High Processor Usage(Chrome)

Roll20 is causing incredibly high CPU usage. When I have Hardware acceleration active it's hitting my GPU just as hard. I know its Roll20 because the high usage only occurs when roll20's tab is the selected tab. Once I swap to another tab, chrome's CPU/GPU usage drops to normal levels. EDIT: Response from a Dev with a form to fill out Drespar &nbsp;said: Hi everyone! For folks still experiencing high CPU or GPU usage, could you fill out this google form here: <a href="https://forms.gle/H4WWn6Nd9rqTexX69" rel="nofollow">https://forms.gle/H4WWn6Nd9rqTexX69</a> Please forgive me for the length, but performance related issues tend to be one of the most difficult to properly diagnose. There are often many many places where a system can differ slightly, or have an out of date driver, etc. Thank you in advance! This will help us greatly in deciphering what common threads might be or what the root issue may be.

Are you using Dynamic Lighting? The Dynamic Lighting Window update may be causing abnormally high usage.&nbsp;

I have confirmed the maps that were being used last night did not have dynamic lighting turned on. I was a player in this game.

Are you still having the issue? Roll20 just posted a fix for some possibly related issues from the last Chrome update.

Not only am I still having the issue. But I have tested it with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera GX. All browsers are having this issue. This could be my computer since its all browsers, but I haven't changed or updated since a week ago when everything was fine.

You could write to the Help Centre and give them info to see if they can look into it.

Dungeon Master David said: You could write to the Help Centre and give them info to see if they can look into it. I did as you suggested, and now we wait!

I too am experiencing this issue - coincidental with the placeable windows update

Same for me. when roll20 tab is the 'active' one in a game, CPU usage shoots to 100% everytime without fail. Make another tab active and the CPU goes down to less than 25%. Only seems to have started this week. P.s. seems to be chrome &amp; firefox. Edge seems to be currently usable.

Can confirm the issue has not gone away. CPU usage still peaks by ~60% when I have a game page in focus, regardless of if Dynamic Lighting enabled or not. Goes away if I tab into anything else.&nbsp;

Yeah Same issue. It runs like utter garbage. :/ Before this last update it was fairly smooth.&nbsp; I never use any of the dynamic lighting or anything (most due to how much it lags since forever ago)&nbsp;

Dungeon Master David said: You could write to the Help Centre and give them info to see if they can look into it. This was the response I got from the help center, so maybe it will be fixed in time. But as of yet, no dice. Hi there, Thanks for reaching out and sorry for the trouble! This issue should be resolved following a few of the hotfixes our devs have been following up on quickly! &nbsp; You can stay the most up-to-date on our Change Log (linked below) as we are keeping that updated as we resolve issues. &nbsp; <a href="https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360037772613-Change-Log" rel="nofollow">https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360037772613-Change-Log</a>

Jake W. said: Dungeon Master David said: You could write to the Help Centre and give them info to see if they can look into it. This was the response I got from the help center, so maybe it will be fixed in time. But as of yet, no dice. Hi there, Thanks for reaching out and sorry for the trouble! This issue should be resolved following a few of the hotfixes our devs have been following up on quickly! &nbsp; You can stay the most up-to-date on our Change Log (linked below) as we are keeping that updated as we resolve issues. &nbsp; <a href="https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360037772613-Change-Log" rel="nofollow">https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360037772613-Change-Log</a> Sounds like they think your issue is related to this: Resolved an issue where the Virtual Tabletop displayed a black screen under certain conditions when only WebGL1 was available for the browser. I haven't seen any black screen, but had 100% CPU usage during tonight's session (6 PM EST - 9:30 PM EST) several times.&nbsp; At least three of five players mentioned they were experiencing significant lag tonight. -Adam

James NFA87 said: Same for me. when roll20 tab is the 'active' one in a game, CPU usage shoots to 100% everytime without fail. Make another tab active and the CPU goes down to less than 25%. Only seems to have started this week. P.s. seems to be chrome &amp; firefox. Edge seems to be currently usable. I have the same behavior (Chrome and Firefox). It was frustrating.

