[video] 30-50% FPS Drop Bug - Almost 2 Years Old - Cryodiil POV

zyk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_g8E5lfIXU&feature=youtu.be

*observe the bottom left corner*

This video demonstrates the impact of an FPS drop bug introduced to The Elder Scrolls Online in version 2.2. The clips were captured within an early 5 hour period on 08/20/17.

The bug is solved by changing zones, exiting to character select and re-entering, and restarting the client.

For me, the bug is triggered in every fight involving approximately 20 or more players. When fighting among fewer players, it may take longer to manifest. The bug seems to have different levels of severity. In my experience, my FPS drops by between 30-50%.

The bug is worse than the drop in FPS suggests. It adds a slight stutter and input lag to camera movement. 70 FPS with the bug active feels very choppy.

Please keep in mind that the impact of the addon is much worse in combat.

I don't play with a lot of addons. I experimented with different or all addons disabled throughout the night. The bug does not appear to be impacted by addons.

My FPS is normally capped at 72 which is the case in the first two examples. In the final three, the cap is increased to 200.

Since 2.2 I've cleanly reinstalled Windows multiple times. My system is in good working order.

This isn't only a Cyrodiil bug. Just by standing relatively idle in a busy Rawl for an hour or so will trigger it. It's less of an issue for PVE players because zoning is so frequent. But I know it does impact some raiders.

My video includes 5 examples.

Example 1
Bugged FPS: 36
Fixed FPS: 72
Improvement: 100%
FPS Cap: 72

Example 2
Bugged FPS: 39
Fixed FPS: 72
Improvement: 85%
FPS Cap: 72

Example 3
Bugged FPS: 80
Fixed FPS: 125
Improvement: 56%
FPS Cap: 200

Example 4
Bugged FPS: 73
Fixed FPS: 130
Improvement: 78%
FPS Cap: 200
* All addons disabled

Example 5
Bugged FPS: 44
Fixed FPS: 198
Improvement: 350%
FPS Cap: 200
* Srendarr (buffs) is the only active addon

I play with the following custom video settings:





@ZOS_GinaBruno Video evidence of FPS drop bug *please*please*please* look into this. I am willing to run software to help ZOS debug if that would help. This bug is crippling to those impacted in AvA.

Edit:
It seems the stutter can be temporarily resolved with a /reloadui. I believe I've eliminated or greatly reduced the impact of the stutter bug as detailed in this post.

WaltherCarraway

40fps when graphics and cpu far above recommended plus the application coded okay to run higher fps = insufficient ram, for most of pc mmo video games.
Upgrade your RAM to 16Gigs per DIMM is not a rocket science.

For most applications. 16Gx2 always faster 8Gx2 because windows application don't cross ram utilization.

EDIT

BTW, Game capped 100fps, method above at least works on me.

If you can't read and still regard the incompetence of windows to game then keep on.

zyk

I can safely guarantee it is not a memory size/speed/bandwidth issue. Without this bug, ESO is very smooth on my PC. There is no indication of issue with my PC whatsoever.

Since this bug was introduced in 2.2 I've known a lot of players impacted by it. Sometimes half of a large PVP group. There have been many threads on the topic.

WaltherCarraway

zyk wrote: »

/facepalm

I can safely guarantee it is not a memory size/speed/bandwidth issue. Without this bug, ESO is very smooth on my PC. There is no indication of issue with my PC whatsoever.

Since this bug was introduced in 2.2 I've known a lot of players impacted by it. Sometimes half of a large PVP group. There have been many threads on the topic.

mkay, insightful for you.

Derra

100% the same issue i have.

It´s present since patch 3.1.5 (horns of reach live) for me.

Running a gtx 1080ti, 7700k @4.8 "pretty annoying" is an understatement. It´s one of the reasons i basically stopped playing.

Ghostbane

A super super annoying enigma of a bug, that has been happening for as long as I can remember.

Thank you @zyk for the collected information and video. Hopefully ZoS can take this evidence and and give us some insight to any knowledge they have of the issue.

zyk

Ghostbane wrote: »

A super super annoying enigma of a bug, that has been happening for as long as I can remember.

Thank you @zyk for the collected information and video. Hopefully ZoS can take this evidence and and give us some insight to any knowledge they have of the issue.

I think many of those impacted have given up. There have been many forum threads on the subject closed. I think it's low priority for ZOS because most of those impacted don't notice as zoning is so common in PVE.

It's really bad for me in 3.1. Tonight, it's been triggered every fight. It's extremely frustrating.

To those who watch the video and think the framerates aren't so bad, the reason for that is because my settings are set so low and the footage is taken outside of combat so the comparison can be normalized. In combat, my framerate is frequently 20-30 FPS when it should be 40-60, which makes a HUGE difference. Furthermore, while the drop in FPS alone is bad, the reduced responsiveness and stuttering camera is much worse to deal with.

The_Saint

sign

I really hoped the new effects (dont see ultis of others etc..) will help me. But no

LegacyDM

Wow all this time I thought it was just my 1070gtx nvidia card.

