Maximum FPS ?

Java 2D
#1

Hello,

I wonder what is the maximum FPS that a human can “see” ? I read, a long time ago, it was about 25 frames per second…

However, it seems that many games offer a FPS higher…

Question: is it “useful”? do it exists a maximum than a human can get?

Thanks!
Toine

#2

25 FPS is just around the point when things become fluid. Higher FPS’s are noticeably smoother. I don’t believe the human eye really sees in FPS though. It is a continuous response and for things that are actually frame based, the mind fills in the gaps. Ultimately it is a bit irrelevant in a game because very few monitors support more than 60 Hz.

#3

Ok, so if for instance I locked the frame rate at 50 FPS, there is no problem with that?

Toine

#4

For a point of reference from TV: PAL/SECAM is 50Hz and NTSC is 60Hz.

#5

It would probably be fine, but most computer screens will refresh at 60 Hz. This means sometimes the same image will be sent to the screen twice. Most people will not notice this, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

#6

I post another thread about “screen tearing” in this forum… Maybe it is a consequence of what you said?

Toine

#7

This is when a screen refresh and update are occurring at the same time in a single buffered environment, so a different topic.

#8

Ok

#9

The reason 25 fps is ok on TV is that there’s motion blur in every frame. It’s hard/impossible to make good enough motion blur in real time in software, so you need a lot more FPS to compensate.

60 is a good target to aim for because that’s the refresh rate for most monitors, and you can vsync to avoid tearing.

Really, though, the most important thing is to have stable FPS. The player gets used to whatever it is, and it’s the spikes that stand out. Heck, Diablo 2 ran at 25 fps, and that was just fine.