[algorithm] Calculating frames per second in a game

What's a good algorithm for calculating frames per second in a game? I want to show it as a number in the corner of the screen. If I just look at how long it took to render the last frame the number changes too fast.

Bonus points if your answer updates each frame and doesn't converge differently when the frame rate is increasing vs decreasing.

Well, certainly

frames / sec = 1 / (sec / frame)

But, as you point out, there's a lot of variation in the time it takes to render a single frame, and from a UI perspective updating the fps value at the frame rate is not usable at all (unless the number is very stable).

What you want is probably a moving average or some sort of binning / resetting counter.

For example, you could maintain a queue data structure which held the rendering times for each of the last 30, 60, 100, or what-have-you frames (you could even design it so the limit was adjustable at run-time). To determine a decent fps approximation you can determine the average fps from all the rendering times in the queue:

fps = # of rendering times in queue / total rendering time

When you finish rendering a new frame you enqueue a new rendering time and dequeue an old rendering time. Alternately, you could dequeue only when the total of the rendering times exceeded some preset value (e.g. 1 sec). You can maintain the "last fps value" and a last updated timestamp so you can trigger when to update the fps figure, if you so desire. Though with a moving average if you have consistent formatting, printing the "instantaneous average" fps on each frame would probably be ok.

Another method would be to have a resetting counter. Maintain a precise (millisecond) timestamp, a frame counter, and an fps value. When you finish rendering a frame, increment the counter. When the counter hits a pre-set limit (e.g. 100 frames) or when the time since the timestamp has passed some pre-set value (e.g. 1 sec), calculate the fps:

fps = # frames / (current time - start time)

Then reset the counter to 0 and set the timestamp to the current time.

You could keep a counter, increment it after each frame is rendered, then reset the counter when you are on a new second (storing the previous value as the last second's # of frames rendered)

This is what I have used in many games.

#define MAXSAMPLES 100
int tickindex=0;
int ticksum=0;
int ticklist[MAXSAMPLES];

/* need to zero out the ticklist array before starting */
/* average will ramp up until the buffer is full */
/* returns average ticks per frame over the MAXSAMPLES last frames */

double CalcAverageTick(int newtick)
{
    ticksum-=ticklist[tickindex];  /* subtract value falling off */
    ticksum+=newtick;              /* add new value */
    ticklist[tickindex]=newtick;   /* save new value so it can be subtracted later */
    if(++tickindex==MAXSAMPLES)    /* inc buffer index */
        tickindex=0;

    /* return average */
    return((double)ticksum/MAXSAMPLES);
}

Here's a complete example, using Python (but easily adapted to any language). It uses the smoothing equation in Martin's answer, so almost no memory overhead, and I chose values that worked for me (feel free to play around with the constants to adapt to your use case).

import time

SMOOTHING_FACTOR = 0.99
MAX_FPS = 10000
avg_fps = -1
last_tick = time.time()

while True:
    # <Do your rendering work here...>

    current_tick = time.time()
    # Ensure we don't get crazy large frame rates, by capping to MAX_FPS
    current_fps = 1.0 / max(current_tick - last_tick, 1.0/MAX_FPS)
    last_tick = current_tick
    if avg_fps < 0:
        avg_fps = current_fps
    else:
        avg_fps = (avg_fps * SMOOTHING_FACTOR) + (current_fps * (1-SMOOTHING_FACTOR))
    print(avg_fps)

Well, certainly

frames / sec = 1 / (sec / frame)

But, as you point out, there's a lot of variation in the time it takes to render a single frame, and from a UI perspective updating the fps value at the frame rate is not usable at all (unless the number is very stable).

What you want is probably a moving average or some sort of binning / resetting counter.

For example, you could maintain a queue data structure which held the rendering times for each of the last 30, 60, 100, or what-have-you frames (you could even design it so the limit was adjustable at run-time). To determine a decent fps approximation you can determine the average fps from all the rendering times in the queue:

fps = # of rendering times in queue / total rendering time

When you finish rendering a new frame you enqueue a new rendering time and dequeue an old rendering time. Alternately, you could dequeue only when the total of the rendering times exceeded some preset value (e.g. 1 sec). You can maintain the "last fps value" and a last updated timestamp so you can trigger when to update the fps figure, if you so desire. Though with a moving average if you have consistent formatting, printing the "instantaneous average" fps on each frame would probably be ok.

