Framerate lock in A17...

The_Great_Sephiroth

The_Great_Sephiroth

Refugee
I updated today when it rolled out and I must say, the new version is incredible. Very awesome work you guys did this past year. However, I have a nagging issue my dual GTX 1070's won't let go. I am locked at 60fps (60Hz) for whatever reason. When the update applied I went into AppData/Roaming and deleted the 7 Days folder completely (SHIFT+DEL). I started it with the launcher option, disabled EAC, set exclusive fullscreen, and saved/ran the game. Set everything to max and checked it out.

I have a Dell S2417DG monitor, which is a G-Sync, 2K monitor. I am running in 2K. Other games with Unity (A16, Subnautica, The Forest, etc) run around 143fps. A17 is locking me into 60fps despite exclusive fullscreen mode. Is there a way to tell the game to run 144Hz or is this some kind of forced lock for other (timing?) reasons? I doubt the game is using SLI, though I have yet to check. I know A16 didn't run in SLI.

So how can I get around this? I need vertical sync on for G-Sync to function correctly and with it off it claims to render insanely high framerates, but the monitor is at 60Hz for whatever reason, meaning that only 60 frames are being seen. V-Sync must stay on, so for those who don't understand this, please do not ask me to disable it. This is an issue with exclusive fullscreen setting the refresh rate to 60Hz, not being unable to push it.

*UPDATE*

I enabled both SLI and G-Sync indicators. Neither is working in A17. G-Sync worked fine in A16, but the game is doing something to prevent it from enabling in A17. I checked in both Ark (UE4.5.1) and Subnautica (Unity) and both SLI and G-Sync work in Ark, and G-Sync works in Subnautica. SLI has never been supported in Subnautica, so no SLI is normal. Seems like Unity is abount fifteen years behind in tech in not supporting SLI, but that is not my issue. What's changed in A17 which could prevent G-Sync from working in exclusive mode?

*UPDATE*

I double-checked my system setup and nothing special is set. In my global profile the refresh rate is set to the max available, which is 144Hz. The game is seen under "Manage 3D Settings", but nothing is set for this game. It is all at default settings, so nVidia and/or my system is not overriding anything in-game. The game apparently is forcing 60Hz when it goes into exclusive fullscreen, which I could probably deal with, but something is going on which is preventing G-Sync from enabling which causes micro-stutter even at 54fps, and is giving me a headache. I am not sure what is going on which would prevent G-Sync from enabling only in this game (G-Sync works even in Age of Empires 2 HD), but I need this issue fixed more than anything. Then we can figure out what's up with the 60fps lock.

Oh, and when I bring up the menu on my monitor while 7 Days is running, it tells me that I am in "2560x1440, 60Hz, G-Sync Mode", so the monitor, despite being forced into 60Hz, is able to do G-Sync, but something with this game tells the driver or my hardware not to enable it. Well, something doesn't seem right to the driver or hardware, because it is not enabled. I have the indicator turned on and I see it in Ark, The Forest, Subnautica, and basically everything else, but not in 7 Days.

 
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Alright, I have done a bit of testing and discovered something. If I use the GLCore renderer I get G-Sync working. If I use D3D11, no G-Sync. Literally that is all I change to make G-Sync work or not work. The issue is that Unity's OpenGL stuff is junk on Windows. GLCore produces 16-35fps for the most part. I stay at 50-60fps in D3D11, but no G-Sync. I am beginning to wonder if 7 Days is not going into exclusive fullscreen mode despite being told to when using D3D11.

 
I found a half-fix for the issue. If I go into the registry location below and delete all of the DWORD values starting with "Screenmanager", then start the game (it gets passed exclusive fullscreen mode as a parameter) the game starts in exclusive mode at 144Hz instead of 60Hz. However, upon quitting, those keys are saved again and upon restarting I am locked at 60Hz once again.

HKCU\Software\The Fun Pimps\7 Days To Die

The DWORD names are as follows.

