Background: MacBook Air M1 (2020), 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, Monterey 12.4 (also happened on 12.3 and 12.3.1).
Issue: Sometimes when I log in and start playing I get around 40 FPS with overall medium-high settings, 1920x1080. But sometimes when I log in, it takes 10 minutes or so to be ready to play, and I get around 7-8 FPS. (It's usually one or the other, nothing in between). I suspect there is something running somewhere on my end that is probably causing it, but I have not been able to reliably duplicate it by starting and stopping various other apps or processes. So while I think the problem may be on my end, I was curious if anyone else may be seeing this, and if so, if they have found a definitive cause (or alternatively, a setting that can prevent the extremely poor performance from occurring).