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Extreme FPS drops

Wallar333
Wallar333
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This problem SHOULD be fixed asap, cos its just ruining any fun of playing this game. FPS drops from stable 100 to around 20 for literally no reason. NO problem is NOT on my side, cos ANYTHING else works OK. Those drops started right after new patch,. I never had ANY problems with FPS in this game before. Those FPS drops are completely random, doesnt matter if im doing overworld content/dungeons/trials, its just the same, even when im alone in the middle of nowhere. I never had such FPS drops in any game, also before the patch even in trials i had drops for maybe up to 30 fps if even, i never had any lags or something anyway, but those 75+ FPS random drops are just crazy, and something should be done about it. As i was asking other players, many of them have the same problem.
  • redlink1979
    redlink1979
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    Server?
    My latency has been similar to pre-patch times. I play on both servers.
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  • Wallar333
    Wallar333
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    Server?
    My latency has been similar to pre-patch times. I play on both servers.

    Im on PC/EU. I never had this kind of issue in this game, it worked 100% ok before the patch, now its dropping like crazy and for NO reason.
  • ZZROK
    ZZROK
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    I have the same problem here. FPS drops to 30 in the new area and in certain cities. Never happened before. PC/NA
    Edited by ZZROK on June 10, 2025 6:12PM
  • Sluggy
    Sluggy
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    A couple things that will help.

    These all assume you have a reasonable GPU. They game tends to be CPU bound.

    1) Make sure you have Multi-Threaded Rendering enabled.
    Assuming you have any kind of CPU made in the last two decades this will drastically help in most cases as the CPU can spend less time preparing data for the next frame by splitting the workload.

    2) Disable Software Occlusion Culling (probably)
    This setting only helps if you have a weird case of a very good CPU and somehow a very underpowered GPU. Laptops come to mind for me here. Again, if you are CPU-bound - an you usually are on a desktop - this will only make things worse.

    3) Turn off screen-space reflections.
    They don't offer much and they have a bit of overhead.

    4) Turn shadows to the lowest setting or off.
    For me, this is the biggest culprit. It's what causes my framerate to drop of 100 fps to 25 when walking around in Glenumbra and in part it also affects my framerate in IC sewers. Shadows usually require a fair bit of extra work both for the CPU and GPU and require rendering many additional viewpoints. They also tend to be rather expensive when used for very large lights that hit wide areas when using a deferred rendering technique (what ESO uses).

    If I had to take a guess though, I feel like someone accidentally copy-pasted a bunch of geometry in Glenumbra and a few other places about a hundred times because there really doesn't appear to be any obvious reason why the framerate should be dipping so hard in that one area around the stables ;) Maybe I'll open up a tool for debugging graphics sometime and see what my GPU is actually doing.
  • Sarannah
    Sarannah
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    The latest driver versions of the nividia display drivers are having some serious issues with the 50 and 40 series. Issues important enough where some gaming companies are even telling players with a 40 series GPU to only use the 566.36 nvidia driver version as that is the most recent and last stable one. Might be worth taking a look if you are having fps issues.
  • Zodiarkslayer
    Zodiarkslayer
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    I am experiencing the same issues, although not as pronounced. It seems to come and go at will. It hits me suddenly and a couple moments later it's smooth sailling again.

    I keep my fps at 60, because that is my display's native framerate. But still I drop to 30 in some places. Weird thing is, it's not the same places. It seems to be random. Sometimes it is a dungeon. Sometimes a city quest hub. Today it was overland on the way to a world boss daily.

    This is definitely not graphics connected, because I play a custom graphics mode optimised to keep my gpu temp under 50°C. That way I can stay under 100W for the entire system, which is pretty good when you are playing a long time.
    No Effort, No Reward?
    No Reward, No Effort!
  • Sarannah
    Sarannah
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    I am experiencing the same issues, although not as pronounced. It seems to come and go at will. It hits me suddenly and a couple moments later it's smooth sailling again.