I am also experiencing this issue

Still an ongoing issue for me. Chrome CPU less that 5% usage whilst typing this. Switch to Roll20 active game tab, instantly rockets up. Chrome is updated to latest version (108.0.5359.95 (Official Build) (64-bit)).

I also just tested a brand new game. No API scripts, no images, no dynamic lighting. Everything was fresh on the single blank map. Still incredibly high CPU/GPU usage. I'm also noticing that everyone posting on this thread that they are having the same issue is a Plus or Pro subscriber. Among the people I play with, they aren't having this issue but they dont have a subscription. Only I have a sub, and I'm the one with the issue.

Jake W. said: I also just tested a brand new game. No API scripts, no images, no dynamic lighting. Everything was fresh on the single blank map. Still incredibly high CPU/GPU usage. I'm also noticing that everyone posting on this thread that they are having the same issue is a Plus or Pro subscriber. Among the people I play with, they aren't having this issue but they dont have a subscription. Only I have a sub, and I'm the one with the issue. FWIW - one of my devices (the higher-end one) has no issues with Chrome (Incognito) or Firefox running Roll20.&nbsp; The other device (not top of the line, but should still be more than sufficient for Roll20) frequently sees really high CPU % use when running Roll20 in Chrome (Incognito) since the new Windows update. If it was just my experience, I would chalk it up to something on my end.&nbsp; But based on the number of people reporting issues, its likely tied to a specific processor, graphics card, piece of software, etc, that Roll20 did not adequately test and resolve before releasing the new feature to the production environment. I spend way too much time resolving IT issues at my job, the last thing I want to do is try to resolve them as an unpaid tester for Roll20 (while I am paying to use the platform.)&nbsp; If Roll20 fixing this issue works similar to previous debacles, they will eventually discover what the problem is, release some vaguely-worded announcement about improvements to the system and call it a day.&nbsp; We'll just have to wait until that time (or use a different device if that is an option for you.) -Adam

I can't duplicate this with a fairly horrible workstation pc at work.&nbsp; It has an old single threaded 6 core processor with integrated graphics, and no discrete graphics card.&nbsp; I am only seeing about 15% cpu usage on it regardless of dynamic lighting, using Chrome or Firefox...&nbsp; For those having trouble, be sure to send computer info with your Help Center ticket.&nbsp; This may very well be a specific combination of OS/hardware/drivers that are the issue.&nbsp; It wouldn't be the first time for that here...

Agreed. I'm not seeing an issue on Mac (M1 Mini) or Chromebook (low end). It seems to be mostly being reported on Chrome, as well. It could be that something in recent updates (Roll20 and/or Chrome) aren't playing together nicely on some types of hardware. More info in reports is a good idea.

I've solved the issue in my own way. I don't recommend it, but It's worked for now. Open roll20 in a new browser, one you don't use, for me that's firefox since I use chrome usually. I then open task manager, go to the details tab, and then set the priority of every instance of firefox to Low. This basically forces the computer to use less resources. I saw no real performance dip while the CPU usage went from 90-100% to around 25%.

keithcurtis said: Agreed. I'm not seeing an issue on Mac (M1 Mini) or Chromebook (low end). It seems to be mostly being reported on Chrome, as well. It could be that something in recent updates (Roll20 and/or Chrome) aren't playing together nicely on some types of hardware. More info in reports is a good idea. My players use Firefox and one uses chrome. I myself as the GM use Chrome (mostly due to it being much more laggy for me with firefox in the past as a GM at least)&nbsp; And it's slow all around.&nbsp;

Jake W. said: I've solved the issue in my own way. I don't recommend it, but It's worked for now. Open roll20 in a new browser, one you don't use, for me that's firefox since I use chrome usually. I then open task manager, go to the details tab, and then set the priority of every instance of firefox to Low. This basically forces the computer to use less resources. I saw no real performance dip while the CPU usage went from 90-100% to around 25%. Sadly that didn't seem to work for me :/ Still 90%+ CPU usage.&nbsp;

Been having the same issues already for days. Its impossible to stream my D&amp;D sessions with such a high CPU rate. Could it be linked to an update of Win10 or something?

