Frame Rate Cap Adjustment & How to limit your FPS from being too high (Updated)

Busted

As of the Waking Flame & Update 31 patch I have seen a handful of people with concerns of wanting to adjust their FPS. This is thanks to the new Multithreaded Rendering (Beta) that has seemingly helped boost performance for a lot of us. Are you stuck at 100 FPS and know your setup can do more? Do you worry about letting your GPU run wild? Well here are some tips to help with this.

First we need to know a few things so we can understand the limitations and what else might need to be done.

• The default cap is 100 FPS.
• Don't set your cap too high.
• This is aimed more toward people with higher refresh rate monitors but can help if you have a slower panel with a good GPU.
• Vsync will not raise your 100 FPS limit on a high refresh rate monitor.
• I've seen a couple report they are capped at 60 FPS, this could from using a 60 Hz monitor with Vsync enabeld, or an add-on has changed your UserSettings.txt file.
• Tabbing out of the game may cause a spike in GPU use, you can limit this via software.
• The FPS limit set in the .txt file, Vsync, and AMD's software like Radeon Chill or FRTC, will not prevent FPS shooting up during load screens. Tabbing out varies in how it works.
• Make a backup if you feel the need. The game will generate a new UserSettings.txt on launch if you delete it or wish to start from a fresh copy.
• This file use to be an .ini file if I recall correctly.
• Multithreaded Rendering can help smooth things out even on higher end rigs, it is worth checking it out.
• For this edit I do suggest Notepad++ but you can use whatever editor you want.
• I do not have an Nvidia GPU so I cannot give you specific information on it.

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Should you use Vsync?

Vsync can help in some cases but it can also cause issues. I have found in my testing that Vsync seems to work fine for a bit, but can go wonky and cause bad FPS fluctuations. As such I would recommend disabling it if you find you are having inconsistent FPS issues. If you set your limit to match you monitors refresh rate, you should be fine without using it. I have seen in some guides suggest you can get smoother gameplay by setting your FPS limit much higher or uncapped and using Vsync to limit it. I do not recommend this as if you set your file to have no FPS limit you will have large spikes in FPS and usage during load screens or when tabbed out of the game, especially when using Fullscreen.

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Raise your FPS limit caused by your UserSettings.txt.

Assuming you do not have Vsync enabled, and your hardware is capable, your FPS in-game will be limited by this file,

UserSettings.txt

You can find this file in,

C:\Users\(YOUR PC USER NAME)\Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live

In this file you’ll find all the in-game settings and more. We are looking for line 180,

SET MinFrameTime.2 "0.01000000"

*NOTE* Your numerical value may be different here, but as long as you are looking at SET MinFrameTime.2 "x.xxxxxxxx" you're in the right spot.


This is the setting we are looking to edit. I have pre-calculated pretty much every monitor refresh rate out there, but if you have one not on this list all you need to do is divide 1 by whatever your desired rate is. I suggest setting your cap at or just slightly above your monitors refresh rate.

60 Hz - "0.01666666"
70 Hz - "0.01428571"
75 Hz - "0.01333333"
76 Hz - "0.01315789"
85 Hz - "0.01176470"
95 Hz - "0.01052631"
100 Hz - "0.01000000"
120 Hz - "0.00833333"
144 Hz - "0.00694444"
155 Hz - "0.00645161"
160 Hz - "0.00625000"
165 Hz - "0.00606060"
166 Hz - "0.00602409"
170 Hz - "0.00588235"
175 Hz - "0.00571428"
180 Hz - "0.00555555"
185 Hz - "0.00540540"
200 Hz - "0.00500000"
240 Hz - "0.00416666"
280 Hz - "0.00357142"
300 Hz - "0.00333333"
360 Hz - "0.00277777"
Uncapped - "-1.00000000" (This seems to allow the game to run to whatever it can hit. I DO NOT recommend this!)

Once you have determined the frame rate you desire to lock at simply replace the old number with the new number.