    I keep my fps at 60, because that is my display's native framerate. But still I drop to 30 in some places. Weird thing is, it's not the same places. It seems to be random. Sometimes it is a dungeon. Sometimes a city quest hub. Today it was overland on the way to a world boss daily.

    This is definitely not graphics connected, because I play a custom graphics mode optimised to keep my gpu temp under 50°C. That way I can stay under 100W for the entire system, which is pretty good when you are playing a long time.
    Try to turn on undervolt protection in the bios, see if that helps.
  • Ragnarok0130
    Ragnarok0130
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    Sarannah wrote: »
    The latest driver versions of the nividia display drivers are having some serious issues with the 50 and 40 series. Issues important enough where some gaming companies are even telling players with a 40 series GPU to only use the 566.36 nvidia driver version as that is the most recent and last stable one. Might be worth taking a look if you are having fps issues.

    That would explain it, I’m not experiencing these issues and I’m also not on the latest NVIDIA driver either.
  • Xarrant
    Xarrant
    Soul Shriven
    I am having the same issue but my FPS can drop into single digits. I've made changes to the settings, unloaded all Add-On's, had my cable company check my connection, along with making sure all drivers are current. I've read about the NVidia driver issues but I don't have a 40/50.

    For me, the issue is intermittent. I usually see it early in the morning (4am to 6am MST) but it sometimes happens during the day as well. I'm at the point now of just logging off and trying it later.
    Edited by Xarrant on June 12, 2025 3:07PM
  • TheMajority
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    I've been experience the issue as well, huge frame drop from 100 down to 22 or so with no explanation for why, when before I had smooth frames and only got slight drop in Cyrodiil. Every other game run totally fine except ESO with this frame drop ping spike stuff. All of these suggestion for check or alter settings? Already did it, and it's stuff I shouldn't have to even do cause I am over the specs and normally run fine without doing it. There is a major problem with frame drop and we need to figure out why
    Time flies like an arrow- but fruit flies like a banana.

    Sorry for my English, I do not always have a translation tool available. Thank you for your patience with our conversation and working towards our mutual understanding of the topic.
  • SillyGT
    SillyGT
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    please help this is happening to me too
    SillyGT on ps4 and Sleepin on PC.
    I have way to many hours on this game 27k to be exact. 99% of it has been in Cyrodiil (Dec. 2024)
    Currently have 15 Grand Overlords and like to role play as a stealthy assassin.
  • Zodiarkslayer
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    Sarannah wrote: »
    Try to turn on undervolt protection in the bios, see if that helps.

    It's nice of you to try and help, but I have played without issues for about 2 years on the same machine. And so, I am confident that it is neither a hardware nor a configuration issue!

    At this point, my bet is on a backend issue, that creates overloads, disconnects or desyncs between server and client. Probably an unwanted side effect of their constant efforts to optimise backend performance.
    Edited by Zodiarkslayer on June 14, 2025 6:04AM
    No Effort, No Reward?
    No Reward, No Effort!
  • method__01
    method__01
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    its not your pc ppl,its the game that have probs since patch https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/672261/crashing-freezing-when-loading-characters-or-zone#latest
    me personally ,tried everything without success
    PC EU/NA /// PS4 EU/NA

    Vasanha
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  • ESO_player123
    ESO_player123
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    I'm getting FPS drops when fighting Tidespite in Solstice.
  • TheMajority
    TheMajority
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    I feel like my character is moving through sludge even when the frame rate claims it's high, what is even happening
    Time flies like an arrow- but fruit flies like a banana.

    Sorry for my English, I do not always have a translation tool available. Thank you for your patience with our conversation and working towards our mutual understanding of the topic.
  • SillyGT
    SillyGT
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    Its difficult doing writs in west weald even when there is hardly anyone around
    SillyGT on ps4 and Sleepin on PC.
    I have way to many hours on this game 27k to be exact. 99% of it has been in Cyrodiil (Dec. 2024)
    Currently have 15 Grand Overlords and like to role play as a stealthy assassin.
  • Sluggy
    Sluggy
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    Sarannah wrote: »
    Try to turn on undervolt protection in the bios, see if that helps.