Another method would be to have a resetting counter. Maintain a precise (millisecond) timestamp, a frame counter, and an fps value. When you finish rendering a frame, increment the counter. When the counter hits a pre-set limit (e.g. 100 frames) or when the time since the timestamp has passed some pre-set value (e.g. 1 sec), calculate the fps:

fps = # frames / (current time - start time)

Then reset the counter to 0 and set the timestamp to the current time.

qx.Class.define('FpsCounter', {
    extend: qx.core.Object

    ,properties: {
    }

    ,events: {
    }

    ,construct: function(){
        this.base(arguments);
        this.restart();
    }

    ,statics: {
    }

    ,members: {        
        restart: function(){
            this.__frames = [];
        }



        ,addFrame: function(){
            this.__frames.push(new Date());
        }



        ,getFps: function(averageFrames){
            debugger;
            if(!averageFrames){
                averageFrames = 2;
            }
            var time = 0;
            var l = this.__frames.length;
            var i = averageFrames;
            while(i > 0){
                if(l - i - 1 >= 0){
                    time += this.__frames[l - i] - this.__frames[l - i - 1];
                }
                i--;
            }
            var fps = averageFrames / time * 1000;
            return fps;
        }
    }

});

Set counter to zero. Each time you draw a frame increment the counter. After each second print the counter. lather, rinse, repeat. If yo want extra credit, keep a running counter and divide by the total number of seconds for a running average.

Good answers here. Just how you implement it is dependent on what you need it for. I prefer the running average one myself "time = time * 0.9 + last_frame * 0.1" by the guy above.

however I personally like to weight my average more heavily towards newer data because in a game it is SPIKES that are the hardest to squash and thus of most interest to me. So I would use something more like a .7 \ .3 split will make a spike show up much faster (though it's effect will drop off-screen faster as well.. see below)

If your focus is on RENDERING time, then the .9.1 split works pretty nicely b/c it tend to be more smooth. THough for gameplay/AI/physics spikes are much more of a concern as THAT will usually what makes your game look choppy (which is often worse than a low frame rate assuming we're not dipping below 20 fps)

So, what I would do is also add something like this:

#define ONE_OVER_FPS (1.0f/60.0f)
static float g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint = 3.0f * ONE_OVER_FPS;
if(time > g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint)
    DoInternalBreakpoint()

(fill in 3.0f with whatever magnitude you find to be an unacceptable spike) This will let you find and thus solve FPS issues the end of the frame they happen.

A much better system than using a large array of old framerates is to just do something like this:

new_fps = old_fps * 0.99 + new_fps * 0.01

This method uses far less memory, requires far less code, and places more importance upon recent framerates than old framerates while still smoothing the effects of sudden framerate changes.

qx.Class.define('FpsCounter', {
    extend: qx.core.Object

    ,properties: {
    }

    ,events: {
    }

    ,construct: function(){
        this.base(arguments);
        this.restart();
    }

    ,statics: {
    }

    ,members: {        
        restart: function(){
            this.__frames = [];
        }



        ,addFrame: function(){
            this.__frames.push(new Date());
        }



        ,getFps: function(averageFrames){
            debugger;
            if(!averageFrames){
                averageFrames = 2;
            }
            var time = 0;
            var l = this.__frames.length;
            var i = averageFrames;
            while(i > 0){
                if(l - i - 1 >= 0){
                    time += this.__frames[l - i] - this.__frames[l - i - 1];
                }
                i--;
            }
            var fps = averageFrames / time * 1000;
            return fps;
        }
    }

});

In (c++ like) pseudocode these two are what I used in industrial image processing applications that had to process images from a set of externally triggered camera's. Variations in "frame rate" had a different source (slower or faster production on the belt) but the problem is the same. (I assume that you have a simple timer.peek() call that gives you something like the nr of msec (nsec?) since application start or the last call)

Solution 1: fast but not updated every frame

do while (1)
{
    ProcessImage(frame)
    if (frame.framenumber%poll_interval==0)
    {
        new_time=timer.peek()
        framerate=poll_interval/(new_time - last_time)
        last_time=new_time
    }
}

Solution 2: updated every frame, requires more memory and CPU

do while (1)
{
   ProcessImage(frame)
   new_time=timer.peek()
   delta=new_time - last_time
   last_time = new_time
   total_time += delta
   delta_history.push(delta)
   framerate= delta_history.length() / total_time
   while (delta_history.length() > avg_interval)
   {
      oldest_delta = delta_history.pop()
      total_time -= oldest_delta
   }
} 

store a start time and increment your framecounter once per loop? every few seconds you could just print framecount/(Now - starttime) and then reinitialize them.

edit: oops. double-ninja'ed

Well, certainly

frames / sec = 1 / (sec / frame)

But, as you point out, there's a lot of variation in the time it takes to render a single frame, and from a UI perspective updating the fps value at the frame rate is not usable at all (unless the number is very stable).

What you want is probably a moving average or some sort of binning / resetting counter.

For example, you could maintain a queue data structure which held the rendering times for each of the last 30, 60, 100, or what-have-you frames (you could even design it so the limit was adjustable at run-time). To determine a decent fps approximation you can determine the average fps from all the rendering times in the queue:

fps = # of rendering times in queue / total rendering time

When you finish rendering a new frame you enqueue a new rendering time and dequeue an old rendering time. Alternately, you could dequeue only when the total of the rendering times exceeded some preset value (e.g. 1 sec). You can maintain the "last fps value" and a last updated timestamp so you can trigger when to update the fps figure, if you so desire. Though with a moving average if you have consistent formatting, printing the "instantaneous average" fps on each frame would probably be ok.

