug 26 '16 at 07:31
  • hi again, any tip for [this](http://askubuntu.com/questions/877360/how-to-modify-nomachine-client-application-language)? – Aquarius Power Jan 28 '17 at 22:59
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You can try adding this to the node.cfg 

DisplayServerExtraOptions "-pixelperfect 0"

It disables frame refinements. Then monitor CPU and memory for any strange usage spikes.

George Udosen
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cookibuster
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  • sounds interesting, I actually got a less old notebook with a bit better cpu and it is running nice now w/o changing the fps limit. So I wonder if there is some way to check the performance in FPS to compare, to know if this hidden option really helps on improving FPS? at least I cant see a quality degradation on the client, after restarting the server side. I should try the old notebook but it will be troubling here. – Aquarius Power Feb 04 '17 at 00:30
  • where you found that information "-pixelperfect"? I mean, I cant find a single place speaking about it? is it a Xorg linux option or a nomachine option? – Aquarius Power Jul 18 '17 at 02:23