    It's nice of you to try and help, but I have played without issues for about 2 years on the same machine. And so, I am confident that it is neither a hardware nor a configuration issue!

    At this point, my bet is on a backend issue, that creates overloads, disconnects or desyncs between server and client. Probably an unwanted side effect of their constant efforts to optimise backend performance.

    Backend server performance will have absolutely zero effect on your framerate.
  • Lord_Graas
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    I have big fps drop too especially in Murkmire and Solstice
  • NoticeMeArkay
    NoticeMeArkay
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    My FPS drop everytime I interact with a lootable container and look at the items inside. That problem appears since the release of Gold Road.
  • magnusthorek
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    I find it amusing people complaining with 100ms while we, who play below the Equatorial line, play with at least 180-200ms :lol:
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  • TheMajority
    TheMajority
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    I find it amusing people complaining with 100ms while we, who play below the Equatorial line, play with at least 180-200ms :lol:

    We're talking about frame rates not ping. Frame rates and ping are two different things
    Time flies like an arrow- but fruit flies like a banana.

    Sorry for my English, I do not always have a translation tool available. Thank you for your patience with our conversation and working towards our mutual understanding of the topic.
  • Northwold
    Northwold
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    Sarannah wrote: »
    The latest driver versions of the nividia display drivers are having some serious issues with the 50 and 40 series. Issues important enough where some gaming companies are even telling players with a 40 series GPU to only use the 566.36 nvidia driver version as that is the most recent and last stable one. Might be worth taking a look if you are having fps issues.

    I'd reiterate this. Nvidia have been releasing drivers that do weird things to games (and Windows) for months now, with no sign of them getting any closer to sorting this mess out. Rolling back to an earlier driver if you're on an Nvidia card is a good place to start, if only to eliminate the issue from troubleshooting. I've seen problems in everything from Cyberpunk to ESO to Notepad. It's ridiculous.
    Edited by Northwold on June 15, 2025 11:23PM
  • namelessfrog
    namelessfrog
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    Hello everybody,

    i just want to confirm, that since content pass 25 there is a big issue with stutter and random fps drops (but uncommon fps drops, because its not only the drop of framerate but also everything seems to move slower for 1-2 seconds on the screen, it's like stutter in slow motion).

    i run a i7 11800H and a GTX 3070 (with the newest driver). i never had any performance issues on this setup for the last 2 years of intense eso gaming.

    ofc i tried to turn on /disable all kinds of settings like multithread rendering, occlusion culling etc.
    ofc i tested this with all addons deactivated aswell, but the issue persists.

    i have to say i would really love to play and enjoy the new subclassing system, but it is impossible.

    i would like to know if anyone from ZOS is aware of this and if they are working on a solution for this. Until it's fixed i cancel my eso+ subscription.
  • SillyGT
    SillyGT
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    Hello everybody,

    i just want to confirm, that since content pass 25 there is a big issue with stutter and random fps drops (but uncommon fps drops, because its not only the drop of framerate but also everything seems to move slower for 1-2 seconds on the screen, it's like stutter in slow motion).

    i run a i7 11800H and a GTX 3070 (with the newest driver). i never had any performance issues on this setup for the last 2 years of intense eso gaming.

    ofc i tried to turn on /disable all kinds of settings like multithread rendering, occlusion culling etc.
    ofc i tested this with all addons deactivated aswell, but the issue persists.

    i have to say i would really love to play and enjoy the new subclassing system, but it is impossible.

    i would like to know if anyone from ZOS is aware of this and if they are working on a solution for this. Until it's fixed i cancel my eso+ subscription.

