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[Skyzard]

ShadowPlay uses a dedicated encoder on the GPU, and that's why in 99% of cases there is very, very minimal performance loss (1-3fps at most in my experience). I honestly haven't noticed ShadowPlay reducing performance to any noticeable degree in this game, and I played the first 7 or 8 hours with ShadowPlay completely disabled, when I re-enabled it - I couldn't see any difference in performance.

If it is there, then it's unnoticeable on my setup.

Ah thanks for the info. Yeah it's been a tiny hit on performance usually.

I just don't want to disable it either

It's the new feature of gaming for me, I'm keeping it.

I checked that graph that lists all the GPUs for this game and at 1080p "VHQ" (?) it showed my 780ti dropping to 40s anyway. Will just keep the lock at 30 and play at 1440.

And where do I type this command line?

http://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/2mm319/dragon_age_inquisition_30fps_cutscene_framerate/

 

[Van Owen]

I've found that triple buffering introduces a lot of stuttering when locking games to 30fps if you're using a Half Refresh Rate Vsync. Usually the best bet is to use Adaptive Half Refresh Rate Vsync coupled with a frame rate limit, but that seemed to produce very negative results in this game, a lot of stuttering where there should be none. I think the game is triple buffered by default since in game Vsync doesn't drop my framerate to 30 when I dip under 60, so that might be the cause of the stuttering.

In any case, I've found that the easiest and smoothest way to lock this game to 30fps is to use in-game Vsync with this command line:

-GameTime.MaxVariableFPS 30

No stuttering, once you get used to the 30fps it feels like a console game.

I added the triple buffer command to my config file with the 30fps lock commands and I actually think it's a lot smoother for me.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Has the SLI flickering been fixed or is there a work around (other than using a single card) yet? I have off this week so I'd like to get started on this game but I'd rather wait if there are weird graphical glitches.

 

[lucebuce12]

I added the triple buffer command to my config file with the 30fps lock commands and I actually think it's a lot smoother for me.

Agreed, this 30 fps lock with in-game vsync just feels "smoother" for whatever reason as compared to forced 1/2 refresh rate vsync via Nvidia Inspector.

Having a blast with this game now that the cutscene issues and freezes have been pretty much eliminated

 

[komorebi]

Agreed, this 30 fps lock with in-game vsync just feels "smoother" for whatever reason as compared to forced 1/2 refresh rate vsync via Nvidia Inspector.

Having a blast with this game now that the cutscene issues and freezes have been pretty much eliminated

I just tried this and got screen tearing out the wazoo. I guess that can't be helped?

It also increases loading times. I already moved this game to my SSD and the increase is tolerable but definitely longer than 60fps/no vsync.

 

[Skyzard]

Ha I did suspect 30fps made the loading times longer.

FFs.

I hope they can fix that because loading times are pathetic even on SSD. Feels like I went back in time 7 years when I load this up.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

I'm on 780ti and I can't get a decent 60fps on 1080 with nice settings so 30 fps lock for me, nice that it runs well on sli though.

https://dl1.volafile.io/get/MThoPxttVEUoB/Dragon Age Inquisition 11.22.2014 - 23.16.01.19.webm

https://dl1.volafile.io/get/D8izPi9wVEX/Dragon Age Inquisition 11.23.2014 - 01.10.45.36_2.webm

I'm running a single 7970 on a mix of mostly high, couple ultra (terrain/textures) and medium tessellation and AA and I'm benchmarking 57fps average, and it seems like 60fps in 1080p all the time for me... and a 780 Ti is more powerful, so that's a bit odd.

The AA is the biggest killer on performance I reckon, also using SSAO which seems to go better.

 

[Skyzard]

What does it drop to though?

Not using MSAA myself.

Even if it averages at 60 I'm pretty sure it's going to drop to 40s at times which is why I wasn't so keen.

For me it wasn't even in battle, it was just some spots around town. This was on a mix of high and ultra too...

Maybe it's a specific setting but with how long loading times are I don't think I'm ever going to find which it is. Not too bothered anymore, quite happy with that side of things for now though I'm still early.