Screenmanager Fullscreen mode_h3630240806


Screenmanager Resolution Height_h2627697771


Screenmanager Resolution Use Native_h1405027254


Screenmanager Resolution Width_h182942802

The values once the game has exited are as follows.

0


1440


1


2560

My monitor is a 2K monitor, so 2560x1440 is correct. I tried setting the "Native" value to 0 and 1 and I am always locked at 60Hz. If I delete these found DWORDs and start the game, it puts me in 2560x1440 at 144Hz. In other words, if these values exist, I am locked to 60Hz. If not, I get 144Hz.

 
Not sure if it will help but i have another DWORD entry you haven't listed;

  • Screenmanager Is Fullscreen mode_h3981298716
  • 1


2018-12-26-19-23-26-Clipboard.jpg


While not running Gsync i do get over 60fps.

 
Actually, that one was my issue. See, if that one is set, it locks me into 60Hz. If you delete those variables and tell the launcher to start you in exclusive mode, you get a correctly-sized, fullscreen game at the max refresh rate (144Hz in my case), but the option "fullscreen" is set to "NO" in the video options. You ARE in exclusive fullscreen but it claims you are not. Changing it to "YES" sets that DWORD variable AND locks me into 60Hz. What I discovered is that deleting all those DWORDs, starting the game in exclusive, and then exiting results in the four I mentioned above being set. I can restart the game over and over and I have both G-Sync AND 144Hz. However, as soon as that variable is stored in that DWORD entry, it locks the game to 60Hz.

In other words, if you are running exclusive fullscreen mode, that option should be called "60Hz/60fps lock", not "Fullscreen".

TL;DR:

Deleting the variable @SurvivalUK mentions fixes the exclusive mode only being 60Hz. I may record a video of this bug and upload to YouTube so The Pimps And Company can fix it.

 
With the registry keys shown on mine i get anything up to around 100 fps @ 4k and i have my monitor overclocked to 70hz.

2080ti with default Nvidia control panel apart from FAST set for Vsync and Vsync off in game.

 
With vsync off you could have a 10Hz monitor and get 1000fps. Turn ON vsync to see what you are actually outputting to the monitor.
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Indeed but as i understand it for Gsync to work effectively the following should apply;

Nvidia control panel - Gsync on / Vsync on (global profile)

In game - vsync off

Ideally cap fps 2 - 4 fps under the monitor refresh rate in MSI AB or similar

 
Incorrect. Vertical sync is required. There is no advantage to setting it in-game as opposed to the nVidia Control Panel. All the NCP does is override the game setting. In other words, if you turn it on in NCP, it does not matter whether or not it is on in the game because the driver is forcing it on. Vertical sync is vertical sync, it does not matter what turns it on.

Also, why on earth would you cap it? I hit 143/144fps all the time in games which support SLI, and I do this while G-Sync is on. G-Sync prevents stuttering when below your refresh rate the way vertical sync prevents tearing by syncing enter frame buffers, not partials. No need to cap anything.

*EDIT*

I thought about what you said and I believe I know why you would cap your framerate. You see G-Sync works up to the refresh rate, which is 144Hz in my case. Assume I ran with vsync disabled. G-Sync works until I hit 145+fps. Then G-Sync will disable because I am above the refresh rate of the monitor. However, if you enable vertical sync (I do it in-game, not in NCP) you cannot exceed the refresh rate and thus G-Sync will remain enabled. You would only need to cap your FPS if vsync was off.

 
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Incorrect. Vertical sync is required. There is no advantage to setting it in-game as opposed to the nVidia Control Panel. All the NCP does is override the game setting. In other words, if you turn it on in NCP, it does not matter whether or not it is on in the game because the driver is forcing it on. Vertical sync is vertical sync, it does not matter what turns it on.
Also, why on earth would you cap it? I hit 143/144fps all the time in games which support SLI, and I do this while G-Sync is on. G-Sync prevents stuttering when below your refresh rate the way vertical sync prevents tearing by syncing enter frame buffers, not partials. No need to cap anything.

