Support NeoGAF

[icecold1983]

Yesterday I tried WD2 for the first time. I used geforce exp to optimize the game and it was terrible. The framerate drops below 10 fps and in one moment the game crashed. I have an i5 6600K, 980 Ti and 8GB DDR4. What can I do to get stable 1080p60 gameplay?

Youre gonna need a hefty oc on that cpu and set geometry to the lowest setting. You still might not get there

 

[dr_rus]

Lowering geometry, terrain, vegetation and shadows from ultra to lowest nets you <20% perf improvement when cpu limited. Geometry acounts for about 15 of that <20

How do you know that you aren't GPU limited with them being at Ultra?

Between temporal filtering & frame scaling - it's a bit difficult to tell what resolution we're actually getting.

What's the true equivalent of 1440p / 1.0 Pixel Density / Temporal Filtering on?

The true equivalent is a checkerboard grid of 2560x1440 resolution meaning that only half of pixels are being shaded each frame and the other half is reprojected from a previous frame. This is essentially the same thing PS4Pro is doing when it's using checkerboarding.

 

[OmegaX06]

Went ahead and maxed everything out and capped it at 30fps. It took some time for my eyes to adjust, but it's very playable now. Same thing happened with Mafia III.

 

[icecold1983]

How do you know that you aren't GPU limited with them being at Ultra?



The true equivalent is a checkerboard grid of 2560x1440 resolution meaning that only half of pixels are being shaded each frame and the other half is reprojected from a previous frame. This is essentially the same thing PS4Pro is doing when it's using checkerboarding.

because gpu utilization was under 30% @ 720p

 

[pinballsummer]

Yeah - GeForce 'optimized' settings are RIDICULOUS for this game. I tried that as well and it LOOKED great - but also about 15 FPS. Usually GeForce is optimization is too conservative... not with this game!

Speaking of Mafia 3- I switched back & fourth between this & Mafia 3 over the weekend and Mafia definitely looks better at lower settings than this game. How?! Anyway - still love the game - it's just a shame that it's such a hassle to find a decent balance between IQ & framerate.

Still hoping somebody can answer my question - if not, any hope for mods to take care of it?

Is there ANY way to turn off cars, objects, people from FLASHING white? It's extremely annoying and totally unnecessary. It looks stupid and takes away from the visuals.

Also would love to see FOV slider options lowered to at least 60. But I know I'm probably a minority in that...

 

[J_Viper]

A new Nvidia driver is up

Has anyone tried WD2 after the driver update?

 

[ussjtrunks]

my specs : Gtx 980, i7 5820k 4.0

Been playing for ~ 10 hrs now and the lowest fps I've seen was 45, its mostly 60 except for driving especially at night where it can hit the mid 40s

Everything set to max except shadows on very high, textures on high, fog off and screen space reflections off.

Are there any settings worth lowering to get 60fps while driving or is it impossible with the current state of the engine?

 

[GrayFoxBH]

This game is VERY CPU hungry. Runs pretty bad, since almost everything looks inferior to GTA5, that runs much better. This engine is really bad. If you go downtown you need a decent i7 to get smooth 60fps.

 

[JaseC]

This game is VERY CPU hungry.

Yeah, the engine is very thread-friendly:

With the possible exception of a well-overclocked 6700K, you're not going to experience an unwavering 60fps at Ultra without a 6c/12t Intel CPU.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I just opened UPlay and got another update... Guess it's just a release of T-Bone Content.

Still haven't played since the last patch, any improvements from the new NVIDIA drivers?

 

[ussjtrunks]

it seems I am gpu bound by my 980 with temporal filtering enabled i get near constant 60, what resolution does this render at 1080p because it doesnt look too bad

also when i leave the hackerspace 1st time after booting the game going out onto the street causes a momentary hitch like loading and after that i get no stutter

 

[Urthor]

Getting a lot, lot better multithreading with the current patch. Getting a noticeable FPS boost on my 2500k/970, up to 55 FPS in the city areas

 

[theultimo]

Im using an i5 6400/1060 6gb and performance is 96% 60 fps.

However screenspace reflections have to be off and in running 4k with .50 pixel density, and very high detail and temporal filtering. Ultra kills the machine. I also set geometry to high to smooth out stutters i was having. Considering that ultra is basically 1080 level, im honestly suprised how well v high runs.

 

[icecold1983]

Im using an i5 6400/1060 6gb and performance is 96% 60 fps.

However screenspace reflections have to be off and in running 4k with .50 pixel density, and very high detail and temporal filtering. Ultra kills the machine. I also set geometry to high to smooth out stutters i was having. Considering that ultra is basically 1080 level, im honestly suprised how well v high runs.

You are running slightly above ps4 settings why is it surprising?