Another method would be to have a resetting counter. Maintain a precise (millisecond) timestamp, a frame counter, and an fps value. When you finish rendering a frame, increment the counter. When the counter hits a pre-set limit (e.g. 100 frames) or when the time since the timestamp has passed some pre-set value (e.g. 1 sec), calculate the fps:

fps = # frames / (current time - start time)

Then reset the counter to 0 and set the timestamp to the current time.

In Typescript, I use this algorithm to calculate framerate and frametime averages:

let getTime = () => {
    return new Date().getTime();
} 

let frames: any[] = [];
let previousTime = getTime();
let framerate:number = 0;
let frametime:number = 0;

let updateStats = (samples:number=60) => {
    samples = Math.max(samples, 1) >> 0;

    if (frames.length === samples) {
        let currentTime: number = getTime() - previousTime;

        frametime = currentTime / samples;
        framerate = 1000 * samples / currentTime;

        previousTime = getTime();

        frames = [];
    }

    frames.push(1);
}

usage:

statsUpdate();

// Print
stats.innerHTML = Math.round(framerate) + ' FPS ' + frametime.toFixed(2) + ' ms';

Tip: If samples is 1, the result is real-time framerate and frametime.

This is based on KPexEA's answer and gives the Simple Moving Average. Tidied and converted to TypeScript for easy copy and paste:

Variable declaration:

fpsObject = {
  maxSamples: 100,
  tickIndex: 0,
  tickSum: 0,
  tickList: []
}

Function:

calculateFps(currentFps: number): number {
  this.fpsObject.tickSum -= this.fpsObject.tickList[this.fpsObject.tickIndex] || 0
  this.fpsObject.tickSum += currentFps
  this.fpsObject.tickList[this.fpsObject.tickIndex] = currentFps
  if (++this.fpsObject.tickIndex === this.fpsObject.maxSamples) this.fpsObject.tickIndex = 0
  const smoothedFps = this.fpsObject.tickSum / this.fpsObject.maxSamples
  return Math.floor(smoothedFps)
}

Usage (may vary in your app):

this.fps = this.calculateFps(this.ticker.FPS)

Set counter to zero. Each time you draw a frame increment the counter. After each second print the counter. lather, rinse, repeat. If yo want extra credit, keep a running counter and divide by the total number of seconds for a running average.

JavaScript:

// Set the end and start times
var start = (new Date).getTime(), end, FPS;
  /* ...
   * the loop/block your want to watch
   * ...
   */
end = (new Date).getTime();
// since the times are by millisecond, use 1000 (1000ms = 1s)
// then multiply the result by (MaxFPS / 1000)
// FPS = (1000 - (end - start)) * (MaxFPS / 1000)
FPS = Math.round((1000 - (end - start)) * (60 / 1000));

You need a smoothed average, the easiest way is to take the current answer (the time to draw the last frame) and combine it with the previous answer.

// eg.
float smoothing = 0.9; // larger=more smoothing
measurement = (measurement * smoothing) + (current * (1.0-smoothing))

By adjusting the 0.9 / 0.1 ratio you can change the 'time constant' - that is how quickly the number responds to changes. A larger fraction in favour of the old answer gives a slower smoother change, a large fraction in favour of the new answer gives a quicker changing value. Obviously the two factors must add to one!

This is what I have used in many games.

#define MAXSAMPLES 100
int tickindex=0;
int ticksum=0;
int ticklist[MAXSAMPLES];

/* need to zero out the ticklist array before starting */
/* average will ramp up until the buffer is full */
/* returns average ticks per frame over the MAXSAMPLES last frames */

double CalcAverageTick(int newtick)
{
    ticksum-=ticklist[tickindex];  /* subtract value falling off */
    ticksum+=newtick;              /* add new value */
    ticklist[tickindex]=newtick;   /* save new value so it can be subtracted later */
    if(++tickindex==MAXSAMPLES)    /* inc buffer index */
        tickindex=0;

    /* return average */
    return((double)ticksum/MAXSAMPLES);
}

Increment a counter every time you render a screen and clear that counter for some time interval over which you want to measure the frame-rate.

Ie. Every 3 seconds, get counter/3 and then clear the counter.