SkyGuy said: Been having the same issues already for days. Its impossible to stream my D&amp;D sessions with such a high CPU rate. Could it be linked to an update of Win10 or something? It's not a Windows issue, I'm on Linux and getting the exact same problem.&nbsp;

Roll20 posted a fix for some possibly related issues from the last Chrome update.

sebastiankruk said: Roll20 posted a fix for some possibly related issues from the last Chrome update. I can say that it did not help.

Wow, really bad tonight.&nbsp; For the first time ever computer completely locked up due to this maxed out CPU usage issue. Going to have to explore alternatives. -Adam

Adam, have you tried loading your game in Roll20 using Firefox as well as Chrome? Is there a noticeable difference or do you get the same experience in both? What about an alternative browser?

I'd like to know the source of this. We have five folks in our group, with no issues. Adam, are you using Explorable Darkness? I don't think that was something we had toggled on last session.

keithcurtis said: I'd like to know the source of this. We have five folks in our group, with no issues. Adam, are you using Explorable Darkness? I don't think that was something we had toggled on last session. I was testing with a fresh game, only one map with nothing on it. Still had issues.

Jake W. said: keithcurtis said: I'd like to know the source of this. We have five folks in our group, with no issues. Adam, are you using Explorable Darkness? I don't think that was something we had toggled on last session. I was testing with a fresh game, only one map with nothing on it. Still had issues. My test was on a 90 x 60 square dynamically lit map with light sources, 5 sighted tokens and 20 unsighted ones. Chrome browser, on Mac and Chromebook. No lag. CPU usage was highish on the Chromebook (75% spikes from time to time, otherwise hovering around 25%), but it's a Chromebook. On the M1 Mac, Chrome never broke 10%. DL on Daylight Off Explorable Darkness Off 4 windows Hardware Acceleration On I'd really suggest capturing a&nbsp; Console Log ( Chrome , Firefox ) and filing a&nbsp; Help Center Request . If only to give Devs more data points to work with. They might not be able to solve it right away, but the more we give them, the better insight they can get.

Having all the same issues here on all browsers (Though Firefox was fine before it auto updated, and downgrading didnt work either). My CPU only spikes on chrome but that's with Hardware Acceleration turned off. When its on both GPU and CPU spikes around 80-90 for both.. Same with all other browsers, even Brave. My friend with a far better pc than me (im on a gaming laptop) wasnt having major impacts, was still playable but he did notice the GPU spikes when he was tabbed into the game.

sebastiankruk said: Roll20 posted a fix for some possibly related issues from the last Chrome update. Hasn't changed anything, same problem still happening Jake W. said: keithcurtis said: I'd like to know the source of this. We have five folks in our group, with no issues. Adam, are you using Explorable Darkness? I don't think that was something we had toggled on last session. I was testing with a fresh game, only one map with nothing on it. Still had issues. Been using the exact same testing setup, new game, default blank 25x25 grid with noting in it, still massive CPU usage just like in my normal game with all the fancy stuff enabled. keithcurtis said: I'd really suggest capturing a&nbsp; Console Log ( Chrome , Firefox ) and filing a&nbsp; Help Center Request . If only to give Devs more data points to work with. They might not be able to solve it right away, but the more we give them, the better insight they can get. Looks like it's all we can do at this point which is quite frustrating. Thankfully my current game's on pause for this week so hopefully two Roll20 will have this figured out by the end of next week. Kayke said: Having all the same issues here on all browsers (Though Firefox was fine before it auto updated, and downgrading didnt work either). My CPU only spikes on chrome but that's with Hardware Acceleration turned off. When its on both GPU and CPU spikes around 80-90 for both.. Same with all other browsers, even Brave. My friend with a far better pc than me (im on a gaming laptop) wasnt having major impacts, was still playable but he did notice the GPU spikes when he was tabbed into the game. Out of my group I'm the only one experiencing this from what I've gathered. All five of my players have completely different set ups ranging from gaming computers to old cheap laptop and none of them reported this issue. Real pain to DM when everything 's slowed to a crawl.