Master_Kas

Be happy for 20-30 fps, my fps drops down to 5-7. Sometimes even in very small fights off prime time.

Some day ago I had it every fight.

Zer0oo

You should have posted it in the general section since devs don't really look in this part of the forums.

zyk

Zer0oo wrote: »

You should have posted it in the general section since devs don't really look in this part of the forums.

There have been quite a few threads on the subject over the almost 2 years the bug has been present, but I wanted to provide a PVP specific POV. I may try a PVE POV as well.

3.1 is brutal for me. I've lived with this bug for a long time and have just played through it, but the choppiness is too much to bear in 3.1. Once it's triggered, even though my FPS might only drop to 40 FPS, the lack of responsiveness kills me.

@ZOS_GinaBruno I know this bug has been on your radar at times as you've talked to it in some threads. it's a real thing. I am willing to do anything to help solve it. I think a lot of players are impacted by it but just associate it with the lag of Cyrodiil rather than a separate client bug. It's so bad for me now, I don't think I can play through it anymore.

Mojomonkeyman

Thanks for your testing. I am heavily impacted by this since 3.1.

Derra

zyk wrote: »

Zer0oo wrote: »

You should have posted it in the general section since devs don't really look in this part of the forums.

There have been quite a few threads on the subject over the almost 2 years the bug has been present, but I wanted to provide a PVP specific POV. I may try a PVE POV as well.

3.1 is brutal for me. I've lived with this bug for a long time and have just played through it, but the choppiness is too much to bear in 3.1. Once it's triggered, even though my FPS might only drop to 40 FPS, the lack of responsiveness kills me.

@ZOS_GinaBruno I know this bug has been on your radar at times as you've talked to it in some threads. it's a real thing. I am willing to do anything to help solve it. I think a lot of players are impacted by it but just associate it with the lag of Cyrodiil rather than a separate client bug. It's so bad for me now, I don't think I can play through it anymore.

Yes some insight would be great. I can´t play the game anymore since 3.1. It takes ~15 minutes at max to kick in.

Zer0oo

For me it did go back to normal if you go in a dungeon in cyro and you can take the ap buff that way ^^
(But did not really play in cyro anymore so i don't know if it still works)


Also even is it is a pvp related problem the chance that zos will answer to it is way bigger in the general forum, just look on how many of the post in this part of the forum got any comment of a real dev and not just a forum mod.

Ekadzati

This issue became noticeable to me with the most recent patch.

This is because I am operating the machine built by a tech god (complete with smite button); my norm is 90+ FPS. Seriously.

Lately, it's more likely in that 50-70 range and with the strange stutter/lag for movement.

Client synch issue? Memory leaks? Texture issues?

I have no idea. All I know is I have it and I'd really, really like not to... before I hit a point where I decide another multi-year "break" is in order. Just sayin'.

HoloYoitsu

Some clarification I'd like to add, the permanent FPS drop and the stutter - though caused at the same time, are two separate issues.

The stutter can be fixed by reloading UI, but as OP said, the FPS drop can only be fixed by rezoning/relogging.

zyk

HoloYoitsu wrote: »

Some clarification I'd like to add, the permanent FPS drop and the stutter - though caused at the same time, are two separate issues.

The stutter can be fixed by reloading UI, but as OP said, the FPS drop can only be fixed by rezoning/relogging.

I recently noticed the same. I found a reloadui would restore *some* lost framerate and reduce stutter. This happened even with no addons running.

I've heard of players resolving multiple issues by deleting ZO_Ingame.lua in the SavedVariables folder, so I decided to do that. I took it a step further by renaming my Live folder and repopulating it manually.

I took this time to reevaluate all of my addons. I had most disabled in PVP anyway. I decided to finally part ways with Wykkyd's outfitter and Azurah. I only used Azurah to relocate a couple of frames, so it wasn't difficult to part with.

This solved most of the stuttering issue and a reloadui no loger restores any lost framerate. The 30-50% bug still occurs, but it feels more or less how it did in 3.0. I base all of this on a four hour play session. It's possible I was just lucky and didn't encounter triggers for all bugs, but I am hopeful. Even in PVE, my performance and responsiveness seems improved.

My approach was intended to be thorough, but can be practically duplicated by backing up and deleting ZO_Ingame.lua, UserSettings.txt and ShaderCache.cooked, If anyone wants to replicate exactly what I did, here are the steps I took:

- exited ESO
- renamed \Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live\
- started ESO to create a new version; re-accepted 500 EULAs; all carefully read, of course
- reconfigured the client; this was easy, all keybindings and most settings and chat tabs were retained; double-tap dodge needed to be disabled again though
- I exited, reinstalled the addons I was keeping; I downloaded fresh copies to be thorough
- I stopped using all wykkyd's addons and Azurah
- I now PVP with the following addons:
--Advanced Filters
--Campaign Commands
--Disable Custom Titles
--Iakoni'sGearChanger (to replace wykkyd functionality)
--No Thank You
--PVP Journal (used display AP gains and kills in the chat window)
--Scooterworks Combat (to replace Azurah functionality: rearrange the default resource bars and add a class icon to the target frame
Srendarr
--Swap Skills Continued (to replace wykkyd functionality)
--Votan's Advanced Settings
- For the addons I was keeping, I copied over the .lua files from old \live\SavedVariables folder to the new; do not copy ZO_Ingame.lua

It should also be noted that a lot of functionality has been added to the default UI over the past year. For example, resource bar values can be displayed in a variety of formats. Many may find they don't need to use as many addons as before.