Here's a complete example, using Python (but easily adapted to any language). It uses the smoothing equation in Martin's answer, so almost no memory overhead, and I chose values that worked for me (feel free to play around with the constants to adapt to your use case).

import time

SMOOTHING_FACTOR = 0.99
MAX_FPS = 10000
avg_fps = -1
last_tick = time.time()

while True:
    # <Do your rendering work here...>

    current_tick = time.time()
    # Ensure we don't get crazy large frame rates, by capping to MAX_FPS
    current_fps = 1.0 / max(current_tick - last_tick, 1.0/MAX_FPS)
    last_tick = current_tick
    if avg_fps < 0:
        avg_fps = current_fps
    else:
        avg_fps = (avg_fps * SMOOTHING_FACTOR) + (current_fps * (1-SMOOTHING_FACTOR))
    print(avg_fps)

This is based on KPexEA's answer and gives the Simple Moving Average. Tidied and converted to TypeScript for easy copy and paste:

Variable declaration:

fpsObject = {
  maxSamples: 100,
  tickIndex: 0,
  tickSum: 0,
  tickList: []
}

Function:

calculateFps(currentFps: number): number {
  this.fpsObject.tickSum -= this.fpsObject.tickList[this.fpsObject.tickIndex] || 0
  this.fpsObject.tickSum += currentFps
  this.fpsObject.tickList[this.fpsObject.tickIndex] = currentFps
  if (++this.fpsObject.tickIndex === this.fpsObject.maxSamples) this.fpsObject.tickIndex = 0
  const smoothedFps = this.fpsObject.tickSum / this.fpsObject.maxSamples
  return Math.floor(smoothedFps)
}

Usage (may vary in your app):

this.fps = this.calculateFps(this.ticker.FPS)

Good answers here. Just how you implement it is dependent on what you need it for. I prefer the running average one myself "time = time * 0.9 + last_frame * 0.1" by the guy above.

however I personally like to weight my average more heavily towards newer data because in a game it is SPIKES that are the hardest to squash and thus of most interest to me. So I would use something more like a .7 \ .3 split will make a spike show up much faster (though it's effect will drop off-screen faster as well.. see below)

If your focus is on RENDERING time, then the .9.1 split works pretty nicely b/c it tend to be more smooth. THough for gameplay/AI/physics spikes are much more of a concern as THAT will usually what makes your game look choppy (which is often worse than a low frame rate assuming we're not dipping below 20 fps)

So, what I would do is also add something like this:

#define ONE_OVER_FPS (1.0f/60.0f)
static float g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint = 3.0f * ONE_OVER_FPS;
if(time > g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint)
    DoInternalBreakpoint()

(fill in 3.0f with whatever magnitude you find to be an unacceptable spike) This will let you find and thus solve FPS issues the end of the frame they happen.

A much better system than using a large array of old framerates is to just do something like this:

new_fps = old_fps * 0.99 + new_fps * 0.01

This method uses far less memory, requires far less code, and places more importance upon recent framerates than old framerates while still smoothing the effects of sudden framerate changes.

There are at least two ways to do it:

The first is the one others have mentioned here before me. I think it's the simplest and preferred way. You just to keep track of

• cn: counter of how many frames you've rendered
• time_start: the time since you've started counting
• time_now: the current time

Calculating the fps in this case is as simple as evaluating this formula:

• FPS = cn / (time_now - time_start).

Then there is the uber cool way you might like to use some day:

Let's say you have 'i' frames to consider. I'll use this notation: f[0], f[1],..., f[i-1] to describe how long it took to render frame 0, frame 1, ..., frame (i-1) respectively.

Example where i = 3

|f[0]      |f[1]         |f[2]   |
+----------+-------------+-------+------> time

Then, mathematical definition of fps after i frames would be

(1) fps[i]   = i     / (f[0] + ... + f[i-1])

And the same formula but only considering i-1 frames.

(2) fps[i-1] = (i-1) / (f[0] + ... + f[i-2]) 

Now the trick here is to modify the right side of formula (1) in such a way that it will contain the right side of formula (2) and substitute it for it's left side.

Like so (you should see it more clearly if you write it on a paper):

fps[i] = i / (f[0] + ... + f[i-1])
       = i / ((f[0] + ... + f[i-2]) + f[i-1])
       = (i/(i-1)) / ((f[0] + ... + f[i-2])/(i-1) + f[i-1]/(i-1))
       = (i/(i-1)) / (1/fps[i-1] + f[i-1]/(i-1))
       = ...
       = (i*fps[i-1]) / (f[i-1] * fps[i-1] + i - 1)

So according to this formula (my math deriving skill are a bit rusty though), to calculate the new fps you need to know the fps from the previous frame, the duration it took to render the last frame and the number of frames you've rendered.

Increment a counter every time you render a screen and clear that counter for some time interval over which you want to measure the frame-rate.

Ie. Every 3 seconds, get counter/3 and then clear the counter.

This is what I have used in many games.

#define MAXSAMPLES 100
int tickindex=0;
int ticksum=0;
int ticklist[MAXSAMPLES];

/* need to zero out the ticklist array before starting */
/* average will ramp up until the buffer is full */
/* returns average ticks per frame over the MAXSAMPLES last frames */

double CalcAverageTick(int newtick)
{
    ticksum-=ticklist[tickindex];  /* subtract value falling off */
    ticksum+=newtick;              /* add new value */
    ticklist[tickindex]=newtick;   /* save new value so it can be subtracted later */
    if(++tickindex==MAXSAMPLES)    /* inc buffer index */
        tickindex=0;

    /* return average */
    return((double)ticksum/MAXSAMPLES);
}

Well, certainly

frames / sec = 1 / (sec / frame)

But, as you point out, there's a lot of variation in the time it takes to render a single frame, and from a UI perspective updating the fps value at the frame rate is not usable at all (unless the number is very stable).