 

[Pjsprojects]

Yeah, the engine is very thread-friendly:

With the possible exception of a well-overclocked 6700K, you're not going to experience an unwavering 60fps without a 6c/12t Intel CPU.

Now I see why I'm pretty happy with the games performance on my 8350.
Guess its base design is for the slow eight core console chip.

 

[ussjtrunks]

So checked everything, temps are fine gpu usage and cpu usage are fine and vram and ram are nowhere near maxed though i still get 1 loading stutter everytime i boot the game and go out into the open world. It appears asa massive jump on the frametime graph up to 300+ any ideas what could be causing this?

 

[b0uncyfr0]

Will a 390x and 3770k ( both overclocked ) - get me 1080p with no jaggies? Or is it better to go with 1440p/30?

 

[RamaTheVoice]

I'm getting the same CPU temps in this game as I do in stress tests. Not great.

 

[icecold1983]

Will a 390x and 3770k ( both overclocked ) - get me 1080p with no jaggies? Or is it better to go with 1440p/30?

You have no shot at anything even resembling a jaggy free image(only a titan xp can achieve that at 30 fps). You can get an avg 60 with ps4 settings at 1080p tho

 

[dr_rus]

You have no shot at anything even resembling a jaggy free image(only a titan xp can achieve that at 30 fps). You can get an avg 60 with ps4 settings at 1080p tho

I'd say that running with Temporal Filtering and 1.25 Pixel Density gives me a rather "jaggies free" image and with ~60 fps at that. In 2560x1600, with everything else on Ultra, on a 1080. So stop spreading misinformation.

 

[RamaTheVoice]

I'd say that running with Temporal Filtering and 1.25 Pixel Density gives me a rather "jaggies free" image and with ~60 fps at that. In 2560x1600, with everything else on Ultra, on a 1080. So stop spreading misinformation.

What's your CPU again?

 

[icecold1983]

I'd say that running with Temporal Filtering and 1.25 Pixel Density gives me a rather "jaggies free" image and with ~60 fps at that. In 2560x1600, with everything else on Ultra, on a 1080. So stop spreading misinformation.

I guess if by jaggy free you mean "almost every single pixel of the screen will be in a state of constant shimmer" then sure. Its rather jaggy free

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2t0BsiVu0jpTUJRQTg3dlVCeHM

not at all what id call jaggy free

 

[JaseC]

What's your CPU again?

6850K @ stock.

 

[axb2013]

4790K and 980TI SLI @4K. This is the most demanding title in my library but it can also be very rewarding. SLI utilization could be better but even if the second card were to double the performance, the demand on a single card is too great for 4K to begin with. 4K/60 needs a SLI config, don't think the 1080's would cut it, Titan P SLI should.

I've resigned to 30fps locked easily in favor of image quality. Most of the time I delay game progress anyway, just walking around and soaking in the atmosphere.

 

[dr_rus]

What's your CPU again?

6850K @ stock.

I guess if by jaggy free you mean "almost every single pixel of the screen will be in a state of constant shimmer" then sure. Its rather jaggy free

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2t0BsiVu0jpTUJRQTg3dlVCeHM

not at all what id call jaggy free

No, by "juggy free" I mean juggy free, as in no shimmer at all and a pretty good AA overall. Most games will give you worse AA coverage for high frequency elements than that unless you do a 2x2 supersampling at which point you're beyond what's realistically possible on any modern h/w in any AAA game of the last several years. So no idea what's your complain again.

 

[icecold1983]

6850K @ stock.



No, by "juggy free" I mean juggy free, as in no shimmer at all and a pretty good AA overall. Most games will give you worse AA coverage for high frequency elements than that unless you do a 2x2 supersampling at which point you're beyond what's realistically possible on any modern h/w in any AAA game of the last several years. So no idea what's your complain again.

not sure what you are looking at. the video i uploaded is almost identical to the settings you use(1440 instead of 1600 vertical) and its IQ is down there with the worst weve seen in other big name games. arkham knight, witcher 3, just cause 3, the crew, tomb raider etc. pretty much any developer whose game has even a halfway competent TAA and/or msaa solution provides an image far superior to whats in watch dogs 2. ssaa isnt needed at all.

 

[LelouchZero]

Gamer Nexus uploaded a "CPU Graphics Optimization Guide" on YouTube, showcasing the performance benefits of a 4 core 8 thread processor and the graphical settings that are CPU intensive.

This content piece tests individual graphics settings in Watch Dogs 2 to reduce CPU bottlenecking.

They also have an article here: Watch Dogs 2 CPU Optimization Guide & Graphics Benchmarks

Geometry and Extra Detail most heavily impact CPU performance as it's adding draw calls to the pipe, which means the CPU gets involved in processing and handing off each primitive call to the GPU.

I would love to see how this game performs on a 6 and 8 core processor, like a 5820k and 5960X!