*EDIT*

I thought about what you said and I believe I know why you would cap your framerate. You see G-Sync works up to the refresh rate, which is 144Hz in my case. Assume I ran with vsync disabled. G-Sync works until I hit 145+fps. Then G-Sync will disable because I am above the refresh rate of the monitor. However, if you enable vertical sync (I do it in-game, not in NCP) you cannot exceed the refresh rate and thus G-Sync will remain enabled. You would only need to cap your FPS if vsync was off.
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Incorrect, erm the settings are the common recommendation for using a Gsync panel based upon proven results.

As for ncp vs in-game vsync you do this to take game engine variance and quirks out of the equation. It is better the game engine renders uncapped from vsync and let the ncp deal with the setting.

You cap fps because with vsync you introduce additional input lag once it kicks in. As above you're usually best capping outside of the game engine because of game engine quirks.

If you still think i'm wrong some reading material;

#22 especially relevant

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1002056/geforce-drivers/understanding-how-g-sync-and-v-sync-work-together/

And some more

#6

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?97294-When-I-have-Gsync-enabled-should-that-capp-the-fps-to-240#post694388

I won't hold my breath that you take any notice though even though i'm the only person who posted and tried to help.

 
To be honest I have read a lot of false information that the masses soak up, but in the real world (ie: when I am not riding a dinosaur or shooting zombies) I do IT for a living. I support many professional audio/video individuals, churches, and businesses. As such I setup this stuff regularly. Capping changes nothing measurable. Using in-game versus NCP for v-sync changes nothing. Game quirks have nothing to do with vertical sync, unless the game has somehow overridden GL or D3D and implemented something all to itself. I am fairly sure The Pimps simply use Unity's features which, in Windows, relies on D3D for standard vsync.

Also, since Unity is living in 1995 and has yet to support SLI, most of us cannot max out 7 Days yet. I have two GTX 1070's with a high-bandwidth SLI bridge and I peak around 75fps. The monitor is 144Hz, but I can only utilize a single card. I am probably going to start streaming or recording using the second one. Now Ark, that eats up BOTH cards...

 
Going to revive this thread because this still exists in A18. I have been away from 7 Days for a while due to my work schedule, young child, and my gaming time going to my server farm of seven Ark servers. I wanted to try A18 and I am back to being locked at 60Hz. I am on an entirely new system now with a 2080 Ti. I no longer use two 1070's in SLI. I hit 60fps and sit there. Great for streaming, bad for anything else. Why do we not have an option to set our refresh rate in Unity yet? UE1/2/3/4 all have these options. I imagine CoD and BF also allow users to set this stuff, though I do not play those games.

So how do I get beyond 60fps now? Deleting the variable mentioned above does nothing now. I am always locked to 60fps.

 
I am sorry if this comes out sounding rude but do either of you even understand what vertical sync does? Vertical sync has nothing to do with being locked at 60Hz on a 144Hz monitor. When the fullscreen window is created by the game engine multiple things are passed, such as width and height along with the color depth and refresh rate. Turning off vertical sync does not increase your refresh rate. In fact turning it offf can introduce problems when going above the refresh rate. This is why kids with 60Hz monitors bragg about having 500fps in some lame game. It doesn;t matter that 450 of those frames are incomplete renders due to the buffer not being filled before it was flushed.

The issue here isn't that I cannot push frames. It stays pegged at the refresh rate which the game chose, 60Hz/60fps. My monitor is 144Hz. How do I force the game, when in true fullscreen mode, to use 144Hz instead of 60Hz? That is and has been the issue for the last three major versions of the game.

Oh, and this is a Unity issue. I also own Subnautica and I am testing Below Zero. Below Zero stays locked at 60 also. Somebody over there was saying something about Unity being so poorly designed that most devs cannot make it do anything but 60Hz. No idea if there is truth to it, but Unity is starting to piss me off. I may not be buying any more games based onUnity due to this. I did not purchase a 144Hz G-Sync monitor and a 2080 Ti to run at 60Hz. Unreal Engine games like Ark allow me to select my refresh rate.

