Controller input cause huge fps drop U41

balltongue_ · March 11

After todays update I get huge fps drops when ever I'm using the controller as input. It's most noticeable when using the sticks to move or look around, it goes down to 10-15 fps from a stable 60.
No issues at all before the update and no issues when using keyboard and mouse.
I've tried without addons, same issue.

balltongue_ · March 11

I also tried gamepad mode always on instead of automatic but still same issue.
It's when it's a continuous input like trigger buttons (L2 & R2) and the joysticks the fps drops the most.

balltongue_ · March 11

Running in a straight line works well or orbit the camera endlessly works well. But as soon as there's another input (changing the angle of the joysticks) the fps drops again.

React · March 11

Interesting. I'll see if I have the same issue when I get home after work.

What controller are you using? Wired or wireless? Any 3rd party programs for keybinding it? (Icue, xinput, HIDusbf, Xbox accessories, etc)

Jaimeh · March 11

I'm so glad someone else mentioned this, I logged in and my framerate was constantly going up and down, making the game extremely choppy, and impossible to even move around, let alone play. I'm on PC/NA, gamepad UI, low settings for reference. Are the devs aware of this @ZOS_GinaBruno, @ZOS_Kevin? Not being able to play on gamepad UI will be prohibitive for a lot of us that can't use m/k.

ZOS_Kevin · March 11

Thanks for tagging. We are sending this to the team now. Just incase, please make sure to disable addons if you have them and then try. Just so we can rule out addon interference.

balltongue_ · March 11

@React I'm using a wired ps4 dualshock controller with DS4Windows. I also just tried InputMapper with the same issue. It's the game gets overwhelmed with inputs... It's not playable atm

balltongue_ · March 11

@ZOS_Kevin I tried without any addons and the issue is the same.

Jaimeh · March 11

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Thanks for tagging. We are sending this to the team now. Just incase, please make sure to disable addons if you have them and then try. Just so we can rule out addon interference.

Thank you so much for the quick response Kevin! Yes, the issue persists, even with all addons disabled.

ZOS_Kevin · March 11

Hi all, could you also try disabling 3rd party controller apps like DS4Windows and then try. We added natural support for PS4 controllers in U41 and this could be potentially causing double inputs.

balltongue_ · March 11

@ZOS_Kevin works like a charm! Thank you!

React · March 11

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, could you also try disabling 3rd party controller apps like DS4Windows and then try. We added natural support for PS4 controllers in U41 and this could be potentially causing double inputs.

balltongue_ wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin works like a charm! Thank you!

Good to hear you found the issue! Hopefully this doesn't cause problems for controllers life the scuf envision, the azeron controllers, or others like the t4k that require 3rd party programs such as icue, t4k mapper, or azeron 3D to function. I'll test all of these when I get on today.

Jaimeh · March 11

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, could you also try disabling 3rd party controller apps like DS4Windows and then try. We added natural support for PS4 controllers in U41 and this could be potentially causing double inputs.

This solved it for me as well! And so cool to finally see the correct PS4 button icons displayed (because DS4windows still showed the Xbox ones). Thank you so much @ZOS_Kevin for the fast responses, I'm so glad there's no issues and I'll be able to play today!

ZOS_Kevin · March 11

Updating this for Dev Tracker. If you are running into issues with framerate after plugging in a gamepad, please make sure to remove 3rd party controller apps like DS4Windows.We added natural support for PS4 controllers in U41 and this could be potentially causing double inputs.

Thanks for confirming this worked, everyone! Appreciate the feedback.

MashmalloMan · March 11

@ZOS_Kevin - Thank you, that initially fixed it for me.

Using Steam and DS5 controller. Disabling DS4 Windows application will fix the frame drop issues, however there is a second problem.

Steam has controller support for DS5 witch allows Bluetooth, while ESO doesn't seem to have native Bluetooth support yet (at least as far as I can tell).

This means for me:

Wireless using Steam I get no FPS drops, button layout shows as XBOX.
Wired using Steam, I get FPS drops again, button layout flickers between XBOX/PS.
Wired, but disabling steam input, I get no FPS drops again, button layout shows as PS.

Issue with this is... I can no longer play the game wirelessly relying on ESO alone, so I keep steam enabled, but when my controller gets low power, I now need to disable steam input when it's plugged in. This is counter intuitive, is there a better workaround I'm not aware of? Does ESO support wireless DS5 somehow?

Natakiro · March 11

SO THIS IS MY ISSUE. I came here looking to see if anyone else was getting random frame drops and yep, I am using a gamepad. Using either joystick tanks my frames but doing the same thing with the mouse doesn't.

Using a PS4 controller wired (not using DS4Windows, just using Steam Input.) Tried it wireless and it doesn't lag. So wired DS4 causes it to drop frames; so weird. 🤔 I usually have it plugged in since the battery on my controller is shot.

I don't want to not use Steam input; I remapped the run button to touching the right side of the touchpad, since clicking the joystick to run makes my thumb hurt (I have joint problems.) Hope this gets fixed soon. Guess no ESO for me atm. 😟 Unless it works okay on the Steam Deck.
Edit: Steam Deck doesn't have this issue, thankfully.

@ZOS_Kevin

virtus753 · March 12

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Updating this for Dev Tracker. If you are running into issues with framerate after plugging in a gamepad, please make sure to remove 3rd party controller apps like DS4Windows.We added natural support for PS4 controllers in U41 and this could be potentially causing double inputs.