GabiPavel

I also subscribe to this thread! WTF? I built a high end rig to play a game in 20 fps. I have specs almost similar to OP and since last patch the stuttering is unbearable and it kills me.

Nutshotz

Zyk and ghost are right. This has been happening if I'm correct right around the lightning patch.

It's not our rigs thats causing the issues. For *** and giggles I tested the game out on a i9 7900x / x299 MB / MSI gtx 1080 ti Vs my rig

I7 5820k x99 sli plus gtx 1070 and the exact same thing happens. You still get the FPS drop.

So even having a beefed up i9 or an i7 I think it affects people differently. Some people have the issue where others are not affected by it.

So we may hope zos may address this issue but with this issue being around for 2years I'm not getting my hopes up

ningauble_7b14_ESO

I've been experiencing this bug for a very long time now. I really hope it eventually gets resolved.

Grimlok_S

Can confirm, had this occur several times today, locked down to 30fps from my normal ~60 in cyrodiil.

This was still occuring with azurah's disabled. /reloadui provided temporary relief.

Balgost

"Me too"... I'm PVE, but hang in the same zones for a couple hours if I can be on that long. Mine kicks in after 30-40mins. Only a client restart fixes it.

I just returned (since beta) about 6 months ago. I had not experienced the FPS drop or stutters before 3.1. The stutters alone are unbearable. Thankfully I found this thread. I thought my vidcard (980ti) was going bad or summthin'.

Grimlok_S

Paying closer attention, I've noticed viewing my currency or quick slot inventory menus triggers this bug, or fps drop.

Frames are usually in the 80s in cyrodiil, seems I can't get past 30 when it kicks in, with a strong input and skill delay, screen stutters.

zyk

@ZOS_GinaBruno Despite the performance improvements in 3.2, the 30-50% FPS drop bug is still an issue.

Fel

well, and to punish Players even more for playing the game they changed it so you also get kicked out of cyrodiil when you relog, even if Population is not locked

zyk

@ZOS_GinaBruno The 30-50% FPS drop bug introduced in ESO 2.2 still here. This has a major impact to those effected in Cyrodiil. I confirmed it right now the same way I did in the video in the OP. In the same area, my FPS went from 50 to 100 just by relogging. There have been countless reports of this for years. Please look into this.

Edit: .....and 10 minutes later, another 50% drop.

Grimlok_S

Going into a cyrodiil delve seems to solve it, at least temporarily. That or quitting and loading a fresh client.

Is it hardware related?

I have an intel CPU 4690k @ 4.4Ghz
GTX 970 @ 950mhz, 4gb (3.5gb vram)
16gb ram

Using G-sync on a G-sync monitor.. not sure what else is relevant.

I'd heard 970's can stutter when hitting the 3.5gb vram limit, but not experienced it in any other game.

I'll try to post hardware monitor readings the next time I'm online.

zyk

Grimlok_S wrote: »

Going into a cyrodiil delve seems to solve it, at least temporarily. That or quitting and loading a fresh client.

Zoning solves the issue until it is triggered again. It also happens in PVE, but is less noticed there because zoning is so frequent.

Grimlok_S wrote: »

I'd heard 970's can stutter when hitting the 3.5gb vram limit, but not experienced it in any other game.

I think the 970 memory issue was overblown, but I have checked this and it happens when the GPU is nowhere close 3GB memory utilization. I PVP with medium textures to mitigate the issue. Standing in Rawl right now, my 970 is only using 1.2GB.

As far as I can tell, there's no correlation between hardware platforms. I would say that around half my guildmates have noticed they're impacted by this bug and we all use different hardware -- mostly different generations of Intel platforms, but one guildmate who is impacted has an AMD CPU and GPU.

Since launch, there have been multiple FPS bugs in ESO that have been triggered by one or more ability effects. The most infamous is known as the 'lighting patch'. That bug was triggered by specific conditions if I recall correctly. I also recall other bugs of this nature such as one in either 1.4 or 1.5 when my FPS would permanently drop every time I was marked -- and like this bug, zoning or relogging would solve the issue. So I tend to think it's one or more ability effects that triggers it.

alephthiago

I'm glad someone took the time to test this before and after client restart, always thought how strange it was that my game was running so much better after closing the eso process and starting it again after infinite loading screens, now i know why...

Grimlok_S

Hm.. Very frustrating.

Did you customize any UserSettings after deleting the file?

I'd altered RequestedNumJobThreads and RequestedNumWorkerThreads to 0 after encountering a really bad stutter in past patches.