Sniper Elite 4 not syncing/capping fps below 60/90.

[Waldorf]

if i run the screen in VRR mode, with vsync ingame to on, i get 70-80 fps that stutter when panning mouse,
with vsync disabled it does 80-90 without stutter, using screen on non-vrr input results in stutter, but game still not staying at 60.

i dont care for more than 60 for this game, and seeing i get 80-90 fps @4K, i doubt gpu is the issue, especially since other games work fine, regarding settings/hw,
with benches show expected perf for cpu/gpu, just cant get the game to cap fps at all, no matter what.

heck, even fleet command (win 98) runs fine..

 

[Macro Device]

Tried windowed mode?

 

[Waldorf]

it worked before, in FS.
this is only after fresh install of win, as previous one was carried over, and "dirty"..
not sure if there is even the option to go wm in the game.

 

[Onasi]

For VRR it’s usually recommended having VSync globally On in the GPU control panel and Off in game. You can try that approach and see if it works. Also, you can frame cap to 60 in the game profile in the same CP, at least on NV, been a while since I looked at Radeon CP, so not sure if it has a limiter, although it should.

 

[Waldorf]

so game doesnt have windowed option, and i know and did proper setup before i started any gaming), but nothing gets it to cap below 60..

only using non vrr input, and vsync set to on (win and game) seems to work, but its 60 and not the capped 57 i set in Nv, and i can feel the diff a little.
guess something i got to live with..

 

[Vya Domus]

If the game doesn't go over the refresh rate of the monitor you don't need to have v-sync on, VRR should still be active.

V-sync is not a necessity for VRR, it's only purpose is to keep the game in the VRR window, the same can be achieved with a frame rate cap.

 

[Waldorf]

i have stutter, which i shouldnt, if vrr is on.

 

[Vya Domus]

Shouldn't be possible if you have v-sync off, in that case frame pacing is decoupled from anything the monitor does, so there is no way for that to cause any stutter. It means the game is stuttering for other reasons.

 

[Waldorf]

not if vsync is off, but screen on vsync input (not the other input using vrr), and im not running a game at max fps for no reason.
and res makes no diff, except for how high fps will go, so i know its not an issue because i run it at UHD res.

 

[Vya Domus]

You shouldn't cap the game and have v-sync on at the same time, one makes the other redundant, that's probably the source of your issues. Cap the game and v-sync should be off, VRR should function as well in this case.

 

[Onasi]

Actually something just came to mind - I remember that SE4 had both DX12 and 11 options available. 12 had, from memory, caused issues for people. Did you try one or the other to see if any changes occur? In fact, just looked it up and PCGW says that 11 and 12 use different VSync algorithms, so that might be the bullet.

You shouldn't cap the game and have v-sync on at the same time, one makes the other redundant, that's probably the sources of your issues. Cap the game and v-sync should be off, VRR should function as well in this case.

That really goes against the accepted wisdom, like the perennial Jorimt guide. VSync On and 3 frames below refresh ceiling had been the recommended setup for years. Even NV themselves acknowledged it with how Reflex interacts with VRR.

 

[Waldorf]

@Vya Domus
damn you, DX12
will try. have to "work", will be later this afternoon.

@Onasi
personally dont really care about settings, as long as it caps it below 60, as i cant use more to stay in vrr range (less than tvs max refresh).
and actually tried all kinds of combos just to see what happens.

 

[Vya Domus]

That really goes against the accepted wisdom, like the perennial Jorimt guide. VSync On and 3 frames below refresh ceiling had been the recommended setup for years.

Accepted wisdom regurgitated for years doesn't make it correct.

If the game runs below the refresh rate, just set v-sync to off, VRR should work correctly. If the game goes over the refresh rate then you either v-sync or set a cap below the refresh rate, VRR should work correctly.

Think about it, it makes no sense to have v-sync on and a frame cap at the same time. V-sync expects one frame every (1/refresh rate) seconds, if that requirement is not met which will always be the case because of the frame cap then v-sync doesn't work and you're going to get all sorts of issues.