 

[IceIpor]

So, some repeat advice. I know most of you did, but...

Remember to CLEAN install your video card drivers if you want the smoothest experience in DA:I.
For those with Mantle, clean install seems to alleviate MOST loading and stuttering problems you may encounter.

Turn off ALL overlays. This includes FRAPS, MSI Afterburner, Geforce Experience/Shadowplay, Raptr and ORIGIN (Don't use Steam either if you forced it on for DA). They seem to conflict with the game and cause massive fps issues.

These are the most common command line arguments to implement when running DA:I single player to get a "smoother" experience (it WILL break multiplayer if you use it.).
60 FPS Example (because your monitor is most likely not 60Hz exactly):

-GameTime.ForceSimRate 59.94+ -GameTime.MaxVariableFPS 59.94 -GameTime.MaxSimFps 59.94

It seems like animations in cutscenes were recorded at 30fps, therefore it will always seem like it's stuttering if you're used to 60fps. Removing ForceSimRate will make the cutscenes smoother, but all the animations will be sped up to compensate.

EDIT: For those who wish to use SweetFX SMAA and effects... Use the version listed near the bottom of this topic http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390465&page=4. As of now, it is only compatible with DirectX11. Just remember to edit the settings because the default one has HDR and a bunch of other settings activated that might skew your perception of the game. Also, it seems to crash your game if you do not cap the FPS with the above settings or similar.

 

[Chance Hale]

Turn off ALL overlays. This includes FRAPS, MSI Afterburner, Geforce Experience/Shadowplay, Raptr and ORIGIN. They seem to conflict with the game and cause massive fps issues.

Holy shit, turned off shadowplay and the loading times went from nearly 2 minutes to maybe 30 seconds. Bizarre!

 

[NIN90]

Have we found a way to completely disable the HUD (including the radar) yet?

 

[Xyber]

Have we found a way to completely disable the HUD (including the radar) yet?

ui.drawenable 0 in the console (~ or whatever is to the left of 1 on your keyboard depending on country). But this also requires you to play with mouse and keyboard since the game won't take any keyboard inputs when using controller.

 

[reektann]

Was having odd performance and the shimmery issues with 970 SLI so set it to single 970 and it's been performing superbly. Everything on max/ultra bar no AA and it's 60fps with vsync like 99% of the time at 1080p on the TV.

I'll be needing the SLI fixes for 1440p on my monitor though as I do jump between the two depending on what's available.

Stunning looking game.

 

[Van Owen]

So I think triple buffering is actually hard coded into the engine to always be on?

Using the renderdevice coma me in the console for triple buffering with a 0 value results in a win32 false result, while 1 and 2 come back with true. But then I don't know the difference between 1 and 2...

 

[Wag]

How can they release a game in this day and age without testing on SLI/Crossfire setups? It just boggles the mind. I find it inexcusable. Hopefully they'll be releasing a patch for it soon but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Kinthalis]

So I think triple buffering is actually hard coded into the engine to always be on?

Using the renderdevice coma me in the console for triple buffering with a 0 value results in a win32 false result, while 1 and 2 come back with true. But then I don't know the difference between 1 and 2...

If tripple bnuffering weren't on then framerates would go from 60 to 30. When you see smooth degradation, then tripple buffering is on.

 

[Dmax3901]

So, some repeat advice. I know most of you did, but...

Remember to CLEAN install your video card drivers if you want the smoothest experience in DA:I.
For those with Mantle, clean install seems to alleviate MOST loading and stuttering problems you may encounter.

Turn off ALL overlays. This includes FRAPS, MSI Afterburner, Geforce Experience/Shadowplay, Raptr and ORIGIN (Don't use Steam either if you forced it on for DA). They seem to conflict with the game and cause massive fps issues.

These are the most common command line arguments to implement when running DA:I single player to get a "smoother" experience (it WILL break multiplayer if you use it.).
60 FPS Example (because your monitor is most likely not 60Hz exactly):

-GameTime.ForceSimRate 59.94+ -GameTime.MaxVariableFPS 59.94 -GameTime.MaxSimFps 59.94

It seems like animations in cutscenes were recorded at 30fps, therefore it will always seem like it's stuttering if you're used to 60fps. Removing ForceSimRate will make the cutscenes smoother, but all the animations will be sped up to compensate.