 

[icecold1983]

^^^

pretty much exactly as i stated

 

[Peterthumpa]

6850K @ stock.



No, by "juggy free" I mean juggy free, as in no shimmer at all and a pretty good AA overall. Most games will give you worse AA coverage for high frequency elements than that unless you do a 2x2 supersampling at which point you're beyond what's realistically possible on any modern h/w in any AAA game of the last several years. So no idea what's your complain again.

You can't be serious to say that Watch Dogs 2 is jaggy free at the resolution you're playing, even with 1.2 scaling. It just isn't, really.

Maybe you just tolerate it more, and that's fine, but jaggy/shimmer free, even at 4K with TXAA, this game isn't.

Also, this game is missing a good TAA implementation like Fallout 4 or the temporal AA usually found in UE4 titles. TXAA doesn’t cut it.

 

[RamaTheVoice]

Gamer Nexus uploaded a "CPU Graphics Optimization Guide" on YouTube, showcasing the performance benefits of a 4 core 8 thread processor and the graphical settings that are CPU intensive.


They also have an article here: Watch Dogs 2 CPU Optimization Guide & Graphics Benchmarks


I would love to see how this game performs on a 6 and 8 core processor, like a 5820k and 5960X!

Thanks for sharing this! Tweaked extra detail and geometry, increased almost everything else to maximum (except Ultra shadows instead of PCSS or HTFS) and it's looking pretty stable at 60fps!

Running at 1440p with TF on, scaling at 1.25, Borderless Fullscreen, Vsync off and RTSS limiter at 60fps on a 6600K @ 4.4, GTX 1080 Armor (1898Mhz) and 16Gb @ 3000Mhz.

My CPU usage has also dropped ingame, so I shouldn't be looking at "stress test"-level temps anymore

 

[dr_rus]

You can't be serious to say that Watch Dogs 2 is jaggy free at the resolution you're playing, even with 1.2 scaling. It just isn't, really.

Maybe you just tolerate it more, and that's fine, but jaggy/shimmer free, even at 4K with TXAA, this game isn't.

Also, this game is missing a good TAA implementation like Fallout 4 or the temporal AA usually found in UE4 titles. TXAA doesn’t cut it.

I struggle to think of any game which is juggy/shimmer free even with loads of supersampling applied on top of it. It's all relative. WD2 is relatively free of juggies when ran in the way I described - a lot more so than when it's ran in native resolution with just some SMAA applied.

 

[icecold1983]

I struggle to think of any game which is juggy/shimmer free even with loads of supersampling applied on top of it. It's all relative. WD2 is relatively free of juggies when ran in the way I described - a lot more so than when it's ran in native resolution with just some SMAA applied.

doom
uncharted 4
ryse
battlefield one
gears of war 4
unreal tournament 2017
fallout 4
the order
ratchet and clank
titanfall 2
NFS 2016
crysis 3
the division
quantum break
battlefront
paragon

do i need to continue? all of the above games have better IQ at 1080p(and below even!) than watchdogs 2 has at 4k+

 

[dr_rus]

doom
uncharted 4
ryse
battlefield one
gears of war 4
unreal tournament 2017
fallout 4
the order
ratchet and clank
titanfall 2
NFS 2016
crysis 3
the division
quantum break
battlefront
paragon

do i need to continue? all of the above games have better IQ at 1080p(and below even!) than watchdogs 2 has at 4k+

All of these games have both juggies and shimmering unless played with supersampling.

 

[icecold1983]

All of these games have both juggies and shimmering unless played with supersampling.

All have significantly less than watch dogs 2 at resolutions over 4x lower tho

 

[DjRalford]

Finally got a good stint on this today, like 5hrs solid.

Started game up and within a few minutes had a crash, loaded the game straight back up and had 5hrs uninterrupted gameplay, weird.

Have to say though that I'm really enjoying it.


Edit: Played another couple of hours this evening and the same thing, crashed within minutes when first started but on restart ran without a single hiccup.

 

[Md Ray]

Anyone with i5/GTX 970 or similar config have trouble getting consistent 60fps should consider targeting 50fps. Just change the refresh rate to "50Hz" in the display tab in-game. It's much, much smoother this way, meaning the constant frame-rate drops you get when targeting 60fps is gone. Start with "High" preset because it is equivalent to console settings... And work your way up from there i.e. increase AO, shadow quality or turn on SSR if you got headroom on the GPU. Your choice.

I've also uploaded a vid on this:
Watch Dogs 2 - Optimisation Guide For Stable FPS | i5/GTX 970 & Similar Configs

If anyone's interested check this out too:
Watch Dogs 2 - PS4 Pro Equivalent Graphics Settings on PC - GTX 970 | 1800p

 

[ussjtrunks]

Anyone tried out the new patch yet?