Thanks for confirming this worked, everyone! Appreciate the feedback.

Thanks for clarifying the issue with the 3rd party programs.

Can you also please let us know how and whether ESO is meant to support PlayStation controllers wirelessly without them? I can't the game to recognize my DS4s via Bluetooth at all.

MashmalloMan · March 12

@Natakiro You can do what I'm doing now until the foreseeable future. Instead of plugging your controller into your PC, route it to a wall outlet so it's charging, but still wireless.

balltongue_ · March 12

While the huge fps drop definitely got solved by not running a 3rd party controller app it doesn't feel as responsive as before. It feels sluggish and like there's unusual input lag. I've talked to others who experience the same thing. Is this something we should get used to or is it something the devs can look over @ZOS_Kevin .

virtus753 · March 12

@ZOS_Kevin Please read the above report and also this thread: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/654226/anyone-else-notice-a-change-to-holding-down-buttons-in-gamepad-mode#latest

There is something wrong with the new implementation of controller support, even without third party programs, and we do not have the option to revert to the previous functionality. Resurrecting is taking way too long, and tab targeting is taking so long the target often moves out from the reticle before it can be acquired, making it a complete waste of time.

Natakiro · March 12

MashmalloMan wrote: »

@Natakiro You can do what I'm doing now until the foreseeable future. Instead of plugging your controller into your PC, route it to a wall outlet so it's charging, but still wireless.

That's a great workaround, didn't think of that, thank you for the info! 👍

ADarklore · March 13

As someone who used DS4Windows because I was able to program the controller to use direction as keyboard 'E' key, which helps when using menus with a mouse... it really sucks to lose this ability. Now I have to use the keyboard when I just want to quickly deconstruct or sell items... now having to manually click the 'E' on a keyboard multiple times instead of being able to use my controller directional for it.

@ZOS_Kevin I hope they look into this and find a way to make third party controller software compatible with this change. It definitely makes it more difficult for people like me who use hybrid controller/mouse controls.

Natakiro · March 14

Seems to have been fixed for wired DS4 using Steam Input, yay! OR NOT. No idea why it was working fine yesterday plugged into my pc but lagging again today...

balltongue_ · March 16

@ZOS_Kevin not sure if i should create a new post about this but i had problems today with my controller not working at all in-game. The only solution was to start my 3rd party controller application and when that was running it worked, and without fps drops so no double input, like the in game controller support stopped working.

Lazy_Voyager · March 16

Have also noticed that hitting a 'swap input mode' hotkey between gamepad and keyboard now causes freezing, around half a second. Not the biggest deal in the world since you're not likely to need that during combat, but a bit of a red flag.

balltongue_ · March 18

I got another weird thing yesterday, the game started switching rapidly between gamepad ui and keyboard ui, causing fps drops down to like 5fps...
It was the same as holding a key down while moving with the controller, but I was only using the controller at the time.

@ZOS_Kevin Could we get a opt in solution for the new in game controller support since it isn't working half of the time? Haven't had this much trouble before the update with the 3rd party controller application.

virtus753 · March 18

balltongue_ wrote: »

I got another weird thing yesterday, the game started switching rapidly between gamepad ui and keyboard ui, causing fps drops down to like 5fps...
It was the same as holding a key down while moving with the controller, but I was only using the controller at the time.

@ZOS_Kevin Could we get a opt in solution for the new in game controller support since it isn't working half of the time? Haven't had this much trouble before the update with the 3rd party controller application.

I have gone back to using DS4Windows with HidHide to block the game from seeing my DS4. That’s the only opt out I’ve found so far.

If I plug in the controller only after my character loads, as suggested in another thread, I do not get (at least any noticeable) input delay with rezzing, trading, mounting, etc. I also don’t get double input problems, and I can use it by Bluetooth, which the game does not natively support.

ZOS_Kevin · March 18

Hi all, thanks for the additional feedback from over the weekend. We'll pass this along as we continue investigations.

We also want to check for the following information.

Have you updated your controller firmware?
What operating systems are you using?
Have you updated your operating system to it's latest version. (i.e. Windows 7 is updated to it's latest version or Windows 10 updated to its latest version.)

ClowdyAllDay · March 18

does microsoft you're supprting the other teams hardware? tsk tsk...

Natakiro · March 31

virtus753 wrote: »

If I plug in the controller only after my character loads, as suggested in another thread, I do not get (at least any noticeable) input delay with rezzing, trading, mounting, etc. I also don’t get double input problems, and I can use it by Bluetooth, which the game does not natively support.

I did not know that was a workaround! really handy to know, it does indeed work if I only connect the ps4 gamepad AFTER I am already loaded into the game.

But yeah, still getting this annoying issue! 😒 My controller is updated, using windows 11 with the newest update.

virtus753 · March 31

Natakiro wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

If I plug in the controller only after my character loads, as suggested in another thread, I do not get (at least any noticeable) input delay with rezzing, trading, mounting, etc. I also don’t get double input problems, and I can use it by Bluetooth, which the game does not natively support.

I did not know that was a workaround! really handy to know, it does indeed work if I only connect the ps4 gamepad AFTER I am already loaded into the game.

Though I also found this week that if I forget and load my character with my controller connected, disconnecting and reconnecting it makes it work properly again.

That said, can’t wait for a fix. Constantly disconnecting and reconnecting the cable is just wearing down parts unnecessarily.