FPS drops to 5fps (and stays there) with latest stable AMD drivers

Caelo · May 2014

Up until last patch I had steady 40 fps at ultrahigh settings. Now it sometimes drops to 5fps and stays there until I restart the game.

When the 5fps thing occurs the framerate is still 40fps in dialogs and when UI is turned off. I've noticed this low PFS bug is far more likely to appear when I'm in towns or when there are a lot of NPCs / players around me.

So things I've tried to fix this but that *do not* fix it are:
- /reloadui
- disabling all addons and /reloadui
- lowering gfx settings (no impact on fps whatsoever when bug appears*1)
- repair game
- tried an older version of driver

Things I've tried that do work:
- turning off UI: immediately ramps up fps to ~40 again, enabling turns it down to 5 fps again (is this a LUA problem in the ESO GUI?)
- running an older (then latest stable) beta version of AMD driver instead of the latest stable driver *edit* apparently this has not fixed the issue, just changes it to 15fps vs 5fps (which is playable at least)

Oh, and my system info: i5 2500K at 4GHz (bug appears at stock speeds as well), 8GB ram, Radeon HD5850 and a mid-range SSD.
Oh, and when bug occurs neither the GPU nor CPU (none of the cores) were maxed out or even mildly used and RAM is like 60% free.

*1: increasing graphics settings actually improves FPS when bug does not appear: From medium to ultra-high improves fps from steady 40 to steady 55 :S

So my conclusion from all this:
There's a bug somewhere in the GUI code and it is triggered by thye latest stable AMD drivers, or something like that. It's annoying as hell, and I'd rather not use beta drivers because of some stuff I need to do for university.

Caelo · May 2014

OK, so @Attorneyatlawl‌ suggested I move the SavedVariables folder and disable all addons and it worked. So seems something in that folder is making ESO trip even with all addons turned off. If you ask me that is very wrong, as disabling addons should just remove any impact that particular addon has on the game.

Attorneyatlawl · May 2014

I had the same bug awhile back where I was losing performance from an addon, disabled it, and never recovered the performance when doing so. I tried moving the saved variables out and it fixed it so I assumed it was a bugged addon still and therefore didn't bug report it, but sounds like a game bug relating to still loading the saved variables in there somehow even with addons disabled. Hopefully this can now be looked into....

.

Caelo · May 2014

So after playing for a while it has popped up again. Haven't activated any addon since moving the SavedVariables folder (so it's completely empty atm). Seems to be way less frequent than with that folder populated with all kinds of settings, but it is still present.
Addons are still installed though (just not activated). Will try to see if it helps just deleting them.

*update* Did not work at all. Still getting drops to 15fps (with these drivers, 5 with latest stable ones), with no addons installed. Turning GUI off still raises fps to a proper 40fps.

Audigy · May 2014

I am using 14.4 right now and did not notice anything awkward. But I also play completely without add-on support.

If you say "turn of UI" do you mean by using an add-on or is there a secret command that I am not aware of? I would like to turn the UI off to see if an FPS increase occurs or if it stays where it was before.

Edit:

Found a command for it, will test it later in game

Caelo · May 2014

It is in the controls options somewhere. You can bind a key to "UI On/Off". I'd be surprised if you noticed no fps increase, because the GUI probably does enough calculations to impact framerate, but seeing an 80% drop like in my case is just not normal.
Especially if you consider the inverse nature of fps. Frametime increases tenfold with the UI on when this bug appears. (and 3x with the older beta drivers)

Audigy · May 2014

ya thanks I found it

I did test the UI off setting while I was playing for two hours. Turned it on and turned it off in buildings and outside of them to get a good overview about what's happening with the FPS.

Honestly? I did not notice anything, the FPS stayed around 40-50 steady FPS on Ultra settings 720p.

I am using an slightly tweaked 6970, 2500k and 8 GB Ram.

What you describe is something many players if not all suffered under at Warhammer and disabling the whole UI (back then only possible with an addon) helped a lot.

So yes, it could indeed be true that there is something bugging your system - a setting, a driver version or a client bug.

I read something about a folder where addons store information which caused issue´s, I just cant recall where I read this. What people said was that by just disabling them, they still kept influencing the performance somehow so that they completely removed any trace of the addons from their HDD.

Maybe this is worth something I don't know. Fact is, if it worked before the patch then the issue must be related to it somehow.

Ill keep my eyes open if I read something in the net ill get back to you.

Caelo · May 2014

Yes, I removed that SavedVariables folder and the issue was still there, but took longer to manifest. Then I removed all Addons and the issue was still there, but took even longer. I'm now running the game as is intended by the devs and it is still present.
It's definately related to the patch, nothing else has changed on my PC and I keep a very close watch, because it stuff changing might cause problems for my own software.

Audigy · May 2014

Caelo wrote: »

Yes, I removed that SavedVariables folder and the issue was still there, but took longer to manifest. Then I removed all Addons and the issue was still there, but took even longer. I'm now running the game as is intended by the devs and it is still present.
It's definately related to the patch, nothing else has changed on my PC and I keep a very close watch, because it stuff changing might cause problems for my own software.

Ya exactly that folder is what I was referring to! Pity it didn't really fix it though

Hmm, don't lose hope! Your system is capable of running the game as it had proven before and I am confident it will be fixed soon, maybe already with the new patch that might come next week.

D34thly · May 2014

Have you tried deleting the ShaderCache.cooked file? I've herd it help with a few things. Not sure it would work here, but what the hell right?

I haven't herd of this happening before. When this is happening do you have any monitoring software up? Make sure nothing is overheating and that your GPU doesn't drop load for some reason.

Caelo · May 2014

CPU and everything else (except for GPU) is a cool <35 degrees Celsius and max 43 under load. GPU is not overheating as well. I can honestly rule out my own hardware. Possibly it's a driver or some other software issue, but might also just be some weird codepath in the game that's not particularly suited for my rig

shadercache I deleted as well, but thanks for suggesting Audigy ^^ Also for the patch thing, cause that reminded me I can compare live against the PTS build and see if it comes up on there as well.

*update*
Nope, it's not happening on the PTS. Though it does not have to mean anything, because it's impossible to get more than 12 NPCs and/or players to show up on screen at the same time. It's not exactly primetime on there...

D34thly · May 2014

Really strange. I'm using the latest 14.4 drivers and everything is well. I really hope you get it sorted. You've tried everything I would suggest already so best bet is to talk to CS about it. One last thing turn off aero and or use xp3 compatibility while running eso and see how it works.

Caelo · May 2014

I'm talking to CS at the moment. It might even have been resolved already although I'll need to spend some more time in-game. After starting the game once with Windows 7 compat on and then later off it seems to have corrected itself

I'll have to wait till Monday for testing though

Manuelo · May 2014

This just happend to me. I attacked a Giant in Eastmarch, he casted this ground slam spell and my FPS went to 7.

I assume that the shattering animation has to hit some object that cant be processed to cause this bug.

I was not able to reproduce it with the same giant yet.

Gabryelnovy · May 2014

I apologize for the bad English.
Two hours can not go to the game. Not allow to select a character.
Screensaver game and ... everything.