18 replies to this topic

[AjerWerklWerkl]

I've made various tweaks to get my FPS high, which is great.

But even at 45-60 (or even higher), there are bits of random stuttering from time to time.

It SEEMS like that's very much correlated to when there are more enemies around, which makes sense. So I wonder if there are network settings in user.cfg that I could tweak.

How can I get MWO to run perfectly smoothly, even at a lower FPS?
Thanks

[crazytimes]

Unpossible. For me anyhow.

I am playing cyberpunk at 4k, high detail, ray tracing on at 60fps... and I still get drops from ~100 fps to sub 20fps in MWO on some maps at random intervals. Solaris city is the worst.

[Meep Meep]

AjerWerklWerkl, on 02 February 2024 - 09:32 AM, said:

I've made various tweaks to get my FPS high, which is great.

But even at 45-60 (or even higher), there are bits of random stuttering from time to time.

It SEEMS like that's very much correlated to when there are more enemies around, which makes sense. So I wonder if there are network settings in user.cfg that I could tweak.

How can I get MWO to run perfectly smoothly, even at a lower FPS?
Thanks

Making a custom user config is the only way. The in game settings are for decade old pc and are hopelessly out of date and were never optimized to begin with.

GeeRam has a good video detailing out how to make one then tweak it to your preferences and hardware level.



I made a custom config for maximum performance and it smooths frame times out to almost a flatline. Frame times are the issue you are experiencing as even with high fps if you have unstable frame times the gameplay will feel janky.

This sacrifices image quality but increases visibility. Looks terrible plays buttah smooth.

As per GeeRams instructions(in the video description) you will need to first delete your shader cache then make a txt file called tuning.cfg and include this line inside it: exec user.cfg

Then create a file called user.cfg and copy paste the script below. When in game go to video settings and set the render engine to dx9 and all graphics options to low with either postaa or fxaa. Then load any test map twice and you are good to go for the gaming session. When you boot the game up again you will have to load a test map twice to enable the config ~or~ if you make any changes in the settings that require a save. Sadly no way to automate this but if you pick canyon as your test map it loads fast and you can do the entire routine in under a minute after landing in the mechbay after logging in. More than worth it to me since I tend to play multiple hours at a time.

edit; new config posted below replaces this one.

;---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

con_restricted = 0

;====Change these====

;Shows FPS counter
;gp_mech_showfps=1

;Capping FPS 2fps below monitor refresh can help with freesync/gsync flicker
;sys_MaxFPS = 142

;Cockpit light off
gp_default_cockpit_light = 0

;Mouse sens below 0.1 in game
;cl_sensitivity=0.09

;Non-standard res changes
;ie: 4:3 4K would be 2880x2160
;r_width = 2880
;r_height = 2160

;Set view distance for some objects
e_ViewDistMin=2048

;Smoke changes - 0.25 normal, 0.01 no smoke, barely visible strikes, no ppc trails
e_ParticlesLod = 0.9

;CG effects ingame visability, better/worse depends on map
r_ColorGrading=1

;Level of Detail - 0 renders all builds at full detail all the time
e_Lods=0
;If e_Lods=1, lower ratio to improve performance
e_LodRatio=128

;Optional Shadows, large FPS hit
e_Shadows = 0
e_ShadowsMaxTexRes = 8
e_ShadowsCastViewDistRatio = 0.001

;Brightness of lasers and other HDR effects
r_HDRBrightlevel = 0.8

;Less that 1 nearly no terrain pop in, set to 2 to save some fps
e_TerrainLodRatio = 2
;4 provides better ranged color transition between terrain texture, 0 would be off and always render high texture terrain, but huge fps cost
e_TerrainTextureLodRatio = 4

;Disables autotargeting, which can screw up muscle memory (I've excluded this by default, I use it though)
;gp_mech_disable_autotarget = 1

;Spec cam movement improvements
gp_freecam_look_sensitivity_gamepad = 0.001
gp_freecam_movement_sensitivity_gamepad = 0.2

;Lets you make decals larger and smaller
;mechdecalmaxScale = 100
;mechdecalminScale = 0.1

;Remove trees/vegitation
e_VegetationMinSize = 200000

;Remove water
e_WaterTessellationAmount = 0
e_WaterTessellationAmountX = 0
e_WaterTessellationAmountY = 0