What you want is probably a moving average or some sort of binning / resetting counter.

For example, you could maintain a queue data structure which held the rendering times for each of the last 30, 60, 100, or what-have-you frames (you could even design it so the limit was adjustable at run-time). To determine a decent fps approximation you can determine the average fps from all the rendering times in the queue:

fps = # of rendering times in queue / total rendering time

When you finish rendering a new frame you enqueue a new rendering time and dequeue an old rendering time. Alternately, you could dequeue only when the total of the rendering times exceeded some preset value (e.g. 1 sec). You can maintain the "last fps value" and a last updated timestamp so you can trigger when to update the fps figure, if you so desire. Though with a moving average if you have consistent formatting, printing the "instantaneous average" fps on each frame would probably be ok.

Another method would be to have a resetting counter. Maintain a precise (millisecond) timestamp, a frame counter, and an fps value. When you finish rendering a frame, increment the counter. When the counter hits a pre-set limit (e.g. 100 frames) or when the time since the timestamp has passed some pre-set value (e.g. 1 sec), calculate the fps:

fps = # frames / (current time - start time)

Then reset the counter to 0 and set the timestamp to the current time.

In (c++ like) pseudocode these two are what I used in industrial image processing applications that had to process images from a set of externally triggered camera's. Variations in "frame rate" had a different source (slower or faster production on the belt) but the problem is the same. (I assume that you have a simple timer.peek() call that gives you something like the nr of msec (nsec?) since application start or the last call)

Solution 1: fast but not updated every frame

do while (1)
{
    ProcessImage(frame)
    if (frame.framenumber%poll_interval==0)
    {
        new_time=timer.peek()
        framerate=poll_interval/(new_time - last_time)
        last_time=new_time
    }
}

Solution 2: updated every frame, requires more memory and CPU

do while (1)
{
   ProcessImage(frame)
   new_time=timer.peek()
   delta=new_time - last_time
   last_time = new_time
   total_time += delta
   delta_history.push(delta)
   framerate= delta_history.length() / total_time
   while (delta_history.length() > avg_interval)
   {
      oldest_delta = delta_history.pop()
      total_time -= oldest_delta
   }
} 

Set counter to zero. Each time you draw a frame increment the counter. After each second print the counter. lather, rinse, repeat. If yo want extra credit, keep a running counter and divide by the total number of seconds for a running average.

In (c++ like) pseudocode these two are what I used in industrial image processing applications that had to process images from a set of externally triggered camera's. Variations in "frame rate" had a different source (slower or faster production on the belt) but the problem is the same. (I assume that you have a simple timer.peek() call that gives you something like the nr of msec (nsec?) since application start or the last call)

Solution 1: fast but not updated every frame

do while (1)
{
    ProcessImage(frame)
    if (frame.framenumber%poll_interval==0)
    {
        new_time=timer.peek()
        framerate=poll_interval/(new_time - last_time)
        last_time=new_time
    }
}

Solution 2: updated every frame, requires more memory and CPU

do while (1)
{
   ProcessImage(frame)
   new_time=timer.peek()
   delta=new_time - last_time
   last_time = new_time
   total_time += delta
   delta_history.push(delta)
   framerate= delta_history.length() / total_time
   while (delta_history.length() > avg_interval)
   {
      oldest_delta = delta_history.pop()
      total_time -= oldest_delta
   }
} 

How i do it!

boolean run = false;

int ticks = 0;

long tickstart;

int fps;

public void loop()
{
if(this.ticks==0)
{
this.tickstart = System.currentTimeMillis();
}
this.ticks++;
this.fps = (int)this.ticks / (System.currentTimeMillis()-this.tickstart);
}

In words, a tick clock tracks ticks. If it is the first time, it takes the current time and puts it in 'tickstart'. After the first tick, it makes the variable 'fps' equal how many ticks of the tick clock divided by the time minus the time of the first tick.

Fps is an integer, hence "(int)".

Here's how I do it (in Java):

private static long ONE_SECOND = 1000000L * 1000L; //1 second is 1000ms which is 1000000ns

LinkedList<Long> frames = new LinkedList<>(); //List of frames within 1 second

public int calcFPS(){
    long time = System.nanoTime(); //Current time in nano seconds
    frames.add(time); //Add this frame to the list
    while(true){
        long f = frames.getFirst(); //Look at the first element in frames
        if(time - f > ONE_SECOND){ //If it was more than 1 second ago
            frames.remove(); //Remove it from the list of frames
        } else break;
        /*If it was within 1 second we know that all other frames in the list
         * are also within 1 second
        */
    }
    return frames.size(); //Return the size of the list
}

You need a smoothed average, the easiest way is to take the current answer (the time to draw the last frame) and combine it with the previous answer.