 

[Onasi]

@Waldorf
Mixed up the mentions there, I assume? =)

@Vya Domus
That’s not why VSync is recommended. It’s for frametime compensation. That is well explained here in the FAQ. Not to say that having VSync Off and just capping wouldn’t work - it would. But again, the fact that Reflex uses its cap correctly with VRR only when it detects Vsync On in CP makes me think that at least NV considers this an “optimal” setup. And yes, from all sources I’ve seen the cap via Reflex does do better than manual capping without VSync in terms of smoothness.
Again, I am not saying that your approach wouldn’t work. I just don’t think it’s optimal.

 

[Vya Domus]

Again, I am not saying that your approach wouldn’t work. I just don’t think it’s optimal.

Do the following experiment, turn VRR off, then play a game either with v-sync on and a frame cap below the refresh rate or with v-sync off and the same cap. You'll notice the first option causes a stutter fest while the second one doesn't.

All that VRR expects is a video signal that's within the VRR window, both of those scenarios create such a context but do you really think the first one is more optimal ? The game should not have anything that could conflict with the way frames are synced.

Reflex uses its cap correctly with VRR only when it detects Vsync On in CP makes me think that at least NV considers this an “optimal” setup

Reflex is meant to improve latency not smoothness, in fact it does the exact opposite since it works by preventing frames from being added to the rendering queue. I don't know why you are bringing this up, Reflex is optimal if you want responsiveness not if you want smooth VRR or just smooth frame rates in general.

 

[Onasi]

@Vya Domus
The CP VSync is VRR aware. The scenarios you described are valid, but the actual behavior of VSync with VRR On vs Off is explicitly different. If VRR is On, VSync doesn’t kick in its capping behavior below max refresh. Inly thing it does is act as a frametime compensation, as described. There is literally no downside in using the VSync + Cap in this scenario. Again, even NV own docs state so. So did their engineer in a recent interview with GN. I have done a more valid experiment recently - I ran a game with VRR On and without CP VSync. Then I turned it back On. The refresh was adjusting dynamically in both cases as it should. But the VSync On scenario was visually notably smoother.

Reflex is meant to improve latency not smoothness, in fact it does the exact opposite since it works by preventing frames from being added to the rendering queue. I don't know why you are bringing this up, Reflex is optimal if you want responsiveness not if you want smooth VRR or just smooth frame rates in general.

Does both, actually, in the VRR On scenario it improves latency without sacrificing perceived smoothness. Again, per NV own docs.

 

[Vya Domus]

The refresh was adjusting dynamically in both cases as it should. But the VSync On scenario was visually notably smoother.

I just don't believe that, there is no reason why it would be smoother with V-sync on. If you have an explanation on why the game would be smoother vs no v-sync I am all ears. No v-sync means no constraints of frame pacing, how could v-sync on ever be smoother ?

Does both, actually, in the VRR On scenario it improves latency without sacrificing perceived smoothness.

the fact that Reflex uses its cap correctly with VRR only when it detects Vsync On in CP makes me think that at least NV considers this an “optimal” setup.

You need to understand that V-sync is required for VRR and Reflex to work correctly because that's the only scenario in which it can work correctly, the frame rate has to be at or below the refresh rate. How is this related to VRR in general I don't know.

 

[Onasi]

I just don't believe that, there is no reason why it would be smoother with V-sync on. If you have an explanation on why the game would be smoother vs no v-sync I am all ears. No v-sync means no constraints of frame pacing, how could v-sync on ever be smoother ?

Not sure why you would want no constraints on said frame pacing necessarily? If the game suffers from poor frametimes, then said constraints WOULD be beneficial, no?

You need to understand that V-sync is required for VRR and Reflex to work correctly because that's the only scenario in which it can work correctly, the frame rate has to be at or below the refresh rate. How is this related to VRR in general I don't know.