;====Performance and untested variables====

;UI perf improvements
gfx_inputevents_mouse_move_threshold = 0.0166
sys_flash_curve_tess_error = 2
sys_flash_newstencilclear = 0

;Performance
r_Batching = 0
r_BatchType= 0
r_GeomInstancing = 1
r_GeomInstancingThreshold=2

r_ShadersAsyncCompiling=1
r_ShadersAsyncActivation=0
r_ShadersAsyncMaxThreads=4

;r_DetailDistance = 1

e_ParticlesQuality= 2
e_ParticlesMinDrawAlpha = 0.19
e_ParticlesMaxScreenFill = 4
e_ParticlesObjectCollisions=1
e_ParticlesGI = 0
e_ParticlesLights = 1
e_ParticlesPoolSize = 1
e_ParticlesPreload = 1
e_ParticlesThread = 4
r_UseParticlesGlow = 1
r_UseSoftParticles = 0

e_ProcVegetation = 0
e_ViewDistRatioVegetation = 40

r_MotionBlur = 0
r_DepthOfField = 0
r_SSAO=0
r_ssdo=0
e_GI=0
r_sunshafts = 0
r_Glow = 0

e_OcclusionCullingViewDistRatio= 1
e_CoverageBufferResolution = 256
e_CoverageBufferTerrain=1
e_CoverageBufferAABBExpand=0.1
e_coveragebufferbias=0.1

e_WaterOceanFFT = 0
r_WaterReflections=0
r_WaterReflectionsQuality=0
r_WaterCaustics = 0
r_WaterGodRays=0
r_WaterTessellationHW = 0
q_ShaderWater=0
e_WaterOcean=0
e_WaterWaves = 0
e_WaterWavesTessellationAmount = 0

;Removes particles bigger than 10% of the screen
e_ParticlesMaxDrawScreen = 0.1

;e_Decals = 1
;e_DecalsAllowGameDecals = 1
;e_DecalsMaxTrisInObject = 100
;e_DecalsMerge = 1

r_UsePOM = 0

i_mouse_accel = 0
i_mouse_accel_max = 0
i_mouse_smooth=0

r_TexAtlasSize = 1024

r_Sharpening = 1

e_Dissolve = 1
;e_DissolveDistband = 2
;e_MaxViewDistSpecLerp = 1

r_OpticsQuality = 0
r_OpticsBloom = 0
;r_HDRBloomRatio = 0.25
;r_HDRBrightLevel = 0.50
;r_HDREyeAdaptationMode = 0
;r_HDREyeAdaptionFactor = 0
;r_HDRRangeAdapt = 0
;r_HDRRangeAdaptationSpeed = 0
;r_HDREyeAdaptationSpeed = 0
;r_HDRVignetting = 0
;r_HDRGrainAmount = 0.0
r_Flares = 0
r_Beams = 0
r_GlowAnamorphicFlares = 0
r_PostProcessHUD3DGlowAmount = 0
r_PostProcessHUD3DShadowAmount = 0
;hud_bobHud = 0

;r_ColorGradingFilters = 0
;r_ColorGradingLevels = 0
r_ChromaticAberration = 0

e_ParticlesMotionBlur = 0
r_MotionBlurQuality = 0
r_MotionBlurThreshold = 0
g_radialBlur = 0
r_Coronas = 0

;e_GsmCache = 1
r_FogShadows = 0
r_FogShadowsWater = 0
e_Tessellation = 0
e_ParticlesShadows = 0
r_ParticlesTessellation = 0
r_SSReflections = 0
r_SSReflHalfRes = 0
r_SilhouettePOM = 0
r_CloudsUpdateAlways = 0
e_DynamicLightsMaxCount = 32
r_PostProcessHUD3DCache = 0

g_battleDust_enable = 0
;q_shaderHDR=0
q_shaderpostprocess=0

e_SkyType = 0
e_SkyUpdateRate = 0
e_TerrainAo = 0

;e_ViewDistRatio

r_SSRO = 0
r_Reflections = 0
r_LSAO = 0
;r_Contrast =
;r_Gamma =
;r_Brightness =
;-------------------------------------------------

;Terrain texture detail range
;e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistXY = 2048

;Works in combination with e_TerrainTextureLodRatio, setting this higher or lowering e_TerrainTextureLodRatio will have the same effect. Huge FPS impact if set too high
;e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistZ = 256

;r_TexResolution = 0
;r_TexturesStreaming = 0

;N64 mode, remove textures (some commands used above, comment out duplicates)
e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistXY = 1
e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistZ = 1
r_TexturesStreaming = 1
r_TexturesStreamPoolSize = .001

Edited by Meep Meep, 26 February 2024 - 02:40 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

AjerWerklWerkl, on 02 February 2024 - 09:32 AM, said:

I've made various tweaks to get my FPS high, which is great.