Example. If you have a 165 Hz monitor and wish to cap the frame rate at that, make your settings file like this,

SET MinFrameTime.2 "0.00606060"

This will limit the in-game frame rate to 165 or whatever you chose to set it at. However it will not cap the load screen FPS.

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Limit your FPS in and outside the game.

We have a few options to limit our FPS from going too high and causing GPU usage to spike.

For AMD users we have two options from them, both have issues. Thus I cannot currently recommend their use, but you can try them. However, all it not lost we have another option.
Radeon Chill:

• Radeon Chill when set to use Globally Vs. a specific game profile does not work.
• Radeon Chill does not limit FPS during loading screens.
• Radeon Chill in the ESO profile works fine in Windowed (Fullscreen) mode and semi-works in Fullscreen mode. In Fullscreen mode if you tab out the FPS will skyrocket if you have raised your .ini cap too high or set to uncapped.

Frame Rate Target Control (FRTC)

• FRTC failed to work in any manor of my testing.

Rivatuner Statistics Server (RTSS)
RTSS has been around for a long time and is highly trusted. This is a light weight application that can limit your FPS and it works all around, in-game, loading screens, tabbed out, etc. I must recommend this as the only option for AMD users. The only thing it will not do is raise the default cap set in your UserSettings.txt. RTSS can also do much more, but we're only using it to limit our GPU from going crazy. To set your limit in RTSS, look for the Framerate limit, it is above Scanline sync and below Custom Direct3D support. Simply type in the limit you want and live RTSS running in the background. You can also set this to run with Windows so you don't have to remember to start it.


For Nvidia users, this should be found in your Manage 3D settings. I don't own an Nvidia card so I cannot go into detail about it. If the Nvidia software works that is great, if not then I suggest RTSS.

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I think that covers everything. Once you've set your MinFrameTime and setup your FPS limit if needed, load up the game and enjoy. Hope this helps those who might be wondering why they don't go above 100 FPS and those who wish to limit their FPS from going crazy. I was fairly busy when writing this so I may have missed something, feel free to chime in.

EDIT: Updated some information and recommendations based on further testing.

ixthUA

Editing .ini is not necessary. You can install a lightweight application called Rivatuner Statistics Server, it allows to limit FPS per game and change it at any time.
AMD chill does not always work, i do not recommend using it.

Busted

ixthUA wrote: »

Editing .ini is not necessary. You can install a lightweight application called Rivatuner Statistics Server, it allows to limit FPS per game and change it at any time.
AMD chill does not always work, i do not recommend using it.

If you plan on going above the default 100 cap then yes, editing the .ini is necessary. This is mainly for those who have higher refresh rate monitors. Of course there is also an add-on that can change this as well.

AMD's Radeon Chill somewhat works but alas you are correct. After some further testing I have found a few things with it and AMD's Frame Rate Target Control (FTRC).

• FTRC straight up doesn't work, not in Fullscreen, Windowed, or Windowed (Fullscreen)
• Radeon Chill in the ESO profile works fine in Windowed (Fullscreen) mode and semi-works in Fullscreen mode. In Fullscreen mode if you tab out the FPS will skyrocket if you have raised your .ini cap too high or set to uncapped.
• Radeon Chill when set to use Globally Vs. a specific game profile does not work.
• Radeon Chill does not limit FPS during loading screens.
• The UserSettings file does not limit FPS during loading screens.
• Vsync does not limit FPS during loading screens.
• Vsync seems to randomly have FPS issues vs setting a cap in the .ini/.txt file.
• Vsync seems to work fine until you start doing a lot of load screens, then it freaks out a bit.
• Riva (RTSS) works both in-game and during loading screens. It also seems to work when tabbing out of the game.

I shall revise the information above to reflect the new findings and recommend RTSS as well as adjust some other information on Vsync.

Mathius_Mordred

Tried it for a 144Hz monitor, I saw 144 FPS for a minute before a CTD.

vsrs_au

As a player from Australia with high ping and low FPS, I so very much wish I had this problem!

inyahin

Thanks for this; i used the setting to limit the game to 30fps to prevent my gpu turning my already hot room into an oven.

SET MinFrameTime.2 "0.03333333"