I don't remember saying that VSync On is required for VRR? I said that in my experience, and in experience of people who actually tested it and wrote guides on it, it provides the visually smoothest experience. I said multiple times that your way is absolutely viable and would work just fine. But I've been running VSync On since VRR just appeared in the form of early G-Sync without issues in ANY game I have encountered on multiple screens, both running the module and not.

 

[Vya Domus]

Not sure why you would want no constraints on said frame pacing necessarily?

Because constraints on frame pacing is what's causing stutter when v-sync is on. Like I said v-sync expects one frame every (1/refresh rate) seconds, if that's not met it will cause duplicate frame rates being shown, aka stutter, past frames persist on screen for longer than the game logic is being processed. Now let's think logically, if that's what happens when the frame rate drops bellow the refresh rate and you set a frame cap like you are suggesting then the frame rate is always below the refresh rate and you always get duplicate frame rates. VRR mimics an ever changing refresh rate so that the one frame every (1/refresh rate) seconds requirement is always met but why mess with that by adding a frame cap ?

I don't remember saying that VSync On is required for VRR?

You are saying it's optimal to also have a frame cap.

If you really want to put this debate to rest play a game with V-sync on and a frame cap while VRR is active and look at the frame time graph in something like afterbunner, if it looks like a square wave (see image below) then that's a sign v-sync is on and something is not working right, if it doesn't look like that (which I bet it wont) it either means the driver is forcing it off, or the game is within the VRR range and everything works fine which it would have anyway if v-sync wasn't on because of the frame cap. This makes v-sync redundant.

I bet OPs frame time graph would look like that which is why he is getting stutters.

 

[Waldorf]

@Vya Domus
vsync has to be on, or i wont get vrr to work properly.
and i know it has to be some form of "setting" as it worked before, just on previous win install.

 

[Vya Domus]

I think what's happening here is that you get dips below the VRR window at which point it just becomes regular v-sync and it will stutter. VRR should work whether or not v-sync is on as long as it's within the VRR window, maybe your display just doesn't work properly for VRR. Are you using one of those g-sync compatible displays ? What's it's refresh rate ?

 

[Waldorf]

cant be, other stuff runs smooth, even down to 30, 120 is max, its a vrr tv that gets seen by Nv as gsync (hdmi 2.1).

and again, all my games worked flawlessly with vrr before clean install of OS, less stuff tweaked/installed (no open shell),
and same drivers for hw as before, same settings in bios.

 

[Vya Domus]

When games run at 30 or 60 it makes this trickier because it evenly divides the refresh rate of the display so it will feel like VRR is working even if it's not but when the frame rate goes down it will stutter. I suspect VRR just isn't working at all, at least for this game, for some reason.

 

[Waldorf]

i can run some benchmarks at higher res where they fluctuate between 30-45, all smooth, so not limited to even numbers.
even checked on the launcher but i only have dx12, nothing for dx11, so ill just run it 60 vsync on, as it works at least without stutter.
just funny, when i think an almost 30y old game and even some old console ports/emulators seem to be fine using vrr..

 

[tabascosauz]

i can run some benchmarks at higher res where they fluctuate between 30-45, all smooth, so not limited to even numbers.
even checked on the launcher but i only have dx12, nothing for dx11, so ill just run it 60 vsync on, as it works at least without stutter.
just funny, when i think an almost 30y old game and even some old console ports/emulators seem to be fine using vrr..

It's in the launcher, Use D3D12

DX12 can improve perf a bit but it breaks some things iirc. It's the same story with DX12/Vulkan in SE5.

Also, VRR (G-sync compatible) has always been a bit of voodoo black magic after clean installs. It sometimes "takes a while" to wake up. Until then, some games won't get VRR working, especially if they are windowed full screen. In that case, they'll work themselves out, no need to change any settings anywhere.

There's no rhyme or reason to this. It just happens. Give it a few days if you've clean installed in the past few days.