*UPDATE*

Looks like what I read was correct. Apparently the Unity devs are still in the 80's, believing that 60Hz is "cutting-edge" or something. They have the game engine coded to use the default refresh rate on your platform, which is 60Hz on Windows. The Pimps can somehow change this, but I have no clue how much work it would be. Read the first two or three posts here and the link to the Unity documentation. It explains that somehow, when allowing the user to set a refresh rate and use vsync to render properly, the engine would use some CPU when the player minimized the game. Personally I find that to be a poor excuse to limit everybody to 60Hz in 2019, but it's their engine. Not The Pimps, the Unity devs.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/385770/discussions/0/528398719786341424/

 
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I am sorry if this comes out sounding rude but do either of you even understand what vertical sync does?
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Sorry, yes I do. Didn't read this whole thread. My bad.

Personally I find that to be a poor excuse to limit everybody to 60Hz in 2019, but it's their engine. Not The Pimps, the Unity devs.
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Not sure what led you to this conclusion, but "everybody" is not limited to 60 FPS.

I honestly don't know the answer, but since others are able to get both higher and lower framerates

I'd suspect something on your system is the issue.

Logs?

 
102fps in this screenshot, no 60fps lock here so there is no 60fps lock by default, but i also don't use vsync.

https://imgur.com/a/yU2ueqg

did not know that your run 144hz either.

you can limit in console with settargetfps but it is not set by default to something and it does not persist, effective just in runtime.

 
Vsync locks the video card into two things. First, it fills a buffer completely before sending it to the monitor. Second, it sends said full buffers only at the correct timing. With vertical sync off it can send a buffer, full or not, even during blanks. This counts as a frame sent but it is never seen on the screen. It can also send out a buffer which hasn't been completely rendered. This is why you get tearing with vsync off. It is also why, when your refresh rate is 60Hz, you can get well above 300fps. You are not getting 300 frames to your monitor, you are rendering 300, many incomplete frames, and only the few which hit the monitor at the right time are being displayed.

Again, refresh rate and vsync are two different things. Check your refresh rate while playing the game. My monitor tells me the current resolution and refresh rate when I press the menu button. When playing Ark for example, it says "256x1440 144Hz". When playing 7 Days, Below Zero, or other recent Unity titles it says "2560x1440 60Hz". Turning off vsync would only introduce tearing since my card can already push 60fps in 7 Days with ease. So the next time you're playing and getting 100+fps, see what your monitor says your refresh rate is. It will probably surprise you.

Oh, and Beelzybub, you clearly do NOT understand vertical sync. Do a basic Google search for "vertical sync" and every article mentions how it prevents tearing by keeping your framerate locked to your refresh rate. The issue here is refresh rate being 60Hz, so that means that, even if I disable vsync and get 1000fps, only 60 of those frames are shown to me. On top of that I now get tearing because my graphics card is pumping more frames than can be displayed.

In fact, the ONLY time you want to disable vsync is when you are unable to push enough frames to match the refresh rate of the monitor and you do not have G-Sync or FreeSync. If using ONLY vsync and you cannot push whatever refresh rate you are using you get micro-stutters. This is when you want to disable it.

Definition of vertical sync

 
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no, you don't enable vsync if you have freesync, unless you love inputlag.

refreshrate is already synced to fps, no need for vsync at all.

if fps is below your monitors sync range, it will send the same frame more often, above should just be capped with ingame limiter. (or afterburner, or radeon settings,..)

interesting that you make false assumptions regarding "60FPS lock in 7dtd!!", which is clearly not true, and then try to educate others regarding *sync, which is partially also not true.

never mind, i'm out here, good luck.

 
Oh, and Beelzybub, you clearly do NOT understand vertical sync.[/url]
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???

When did I offer a definition of vertical sync that is wrong? Please quote me.

All I did was admit I'd failed to read your thread and apologize for my erroneous

post. I agree with you that it is not a v-sync issue. I'll say it again since you

missed it the first time; sorry, my bad.

You ain't acting right, but good luck anyway. Hope you sort out your problems.

 
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