// eg.
float smoothing = 0.9; // larger=more smoothing
measurement = (measurement * smoothing) + (current * (1.0-smoothing))

By adjusting the 0.9 / 0.1 ratio you can change the 'time constant' - that is how quickly the number responds to changes. A larger fraction in favour of the old answer gives a slower smoother change, a large fraction in favour of the new answer gives a quicker changing value. Obviously the two factors must add to one!

In (c++ like) pseudocode these two are what I used in industrial image processing applications that had to process images from a set of externally triggered camera's. Variations in "frame rate" had a different source (slower or faster production on the belt) but the problem is the same. (I assume that you have a simple timer.peek() call that gives you something like the nr of msec (nsec?) since application start or the last call)

Solution 1: fast but not updated every frame

do while (1)
{
    ProcessImage(frame)
    if (frame.framenumber%poll_interval==0)
    {
        new_time=timer.peek()
        framerate=poll_interval/(new_time - last_time)
        last_time=new_time
    }
}

Solution 2: updated every frame, requires more memory and CPU

do while (1)
{
   ProcessImage(frame)
   new_time=timer.peek()
   delta=new_time - last_time
   last_time = new_time
   total_time += delta
   delta_history.push(delta)
   framerate= delta_history.length() / total_time
   while (delta_history.length() > avg_interval)
   {
      oldest_delta = delta_history.pop()
      total_time -= oldest_delta
   }
} 

This might be overkill for most people, that's why I hadn't posted it when I implemented it. But it's very robust and flexible.

It stores a Queue with the last frame times, so it can accurately calculate an average FPS value much better than just taking the last frame into consideration.

It also allows you to ignore one frame, if you are doing something that you know is going to artificially screw up that frame's time.

It also allows you to change the number of frames to store in the Queue as it runs, so you can test it out on the fly what is the best value for you.

// Number of past frames to use for FPS smooth calculation - because 
// Unity's smoothedDeltaTime, well - it kinda sucks
private int frameTimesSize = 60;
// A Queue is the perfect data structure for the smoothed FPS task;
// new values in, old values out
private Queue<float> frameTimes;
// Not really needed, but used for faster updating then processing 
// the entire queue every frame
private float __frameTimesSum = 0;
// Flag to ignore the next frame when performing a heavy one-time operation 
// (like changing resolution)
private bool _fpsIgnoreNextFrame = false;

//=============================================================================
// Call this after doing a heavy operation that will screw up with FPS calculation
void FPSIgnoreNextFrame() {
    this._fpsIgnoreNextFrame = true;
}

//=============================================================================
// Smoothed FPS counter updating
void Update()
{
    if (this._fpsIgnoreNextFrame) {
        this._fpsIgnoreNextFrame = false;
        return;
    }

    // While looping here allows the frameTimesSize member to be changed dinamically
    while (this.frameTimes.Count >= this.frameTimesSize) {
        this.__frameTimesSum -= this.frameTimes.Dequeue();
    }
    while (this.frameTimes.Count < this.frameTimesSize) {
        this.__frameTimesSum += Time.deltaTime;
        this.frameTimes.Enqueue(Time.deltaTime);
    }
}

//=============================================================================
// Public function to get smoothed FPS values
public int GetSmoothedFPS() {
    return (int)(this.frameTimesSize / this.__frameTimesSum * Time.timeScale);
}

store a start time and increment your framecounter once per loop? every few seconds you could just print framecount/(Now - starttime) and then reinitialize them.

edit: oops. double-ninja'ed

Set counter to zero. Each time you draw a frame increment the counter. After each second print the counter. lather, rinse, repeat. If yo want extra credit, keep a running counter and divide by the total number of seconds for a running average.

Good answers here. Just how you implement it is dependent on what you need it for. I prefer the running average one myself "time = time * 0.9 + last_frame * 0.1" by the guy above.

however I personally like to weight my average more heavily towards newer data because in a game it is SPIKES that are the hardest to squash and thus of most interest to me. So I would use something more like a .7 \ .3 split will make a spike show up much faster (though it's effect will drop off-screen faster as well.. see below)

If your focus is on RENDERING time, then the .9.1 split works pretty nicely b/c it tend to be more smooth. THough for gameplay/AI/physics spikes are much more of a concern as THAT will usually what makes your game look choppy (which is often worse than a low frame rate assuming we're not dipping below 20 fps)

So, what I would do is also add something like this:

#define ONE_OVER_FPS (1.0f/60.0f)
static float g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint = 3.0f * ONE_OVER_FPS;
if(time > g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint)
    DoInternalBreakpoint()

(fill in 3.0f with whatever magnitude you find to be an unacceptable spike) This will let you find and thus solve FPS issues the end of the frame they happen.