EDIT: For those who wish to use SweetFX SMAA and effects... Use the version listed near the bottom of this topic http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390465&page=4. As of now, it is only compatible with DirectX11. Just remember to edit the settings because the default one has HDR and a bunch of other settings activated that might skew your perception of the game. Also, it seems to crash your game if you do not cap the FPS with the above settings or similar.

This would be good in the OP.

 

[Nocturn]

I have a GTX 970 and a FX 8320. I get 60fps exploring, 40-60 in battles and in Skyhold I get around 40-60fps mostly in the 50-60 range. Redcliffe I get around 30-40fps.

Does that seem about right for my setup? Everything is set to ultra with AA off.

 

[Kinthalis]

I have a GTX 970 and a FX 8320. I get 60fps exploring, 40-60 in battles and in Skyhold I get around 40-60fps mostly in the 50-60 range. Redcliffe I get around 30-40fps.

Does that seem about right for my setup? Everything is set to ultra with AA off.

I think so.

I'm running a 780ti at 1440p, everythign Ultra, except HBAO (not full) and I get about the same, but I also have an i7 3770k at 4.5 Ghz.

 

[Fr0stTr0n]

Anyone else been find this shadows are a major killer on their framerates as well? Any setting I could possibly set lower to make up for framerate loss on shadows without impacting visual quality much? Shadows sure as hell do make a big visual difference

I"m also running no AA to keep framerates up at these settings

**Warning, HIGH BANDWITH PICS**

*Current settings:* http://i.imgur.com/6VjcZy3.png


**Low shadows** http://i.imgur.com/ebiVqwC.png

**Medium shadows:** http://i.imgur.com/sOcQFdf.png

**High Shadows:** http://i.imgur.com/ZHT5IHi.png

**Ultra Shadows:** http://i.imgur.com/FYJ1k7M.png


Intel i5 2500k @ 4.6 ghz 1.33volts
Asus STIX 980 4Gig @ 1,130mhz core
G.Skill DDR3 2400 8Gig RAM
Asus Maximumus Gene-Z mATX
Samsung 840 Pro SSD
Western Digital Cavier Black 640gig AALS
Corsair AX860 PSU
Dell U2412M 24" /Viewsonic 20''

 

[Thrakier]

Disapointing to hear you can't lock the game at 60 with a 970 which just released....

 

[Fr0stTr0n]

No, it's definitely using the BF4 stuff as a minimum. I'll double-check, but generally speaking, there aren't a ton of things in DA that move around besides characters, like there is in BF, and I don't think characters could generate object-based motion blur in BF.

Made a small imgur album of the differences in DOF, by the way: http://imgur.com/a/i9nr7 The graph in the bottom left shows time-spent-processing in milliseconds, so you can get a sense of how it affects performance, as well (measured on GTX 680).

Where/how did you get that graph running on your game?

 

[Fr0stTr0n]

No, it's definitely using the BF4 stuff as a minimum. I'll double-check, but generally speaking, there aren't a ton of things in DA that move around besides characters, like there is in BF, and I don't think characters could generate object-based motion blur in BF.

Made a small imgur album of the differences in DOF, by the way: http://imgur.com/a/i9nr7 The graph in the bottom left shows time-spent-processing in milliseconds, so you can get a sense of how it affects performance, as well (measured on GTX 680).

Disapointing to hear you can't lock the game at 60 with a 970 which just released....

I have a new Asus 980 and I can't lock it at 60fps either

 

[adampa1006]

Just curious to know what settings my fello R 290x users are using?

I'm in the first open area of the game (highlands) and I'm struggling to keep 60 fps (1080p on Ultra/High Settings with MSAA off). Is this normal? I shouldn't be complaining since it only fluctuates between 40-60 fps though- but it's definately not as smooth as I'd like it to be.

Also whats the general consensus between Direct X and Mantle?

I have 4770K and 290X. Mantle doesnt seem to do much.