I sent in a bug repot of my own with my limited information just to see if I get any sort of response akin to 'Yeah we see there's an issue, don't worry we're working on it.'&nbsp;

Dungeon Master David said: Adam, have you tried loading your game in Roll20 using Firefox as well as Chrome? Is there a noticeable difference or do you get the same experience in both? What about an alternative browser? Chrome and Firefox are both bad on the device (high CPU usage.)&nbsp; Firefox + map with dynamic lighting is unusable due to the severity of the lag. Edge - Not noticing high CPU usage, but there is a noticeable 1 second or so lag to each interaction with the VTT (i.e., select a token, lag in displaying bubbles.) keithcurtis said: I'd like to know the source of this. We have five folks in our group, with no issues. Adam, are you using Explorable Darkness? I don't think that was something we had toggled on last session. No explorable darkness used.&nbsp; I typically run two instances of Roll20 at once - one for myself to run games and a second one to record.&nbsp; Since this new update, significant degradation in performance.&nbsp; As previously mentioned, my computer totally locked up last night, interrupting the session, breaking the recording, etc. I think the most concerning part to me is there is no recognition from Roll20 thus far (unless I missed it) that this new update could be causing this issue.&nbsp; To the best of my knowledge, this new feature was not tested on the DEV server where these kind of issues can be detected and remediated before rolling out to production.&nbsp; This is also not the first time there has been a feature rushed to production without adequate testing.&nbsp; If I can't rely on the VTT to work when I need it to, its of much less value to me. -Adam

I have made a few reports. I know the devs are looking into it, but it does not seem to be a universal problem. Giving them data helps determine why some folks are affected and some aren't.

Thank you all for your reports, and apologies for the degraded performance you're experiencing. As Keith said, it does not seem to be a universal problem and we're tracking down the setups it is particularly affecting. We have &nbsp;seen some issues in the last week with browser extensions and, as always, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox, but these reports seem to possibly be part of a memory issue dating to before the Windows update. We're investigating. Please ensure you've checked the Roll20 System Recommendations Help Center article, and send a Help Center ticket in to troubleshoot your particular setup if possible. Thanks all!

Ashton said: Thank you all for your reports, and apologies for the degraded performance you're experiencing. As Keith said, it does not seem to be a universal problem and we're tracking down the setups it is particularly affecting. We have &nbsp;seen some issues in the last week with browser extensions and, as always, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox, but these reports seem to possibly be part of a memory issue dating to before the Windows update. We're investigating. Please ensure you've checked the Roll20 System Recommendations Help Center article, and send a Help Center ticket in to troubleshoot your particular setup if possible. Thanks all! Thank you Ashton - I appreciate you acknowledging the issue.&nbsp; Hopefully this is something that can be resolved quickly.&nbsp; I try to make sure my players get a professional experience each session and this high CPU issue is making living up to that goal challenging. -Adam

I am glad in a way that I am not the only one having this issue. Until I found this thread, I 100% thought it was my computer since it isn't optimum. I had tried Chrome but will see if I still get the issue in Edge. Anna