 

[Vuze]

Kinda crazy they are still updating this with new options. (i.e. they added TSMAA x2 and an option for particles with the new patch)
Kudos to the team for that. Finished it the other day. Fun game, good PC version, hope they keep it up.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Jeez, 14GB patch, had to be some DLC involved, right?

 

[dr_rus]

Kinda crazy they are still updating this with new options. (i.e. they added TSMAA x2 and an option for particles with the new patch)
Kudos to the team for that. Finished it the other day. Fun game, good PC version, hope they keep it up.

So they've added some TAA. Let's see if icecold1983 will be happy now... =)

 

[icecold1983]

So they've added some TAA. Let's see if icecold1983 will be happy now... =)

Depends how well it functions

 

[JaseC]

Jeez, 14GB patch, had to be some DLC involved, right?

Yeah:

Because the Bay Area is very large, this patch is pretty hefty. As all of our online activities take place in a seamless world, we need to make sure everyone has the update so that we don’t split the community. The patch will be about 10 GB on both PS4 and XB1, and 14 GB on PC (PC-specific updates in this patch can be found at the bottom of the article).

As a final note, we’d like to add that all present and future online DLC content is available in Guest Mode. If you don’t own the DLC, but your friend does, you can experience that content with them by having them invite you through the multiplayer app.

 

[RamaTheVoice]

Given how multi-threading/multicore-friendly this game is, I'm very curious to see how it performs with Ryzen CPUs once they launch next month.

 

[axb2013]

A lot is lost in downsizing the screenshot from 23 MB to 5 MB.
Game is still just as demanding as before the patch, I didn't notice fps inprovements but I wasn't really expecting much to change.I'm so impressed with the visuals that I'm content locking to 30. It is definitely a game I enjoy just walking around in and noticing all the details, soaking in the atmosphere.

 

[jorimt]

So they've added some TAA. Let's see if icecold1983 will be happy now... =)

Depends how well it functions

Pretty well. In the short time I tested it, it does a decent job of reducing sub-pixel shimmer, and doesn't blur too much. Not quite as good as some TAA implementations that I've seen (and it is more costly), but far better than FXAA, and appreciate them adding it.

About a 6-8 fps hit over FXAA, though the regular SMAA option has 5-6 fps hit over FXAA as is, so the new option has about the same performance hit as enabling SMAA on my system (4770K/1080 @1440p).

 

[SliChillax]

Umm so I just bought the game. Game freezes everytime I move the camera for 2 secs, when I stop everything is fine running smoothly, I can use the phone etc but as soon as I move the camera it freezes. I tried running everything on low etc but I can't get it to work.
i7 5820k 4.2ghz, GTX 980ti oc'd, 16gb ram

Edit: Now the game just closed and a message popped up that my pc is low on memory. Every background app was closed wth.. restarted my pc, no anti virus in the background or anything and now the game gets stuck on loading. If I press ctrl + alt + del game just disappears.

 

[SliChillax]

Game has a memory leak issue definitely. Is there anywhere where I can directly report it to Ubisoft assuming they're not aware of the issue? Many people are having this problem on the Ubi forums. Basically once the game loads up memory usage goes to 100% immediately and it freezes.

 

[Md Ray]

Umm so I just bought the game. Game freezes everytime I move the camera for 2 secs, when I stop everything is fine running smoothly, I can use the phone etc but as soon as I move the camera it freezes. I tried running everything on low etc but I can't get it to work.
i7 5820k 4.2ghz, GTX 980ti oc'd, 16gb ram

Edit: Now the game just closed and a message popped up that my pc is low on memory. Every background app was closed wth.. restarted my pc, no anti virus in the background or anything and now the game gets stuck on loading. If I press ctrl + alt + del game just disappears.

So weird. That's a beastly rig you got there compared to my i5-3330/GTX 970/8GB RAM and I never had a single issue regarding memory leak. IIRC, max RAM usage when running this game was somewhere around 6.8-7GB with zero stutter/freeze for me.

Anyways, do check this out: PERFORMANCE ISSUES IN WATCH DOGS 2


If that doesn't help, then open a support case with Ubisoft. To do that, click here.

 

[SliChillax]

So weird. That's a beastly rig you got there compared to my i5-3330/GTX 970/8GB RAM and I never had a single issue regarding memory leak. IIRC, max RAM usage when running this game was somewhere around 6.8-7GB with zero stutter/freeze for me.

Anyways, do check this out: PERFORMANCE ISSUES IN WATCH DOGS 2


If that doesn't help, then open a support case with Ubisoft. To do that, click here.

Thanks, just opened a support case. Here's some pics of the issue. At this point in loading memory goes up and my PC is incredibly slow to respond that's why I took a pic with my cellphone cause windows key + print screen wasn't doing anything

 

[RamaTheVoice]

Wait, why does the task manager show that the game is using 88.8Mb of RAM?