I dropped shadows down to high and HBAO "Full" to just "HBAO" and it helps, with next to no visual degradation. That will help with the FPS drops in the graphically demanding areas.

 

[Skyzard]

Where/how did you get that graph running on your game?

Check the top line in the console of the screenshots.

 

[Fr0stTr0n]

Check the top line in the console of the screenshots.

Huh? Sorry, i'm new here. I can't make a dedicated thread for some reason, or I'd start one.

 

[sticks435]

Huh? Sorry, i'm new here. I can't make a dedicated thread for some reason, or I'd start one.

Hit the ~ key, then type the first line which is PefOverlay.Drawgraph 1"

 

[Relix]

Disapointing to hear you can't lock the game at 60 with a 970 which just released....

The game looks fantastic though. Seems to be using every ounce of power from my PC so there's that

 

[Fr0stTr0n]

The game looks fantastic though. Seems to be using every ounce of power from my PC so there's that

In the 3 years since I built my mATX i5 2500k rig, i've never had my i5 2500k get a work out like it does with this game. All 4 cores at 4.6ghz are at 90% almost the entire time.

 

[Toothless Spoon]

Anyone found a site or someone that has gone through all the settings to see what settings make the biggest FPS difference with the least visual degradation?

 

[Robert7lee]

Playing with a single gtx Titan and i7 4770k cpu @ 4.2ghz.

Res 1920x1080p
Setting textures high
Everything else medium apart from vegetation which is on low, no aa, tesselation or ao, basically nerfed the settings and the game is at 60 with few hitches and drops, at times it can drop to 40 for a split second, however with vsync off it doesn't drop below 60.

I'm now trying the 30fps lock with ultra textures and high setting, 2xmssa, but it's so jarring and everything looks dull, I can't get used to it. To me it doesn't look that good. Buying the titan mid last year I didn't think I'd run into this issue so soon.

Anyone notice the controller vibration doesn't work outiside of haven? Or is it just me?

 

[Skyzard]

Huh? Sorry, i'm new here. I can't make a dedicated thread for some reason, or I'd start one.

Hit the ~ key, then type the first line which is PefOverlay.Drawgraph 1"

As sticks said, though I think he mistakenly left out an r in perfoverlay according to the screenshot:
That key should open the console - this thing:

Thanks for the comparison, CypherSignal.

 

[rBose]

Anyone found a site or someone that has gone through all the settings to see what settings make the biggest FPS difference with the least visual degradation?

Also interested in this

 

[Megasoum]

So I was running the game with the "High" preset and was getting mostly 60fps but dips all the way to the low 40s from time to time so I finally said fuck it and decided to cap it at 30 but max out the graphics options.

Now my game is running at a solid 30 but the game looks....weird.... Like I'm often seeing pop-in when the camera changes from scene to scene and all the shadows are looking really weird...kinda fuzzy and jittering.

Also, speaking of jittering the game is rock solid 30 but it doesn't really feel smooth. I'm not sure how to explain that. Maybe it's just my brain that needs to adjust to playing at 30fps but it feels like it's not smooth even if the fps are staying at 30.

I'm using that command to cap the FPS.

-GameTime.MaxSimFps 30 -GameTime.ForceSimRate 30 -GameTime.MaxVariableFPS 30

Another weird effect is that it looks like the I'm watching the folliage on the ground through a screen door

Anybody has any ideas on how I could fix the different issues?

 

[Renekton]

Disapointing to hear you can't lock the game at 60 with a 970 which just released....

For good reason... it's probably the prettiest game CRPG I have seen, breathtaking vistas after another.

 

[Rhaknar]

Disapointing to hear you can't lock the game at 60 with a 970 which just released....

I have it locked at 60 with my 970

Spoiler

s SLI :3

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

I decided to lock it at 30 and turn everything up @ 2880x1620. Game looks soooo good. So far I'm adjusting well to the lower frame rate.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Anyone else hit a bug with Fortifying Blast that makes your Barrier run out quicker than the rest of your team, and you get covered in this weird blue mist?

