Persistent Massive FPS Drop while in Cyrodiil

jasonleitch1_ESO · April 2021

I am experiencing a MASSIVE FPS drop while in Cyrodiil that seems to be related to "Rewards for the Worthy" and possibly large scale fights.

I start by entering Cyrodiil with 120-144 FPS.
After I receive the first "Reward" mail my FPS drops to around 85-90.
After that the FPS continues to drop with each additonal "Reward" mail. 90 FPS --> 60 FPS --> 40 FPS --> 25 FPS.
This also occurs when I am on the cusp of getting mail and a large fight occurs.
The FPS will sometimes "rebound" after the first "Reward" mail (back up to around 110 FPS), but then steadily declines.

This issue occurs with/without addons. Reloadui does not help.
I can "fix" this issue by zoning (I have been using Cheesemonger's Hollow) but this "fix" only starts the process over.
I have tried setting the MinFrameTime in the UserSettings as well as setting the framerate in the Nvidia Control panel (have tried both fixed framerate and g-sync enabled, v-sync on/off).

Current PC Specs:

Z390 MSI Gaming Plus Motherboard
Intel i7 9700k CPU
32GB 3000 MHz DDR4 RAM
MSI RTX 2070 GPU
m.2 Drive (gaming installation location)

This issue has been occurring since last year (database and grass update).

After spending many, many hours trying to fix this issue, I am seriously at the point of unsubbing. Thus far technical support has not responded, so I am hoping that the community can help. Any and all help is appreciated.

Pentar Stonedrake (MagSorc)
Pentora Stonedrake (StamSorc)

ZOS_Bill · April 2021

You can find troubleshooting for these performance issues in the thread linked below:

Low FPS since update 29

jasonleitch1_ESO · April 2021

@ZOS_BillE Thank you for your response. I have repeated the troubleshooting steps but unfortunately the issue persists. I do want to perform an additional test on my end.

First, I want to explain the issue a little further. I have my game set for 144 FPS (monitor refresh rate). I have tried G-sync enabled (get flickering on load screens) and fixed refresh rate (smooth load screens). V-Sync make no noticed difference. Below are various frame rates after a few checks at different times and play sessions. Strangely, these numbers are fairly consistent. I notice the FPS drops after getting mail but also include large scale battles as normally the mail proceeds the combat due to AP gain. The FPS drops almost seem to be a stuttered type of effect or closer to a double image effect (hard to describe).

Home = 144 FPS
Cyrodiil (initial) = 122 FPS
1st mail / large battle= 92 FPS
2nd mail / 2nd large battle= 72 FPS
3rd mail / 3rd large battle = 58 FPS
4th mail /4th large battle =38 FPS

After looking further I want to try a test of NOT deleting my shaders prior to play. In Cyrodiil I encounter a lot of other players. I am wondering if I let the shaders continue to build over several game seesions will lead to overall better performance.

jasonleitch1_ESO · May 2021

After conducting several tests I may have discovered a work around for the FPS issue. Unfortunately, I had a graphics driver update and cleared my shader cache to accommodate. The good news is that the shader cache does NOT appear to be the issue.

During the tests I encountered a bug where after taking the mail attachment for "Rewards for the Worthy", the mail itself could not be deleted. This occurs very rarely where the client must be restarted in order to delete the mail. Anyhow, when this occurred I noticed that my FPS remained high once I took the mail attachment.

I have been able to reproduce this result over the last few play sessions. As long as I take the attachment for "Rewards for the Worthy" and do NOT delete the mail, the FPS will remain high. If the mail is deleted the FPS will drop and the previously mentioned issue occurs.

Although not ideal, this work around appears to fix the issue. I will continue to attempt to figure out the why at another time but currently just happy for the fix.

i11ionward · March 2023

A month ago, I started having terrible FPS drops on BG. I found this thread yesterday. I did the analysis, and about a month ago I started storing mail for 50-70 letters. I read and deleted all mail, and miracle! The drops have stopped. I don't know the problem is only with rewards of the worthy or with all mail, but the method helped, thanks to the author.