    im having this exact problem and I record things to create content for the game. Currently I have to halt all project I had in mind because the fps drops ruin it bad.
    SillyGT on ps4 and Sleepin on PC.
    I have way to many hours on this game 27k to be exact. 99% of it has been in Cyrodiil (Dec. 2024)
    Currently have 15 Grand Overlords and like to role play as a stealthy assassin.
  • sshogrin
    sshogrin
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    @ZOS_Kevin There are many threads in the General Forum and PC Support forum about performance issues since Update 46. I have a ticket on it now for over a week, going through troubleshooting after troubleshooting step. Nothing has done anything to help, it's all been a huge waste of my time, and has cut into my game playing time.
    I keep informing support that I see people complaining in zone and guild chats about the performance issues, I keep stating that both my computers saw this performance issue when Update 46 dropped, and that the night before both computers had absolutely NO performance problems when playing the game, and that I have absolutely no performance issues with any other game. I keep requesting that these performance issues be forwarded to the dev team, and instead I get some other troubleshooting thing to do. I have played this game since Beta, and am fully aware of all the troubleshooting steps, and have performed most of them before even contacting support since I know what I'll have to go through. All the people I game with have opened up Task Manager and see a higher CPU usage since before Update 46. Can we please get something done/looked into about this? I see people on the forums either saying they'll quit playing the game until it gets fixed or that they're canceling the Plus subscriptions until this gets fixed. There is a major problem with Update 46, and today's patch did nothing to help any of the performance issues, and now there is no "ching" sound when selling something to a Merchant. Please help!
  • TheMajority
    TheMajority
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    Northwold wrote: »
    Sarannah wrote: »
    The latest driver versions of the nividia display drivers are having some serious issues with the 50 and 40 series. Issues important enough where some gaming companies are even telling players with a 40 series GPU to only use the 566.36 nvidia driver version as that is the most recent and last stable one. Might be worth taking a look if you are having fps issues.

    I'd reiterate this. Nvidia have been releasing drivers that do weird things to games (and Windows) for months now, with no sign of them getting any closer to sorting this mess out. Rolling back to an earlier driver if you're on an Nvidia card is a good place to start, if only to eliminate the issue from troubleshooting. I've seen problems in everything from Cyberpunk to ESO to Notepad. It's ridiculous.

    To which driver do you suggest to revert? Because it seem like many recent driver are just bad
    Time flies like an arrow- but fruit flies like a banana.

    Sorry for my English, I do not always have a translation tool available. Thank you for your patience with our conversation and working towards our mutual understanding of the topic.
  • ArchMikem
    ArchMikem
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    Sarannah wrote: »
    The latest driver versions of the nividia display drivers are having some serious issues with the 50 and 40 series. Issues important enough where some gaming companies are even telling players with a 40 series GPU to only use the 566.36 nvidia driver version as that is the most recent and last stable one. Might be worth taking a look if you are having fps issues.

    Same thing with AMD drivers. 25.6.1 caused continuous driver crashes on my new 7600 XT. Rolling back to 25.4.1 made it much more stable.
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  • JeroenB
    JeroenB
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    I am not so much suffering FPS drops, but definitely intermittent stuttering and jittering and vague 'non-smoothness' that was not present before the last update, even when the FPS is supposedly stable at 60. Sometimes even the cards in Tribute matches show this problem...
  • TheMajority
    TheMajority
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    now server delays today in addition to FPS drops, it's bad
    Time flies like an arrow- but fruit flies like a banana.

    Sorry for my English, I do not always have a translation tool available. Thank you for your patience with our conversation and working towards our mutual understanding of the topic.
  • method__01
    method__01
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    after some playtime with no issues ,today game returned to 20 fps/crash loading/character selection screen
    who is responsible for this? why we are not getting support? will this get fixed anytime soon?
    PC EU/NA /// PS4 EU/NA

    Vasanha
    This one hears nothing. Sees nothing. This one only sweeps.
    desperately need a survey assistant
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