Also makes Mind Blast deplete your shield, instead of add to it

Pissed me right off, restarted with a fresh install and deleted all borked save character saves so back to the beginning for me (after 15 hours) LOL.

 

[komorebi]

For those who have capped to 30fps: do you have lots of screen tearing? I can't seem to figure out the correct settings to eliminate it when capping the frame rate. Is it even possible?


EDIT: borderless windowed fullscreen mode fixed the tearing. I locked it to 30fps with the frame limiter in NV Inspector and was able to crank the settings up to mostly ultra (w/o AA) running an Asus 770. I just have to put up with longer loading times when its limited to 30fps.

 

[RickyRozay]

For those who have capped to 30fps: do you have lots of screen tearing? I can't seem to figure out the correct settings to eliminate it when capping the frame rate. Is it even possible?

Im right with you and I've tried most settings mentioned and just cant seem to get around the screen tearing, and its annoying as hell.

 

[Aeana]

For those who have capped to 30fps: do you have lots of screen tearing? I can't seem to figure out the correct settings to eliminate it when capping the frame rate. Is it even possible?

I don't get tearing.
Have you tried playing in borderless windowed fullscreen mode? That should give you triple buffering via Windows's compositor.

 

[decyx]

Me too. My frames dropped to the low 40's with 2x970's,even with Gsync its not very smooth at all.

Don't know if this will help, but I was experiencing a similar issue earlier with 2x760's + 4.3GHz 2500K. My frame rate would drop to the low 20's while running around Skyhold (even with everything set to low). I went into the DAI game folder and installed/repaired all three of the visual c++ redistributables in this folder:

After I did that, the problem went away. Now I run at mostly high settings with a few things set to ultra (no MSAA) + 125% resolution and I rarely drop below 60 fps in Skyhold. Even when it does drop occasionally, it's not nearly as bad as it was before. Crashing/freezing still happens though -_-

 

[Duebrithil]

So, PS4 or PC:

2600K @ 3.4GHz
GTX 580 1.5GB
8GB RAM

Skimming through the thread seems like I should be able to at least match the PS4's performance on my computer. What do you guys think?

 

[BPoole]

Is there any particular reason why I would get worse performance with Mantle enabled vs DX? My CPU is a 2500k

 

[veggiesaurus]

Is there any particular reason why I would get worse performance with Mantle enabled vs DX? My CPU is a 2500k

It seems like quite a common issue. Hoping for a fix soon.

 

[komorebi]

I don't get tearing.
Have you tried playing in borderless windowed fullscreen mode? That should give you triple buffering via Windows's compositor.

No I'm playing in fullscreen. I'll give borderless window a try. How should I configure the settings? From my experience using RivaTuner is the smoothest (with tearing) but without any input lag or double load times. When I lock it with Nvidia Inspector (30fps cap or 1/2 refresh) the load times become ridiculous.

 

[alysonwheel]

Is there any particular reason why I would get worse performance with Mantle enabled vs DX? My CPU is a 2500k

Mantle runs horribly for me, too. On DX I get 30-50fps (60 if I'm looking at a wall) at mostly ultra settings on my 270X so I don't really mind.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

For those who have capped to 30fps: do you have lots of screen tearing? I can't seem to figure out the correct settings to eliminate it when capping the frame rate. Is it even possible?

I got tearing when using the in-game vsync, so I turned it off and forced it in the nvcp.

Edit: It did increase my load times, tho. From about 7 seconds to 20-30. I almost have enough time to read the text that displays on those screens now.

 

[Van Owen]

Is there any particular reason why I would get worse performance with Mantle enabled vs DX? My CPU is a 2500k

Cause it sucks. DX11 is way smoother on my GCN card. Mantle stutters and drops to 10fps randomly all the time.

 

[BPoole]

It seems like quite a common issue. Hoping for a fix soon.

Mantle runs horribly for me, too. On DX I get 30-50fps (60 if I'm looking at a wall) at mostly ultra settings on my 270X so I don't really mind.

Cause it sucks. DX11 is way smoother on my GCN card. Mantle stutters and drops to 10fps randomly all the time.

At least it's not only happening to me. Hopefully it gets addressed soon