Here's how I do it (in Java):

private static long ONE_SECOND = 1000000L * 1000L; //1 second is 1000ms which is 1000000ns

LinkedList<Long> frames = new LinkedList<>(); //List of frames within 1 second

public int calcFPS(){
    long time = System.nanoTime(); //Current time in nano seconds
    frames.add(time); //Add this frame to the list
    while(true){
        long f = frames.getFirst(); //Look at the first element in frames
        if(time - f > ONE_SECOND){ //If it was more than 1 second ago
            frames.remove(); //Remove it from the list of frames
        } else break;
        /*If it was within 1 second we know that all other frames in the list
         * are also within 1 second
        */
    }
    return frames.size(); //Return the size of the list
}

You could keep a counter, increment it after each frame is rendered, then reset the counter when you are on a new second (storing the previous value as the last second's # of frames rendered)

You need a smoothed average, the easiest way is to take the current answer (the time to draw the last frame) and combine it with the previous answer.

// eg.
float smoothing = 0.9; // larger=more smoothing
measurement = (measurement * smoothing) + (current * (1.0-smoothing))

By adjusting the 0.9 / 0.1 ratio you can change the 'time constant' - that is how quickly the number responds to changes. A larger fraction in favour of the old answer gives a slower smoother change, a large fraction in favour of the new answer gives a quicker changing value. Obviously the two factors must add to one!

How i do it!

boolean run = false;

int ticks = 0;

long tickstart;

int fps;

public void loop()
{
if(this.ticks==0)
{
this.tickstart = System.currentTimeMillis();
}
this.ticks++;
this.fps = (int)this.ticks / (System.currentTimeMillis()-this.tickstart);
}

In words, a tick clock tracks ticks. If it is the first time, it takes the current time and puts it in 'tickstart'. After the first tick, it makes the variable 'fps' equal how many ticks of the tick clock divided by the time minus the time of the first tick.

Fps is an integer, hence "(int)".

In Typescript, I use this algorithm to calculate framerate and frametime averages:

let getTime = () => {
    return new Date().getTime();
} 

let frames: any[] = [];
let previousTime = getTime();
let framerate:number = 0;
let frametime:number = 0;

let updateStats = (samples:number=60) => {
    samples = Math.max(samples, 1) >> 0;

    if (frames.length === samples) {
        let currentTime: number = getTime() - previousTime;

        frametime = currentTime / samples;
        framerate = 1000 * samples / currentTime;

        previousTime = getTime();

        frames = [];
    }

    frames.push(1);
}

usage:

statsUpdate();

// Print
stats.innerHTML = Math.round(framerate) + ' FPS ' + frametime.toFixed(2) + ' ms';

Tip: If samples is 1, the result is real-time framerate and frametime.

Increment a counter every time you render a screen and clear that counter for some time interval over which you want to measure the frame-rate.

Ie. Every 3 seconds, get counter/3 and then clear the counter.

You could keep a counter, increment it after each frame is rendered, then reset the counter when you are on a new second (storing the previous value as the last second's # of frames rendered)

Good answers here. Just how you implement it is dependent on what you need it for. I prefer the running average one myself "time = time * 0.9 + last_frame * 0.1" by the guy above.

however I personally like to weight my average more heavily towards newer data because in a game it is SPIKES that are the hardest to squash and thus of most interest to me. So I would use something more like a .7 \ .3 split will make a spike show up much faster (though it's effect will drop off-screen faster as well.. see below)

If your focus is on RENDERING time, then the .9.1 split works pretty nicely b/c it tend to be more smooth. THough for gameplay/AI/physics spikes are much more of a concern as THAT will usually what makes your game look choppy (which is often worse than a low frame rate assuming we're not dipping below 20 fps)

So, what I would do is also add something like this:

#define ONE_OVER_FPS (1.0f/60.0f)
static float g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint = 3.0f * ONE_OVER_FPS;
if(time > g_SpikeGuardBreakpoint)
    DoInternalBreakpoint()

(fill in 3.0f with whatever magnitude you find to be an unacceptable spike) This will let you find and thus solve FPS issues the end of the frame they happen.

store a start time and increment your framecounter once per loop? every few seconds you could just print framecount/(Now - starttime) and then reinitialize them.

edit: oops. double-ninja'ed

There are at least two ways to do it:

The first is the one others have mentioned here before me. I think it's the simplest and preferred way. You just to keep track of

• cn: counter of how many frames you've rendered
• time_start: the time since you've started counting
• time_now: the current time

Calculating the fps in this case is as simple as evaluating this formula:

• FPS = cn / (time_now - time_start).

Then there is the uber cool way you might like to use some day:

Let's say you have 'i' frames to consider. I'll use this notation: f[0], f[1],..., f[i-1] to describe how long it took to render frame 0, frame 1, ..., frame (i-1) respectively.

Example where i = 3

|f[0]      |f[1]         |f[2]   |
+----------+-------------+-------+------> time

Then, mathematical definition of fps after i frames would be

(1) fps[i]   = i     / (f[0] + ... + f[i-1])

And the same formula but only considering i-1 frames.

