FPS drops in half when entering combat

keithw2_ESO · November 2014

In addition to the inconsistent FPS I see when just walking around cities, I reported the following via email to Zenimax and got a ticket # but am posting here in hopes that someone may have some ideas:

"Since patch 1.5 started, I am having huge FPS drops, mostly when entering battle, even if it is one on one with a monster/NPC. I'll be at 50 for example and then it drops quickly once I hit the first action/skill to 25 and then goes back up to 50. The stuttering lasts a full second or two with each and every battle. The same thing is happening with patch 1.5.2. I tried with SLI on (two 580Ms) and off and same problem. I then disabled all addons that were out of date. Same problem. Then I disabled all the add ons and same problem. I updated my Nvidia drivers which were only 1 version behind the 344.60 that was released today 11/4 and same problem. I tried using the Nvidia Optimized settings which only changed water reflections to a lower setting and same problem. I have most other things on max except for something about particles which was lowered. I'm attaching a DXDIAG. Again I had no FPS issues before patch 1.5 and the game ran perfectly smooth."

keithw2_ESO · November 2014

Update: I tried rolling back to drivers from two versions ago and the exact same problem, in PVE, one on one, first second or two of battle FPS drops by more than half. It is not my computer, or my internet, as again this started exactly after patch 1.5. I get up to 110Mbps.

keithw2_ESO · November 2014

Now also just tried repair option. That didn't work. Also tried logging in without the launcher, didn't work either. I also didn't get a confirmation email for submitting the ticket even though it generated a ticket number. Shouldn't I have gotten one 1 1/2 hours later? Is it possible the ticket didn't go through? I didn't think to write it down :-(

ZOS_GaryA · November 2014

Hey there @keithw2_ESO,

Customer support does their best to respond to inquiries within 24 hours. We appreciate your patience!

In the meantime, we'll be happy to help you out on here in any way that we can. We've had success in the past with a few folks when the used the following steps. Please give them a shot and let us know if you notice an improvement:

There are also a few settings in the Usersettings.txt file that you can change to improve your performance. Please close ESO first, then make these changes. This file is located at Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\Live.

As with any document change, we advise creating a back up of the original file in an alternate location. This will allow you to restore your usersettings to their old values in case the new ones are less optimal.

Simply open the file with Notepad and make the following changes:

Change:
SET GPUSmoothingFrames "10"
To:
SET GPUSmoothingFrames "3"

Change:
SET PreferExclusiveFullscreen "0"
To:
SET PreferExclusiveFullscreen "1"

Find this section and Change:

SET RequestedNumJobThreads "-1"
SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "-1"
To:
SET RequestedNumJobThreads "0"
SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "0"

keithw2_ESO · November 2014

ZOS_GaryA wrote: »

Hey there @keithw2_ESO,

Customer support does their best to respond to inquiries within 24 hours. We appreciate your patience!

In the meantime, we'll be happy to help you out on here in any way that we can. We've had success in the past with a few folks when the used the following steps. Please give them a shot and let us know if you notice an improvement:

There are also a few settings in the Usersettings.txt file that you can change to improve your performance. Please close ESO first, then make these changes. This file is located at Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\Live.

As with any document change, we advise creating a back up of the original file in an alternate location. This will allow you to restore your usersettings to their old values in case the new ones are less optimal.

Simply open the file with Notepad and make the following changes:

Change:
SET GPUSmoothingFrames "10"
To:
SET GPUSmoothingFrames "3"

Change:
SET PreferExclusiveFullscreen "0"
To:
SET PreferExclusiveFullscreen "1"

Find this section and Change:

SET RequestedNumJobThreads "-1"
SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "-1"
To:
SET RequestedNumJobThreads "0"
SET RequestedNumWorkerThreads "0"

Thank you. Unfortunately I am still having the same issues. I removed all traces of all Add Ons including removing Minion. Same two second slow down where the FPS drops sharply to more than half of what is was originally at is happening with every combat situation I enter....again...only since patch 1.5 was updated. I then decided to run CCleaner and Malwarebyte to make sure everything was clean, no issues. Finally I uninstalled and reinstalled the game twice, the first time by choosing the uninstaller via the launcher menu and the 2nd time via uninstaller from the Program Files folder (which seems to be cleaner). Same symptoms. Symptom also appears even when I turn the settings to low whether in SLI or not. Something about update 1.5 doesn't like my computer. Now I just tried what you recommended about, same problem. I am going to try to attach a video I made while holding an iPhone 6 so you can see the symptom itself.

Edit: Won't let me attach that type of file. I wonder what the best way is to show the symptom. Maybe I'll make a youtube video.

ceol · December 2014

I'd like to confirm this same issue is affecting me. My FPS will hover between 42 and 53 normally depending on the location, going as high as 60. However, as soon as I cast my first ability in combat, FPS jarringly drops to about 20. I've tried disabling all addons as well as the fixes @ZOS_GaryA‌ gave (which did increase my FPS but didn't fix the problem) but it didn't help.

My system specs are:

2014 retina MacBook Pro 15"
Intel Core i7-4870HQ CPU @ 2.50 GHz
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750m 2 GB VRAM
Windows 7

I have another computer with a similar CPU but an AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB VRAM graphics card, and I don't have the issue at all.

Edit: Surprisingly, there isn't any issue in OS X using the same computer. The game runs extremely well.

keithw2_ESO · February 2015

ceol wrote: »

I'd like to confirm this same issue is affecting me. My FPS will hover between 42 and 53 normally depending on the location, going as high as 60. However, as soon as I cast my first ability in combat, FPS jarringly drops to about 20. I've tried disabling all addons as well as the fixes @ZOS_GaryA‌ gave (which did increase my FPS but didn't fix the problem) but it didn't help.

My system specs are:

2014 retina MacBook Pro 15"
Intel Core i7-4870HQ CPU @ 2.50 GHz
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750m 2 GB VRAM
Windows 7

I have another computer with a similar CPU but an AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB VRAM graphics card, and I don't have the issue at all.

Edit: Surprisingly, there isn't any issue in OS X using the same computer. The game runs extremely well.

Sorry you went through the same thing as me. After 3 weeks of trouble shooting with Zenimax we both gave up and they refunded me a month. I stopped playing in November. Its obviously some sort of conflict that occurred with update 5..as it happened right after that was installed and hasn't changed with any new driver set. I'm hopeful that update 6 will fix the issue, but I'm doubtful. I did try putting Vsync Smooth in the Nvidia Control Panel and that helped a little, but it didn't totally fix the problem...its just not as bad and for some reason with this on it doesn't seem to happen with every fight. I have an older computer with a 550ti and it doesn't have this problem at all..but my dual 580Ms with and without SLI have the problem. Oh well :-). Eventually I'll get a new PC as mine is over 3 1/2 years old, but not until Nvidia releases the next high end card :-)