But even at 45-60 (or even higher), there are bits of random stuttering from time to time.

It SEEMS like that's very much correlated to when there are more enemies around, which makes sense. So I wonder if there are network settings in user.cfg that I could tweak.

How can I get MWO to run perfectly smoothly, even at a lower FPS?
Thanks

Besides a customized config file, need to look at your system.

• Add your build and deskdrop or laptop?
  
• Clean dust build up from heatsinks (computer, not mech)
  
• Power Options set to High Performance
  
• If low end, may need to disable Turbo Boost (layman's TEMPORARY Overclock)
  
• https://www.tautvida...el-turbo-boost/
  
• The above is meant to prevent CPU from max out its speed, which also increases the heat. and all it takes is for one CPU core to bypass the threshold, which then DROPS all CPU cores to 800mhz temp to allow cores to cool down. It may be for a moment but that is enough to cause FPS drops.
  
• After the last two updates where the game became unplayable for most then the "fix", Solaris has become the WORSE offender. Prior to those two events, my system never had FPS issues with Solaris, FPS would have rarely dropped to 60fps. Nowadays it drops to 30/40fps. Rolling back drops, etc has not resolved the Solaris issue.

[LordNothing]

update your drivers, clean your shader, and disable particles and env. also turn off aa if you run at 4k, you dont need it at that res.

you can get one of the config tools that gives you more options than you need. its easy to get lost in all the settings where there are a couple of them (accessible in game) that kill everything if left at max.

and of course the elephant in the room, how old is your gpu? never had a problem with a 1060 and better, though the 1060 wont do 4k.

might also be your cpu as well, like the low end models that come in laptops or anything more than 4 generations old. if you are running 4th gen intel or any pre-ryzen amd, consider upgrading your core components (cpu/mobo/ram). even getting stuff a couple generations old will be an improvement and wont bust the bank.

Edited by LordNothing, 04 February 2024 - 12:21 PM.

[AjerWerklWerkl]

Thank you very much, Meep Meep, for the config info. I tried it and the FPS does jump up... I need to do more testing to confirm whether there are still glitches though.

Generally I'm happy with the FPS and visual quality I have. But I want the consistency more than anything, and would like to understand where the FPS variance comes from!

GPU is a GeForce GTX 750 Ti, which is not even used 50% at the resolution I run (~1800 x 1000). The CPU is also not even used 50%! Yet the game is glitchy...

Edited by AjerWerklWerkl, 07 February 2024 - 07:12 PM.

[Ignatius Audene]

That's because 50% CPU usage is an borked number. 100% would mean all threads used non stop 100%.

The modified crytek engine was programmed under the assumption, that we have 15 GHz CPU single core speed bye now.
It doesn't use multiple cores. Add in that the engine per se is meh and network issues result in bad latency the game can feel sluggish even on modern ryzen 5800+ CPU (does it still run better on Intel?)

Edited by Ignatius Audene, 07 February 2024 - 10:51 PM.

[Tarl Cabot]

AjerWerklWerkl, on 07 February 2024 - 07:10 PM, said:

Thank you very much, Meep Meep, for the config info. I tried it and the FPS does jump up... I need to do more testing to confirm whether there are still glitches though.

Generally I'm happy with the FPS and visual quality I have. But I want the consistency more than anything, and would like to understand where the FPS variance comes from!

GPU is a GeForce GTX 750 Ti, which is not even used 50% at the resolution I run (~1800 x 1000). The CPU is also not even used 50%! Yet the game is glitchy...

So a 10 year old card and a corresponding CPU. MWO loves CPU speed more than cores. If you have a i5-2500K, it can be override to 4.5ghz. Then the system has lower ram speed, and other channels will also slow things down but CPU is the 1st important piece. Even a newer GPU would not provide much of a boost if the CPU power is not there to push it.

[D A T A]

AjerWerklWerkl, on 02 February 2024 - 09:32 AM, said:

I've made various tweaks to get my FPS high, which is great.