(2) fps[i-1] = (i-1) / (f[0] + ... + f[i-2]) 

Now the trick here is to modify the right side of formula (1) in such a way that it will contain the right side of formula (2) and substitute it for it's left side.

Like so (you should see it more clearly if you write it on a paper):

fps[i] = i / (f[0] + ... + f[i-1])
       = i / ((f[0] + ... + f[i-2]) + f[i-1])
       = (i/(i-1)) / ((f[0] + ... + f[i-2])/(i-1) + f[i-1]/(i-1))
       = (i/(i-1)) / (1/fps[i-1] + f[i-1]/(i-1))
       = ...
       = (i*fps[i-1]) / (f[i-1] * fps[i-1] + i - 1)

So according to this formula (my math deriving skill are a bit rusty though), to calculate the new fps you need to know the fps from the previous frame, the duration it took to render the last frame and the number of frames you've rendered.

You could keep a counter, increment it after each frame is rendered, then reset the counter when you are on a new second (storing the previous value as the last second's # of frames rendered)

store a start time and increment your framecounter once per loop? every few seconds you could just print framecount/(Now - starttime) and then reinitialize them.

edit: oops. double-ninja'ed

You need a smoothed average, the easiest way is to take the current answer (the time to draw the last frame) and combine it with the previous answer.

// eg.
float smoothing = 0.9; // larger=more smoothing
measurement = (measurement * smoothing) + (current * (1.0-smoothing))

By adjusting the 0.9 / 0.1 ratio you can change the 'time constant' - that is how quickly the number responds to changes. A larger fraction in favour of the old answer gives a slower smoother change, a large fraction in favour of the new answer gives a quicker changing value. Obviously the two factors must add to one!

This might be overkill for most people, that's why I hadn't posted it when I implemented it. But it's very robust and flexible.

It stores a Queue with the last frame times, so it can accurately calculate an average FPS value much better than just taking the last frame into consideration.

It also allows you to ignore one frame, if you are doing something that you know is going to artificially screw up that frame's time.

It also allows you to change the number of frames to store in the Queue as it runs, so you can test it out on the fly what is the best value for you.

// Number of past frames to use for FPS smooth calculation - because 
// Unity's smoothedDeltaTime, well - it kinda sucks
private int frameTimesSize = 60;
// A Queue is the perfect data structure for the smoothed FPS task;
// new values in, old values out
private Queue<float> frameTimes;
// Not really needed, but used for faster updating then processing 
// the entire queue every frame
private float __frameTimesSum = 0;
// Flag to ignore the next frame when performing a heavy one-time operation 
// (like changing resolution)
private bool _fpsIgnoreNextFrame = false;

//=============================================================================
// Call this after doing a heavy operation that will screw up with FPS calculation
void FPSIgnoreNextFrame() {
    this._fpsIgnoreNextFrame = true;
}

//=============================================================================
// Smoothed FPS counter updating
void Update()
{
    if (this._fpsIgnoreNextFrame) {
        this._fpsIgnoreNextFrame = false;
        return;
    }

    // While looping here allows the frameTimesSize member to be changed dinamically
    while (this.frameTimes.Count >= this.frameTimesSize) {
        this.__frameTimesSum -= this.frameTimes.Dequeue();
    }
    while (this.frameTimes.Count < this.frameTimesSize) {
        this.__frameTimesSum += Time.deltaTime;
        this.frameTimes.Enqueue(Time.deltaTime);
    }
}

//=============================================================================
// Public function to get smoothed FPS values
public int GetSmoothedFPS() {
    return (int)(this.frameTimesSize / this.__frameTimesSum * Time.timeScale);
}

This is what I have used in many games.

#define MAXSAMPLES 100
int tickindex=0;
int ticksum=0;
int ticklist[MAXSAMPLES];

/* need to zero out the ticklist array before starting */
/* average will ramp up until the buffer is full */
/* returns average ticks per frame over the MAXSAMPLES last frames */

double CalcAverageTick(int newtick)
{
    ticksum-=ticklist[tickindex];  /* subtract value falling off */
    ticksum+=newtick;              /* add new value */
    ticklist[tickindex]=newtick;   /* save new value so it can be subtracted later */
    if(++tickindex==MAXSAMPLES)    /* inc buffer index */
        tickindex=0;

    /* return average */
    return((double)ticksum/MAXSAMPLES);
}

JavaScript:

// Set the end and start times
var start = (new Date).getTime(), end, FPS;
  /* ...
   * the loop/block your want to watch
   * ...
   */
end = (new Date).getTime();
// since the times are by millisecond, use 1000 (1000ms = 1s)
// then multiply the result by (MaxFPS / 1000)
// FPS = (1000 - (end - start)) * (MaxFPS / 1000)
FPS = Math.round((1000 - (end - start)) * (60 / 1000));