Drespar said: Hi everyone! For folks still experiencing high CPU or GPU usage, could you fill out this google form here: <a href="https://forms.gle/H4WWn6Nd9rqTexX69" rel="nofollow">https://forms.gle/H4WWn6Nd9rqTexX69</a> Please forgive me for the length, but performance related issues tend to be one of the most difficult to properly diagnose. There are often many many places where a system can differ slightly, or have an out of date driver, etc. Thank you in advance! This will help us greatly in deciphering what common threads might be or what the root issue may be. I clicked the link but the form says I need permission: You need permission This form can only be viewed by users in the owner's organization. Try contacting the owner of the form if you think this is a mistake. Learn More. -Adam

Drespar said: Hi everyone! For folks still experiencing high CPU or GPU usage, could you fill out this google form here: <a href="https://forms.gle/H4WWn6Nd9rqTexX69" rel="nofollow">https://forms.gle/H4WWn6Nd9rqTexX69</a> Please forgive me for the length, but performance related issues tend to be one of the most difficult to properly diagnose. There are often many many places where a system can differ slightly, or have an out of date driver, etc. Thank you in advance! This will help us greatly in deciphering what common threads might be or what the root issue may be. I understand and appreciate the response. Like Adam said, I need permission to view this form.

Seems switching to Firefox worked for me. :/

Yes, Firefox works fine for me too; I think it is mainly a Chrome thing and almost certainly to do with the latest Chrome update. Note, further Chrome updates will not be compatible with older Windows systems, such as mine (Win 8.1) but for now Firefox does the trick if / until one gets an upgraded computer. Note also the recommended roll20 requirements, I believe, are min. Windows 10 and 8 gig of RAM.

One of my players had the same problem. The clean installation of new Intel embedded video drivers helped.

Firefox, chrome, opera and desperate times even microsoft edge doesnt work. Its better then a week ago, but the delays are insane. 5-10 seconds after every action, sheets cause me to nearly crash, and often cause me to disconnect from the server temporarily, Setting the browser to low priority just makes browsing in general bad doesnt really fix anything. While it will work eventually, I have to wait quite a bit in order to get anything done. Popping out sheets requires like 4-5 tries before it takes effect. Overall nothings really gotten better.

When Roll20 tests these updates do they have a large enough pool for testing these things? Seems like more often than not they're blind sighted. grab abunch of cheap laptops of all kinds and really get a wide test group at the very least. If it's just abunch of in-house tech this tends to happen :/ Roll20 should really work on anything past windows XP, it's not high end stuffs. At least it really shouldn't be. Ease of access is really what keeps them above the competition. That being said myself and my group all use top of the line computers and happen to game alot so we're usually shocked and dismayed when this keeps happening just about every other update it feels like. &gt;&lt;;

The problem is that it's not a universal issue. Others have chimed in to say that they (like I) have not experienced this. There's only so many things that can be tested for. There are a LOT of variables in play: OS, browser, extensions, hardware, including graphics cards), ISPs,&nbsp; Real world feedback is important.

Mr. NumNums said: When Roll20 tests these updates do they have a large enough pool for testing these things? I've asked in the past but they tend not to share any specifics on testing.&nbsp; I've gotten the impression that they think we are presumptuous when we question their decisions and expect us to just take their word for it that they are doing everything that can / what's best for the users of the product. keithcurtis said: The problem is that it's not a universal issue. Others have chimed in to say that they (like I) have not experienced this. There's only so many things that can be tested for. There are a LOT of variables in play: OS, browser, extensions, hardware, including graphics cards), ISPs,&nbsp; Real world feedback is important. Which would be a good reason to release these kind of features on the development server first, and ask a wide array of users to test, right?&nbsp; You could even encourage testing on the DEV server by offering some cheap art pack to all users who perform a testing script on the DEV server and report any issues they run into. FWIW, here is a quick narrated recording of the Chrome Task Manager showing spikes in CPU usage when Roll20 is active on screen:&nbsp; <a href="https://youtu.be/7e7bFv9mcNY" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/7e7bFv9mcNY</a> -Adam