But even at 45-60 (or even higher), there are bits of random stuttering from time to time.

It SEEMS like that's very much correlated to when there are more enemies around, which makes sense. So I wonder if there are network settings in user.cfg that I could tweak.

How can I get MWO to run perfectly smoothly, even at a lower FPS?
Thanks

MWO is heavily dependent on single core processor performance: even an old Cpu like a 4790k can send the game to 100-120 fps steady if overclocked. GPUs are usually irrelevant: you can go from a 1080ti to a 4080 and you will barely see a difference.
At 1080p going from a 970 to a 1080ti had literally zero impact on my FPS.
Going instead from a stock 4770 to an overclocked 4790k sent my FPS from 60 to 120

CPUs with a quadrillion cores, but weak individual core performance (AMDs) are usually very bad for MWO

Edited by D A T A, 10 February 2024 - 04:47 AM.

[whatever it takes]

D A T A, on 10 February 2024 - 04:45 AM, said:

CPUs with a quadrillion cores, but weak individual core performance (AMDs) are usually very bad for MWO

Meanwhile Ryzen 5800x3d is one of the best gaming processors out there and for this game specifically.

As for the OPs post, cfg file as mentioned above and for smoother experience I suggest using RivaTunerSatisticServer and locking your FPS with it. This will give you much smother frame time.

[Meep Meep]

whatever it takes, on 10 February 2024 - 07:30 AM, said:

Meanwhile Ryzen 5800x3d is one of the best gaming processors out there and for this game specifically.

Sure but thats a brand new higher end amd cpu. Amd high ends have always been decent to excellent for gaming. It's their mid and low end options that tend to have weak performance whilst even a cheap intel i3 can game like a champ. While amd has made huge inroads into intels gaming dominance they still have a long way to go.

[LordNothing]

AjerWerklWerkl, on 07 February 2024 - 07:10 PM, said:

Thank you very much, Meep Meep, for the config info. I tried it and the FPS does jump up... I need to do more testing to confirm whether there are still glitches though.

Generally I'm happy with the FPS and visual quality I have. But I want the consistency more than anything, and would like to understand where the FPS variance comes from!

GPU is a GeForce GTX 750 Ti, which is not even used 50% at the resolution I run (~1800 x 1000). The CPU is also not even used 50%! Yet the game is glitchy...

yea get rid of that pos. i had one, it always had power problems. ive replaced it 3x over and it has been living in mom's computer, im sure it can handle the daily sudoku without crashing, maybe. id sooner run an apu or an intel arc. the apu in my steam deck handles this game fine.

Edited by LordNothing, 12 February 2024 - 03:11 AM.

[Ignatius Audene]

Meep Meep, on 10 February 2024 - 09:34 AM, said:

Sure but thats a brand new higher end amd cpu. Amd high ends have always been decent to excellent for gaming. It's their mid and low end options that tend to have weak performance whilst even a cheap intel i3 can game like a champ. While amd has made huge inroads into intels gaming dominance they still have a long way to go.

But that's old news. Since Ryzen 3600 era single core speeds in the low end are rly good. This engine is simply bad, even on my 5800x3d I get fps dips with stock (low) config.

Edited by Ignatius Audene, 12 February 2024 - 06:49 AM.

[LordNothing]

i switch to an amd chip during the intel slump in the 8-11 gen processors. when my 8th gen (8086k) was getting long in the tooth, intel simply didnt have anthing that was big enough of an improvement to warrant an upgrade. this slump lasted a long time but amd finally came out with something that had better bang for your buck and looked like an actual upgrade (5800x). will probibly start looking at core components upgrades in a year or two, but this machine is plenty powerful for everything i do on it. might go back to intel unless amd still looks like the better option.

Edited by LordNothing, 12 February 2024 - 04:42 PM.

[Meep Meep]

Amd is certainly the better overall choice if you do more than game. But I rarely do anything other than game on my pc that requires huge multicore performance on specialized apps like encoders, video editors etc. So my 11900k and 3090 are waaaay more than I need for high refresh 4k gaming and will be for years to come. Might look into a new amd or nvidia gpu offering in the next couple of years though since the cpu is still overkill for my usage and the 3090 is starting to show its age on the very newest games. I think thats far more a developer issue in pushing out badly unoptimized code and relying on advanced upscaling tech to make up the performance difference than the actual gpu though and the mod scene is starting to patch in those advanced upscalers to any gpu and game now.

[Meep Meep]

Ok I decided to resurrect my old config and add in choice bits from geerams config to try for maximum frametime smoothing.

The result is like creamy peanut butter and chocolate.

Where I would get wild fps swings even looking at a wall on certain maps like solaris or river city it now pegs the frame limit like glue.

Frametimes are also a pure flatline now with zero spikes even on solaris which was a frametime horror.

If you have a gsync/freesync display then make sure to use your gpu driver to disable vsync and set the fps limit to at least 10 under the panels max refresh. This reduces input lag to minimum but still allows for high refresh with no tearing.

Enjoy!


;----- Max performance config.
;----- All settings to low if using N64 mode.
;----- All settings to low but textures at very high if not using N64 mode.
e_Dissolve=1
e_GI=0
e_LodCompMaxSize=255
e_LodRatio=255
e_ObjQuality=4
e_ParticlesQuality=2
e_ParticlesObjectCollisions=1
e_ParticlesPreload=1
e_PreloadDecals=1
e_PreloadMaterials=1
e_StatObjPreload=1
e_Shadows = 0
e_TerrainLodRatio=2
e_TerrainTextureLodRatio=4
e_ViewDistMin=4096

;----- Removes particles larger than X%(0.1 is 10%) so cockpit hits don't blind you. Set to 0.001 to effectively remove all particles. -----
e_ParticlesMaxDrawScreen = 0.1

;----- Disable automatic targeting -----
gp_mech_disable_autotarget = 1


gfx_inputevents_mouse_move_threshold=0.0166
gp_mech_showfps=1
gp_default_cockpit_light = 0
g_battleDust_enable = 0

r_BatchType=0
r_DepthOfField=0
r_GeomInstancingThreshold=2
r_Reflections = 0
r_ShadersAsyncCompiling=3
r_ShadersAsyncMaxThreads=4
r_ShadersCompileAutoActivate=1
r_ShadersPreactivate=1
r_ShadersUseInstanceLookUpTable=1
r_SnowHalfRes=1
r_SSRO = 0
r_TexMaxAnisotropy=16
r_TexMinAnisotropy=16
r_Texture_Anisotropic_Level=16
r_TexturesWarmup=1
r_WaterCaustics=0
r_WaterReflectionsQuality=0
r_WaterTessellationHW=0
r_LSAO = 0
r_OpticsQuality = 0
r_MotionBlur = 0
r_SSAO=0
r_ssdo=0
r_sunshafts=0
r_Glow = 0

sys_flash_curve_tess_error=10
sys_flash_edgeaa=0

;----- N64 mode off -------- remove or add semicolon to disable or enable each section
;e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistXY = 4096
;e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistZ = 4096

;----- N64 mode on ---------
e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistXY = 1
e_TerrainDetailMaterialsViewDistZ = 1
r_TexturesStreaming = 1
r_TexturesStreamPoolSize = .001


;----- Remove Vegetation -----
e_VegetationMinSize = 200000


;----- Remove Water -----
e_WaterTessellationAmount = 0
e_WaterTessellationAmountX = 0
e_WaterTessellationAmountY = 0


;----- Mouse Sensitivity ------
cl_sensitivity=0.09
i_mouse_accel = 0
i_mouse_accel_max = 0
i_mouse_smooth=0

Edited by Meep Meep, 28 February 2024 - 10:25 PM.

[Bal-]

Thank you! These new tweaks initially ran awful, but after the first game they smoothed out. Now I have higher and more consistent frame rates than ever! It's actually wild how smooth it is, after being so used to lower frames. Thank you Meep Meep:)

[LordNothing]

D A T A, on 10 February 2024 - 04:45 AM, said:

CPUs with a quadrillion cores, but weak individual core performance (AMDs) are usually very bad for MWO

not seeing that really. recent amd generations are actually really good. game even runs ok on the apu on my steam deck (controls are the real problem there). anything zen based is fine. getting 120+ @4k, on a 5800x and a 7900xt (and it fits in a 12 liter case). that said im probibly going back to intel next build, because they seem to be over their slump. of course thats a couple years down the line so we will see.

Edited by LordNothing, 28 February 2024 - 03:39 PM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Add this so still have game sound when alt tab to browser/etc.

; Enables sound when tabbed out
s_NoFocusVolume = 1